Layers Clipped To Groups

[soulburn]

Summary: This feature would allow you to use a group to clip a layer, so the resulting transparency of a group of layers would affect the transparency of the layer being clipped.

 

Usage: First off, I have hundreds of psd files from photoshop that use this feature, so I can't use any of these paintings inside Affinity because that feature is not supported (This feature is kind of a show stopper for me, since I can't port all of my older files over to Affinity)

 

And second, it's so useful for a non destructive workflow, many times you want to say paint a bunch of different characters on separate layers, and then apply a soft layer of fog to all the characters. So you group all of your character layers, create a new layer that has your fog color set to a low opacity, and then clip this fog layer to your group. In the current affinity workflow, you'd have to flatten all of those characters to a single layer, which means making edits to your characters later on become a lot harder.

 

Thanks!

 

- Neil

[Koon Vega]

Hi Soulburn,

I just ran into the same problem in a PSD mockup file. Have you found a solution?

[RobinMcL]

Hello everyone,

I have the same problem but in a VERY different context and one which brings up a couple of additional questions on which someone may be able to give advice.

I do NOT use PhotoShop but I do hire artists to illustrate my short stories and they do use PhotoShop. Because of the vagaries of the printer/ink/paper combination affecting the colours when printing, I get the source files and that means I do have to work with psd files. But I work on them in Affinity Photo. So, going forward I now see that I will need to specify to the artist that they do NOT use certain features of PhotoShop (the ones not supported in Photo).

Question 1: I there a list of the PhotoShop features that are NOT supported in Photo and, if so, where can I get one? I will need to supply this to the artists I hire.

I have noticed, sadly, that some of these files I get from artists are a real mess. In one case it took me several days to get the file into a sensible form. There were things that had been merged that never should have been merged. There were over 70 layers, several utterly spurious and switch off (but should have been removed). There was NO grouping whatsoever. There were NO descriptive names. Before I retired I worked for a software company. In that business there are usually clear guidelines as to exactly how code documentation should be done. Sensible organization, naming and grouping within Photo or PhotoShop does not seem a difficult task to me but it seems to be beyond the ken of several of these "professional" artists that I have been spending money on. I could easily make up my own Guidelines but I have no great desire to reinvent this very small wheel.

Question2: Can someone point me to a general organization set of guidelines that I could also require those I hire to use?

With thanks,

Robin