Struggling with Brushes

[Glenn]

Difficulties and Problems I'm finding:

 

1. Every time a brush is changed and the first re-selected it has lost any modifications just previously made. This is not good. The solution suggested of creating a new brush for each modification is just not a solution. Partly because there would need to be so many per one brush; but also because in the Brushes 'Studio' there would be no visible way to distinguish them and, although there is Rt-click option to 'Rename', individual Brushes show no names!
2. It's probably there but I can't find how to duplicate/save any modified version?
3. Nor how to copy/move a brush from one Category to another?
4. Don't know if I'm missing something but, apart from the 'Basics' category: modifying 'Shape' appears to do nothing at all; similarly, changing 'Hardness' has no effect. Understandble in many cases outside of 'Basic', but why have them always so prominent, as if applicable? These things confuse.
5. Modifying Flow seems with many brushes to reach full strength at or below 50%. And in some cases weakens as percentage is increased. (e.g DaubBristles, where with Preset Flow at 4%, anything above 25 and full black becomes dark grey. Similarly, with Drawing6 (4th in Set), Flow effect actually peaks at about 5% etc etc

 

On top of this, I attach graphic showing how misleading it seems to me to offer  .abr import as a feature, when so many useful ones are in fact simply unusable.

 

For all its wealth of features, for me the frustrating struggle to perform any sort of Brushwork - drawing, painting, masking - is one of the things that makes all Affinity Photo's other qualities all but worthless.

 

With all its awards and praise, I'm clearly very much in a minority on this - so if anyone can show me where I'm mistaken, or point out solutions to the above, I would be glad to hear...

 

(Sorry if, in this Season of Goodwill, this reads as over-negative...!)

[Shawn Young]

I agree. I'm struggling with brush work also. To me it seems that the size circle that shows the brush size seems to change depending upon whether you have the stylus button on/off. I'm expecting the circle brush size preview to show the size consitently (maximum brush size if stylus is turned on). But if I have the stylus button toggled to "on" and then change the brush size, the size circle appears to be bigger than what it showed with the stylus toggle turned off. Maybe I'm just weird in what I expect to happen.

[Lee D]

Retaining settings when switching between brushes isn't an option but would be useful. It's also not possible to duplicate or save a modified brush or to move a brush from one category to another. The shape of a brush outside of the Basic category can't be adjusted as they are based on a texture image.  I'm still looking at the flow to see if needs passing over to the developers. The other issues have already been logged or requested as a future feature/improvement.

 

 

[Glenn]

Lee D....Thank you for your response. (My apolgies for being slow to reply - been out of circulation)...

 

1. "Retaining settings when switching between brushes isn't an option but would be useful."

Yes, I know it's not an option - and I must say I'm disappointed to hear you say only that it 'would be useful'.

I would say it's surely elementary, and just can't understand why it wasn't considered to be such from the outset, when it must have been obvious how users would be likely to be switching from one amended brush customised in the 'More' flyout to another and back again.

To be blunt it seems that simply providing a wealth of customisable options was as far as the thinking went.

 

2. "It's also not possible to duplicate or save a modified brush or to move a brush from one category to another".

Yet again, a simple lack of forethought - resulting in yet more hindrance to users being able to take sensible advantage of the many options made available.

 

3. "The shape of a brush outside of the Basic category can't be adjusted as they are based on a texture image."

Again, I do understand it's only with brushes in the Basics Set that 'Shape' has an effect. But my point is why is 'Shape' not greyed out, inaccessible, for non Basics? (Like, for example. Nozzle Texture is for Basics)? Instead, users are able to change a Textured Brush's 'Shape' value, click OK and wonder what they've done wrong, why there's no apparent change?

 

As to the other points, can only hope they too get addressed before long. (As others have pointed out there are issues said to have been 'logged' that turn out to be unresolved two years later).

 

I really want to like (and use) Affinity Photo: it has so many aspects that really appeal, yet it seems to me there's a fundamental weakness throughout (for it's not just with Brushes) - a basic lack of attention paid at development stage to how users will actually use what's being built.

 

A successful app, surely, is not about how many features are provided, it's about how they are provided. So many posts on this Forum are it seems all about the same thing -  in short: UX...

 

As I've said before, I'm very aware there's countless accolades been showered on AP - but I still feel it can't be wrong to complain or criticise.

 

Apologies for length of this!