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How to make a selection to copy/paste??


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I can't believe I'm asking this (Photoshop user for 30 years), but please tell me where I'm going wrong...

Let's say I have a picture of a car, and I just want to copy one of the wheels to paste elsewhere. Typically...I'd first select that layer the car's on so it's active, use one of the selection tools (elliptical marquee, in this case) to make a circular selection around the wheel, select 'copy,' then paste wherever. 

However, when I go to paste, what I get is...the entire original car image, not the single wheel I'd clearly selected to copy.

I don't know if it's a simple setting, but I can't find anything. Am I going insane?? 😔

 

 

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No you're not going insane, it's just the software wanting you do a particular function/step.

Without seeing a screen shot it sounds like you're trying to make a copy from an image file, rather than a rasterised layer.

Rasterise the layer first then make the copy & paste.

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.

These are not my own words but I sure like this quote.

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Thanks so much...that definitely did the trick.

I'm a little confused as I just did a test, and even a JPG I snagged from the internet needed to be rasterized before I could copy just a selection of it. The JPG was already a raster image (obviously not vector), so I'm unclear why it would even need to be rasterized.

I'm sure there's an explanation -- and it's a bit moot in the end since this resolved my issue -- just wondering. 

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image allows you to replace images, this is very useful for working with complex design

Replace_Image.png.2c64b802cc626c4d951a9c9c3f5c195e.png

 

image allows you to return the original scale or dpi (ppi)

Original_Scale.png.1823c03e250ac0474d35b81fdfa328b9.png

 

image saves compression if it is jpg, reducing document file size
https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Layers/layerImage.html

 

image can be a link to a file, which greatly reduces document file size
https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Media/embeddingVsLinking.html

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An "(Image)" layer also can be converted to a curve layer via the "Convert to Curves" button, given a stroke, & its shape adjusted with the Node Tool.

Image to Curve.afphoto

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.2 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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6 hours ago, RobbieinOak said:

Thanks so much...that definitely did the trick.

I'm a little confused as I just did a test, and even a JPG I snagged from the internet needed to be rasterized before I could copy just a selection of it. The JPG was already a raster image (obviously not vector), so I'm unclear why it would even need to be rasterized.

I'm sure there's an explanation -- and it's a bit moot in the end since this resolved my issue -- just wondering. 

How are you opening the file/picture in Affinity Photo?

If you place an image from the file menu (jpeg or not) Affinity will read it as an image file.

If you drag an image from an open folder into Affinity (jpeg or not), this too will be read as an image file.

If you open a file from the file menu (opens in a separate window) then copy & paste from the menu tab into your document, this will be read as a pixel image - and thus editable by the method you were trying to do.

I don't know why Affinity behaves this way - I'm no expert, but it just does. Hope this helps to explain it a bit more. There are lots of people in here who are far more capable than me in giving a more technical explanation.

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.

These are not my own words but I sure like this quote.

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On 7/29/2021 at 9:46 PM, AffinityJules said:

Without seeing a screen shot it sounds like you're trying to make a copy from an image file, rather than a rasterised layer.

Rasterise the layer first then make the copy & paste.

@RobbieinOak&@AffinityJulesyou can copy a selection from an image type layer with Edit > Copy Merged (Shift-Ctrl/Cmd-C). When you then Edit > Paste (Ctrl/Cmd-V), you will get a new pixel type layer with the selection. Image layers are immutable - you can't change the pixels, but otherwise they behave like pixel layers. Copy Merged tells AP to only copy the pixels in the region(s) you have selected which seems to be the default operation with pixel layers. And, of course, you cannot paste into an image layer because you can't change the pixels. As others have proposed, I think the purpose of image layers is to reduce AP file sizes and to make it easier to import images that you are not going to destructive change in AP. Image layers are affected by adjustment, filter and mask layers when rendered. GL!

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