[APh] Version 1.6 - suggested additions

[smadell]

First of all, I am very pleased with version 1.5. I’d like to make a few suggestions for version 1.6. As noted, the next version is to be primarily one of “completeness.” With that in mind (and aside from the frequent Feature Requests made by so many others) I propose a few tweaks.

For Macros:

1) Ability to Pause a macro after one or more steps to await user input before continuing.
2) Ability to choose a tool without using it, and have the choice itself become a step in the macro.
3) In the Library panel, collapsing a Category should be “sticky” and the category should remain collapsed after Quitting and re-opening. Alternately, the list of macros in each Category should default to open in a collapsed state, rather than an open list, since this can be unwieldy in length.
4) Ability for a Macro to resize a document by a given amount of pixels, or by a percentage - irrespective of the initial size of the document. (e.g., increase the size of a document by 10%)
5) Ability to name a Spare Channel, choose a Spare Channel by name, and delete a Spare Channel by name.
6) Ability for a Macro to Save or Export a document, especially to a specific location and in a specific format.

For Tools:

1) Sticky settings should apply not to documents but to the application. For instance, if I click “Darken Border” when using the Crop tool, it should persist even if I change documents - even if I Quit the application and reopen it at a later date.
2) The Crop Tool should include a “Crop to Opaque” button, similar to the one in the Panorama persona, that can be used after a photo is rotated and/or straightened.

Other Features:

1) Ability to change the default size of a newly opened window in Separated Mode. Currently, the Open… menu item will open an existing file in a window that utilizes a small fraction of my available work space. I routinely have to enlarge the window(s) that I open to a larger size. Can this be a default behavior, a “sticky” setting, a Preference, or something similar?
2) A Preferences setting that tells multiple documents opening in Separated Mode to automatically “merge” into a single window (similar to opening multiple windows and then issuing the “Merge All Windows” command).
3) The fact that every Adjustment Layer and every Live Filter Layer comes with a built-in mask is great. When I add such a layer, the layers panel shows me a generic icon within a blank white box. If I mask that layer by drawing directly on it, the white box reflects the mask applied to the layer. But, the mask is obscured by the icon in that same box. I suggest that the icon and the white box are separated - one to reflect the type of layer and the other to reflect the mask that layer contains. (see below)

 

[JesusSheep]

Adobe PhotoShop Plugin Support.

[nwhit]

1. A must-have, Save for Web as in PS.

 

2. Would be great to see the file extension when saving/exporting. Helps double check I'm getting what I intended.

[Fixx]

1) Sticky settings should apply not to documents but to the application. For instance, if I click “Darken Border” when using the Crop tool, it should persist even if I change documents - even if I Quit the application and reopen it at a later date.

 

Seems that stickyness is not available as readily as hoped before 1.5 update.

 

2) The Crop Tool should include a “Crop to Opaque” button, similar to the one in the Panorama persona, that can be used after a photo is rotated and/or straightened.

 

Also, mighty nice if it had automatic inpaint option..

 

1) Ability to change the default size of a newly opened window in Separated Mode. Currently, the Open… menu item will open an existing file in a window that utilizes a small fraction of my available work space. I routinely have to enlarge the window(s) that I open to a larger size. 

 

Me too and this is nuisance. Possibly it is related to fact that external monitor is unplugged once in a while and AP resorts to 13" screen size standard all the time?

[Petar Petrenko]

1. Before / After preview check box for tools in "Adjustment" panel and in some others (if there)

2. Double click on "Zoom" tool zooms the picture to actual size (CTRL + 8) not to 100% (CTRL + 1)

3. in "File / Export" possibility to choose all needed formats for export with check boxes next to each export format icon and show all options in one window (remove "More...")

4. Join "Open" and "Import"

5. Join "Save", "Save As" and "Export"

6. Remove vertical line used for rotating an object. It can be done on the corners

7. Add handles to "Rectangular" and "Eliptical" marquee tools for precize positioning and resizing.

[kirk23]

1. layers and masks transform links independent of groups and other hierarchy 

2. "formulas" live effects  so we could set something like layer3*layer2 - layer5  for a  mask for example 

4. scaling  center  of transform in any given position ( like rotating one)

5. ability to replace a brush within recorded macro so we could repeat a brush stroke on another layer with other brush dabs ( representing normal map for example)

6. live edge feather effect without necessity to make mask

[thomasp]

- i'd like to see the current document's image size/resolution at a glance in the info palette

 

- shouldn't the export persona have the file->export window functionality built-in (including file size estimate)? why switch to that and then still have to select export from the menu?

