Suggestion: Selected layer saved in document.

[Nils-Petter Olsen]

Just a small suggestion - if maybe which layer groups are open and which layers are selected could be saved in the document, so you could start right where you left off and save a few seconds to navigate the layer panel?

Would also be useful for artists (like me) who start with a template document, and usually start sketching on a specific layer in that template.

[Pšenda]

But then it would also like selecting the same tool, the same display of panels / studios and Persona, the same zoom and document position, just the whole context of the work environment.

[Nils-Petter Olsen]

I do think that which layer group is open or not, is more connected to the document than which tool, layout etc is selected, because you can work on different documents and it would be confusing (and resource hogging) if the application shifted from brush to, lets say lasso tool when loading another document. Whereas the layer panel stays as it is when you last worked on that document while it is open, even if you do work on another document in between. So the only consequence of saving the state of the layer panel would be a slightly larger document, and very slightly longer loading time when opening the doc.

[Pšenda]

28 minutes ago, Nils-Petter Olsen said:

as it is when you last worked on that document

If you want to return the status "as you last worked on the document", so that you could continue working where you left off / interrupted it, then in my opinion it is with everything. On the contrary, it will be confusing when something returns to the previous state and something does not. The ability to save status would be like saving history and thumbnails preferences, so each user can choose according to their needs - and therefore will not be confused by changing the environment.

P.S. Selecting and expanding layers in the Layer panel does not make much sense if it is not even displayed.

[Nils-Petter Olsen]

Hmm.. but AP already remembers which layer group is open and which layer is selected when switching between multiple open documents? The only difference would be that this info could be stored when saving the document. Can't see how that would be confusing?

[Frozen Death Knight]

23 hours ago, Pšenda said:

But then it would also like selecting the same tool, the same display of panels / studios and Persona, the same zoom and document position, just the whole context of the work environment.

Yes, those would be great improvements as well. However, the feature OP is referring to already exists in Affinity... On Mac only. Windows has had this bug for quite some time and I reported it back in 2020. When I did a trial of Affinity on Mac at one point I realised that this bug was not present there, so it is a platform specific bug.

 

[Pšenda]

34 minutes ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

Windows has had this bug for quite some time and I reported it back in 2020.

Unfortunately, just another case of that the Windows platform is on the sidelines.