Simple cut & paste, results poor. Help?

[cutout3]

I've been doing some simple cutting and pasting, Affinity Photo.  It's seemed to work OK for awhile.  Then the more I did it and started checking detail, I saw that the pasted item was often degraded in pixel quality.  It's slightly blurred/discolored, and more so, or should I say mostly when flipping the pasted item horizontally after cutting and before pasting.  I am hoping a simple procedural fix will solve. 

I've got the Afinn. Photo workbook, no help.  I've looked at the FAQ's, no joy.  I've looked at some of tutorials, and lists of; most if not all do not seem to address what I need at this early point in my usage, 2-4 months or so.

It's my first post so I'll wait and check response(s).  I can go into more detail and maybe post a couple pics of my unwanted photo editing results, if needed.

Very frustrating.  Please help.

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @cutout3

The first thing to try is to see if “Force Pixel Alignment” is switched on, see attached video (best watched in full-screen).

[cutout3]

10 hours ago, GarryP said:

Welcome to the forums @cutout3

The first thing to try is to see if “Force Pixel Alignment” is switched on, see attached video (best watched in full-screen).

 

Wow, that seemed to work, and so simple!  I want to hold off on my excitement until I do a little more work and practice!  I will get back to you to confirm it's working the way I need it to, consistently.   

Thanks GarryP !!!

Btw, while I've got you (or someone else) here,  I cannot see the bottom 3-4 icons on the Left side Tools Panel (Shape, Text, and Warp Tools, and the Zoom Tool; I haven't customized mine yet).  Playing around with the 'View' on the Menu Bar, eliminating the Context Tollbar, which I don't want to do, only gets me down to where I can see half the Warp Tool, but still not the Zoom Tool icon.  Drat!

Any easy way to fix that?  I have a 15" screen on my laptop (part of problem I suppose).  But Affinity should size their product to fit my screen, yes?  Can I slightly minimize the Document View? or other?  Still in Photo persona.  I would really like to get all the way down to being able to see (and use) the Zoom Tool icon.  

Edited February 20, 2021 by cutout3

[Alfred]

8 minutes ago, cutout3 said:

I haven't customized mine yet

Therein lies your problem! You need to increase the number of columns.

Affinity Photo Help: Customizing the Tools panel

[cutout3]

24 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Therein lies your problem! You need to increase the number of columns.

Affinity Photo Help: Customizing the Tools panel

I figured it was something like that, or that.  Glad it's that simple.  I'll get on it.  Thankyou Alfred !!

[cutout3]

On 2/20/2021 at 6:31 AM, GarryP said:

Welcome to the forums @cutout3

The first thing to try is to see if “Force Pixel Alignment” is switched on, see attached video (best watched in full-screen).

 

 

On 2/20/2021 at 4:55 PM, Alfred said:

Therein lies your problem! You need to increase the number of columns.

Affinity Photo Help: Customizing the Tools panel

Thank you boys!  I said I would get back to you, let you know if working.  Working great now!  Thanks for your help.  I was pretty depressed, thinking I might need to get something other than Affinity.  No longer.  Affinity I think is a powerhouse.  I just need to learn the next 95%!  

I will be ecstatic to learn another 15%, but to know that there is another 80% there if I ever need it.

[cutout3]

@Alfred, @GarryP, others,

I guess before I leave this thread, I do have one more question.  When cutting and pasting, it usually works great now.  Once in a while though, it will not allow me to cut, then flip horizontally, copy then paste again.  I am making sure only one layer is active when I copy/paste.  The paste is sometimes a 'blank' though.  Not always which is curious.  Sometimes it works just fine and will let me cut/paste, then flip same and copy, paste, no problem.  Still learning curve a bit, but not always consistent.

Any idea what this might be, or what I might be doing wrong?

