Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Cloning Colors / Eye Dropper Tool Shortcut?


Recommended Posts

Okay, this is soo frustrating - I end up needing to use Illustrator again. I don't understand how you can use Affinity Designer to do many kinds of tasks without an eye-dropper tool. YES, i know there is that click and drag piece of rubbish in the colour panel - it's so awful.

 

Here's my work flow, perhaps someone can point me in the right direction?

  • use pen tool to create polygons
  • drag eye dropper to select colour of base image
  • click colour to apply
  • repeat 1000 times...

 

Using a laptop with trackpad this is ridiculous! Sometimes I draw all my polygons, then need to apply coloured fills and this is so impractical. We need a tool / keyboard shortcut for this task - I'm desperate to keep using Affinity Designer - but without this I can't continue for these projects.

 

here's how I can do the same thing in Illustrator:

  • Draw poly shape (no fill)
  • press eye dropper short cut
  • click colour
  • press pen tool shortcut 
  • Repeat

this seems longer, but it's about 2-3 times quicker on a laptop than Affinity

 

or do it bulk in illustrator

  • Draw all polys (no fill)
  • using eyedropper tool, select a shape (command click)
  • click colour
  • Repeat steps 2 & 3

This is so quick and involves so little frustrating dragging across my entire artboard.

post-29175-0-17317100-1459237898_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am no expert.  But if it were me, I think I would first make a custom palette from the image.  Then I would create my objects, start at the top, or bottom, and use the option-cmd-open or close bracket to move through my selections, and every time I go to a new shape I would select the color I want from my swatches and press option-cmd-open or close bracket to go to my next object and repeat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't understand why this hasn't been fixed yet.

 

I have lots of colors that I want to pick. Why do I have to go through that tedious loop of dragging that thing, then going back with the mouse and click a SECOND time on it to get selected, and after all that finally being able to fill a square with the color I want.

 

Seems 2 steps to many for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@eaigner Completely agree… it's quite ridiculous.

 

The process should be as simple as:

 

1. Select an object(s)

2. Press keyboard shortcut and cursor switches to color picker

3. Click to sample any color on the screen -- selected object(s) receive that color

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

You may have to pick colors a hundred times during a vector illustration session. The drag'n'drop doesn't make much sense.

 

Interestingly, with bitmap tools, the color switching is one click away. And it works perfectly; ALT always under the finger, superfast. What prevents you from applying the same logic to vectors?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@eaigner Completely agree… it's quite ridiculous.

 

The process should be as simple as:

 

1. Select an object(s)

2. Press keyboard shortcut and cursor switches to color picker

3. Click to sample any color on the screen -- selected object(s) receive that color

It should be even simpler than that: with a real eyedropper tool (one that appears in the tools palette & can be assigned a keyboard shortcut), one of the modifier keys (Command, Control, or preferably Alt/Option) can be used when needed to pick up (sample) a color from the document, so that sequentially clicking on objects (either on their fill or stroke) drops the current eyedropper color on their fill or stroke respectively, without having to use any modifier key at all.

 

If multiple objects are already selected, clicking on the fill or stroke of any one of them sets all their fills or strokes respectively to the current eyedropper color, again without the need to hold down any modifier key.

 

When you don't want or need to sample a color from the document, you set the eyedropper tool by clicking on an existing color in the Swatches panel, or with the Color panel, just as you do now.

 

Plus, since it is selectable tool, the other modifier keys are available for other options, like say apply the current eyedropper color only to strokes, only to fills, or to both. And since the Context menu would show the fill & stroke colors just like it does now, that is another way to set both fill & stroke colors.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hi Pierrick,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Currently ⌥ (option/alt) is used to perform other functions related to vector editing namely to disable snapping temporarily and to duplicate an object without snapping (alt + drag).

 

 The lack of proper eyedroper tool is one of the biggest omissions in AD so far for a vector designer, it's driving your users back to ID  :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I’d just like to add that I agree with everyone else. The way the eyedropper works in Affinity Photo is unintuitive an inefficient. While that does make it consistent with the rest of the UI being unintuitive and inefficient, this tool is especially bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Hi TheNvigator,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Can you be more specific about what you find unintuitive and inefficient?

It doesn't work necessarily like other software but that doesn't mean it's unintuitive. While some features are still missing or need some improvements - the software is relatively new compared to other solutions - it already performs quite well considering it's still in its early years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I think I may have found a solution to this issue as it is one I have had as well.

