Cmd+Click Layer pixel selection equivalent?

[n8r]

as posted, on Desktop (affinity Designer/Photo / Photoshop, etc) this quickly and PERFECTLY selects a pixel layer. think 'marching ants' - not a rectangular transform selection. this works especially well for very fine lines or rasterized color gradients, etc. it honors slight variations in pixel opacity. however there is no way to do this on the iPad version of Designer or Photo, at least i cannot find it.

every site i ask this question on seems to think the selection tools suffice (flood, smart, etc), but i've found that's not the case. adjusting tolerance endlessly still doesn't give me a perfect selection of pixels. on Desktop apps,i like to use a selection like this and use it to paint black or white in previously created layer masks, or even use the selection to 'punch out' that shape into a new mask. but the selection tools available in the toolbar make it look harsh or jagged, especially over high contrast backgrounds.

please advise, am i missing something or is the functionality not included on iPad? this doesn't work with a BT keyboard either, as Cmd+Tap Layer does nothing.

thanks!

[Dan C]

Hi @n8r,

Please see the below thread where this has been discussed previously, with suggested workarounds and macros you can download/import for use on your iPad -

I hope this helps

[n8r]

2 hours ago, Dan C said:

Hi @n8r,

Please see the below thread where this has been discussed previously, with suggested workarounds and macros you can download/import for use on your iPad -

I hope this helps

very strange missing function! thanks for the info - will the macros in that thread only work for Affinity Photo, or Designer as well? they downloaded as Photo associated files

secondly, is the function of editing a layer mask in 'layer mask mode' also missing? as in, your canvas becomes black and white after clicking into the layer mask itself (so that you can paint in black or white with visual precision)?

i use that feature and layer selection almost as a lifeblood when compositing. i'll add pixel selection as a feature request, but curious about mask editing..

[Dan C]

17 hours ago, n8r said:

will the macros in that thread only work for Affinity Photo, or Designer as well? they downloaded as Photo associated files

Unfortunately Macros are only compatible with Affinity Photo at this time, my apologies.

17 hours ago, n8r said:

secondly, is the function of editing a layer mask in 'layer mask mode' also missing? as in, your canvas becomes black and white after clicking into the layer mask itself (so that you can paint in black or white with visual precision)?

I can confirm this is certainly possible, select the Mask layer, then in the Layers Studio select Layer Options (...), here you have the option to set the View Mode to Solo, which will display the black and white matte of the mask only.

Once you're finished editing, simply select the same option to return the document to the normal view.

I hope this clears things up!

[NotMyFault]

Coming back to the original question from the thread title:

Cmd+Click Layer pixel selection equivalent?

this shortcut key is used for “selection from layer”. The same function is available on Photo for iPad, via the menu. Unfortunately this requires to switch to selection persona, and back to photo persona. Having a bluetooth keyboard may solve the issue.

On Designer, lacking Selection Persona, you are stuck.

If you are looking for getting a luminance selection:

• unfortunately not available on iPad
• if you search in online help for “luminance”, it will show the same help section, but gives no information how to achieve this on iPad.
• https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Selections/selections_fromlayers.html

Help for iPad

help for Desktop:

[NotMyFault]

It seems there is no method to create a luminance selection in Designer on iPad. You could create a luminance Mask, but as both Selection Persona and Channels Panel are missing, you cannot convert from masks to selections. I think this is not a big deal, as luminance masks are mostly used to create a mask (or inherent mask of adjustment layer).

[TrailwayCo]

I'm seriously stuck here too. I want to do shading by making selections from vector layer so that all my shading can be on one pixel layer but need this functionality on iPad to make use of shading with the Apple Pencil. Any updates on this? 

[NotMyFault]

Designer V2 offers „Selection from Layer“ in Pixel Persona.

Long-press to get context menu