Colour picker is unnecessary complicated

[JariH]

Dear Affinity. 

As a new user the first things I found odd is why picking colours is so complex procedure?

Here is an example of worst case:

When you have selected a UI target where you want to sample a color, why all extra steps. I select the gradient tap, open the color box, drag a sampler over the screen area and then select the sampler color to transfer it into the colour box - I just want to pick a color! Why not just select the gradient tap and click the cursor over the area you want to sample from, please.

Three steps instead of six.

Any comments?

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, JariH said:

Dear Affinity. 

You'll probably need to provide more info

[summer]

Any news on this? It’s amazing how cumbersome this has been made. It’s a product that works by manipulating colors and picking and applying them is simply the most tedious process ever conceived. 

[walt.farrell]

28 minutes ago, Red Sands said:

His observation and suggestion is crystal clear. And I would say especially for those of us who use the program and feature day in and day out.

At the time I posted, I quoted the entire content of the message I responded to. 

As there is more there now, the OP must have edited their message to add it, but creating a new post would have been better, as it would have provided a notification of the additional information. A mere edit doesn't.

[JariH]

Just for comparison of user experiences: Here is a screen recording from another (ahem...) software. How to pick gradient colours easier.

OK. Maybe this is a bit oversimplified example, but selecting colours could be simpler. Once the colour wheel is open, why not just pick a sample directly from the screen? It is a pain to drag the sampler over the image, and then select the sampled colour again from the small dot. Drag & press from totally different screen positions compared to just tap to sample. It is a great idea to sample anywhere on the screen not committing the change, but for better usability, the workflow could be more fluent.

Kind Regards

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, JariH said:

It is a pain to drag the sampler over the image, and then select the sampled colour again from the small dot.

Why are you using a tool that is designed to sample a color and save it for later application to other objects? Why not use the Color picker tool instead, which is designed exactly for "one click" cases?
https://affinity.help/photo2/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_clrpicker.html

[fde101]

25 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Why not use the Color picker tool instead, which is designed exactly for "one click" cases?

Probably because he is not setting the normal fill/stroke color, but an additional color which is part of one of the layer FX, which that tool does not correspond to.

[Pšenda]

39 minutes ago, fde101 said:

Probably because he is not setting the normal fill/stroke color, but an additional color which is part of one of the layer FX, which that tool does not correspond to.

Thanks - there is no mention of fx in the text (I don't download files not supported by the forum).
So rather than "redoing" the functionality of the panel's colour picker as proposed, the question is why exactly this tool is used in the definition of fx colors, where capturing a color and using it repeatedly does not make sense. Regardless, this captured color is reset to red over and over again, so capturing is really useless in these cases.

[JariH]

Apologies for the unclarity. Yes, I was talking about gradients and FX.

My original posting is from the days I was still struggling with the Affinity UI. There was a bit learning curve.  Fill and strokes work fine with the Colour Chooser window (or the Color Picker Tool). I wish to have the same functionality in the gradients fill and FX panel.

[Pšenda]

7 hours ago, JariH said:

I wish to have the same functionality in the gradients fill and FX panel.

If the panel's color picker worked properly with the sampler and didn't constantly reset its value to red, it would be very useful in many cases. For example, if you need to use an identical color for the gradient but also for other effects (for example outline and outer shadow), then sampling the color and using it repeatedly is very handy (there is no need to picked the color again, and there is no risk of wrong/inaccurate color capture). It would be optimal if the sampler could be turned off (for example in its context menu) to speed up the use of the picked color and not have to click on the sampler to use it.

[fde101]

I am thinking there are four things that should ideally happen here:

• Fix the color sampler to remember the captured color between uses.  The fact that it keeps resetting might be a bug?  It is not a useful behavior in any case.  Note that mine resets to the color that is set in the color well rather than always to red, but in any case, it is not retaining the captured value.
• Have the color sampler automatically apply the captured color when a modifier key is held down during the process of sampling, to save a click afterward.
• Provide an option in preferences to invert the behavior of the modifier: that is, automatically apply when the modifier is NOT held down, but not when the modifier IS held down.
• Allow dragging from the color well directly in order to sample and apply a color, without needing to open the popup at all.

[Pšenda]

9 minutes ago, fde101 said:

I am thinking there are four things that should ideally happen here:

I think it would be even more useful if, using the modifier key (or according to some visually indicated state of the sampler), the color is not captured in the sampler and thus does not overwrite the previous captured color. Typical use - I set the first color of the gradient, which must be identical to the outline and outer/inner shadow colors. Therefore, I will capture this color in the sampler, and then I could use it repeatedly. Then I set the second color of the gradient, but I don't want to capture it in the sampler, because it will overwrite the captured color, which I will still need for set other fx (outline, shadow, ...)

 

18 minutes ago, fde101 said:

Note that mine resets to the color that is set in the color well rather than always to red

 

[fde101]

3 hours ago, Pšenda said:

I think it would be even more useful if, using the modifier key (or according to some visually indicated state of the sampler), the color is not captured in the sampler and thus does not overwrite the previous captured color.

That is what I intended to be covered by my fourth bullet point, not opening the popup at all, but simply dragging the color well onto the desired color to capture it directly into the color well.

[Pšenda]

13 minutes ago, fde101 said:

not opening the popup at all

For me, it was more about the general functionality of the panel's color picker (not only in the definition of colors in fx), to enable picking color with and without capturing it in the sampler. Also to allow immediate application of the picked color to the selected object and then the application of the color from the sampler (existing behavior).
Each of the methods of capturing and applying color has its uses, so this would increase the usability of the panel's color picker.