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How to copy content from a second document source?


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Hi everybody. I'm struggeling a bit with the copy (clone) tool. I'm trying to copy parts from a second document into my main document with the clone brush tool. Since the tool only ssems to allow a source in the same document I wonder how to get this done? (PS allows to set the source within a second document). Maybe I haven't sorted out how to do this in AP. Any suggestions or help on this one?
thx, Timo

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 i7-12700KF, 3.60 GHz, 32GB RAM, SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet, Windows 11 Pro - AP, AD and APublisher V1 and V2
https://www.timobierbaum.com

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I think this is the right video

 

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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  • Staff

Hi DarkClown,

You have to select the source area from the original document (press and hold ⌥ (option/alt) and click on canvas), then click the Add Global Source button in context toolbar to add it to the Sources panel (which should open automatically), change to the other document, select the source you want to use from the Sources panel and start cloning on canvas.

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Thanks for your answers ... I guess that's what I was looking for ... appreciate it!

But frankly spoken: that's a nightmare! It took me 40 minutes to get a clone result close to what I was looking for ... (instead of 2 minutes with PS) ... why make it easy if there's a far more complicated way to get the same results. I still haven't figured out how to reset the clone source once you need a different starting point from the source. So I ended up adding new sources over and over again from the same source picture to have additional clone starting points (OMG) - instead of simply defining the new clone starting point within a seperate document and painting in my existing picture. It is NOT intuitive at all! (Workflow!!!) - Is there any advantage of making a simple task that complicated (by adding an existing documents first to a "Source" panel again and again to define different staring points for the clone tool)? Maybe I simply did not get the benefit from this increased complexity (source window) ...

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 i7-12700KF, 3.60 GHz, 32GB RAM, SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet, Windows 11 Pro - AP, AD and APublisher V1 and V2
https://www.timobierbaum.com

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  • 2 years later...

The Sources panel works great. BUT... There is one big feature missing in the Sources panel. In order to add an image to the source panel, it has to be openend in Affinity Photo. For two or three images, this is not a problem. But working with a lot of images when focus stacking, this is really a pain-in-the-a.. to do!!! Even ordering the sources is not possible. So, you can imagine what a time consuming process this is. Further more, Affinity Photo does NOT save the Sources list with the afphoto file. This means that every time after closing Affinity Photo, all the Sources must be added again before I can continue working on my image. Do testers at Affinity Photo even think of this scenario before releasing a feature like this?

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5 minutes ago, dvmierlo said:

Do testers at Affinity Photo even think of this scenario before releasing a feature like this?

Possibly it was not intended to be used with sources derived from a focus stack?

Generally it would not make sense to save the Sources panel information with a saved .afphoto file, because the Sources relate to other documents that happen to be open, not something in the .afphoto file itself. And the next time  you open the file there might be entirely different other images open, or no other images at all.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

Possibly it was not intended to be used with sources derived from a focus stack?

Hi Walt,
That may be the case. But handling referenced files in the Sources panel must be improved to better support working on an image at different times and after reopening Affinity Photo. At least the following featured must be added:
1 - Adding multiple sources (files) at once by selecting them via a file-open dialog or via drag-and-drop.
2 - Sorting and reordering the sources list.

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24 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Possibly it was not intended to be used with sources derived from a focus stack?

Hi Walt,

Rethinking your comment, I do not agree with this. The reason is that when images are merged via focus stacking, the user can retouch the merged photo by using the clone stamp tool where the original files are listed in the Sources panel (see the YouTube video below). The Sources panel is clearly an important part of the focus stacking feature. I hope you agree with me that a user must be able to work/retouch the image a different moments in time where it has to reopen Affinity Photo.

 

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On 3/27/2020 at 12:39 PM, dvmierlo said:

The Sources panel is clearly an important part of the focus stacking feature. I hope you agree with me that a user must be able to work/retouch the image a different moments in time where it has to reopen Affinity Photo.

I think you have misunderstood the point Walt is making about why it would not be very practical to store the Sources information with the saved .afphoto file. Consider that unless the entire contents of each source file was stored in the .afphoto file when it was saved (which of course would result in massive file sizes), it would be necessary to store references to each file.

