Filters don't work and duplicating layers also doesn't work

[Anti-Hero Annie]

Hi,

I just recently bought Affinity Photo and the filters just don't work (none of them). I have selected the right layer and the layer isn't locked and I have the rasterise layer and apply filter setting on).

Duplicating my layer also doesn't work. I get an empty layer when I duplicate my layer.

Hope you can help me out.

Thanks

Annie

[walt.farrell]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

What OS do you use?

What kind of layer are you trying to apply the filter to? Can you give us a screenshot or recording of the problem?

[Old Bruce]

6 minutes ago, Anti-Hero Annie said:

Duplicating my layer also doesn't work. I get an empty layer when I duplicate my layer.

Hi and welcome to the forums.

This sounds like you may have a (very small) pixel selection made. Only the pixels which are selected will be duplicated, the layer may look empty but it may have only a couple of pixels in it.

[Anti-Hero Annie]

I use MacOS Catalina version 10.15.7. I can't update it anymore as I (in the past) cucked away my apple id. And if it could be updated some of my other software wouldn't be working anymore. So I rather not update. I also have an old computer (that still does work fine) from 2013.

Now I've closed Affinity Photo and opened it again the layers seem to be there miraculously. But the filters still don't work. I selected myself in the background. I can choose the filter I want, but when I apply nothing is happening.

 

[Anti-Hero Annie]

Another thing is that the color adjustment doesn't seem to work either.

[GarryP]

If you put all of the settings for the Unsharp Mark Filter to the maximum you might not see much of a difference except with pixels at high luminosities. Try ‘dialling down’ some of the settings and see what happens.

For the Colour Adjustment issue we would need to see a screenshot of that being used to say what could be wrong.

Note: You will probably get a lot more from the software if you have the Context Toolbar visible – menu “View → Show Context Toolbar”. With this visible under the normal Toolbar (top of the window) you will have access to lots of settings for each tool which you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

Note: A lot of the Filters that are in the Filter menu are also available as non-destructive Live Filters; their settings can be changed later, or their effect can be (temporarily) removed, whereas the ‘normal’ Filters make ‘permanent’ changes. You can access the Live Filters via menu “Layer → Live Filter Layer” or the 'hourglass' icon on the Layers Panel.

[R C-R]

13 hours ago, Anti-Hero Annie said:

I use MacOS Catalina version 10.15.7. I can't update it anymore as I (in the past) cucked away my apple id.

I'm not sure what you mean by "cucked" or how the macOS version is relevant here but as my sig shows, I am still running Catalina 10.15.7 on my Mac & all the AP filters work as expected, as does duplicating objects.

[Anti-Hero Annie]

Thanks for the advice. The live filter layer seems to work. But when I adjust the colors it's very subtle almost none existant.

And I was wondering if there is something like adjusting in curves like in the old photoshop and GIMP?

 

Thanks.

[GarryP]

5 minutes ago, Anti-Hero Annie said:

The live filter layer seems to work.

Which “live filter layer” are you using?

5 minutes ago, Anti-Hero Annie said:

But when I adjust the colors it's very subtle almost none existant.

A lot of the filters (live or otherwise) don’t do 'colour adjustment' so I’m confused as to what you are trying to do and how you are trying to do it.

Are you talking about two different things?

Are you trying to do some unsharp mask work and some colour adjustment, or something else?

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Anti-Hero Annie said:

And I was wondering if there is something like adjusting in curves like in the old photoshop and GIMP?

You mean, the Curves Adjustment?

[loukash]

On 11/5/2023 at 4:31 PM, Anti-Hero Annie said:

Hope you can help me out.

Check out the official video tutorials: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/learn/photo/desktop/
They are really helpful. I watched them all when I began to use the Affinity apps, and I'm still checking out every new one because there are often details I wasn't aware of yet.
And there are even more 3rd party video tutorials on Youtube.

[Anti-Hero Annie]

Sorry that I'm confusing you all a bit. I'm new to this.

I am trying to adjust the colors of myself in the photo to make it look more graphic. I put it in a separate layer.

Yes, I think it's the curves adjustment to put more contrast in the photo.

I will check out the affinity tutorials. Thanks for the link.

[carl123]

30 minutes ago, Anti-Hero Annie said:

I am trying to adjust the colors of myself in the photo to make it look more graphic.

