option shift function for masks in Affinity

[cptklotz]

Hello,

I am new in the world of Affinity and made my first steps with the software yet. I am using Photoshop for several years now and I miss a very important feature while working in Affinity. Working with masks in Photoshop you can click on the mask while pressing the option and shift key. After doing this the screen will be shown with a red overlay to show where the mask is effective and where it is not. It´s the same as using the QuickMask-Tool in Affinity (shortcut-q). It seems that there ist only the option to show the mask by clicking on it while pressing the option key, but when you do this the mask is only shown in black and white. There is no overlay, so I can´t see where the mask is effective in the actual picture. Seeing only the mask without the picture behind it doesn´t help at all.

I used the shortcut option-shift every time I made a mask in Photoshop. I can´t believe that there isn´t an option to show the active mask as an overlay while I am modifying it. There are so many adjustment layer where it isn´t that easy to see the difference of areas where the mask is active or not at first sight. So the is an absolutly basic feature, istn´t it?

Am I missing any shortcut or option.

Thanks a lot

Daniel

[NotMyFault]

Hi Daniel,

if you have a mask layer, you can select "refine mask" in the context menu of the layer stack.

This will show the red overlay as default.

But be aware that "refine mask" may alter the current mask when you click "apply", even if you did not make any adjustments.

Formerly "hard" egdes may become softer and show some "pray".

For advanced users, there are some neat tricks using "procedural texture" which allowes to gradually blend the mask in and out, thus revealing the parts hidden by the mask.

• Add a procedural text filter
• nest it on the same level as the mask
• add one equation, activate "A"
• Enter: a+A*(b-a)
• Click two times on "0,1" to create custom input a and b
• Use input slide a to hide or reveal the non-visible areas (black in mask)
• Use input slide b to hide or reveal the visible areas (white in mask)

Regards,

Timo

 

[cptklotz]

Hi Timo,

first of all thanks a lot for your reply. I tried your advise and got exactly what I wanted. It is a bit of a shame that it isn´t an absolutly easy and fast way, but it works. I don´t know how affinity knows what "a" and what "b" is in the equation, but it works. Is there a part in the manual to get a bit more into this? I had a bit of a problem to get the two neccessary layers in the right position, because they need to be at the same level AND be seperated, not sure why. The managemant  with the layers is a bit different than in Ps, so I am not that much into it yet. I have to find some tutorials to understand that better.

I added a red fill-layer under the others and so it is possible to change the oppacity of the masked regions to hide them a bit and there is also an option to mark them red (or any other color) with a defined oppacity. So there is even more options than in Ps now. Although I need much more layers and at least one, better two groups.

It would be a goalchanger if Affinity will get these option in a further version for every masked created with a simple click. I am not sure why it isn´t part of the software at the moment, because for me it is very hard to mask without this feature.

I tried to put this into an "action" (macro), but it seems that there is no possibility to change the order of layers in macros, is it? It would be great to have the option to create the layers by just one click or shortcut.

Also I tried to use the layer-effect functions (color overlay) to solve the problem. It works with some masks, but it seems that it will not work with everyone. I am not sure when exectly this is an option. Maybe this is an other solution.

Thanks again

Daniel

Edited February 18, 2021 by cptklotz

[NotMyFault]

Hi Daniel, 

 

thank you for your kind reply, glad that the magic worked in your case.

To learn more, you could use the built-in help function of Affinity and search for:

• procedural texture
• functions
• equations

There are excellent tutorials videos by Affinity in this forum, and by others on youtube, too. 

I used a lot of trial and error to develop a few filters to deal with the alpha channel. It is possible to save these as presets, speeding up the usage. 
I know Affinity apps could be very confusing especially for those who are used to photoshop before. Most of your workflows could be reused unchanged, but some workflows must be adapted. This certainly affects selection, masks, alpha channel editing, and layers handling.

This is by design, as Photo should not be seen as a PS clone, but as a replacement with very similar functionality. 
Just like switching car brands, the three pedals are standardized, but light switches, cruise control and other controls may vary.

Looking forward to exchange more of our experience in this forum. 
Timo

[lacerto]

(...)

[NotMyFault]

Hi Lagarto, 

Thank you for spotting this  

i thing this is definitely a bug. As you already have written yourself:

Please check (with help of the forum search) if this has been already reported. If not please file a bug report. 

Regards, Timo

[R C-R]

9 hours ago, Lagarto said:

The sliders won't show even if the dialog box is resized. I wonder if this is "just" a Big Sur thing ...

FWIW, the sliders are there for me, running Catalina on my iMac & 1.9.0.

[h_d]

50 minutes ago, R C-R said:

the sliders are there for me, running Catalina on my iMac & 1.9.0.

Same here on Big Sur (EDIT: 11.2) with 1.9.0