That would be fine if the source files never were deleted, always were stored in a file system where the reference was supported, the files were stored on drives that were always attached whenever the .afphoto file was opened, never were moved in a way that would break the reference, & never were modified directly when opened & saved in AP or any other app.

Since there is no way to guarantee all of that will always be true, while it might be is possible to code the app to deal gracefully with most of that, it would add a lot of complexity to the code, & still would not ensure that the source file(s) could be used without problems when the file was reopened at some later time.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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42 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I think you have misunderstood the point Walt is making about why it would not be very practical to store the Sources information with the saved .afphoto file. Consider that unless the entire contents of each source file was stored in the .afphoto file when it was saved (which of course would result in massive file sizes), it would be necessary to store references to each file.

I think you've understood the point I was trying to make, R C-R. Thanks.

But perhaps @dvmierlo has a point, too, for the specific case where the user is working on a focus stack (or possibly other kinds of stacks) and the Sources panel contains only references to layers within the document. In that specific case, assuming that Saving the .afphoto file also saves the complete, intact stack, it could be helpful to also have the Sources panel information saved.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Just now, DarkClown said:

Walt, don't mention the "Save Settings" topic .... not a good idea ;-)

I didn't.

I talked about saving more of the data within the current document.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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13 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

 

@dvmierloSaving the .afphoto file also saves the complete, intact stack, it could be helpful to also have the Sources panel information saved.

Didn't you? .... When you talk about "Save Source Panel Information"? And of course you are totally right.  But saving any kind of setting in an appropriate way (either in separate files or as part of the source file) hast been on the list from the first day on ... that's how long now - 4 years?

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 i7-12700KF, 3.60 GHz, 32GB RAM, SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet, Windows 11 Pro - AP, AD and APublisher V1 and V2
https://www.timobierbaum.com

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I understand that external files that are referenced can be moved causing the reference to be broken. But that is not the issue here.

What I'm saying is that the UI support for these files in the Sources list is very minimal. This results in unwanted, frustrating and a time-consuming process when I want to continue working on post processing a focus stacking image on a later moment in time where I reopen Affinity Photo.

In order to continue, I need to open each photo in Affinity Photo in the correct order! and add this photo as a resource to the Resource list. This is because:
- Drag-and-Drop in the Sources panel does not work.
- Sorting the list in Sources panel does not work.
- There is no option to save and open the Sources list is any form what so ever.

If I was testing a new feature like this, I see myself as the end-user that wants to be able to work at different moments in time. One may not expect a user to completely finish a stacking post process cloning the first time. Maybe a users wants to correct a focus stacked image. There are lot's of reasons.

My suggestion is to give the user options/choices! That is what makes a user to want to use a software program more.

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  • 11 months later...

I'm new to Affinity but not new to Serif.

I'm at one with Dark Clown way back in November 2017.

From my point of view I am being forced to use new software as a result of upgrading to iMac Big Sur.

All my old version of Photoshop are now defunct unless I swap back to my High Sierra on what is now to all intents and purposes a redundant iMac.

The fact that all version of PS that I can recall allow for at least two images to be open simultaneously made the task of cloning from one to the other extremely easy.

Annoyingly it is one of my main processes and the first thing I wanted to do in Affinity Photo and find it can't be done.

I have always got great satisfaction using old Serif programmes but this is just pure frustration.

Please Serif, please add double image opening simultaneously into the next version!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I’m with you on this, Ian. I came from Corel PaintShop Pro a year ago after 15+ years using that program. I’m now pretty proficient in Affinity Photo but its inability to handle 2 (or more) images onscreen simultaneously is a continual source of extreme annoyance.

If PSP has been doing it for that many years it cannot be difficult to build it into AP. It offers at least 2 huge benefits:

  • View 2 or more tiled images simultaneously for comparison purposes at any degree of magnification.
  • Even more significantly, it enables cloning to be performed soooooo easily from one image directly into another.

Just compare that with James Ritson’s pantomime method displayed at the beginning of this thread.

Otherwise I must unreservedly pay testimony to the brilliance of Affinity Photo and to those who developed it.

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