In the Layers drop down menu you will find Layer Effects. 

First select the layer you want to change the colour of.

Then click on Layer Effects in Layers drop down menu from the main navigation menu.

Now select Colour Overlay.

You might have to click back the layer to have the colour options show up, but you will find that you can change the Blend Mode, Opacity and Colour.

If you click on the colour swatch other options and the Eyedropper will become visible.  

Then you can use the Eye Dropper by holding down the option key at the same time as dragging the eye dropper.

I agree it would be better if this was made more obvious.

It would also be beneficial to be able to key in the colour you want, but if you use a third party app like Color Picker you can get around it easily with the Eye Dropper

Some times its just knowing where the tools are in the software. 

I took a screen shot so you can see for yourself. (see below)

post-28418-0-44609400-1473805868_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

The really sad thing is that eyedropper was a standard tool in ACDSee Photo Editor 7 and 9. It is one of several reasons I keep those two versions on my system.  Always liked ACDSee, but they made some, what I consider, seriousdesign flaws by eliminating  functions while "improving" the software.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I agree - a proper eye dropper tool would be very helpful.

In Illustrator, I'm used to being able to choose the eyedropper tool by hitting the "i" key. From there, I can either click to select a color or Alt + Click to apply a previously loaded color. 

This is WAY, WAY faster than the current method in Affinity. Addressing this quickly would be a huge help. 

 

Very much related to this is the "Select Similar..." command in Illustrator. That is a giant time saver. I would love to be able to select all objects with the same fill color, or all lines with the same appearance or similar. This is really helpful and I've really missed it since I started using Affinity more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Egad.   I didn't really understand the procedure illustrated by @josh.b .    I'm doing something ultra simple and only need to clone a color.   At the moment I dick around with manually adjusting colors until they match other colors.   Cloning colors in other programs such as Gimp and maybe Photoshop (haven't used PS in years) is trivial.   I would have hoped it would have been equally as easy to clone a color in Photo Affinity   I hope I'm wrong, but given the dates of this thread - starting in 2016 - I take it Affinity Photo has no plans of adding a clone color feature that is easy to use - easy enough even for me to use.     :(    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
  • 1 year later...

I'm also eager to see updates on this. It's still annoying me regularily.

You have to move the mouse from somewhere that's probably near the color you want to pick, to one of the tiniest buttons in the interface, then back to the color and then back to the button in order to apply it.

I roll my eyes just as much as my wrist joint, every time I need to pick a colour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Hi @Sebastian Kranz,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
This thread is quite old and a bit outdated now. I'm not sure about the context/workflow you are using the colour picker.
Select the Eyedropper Tool in the toolbar on the left (by default) or press "I", make sure Apply To Selection box is ticked in the context toolbar, click with the eyedropper where you want to pick the colour and it will be immediately applied to whatever you have selected.

If you are painting with a brush tool and want to invoke the colour picker, press and hold alt+cmd on macOS (or ALT only if are using Windows) drag the mouse a little until the loupe appears to pick the colour you want then release the mouse and keys to continue painting with the brush/new colour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/22/2021 at 4:40 PM, MEB said:

Hi @Sebastian Kranz,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
This thread is quite old and a bit outdated now. I'm not sure about the context/workflow you are using the colour picker.
Select the Eyedropper Tool in the toolbar on the left (by default) or press "I", make sure Apply To Selection box is ticked in the context toolbar, click with the eyedropper where you want to pick the colour and it will be immediately applied to whatever you have selected.

If you are painting with a brush tool and want to invoke the colour picker, press and hold alt+cmd on macOS (or ALT only if are using Windows) drag the mouse a little until the loupe appears to pick the colour you want then release the mouse and keys to continue painting with the brush/new colour.

Hey,

the Issue with the "I"-Colorpicker is that it's too limited:

  • It can't select colours outside the canvas and from other applications
  • It can only style the fill and stroke. I can't, for example, choose a color for an effect
  • Since it's a tool, it can't be used without closing whatever modal your in: If you're editing a text style in publisher, you would need to close all windows before you can use it.

So most of the time, I still use the eye-dropper

From any color picker in Sketch, you can press ctrl+c to bring up an eye dropper. Your selection is immediately applied after clicking. You can even move the mouse to it's destination while pressing the shortcut to save some time.

Edited by Sebastian Kranz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.