Affinity Photo colour tools seem very difficult to use

[stingray]

I'm finding the colour tools in Affinity Photo particularly difficult to use and unnessecarily complex when compared to Gimp and others.

For example, consider the following case:

- copy the screen and paste the image into Affinity Photo using File / New From Clipboard

- select the Colour Picker tool to sample a colour from the new image

- select the Flood Fill tool with the intention of filling another part of the image with the colour which has just been sampled

These three steps do not work. The expected result is not possible to achieve in any immediate sense. Instead, the user must first convert the 'image' layer into a 'pixel ' layer and then click on the tiny colour picker circle in the Colour tab in order to get the colour properly selected in order to then use the Flood Fill tool to fill the desired area !!!

I'm sure I'm missing the point somewhere here, but why does this have to be so difficult? In my opinion, the colour tools are extremely non-intuitive. Can anyone here explain what the intended workflow is supposed to be for picking a colour using the Colour Picker and then filling an area using the Flood Fill tool with an Image layer? This doesn't seem to function as expected here. If there is such a procedure please could you do this in a simplified step-by-step manner...

FYI I've just tried doing the very same thing in GIMP and i can achieve what I want to do easily in two or three steps with no fuss, no complications. Indeed, anyone could do it in GIMP because it works in an entirely logical manner. Why does this have to be so complicated in Affinity Photo? Surely, Affinity Photo should have considered this relatively simple workflow expectation when working with an Image layer.

[PaulEC]

It isn't difficult, it's just that you want to do it differently. If you think Gimp is so much better, why not just use that instead?

[stingray]

@PaulEC thanks for your reply. I am not trying to do anything differently. I'm attempting to make a basic function easy for myself.

Do you know how best to use the Colour picker and Flood Fill tool with an Image layer? As far as I can tell using the Colour Picker and Flood Fill tool behaves as expected with a pixel layer but with an Image layer these tools seem to behave differently. I may well have missed something. Just humbly seeking help on this. And as for your comment, I'm using Affinity Photo here. I mentioned Gimp by way of comparison which I think is completely valid.

[loukash]

57 minutes ago, stingray said:

the user must first convert the 'image' layer into a 'pixel ' layer

This is literally by design. And a Good Thing™ because "Image" layers are the Affinity equivalent of Photoshop's "smart objects". The user can always flatten or rasterize them if they need it.

1 hour ago, stingray said:

why does this have to be so difficult?

• add a custom keyboard shortcut to the Rasterize menu command
• rather than switching tools, drag the pipette from the Color panel to sample a color on the fly

[stingray]

Thanks @loukash I'd been trying those moves in various ways. To be honest I'd been trying to avoid the dragging of the pipette from the colour panel as it sometimes involves a lot of mouse travel. Looks like I have no choice in this particular case. Thanks again for taking the time to reply to this. Much appreciated. I intend to set up a key command for rasterise.

[loukash]

6 minutes ago, stingray said:

Looks like I have no choice in this particular case

You have:
Use keyboard shortcuts for tools.  
Apply your own shortcuts if you don't like the default ones or if your favorite tools don't have any.

I'm using quite a lot of custom keyboard shortcuts. Some of them go as far back as those that I was used to use with QuarkXPress and FreeHand back in the 1990s. (And also, many of the default keyboard shortcuts are not even compatible with my keyboard layout.)

[stingray]

Thanks again for your advice.

FYI, I meant I have no choice with dragging from the pipette from the colour panel.

[loukash]

11 minutes ago, stingray said:

I meant I have no choice with dragging from the pipette from the colour panel.

I understood that.
You even have more other choices, since e.g. the Brush tools have a built-in color picker when you press the Option key.
You can also double click the color wells in the Tools panel to open a floating Color Chooser window which also has its own pipette.
On Mac, you can additionally open the floating Apple Color Picker which also has its own pipette…

So many choices…