Auto apply Colour Panel's colour picker

[Patrick Connor]

Apps: Designer, Photo and Publisher
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad

Auto Apply (Colour Panel) Colour Picker to Selection

Previously when you used the Colour Picker available from the Colour or Stroke Panel it would first add the picked colour to the well next to the picker and then you would be required to apply the colour manually by clicking the well.

We are now changing this to automatically apply the picked colour to the selected object, so you’re no longer required to select the colour well.

If you would prefer not to apply the selected colour (i.e the previous behaviour) you can hold Alt down whilst picking the colour (note this Alt behaviour is currently only available on Windows).

[Affinity Info Bot]

Known Issues in this feature
A list of unresolved issues for this feature, reported by users

• AF-4761 - Auto Apply colour picker fails for Adjustments
• AF-4806 - The Colour Pickers's Auto-Apply Colour Fails to Apply Colour Correctly to Text Frames...

Released Fixes
A list of issues for this feature, available in the current beta build

• AF-4791 - Applying Color/Swatches panel Sampled Color (Color Picker) to object creates 2 Set Fill History entries
• AF-4760 - Auto Apply colour picker fails in Colour Chooser on Windows
• AF-4805 - The Colour Picker's Auto Apply Feature Fails to Apply the Selected Colour for all FX on Windows

[loukash]

20 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

note this Alt behaviour is currently only available on Windows

Why this? For me as a Mac user this is a step back.  

[Patrick Connor]

4 minutes ago, loukash said:

Why this? For me as a Mac user this is a step back

Can you explain whether you mean

(a) "it is a step back" us not (yet) implementing a way to access the earlier behaviour on mac to match Windows

or

(b) it is "a step back" that it applies to your selection instantly?

[Seneca]

21 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

Auto Apply (Colour Panel) Colour Picker to Selection

Great thanks.

This is how it should have been implemented from the start. 🙂

[Sean P]

29 minutes ago, loukash said:

Why this? For me as a Mac user this is a step back.  

There is an open issue that is preventing that part working on macOS and iPad. It is logged and intended to be fixed (which is why it was phrased with currently). 

[ronnyb]

27 minutes ago, Seneca said:

Great thanks.

This is how it should have been implemented from the start. 🙂

Right?! Finally………….

[loukash]

46 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

Can you explain whether you mean

(a) "it is a step back" us not (yet) implementing a way to access the earlier behaviour on mac to match Windows

or

(b) it is "a step back" that it applies to your selection instantly?

Both.
I, for one, like the current behavior, and I like to have options.

23 minutes ago, Sean P said:

There is an open issue that is preventing that part working on macOS and iPad. It is logged and intended to be fixed (which is why it was phrased with currently). 

Ah, thanks.

[Return]

It only works for the color panel(like mentioned in title but perhaps state this explicitly)
So not in color chooser, swatches, gradient map, etc.

[Sean P]

14 minutes ago, Return said:

It only works for the color panel(like mentioned in title but perhaps state this explicitly)
So not in color chooser, swatches, gradient map, etc.

Thanks!
Are you on macOS or Windows? These should also be working. On Windows I am seeing that behaviour not working in the Colour Chooser dialog and Gradient Map adjustment (but is working on macOS for both), however the one in the Swatches Panel is working.

Are you able to expand on the areas you're seeing this in and where you're accessing them from please?

[Bryan Rieger]

I MUCH prefer the colour picker working this way by default, but I do agree with @loukash in that having the option to use the existing method as an alternate would be useful (when it's available on macOS).

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Sean P said:

however the one in the Swatches Panel is working.

Also working on Windows for me.

[Return]

2 minutes ago, Sean P said:

Are you on macOS or Windows?

Windows.
Must have been a (user) glitch but it also works in the swatches panel 😊

 

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Bryan Rieger said:

I MUCH prefer the colour picker working this way by default, but I do agree with @loukash in that having the option to use the existing method as an alternate would be useful (when it's available on macOS).

I would prefer a Preference/Setting for old approach or new one, or possible a setting that allows using the Alt key to get the new approach.

One likely issue I see is that if you Sample while you have an object selected, the object's Fill is immediately updated now unless you remember to press Alt. And that is likely to end up surprising users who sample from Image layers, which (unlike Pixel layers) are affected easily by Fill changes.

[Return]

Like you I feel it should be the opposite, no change when sampling and only use Alt to apply to given item/object/layer.

