Photo Usability Improvements

[Patrick Connor]

Photo Usability improvements in 2.6.0 (from build 2984 onwards):

Changes		Details
Image and RAW layers can now be used with raster selections when deleting and duplicating		By default: With a raster selection active and an Image layer selected, deleting will mask the layer rather than deleting it entirely (because Image/RAW layers are immutable). With a raster selection active and an Image layer selected, duplicating will create a new Pixel layer with just the selected pixel data. Alternative behaviours configurable via Assistant Options: With a raster selection active and an Image layer selected, deleting will rasterise to a Pixel layer and remove the selected pixels. With a raster selection active and an Image layer selected, duplicating will create a copy of the Image layer and mask it based on the raster selection.
Merge Down / Merge Selected commands now work with Image and RAW layers		These two Merge operations are no longer greyed out and can be used when Image/RAW layers are selected: it will rasterise them with a warning toast.
CMD/Ctrl-click drag with marquee selection now works on Image and RAW layers		The layer will be rasterised, allowing the pixel selection to be moved (instead of dragging the entire image, which confuses users).
Image layers can now be used to enter the Develop Persona		For users who want the simplified workflow of Develop, Image layers will now be rasterised. This works regardless of colour format as well. Behaviour can be controlled with the assistant option "Applying filters to non-pixel layers" (optionally not rasterising and instead blocking the action).
Image and RAW layers can now be used to enter the Liquify Persona		Allows users to enter Liquify with an Image layer selected (it will be rasterised). As above, behaviour can be controlled with the assistant option.
Image and RAW layers can now be used to enter the Tone Mapping Persona		Allows users to enter Tone Mapping with an Image layer selected (it will be rasterised). As above, behaviour can be controlled with the assistant option.
When using a brush tool on an Image or RAW layer, perform a non-destructive behaviour instead of rasterising		When using the Paint Brush Tool, creates a new nested Pixel layer and paints onto it. When using the Erase Brush Tool, creates a new mask layer and erases from it.
Inpainting Brush Tool and Patch Tool now remember sampler option between sessions/documents		E.g. when you change from Current Layer to Current Layer & Below. This now persists (as it does already with the Clone Brush/Healing Brush Tools), so is consistent and more user-friendly.
Map Live Perspective filter to CMD+T / Ctrl+T (only in Pixel/Photo workspace)		This is to accommodate user muscle memory for Free Transform. Without an equivalent tool that does every transformation type, Live Perspective is the closest alternative.
Rectangular Marquee Tool has a “From Centre” option		This is to match the Elliptical Marquee Tool having the option (and to remove the need for another modifier behaviour).
Standardise modifiers across selection tools and avoid the need for a quaternary modifier (which was right mouse on Windows)		Flood Select, Marquee and Freehand tools now all use Shift to Add, Alt to Subtract. Marquee tools now use CMD / Ctrl to constrain. Removes the complication of Windows users needing to learn to use the right mouse button for Add operations.
Ctrl+Option / Ctrl+Alt modifier for brush tools added to hint line		This adds both the drag behaviour (to alter brush parameters) and the click behaviour (to toggle between Width/Hardness, Shape/Spacing and Rotation parameters) to the hint line, for user awareness.
Antialiasing enabled by default for Flood Select / Marquee / Freehand Tools		These tools are primarily used with pixel-based workflows where you don’t want aliased edges, so defaulting antialiasing to on makes sense.
Brush hardness override for iPad removed		iPad defaults the brush hardness to 0% for all tools, whereas desktop defaults to 80%. This is suspected to be a legacy change and has been removed.
Clear Mask and Fill Mask added to right click mask layer context menu		Adds the two options to fill/clear masks on the right click menu (for any raster mask layer type including adjustments/live filters). Easy and discoverable approach instead of knowing to use the Channels panel to fill the alpha. Also available in Designer and Publisher, where you don't have access to the Channels panel.
Edit>Inpaint can be used with Image and RAW layers		Currently, using Edit>Inpaint with a non-Pixel layer will not work, or will remove the layer entirely from the layer stack. If the appropriate assistant option is set, this will rasterise and inpaint instead. If the assistant option is set to “Take no action”, the option will be blocked.
Allow CMD+Return to commit text input and switch to Move Tool		CMD+Enter / Ctrl+Enter can now be used when actively editing text to "commit" the text input and switch to the selection tool, similar to other creative software. Any shortcut bound to this key combination (by default, Convert to Curves) will only be actioned when the user is not currently editing text input.

Most of these improvements may be virtually transparent to the average user, but they will hopefully be quite welcome to existing and new users alike.

