Refine image

[Landy]

I used the Selection Brush Tool , i click Refine and although i can see the image goes to red background ( As per attached image ) , as soon as i click "Apply" the red background goes so i cant refine edges , any help ?

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Landy
You need to refine the selection before you press the Apply button.
The Apply button, in this case, means: “Okay, I’m done refining, now apply what I’ve done to the layer.”

[Pšenda]

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Selections/selections_refine.html

[Landy]

14 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Welcome to the forums @Landy
You need to refine the selection before you press the Apply button.
The Apply button, in this case, means: “Okay, I’m done refining, now apply what I’ve done to the layer.”

Thats my point , im clicking refine it shows the red background but when i click apply im back to the start again , its lost me 

 

[GarryP]

The “red background” is only displayed while you are refining the selection.
It will disappear when you apply the refinements by pressing Apply.

The process is, basically:
* Make initial selection;
* Press Refine (red background will appear- unless you use a different Preview option);
* Refine selection (as necessary using settings and brushes);
* Press Apply (red background will now disappear).

[Landy]

Garry how do i go about refining the edges of an image then ? as when i am clicking the apply button its not letting me do anything , im just back to my image with the  selection brush tool on it , if that makes sense

[GarryP]

I’m not sure what you mean by “refining the edges of an image” now.
Do you mean you want to alter the edges of an image, or do you want to alter the edges of a selection?
Maybe if you show us what you have on-screen (full-screen screen-shot) just before you press Refine that will help us to see what you are doing.

[Landy]

Apologies in advance for the image , im trying to design a pest control flyer. Im trying to refine the hair / whiskers on the rat . I checked a few clips on youtube yet when they click the apply button it seems to stay with the red background then they refine the edges of in my case the hair / whiskers .

[GarryP]

The process you describe seems to be a bit the wrong way round to me.
Can you supply a link to one of the tutorials you have been following?
(I’ve attached a quick video showing what I would expect to do - quickly and crudely - for a simple image.)

[Alfred]

On 10/31/2020 at 9:24 AM, Landy said:

when i am clicking the apply button its not letting me do anything , im just back to my image with the  selection brush tool on it , if that makes sense

I think your problem is that the ‘Refine Selection’ dialog (as shown in your first screenshot) is sitting on top of the image. You need to move the dialog instead of closing it: to do so, click and drag on its title bar.

By the way, I strongly recommend using a Windows utility such as the Snipping Tool or Snip & Sketch instead of pointing a digital camera at the screen. This will give you images which have small file sizes and are easy to annotate — and they’ll be much clearer, too!

[Landy]

13 minutes ago, Alfred said:

I think your problem is that the ‘Refine Selection’ dialog (as shown in your first screenshot) is sitting on top of the image. You need to move the dialog instead of closing it: to do so, click and drag on its title bar.

Yeah just managed to do that , can i ask once i refine the edges why when i click apply it just goes back to when ive used the original image ?

[Alfred]

4 minutes ago, Landy said:

Yeah just managed to do that , can i ask once i refine the edges why when i click apply it just goes back to when ive used the original image ?

It’s possible that the changes to the selection outline are too subtle for you to see easily. Try copying the selected region and then creating a new document from it, or go back to the ‘Refine Selection’ dialog and choose one of the other output options.

[Landy]

Ok thank you ill away and potter about with it.