Edited February 24, 2021 by cutout3
spelling

[GarryP]

Can you give us a precise list of the actions you take?
(Cut, then flip then copy then paste doesn’t sound right to me.)
Once we know exactly what you are doing we can try to replicate it ourselves.
Also, what type of layer are you cutting/copying from? E.g. Is it a “(Pixel)” layer, or an “(Image)” layer, or something else?

[cutout3]

13 hours ago, GarryP said:

Can you give us a precise list of the actions you take?
(Cut, then flip then copy then paste doesn’t sound right to me.)
Once we know exactly what you are doing we can try to replicate it ourselves.
Also, what type of layer are you cutting/copying from? E.g. Is it a “(Pixel)” layer, or an “(Image)” layer, or something else?

Be happy to.  I will try anyway.  Give me a day or two.  Any easy way to make a nice video movie like you did for me in post #2 here?  How did you do that?  

[cutout3]

On 2/23/2021 at 6:22 PM, cutout3 said:

@Alfred, @GarryP, others,

I guess before I leave this thread, I do have one more question.  When cutting and pasting, it usually works great now.  Once in a while though, it will not allow me to cut, then flip horizontally, copy then paste again.  I am making sure only one layer is active when I copy/paste.  The paste is sometimes a 'blank' though.  Not always which is curious.  Sometimes it works just fine and will let me cut/paste, then flip same and copy, paste, no problem.  Still learning curve a bit, but not always consistent.

Any idea what this might be, or what I might be doing wrong?

 

22 hours ago, GarryP said:

Can you give us a precise list of the actions you take?
(Cut, then flip then copy then paste doesn’t sound right to me.)
Once we know exactly what you are doing we can try to replicate it ourselves.
Also, what type of layer are you cutting/copying from? E.g. Is it a “(Pixel)” layer, or an “(Image)” layer, or something else?

 

9 hours ago, cutout3 said:

Be happy to.  I will try anyway.  Give me a day or two.  Any easy way to make a nice video movie like you did for me in post #2 here?  How did you do that?  

Ok, for illustration I created three pics:  a1, a2, and A3.  What I want to do is cut out a piece of top-left helmet from pic 'a1' (I will name that 'A3'),  and put it into the Left and Right part of helmet (I used an 'a1' copy).  I was only able to paste it into upper Left of helmet (in 'a1' copy), making new pic,  'a2'.    I was then able to flip to flip 'A3' horizontally, but it again wouldn't paste in the upper Right of helmet to make a bilateral completion.

Here is a list of may actions for above:  Using pic 'a1' I used Marque Tool to trace 'A3'.  I then copied and pasted it, creating a second pixel layer (named it 'A3'), above the first background layer.  I then unckecked the first background layer, leaving the second layer highlighted in blue.  I copied that highlighted layer.  Then I pasted into a copy pic of 'a1', creating 'a2'.  So far so good.

Here's where I think the problem is.  I next flipped 'A3' horizontally (from the Menu Bar dropdown), copied it, then tried to paste into 'a1' copy again.  It didn't work.  It gave me a blank pixel layer and wouldn't paste anything.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

[Edit, an hour or two later:  My work-around for above flipping problem is to flip 'a1' first, then make my cut and paste.  Works but for Affinity I don't think I should have to do it this way.  I know I must be doing something wrong above.]

[Edit 2:  I just tried something very similar to what I described above, before the edit.  It worked just fine, like I would expect.  That's why it is confusing,  sometimes it works fine, sometimes not.  Perhaps I am not pressing buttons firmly enough?  But maybe there is still a better way, open to suggestions.  Still learning, sorry.

 

        

[GarryP]

The videos I post are created using OBS Studio: https://obsproject.com/
Depending upon your hardware set-up you may need to do some tweaking to get it working but, once it is, it’s very easy to use for basic video creation.

I’m still a little bit confused by your instructions but that could very easily be my fault – precise language is often very important and that can be difficult via translation.
I’ve attached a video showing what I think you are trying to do. Can you tell me where I am doing something that you don’t want to do?