Also these Photo Workflow tweaks

• Wet Edges is available on a number of brush tools on iPad. 
  • Background Erase Brush
  • Burn Brush
  • Clone Brush
  • Colour Replacement Brush
  • Dodge Brush
  • Erase Brush
  • Healing Brush
  • Median Brush
  • Paint Mixer Brush
  • Sharpen Brush
  • Smudge Brush
  • Sponge Brush
  • Undo Brush
• Layer > Mask to Below command can now be macro recordable.
• Image and RAW layers can now be used with Select > Select Sampled Colour and the Range commands (select reds/greens/blues, tonal ranges, alpha etc), without needing to rasterise the layer.
• [iPad] Non-Pixel layers should now see the three Live Projection commands (Clear, Perspective and Equirectangular) greyed out on the top iPad command menu, but enabled for Pixel layers.
• Block selection refinement when Quick Mask is enabled.
• Frequency separation forces median blur values to be multiplied by 3.
• Resize Document can now be used just to change the document's DPI value when recorded as a macro.
• Using "Layer > Merge" on linked layers freezes app.
• Using "Live Perspective" on a linked pixel layer causes an app crash.
• Improve the Assistant warnings when switching personas.

[Affinity Info Bot]

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

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

• AF-5374 - [Win] Alternative Behaviours Configurable via Assistant Settings are Missing in Designer and Publisher

[Hangman]

The Alternative behaviours configurable via Assistant Options are missing on Windows for Designer’s Pixel Persona and Publisher’s Photo Persona so while the default behaviours work the Alternative behaviours can’t be configured…

Affinity Photo - Assistant Settings (Mac | Windows)

• Delete selection from Image/RAW layer and Duplicate selection from Image/RAW layer appear

Affinity Designer’s Pixel Persona - Assistant Settings (Mac | Windows)

• Delete selection from Image/RAW layer and Duplicate selection from Image/RAW layer are missing

Affinity Publisher’s Photo Persona - Assistant Settings (Mac | Windows)

• Delete selection from Image/RAW layer and Duplicate selection from Image/RAW layer are missing
• Add filter layer to selection is missing

[Hangman]

There are some truly excellent workflow improvements with these enhancements, thank you...

[James Ritson]

33 minutes ago, Hangman said:

The Alternative behaviours configurable via Assistant Options are missing on Windows for Designer’s Pixel Persona and Publisher’s Photo Persona so while the default behaviours work the Alternative behaviours can’t be configured…

Thanks, I'll take a look 👍

31 minutes ago, Hangman said:

There are some truly excellent workflow improvements with these enhancements, thank you...

Hope they prove useful! There may be edge case scenarios I've missed (relating to how Image and RAW layers are handled when performing various operations on them). The goal with the changes for those layer types was to make operations on them seem more intuitive when coming from other image editing software, i.e. they should behave more like Pixel layers whilst trying to retain their non-destructive characteristics where possible. That's why deleting with a selection or using the erase brush masks them by default, and painting creates a new child layer and so on. Some operations aren't possible to achieve non-destructively (e.g. entering Tone Mapping), so rasterisation has to occur with a notification.

[Circulus]

On 12/16/2024 at 5:06 PM, Patrick Connor said:

This is to match the Elliptical Marquee Tool having the option (and to remove the need for another modifier behaviour).

Why not use the ctrl(win) for all pre-shaped selection options? 

On 12/16/2024 at 5:06 PM, Patrick Connor said:

Marquee tools now use CMD / Ctrl to constrain.

Why not use shift(win) to constrain as is now for shapes?
 ctrl+shift to add to selection.
 ctrl+alt to subtract from selection.
Use rightmouse+drag to duplicate.
Shift+rightmouse+drag to constrain(snapping) duplication

 

[blureogroup]

On 12/16/2024 at 6:06 PM, Patrick Connor said:

Flood Select, Marquee and Freehand tools now all use Shift to Add, Alt to Subtract.

Am I dreaming? All selection tools now use Shift to Add and Alt to Subtract 🥹 🥹 🥹

This is the best Christmas gift from the Affinity team. THANK YOU!

[walt.farrell]

38 minutes ago, Return said:

Shift+rightmouse+drag to constrain(snapping) duplication

That one requires right-mouse and left-mouse, because drag is a left-mouse action. And the requirement for using both mouse buttons seems to be what this change was designed to accomplish.

Your suggestion would also require allowing a drag with just the right-mouse, which would be possible in theory but might be a much bigger code change, I think. And a larger relearning requirement for users? And perhaps a larger documentation effort.

