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Affinity Photo generally very unintuitive


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8 hours ago, cajhin said:

Update: challenge, quick! Where's the paint brush?

If your screen estate allows it, make your own tool layout. Here's mine:

aph_tools.png.b474ca85011385e98c7604454b132e99.png

For the record, something like this wasn't possible in Photoshop CS5, so +1 point for Affinity. ;)

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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13 minutes ago, Paul_Hol said:

Custom control panels were available in Photoshop CS4

I'm talking about the Tools panel.
And these are the only two "customizations" that I can do to it in CS5:

ps_tools1.png.0c85e6d806a3e3f8abcce831a28c664c.png  ps_tools2.png.f653719cf4e1d84a3833dfa275efc067.png

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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3 minutes ago, loukash said:

I'm talking about the Tools panel.
And these are the only two "customizations" that I can do to it in CS5

That said, I definitely like Schmadobe's tool icons better.
Or in other words, there's a reason why I don't opt for Affinity's monochrome icons…

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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1 hour ago, loukash said:

I'm talking about the Tools panel.
And these are the only two "customizations" that I can do to it in CS5:

 

You can very easily build custom tools panels using Adobe configurator which became available (free) from CS4 onwards. You can not only put on tools, but also buttons for actions and widgets etc. A great utility too few people know about.

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8 minutes ago, Paul_Hol said:

You can very easily build custom tools panels using Adobe configurator which became available (free) from CS4 onwards.

Interesting!
Found Configurator 4 download page via web.archive.org but that doesn't work with CS5.

10 minutes ago, Paul_Hol said:

A great utility too few people know about.

Definitely.
And that's why I'd say it doesn't really count. ;)
Because if I want to set up my own Tools panel in Affinity, I need to go only as far as View > Customize Tools.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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2 hours ago, Paul_Hol said:

A great utility

Found the Configurator 3.1.1 download link for CS5, eventually.
Quickly built simple customized Tools panel.
Doesn't display anything and crashes PS.
Not worth any more time to troubleshoot.
Case closed.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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  • 3 years later...

Oh my, jaromor, I could not agree with you more. A couple months ago I had almost posted a very similar assessment.

I was a Serif user. I owned every single software they produced, and I used every single one of them regularly. I even built websites with WebPlus and I knew zero about code. Serif products were almost too good to be true because they were extremely intuitive and yet affordable.

Then Affinity came along.

Sigh.

Honestly, my first thought was "Who bought Serif and crapped it all up?" From a GREAT line of intuitive products to this trio of Adobe-wannabe uselessness. (I use Illustrator and it's more intuitive, which is remarkable in itself.)

I too have the three Affinity products on my computer that just sit there taking up computer real estate. The personas are inexplicable, the ease of use is nonexistent. I wander, wander, wander, click, click, click, fail, fail, fail....

And I'm no stranger to difficult softwares - I regularly use TVPaint.

Just today I opened Affinity Photo because I wanted to merely desaturate an image.

Sigh.

An hour later, and after reading the Affinity Photo Help, I gave up. The Affinity Photo Help is inadequate, and a hair-width away from useless. It would instruct me to desaturate in the "Adjustment panel" in the Photo persona. If any of you can find the "Adjustment panel," I congratulate you.

I don't want to hear guff about watching the tutorials: that I cannot accomplish a simple task in a short amount of time is a great shame to Affinity.

My suggestion: reassemble the team that developed Serif products to reconstitute these awful "iterations."

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7 minutes ago, toonybrain said:

I'm no stranger to difficult softwares

5 minutes ago, toonybrain said:

I wanted to merely desaturate an image

Is there anything wrong with the good ole simple HSL adjustment…?
https://affinity.help/photo2/en-US.lproj/pages/Adjustments/adjustment_HSL.html

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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11 minutes ago, toonybrain said:

If any of you can find the "Adjustment panel," I congratulate you.

Quote

Adjustment panel (Photo Persona only)

The Adjustment panel allows you to apply color and tonal corrections to your image non-destructively, i.e., without making permanent changes to the underlying pixels.

This panel is hidden by default. It can be switched on via the Window menu.

^ from https://affinity.help/photo2/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/adjustmentsPanel.html, color emphasis mine.
Hope that helps.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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40 minutes ago, loukash said:

Is there anything wrong with the good ole simple HSL adjustment…?
https://affinity.help/photo2/en-US.lproj/pages/Adjustments/adjustment_HSL.html

Agreed. Sometimes what is familiar can be confused with what is intuitive. From the same Help topic: "You can also apply an adjustment layer directly from the Layers panel instead of starting from a preset."

Applying an HSL layer can be accomplished in any of several ways in both a Mac and in a Windows PC:

  • From the Adjustment panel
  • From within the Layers panel and tapping the Adjustments icon at the bottom of this panel
  • From inside the menu (Layers > New Adjustment Layer > HSL)
  • Keyboard shortcut: Command + U (Windows: Ctrl + U)

Here is a screenshot of how to access HSL adjustment from within the Layers panel in Affinity Photo 1.10.8. It's only a click away, and it works essentially the same in Affinity Photo 2.x.

Affinity_Photo_1.9_Adjustments-HSL.png

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16 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

Affinity Photo 1.10.8.

52 minutes ago, loukash said:

"This panel is hidden by default. It can be switched on via the Window menu."

In the help files for v1, this note is apparently missing: https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/adjustmentsPanel.html
And the panels are slightly buried in the View → Studio submenu.

So if @toonybrain is still using v1, then fair enough, it is slightly "less easy" to find.
Although… wasn't the Adjustments panel enabled by default in v1? (I don't remember, I rarely ever use this panel anyway.)

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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1 minute ago, loukash said:

In the help files for v1, this note is apparently missing: https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/adjustmentsPanel.html
And the panels are slightly buried in the View → Studio submenu.

So if @toonybrain is still using v1, then fair enough, it is slightly "less easy" to find.
Although… wasn't the Adjustments panel enabled by default in v1? (I don't remember, I rarely ever use this panel anyway.)

I would have to say "YES, it was always visible and readily available in version 1.x.

I don't recall it ever being hidden, which is why I was slightly surprised by your quote from the Help file. But since we have no fewer than four different easy ways to get to it with only a click or two, it's generally been a non-issue.

I utilize this panel fairly regularly. 

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10 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

I would have to say "YES, it was always visible and readily available in version 1.x.

I don't recall it ever being hidden

Reset Studio to the rescue! ;) 
It's even open upfront by default:

aph1_reset_studio_panels.png.dfa997b46b23485df2c5996cfd01af3e.png

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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