 

[R.I.P. Affinity 26.03.2024]

It's a good change. I am happy its finally here.

[Evaluation complete.]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

One likely issue I see is that if you Sample while you have an object selected, the object's Fill is immediately updated now unless you remember to press Alt. And that is likely to end up surprising users who sample from Image layers, which (unlike Pixel layers) are affected easily by Fill changes.

Yes, Walt is right that there is potential for some confusion here; on the other hand, it conceptually matches how you pick colors for a gradient from, for example, an image - using the option key. I know, I am a regular color thief. 🙂

Not directly comparable. Serif, I think you should prioritize updating the tooltip with the alt-option info so that everyone on desktop is informed about the shortcut.

[_Th]

Love this, and much prefer this over the old behavior.

In my workflow and/or personal preference, the click to sample and click again to apply felt unnecessarily slow and clunky.

[blureogroup]

This is going to save me so much time. It was probably one of the most frustrating things in terms of UX

[Andy05]

Maybe adding an option to the settings for convenience reasons would be a good idea? Something like "[X] colour picker: old behaviour (picking the colour fills the well)".

That way the user can decide, which is the standard behaviour and which is the [ALT]ernative one.

[TonyO]

Yes, this is an incredible change! So much faster!

If you're working on the color picker, would it be possible to implement the slide-out style color picker on the left tool bar as well on iPad?

It's basically the same as what you just implemented from the color pallet, but for right handed people (vast majority), it's so much easier to reach a slide out color picker from the left tool bar than the top right of the screen in a color pallet that needs to be manually opened. Maybe just add a color swatch below the tools that performs this same slide out function? 

This used to be the default function of the color picker tool on the left panel, but it was axed in 2.1

 

 

[JohnPNJ]

On 10/21/2024 at 9:17 AM, Patrick Connor said:

Apps: Designer, Photo and Publisher
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad

Auto Apply (Colour Panel) Colour Picker to Selection

Previously when you used the Colour Picker available from the Colour or Stroke Panel it would first add the picked colour to the well next to the picker and then you would be required to apply the colour manually by clicking the well.

We are now changing this to automatically apply the picked colour to the selected object, so you’re no longer required to select the colour well.

If you would prefer not to apply the selected colour (i.e the previous behaviour) you can hold Alt down whilst picking the colour (note this Alt behaviour is currently only available on Windows).

This is a very good quality of life improvement - thank you.

[walt.farrell]

I have found something unexpected happening with the new Color and Swatches panel Color Picker on Windows. (Does not happen in macOS.)

With an object (say, a Rectangle) selected in the Layers panel, click on the sampled-color well in the Color Picker.

Expected results:

1. The sampled-color is transferred to the active Fill (or Stroke) color in the panel.
2. The color of the object is changed, and the History panel shows Set Fill as a new History entry.

That is what happens in 2.5.5 and in 2.6.0.2805 on macOS.

However, in 2.6.0.2805 on Windows, in step 2, the History panel shows 2 Set Fill entries. A single Undo makes no visible change, and the object and the Fill/Stroke in the panel remain unchanged. It takes 2 Undo actions to to restore the Object and panel colors to their values prior to step 1.

2.5.5 (Designer, Windows):

 

2.6.0.2805 (Designer, Windows):

 

 

 

 

 

[Hangman]

The Colour Pickers' auto-apply colour fails to apply colour correctly to text frames...

This one has a knock-on effect because the underlying issue exists in v2.5.5, though I can't see that it's been previously reported... The underlying issue is exaggerated by the new colour auto-apply functionality.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a Text Frame
2. In the Text Frame Panel click either the Fill or Stroke swatch
3. Drag the Colour Picker horizontally over the Rainbow colour well from Left to Right
4. At around the 75% mark (dark blue), the selected colour is shown by the Colour Picker as White, i.e., R:255 G:255 B:255 for the remaining 25%
5. Subsequently, any colour selected after the ~75% mark turns the Text Frame white
6. This is the same for every colour model

Note: On Windows, this works correctly...

[Hangman]

The Colour Picker's auto-apply colour function fails to apply colour using all the FX colour swatches in the Layer Effect's panel for all applicable FX on Windows, they all work on Mac.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Add a Shape to an Affinity document
2. Add an FX from the Layers panel to the Shape making any appropriate adjustments
3. Click the relevant colour swatch or swatches for the FX
4. Drag the Colour Picker to select a colour
5. The colour is automatically applied on Mac but fails to be applied on Windows