Jump to content

2.4.2 — tool keyboard shortcuts intermittently not working / Power Saving


Recommended Posts

Since round about updating to version 2.4, the simple keyboard shortcuts like

"v", "p", "t" etc.

don't work properly anymore across all Affinity apps, for some reason.

When I press a key, to change to a different tool, often the application changes to that selected tool for a fraction of a second and immediately reverts to the previously selected tool. Sometimes it stays at the desired tool after the third time of pressing its assigned key.

This happens most of the time, when focused on an object (e.g. a text frame is selected).

This behaviour is intermittent, but often enough (about 80% of the time) to not go unnoticed.
ADDED: with power mode at maximum performance, it seems to work again. It would be great to have it work also in power saving mode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you press the T shortcut key when a Frame Text layer is selected then the software will think you want to type text and will give the Frame Text layer focus so you can type in it.

This is the same as selecting a Frame Text layer with the Move Tool and then selecting the Frame Text Tool.

I believe this is expected behaviour.

Could this explain some of what you are experiencing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Viktor CR said:

When I press a key, to change to a different tool, often the application changes to that selected tool for a fraction of a second and immediately reverts to the previously selected tool.

The fact that it changes briefly to the selected tool suggests to me that your single keypress is being detected as two successive keypresses. It’s ‘by design’ that pressing the current tool’s shortcut reverts to the previous tool.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.5.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Could this explain some of what you are experiencing?

No, I'm escaping out of text editing mode, when a text frame is selected.

This happens also when any other tool or object is active, like — I'm working on a path, with the path tool selected and press "v" to switch to the move tool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In addition to Alfred's suggestion that it might be a keyboard issue, there's another possibility I think.

2.2 added a new function where you can press & hold a shortcut key to temporarily switch to that tool, then revert to the original tool when you release the shortcut key. More information on the What's New page for 2.2:

Quote

Long press tool shortcutsAvailable on both desktop and iPad 

Holding onto any tool shortcut will now just put you in that tool temporarily until you release the shortcut key, at which point you will return to your previous tool. So for example, when you are using the Pen Tool, you could hold V to change to Move Tool to move your curve, and then on release be immediately back in Pen Tool. Another useful example would be when in Brush Tool, you could hold E to put you in Eraser and release to toggle back to Brush Tool.

Perhaps you're pressing and holding, rather than simply pressing and letting go?

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
    Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2,  16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 18.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Perhaps you're pressing and holding

Thank you! I've made use of this new shortcut, as well — but am referring above to even super fast "clicks" on a key.
I'm using a Logitech MX Keys Bluetooth keyboard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your report @Viktor CR!

16 hours ago, Viktor CR said:

It seems to be the Power Saving mode. At maximum performance, it works.

I'm not seeing this behaviour currently, I've tested with both a wired and bluetooth wireless keyboard and the apps shortcuts continue to function as expected for me in all Windows power modes.

However I am personally using a desktop PC, which I believe has different limitations when set to Power Saving mode, compared to a battery powered device such as a laptop etc.

Can you please confirm for me, what type of PC are you using and if known, what are the PC's specs?

As Garry asks above, have you tried testing this with a different keyboard in both power modes?

It's possible there is a delay in communication between your bluetooth device and the PC when in Power Saving mode that can cause an input to be registered as a press and hold - rather than simply a press. As far as I'm aware there are no functions within the Affinity app itself that would directly control or influence this - and certainly nothing our team has added in specific regards to Windows Power modes.

Have you tried using your keyboard in both power modes whilst using a keyboard tester app (there are many free online options for these) that will show the inputs being detected and is the key is registered as pressed/held down? :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Dan C said:

keyboard tester app

I am not seeing any difference between Power Saving and Maximum Performance.

In both cases, I'm consistently able to produce even a 14 ms on-off switch by making an effort to deliver a very short twitch of the muscle (which is not sustainable or realistic in everyday use, of course).

UX relation

The usual shortest timing of a key press is about 64 ms, with anything under 300 ms still intended as a single key press.
From about 350 ms and upward, it feels like the button can be interpreted as having been held down briefly.

Is it possible, that the key hold event criterion used by Affinity depends on processor cycles, instead of actual time passed in milliseconds? Or that between triggering / detecting the event and internally noting / applying the key hold state, additional process cycles can lapse, causing a race condition?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Viktor, I can't speak for Affinity, but developers don't measure key press times. The operating system has events such as keyDown, keyUp, keyPress which applications 'listen' for. When you press and release a key, the app gets a keyPress event which it can act on. The app doesn't know how long you held down the key.

The operating system determines whether you have pressed and released the key or whether it is being held down. You can modify the variable in macOS System Settings.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for confirming that for me - as Mike mentions above any key presses on your system will be detected and interpreted by the OS, before being passed through to the Affinity app.

Therefore the Affinity app has no control over the key press detection and this is controlled by your OS separately.

Unfortunately I'm unsure of other methods to detect why your inputs would be different based on your OS power mode, but as we're unable to replicate this currently and the functionality is provided by the system directly, we don't believe this to be a bug with the Affinity app at this time.

16 hours ago, Viktor CR said:

The usual shortest timing of a key press is about 64 ms, with anything under 300 ms still intended as a single key press.
From about 350 ms and upward, it feels like the button can be interpreted as having been held down briefly.

Users however have requested a setting to control the 'press' vs 'hold' duration when triggering this new feature within Affinity, as such an option may assist in this scenario and therefore I will be sure to pass this thread through to our development team in relation to this setting discussion.

