Using clone tool

[vpkumar]

I am finding it difficult to use he clone tool to clear up my picture. When I alt click and sect a source, the  + sign appears, but it seems to follow my cursor very closely. I am not able to keep them apart.  Because of this I keep getting unwanted cloned images. Why does my + sign keep following the cursor so closely. How to keep them apart.

Kindly can anyone explain this or give a reference of some good video on using this tool.

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, @vpkumar.

If you don’t want the ‘+’ sign to follow the cursor, you need to turn off the ‘Aligned’ option.

Affinity Photo Help: Clone Brush Tool

Quote

Aligned—when selected (default), the origin of the sample remains a fixed distance from the pointer. If this option is off, the origin of the sample always returns to the sample location defined initially.

 

[Dan C]

Hi @vpkumar,

Sorry to hear you're having trouble!

When using the Clone Brush Tool, you should see an option on the Context Toolbar for 'Aligned' - when enabled, the origin of the sample remains a fixed distance from the pointer. If this option is off, the origin of the sample always returns to the sample location defined initially.

If you untick this option and use the tool, does it behave as you're expecting?

If you haven't already, please see the tutorial for this tool below -

https://affinity.serif.com/tutorials/photo/desktop/video/331957237/

I hope this helps

[nickbatz]

This relates to why I posted a feature request a while ago: the ability to draw a source path for the clone brush to follow.

Of course, it was met with people trying to explain why I don't want that. But it would be a great feature.

[Alfred]

On 8/5/2022 at 7:37 PM, nickbatz said:

it was met with people trying to explain why I don't want that

LOL. Some people don’t seem too keen to acknowledge that they can only say why they don’t want something, not why you don’t!

I can’t say I’ve given much thought to source paths for cloning, but I’d certainly like to be able to circumscribe a source area for inpainting. The current algorithm often picks up source pixels that I don’t want to use.

[smadell]

@Alfred - if you want to specify a source for inpainting, isn’t that (more or less) what the Healing Brush tool does?

[Alfred]

43 minutes ago, smadell said:

@Alfred - if you want to specify a source for inpainting, isn’t that (more or less) what the Healing Brush tool does?

You may well be right, Seth — you usually are! I’ve hardly ever used the Healing Brush Tool.

[smadell]

@Alfred - I’ve been doing some “tutoring” with a friend who owns Affinity Photo but has been completely bamboozled by it. We started (maybe in the wrong place) when she said, “I need to learn how to get rid of things in the background.” So, we started with Inpainting and this morning we’ll graduate to Cloning. Next up after that will be Blemish Removal and Healing. And, like any teacher who has to stay 1 lesson ahead of the student(s), I figured I finally needed to figure out what the actual differences were among all those very similar tools. So, it’s been on my mind this morning! Turns out there’s a lot of overlap in the function of many of them. (And, before anyone asks, I absolutely hate the Patch tool, and nearly never use it!)