Affinity Photo/ Brush Editing Panel not showing up.

[Gregory-CJ]

In Version 1 of Affinity photo, I can click on the brush panel , select a brush and  double click the brush icon to open the brush editing panel where the brush parameters can be changed.

With the brush editing panel still open, I can click through the stack of brushes in the brush panel and the brush editing panel  dynamically updates with the parameters for the current brush selection,

In version 2 of affinity photo this functionality is not working.  My experience with Version 2 is that I can easily select a brush from the brush panel but when I  double click on the brush icon  to activate the brush editing panel, Affinity photo freezes about 98% of the time. Once in a while, double clicking might open the brush editing panel.  Once the brush editing panel is open though, you cannot click through the brush panel /brush selections without Affinity Photo freezing up...

Anyone have any experience with this issue? Any solutions?

Much appreciate your help.

Greg

 

[Chris B]

Is that a duplicate category? If so, this could perhaps have something to do with it? Did you import any custom brushes from V1?

[Gregory-CJ]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your timely response. I understand you must be extremely busy right now.

I have included a jpeg of my brush collections and yes I do have many custom brushes which I imported from AP V1. Many of those brushes originated in the iPad version 1 of AP. and these brushes performed exceedingly well in AP V-1.

 As outlined in my comments above , when I first imported the V-1 brushes into AP V-2, the brush panel and brush editing panel  was not very responsive. But over the short time that I have been using AP V-2. the incidents of AP V-2 freezing as dropped significantly  from the high 90's% to something better... but AP V-2 still freezes while using the brush panel.

Two questions regarding AP's freezing

Question #1

I'm not a programmer but is it possible that AP V-2 is adapting  the code of the newly imported brushes by rewriting some kind of dynamic algorithm???

Running concurrently with this brush panel issue was an issue with the liquify persona. The liquify tool was just too slow.

Someone suggested to disable " the automatically adjust brightness" in the system display panel which I did and to my astonishment ,

the liquify tool began to perform very quickly.

Question #2

Could disabling  the automatically adjust brightness in the system display panel, impact the performance of the brush/brush editing panels?

 

Thanks again Chris for your wise words.

 

 

 

[Chris B]

I would absolutely get rid of the duplicates. With the new linked brushes feature there might be some confusion which is leading to your issue. I'd really need a developer to reproduce it to be honest. I can try making some brushes in V1 and on iPad and import them to replicate your environment.

Unfortunately, I really do not know the answers to your two questions. I would be highly surprised that the automatic brightness would have anything to do with it but I'm also not a programmer so I'd need to check for you.

[Gregory-CJ]

Thanks for your speedy response Chris.

Yes I will get rid of the duplicates , although even though some of the brush titles are the same.. the number and kind of brushes in those categories may vary....I guess its time to clean  them up and thin them out.

So what does the lock icon reference?

Let me know what you find...

Thanks again 

[Gregory-CJ]

Hi Chris,

So I deleted a ton of duplicates and figured out what the lock icon means..... it represents a brush pack that I purchased from the Affinity Store. Hopefully this clean up  fixes the freezing issue... will keep you posted as to how the AP brush/brush editing performance is now after cleaning up the brush panel.

thanks again !

Spoiler

 

 

[Gregory-CJ]

So I put the bush/editing panel through its paces and it works without a problem.. Conclusion is that it was all the duplicate brush sets, some

under different names that caused the brush panel to freeze up my mac.

Thanks again Chris.

[Gregory-CJ]

Hi Chris,

Here is my latest findings.  AP-V2 just doesn't like V-1 nor V-2  AP-iPad pencils/brushes.

As mentioned, I had imported the iPad AP- V1 of the pencils/brushes into AP -V2 (desktop version) and my Mac would freeze up when selecting any of the pencil brushes... So I deleted all the V-1 pencil brushes and imported V-2  iPad pencils into AP V-2 Desktop and the same thing would happen... AP-V-2 desktop just doesn't like these brushes.

 So in summary, opening a new file in AP-V-2 desktop with AP defaulting to the pencil brush category,  any selection of  a pencil brush would my mac to freeze.

The strange thing if I chose a different brush category and painted with one of the brushes from this second category and then went back to the pencil brush category and selected a pencil brush.. my Mac wouldn't freeze......but after some time if I were to persist in clicking through the pencil category then eventually my Mac would freeze. Can't figure that one out.

I also found that some individual brushes within the drawing brush category when selected would cause my Mac to freeze up.

Also, when selecting brushes within the older categories like Daub gouaches and Daub Bristles and Inky Street ART 2 would cause my Mac to freeze.

Looks like I have to build my own pencil brush versions within AP-V2 desktop to have a stable pencil brush set.

Your thoughts are appreciated .

 

[Gregory-CJ]

Hi Chris,

Not to say die, I have really attempted to get these pencil brushes working in AP V2.

In summary,

• Importing  AP V2 iPad pencil brushes and attempting to select them in the brush menu causes the iMac to freeze.
• Building an exact duplicate of both the carpenter's pencil and 4B pencil within AP V2, so that they are native to AP-V2 causes the iMAC to freeze
• Using two brushes from the sprays and spatters brush category does not freeze the iMac.. yet these brushes "look similar " to how the carpenter & 4B brushes are built although the bitmaps used in the texture panel are different.

I can't figure this one out..

Perhaps its time to abandon the idea of using the pencil brushes completely, even the pencil brushes built in AP-V2.

I suspect the issue has to do with the bitmaps within the texture panel but is above my expertise. 

Can you help and it is worth Serif's developers time to figure this one out?

Thanks

Greg

 

[Chris B]

On 12/22/2022 at 12:30 AM, Gregory-CJ said:

Can you help and it is worth Serif's developers time to figure this one out?

 

Yes we need to get this investigated, reproduced here and logged with the developers—which I'll begin working on.

[Gregory-CJ]

I will be interested to hear what they find out. Thanks Chris

[musiberti]

Same issues here on a MBP 16“ 2019 (Ventura). Affinty always shows the beachball when changing the options in the brush editing panel.