Nadia R Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 After updating my Affinity Photo, I find that the blur brush no longer shows a preview when hovering over an image. Instead, there's the chequered look that comes with background erasing. Thus, I can only tell how blurred the effect on an image is when I move the brush after hoping for the best. What can I do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 (edited) I have been able to replicate this in Photo 1.9.0.932 on Windows 10. See attached video. Unless this is some strange new way of working I think this needs to be reported as a bug as I can’t see how this ‘helps’. Maybe best to see what others think before actually reporting it though as we might both be using it wrong. Edit: Just noticed that if I disable "OpenCL Compute acceleration" in Preferences then things go back to ‘normal’. I’d say it’s a bug. 2021-02-17_10-07-23.mp4 Edited February 17, 2021 by GarryP Added extra note. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulEC Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 FWIW– I'm also using Windows 10 and Photo1.9.0.932. The Blur Tool seems to be working the same as it always has for me. The opacity setting still doesn't do anything (it never has!), but, apart from that, it's OK. Quote Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz : 32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 PaulEC: Have you got OpenCL Compute acceleration enabled in Preferences/Performance? Note: I’ve just checked and the problem occurs when OpenCL Compute acceleration is enabled whether my Renderer is set to my internal Intel GPU (allowed for acceleration) or my additional NVIDIA GPU (not allowed for acceleration). Switching OpenCL Compute acceleration OFF with either GPU as the Renderer makes it work again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulEC Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 29 minutes ago, GarryP said: Have you got OpenCL Compute acceleration enabled in Preferences/Performance? No. Looking at a few posts, it does look like enabling OpenCL can cause a few display problems. Quote Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz : 32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 Yeah. I think I’ll probably just keep it switched off for all the Affinity applications until things have ‘calmed down a bit’, maybe until 1.9.2 or later. I didn’t have it before and I didn’t need it so I’m probably not missing out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia R Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 I've disabled the OpenCL Compute acceleration in Preferences, and that seems to have done the trick for now? It's a strange thing, but I'm not too fussed over it. Thanks for the discussion and tips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 You're welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia R Posted February 20, 2021 Author Share Posted February 20, 2021 I hate to add anything more, I really do... But, has the blurring strength gone down with the update? I used Affinity 1.6 for the longest time, and it seems that even at maximum opacity and hardness, 1.9 doesn't have as much of a strong blur. I did switch PC's before the update, so I'm just wondering if there's something I may have overlooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 I don’t use the Blur Brush Tool myself much, and have only used it since the update for this thread, so I can’t really say. What I can suggest is to check the brush you are using with the tool. If you are using a ‘weak’ brush – one with a lot of transparency, e.g. “Textures – Grunge Pattern 02” – then the effect will be weaker than if you use a ‘strong’ brush – e.g. “Basics – Round Brush” – which has less transparency. If that’s not the cause then it will need looking into further, unless someone else has an immediate answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia R Posted February 20, 2021 Author Share Posted February 20, 2021 8 hours ago, GarryP said: I don’t use the Blur Brush Tool myself much, and have only used it since the update for this thread, so I can’t really say. What I can suggest is to check the brush you are using with the tool. If you are using a ‘weak’ brush – one with a lot of transparency, e.g. “Textures – Grunge Pattern 02” – then the effect will be weaker than if you use a ‘strong’ brush – e.g. “Basics – Round Brush” – which has less transparency. If that’s not the cause then it will need looking into further, unless someone else has an immediate answer. Yeah, I tend to use the round basic brushes for most things, anyway. It just seems that the blurring effect comes out with an unsharpened look, rather than heavy blurring at its maximum setting and capacity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 Unfortunately I can’t really help more here as the Blur Brush Tool looks like it’s working okay for me but I haven’t used it enough to notice a difference from previous versions. If you can supply a sample image – before and after blurring – with instructions (or a video) saying exactly what you are doing then someone else may be able to figure out if something is wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulEC Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 A couple of things to keep in mind. The Opacity setting on the Blur Brush doesn't seem to do anything, you need to use the Flow setting to alter the strength of the effect. Also, apart from the type of brush you're using, the resolution of the image will affect how obvious the effect is, as will the magnification you are viewing it at. An alternative to using the Blur Brush, especially if you want a strong effect, is to create a blur layer, invert the mask and paint in the areas you want blurred. (You can then use the opacity setting for the blur layer to fine tune it.) Quote Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz : 32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia R Posted February 21, 2021 Author Share Posted February 21, 2021 I've attached some images below that may help illustrate what I mean. The first is the original, the second is how Affinity now blurs at maximum and the last is the closest to how it used to look. My brush is always the round basic ones, and I keep the opacity, flow and hardness at 100%. If I go over the desired area for blurring a few times, then the blur becomes more apparent. But, I hope that this is not the only solution available? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 I’ve attached a video which shows how it’s working for me on your original image with one continuous application of the tool (mouse button kept down all the time). Opacity/Flow/Hardness all 100% with a basic round brush. If you’re not getting the same result then the only suggestion I have left is to press the More button on the Context Toolbar and press the Reset button and see if that makes a difference. 2021-02-22 09-57-08.mp4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia R Posted February 22, 2021 Author Share Posted February 22, 2021 Yes, I'm getting the same affect after going over an area continuously to receive that high level of blurring. I usually cut out images and sometimes blur the edges, so going over the edges repeatedly seems to be the only solution? I had hoped that a stronger blur would be apparent on a single stroke of the brush, but that doesn't seem feasible now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 I think the Blur Brush Tool is supposed to be a subtle way of blurring small areas and, as such, the blur effect is added slowly giving the user more control over what happens. If you want a more ‘industrial strength’ blur then I would suggest using a Live Gaussian Blur Filter instead. See attached video. A live filter requires a tiny bit more initial set-up but, because it is non-destructive, you can adjust it later to fix things that aren’t quite right. 2021-02-23_09-06-14.mp4 Nadia R, jmwellborn and PaulEC 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia R Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 That definitely make sense. This is a wonderful suggestion! This is exactly what I've been looking for, and your video made it perfectly clear to understand. Thank you so much for helping me out with this, it's much appreciated. 😄 jmwellborn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 You're welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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