I hope this helps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I have noticed that some of my keyboard shortcuts aren't working either, I can't remember all of them at the moment, but currently as posting this the ctrl+alt+R is not working to refine a selection/ pixel mask. Using the mouse to double click on everything that I need all the time doesn't make for a speedy work flow you know? Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear you're having trouble @jbunds!

11 hours ago, jbunds said:

ctrl+alt+R is not working to refine a selection/ pixel mask

This shortcut is working as expected for me across multiple different documents - out of interest are you trying to use the ALT GR key to invoke these shortcuts?

Equally, I'm not seeing issues with other shortcuts in the app on my PC, nor are we aware of general issues with these shortcuts not working on Windows at this time.
Do you recall any other shortcuts that were not working as expected for you? As some shortcuts are Tool/Selection specific and therefore may not work in all scenarios.

However specific to the Selection Refine command, provided there is an active pixel selection in your file, this command should work as expected.

Many thanks in advance :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for getting back to me quickly! When I am trying to use it, I am on the pixel layer and I am trying it before I have made the mask (in quick mask) and after I have made the mask?.. I even went into my shortcuts in the settings to verify that it is correct for refine selection, and even reset all of the shortcuts. I tried the ctrl and alt buttons on both sides of my keyboard too. I know they are working because it works with other shortcuts and in other programs. I'm sorry I can't think of any other shortcuts right now I was messing around with it too. But if I come across some more I can come back here! Do I need to have "apply to all" or "ignore modifier" checked? I even went in, deleted the shortcut for refine selection, then tried to reassign ctrl+alt+R to another function and it wouldn't let me... I hope all this helps!

Screenshot (41).png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No problem at all, thanks for the further info!

The right-side 'AltGr' key can't be used for this shortcut, but the left hand side CTRL + ALT keys should be working, as they are in my tests with a similar document setup that I can see in your screenshot.

15 hours ago, jbunds said:

Do I need to have "apply to all" or "ignore modifier" checked?

The below is taken from the helpfile on these two options:

Quote
  • Apply to all - If checked, the shortcut applied to a UI element is shared across every Persona. If unchecked, you can uniquely assign a custom shortcut to work just within the currently selected Persona in the initial Persona pop-up menu.
  • Ignore Modifier - Lets you create shortcuts using a single letter designation instead of using keyboard modifiers.

Therefore you should only have these options enabled if you want to apply a new shortcut across all personas, or ignore modifiers such as CTRL / ALT when creating a new shortcut.

15 hours ago, jbunds said:

I even went in, deleted the shortcut for refine selection, then tried to reassign ctrl+alt+R to another function and it wouldn't let me...

What do you mean by 'wouldn't let me' in this context please? Was the input simply not detected, or was it added but a warning (yellow triangle) showed next to the shortcut?

If possible, a screen recording showing this may help me to understand further :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Dan C said:

The right-side 'AltGr' key can't be used for this shortcut, but the left hand side CTRL + ALT keys should be working

I would expect Alt Gr to be equivalent to Ctrl + Alt, but I can confirm that Alt Gr + R does nothing here in Affinity Photo 2.5.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.5.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

I would expect Alt Gr to be equivalent to Ctrl + Alt

AltGr is specifically detected as a different key when creating a Shortcut, and therefore can't be used for a shortcut that demands CTRL + ALT - however it can be used for Tool Modifiers that require CTRL + ALT to be pressed, such as the Brush Tool modifier.

image.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Dan C said:

AltGr is specifically detected as a different key when creating a Shortcut, and therefore can't be used for a shortcut that demands CTRL + ALT - however it can be used for Tool Modifiers that require CTRL + ALT to be pressed, such as the Brush Tool modifier.

I think the confusion may come in because Windows will try to interpret Ctrl+Alt as AltGr in some cases (depending on keyboard configuration and Windows settings and application).

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
    Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2,  16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 18.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand, and I was a little uncertain of the exact expected behaviour in Affinity when using Alt Gr myself - however having checked with our QA team they also confirmed this is specifically detected as a separate key for Shortcuts but not for Tool Modifiers.

I believe the reasoning behind this was due to how Affinity was previously detecting an Alt Gr + TAB input to switch apps, as this would stop all shortcuts from working:

Therefore I understand Alt Gr is detected differently for Shortcuts in order to not cause this previously reported bug.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see, my keyboard does not have alt gr that is why I was confused! Anyways, I have attached a screen recording. You will see in the recording that I clicked the little "x" on the box of refine edges to clear the shortcut, and then tried to put the shortcut in for another function but it doesn't let me, I press ctrl+alt then try to press R and the whole things just disappears... You can see me trying to add ctrl+alt+R several times in both boxes. Then I hit the reset button to repopulate the box.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@jbunds

Try a CTRL run-up

I.e. Hold the CTRL key down and start the app

In the dialoge that appears select "Reset Keyboard Shortcuts" then the "Clear" button

Does that fix the issue?

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, jbunds said:

I see, my keyboard does not have alt gr that is why I was confused!

Standard US English keyboards don’t have Alt Gr, European ones do, but software can — and obviously does! —distinguish between the lefthand and righthand Alt keys, even when they’re both label(l)ed the same way.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.5.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, jbunds said:

You will see in the recording that I clicked the little "x" on the box of refine edges to clear the shortcut, and then tried to put the shortcut in for another function but it doesn't let me, I press ctrl+alt then try to press R and the whole things just disappears...

Thanks for providing that for me! It appears as though the app is failing to detect the 'R' press in the shortcut - just to verify are you continuing to hold down the CTRL + ALT key when pressing R?

If so, what happens if you enable the 'Ignore modifiers' option and try to add 'CTRL + ALT + r' as the Refine Shortcut?

Finally, what language / layout keyboard are you using please? And what language input is set on your OS? :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.