Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
  • Product: Affinity Photo 2
  • OS: Windows 11 Home 22H2, build 22621.819, Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22636.1000.0
  • Affected Tool: Clone (haven't tried Heal, but it's probably affected as well)

When selecting a clone source with my pen via Alt+click (pen tap) the main app menu is focused but not released. It works properly with my mouse but not with my tablet (Wacom Intuos S).

With mouse - Correct

  1. Press Alt
    1. Menu is activated (hotkeys are underlined)
  2. Select source with mouse left-click
  3. Release Alt
    1. Menu is deactivated
  4. Clone

With tablet / pen - Incorrect

  1. Press Alt
    1. Menu is activated (hotkeys are underlined)
  2. Select source by tapping the pen once
  3. Release Alt
    1. Menu is still activated
  4. Press Alt again to deactivate menu
  5. Clone

This happens on any document but did not happen in Photo 1. Cloning works properly, it's just the source selection process affected.

I've gone through all Wacom and Photo settings and haven't found anything related to this. If it's an inherently non-fixable OS-interaction issue (unlikely) being able to select another modifier key, e.g. Ctrl, would also work.

Thanks.

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Staff
Posted

Hi @lphilpot,

I'm struggling to reproduce this here with my Wacom Intuos, it works the same if i use a Mouse or the Pen.  I select the source while holding down Alt and tapping the Pen, i can clone straightaway.  Same if use the mouse.

Posted

I've since discovered that after Alt+clicking to set the clone source point, although the pen pointer onscreen hasn't returned to the clone brush circle (i. e. the main menu is still focused),I can sometimes -- but not always -- touch the pen and it will clone, defocusing the menu in one step. But not always, sometimes it takes an explicit extra touch first in order to defocus then clone. 

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

I'm seeing the same as @lphilpot, and have for a while. My workaround is just hitting the Alt key again, and I get the brush back.

Wacom Intuos Small PTZ-431W.

Affinity Photo 2.5..; Affinity Designer 2.5..; Affinity Publisher 2.5..; Affinity2 Beta versions. Affinity Photo,Designer 1.10.6.1605 Win10 Home Version:21H2, Build: 19044.1766: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3301 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s);32GB Ram, Nvidia GTX 3070, 3-Internal HDD (1 Crucial MX5000 1TB, 1-Crucial MX5000 500GB, 1-WD 1 TB), 4 External HDD

Posted

Having the same issue, on V1. It's actually the reason I stopped using the software, since having frequent hiccups like this almost every time I use the alt key is enough to break any flow in my workflow. So very curious why this doesn't happen for everyone, as that suggests there might be an easy workaround.

Using Windows 11 and a Wacom Intuos Pro.

  • 5 weeks later...
Posted

Hi there, I have very similar experience with this OS function accessing menu with ALT. It disturb my workflow in few aspects. It won't help disabling this in Windows settings or using other tricks in Affinity Aps v1 or v2 for me, except of course pressing ALT again to exit the menu every time. But I found a solution that is working for me, using AutoHotKey - AHK for short. It basically just exit the menu by a sequence of three keys after ALT is released. It works for me, and I hope it will be useful for someone too. The script is as follows:

 

#IfWinActive ahk_exe Photo.exe
~LAlt up::
    Send, {Shift down}
    Send, {Escape}
    Send, {Shift up}
Return
#IfWinActive

 

My description and how it works is in another thread where I posted this method:

 

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

Posted

Does this interfere with any Alt+<whatever> hotkeys in Photo?

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

During my testing I haven't found any problems. I am also using some custom shortcuts with left ALT and letters. This is working fine. Cloning and selection brush is also working flawlessly.

Earlier, I was using only ESC in Send {} function (without shift) - and this was causing deselection of currently selected areas, so not usable at all. Adding SHIFT to that sequence resolved this problem.

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

Posted

I've heard of AHK but never used it before. I installed v2 and tried compiling the code above but get this error:

image.png.4c8c9696d0c3e627cde1e0e5f628c6ba.png

image.png.6d3eedbc57af3ad18fb9703f82c8268e.png

Should that be ahk.exe instead of ahk_exe?

Thanks.

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

I am using v1.1 for 1-2 years now. I didn't noticed that v2 was officially released lately, it is different in commands, functions etc. so that is why it is not working for you. Function #IfWinActive was replaced by other command, but I can't test it with new one since I have AHK v1.1 only. I'm using it for many other things, so it would be more complicated to switch - maybe it will be easier for you to try to uninstall v2 and download v1.1? It is available on their official webpage:

https://www.autohotkey.com/download/

With v1.1 my basic script should work fine, I will help you in case of any problems :)

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

Posted

I'll see if I can Google my way through this. If not, I can downgrade, but I'd rather not.

