Selections not Working

[melanie7]

When I select an object to adjust with the selection brush, and then add an adjustment layer and choose an adjustment from the drop down menu, the following happens:

 

a)  no matter what adjustment I select (brightness, exposure, etc) nothing changes inside the selected object.

 

b) when I deselect the selection using Command+D, a solid white line remains around the object I selected.

 

How to make this work correctly?

 

Thank you.

 

Melanie

[JFisher]

Hi melanie7 :)

Are you sure you have the layer selected when you try to add the adjustments?

[MEB]

Hi melanie7,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

If you are woking with selections, make sure the layer you have selected in the Layers panel is labelled as a (Pixel) layer - you can check this looking at the label between parenthesis after the layer's name in the Layers panel. If its labelled as an (Image) layer you have to convert it to a (Pixel) layer first, right-clicking on it in the Layers panel as selecting Rasterise.... Only (Pixel) layers can be edited/manipulated at a pixel level. With the pixel layer selected change to the Selection Brush Tool and paint/select the area you want the adjustment to affect. Then click the Adjustments icon on the bottom of the Layers panel and select the adjustment you wish to apply to the selected area. Drag the sliders in the Adjustment dialog to adjust the selected area.

 

Here's a video tutorial that covers the basics of Adjustments (no selections here yet - so they affect the whole layer and not just a specific area). Here's one covering the basics of Selections (no adjustments here for now).The only thing you need to be aware when you use both in conjunction (selections and adjustments) is that if you have created a selection and then apply an adjustment, it will only affect the selected area. Let me know if you still have trouble.

[melanie7]

Thank you JFisher and MEB.  I first select the object I want to adjust in the Background layer; then I add an adjustment layer, pick from the drop down menu, apply the adjustment to the selection and it seems to work.  However, 2 other issues with selections:

 

1.  If I try to select another area to apply a DIFFERENT adjustment to, and then add another adjustment layer, it affects BOTH layers instead of just the 2nd adjustment layer.

 

2.  If I try to cut (Command+C) one of the selected objects and paste it into another photo, it doesn't work.

 

More seriously, I've noticed twice that when I use Affinity Photo for a few hours, my computer gets extremely overheated and starts making a low noise I've never heard before.  What is this?  As soon as I exit out of Affinity, the computer cools down and the noise stops.  Please help.