 

- (win) would it be possible to choose between tabbed and document windows floating over the main program window as a default? right now it's tabbed all the way and you have to undock every new document if you need to see more than one

 

- window docking behaviour could be a bit more elegant: the docking hot zone (for lack of a proper term) at the top of photo's window is very broad and too easy to activate if you move windows around. could be a lot slimmer and still do the job fine i think. also, when you undock a window it is set to the main photo window dimensions, requiring an instant resize.

i think for both of these it would be worth looking at photoshop which handles this stuff in a more refined manner :)

 

- an option to have floating window frames resize when you zoom in/out in the document

 

- window -> arrange commands to auto-position/tile/snap open documents side by side

 

- up/down hotkeys for tool opacity, flow, hardness analog to the ones for width that we can customize

 

- (mac): separated window mode would IMO be better if it was all floating over a main document window like on win, not right over the osx desktop (i know that's a mac thing but a really weird one if you ask me - who want's to see their desktop background when working on images and potentially lose app focus when clicking at the wrong thing? - even PS at some point introduced a main window as default)

[Sullyman]

• I would love to see a Halftone feature with the accuracy of Photoshop's. I love the fact that AP has the filter but won't work for the needs of t-shirt separators that are forced into Photoshop or Corel. The tool needs to be able to set the angle to a specific degree instead of rounding to the nearest whole degree. (ie: 22.5 degrees) I love the live preview and split views when using this filter in AP; it has major potential for this large subset of users.

 

I would love to see this in bot AD and AP. There is a sizable niche group of separators, apparel designers and shops that are seeking out other avenues besides Adobe products, to handle this issue.

 

• Also, I would love to be able to resize text in larger increments (rounded by 10's) AD whilst hovering the menus titles and holding shift.

[Daniel Geiger]

By and large EXTREMELY happy with AP.

 

- In image Size (option-command-I), enable Size adjustment with no resampling, so that AP adjusts dpi automatically to new value. Currently, if re-sample is turned off, Size cannot be adjusted.

- When calling up feathering (Shift F6), have value highlighted so that I can immediately type in my desired value, rather than mousing over, double click on value, enter value then hit return. This is an efficiency request.

- In Transform, provide length of diagonal lines, so a line that is going from 0/0 to 100/100 has Length 141, not only Width of 100 and Height of 100. Diagonal length should be then adjustable numerically in Transform (which works great for horizontal/vertical lines, but not diagonal ones).

- Brush feathering: have an option for absolute feather border, not one relative to brush size. I want to define a brush with a 2 pixel feather, and if I set it at 5 pixel diameter and it has a 2 pixel feather and if I set it to 100 pixel diameter and it has a 2 pixel feather. Currently the 100 pixel brush would have a 40 pixel feather. I frequently use the option-control mouse left-right to adjust brush size, but I need a constant feather radius regardless of brush size. 

- Have a line stroke style, possibly like the brushes palette. If I use the Pen Tool, I would like to call up a line style with a single click, rather than first go to stroke color, select color, go to line style, select type of line, width of line, end-cap option, and that for every single document. Another efficiency request. I use that A LOT for scale bars in scientific illustrations.

[shushustorm]

Personally, I'd really like to see animated .gif support.

[Kai]

i still don't use affinity photo very often since i really really need a visual preview of the export feature. i am waiting for this since version 1.0. hope you change your mind soon. thanks! kai

[Petar Petrenko]

You think about animation and they don't get equal or better to PS. Isn't it too early for animation now?

[anon1]

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/31440-feedback-ap-is-a-good-software/?p=152399

 

1

the new macro option is great and especially the layer selection method is outstanding but it definitely needs to be able to select multiple layers and also group them

 

2

the crop tool is really bad, it needs options to crop to opaque/ inpaint missing areas (which is already available in the panorama section), reveal the non-destructively cropped areas when extending a previously made crop, reset crop and remember the setting like "keep original ratio"

 

3

there needs to be an option to choose the rasterization algorithm

 

4

there is no great way of selecting color like blend if can do for luminosity, a non destructive color range selection tool would be really icing on the cake now!

