Canʻt see my files

[kapunahelewong]

Hi,

I don't know what changed (except a child was at my computer for 8 seconds when this happened!), but every time I open a file in Affinity Photo whether they be .afphoto, pngs, or jpgs, the image is totally black. In the layers panel and when I pick colors the swatches look like static on old television screens. It also happens to be defaulting to greys for the colors, but I donʻt know why and though I can change it it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have reset to the defaults, uninstalled and reinstalled, rebooted, and disconnected my Wacom tablet, but the result is always the same. I have included a screenshot here with the crop tool selected so that you can see that the image is actually in the viewable area on the stage. Any file I open looks like this. Is there something I'm missing? Thank you!!

 

Kapunahele 

[Old Bruce]

There is a problem with the mask, it should not have a line through it if it is checked. Are all the other masked layers like this?

[kapunahelewong]

Hi @Old Bruce,

Thereʻs one other that has the line through it even though itʻs checked. However, thereʻs also one without the line (screenshot attached).

 

[kapunahelewong]

And for reference, in case itʻs helpful, hereʻs a screenshot of a jpg, no masks but same symptoms. Thank  you, @Old Bruce

[kapunahelewong]

Oops, sorry, but I misread your question! No, all the other layers arenʻt masked like this. This screenshot is back in the original afphoto file with the second Group expanded.

[Ron P.]

I'm not sure what's causing it, but in your layers pallet screenshot, it looks like you do have a mask on the group moon-new5(image). It probably has nothing to do with why you can't see your images, but you might turn off that mask/group layer just to check.

I tried to replicate what you have happening, but so far have not. I haven't found any settings in the preferences that might affect it. I don't have a mac, so I'm not familiar with that system.

[kapunahelewong]

Thanks so much for taking a look, @Ron P.. I tried turning off any group that had a mask but it was the same situation and it happens with all my files I open, with or without masks. Good thinking though. Since starting this thread, the app has also crashed twice. Last week I updated to Big Sur, but worked without issue for several days before this started, so I can't definitively connect it to the upgrade. When I uninstalled and reinstalled, it remembered my recently opened files. Could there be a way that I could truly wipe it from my system and reinstall from a new download? 

Iʻm on 1.8.6 if that helps, too.

 

[DWright]

To reset your Affinity Photo to its default settings please hold down the CTRL key while launching the app. When the Clear User Data window appears, click Select All and then Clear. The app will now open.

Be aware that resetting your app back to its default settings will lose any custom settings such as keyboard shortcuts and brushes etc. To backup such settings before resetting the app, please watch our Affinity: Exporting User Settings and Keyboard Shortcuts video. - https://player.vimeo.com/video/189596577/

[kapunahelewong]

Thank you, @DWright! It's ok if everything gets reset. I just did as you suggested (CTRL on starting the app, clicking Select All, and then Clear). Sadly, the issue persists. I have tried opening another file that I verified that I could see in Finder and the same thing happened. Next, when checking to see what happens in the Preview app (not to be confused with the finder preview thumbnails) I noticed that images display for a second and then vanish, though the app indicates the file is open. So, I think this might be a Big Sur problem. I'll search in that direction and try anything else anyone here recommends. Thank you for your recommendation!