Thanks.

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

Well, Googling turned up far more very similar questions (apparently from MANY AHK 2 users) than answers, so I installed 1.1 and the script compiled without error. From what I saw it looks like AHK is their "Perl 6": A new version that's often incompatible and may be slow in adoption as a result...?

Thanks.

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

Ok, that explains our confusion. I remember that v2 was for a long time in alpha-beta version which could be a result of emerging problems and incompatibility...

Let me know if the script is working for you, has resolved or only diminished menu problems?

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

Posted

I'll have to watch it over time. Last night there was no problem with nor without it but it's been intermittent before. 

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

Hi, I just found 1 little issue with my script and the way it works. When you want to define new shortcut in Affinity Photo with left ALT there is always an interference with what the script is doing. And instead, in preferences, after pressing new shortcut with Left ALT it gets immediately replaced with Shift + Esc. To overcome this you can Suspend the script for the time of defining a shortcut in Windows tray (AHK icon>Right Mouse Button>Suspend Hotkeys) and enable it afterwards.

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

Posted

Yeah, that makes sense. So, temporarily disable the script if defining an Alt-<something> shortcut.

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

I've discovered the script will intercept any Alt+* shortcut key (I guess, not surprisingly). If there's a way to restrict it to only Alt+left click it would work, but as-is I've just disabled it for now.

Thanks.

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

I was thinking about what you've described. I'm using left ALT with custom shortcuts like ALT+D, ALT+J, ALT+H without any problems. Resizing brush with CTRL+ALT+left click and drag, duplicating layer on canvas with ALT+left click and drag, and selection brush add/subtract with ALT - also no problems with my script.

Could you write briefly during what kind of tasks the script is problematic for you and what is an undesired outcome of that - in oppose to what should happen without it? I will think of it and try to replicate that by my self for testing. We are talking only about Affinity Photo, right? The script should be restricted to work only in that application.

Just to mention, the script gets activated only when you release left ALT and not when you press or hold it during longer tasks (so just at the end of that task). I will think of restricting its activation to ALT+click, but in that case we could be loosing part of its functionality - for example when you accidentally press ALT again after proper use of ALT+click - so the ALT by itself would undesirably move you to menu. Apart from - if I would be able to get the script working that way in AHK 🙂

And funny thing recently... you mentioned earlier that A.Photo was working fine with or without the script. I was experiencing the same thing yesterday during my tests 🙂 It was definitely something unexpected and rare, because I immediately notice that menu thing and it drives me crazy... At the moment I'm using A.Photo 2.0.3 so maybe something changed in that version (or Windows update). Definitely on 2.0.0 it is still obviously happening (I've just tested that because I have this version on my second computer - 2.0.3 has a bug when defining an outline width using units other than points and this is the reason I haven't updated it yet).

So maybe newer version of A.Photo will be trouble free and the script will be no longer useful 🙂

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

Posted

For example, any time I use a keyboard shortcut that includes Alt, like Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S (Export), the dialog will appear and then immediately disappear.

As to working normally or not working, I've seen the same behavior (normal and not) from both 2.0.0 and 2.0.3.

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

Ok, thank you for clarifying that. I wasn't aware that disappearance of the export dialog could be the result of my script, because it happened for me only few times, and I wasn't paying attention to that. But now I get it and understand why it is happening. It is because the script uses Shift key to trick the system that this key has been physically pressed, but when you use any shortcut with ALT+SHIFT+... and you have already physically pressed the Shift key then this is interfering with the script somehow, and the result is that only Escape key is being pressed which causing the dialog to disappear obviously.

I tried to modify the script as you suggested, but sadly, I couldn't get it to work.... Strange thing is, that some solutions worked in other programs (effectively blocking access to menu) but not in Affinity Photo... So there is something unique in its behaviour but I have no idea what it could be and how to overcome this...

I was really hoping that maybe newer version of Affinity Photo somehow resolved this menu problem, but if you still encounter the same behaviour in both versions, my hope has disappeared... like your export dialog... 😒

Thanks for your time and for using and testing my script, I appreciate that 🙂 If I find another solution I will mention that.