[footeg]

Everything running much faster now on Windows 11 24H2, especially subject & object selection tools. Thanks Affinity.

[James Ritson]

24 minutes ago, Return said:

Why not use the ctrl(win) for all pre-shaped selection options? 

Why not use shift(win) to constrain as is now for shapes?
 ctrl+shift to add to selection.
 ctrl+alt to subtract from selection.
Use rightmouse+drag to duplicate.
Shift+rightmouse+drag to constrain(snapping) duplication

 

The current thinking is:

We're trying to avoid using the right mouse button as a modifier where possible. This has been the case on Windows for quite some time as it lacks a quaternary modifier on the keyboard (Mac has CMD, Ctrl, Option and Shift). Other tools may have to use it as an unavoidable consequence of providing more functionality via modifiers (rather than splitting off to a separate tool), but with selection tools the feeling was that things should be more sympathetic to users' muscle memory from other software.

If you need two modifiers to achieve a behaviour, that introduces more complexity and you're then in a situation where you may want only one or both of the behaviours. Other applications use an implementation where you get one behaviour if you hold a modifier before dragging, and another behaviour if you hold a modifier after you've begun dragging. This is a solution, but in practice can be difficult to understand (especially with no hint line to educate users on its function). At the moment, Shift and Alt have been made add and subtract for selection tools (Flood Select, Marquee, Freehand), which was the most important change. How the other functionality is accessed could still be discussed and worked on..

[Circulus]

Just now, walt.farrell said:

That one requires right-mouse and left-mouse

Nope it has been implemented in Xara designer for years.
Push down the rightmousebutton and hold it and drag the object to duplicate.
 

 

 

 

[Circulus]

Ah "by design" again, so a shape has shift to constrain but a selection uses ctrl?
A brush uses Alt to subtract from a selection but uses Ctrl from a preshaped selection?
Perhaps it is wise to have a real UX manager at work there in the woods.
 

[James Ritson]

7 minutes ago, Return said:

Ah "by design" again, so a shape has shift to constrain but a selection uses ctrl?
A brush uses Alt to subtract from a selection but uses Ctrl from a preshaped selection?
Perhaps it is wise to have a real UX manager at work there in the woods.
 

Nice.

As I said, how the other functionality is accessed is still to be discussed.

[Circulus]

10 minutes ago, James Ritson said:

The current thinking is:

Perhaps you should run it by some real users and the excuse for the 4 vs 3 modifiers is just too lame.
You have hardcoded many shortcuts that could have been used and also other programs like Xara have implemented all functions to be set by the users.
They have many more functions and it is on windows only
Let the users decide and save in an ini/xml or propcol file or whatever but don't mix shortcuts for similar behavior.
And yes the adagium of by design and we decided is becoming stale.
I hope you can make the time for answering the users that are going to find these options confusing which you were trying to avoid.
And please stop mimicking adobe.

[walt.farrell]

19 minutes ago, Return said:

Nope it has been implemented in Xara designer for years.
Push down the rightmousebutton and hold it and drag the object to duplicate.

As I said, yes it can be done in theory. (And, in practice, it could be done as you indicate.) But today, all "drag" actions in Affinity are left-mouse actions. And the Status bar means "click left-mouse button and drag" whenever it says "drag". So changing to allowing a right-mouse drag feels like a bigger change, to me, for both Development and for the users.

[Circulus]

13 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

As I said, yes it can be done in theory. (And, in practice, it could be done as you indicate.) But today, all "drag" actions in Affinity are left-mouse actions. And the Status bar means "click left-mouse button and drag" whenever it says "drag". So changing to allowing a right-mouse drag feels like a bigger change, to me, for both Development and for the users.

Simple functions are available in many frameworks as you probably know.
So a function call to the rightmouse button down should be easy for real developers, not?


 

[Circulus]

On 12/16/2024 at 5:06 PM, Patrick Connor said:

Clear Mask and Fill Mask added to right click mask layer context menu

I think this is imo backwards.
Clear Mask fills the mask with black but this will mask everything.
Fill Mask fills the mask with white but shows everything.

Expected: Clearing mask will remove the mask completely but have it's layer intact and showing the whole parent.
Expected: Filling the mask should mask the whole parent layer aka hiding all pixels of the parent.

Perhaps using filling with white or black instead of clear and fill.

 

[James Ritson]

41 minutes ago, Return said:

I think this is imo backwards.
Clear Mask fills the mask with black but this will mask everything.
Fill Mask fills the mask with white but shows everything.