 

5

curves are still half baked as you can not move the nodes with the arrow keys for precise adjustments, can´t set black and white points with color pickers and can´t visualize the color information of the image and the corresponding curve sections by hovering with the curser over the image and seeing a point on the corresponding part of the curve

 

6

samplers in the info panel can not be adjusted in size which gives imprecise readings influenced by noise e.g.

 

7

smudge tool has no sample from below option which can sometimes be really helpful in retouching (apply noise to the smudged areas is really that much easier this way)

 

8

USM has no preview for masking it´s effect

 

 

 

Linked layers are guaranteed to appear in 1.6 I guess and I´m very much looking forward to that!

 

Generally I think AP is an extremely useful tool with a great community and steady progress so I´ve not missed PS since I left it at all.

 

 

Cheers

[kirkt]

A 16 and 32-bit color readout option in the info panel would be terrific and work hand-in-hand with the unbounded input min and max feature in the Curves adjustment.

 

kirk

[anon1]

kirkt

Could you please further a bit on the curves input output options?

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/30938-curves-in-out-minmax/?p=150206

I'd really appreciate that

 

Thanks in advance!

[pmi]

Save for Web. Would be great to see the file priview when saving/exporting. Helps double check I'm getting what I intended.

[kirkt]

On ‎19‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 6:06 PM, MBd said:

kirkt

Could you please further a bit on the curves input output options?

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/30938-curves-in-out-minmax/?p=150206

I'd really appreciate that

 

Thanks in advance!

I responded in the thread you linked to in your above post.

 

Kirk

[yaapu]

hi,

as a lr user i am used to press 'o' to show the mask of the local adjustment brush. something like that in ap would be great.

my usual way of using layers/adjustments is, to add them, invert them and than paint the effect back in where i want it.

unfortunately there seems to be no way to toggle this mask on/off like in lr.

 

jörg

[anon1]

hi,

as a lr user i am used to press 'o' to show the mask of the local adjustment brush. something like that in ap would be great.

my usual way of using layers/adjustments is, to add them, invert them and than paint the effect back in where i want it.

unfortunately there seems to be no way to toggle this mask on/off like in lr.

 

jörg

 

you can alt klick the mask to only show it

and you can shift click to disable/ enable it 

 

cheers

[yaapu]

thank you for your quick response and the great software.

 

it would be nice, if the mask coud be shown as an overlay, so that i can still see the image below,

[anon1]

thank you for your quick response and the great software.

 

it would be nice, if the mask coud be shown as an overlay, so that i can still see the image below,

you can cmd+ click on the mask and then press q to enter quick mask mode but this doers not really help much I guess because your are modifying the selection of the mask but not the mask itself 

 

cheers

[yaapu]

yes this does not really help, therefore my request to implement it in 1.6.

[KiboOst]

Some UI customization would be great:

 

- Ability to get smaller icons in toolbar

- Ability to add colour pickers into tools panel (https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/33354-colors-in-tools-panel/)

- Ability to get grey icons in tools panel (small color stuff everywhere really hurt the eyes when working, would also feels more professional ...)

 

- Remember windows position. For example, apply a sharpen filter: move the unsharp mask window to a better place, apply it. Re open unsharp mask, it doesn't open where I placed it ! Very annoying ...

 

- Remember settings : why does I always have to check, for example, 'Show Rotation Center' and 'Hide Slection While Dragging' ??

[KiboOst]

Another one :

 

I hate working with opened document as full screen (but love photoshop F modes !!!)

Could we have a preference, so when opening files, they open as windowed ? At 100% if it fit screen, or at fit size.

 

Even when only one document is opened as window, when opening new files they are full screen, very disturbing.

[KiboOst]

Another one, when working with tons of layers and semi transparent ones, it's not easy to select the right one.
Photoshop as a great feature, which is when right clicking on the document, it show in contextual menu all layers present on the pixel your are clicking, in order. Which is very efficient to select the right layer.

 

Another one on text layers; when duplicating a text layer and changing text inside, would be nice if layer name could change according to the new text.