Live Filter layer dialog box controls Affinity Photo

[squeezer]

On your tutorial videos the live filter dialog box has three dots in the top left hand corner, the left most one goes red. I believe that this is how you keep the adjustment degree open for further correction. On my purchased installation These three dots are not present, why not? what am I doing wrong?

 

Dave 

[R C-R]

I think you may be talking about the window "traffic light" icons for close, minimize, & expand/full screen that are a standard part of Mac OS X versions. If you are running Windows, the equivalent window control icons are on the top right of the window.

[squeezer]

I think you may be talking about the window "traffic light" icons for close, minimize, & expand/full screen that are a standard part of Mac OS X versions. If you are running Windows, the equivalent window control icons are on the top right of the window.

Hi RC-R

 

 

The Traffic light description would fit

 

BUT: I must be blind or something, I am running windows as you surmise, but the traffic lights are not there on the top right of the dialog box, or the picture pane, or the overall affinity window, nor is there  anything that does as you describe......

 

can you be more specific?

 

Dave

[R C-R]

See http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/m/minimize.htmfor an example of what I was referring to. Not all windows will have the same controls (on Mac or Windows), or have all of them active.

 

But I think what you are asking is more about making a window frontmost, which basically means it is the window that is the focus of user input, or about keeping it open when it is not frontmost. For the live filter adjustments, you can either close the window or leave it open. To make it frontmost, just click somewhere in it.

[carl123]

@squeezer

 

All the videos are shown running on a Mac computer

 

The so called "traffic lights" will only show on a Mac computer

 

On Windows you will just have a simple "X" on the top right of the dialog box.

 

Pressing the red traffic light on a Mac dialog box is the same as pressing the "X" on a Windows PC and simply closes the dialog box

[R C-R]

There are now a few tutorial videos shown running on Windows, like the Affinity Photo Windows - Example: Portrait Retouching one. Beginning at about the 4:30 mark the use of several live filters is demonstrated, including clicking the "X" to close the filter dialog window to get it out of the way when it is no longer needed.

[squeezer]

Thanks Chaps,

 

I now understand, no mystical Affinity Magic, just the use of Old Mac tutor videos to teach a new Windows product launch. Nothing like keeping product support up to date with the product

 

Dave

[R C-R]

Each Affinity product comes with extensive built-in help. The 300+ official video tutorials produced over the last two years or so are in addition to that & to the support provided here by both other users & the Affinity staff. The rapid pace of product development means that many of the videos will be somewhat out of date, so it is a good idea to check the builtin help first (because it is updated with each new version).

[squeezer]

This issue is not addressed within the in-built help, which I would have expected to be kept the most in-step with the product's features, indeed this help is very skimpy in my view. Especially as I have only ever used Seriff photo-plus which this product supercedes. As I have only ever a Windows operating system, never Mac, I (and others) would not have recognised Mac traffic lights or know what they are used for.

 

I suspect that anyone who had tried to use, or is familiar with Photoshop may have understood at least Affinitiy's terminology. I think a jargon translator would be useful. This Affinity product has to be one of the most difficult programs I have ever had to grasp. Not at all intuitive. Even AutoCad has been easier than this. However as I am learning the meaning of the words in the dialog boxes and tool bars I feel I am making progress. How much of this is the use of Americanisms instead of English, or just an attempt to differentiate the product from others, I don't know but  the Affinity team could consider an 'Affinity lexicon' in their help system.

 

Most items that I have struggled with are not, or not adequately covered by the in-built help. but the videos have been extremely good and those I have started to work my way through since I have decided to ditch PhotoPlus and wholeheartedly adopt Affinity photo. I never expected a further layer of difficulty resultant from residual Mac hangovers. I don't know what the bulletin help is, where do I find that, and if the product is updated should the in-built help not be maintained in parallel?

 

Dave

[R C-R]

I don't know what the bulletin help is, where do I find that, and if the product is updated should the in-built help not be maintained in parallel?

Logically enough, the builtin help is accessed through the Help menu. It is updated when the product is.

 

By the way, there are no Americanisms in the app, other than localized spellings for words like color instead of colour (& in a few places it is spelled "colour" even in the U.S. English localization). After all, Serif is a British company, not an American one.

[Alfred]

By the way, there are no Americanisms in the app, other than localized spellings for words like color instead of colour (& in a few places it is spelled "colour" even in the U.S. English localization). After all, Serif is a British company, not an American one.

 

I'm interested to note that the OP is happy to refer, as I do, to "dialog boxes" instead of "dialogue boxes". ;)

[squeezer]

Logically enough, the builtin help is accessed through the Help menu. It is updated when the product is.

 

By the way, there are no Americanisms in the app, other than localized spellings for words like color instead of colour (& in a few places it is spelled "colour" even in the U.S. English localization). After all, Serif is a British company, not an American one.

It's these glasses, combined with the fonts on the forum 

 

I have been miss-reading the single word you use builtin as bulletin not built-in, I have just spent some time searching the built-in help to find a further 'bulletin help' which I thought may relate to updates not yet included in the 'built-in' help. Such confusion and its not quite Christmas yet.

 

As to Alfred's comment on the the use of the spelling 'dialog', I was just following the Affinity help spelling convention, which in turn follows the industry standard. In this case using the American spelling.

 

Can RC-R, or anyone else, recommend a lexicon on photo processing, or the Affinity version of the terms. I have seen on one video the instruction to check (tick) the 'alpha' in the dialogue box. However the term 'alpha' is not explained and its this level of pre-supposed knowledge that is making the use of this programme  difficult to get to grips with.

[R C-R]

squeezer,

 

I have having my own share of misreading things in posts this morning (like here), so I understand all too well how that can happen.

 

As for a lexicon on the terminology, I don't know of any definitive ones -- there are often several different terms used for the same thing or the same term used for different things, sometimes even in the same app, & the context is the only clue we get to figure that out. That said, "alpha" usually means alpha channel, the colorless data channel used to define the transparency of pixels in an image.

 

If you search the web for alpha channel, you will probably see what I mean about there being no definitive source. For example, compare this definition to this one, or to this more lengthy explanation.