Invert Pixel Selection area SHORTCUT not working. + Masked area assist?

[henryb]

Hello!

I have read that to invert a pixel selection (selected area) quickly, the shortcut is CMD+i. It is definitely not working for me. Is there maybe somewhere in AP (on Mac) where I can "set" what these shortcuts will do (if that is the reason I'm having this problem)?

 

*In the attached screenshots, I show: 1) an arbitrarily selected area (my face), then 2) when I hit the mask button it (correctly) masks out my face and hides everything else around the selected area. 3) Then I show what happens when I press CMD+i (in my attempt to invert the mask - so to select everything outside the face's area) and the selection ISN'T inverted but something else happens instead...), and 4) I show a successful selection inversion (and masking out of the surroundings, while hiding my face) - which is what I was unsuccessfully trying to do with the CMD+i shortcut before - and achieved this only via the "long way" of pressing the Invert button in the Channels' tab.

 

Also, is there some kind of view assist option which I can toggle on to make it more obvious which area/s is/are selected? Say, by dimming the unselected area/s?

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, henryb said:

I have read that to invert a pixel selection (selected area) quickly, the shortcut is CMD+i

I'm not sure where you read that, but if you look in the Select menu (since you're working with a Selection) you'll find what your actual shortcut is. If you haven't changed them it's probably Cmd+Shift+I. 

[v_kyr]

• Selection menu:

• Layer menu:

[henryb]

4 hours ago, v_kyr said:

• Selection menu:

• Layer menu:

thanks! But since I can't read German, reading walt.farrell's reply above, it looks like shift+cmd+i will invert the pixel selection (so I guess that's what your 1st photo shows). But your second photo looks like it shows that cmd+i ALSO "inverts". But what does that command invert, then, if not the pixel selection area? The colors?

[v_kyr]

9 minutes ago, henryb said:

it looks like shift+cmd+i will invert the pixel selection (so I guess that's what your 1st photo shows)

Jip.

9 minutes ago, henryb said:

But your second photo looks like it shows that cmd+i ALSO "inverts". But what does that command invert, then, if not the pixel selection area? The colors?

Yes, as you already saw from your above image posting.

You can also always look after all those things in the Affinity Photo Online help:

• https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/index.html

 

[David in Яuislip]

What v_kyr said plus

Select/Invert Pixel Selection changes the selection so that what was selected now isn't and what wasn't is

Layer/Invert basically applies an inverted Curves Adjustment

[walt.farrell]

36 minutes ago, henryb said:

But what does that command invert, then, if not the pixel selection area? The colors?

The Layer content, since it's in the Layer menu. And when you happen to have a pixel selection active, it would act on the selected pixels of the selected layer.

[henryb]

Ok, now I got it!  CMD+I inverts the light & color curves on the selected ("active") area, while SHIFT+CMD+I inverts the selected area that is "active", making the area/s that were active into non-active, and the area/s that were non-active into active!  Thank you all for the help!!