Using pen tool to make 2 paths to make more than one selection.

[PureMinty]

Hello.

 

I’m very new to affinity photo2 but have been using a very old version of PS for years. Looking for some advice?

The problem I’m having is this. Say I want to sharpen someones eyes. In PS I would use the pen tool to make a path of one eye. I could then do the same with the other and then hit select and both would be selected then proceed with my sharpening. When I try this in affinity and close one path and try to do the same on the other eye it does not work? It vanishes!

Please advise.

Many thanks.

Minty.

 

 

[firstdefence]

It's likely that that path/curve in affinity does not have a stroke applied or a fill, look at the layers panel, when you start to make the second path/curve can you see the photo layer and a curve layer? If you closed the path/curve and start a new path/curve you will now have the photo layer and two curve layers.

[walt.farrell]

Rather than using the Pen Tool, you could consider using the Freehand Marquee Selection Tool to draw a pixel selection of one eye, then switch to Add mode and make a selection of the other eye. Then apply your sharpening.

[h_d]

Hi @PureMinty and welcome!

 

The Affinity Photo pen tool doesn't draw paths, it draws Curves, which are essentially vector shapes. And unlike the pen tool in Photoshop, it doesn't draw non-contiguous curves.

So as @firstdefence says, you've almost certainly drawn two unfilled, unstroked Curves. They should both be there in the Layers panel.

In Affinity Photo, unlike Photoshop, as far as I'm aware there's no one-hit way of converting a curve to a pixel selection.

Here's a get-round/alternative workflow.

Draw the two curves. You'll see them as two separate objects in the Layers panel - I have filled them to make them easier to see:

 

 

On macOS, hold down the cmd key (probably ctrl on Windows) and click once on the thumbnail of the first Curve in the Layers panel. This will create a 'marching ants' pixel selection on this Curve layer.

While still holding down the cmd key, hold down the shift key and click once on the thumbnail of the second Curve in the Layers panel. 

This will give you a marching ants pixel selection of both Curves.

You can now delete or hide the two curves layers (the marching ants will keep marching). If you want, you can Feather or Smooth the selections using the Select menu.

Then select the image layer, and apply your sharpening (remembering that you will best see the true effect of sharpening at 100% magnification).

If you use a Live Filter layer this will automatically create its own mask, so you can deselect your pixel selection and will get a better idea of what's happening round the edges.

However...

All of this is pretty long-winded, and I think you'll get faster (and probably better) results using Affinity Photo's selection tools, especially the Selection Brush. This works non-contiguously, giving you an accurate selection of both eyes without using the pen tool at all. 

 

 

[Hangman]

Hi @PureMinty and another welcome to the forums,

Once you've completed drawing your path using the Pen tool, clicking Selection at the top left of the Context toolbar will convert it to a Selection...

As mentioned above the pen tool will create two separate Curve layers which is perfect so a typical workflow might look something like this...

Steps to Convert Paths to Selections

1. Duplicate your Image Layer in the Layers Panel (Cmd or Ctrl J)
2. Select the Pen tool with no fill or stroke colour
3. Create the selection around the first eye, this will automatically create a new Curve Layer in the Layers panel
4. Create the selection around the second eye, this will automatically create a second new Curve Layer in the Layers panel
5. Select both Layers in the Layers panel
6. Go to Layer > Geometry > Merge Curves, this will merge the two Curve Layers into a single Layer in the Layers Panel
7. With the Pen tool selected click Selection at the top left of the Context toolbar, this will give you the selection you're looking for
8. If you want to Save your Selection go to Select > Save Selection > As Spare Channel, this will Save the selection as a Spare Channel in the Channels panel and allow you to reload the pixel selection after deselecting it if you want to make further adjustments (Right-Click the Spare Channel in the Channels Panel and select Load to Pixel Selection)
9. You can then apply either a destructive Sharpen Filter Filter > Sharpen or a non-destructive Live Sharpen Filter Layer > New Live Filter Layer > Sharpen to make your  adjustment
10. If you want to hide the marching ants while making your adjustment you can use View > Hide Pixel Selection

[user_0815]

To keep it simple, instead of making a selection you can directly use the two paths (curves) as a mask.

1. Make your curves as usual
2. Group them (shift-click on them to selecct them and then ctrl-G on Windows / cmd-G on Mac)
3. Drag the grup on your adjustment layer 

 

If you want to adjust the "feather" of that mask, click on the group and go to the QuickFX panel. There you can adjust the "Gausian Blur".

[PureMinty]

Hi.

 

Many thanks for the super response to my question.

I’ve tried all the suggested methods and have it nailed now. This was a feature I used all the time with PS for selective tweaks.

Can’t believe I have never switched to Affinity Photo before now!

Anyway a big TY.

Minty.

  🫡

Edited August 14 by PureMinty
correction

[lepr]

The Pen Tool in Photo can draw any number of paths as one object and then immediately convert it to a pixel selection, as shown in the attached video.

 

 

 

[PureMinty]

Lepr... that's even quicker! many thanks..  👍

[lepr]

👍

 

[user_0815]

Quote

The Pen Tool in Photo can draw any number of paths as one object and then immediately convert it to a pixel selection, as shown in the attached video.

😳 How did I not know this?! 🤦‍♂️ 👍 

Has this button always been there?

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, user_0815 said:

😳 How did I not know this?! 🤦‍♂️ 👍 

Has this button always been there?

It's there in the V1 Mac version. I'm not sure if it was in iPad V1.