I don't understand what Affinity is doing!

[AndyV]

I have a larger file of a bunch of layers for a layout I'm working on. Seen in first picture.  I wanted to focus on one part of it which needed to add a lot more layers and I thought it best to make a new document of that. So I made a selection (as seen in the first picture) and copied it into a new document.

The first question is, since that layer had a transparent background, why did it come into the new document with a white background? But in the thumbnail of it (seen in second picture) it does appear as a transparent background

Second question: My first impulse was to hit a magic wand over the white so I could delete it. And when I did that, a very odd thing happened. The original EPS file that I had placed in (this image was made in Illustrator and exported as an EPS) had some stairstep white background to it. I distinctly remember erasing it after I got it imported into Affinity, rasterizing it, and with the magic wand, selecting all the white and deleting it. Yet, look the selection, It's selecting white and yet "avoiding" selecting that stairstep area that I had previous deleted. It's as if there is some sort of ghost residue embedded in the image.

Third question: I then added a layer in hopes that the transparency would become visible (i.e. the checkerboard thing). That didn't work. But the question is why did the layer appear as "Group". Group of what?

EDIT: I just realized I could rasterize the "Group" layer, but that just adds another question. Why isn't it a rasterized layer from the start? I think I must have accidentally hit some setting because new layers haven't appeared in this fashion before.

Fourth question. You can see this either in the first picture or the third. Thumbnails in the layers box have disappeared. They have been there before. Other thumbnails still appear.

 

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, AndyV said:

The first question is, since that layer had a transparent background, why did it come into the new document with a white background?

Each document has its own settings, and by default "Transparent Document" is not active. You can turn it on from the Document menu in Photo.

24 minutes ago, AndyV said:

But in the thumbnail of it (seen in second picture) it does appear as a transparent background

You have the thumbnails configured to show transparent background, which is a separate setting from the overall document setting. The white background shown in the document itself is not part of the layer, and therefore is not shown in the layer thumbnail.

[AndyV]

Oh my goodness. This is yet another example of Affinity working much differently than Photoshop. This is turning out to be a more difficult transition than I first realized. Thank you for this explanation.

Do you have any idea about the "stairstepping" in the selection? That white is not there. I just did as you suggested and the whole thing does go transparent as I first had expected. There aren't any "white stairs" on the edge.

 

(I'm realizing my last question about the "Group" layer was a stupid question. I've been clicking on the icon that looks like what the "New Layer" icon is. Now I see there is both a "Group" and a "Pixel" new layer choice.)

[walt.farrell]

Sorry, but I have no ideas at this time on your other questions.

[debraspicher]

1 hour ago, AndyV said:

Do you have any idea about the "stairstepping" in the selection?

We'd have to see the file probably. Or at least that portion of it.

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, AndyV said:

any idea about the "stairstepping" in the selection?

I guess the area around the graphic element is not 100% transparent (100 % alpha). Try to select with a higher tolerance value.

[AndyV]

Debra: that is the file. Unless I'm unclear what you mean.

Thomas: I forgot to mention that I can click WITHIN that stairstep (and it will select as a triangle) and click delete, but nothing changes. Nothing seems to delete. I did just now try your suggestion. 100% of course selected everything, but I swung it down to 89% and it does the exact same stairstepping.

This isn't so much a problem for my work as just plain strange.

[thomaso]

30 minutes ago, AndyV said:

click WITHIN that stairstep (and it will select as a triangle) and click delete, but nothing changes. Nothing seems to delete.

A pixel selection is not automatically related to a specific layer. Make sure in the Layers panel that the according layer is selected, too, when you want to delete pixels.

[ I guess @Debra means an uploaded document … or at least a screenshot of the entire UI with all relevant panels and layers selected. ]

[walt.farrell]

14 minutes ago, AndyV said:

that is the file. Unless I'm unclear what you mean.

No, that is a picture of your screen. The file would be a .afphoto file that you have saved and uploaded here.

[AndyV]

Debra/Walt: Ask and ye shall receive.

 

Thomas: There's only one layer.

 

THIS JUST IN: I just put the file into the video editing software I"m using (i'm making an animation of flashing lights within it). It happens to have a black background right now, and I can see faint grey lines there. So the answer is that when I first made a selection to get rid of the original stair stepping was just "intolerant" enough to leave a very thin line and faint grey at that.

Sorry for the bother.

 

extra ball when lit.afphoto

[debraspicher]

Yes, I saw the balls had a block outline pretty much right on opening the document. I pasted black in the background to see if it would be more visible. (It was)

There's other artifacts as well over the balls. Would need to click the image I attached to see for sure maybe on your end. It's hard to say whether this was from a file you received or caused in program since everything is a Pixel layer.
 

[AndyV]

I *think* this all has happened first in Illustrator. I'm a real nincompoop using vectors and points for drawing and I hadn't tried it in a long time. I just noticed it in the balls (actually flashing lights, see attached). But that along with the rough edge of the yellow arrow itself I think I'm just going to leave rather than start over. This thing took hours to create and is going to be seen in the final film for like a few seconds, and is of the background and not the main action at all. The life of an animator. 

 

 

 

 

[thomaso]

5 hours ago, AndyV said:

Thomas: There's only one layer.

It doesn't matter. Not the number of layers is important but the selection state of layers. If you want to delete with a pixel selection then the wanted layer must be selected (highlighted) in the Layers Panel, unless the delete won't delete anything.