Expected: Clearing mask will remove the mask completely but have it's layer intact and showing the whole parent.
Expected: Filling the mask should mask the whole parent layer aka hiding all pixels of the parent.

 

For consistency, the two options are following the Clear and Fill commands available on the Channels panel:

Clear will "clear" any bitmap data on the mask so it becomes pure black, and will not show anything. Fill will "fill" it with pure white, so the entire mask is shown. Seeing as adding a black mask is referred to as an empty mask, perhaps "Empty Mask" instead of "Clear Mask" might make the behaviour... clearer.

For context, this option is primarily for Designer and Publisher users, who without a Channels panel lack the ability to quickly clear or fill masks, both for explicit mask layers and for alpha channels on adjustment layers. It is however quite useful as a more obvious way of quickly resetting a mask to empty or full:

[Circulus]

One could fill with black or white with the gradienttool.

 

[blureogroup]

4 hours ago, Return said:

Perhaps you should run it by some real users and the excuse for the 4 vs 3 modifiers is just too lame.
You have hardcoded many shortcuts that could have been used and also other programs like Xara have implemented all functions to be set by the users.
They have many more functions and it is on windows only
Let the users decide and save in an ini/xml or propcol file or whatever but don't mix shortcuts for similar behavior.
And yes the adagium of by design and we decided is becoming stale.
I hope you can make the time for answering the users that are going to find these options confusing which you were trying to avoid.
And please stop mimicking adobe.

Video editors, file browsers, and the largest design suite on the planet all use shift to add and alt to subtract. I’m pretty sure even Canva works that way.

Not doing things like otgers is not an argument for the decision being good.

I like opening my preferred design suite and expecting the same modifier workflow as every single other software on this planet.

[Circulus]

Yes but Serif decided long ago to use shift for constraining in other parts of the affinities where it should be ctrl and now they implemented several mixed usage of the modifiers.

shift for this and ctrl for that and alt for this but not for that other tool makes people pulling hairs.

My point is the inconsistency between both the tools in the affinities and the outside world where this is making real users are tripping over these inconsistencies.

[Circulus]

2 hours ago, James Ritson said:

For consistency, the two options are following the Clear and Fill commands available on the Channels panel:

Clear will "clear" any bitmap data on the mask so it becomes pure black, and will not show anything. Fill will "fill" it with pure white, so the entire mask is shown. Seeing as adding a black mask is referred to as an empty mask, perhaps "Empty Mask" instead of "Clear Mask" might make the behaviour... clearer.

For context, this option is primarily for Designer and Publisher users, who without a Channels panel lack the ability to quickly clear or fill masks, both for explicit mask layers and for alpha channels on adjustment layers. It is however quite useful as a more obvious way of quickly resetting a mask to empty or full:

Your reference to the channels may be in play here for your reasoning but doesn't mean much to those not using channels.

I would refer to the masking where it originates by using masking tape/film to obscure what is underneath and adding/filling with more tape or film would hide more hence filling should hide. 

Clearing is taking away the film/tape hence showing what has been obscured.

 

[Circulus]

On 12/16/2024 at 5:06 PM, Patrick Connor said:

With a raster selection active and an Image layer selected, deleting will mask the layer rather than deleting it entirely (because Image/RAW layers are immutable).

With a raster selection active and an Image layer selected, duplicating will create a new Pixel layer with just the selected pixel data.

Why by using delete will be adding a mask but by duplicating a conversion to pixel layer?
Why not a negative/empty/inverted mask?
Or is this also being consistent in being inconsistent?
 

[Frozen Death Knight]

On 12/16/2024 at 5:06 PM, Patrick Connor said:

Clear Mask and Fill Mask added to right click mask layer context menu

 

Adds the two options to fill/clear masks on the right click menu (for any raster mask layer type including adjustments/live filters). Easy and discoverable approach instead of knowing to use the Channels panel to fill the alpha. Also available in Designer and Publisher, where you don't have access to the Channels panel.

Really good changes all around. It is the little things that make a big difference over multiple projects. 

Question, will there be a way to rasterize Mask Layers as well? I am asking because currently there is no way to rasterize a Compound Mask Layer to become a single layer. This is also an issue with compatibility with PSD files that do not support this feature, so it would be the final missing puzzle piece for making the handling of masks to be even better than what is provided in Photoshop.

[aleale1]

8 hours ago, James Ritson said:

We're trying to avoid using the right mouse button as a modifier where possible.

Well, how do you toggle the selection method now? Previously, there was a great option to switch from full selection to partial selection and vice versa by pressing the right button. But in this latest version, this option has disappeared. Very sad.