Essential features! / Copy Layer Mask/ Layer Fill/ Density and Feather/ Right Click/ etc.

[GZA]

I want to start with how impressed I’m with Affinity Photo. This is probably the only software I happily paid for. I’m so tired of monthly subscriptions and the value in Affinity is huge. And honestly for me Affinity Photo is the only reason to use an iPad. So nice for small jobs and family stuff.

Saying that… there are functions missing that will keep me away from using it. At least for now.

As a “professional” photographer in the Fashion and Advertising business for 10 years now and a photoshop user since Photoshop CS2 there are functions that I think are really important and are missing in one form or another from Affinity. It’s not something that will make my work impossible but it’s definitely slowing me a lot and will make me stay away from this otherwise amazing software.


Layers

Layer Opacity & Layer Fill:
Layer fill gives a totally different way of using and blending layers.
There is already a topic on the subject so I’ll post it here. Plus having them both in a single layer gives you an option to combine them.

Example by @mso1977
Posted November 21, 2018

 

Layer mask 1:

Copy layer mask by drag & drop without using “Links menu” - honestly when you have to deliver images in short deadlines who have the time to brows around menus ?
Sometimes simple mask copy is all you need to quickly adjust something.

Example by @Jowday
Posted February 8, 2021

 

Layer mask 2:

Density and feather.
I know these features can be found but they are on separate windows/option menus. It’s so much faster to configure every mask related thing on the mask itself.

 

 

Right Click

Right click on every tool especially paint brush, healing brush and clone brush.

When retouching Is so much faster to change brush options without distracting yourself looking around.
Also I’m changing the angle of the brush a lot when retouching. So browsing the menus and panels is not ideal.


 

 

Macro

Macro 1:
More freedom when creating Macros. Grouping more than one layer and moving layers around is a must!

Macro 2: 
Colour tags in Macros.
I don't think that having colour tags is essential but will definitely help a lot when having multiple groups of macro actions.

 

 

Shortcuts

Shortcut for colour chooser “colour picker tool”. Looking around distracts and perception is lost.
It should pop-up in the middle of the screen with a quick keystroke.
This one might exist but I'm not finding it so if anyone know if it exist let me know.

 

 

Workspace

Export Workspace: There needs to be a way to save your workspace.
For the competition software I have Workspace, keyboard shortcuts, actions and other things that I carry on a thumb drive and I can quickly upload on different computer to do a job.

Useful if you do clean install of the OS frequently.

 

The not so important for me, but still important topics.

 

Filmstrip view:
FilmStrip in develop persona. Making changes on multiple files.

There is already a topic on the subject so I’ll post it here

 

User Interface:

The UI on the iPad version looks more sleek and professional than the desktop one.

This one is not a big deal, but I’ll really appreciate it if the design is as clean and monochromatic as the iPad version. Sliders look better, icons look better, menu panels are compact and clean…

Everything in the iPad UI is like a software from 2021.

The desktop version look and feel at least 15 Years old.

 

 

I know this is a completely different software and we cannot expect the same features as PS. And for new users it might not matter, but for people who used photoshop for 20 years is really difficult to switch

I’m sure there are tons of features missing and I’m sure you guys are working around to get them in for future updates, but as someone who work "professionally" these are really essential things in my opinion that can speed up everybody’s workflow.

Much appreciate it!