Placing images onto a layer

[hubbsy]

Hi,

I have been following a tutorial to make a collage of images. In the youtube tutorial, 4 rectangles and a circle are created as layers and images are placed on them by dragging the image layer onto (and to the right) of the shape layer. In the tutorial the images just snapped into place but when I tried it didn't work. Needless to say I am a newbee. Any suggestions most welcome.

screen shot is attached. It is taken just before trying to drag the image layer ontop of the shape layer.

[Palatino]

[jmwellborn]

@hubbsy  Welcome to the Forums!  I have made a perfectly hideous collage with whatever popped up on my desktop, but never mind that.  Here is how you can do this.  First make your rectangle shapes and separate them to your desired width on your canvas.  Then fill them one at a time, as I have shown in the video.  The trick is to click on one rectangle, drag an image on top of it on your canvas, then go to the layers panel and slowly drag the image down to the very right of the thumbnail of the rectangle, so that you will see a very faint vertical blue bar on the very right of the thumbnail.  If you will look at the video, I have hesitated there so you can visualise it.  Then click on the little v arrow to the left of the thumbnail for the rectangle layer and that will show both layers. You can then click on the child layer containing your image, highlight that layer and then adjust your image inside the rectangle.  I started the video with some of this already done.  

When you have your rectangles filled, create your ellipse, and give it a STROKE (Context Toolbar) width that suits.  Color the stroke black, for the time being.  Place your final image over the ellipse, and then on the layers panel repeat the steps you did for each rectangle layer.  Now click the little v to the left of the Ellipse icon on your layers panel, and right click Group.  With the ellipse group selected, drag it on top of the four filled rectangles  Adjust the size and location.  Then go up to the Context Toolbar, and in the Stroke color box, change the color from black to white.   If you want to change the width between the various rectangles, repeat the grouping step for each rectangle, so you can drag both image and container at the same time.  I hope this helps visualise what @Palatinohas so neatly explained, except that it looks as though he is using V1, whereas you and I are using Photo V2, so that the dragging location is a wee bit different.

 

 

 

[firstdefence]

Notice in V2 the overlay to nest a layer is slightly different to V1

V2

[jmwellborn]

1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

Notice in V2 the overlay to nest a layer is slightly different to V1

V2

Your image is about one trillion times better than my sorry conglomeration!  I can create the child layer either way.  Like yours better!  Think I'd better take up knitting!!

[firstdefence]

I sometimes use an app called Snagit, it holds mouseovers and things like that, so you get to capture what you see in my image. Tried knitting ended up in a web of fluff, my dear auntie Audrey could knit a jumper in a hour, have a conversation and drink tea and eat biscuits, it was like a scene from the matrix lol!

[jmwellborn]

@firstdefence  To be perfectly honest, I really do know how to knit.  But I couldn’t compete with your Aunt no matter how hard I tried.  My latest effort….

[thomaso]

19 hours ago, jmwellborn said:

The trick is to click on one rectangle, drag an image on top of it on your canvas, then go to the layers panel and slowly drag the image down

If you select the layer anyway (I assume to get the placed image in the desired layers hierarchy) then you also may use the "Insert inside" option in the Main Toolbar which does the drag-the-image-down directly.
(Unfortunately it is not possibly to place more than 1 image inside this way because the loaded image cursor gets lost if I switch to the Move Tool to select the next shape object. – Maybe it is improved in V2?)

[firstdefence]

3 hours ago, jmwellborn said:

@firstdefence  To be perfectly honest, I really do know how to knit.  But I couldn’t compete with your Aunt no matter how hard I tried.  My latest effort….

Wow that's some serious cabling, I think that's the right term but by all means correct me if I'm wrong.

[Old Bruce]

3 hours ago, jmwellborn said:

 My latest effort….

That picture called to mind my mother taking a good hard look at me when I was in my mid-teens and she said "Well I guess David or Mark is getting a new sweater" I asked her what she meant and she showed me the sweater she had spent six months knitting for me. It was far too small. I had grown about three to four inches since she started it. Can't recall which of my cousins got the 'never-worn' hand-me-down.

[hubbsy]

Thanks very much to all of you who responded and took time to explain the procedure in more detail. I am not sure what I was doing wrong but after carefully studying your screenshots and recordings I have managed to create my collage.

Pete

[jmwellborn]

5 hours ago, hubbsy said:

Thanks very much to all of you who responded and took time to explain the procedure in more detail. I am not sure what I was doing wrong but after carefully studying your screenshots and recordings I have managed to create my collage.

Pete

Nice to hear.  Don’t hesitate to post on the Forums with any questions you may have, or when you are stuck, as you become familiar with Affinity.  The learning curve gets easier each time as you learn new things.  @firstdefence , @thomaso , @Old Bruce, and @Palatino are four of several people who have sorted me out over and over again as I went from “total idiot” to “maybe she’ll get there some day.”  Always patient and always kind.  I hope you will quickly learn to enjoy the Affinity apps as much as I do!!

Merry Christmas!
Jennifer

[bici]

On 12/14/2022 at 10:42 AM, hubbsy said:

Hi,

I have been following a tutorial to make a collage of images. In the youtube tutorial, 4 rectangles and a circle are created as layers and images are placed on them by dragging the image layer onto (and to the right) of the shape layer. In the tutorial the images just snapped into place but when I tried it didn't work. Needless to say I am a newbee. Any suggestions most welcome.

screen shot is attached. It is taken just before trying to drag the image layer ontop of the shape layer.

can you please post the link to the tutorial that you are referring to?

[Ron P.]

4 hours ago, bici said:

can you please post the link to the tutorial that you are referring to?

Looking at the screenshot hubbsy provided, and doing a quick simple search on YouTube, this is the tutorial..

How to Make a Photo Collage (Affinity Revolution)

[hubbsy]

Yes, that's the one.

I can do this now. It was a question of "getting the knack". For some reason I found it helpful to place my mouse pointer somewhere over the layer description rather than the thumbnail when dragging down the image.