Not sure what "more graphic" means but the Vibrance Adjustment (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance) can intensify the colours (see screenshot below)

Alternatively, for a more extreme look you can try the Tone Mapping Persona presets

 

[iconoclast]

To make photos look more "graphic", usually the Threshold (hope it's the right name, in german it is called "Schwellenwert") would be the right choice for b/w. For coloured images Posterization. But I think you don't want it to be so much graphic. Even Sharpening filters can make photos look more graphic. E.G. Unsharp mask.

And another thing: I don't know if it may be the actual cause for your problems (I'm not very experienced with Macs), but even if your computer works good with old software, it possibly doesn't with new software, because the system requirements are much higher for new software today. E.G. the software I used  years ago was created for 32-Bit-systems. The software of today is almost developed for 64-Bit-Systems. And the requirements for RAM were much lower that days. I invested in a Gaming PC for that reason, some years ago.

[loukash]

On 11/6/2023 at 6:21 AM, Anti-Hero Annie said:

I also have an old computer (that still does work fine) from 2013.

4 hours ago, iconoclast said:

And another thing: I don't know if it may be the actual cause for your problems (I'm not very experienced with Macs), but even if your computer works good with old software, it possibly doesn't with new software, because the system requirements are much higher for new software today. E.G. the software I used  years ago was created for 32-Bit-systems. The software of today is almost developed for 64-Bit-Systems.

A 2013 Mac that can run Catalina shouldn't have many issues in that regard. Affinity v2 runs fine on my 2012 MacBook Pro that cannot go higher than Catalina at all. Even my 2008 MacBook Pro is fully 64-bit but it can't go higher than El Capitan and thus only Affinity v1. But it works.

4 hours ago, iconoclast said:

And the requirements for RAM were much lower that days.

Yep. If anything, then lack of RAM will be quite an issue with Affinity Photo. My 2008 MacBook can only have 4GB, and this is very noticeable when editing "lots of pixels" compared to the 16 GB in the 2012 MacBook, even though having now an internal SSD speeds things up massively compared to the "old school" spinning hard drives.

The good news is that a 2013 Mac still should be user upgradable.

[iconoclast]

2 hours ago, loukash said:

A 2013 Mac that can run Catalina shouldn't have many issues in that regard. Affinity v2 runs fine on my 2012 MacBook Pro that cannot go higher than Catalina at all. Even my 2008 MacBook Pro is fully 64-bit but it can't go higher than El Capitan and thus only Affinity v1. But it works.

Yep. If anything, then lack of RAM will be quite an issue with Affinity Photo. My 2008 MacBook can only have 4GB, and this is very noticeable when editing "lots of pixels" compared to the 16 GB in the 2012 MacBook, even though having now an internal SSD speeds things up massively compared to the "old school" spinning hard drives.

The good news is that a 2013 Mac still should be user upgradable.

OK, that's good news. For me as a Windows user it is  a very painful fact since Windows 7 that a lot of my good old software doesn't work any longer or only very bumpy (e.G. holes in background textures or missing objects in games). I understand why, but it hurts that I can't use this programs any longer.

[loukash]

5 minutes ago, iconoclast said:

good old software doesn't work any longer

On Mac, the problem is that lots of this "good old software" was 32-bit only and won't work on Catalina or higher.
But we're getting now into an off-topic nerdy territory, so let's leave it at this.  

[iconoclast]

1 minute ago, loukash said:

On Mac, the problem is that lots of this "good old software" was 32-bit only and won't work on Catalina or higher.
But we're getting now into an off-topic nerdy territory, so let's leave it at this.  

Yes, that's a part of the problem on Windows too. Another part of the problem is that the screen resolutions are much higher today. But I don't understand all technical coherences. It is simply progress, and that is of course good. E.G. that we don't need to ruin our eyes with old CRT-monitors any longer. But on the other hand many of the beloved programs we had great times with, are useless today, and there aren't always real substitutes for it.

Yes, you are right, it's another topic.

[thomaso]

On 11/6/2023 at 6:21 AM, Anti-Hero Annie said:

But the filters still don't work. I selected myself in the background. I can choose the filter I want, but when I apply nothing is happening.

Selected yourself OR the background?

According to your Layers panel's thumbnails you possibly have the empty background selected for the filter. If you want to sharpen the foreground you don't need a pixel selection in this case (because the background is on a different layer).
Alternatively, if you want to blur the background you would select the middle layer (again without the need for a pixel selection).

[henryanthony]

@Anti-Hero Annie Hi! Not sure if it has been mentioned yet but, you may need to Rasterize the layer before applying any filters. Otherwise, all the options in the filter drop down menu will be disabled. Had that problem just this morning. I know better but skipped the Rasterize step. A Duh! moment for me. LOL!