Masks in Affinity Designer

[bobbb]

Hello, having some difficulty with masks in affinity designer.

Is it possible to convert a mask to a pixel layer? Rasterise does nothing.

How can you edit a mask when it's above another layer and not attached to one?

Is it possible to invert a mask? using invert from the menu does nothing.

Is it possible to view channels in affinity designer?

 

I've searched for these questions but only find answers for affinity photo so any help would be much appreciated.

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @bobbb

You cannot, as far as I know, convert a Mask Layer to a Pixel Layer in Designer or Publisher – I don’t know if it’s possible if Photo. (I’d be happy to be proved wrong as it sounds like it could be useful.)

You cannot, as far as I know, Invert a layer in Designer or Publisher, only Photo.

You cannot view Channels in Designer or Publisher, only Photo.

I don’t understand what you mean about editing a mask “when it’s above another layer”. Can you give more detail?

[David in Яuislip]

53 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I don’t know if it’s possible if Photo.

Channels panel

Right click on Mask Alpha

[bobbb]

Thanks for the insight @GarryP, I suspected those features were locked out in designer, it's a pain to switch to photo just to invert something but I guess I'll live with it lol.

6 hours ago, GarryP said:

I don’t understand what you mean about editing a mask “when it’s above another layer”. Can you give more detail?

So in the screenshots I provided you can see a mask in its own layer has no context action for editing while a mask attached to a layer can be. I may be missing something here because surely it's possible to edit the mask without nesting it in something else.

 

[MEB]

Hi @bobbb,
Welcome to Affinity Forums

1. Is it possible to convert a mask to a pixel layer? Rasterise does nothing.
No, only in Photo

2. How can you edit a mask when it's above another layer and not attached to one?
Switch to Pixel Persona, select the mask and paint on it with the Paint Brush Tool or other raster based tools. If you want it displayed as a greyscale image, alt-click the mask layer in the Layers panel.

3. Is it possible to invert a mask? using invert from the menu does nothing.
No, you cannot invert a mask in Designer. You can invert a regular pixel or image layer(s) attaching/nesting an Invert adjustment to it.

4.Is it possible to view channels in affinity designer?
No, only in Affinity Photo.

[David in Яuislip]

15 minutes ago, bobbb said:

surely it's possible to edit the mask without nesting it in something else.

Yes, just use a paintbrush on it. In the example below the brush is set to black so it conceals. If it were white it could be used to reveal hidden parts of the image

[bobbb]

19 minutes ago, MEB said:

2. How can you edit a mask when it's above another layer and not attached to one?
Switch to Pixel Persona, select the mask and paint on it with the Paint Brush Tool or other raster based tools. If you want it displayed as a greyscale image, alt-click the mask layer in the Layers panel.

Thanks! alt clicking to view the mask is a big time saver.

 

Thanks for the tips @David in Яuislip, I guess I was missing something lol and at least I can convert the mask in photo.

 

btw @MEB it would be really useful if affinity made an app that just combined all the features into different personas or something, it's all using the same engine behind the scenes right? The current limited pixel editing in designer is the reason I'm using it over other apps and I think there's a subset of users that would greatly benefit from a full featured vector and rasterization editor with artboards. You can even call it affinity pro if you want

 

Thanks for all the help guys.