[cutout3]

9 hours ago, GarryP said:

The videos I post are created using OBS Studio: https://obsproject.com/
Depending upon your hardware set-up you may need to do some tweaking to get it working but, once it is, it’s very easy to use for basic video creation.

I’m still a little bit confused by your instructions but that could very easily be my fault – precise language is often very important and that can be difficult via translation.
I’ve attached a video showing what I think you are trying to do. Can you tell me where I am doing something that you don’t want to do?

Yes!!!  That is exactly what I want.  Your way is SO much better!  And simple!  I had watched a video doing it differently.  Thank you GarryP!

So the steps you are doing are:  Marque Tool, copy, deselect, paste, flip horizontal.  Much easier and better than what I was trying to do, and less steps!!!  You are now my Hero!!

I will check out OBS Studio: https://obsproject.com/, when I have some time.  Thank you for that also!  Such an easy way to show/teach.  Maybe one day I will be able to return the favor to another Newbe.

Btw, your English is great.  Though if you have to translate I can see that would be a problem.  If I may ask, what is your primary language?  I am in USA, so English only for me (took a little French but forgot all since, many years ago, ha).

GarryP, thank you again, so much!!!

 

[cutout3]

@GarryP,

Marque Tool, copy, deselect, paste, flip horizontal, Move Tool, place, save....  =  !!!

[cutout3]

Simple cut (Left Half), flip, paste (to Right Half)...

   Marque Tool, copy, deselect, paste, flip horizontal, Move tool and place.  Export (save).

 

 

 

                        =  

Cheers!

 

[GarryP]

You’re welcome. Happy to be of assistance.

[cutout3]

20 minutes ago, GarryP said:

You’re welcome. Happy to be of assistance.

Btw, I checked out the OBS studio and reviews, very good and highly rated.  I downloaded Flashback Express movie recorder and player.  From Review, very good and easier to learn and use for relative beginner.  Thanks for the info and your good teaching method thru OBS!

[GarryP]

It took me a while to get OBS Studio up-and-running as I needed to do two very specific things because of my laptop set-up (additional NVIDIA GPU and external screen). Unfortunately the instructions for each were in different places and I had to hunt around for some time before I discovered both (two separate troubleshooting pages).

If you have found something that you like using then that’s great but make sure it can record the whole screen with the menus and dialogs – not all screen recorders can do so and they only record a selected window (game recording software usually does this).

[cutout3]

10 hours ago, GarryP said:

It took me a while to get OBS Studio up-and-running as I needed to do two very specific things because of my laptop set-up (additional NVIDIA GPU and external screen). Unfortunately the instructions for each were in different places and I had to hunt around for some time before I discovered both (two separate troubleshooting pages).

If you have found something that you like using then that’s great but make sure it can record the whole screen with the menus and dialogs – not all screen recorders can do so and they only record a selected window (game recording software usually does this).

Roger that.  Good advice.  It will probably be awhile before I get around to it, but I will keep your advice in mind.  Thanks.  See you around!!

[cutout3]

@GarryP,  one more thing,

My original question was answered.  I was cutting out on one pic, and pasting into another, still a good thing to know for sure, and necessary.  Then you showed me how to cutout of one pic and paste into same pic (really good to know, thank you!).  Yet I tried cutting out of one pic, then doing multi-pasting into same pic.  It only allowed me to paste once.       It would be very nice to paste the same cut multiple times into one pic, maybe flipping it half way thru.

Can I give you a task?  Using your OSB studio software, and the 'lips' pic (your post #2 here), copy and paste her 'diamond stud' (at the top of her lip), to the bottom lip, and to her right and left sides of lips (flipping it once), so that she has 4 diamond studs, surrounding her lips.  Is that possible to do from one pic, to same pic?

I can do this easily from one pic to another pic copy, but doing it in same pic would be really cool and easier.

