Panelling

[toltec]

I'm having a very minor workflow problem.

 

I am going over areas that require a bit of colour tweaking and am using the HSL panel with saved presets.

 

When I first click on HSL Adjust, I get this, which is great.

 

 

 

However, when I want to select another area to tweak, I have to go to layers and select the background layer again, or Affinity ignores my new selection and changes the last selected area.

 

Trouble is, when I select the background layer, it shuts down the adjustment slider panel. Which I guess is to be expected.

 

 

 

But, the only way to get the adjustment slider box back is to close the HSL Adjust bit in the panel and then open it again. this launches the slider box.

 

Only a minor problem but I use that technique a lot to remove areas of tinting, like green tint from a greenscreen photo and keep swapping between areas of hair (eg) and use different HSL values or presets depending on the strength of the tint.

 

Is there a better way to get the box open again? I need the HSL Adjust bit open in the panel so I can access presets.

[A_B_C]

I fear the only other way to open the box is by double clicking the HSL Shift Adjustment Layer in the Layers List … would that make things easier for you?  :unsure:

[toltec]

Thanks but no. That opens up the adjustment for that adjustment layer. 

 

The issue is only when I want to make a new selection and adjust that.

[R C-R]

Maybe I am misunderstanding your workflow or what you want to do, but assuming you want to add an HSL (or whatever) adjustment layer to some pixel layer & either use or start with one of your saved presets, will this not work?

 

1. Select the desired pixel layer in the Layers panel.

2. In the Adjustment Studio panel, open the HSL Adjust (or whatever) section. This should open the appropriate slider panel & apply the default preset to the selected pixel layer.

3. If you want to use something other than the default preset, just click on it in the Adjustment Studio panel section. This should apply that preset, leaving the slider panel open so you can tweak the settings or select another preset.

 

The Layers panel won't show the newly added adjustment layer as selected but it is, & remains the target of whatever you do in the sliders panel until you click on another layer or no layer, which hides the slider panel.

[toltec]

Maybe I am misunderstanding your workflow or what you want to do, but assuming you want to add an HSL (or whatever) adjustment layer to some pixel layer & either use or start with one of your saved presets, will this not work?

 

1. Select the desired pixel layer in the Layers panel.

2. In the Adjustment Studio panel, open the HSL Adjust (or whatever) section. This should open the appropriate slider panel & apply the default preset to the selected pixel layer.

3. If you want to use something other than the default preset, just click on it in the Adjustment Studio panel section. This should apply that preset, leaving the slider panel open so you can tweak the settings or select another preset.

 

The Layers panel won't show the newly added adjustment layer as selected but it is, & remains the target of whatever you do in the sliders panel until you click on another layer or no layer, which hides the slider panel.

Yes, so far so good, but when I have made my HSL adjustments (by slider or preset), I click on the image layer to make another selection and the sliders disappear. 

 

Can I get them back a bit more easily ? I seem to have to click on the panel HSL Adjustment bit, then click on it again.

 

I know it's not a huge deal, but when i'm doing that sort of edit, I might literally select and tweak 30 or 40 small areas. I'm sure you know how some bits of hair get discoloured by the background showing through and the discolouration can vary quite a lot (hence the multiple selections and adjustments).

 

Workflow

 

1 I select an area,

2 Open the HSL adjustment panel and adjust that area (let's say, HSL preset No1)

3 Click on the image layer

4 Select another area

5 Open the HSL adjustment sliders again 

6 Adjust using the HSL sliders (if preset No1 is not suitable)

7 Click on the image layer

8 Select another area

9 Maybe use HSL sliders again (I'm not that good at making presets)

 

 

and so on

 

In order to accomplish No4 or No8 I have to select the image layer first or Affinity just changes the last selected area again as that adjustment layer is still active. So, to get the sliders back I have to close the HSL bit in the panel and open it again. It would be OK if I was just using presets but as I said "I'm not that good at making presets". I couldn't even find them until recently   :rolleyes:

 

As I said, no big deal, but when when you are working around a models hair, that can be a lot of extra clicking as HSL adjustments can be a bit fickle.

