Mask + gradients: Enhancement highly needed

[Tazintosh]

Hello the A-Team!  :)

 

Ok, I'll be straight forward on this one:

I'll find attached a video record made on Photoshop.

The technique shown on a boring solid fill is in fact an insanely productive method when mate painting, photo retouching, etc.

 

Here's the challenge:

Make me this in Affinity (Photo or Designer, choose the one you want).

Made in Photoshop in 5 clicks. The gradient tool is set from solid black to 0% black.

MakeMeThisOnAffinity.mov

 

I've not been able yet to find any method to match the productivity of Photoshop on this point. (Trust me, combining both words “productivity” & “Photoshop” in a sentence is a serious pain I would like to avoid…).

 

Also, when selecting the Gradient Tool:

• Why is it always defaulted to "None"? (If I pick the gradient tool, chances are quite high for me to make something else than "none", I even guess linear could be my favorite pick…).
• Why I cannot set the default colors for my gradient tool? (When starting to draw a gradient, colors are —always— white to grey, and I —always— have to change them afterward…

 

Can't wait to ear from you guys  :wub:

[MEB]

Hi Tazintosh,

You can achieve the same result in Photo/Designer using multiple vector masks. It may not be as fast as in Photoshop but you will retain control over each mask in case you need to edit/adjust them.

[- S -]

On ‎14‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 2:17 PM, Tazintosh said:

Here's the challenge:

Make me this in Affinity (Photo or Designer, choose the one you want).

Made in Photoshop in 5 clicks. The gradient tool is set from solid black to 0% black.

As MEB said, you may get away with using a different method (duplicating the mask with CTRL/CMD + J).  Although it's obviously not 5 clicks like you're asking for, it does have the benefit of all the gradients being editable at a later stage if you decide you need to go back and alter them.

Video:
Timeline 1.mov (file no longer available)

[Tazintosh]

Thank you both for your answer.  :)

I indeed know this technics, and I also perfectly understand the benefits of keeping stuffs editable.

Anyway, this choice should be given to the user (parametric gradient or "pixel gradient" that would act exactly like I described, in an extremely fast way.

Users could then decide depending the need.

 

Anyway, I've noticed how you (Sima) workaround this extremely irritating —mask— issue where the gradient is NOT editable at the moment you deselect (sorry MEB) and settings are —always— set back to white/grey. What you did is simply impossible with masks (I mean, it would take 10x the time —considering the actual methods is already kind of slow—, and would even not be editable).

 

What about my second subject MEB? The Gradient Tool

[MEB]

Hi Tazintosh,

I already explained that method with vector masks a few times in order to keep the gradient editable. Check this post with a sample file.

Regarding setting gradient's defaults: create an object with the gradient you want then go to menu Edit ▸ Defaults ▸ Save.

[Tazintosh]

Hi MEB.

 

Don't get me wrong, as said just before, I know the technic you're are talking about and I accept the workflow you and Sima are proposing. It's a fully valid and argued concept.

 

But right now, I'm talking about the "New Mask Layer".

You keep referring to vector masks, initially built from a shape. This is —not— the same as the "New Mask Layer" I'm talking about.

And for this exact case ("New Mask Layer", not a vector mask), I would love you to show me how to save gradient's tool defaults…

Edit ▸ Defaults ▸ Save is not working in that case and the white to grey is always the default.

 

BTW, still speaking about "New Mask Layer", you guys can see on the following video that I can first create a gradient (pixel, non editable, it's fine), then paint on it with a brush.

This is not erasing my previous gradient, I can continue painting as much as I want on this particular mask. But if I use again the gradient tool, it will erase all my previous work!

Why having such a different behavior depending the tool? You allow a brush to paint partially over a gradient, but you don't allow the opposite. I simply don't understand this, and I've the deep feeling this cannot be done "by design". Else I'm really curious for the arguments.

PaintOnMask.mov

[MEB]

Hi Tazintosh

Affinity doesn't have anything similar to the Foreground to Transparent gradients as Photoshop which is what you are trying to replicate here, so when you use the gradient tool it replaces everything in that mask.

[Tazintosh]

Affinity doesn't have anything similar to the Foreground to Transparent gradients as Photoshop which is what you are trying to replicate here, so when you use the gradient tool it replaces everything in that mask.

 

Hey MEB.

This is exactly the point of this feature request post ;)

Since we can already paint a pixel mask using brushes (including by using opacity), why not simply offering this possibility to the gradient tool (when used on mask)? This tool already support opacity, it's just about supporting it on pixel masks.

 

Also, have you been able to achieve setting up a gradient default for pixel mask other than white>grey?

[Frankentoon Studio]

I totally second this feature! Would speed up some photo-manipulation / matte-painting workflows by 500% :)

[mday36]

Have I missed something on the Tutorials?  When creating a gradient say over a sky, everything in the mask will be affected by the settings?  That's all well and good for say straight horizons, but whatabout when objects protrude into the horizon, say trees, buildings or monuments?  is it possible to brush out these areas on the gradient mask - as you can in Lightroom?

 

Many thanks,

 

mday36

[Rob123456789]

I'm afraid this is an absolute mess. Creating a gradient with transparancy on a pixel layer should not erase previously drawn gradients already on a pixel layer, otherwise you are changing the whole idea behind what a pixel layer is. Seems like when this feature was originally thought out, the opacity of a gradient was not taken in to account. What's worse, I fear it will never behave how users want it to behave because otherwise you need to support both ways of doing this for backwards compatibilty with documents already created. Very, very, ill thought out. I tried to create the example the original poster created in the video and gave up because it was too long winded. Masks in general are an absolute pain in Affinity. I am actually finding that I use Affinity less and less because each time I try to do something, I come up against obsticles (frustrations) like this.