I will buy you a beer if you can do!

[GarryP]

You can Paste as many times as you want but you need to use menu “Select → Deselect” first, see first attached video.
Note that, in this case, you probably wouldn’t want to flip/rotate the stud as it’s reflecting the light in a certain direction which would then be reflected incorrectly after flip/rotate. (Also, the pasted layers look awful, but that’s fairly obvious.)

If you want to create more studs, one technique in this specific case – amongst many (maybe better) others – would be to use the Elliptical Select Tool with a bit of Feathering, make duplicate copies, and then merge those copies, see second attached video. (The result can then be further enhanced as it’s still quite crude in my video.)

If you want to experiment, you can find the original image here: https://pixabay.com/photos/bindi-asian-jewellery-beauty-2416039/

[cutout3]

@GarryP,

"You can Paste as many times as you want but you need to use menu “Select → Deselect” first, see first attached video."

Thanks so much again!

Before your last post I was trying to answer my own question.  Tried everything, then came to the conclusion, that you can paste multiple times into same pic, but you have to “Select → Deselect” first, as you said.  At least I figured that out!  Thanks for confirming it though!

I'll read rest of your post and go thru in it detail tomorrow.  Back to you then.

PS, the reason I'm formating my response like this is:  I hit "Quote" to respond to you, but didn't want to quote your OBS stuff in response.  It wouldn't let me selectively delete them.   Anyway a little problem with the Forum here I suppose, minor but frustrating.  Later.

[cutout3]

On 2/27/2021 at 2:49 AM, GarryP said:

You can Paste as many times as you want but you need to use menu “Select → Deselect” first, see first attached video.
Note that, in this case, you probably wouldn’t want to flip/rotate the stud as it’s reflecting the light in a certain direction which would then be reflected incorrectly after flip/rotate. (Also, the pasted layers look awful, but that’s fairly obvious.)

If you want to create more studs, one technique in this specific case – amongst many (maybe better) others – would be to use the Elliptical Select Tool with a bit of Feathering, make duplicate copies, and then merge those copies, see second attached video. (The result can then be further enhanced as it’s still quite crude in my video.)

If you want to experiment, you can find the original image here: https://pixabay.com/photos/bindi-asian-jewellery-beauty-2416039/

Fantastic!  I know this kind of stuff is probably pretty simple for you.  You make it seem so easy!  I was doing it wrong in movie 1 above.  You completely clarified it!   I'm glad I asked you as stuff like this is a lot of what I'm doing now.  It's now going to be so much easier!

Movie 2 here is a bit harder.  I'm going to have to study that one.  But I'll learn it thanks to you.  

Then hopefully I'll slowly learn more of the tricks and jewels that makes up Affinity Photo.  

Thanks again!  Your posts have been extremely helpful to me and appreciated!!!  I'm so glad there are people like you who are willing to help others.  I hope to pass it down the line and return the favor to someone else, in the future.

[Alfred]

22 hours ago, cutout3 said:

I hit "Quote" to respond to you, but didn't want to quote your OBS stuff in response.  It wouldn't let me selectively delete them.

That’s very odd! It should have allowed you to edit whatever appeared in the ‘Quote’ box.

Another way to achieve selective quotation is to highlight whatever you want to quote.That should make a ‘Quote selection’ button appear below the highlighted content.

[GarryP]

You’re welcome @cutout3

The technique I gave using the Elliptical Select Tool works reasonably well in this case because I was selecting something on skin to be pasted back onto skin.
Different techniques will probably work better when you’re working with different materials.
Photo has many different ways to select pixels and I’m not sure how to use all of them properly as I’m still learning myself – I just do this as a hobby.

[cutout3]

10 hours ago, GarryP said:

Photo has many different ways to select pixels and I’m not sure how to use all of them properly as I’m still learning myself – I just do this as a hobby.

Haha, I was sure you were a paid consultant! 

Thanks GarryP!