Why can I not paint on a layer in Affinity Photo?

[LeviA]

Why can I not paint in Affinity Photo?

It is as if the program does not register that I am putting a black paint stroke on a layer...or any other color stroke for that matter.

[R C-R]

Do you have a pixel layer selected when you are painting?

[RNKLN]

I had this experience too. Found out via the forum that you may have to Rasterize an image layer first.

[Alfred]

If you try to paint on an 'Image' layer, shouldn't the Assistant automagically rasterize it? :unsure:

[MEB]

Hi Alfred,

That depends on the tool. Currently some will do it automatically for you, others don't.

[Alfred]

Thanks for pointing that out, Miguel. I guess I shouldn't have assumed that "paint" meant using the Paint Brush Tool!

[Sam Murray-Sutton]

I am having this issue as well. Running rasterize on the layer doesn't seem to make any difference. Some non-obvious config issue perhaps? I have seen various posts about this issue from new users and no-one seems to have the definitive answer. 

[MEB]

Hi Sam Murray-Sutton,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Any chance you can record a clip of the app showing what you are doing (with layers panel visible)?

If you could also attach the file used here it would also help. Thanks.

[pixeldroid]

One cause can be the opacity of the chosen color.  This is separate from the opacity of the brush itself - it is set in the color picker.  If it is 0, the brush will paint nothing.

Another is that if you hit "b" more than once you will change the tool...

[KathleenM]

I have the same problem. I assume it is operator error because it only does this intermittently, I just wish I knew what I was doing wrong because this is killing me during my rush work!  I made a video to show what I'm doing -- I have covered all the steps right? Oh -- one thing not shown in the video is that there is nothing selected, but the result is the same if I first draw a marquee to select an area of the empty layer. Help!!

Here's that video:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/3pz1brs1flum6az/cantPaintOnLayer.mp4?dl=0 

[KathleenM]

I found it! I found it!!

I had the "Protect Alpha" checkbox on (see the upper-right area on your workspace. Having that checked on prevents you from painting on a transparent area.

 

[Brian442]

Yeah, I can't paint, either. I checked everything listed in this thread. 

[walt.farrell]

8 hours ago, Brian442 said:

Yeah, I can't paint, either. I checked everything listed in this thread. 

Please give us a screenshot of your complete Affinity window, and also include the Layers panel.

[i3earci]

I can' paint either. Not even on a new document with just one pixel layer. The Windows version is not usable for masking atm. The iPad version seems okay.
Is there a fix or workaround for this?
I work on Windows 10 and have an Wacom Intuos Pro installed. 
Edit: Uncheck Protect Alpha solved this issue

[DaffinityNoob]

same..driving me nuts..

 

create new pixel layer, get paint brush, paint and nothing happens on a new document.

 

had enough of affinity photo..going back to Pshop

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, DaffinityNoob said:

create new pixel layer, get paint brush, paint and nothing happens on a new document.

We can perhaps help if you provide more information. A screenshot of the complete window, with the Brush Tool selected, and showing the Layers panel and Brushes panel would be useful.

[DaffinityNoob]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

We can perhaps help if you provide more information. A screenshot of the complete window, with the Brush Tool selected, and showing the Layers panel and Brushes panel would be useful.

thank you walt.

restarted the app and the problem ceased so a bug/glitch.. [protect alpha and everything else in the post was not relevant]

nothing against the app [it has some great ideas] but Im finding too many work arounds for the simplest of tasks, missing features and weird behaviours on top of sluggish performance issues to persist using my licenses [my specs are not under suspicion ]of photo and designer so im moving on after a loss.

thanks

Edited March 24, 2021 by DaffinityNoob

[ruvy]

Nothing help. started over, can't paint, tried everything I can draw a line but it disappears as  soon as I finish it.

[MEB]

Hi @ruvy,
Can you post a screenshot of the whole application window with the tool you want to use selected and the Layers panel visible (with the layer you want to paint in selected) so we can see what's going on please? Thank you.

[ruvy]

[ruvy]

Just to let you know, I have been trying with any option I could and followed such suggestions as restarting the app, restarting the computer changing bruch mode to normal and to basic/ Nothing really work

 

[Old Bruce]

You have the Inpainting brush chosen, click on the little triangle from the screenshot. This will show the actual paint brush you want, currently its set to the colour/hue replacement brush.

[ruvy]

Thanks. It works. Just for my education, what is the inpainting brush for if it doesn't work i/e/ it drowse the shape but the shape disappears instantly after completion

[MEB]

The Inpainting Brush Tool is mostly used to to remove undesired elements from an image, for example to remove electrical wires or a can dropped on the floor from a photo. The application will try to "rebuilt" the background with the data from the rest of the image to automatically fill the empty area left by the element you removed. Check this video tutorial to learn more about it.

[ruvy]

Thanks for the good reply. It is very important function but I think it is a poor choice of name... If healing brush is not suitable outpaint is more what your inpaint is about.

Just a thought, no need to reply