[R C-R]

I am not sure what you mean about selecting an area. How are you doing that? Is everything on the same pixel layer or do you have several different ones? Are you stacking several adjustment layers on the same pixel layer, possibly masking them differently to affect only parts of the layer?

 

Regardless, you can double-click on any adjustment layer anywhere in the Layers panel to open its slider adjustment panel at any time, & either apply a preset form the Adjustment Studio panel or change the adjustment panel's sliders however you want.

[toltec]

Selecting by using the selection brush tool, usually.

 

So, here we have a precise selection of the wheel using the selection brush tool and a subtle hue shift using the HSL sliders.

 

If I then deselect the wheel and draw a new area, (the sand), when I adjust the HSL sliders again, this happens.

 

So, I click on the layer "Wheel", but the adjustment slider panel has gone.

 

I have to close the HSL panel 

 

 

Then open it again to get the sliders back and do this adjustment i.e. my second selection brush area of the sand.

 

If it wasn't for the fact I might have to perform this routine 30 or 40 times I wouldn't care. And to be honest it's not that much of an issue, I just wonder if there's a better way.

 

There nearly always is  :)

[R C-R]

From your first screenshot, it looks like you have two identical pixel layers & stacked above them two identically masked HSL adjustments. I am not sure what happened to one of the HSL adjustments in the second shot -- it seems to have disappeared. Regardless, in the second screenshot, the remaining masked HSL adjustment is selected in the Layers panel, so any HSL slider adjustments you make will be applied to it, not to whatever area you draw with a selection brush.

 

Because a new adjustment layer will be created masked to a brush selection, one way to streamline your workflow would be to draw the selection, click the Default (or whatever) preset & adjust the sliders as needed. Deselect that layer, draw a new selection, & click the Default (or whatever) preset again. There is no need to close the Adjustments HSL panel -- you just have to make sure the previously created adjustment layer is not selected to avoid applying changes to it instead of creating the new masked adjustment layer.

 

Yes, the adjustment slider panel will close every time you deselect an existing adjustment layer, but it will automatically open when you click on the Default (or whatever) preset. Also, once it is open, you can click on any adjustment layer in the Layers panel & it will show you the settings for that layer, so you can freely go between them to fine tune each of their settings.

[toltec]

From your first screenshot, it looks like you have two identical pixel layers & stacked above them two identically masked HSL adjustments. I am not sure what happened to one of the HSL adjustments in the second shot -- it seems to have disappeared. Regardless, in the second screenshot, the remaining masked HSL adjustment is selected in the Layers panel, so any HSL slider adjustments you make will be applied to it, not to whatever area you draw with a selection brush.

 

Because a new adjustment layer will be created masked to a brush selection, one way to streamline your workflow would be to draw the selection, click the Default (or whatever) preset & adjust the sliders as needed. Deselect that layer, draw a new selection, & click the Default (or whatever) preset again. There is no need to close the Adjustments HSL panel -- you just have to make sure the previously created adjustment layer is not selected to avoid applying changes to it instead of creating the new masked adjustment layer.

 

Yes, the adjustment slider panel will close every time you deselect an existing adjustment layer, but it will automatically open when you click on the Default (or whatever) preset. Also, once it is open, you can click on any adjustment layer in the Layers panel & it will show you the settings for that layer, so you can freely go between them to fine tune each of their settings.

Ah yes, that's a great idea.

 

I just tried that but clicked on one on my own presets, rather than "default". 

 

As long as I have "New" selected in the Selection brush context panel, I don't need to deselect the previous selected area first, as soon as I click on the image layer and start to draw a new selection, I get just what I want. Clicking on my preset brings up the HSL sliders with the HSL values already close to what I want and I can easily tweak the levels. Great!!! That's exactly the sort of time saving workflow I like.

 

Sorry, the second, identical HSL Layer in the first screenshot was because I had been playing around and forgot to delete that layer before grabbing the screen. Great observational skills, Sherlock  ;)