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

[Camerajockey]

37 minutes ago, GarryP said:

@Camerajockey You have posted an image without any explanation into a thread which has been ‘dormant’ for about a year.

Did you do this on purpose?

If so, would you mind saying what that purpose was?

Yeah. I added the screenshot accidentally without typing the question. I was in the process of editing it when you replied.

This thread came up when I searched for answers to my issue.

[GarryP]

23 minutes ago, Camerajockey said:

I added the screenshot accidentally without typing the question.

Ah, that would explain it.

I can’t see anything obvious from your screenshot: the Blend Mode of the Tool is Normal; the Colour has 100% Opacity; the layer has 100% Opacity, is visible, and has a Normal Blend Mode; Protect Alpha is OFF.

Hardness is at 0% but that might not be relevant.

The only thing that pops into my head at the moment is: Which brush are you using?

Can you click on the brush icon in the Layers Panel, the one for the Pixel Layer, and get another screenshot so we can get a little ‘preview’ of it?

An expert will probably be along later to give you better advice.

[Camerajockey]

Here's the brush. I'm trying to paint a soft brushstroke, so the brush size and softness is appropriate in this case.

Btw, I'm using AP v2.3.0

[NotMyFault]

1. Please show / inspect color panel and specifically color opacity. There is a noise/ opacity switch button (in case you don’t see color opacity). It must be 100%.
2. please check layers panel, and reset it so all channels are active and editable.
3. please deactivate all layers. Add a new one, and choose black from swatches panel. Paint on new layer. 

Does anything from the steps above work?

[Camerajockey]

3 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

1. Please show / inspect color panel and specifically color opacity. There is a noise/ opacity switch button (in case you don’t see color opacity). It must be 100%.
2. please check layers panel, and reset it so all channels are active and editable.
3. please deactivate all layers. Add a new one, and choose black from swatches panel. Paint on new layer. 

Does anything from the steps above work?

Sadly not. I've got "Edit All Layers" checked. I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean by deactivate all layers. The opacity is at 100% for the colour, and I've tried painting black on a new pixel layer, however it's not painting.

[walt.farrell]

Can you share the .afphoto file with us?

[NotMyFault]

13 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

please check layers panel, and reset it so all channels are active and editable.

My fault, autocorrection

please check channels panel (instead of layers panel).

 

[NotMyFault]

Another thought: the brush size is quite large, with further blurring by hardness zero. This may lead to color transfer by brush strokes gets below 1/255 and rounded down to zero.

first of all, please choose a basic round brush with hardness 100%, choose reasonable size (e.g. 64px), choose black from color swatches, and try again. 
if yes: your brush or brush settings cause the issue.

if no: the document has an issue, or brush settings. Open a new document, add a pixel layer, and try again to brush. 
as Walt said, we would need the document (saved with history) for investigate further.

[NotMyFault]

Maybe asked before: try deselect all. An unnoticed active pixel selection may ruin your day.

[Camerajockey]

On 12/29/2023 at 11:34 PM, walt.farrell said:

Can you share the .afphoto file with us?

Here's the .afphotoMattDonovan_working-file.afphoto file. Bear in mind, this is Matt Donovan's photo supplied for a tutorial.

Sorry. Wrong one first. Also I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Busy day.

[R C-R]

41 minutes ago, Camerajockey said:

Here's the .afphoto ....

Do as @NotMyFault suggested & try deselect all. That should cure your problem.

[Camerajockey]

18 hours ago, R C-R said:

Do as @NotMyFault suggested & try deselect all. That should cure your problem.

I'd like to thank you all for your efforts. I've tried all of your suggestions, but to no avail. I think that the file has become corrupted, possibly down to something wrong with my computer. I'll keep an eye on the forums for anything that comes up relating to this and see if I can make it work.

Bye for now.

[NotMyFault]

The file is perfectly fine. The only issue: there is an active pixel selection, with a very low opacity value. this renders all brush strokes almost useless.

You need to only use the menu command "Select->Deselect (CMD-D / CTRL-D)" once to get rid of the selection. Then the brush will work again.

 

 

 

[R C-R]

22 minutes ago, Camerajockey said:

I've tried all of your suggestions, but to no avail. I think that the file has become corrupted, possibly down to something wrong with my computer.

As @NotMyFault wrote, there is nothing wrong with the file. Just use the menu command he suggested & painting will work as you expect it to.

[Camerajockey]

Well, thanks. That sorted it, though I still don't understand why. My bad. Well done chaps.

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, Camerajockey said:

though I still don't understand why

When you have an active pixel selection (as you did), you can only paint within that selection. So, when you cannot paint with a raster brush, one thing to try is deselecting any pixel selections.

[Camerajockey]

On 1/1/2024 at 7:39 PM, walt.farrell said:

When you have an active pixel selection (as you did), you can only paint within that selection. So, when you cannot paint with a raster brush, one thing to try is deselecting any pixel selections.

Thanks Walt. I must have accidentally made a pixel selection or forgotten that I'd made one earlier