Selecting colours from outside the image.

[-iain-]

Hello,

I'm having some trouble selecting colours, using the colour picker from the right hand panel, selecting colours from anywhere other than inside the current image, I'm sure that I remember being able to select from anywhere in the past?

Has something broken this functionality, or am I remembering the functionality erroniously?

Thank you for you help.

 

[Pšenda]

Screenshot, video with your problem? 

[walt.farrell]

Also, what OS are you using?

[-iain-]

Oh certainly yes, I should have thought to add one to the original post, here we go:

 

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by mrig
More appropriate media

[-iain-]

I'm using MacOS sonoma v14.1.1

[markw]

First thought, dose Designer currently have permission to record your screen ticked in your OS Privacy & Security settings?
Unticked, and Designer is confined to only selecting colours from within the app UI.

[-iain-]

Check, yes both photo and designer show up in there and have been accepted, I imagine that it has not yet asked for publisher.

[markw]

Not sure I can offer much more here I'm afraid, as I’m unable to replicate what you are seeing.
We are both on different hardware and macOS… that may have a bearing on why I'm not seeing this, possibly???
Have you tried the “old school” first fix, that of restarting your system?

[-iain-]

Thank you very much for you thoughts on this, yes I have rebooted, I did so after disabeling Lockdown Mode, the thought being that the mode could be blocking the program.

Affinity was installed under this mode, no idea whether that could be the root cause of the issue?

[Dan C]

20 hours ago, mrig said:

yes I have rebooted, I did so after disabeling Lockdown Mode, the thought being that the mode could be blocking the program.

Affinity was installed under this mode, no idea whether that could be the root cause of the issue?

Sorry to hear you're having trouble @mrig!

I have not heard of this option before - however I removed Designer 2 from my Mac, ensuring to also remove the Screen Recording permission rom the Privacy & Security section of System Settings.

I then restarted my Mac, enabling Lockdown Mode, then reinstalled Designer 2. When trying to use the Colour Picker tool, I was prompted to enable the Screen Recording permission as expected.

I enabled this within System Settings, and restarted the Affinity app as prompted. I'm then able to use the Colour Picker, both in and outside the application whilst in Lockdown mode - so I don't believe this to be the cause of the issue you're reporting at this time.

Can you please try the following:

1. Ensure Designer 2 is fully quit
2. Under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording, select Affinity Designer 2 and use the minus icon (-) to remove the app from the list altogether
3. Launch Designer 2 and create a new document, then try using the Colour Picker
4. You should see the following prompt, select Open System Settings :
   
5. Enable Affinity Designer 2 in the Screen Recording Permission list that appears
6. Close and restart Designer 2, as prompted
7. Once reopened, try using the Colour Picker outside the application window once again.

Does this now work as expected for you please?

[-iain-]

Hello @Dan C, thank you for your swift response!

I've tried as you have requested, and was re-asked to allow permission to record the screen, which I then set to enabled; Unfortunately the same state remains, I am unable to select colours from out side of the document.

[Dan C]

No problem at all - though I'm sorry to hear this hasn't helped.

Just to confirm, when trying to colour pick outside of the application window, are the colour/values selected always white (255,255,255)?
It's a little hard to be certain from your GIF provided of the issue.

Usually if the above permission setting is not enabled/working as expected, then the Colour Picker will always pick the colour of your desktop background, and not any windows above - however if yours is always picking white then this may indicate a different issue at hand.

Can you please try performing a CTRL reset to return the app back to default settings?
In the Clear User Data dialog, I'd recommend simply leaving the 3 default options enabled and select Clear, as this should reset any relevant settings for this tool without affecting your custom Assets, Brushes, Shortcuts etc.

Does this change the behaviour experienced please?

[-iain-]

That's right yes, it remains white when the pipet is anywhere else but in the document.

I've performed the reset, the issue remains.

[Pšenda]

25 minutes ago, mrig said:

I've performed the reset, the issue remains.

Just to clarify - do you mean Factory reset the application (start with Ctrl pressed), not start/reset the system/PC, or the application?

[-iain-]

Yes that's right, I started the application whilst holding down ctrl and selected clear with the default three options selected.

[Dan C]

Thanks for trying that for me - we've had previous reports of this occurring on certain mac devices, though thus far our team are yet to find a concrete link between these user reports as it doesn't seem to be consistent between reports.

I'll be sure to 'bump' this report with our development team now who are investigating further, but we'd also like some further information to try and determine a potential cause for this.

What are your settings under System Preferences > Displays please? Do you have multiple monitors connected to your M1 Studio, and what Colour Profile is set for each monitor, within the Display settings?

[-iain-]

I have one single display, it is BenQ SW240.

My settings are as follows:

• Resolution: 1920 x 1200 (Default)
• Colour profile: BenQ SW240
• Refresh rate: 60 Hertz
• Rotation: standard

It is noteworthy that it did select one colour from outside the application window once, I will probe this a little and see whether or not I can get it to do that again, and if so, establish the conditions required to make that happen.

It did work in the past on this machine, both the OS and the Affinity suite have been updated since then.

[-iain-]

Nope, looking at that again now, the colour that I thought that I had picked up last time, was the colour of the application background, next to the canvas. It happens to be a similar colour to the one that I was targeting within another applications window.

[-iain-]

If you would like to send me a build with a NULL crash set into it when the colour picker is being used, I am just investigating getting core dumps from my system; Happy to be of assistance, if I can, in finding the cause.

[Dan C]

Many thanks for the information provided, I'll be sure to pass this through to our developers now.

43 minutes ago, mrig said:

Colour profile: BenQ SW240

If you change this to sRGB IEC61966-2.1, then restart the Affinity app, does the same issue continue?

44 minutes ago, mrig said:

It did work in the past on this machine, both the OS and the Affinity suite have been updated since then.

As far as our team are aware, it appears to be an issue new to Affinity 2.2, as build 2.1.1 works correctly on the same devices where users report the issue in 2.2.

Equally, it does not appear to be specific to a macOS update as we've seen this on Sonoma, Ventura and Monterey so far.

34 minutes ago, mrig said:

If you would like to send me a build with a NULL crash set into it when the colour picker is being used, I am just investigating getting core dumps from my system; Happy to be of assistance, if I can, in finding the cause.

Thanks for the offer, this is certainly appreciated! I have requested with both our QA & dev team if any specific information/reports from your machine can help us to identify the cause and I'll be sure to request any such logs here, should these be required

[-iain-]

I have set the system colour to sRVB IEC61966-2.1, and restarted the Affinity app; Now I have the same bug and the colours are all very dull!  

[Pšenda]

ICC profile for monitor in OS is OK?
Affinity uses this profile for rendering to the desktop - and only here does color capture work. So couldn't there be some affect or bug in Affinity when using profiles?

[Dan C]

On 11/27/2023 at 5:09 PM, mrig said:

I have set the system colour to sRVB IEC61966-2.1, and restarted the Affinity app; Now I have the same bug and the colours are all very dull!  

Apologies for the delay & thanks for trying that for me. Please feel free to return to the BenQ profile if you have not already, as I simply wanted to confirm if the profile itself was causing this behaviour.

As above, I've reported this to our developers and have included the information provided - I'll be sure to respond here should our team request any further information, or have any suggestions for how to resolve this.

Our apologies for any inconveniences caused due to this in the meantime.