How to show red overlay when masking

[user_0815]

Hi,

 

when editing a mask, how can I see the actual mask as a red overlay? When I click on the squre-with-circle icon in the toolbar, the entire photo gets a red overlay, regardless the mask.

 

An option-click shows the mask in black & white but then the image content goes away. I've tried all kinds of shortcuts and menus.

 

How can I see the mask AND my image at the same time?

 

Thanks

 

 

[MEB]

Hi user_0815,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

You can use the Quick Mask mode (press Q) to achieve what you want when creating a mask from scratch. Currently it's not possible to display the overlay to edit existing masks. This was requested a couple times already and hopefully will be considered by the dev team for a future update.

[user_0815]

Thank you, that would be really great.

[DarkClown]

Indeed ... that would be great!

[ktham]

I recently am trying out AP over Photoshop and was trying to look for this specific functionality in displaying a layer mask as a red overlay. Is this still a feature request that the dev team hasn't yet accepted?

[MEB]

Hi ktham,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

They may be considering it already - as i said earlier this was requested quite a few times - but there's no way to know until it appears in the program in one of the Betas.

 

[tpf1952]

Count me as another user who would like to see this feature added to AP.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tom

[MEB]

Thread moved to the Feature Requests section.

[kimc]

Count me in on this request too.  It's a huge disadvantage not having it.

[Alex_M]

That's a really needed feature for me too. Looking forward to seeing it in the upcoming update.

[Neuronum]

Hope affinity team to make mask alpha channel shown as red overlay. It would be very convenient for users!

Many thanks!

[Dedicated Dabbler]

I will queue up for red marked masks. It's really a necessity to work properly!  

Thanks in advance

 

[TimoF]

Without this basic feature you can't create precise masks and affinity photo will still be unusable for me.

[MEB]

Hi TimoF,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Press Q or click/enable the Quick Mask icon in the main toolbar (icon looks like a white square with a circle in the middle).

[Xzenor]

On 5/30/2019 at 6:34 PM, MEB said:

Hi TimoF,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Press Q or click/enable the Quick Mask icon in the main toolbar (icon looks like a white square with a circle in the middle).

Sadly it still won't show an overlay for the existing mask. It's been almost 3 year now since this question was asked

 

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Xzenor said:

Sadly it still won't show an overlay for the existing mask. It's been almost 3 year now since this question was asked

 

For that, use Layer > Refine Mask...

[MEB]

walt,
That actually refines the mask - it doesn't simply display it as an overlay nor allows you to edit it with the regular tools as you can for example when pressing alt+mask's thumbnail to display it in greyscale.

[walt.farrell]

Thanks for the clarification, Miguel.

[smadell]

Admittedly, an imperfect solution. But, you might want to try this:

 

[Jowday]

On 3/11/2020 at 10:24 AM, Xzenor said:

Sadly it still won't show an overlay for the existing mask. It's been almost 3 year now since this question was asked

Affinity Photo is a workflow killer.

[VanessaPhoto]

I’ve been trying to figure this out since I got Affinity.. it’s so frustrating! I hope they add this feature soon!🙏🏼

[Xzenor]

On 5/4/2020 at 12:24 AM, VanessaPhoto said:

I’ve been trying to figure this out since I got Affinity.. it’s so frustrating! I hope they add this feature soon!🙏🏼

The opening-post is from May 2017... So I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

[shizuka]

it would be a very useful function!

[Bartman66]

Please add me to the list of users wanting this feature.  

[AndyQ]

On 9/29/2020 at 1:08 AM, Bartman66 said:

Please add me to the list of users wanting this feature.  

Don't leave me out!