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

  • 4 months later...
Posted

Hi there, I found another solution to this ALT accessing menu problem 😃

Since new functionality in Affinity Photo 2.1, blocking ALT the way I did it earlier, interfered with more tools and was causing more troubles. I found a video exactly about this problem of accessing menu with ALT and found one of the AHK script mentioned there working perfectly.

The idea is as follows:

in Windows when you press left ALT alone you access the menu. But when you pair the ALT key with another key (like with many shortcuts), focus does not move to menu. So the solution is to pair this left ALT key with another key permanently. And for that purpose a virtual key is working perfectly, because it is not used for anything else, so you are not sacrificing any real key or shortcut. You trick the system that every time ALT is being pressed, a virtual key is also being pressed. For me a virtual key "SC0E9" is working correctly, and the script looks like this:

LAlt::
sendinput, {LAlt down}
sendinput, {SC0E9 down}
KeyWait, LAlt
Return

LAlt up::
sendinput, {LAlt up}
sendinput, {SC0E9 up}
Return

 

This is working all the time in Windows for all apps, and is not restricted only to Affinity Photo. So the menu is blocked also in Designer etc. One thing to remember when defining new shortcuts with ALT... When in a field for defining a shortcut - you press ALT and it shows Ctrl+Alt but when you finally press another key (V in an example below) it is replaced by Alt+V correctly. I haven't encounter other flaws or issues so far which is promising :)

image.png.1030e5dc6989a59c061dc9d83bc8e6e3.png

 

 

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

Posted

Since this is done by AHK, it will affect other apps as well. Have you run into any that do something unexpected when they receive Alt+V?

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

I use Designer, Blender, HitFilm etc. and all of them are working correctly with this script enabled. All shortcuts respond as they should, defining them in HitFilm for example is the same as I described above for Photo - by first, ALT alone is recognized as CTRL+ALT+... but next, with any letter it is correctly defined as a shortcut ALT+... and is working as it should afterwards.

In your question - are you referring to ALT+V as an example (like I did) or is it important for you in certain app? ALT+V was an example only. By default with this script - left Alt+F opens File menu, left Alt+V opens View menu and so on, and this is the same behaviour as without the script. When you define shortcuts like ALT+F or ALT+V they start to work as defined by you and no longer take you to the menu. And again, this is the same behaviour as without the script 🙂 So no interference there.

File tagging in FastStone by ALT+1, ALT+2... is also working correctly. Switching tabs in RawTherapee with ALT+E, ALT+D... is also working. I'm testing this for 1-2 weeks and so far so good... 🙂

I haven't encounter any issues like with old script, when dialog windows disappear, using some tools canceled their effect and so on.

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

Posted

What I meant is, if you have AHK automatically add another virtual key to Alt when it's pressed, that could conflict with another app that already defines that same Alt+(virtual key) combo. That is, unless the AHK script restricts itself to Photo only (which I assume should be the case).

Len
Affinity Photo 2 | QCAD 3 | FastStone | SpyderX Pro | FOSS:  ART darktable  XnView  RawTherapee  Inkscape  G'MIC  LibreOffice
Windows 11 on a 16 GB, Ryzen 5700 8-core laptop with a cheesy little embedded AMD GPU

Canon T8i / 850D | Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM | Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM | Rikenon P 50mm f/1.7 | K&F Concept Nano-X filters
...desperately looking for landscapes in Nolandscapeland        Flickr

Posted

This scan code of a key {SC0E9}  refers to a key which is probably unused for almost all software or used only by Windows XBox Game Bar (this bar should be turned off in settings for this script to work). If this may conflict with your usage, then yes, it may not be the right choice. More info on how this script works and other settings in the link below (author's description):

https://github.com/TaranVH/2nd-keyboard/blob/master/Taran's_Windows_Mods/Alt_menu_acceleration_DISABLER.ahk

I already tried restricting this script to only work when Affinity Photo is running (as you suggested), but there was an issue with ALT+TAB - when you were in AP pressing ALT+TAB invoke a window with opened tasks (as usual), but releasing ALT wasn't closing this window and switching to a different app. It was because the moment you tried to switch apps by ALT+TAB, the script was interrupted in the middle, because you were technically out of AP. And I couldn't find a way to repair this behaviour. 

Desktop 1: i7 2600k @4,3 GHz, RTX 4070 12GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Pro 22H2, Wacom Bamboo
Desktop 2: i7 3770k @4,2 GHz, RTX 2060s 8GB, 16GB Ram, SSD + HDD, Win10 Home 22H2, Wacom Intuos 4

Latest Affinity V2 + Affinity V2 Beta

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.