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[Affinity Photo] Develop Persona presets - how it works?


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I was just about to write a few questions for the forum - but decided to check if they've been mentioned before.

 

I have this 'problem' too - each section of the develop UI has its own preset - there should be, I think, a single central place for saving Develop presets that gathers ALL of the separate presets together as a kind of easy global preset.

 

A key thing professionals need is repeatability - and for anybody in the office to be able to repeat the action if possible. Seeing as the Develop stage isn't dynamic - the next best thing would be to have a single point preset - and preferably one that can be saved and shared. . ..  instead of 4 or 5 different presets in different parts of the UI.

 

I'd say this is genuinely THE biggest problem I have with Affinity Photo at the moment - especially as I've been brave enough to completely make the jump from Adobe CC !!! In the main I am incredibly incredibly happy to have made the jump - and I love the Develop persona. .  but you MUST make global shareable presets your very highest priority - and if you can make it a dynamic editable part of the process (with a dynamic flattened top 'Develop' layer? which users can pause and play when editing below is happening?) - then that would be perfect.

 

The other biggest problem is the AWFUL. .. and it is awful. .. gradient tool. Is there anything used more often than a black to white gradient? No- there is not - can I make it the default? No. Can I save it as a preset? No. Do I ALWAYS have to click 6 times to be able to create, each time, a black to white gradient.? YES!!!!!!! Insane! 

 

I have more problems. . .  but maybe a few at a time is best.

 

:P

 

Cheers,

 

Marc.

 

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  • Staff

Hi aArc,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Thank you for your support and feedback. A non-destructive Develop layer (or similar improvement/feature) is already planned for a future update. I do agree that the different presets should be combined into a single global preset. I do hope this may also be considered for a future improvement but that's up with the dev team.

Regarding the black and white gradient if you go to the Swatches panel and select Gradients from the dropdown on the top of the panel you will find a couple of black/white defaults as well as black/transparent and white/transparent. Click on them to apply to the active gradient.

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@counterprojects, in addition to what MEB said about gradients, you might want to take a look at the Swatches panel help topic. The online US-English version is here, or you can find it in the built-in Help system in the Workspace > Panels section.

 

Note in particular the To save a color or gradient to a palette section -- you can save custom gradients of your own to any palette, even to the predefined Gradient Application palette, although it is suggested that you add them to ones you create. So you are not limited to the 4 default black/white/transparent ones, & it is a simple one-click step to apply them.

 

BTW, you said, "Is there anything used more often than a black to white gradient?" I can't speak for anybody else, but I very rarely use black to white gradients, or for that matter any gradient with a pure black or pure white color stop.

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
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This is fantastic! I knew I was being an idiot!

 

:)

 

I've got all the menus up on my second screen - could never find the colour swatches . . . I apologise for my complete idiocy !

I'd even been trying to apply gradient overlays to masking channels - which doesn't work - but maybe it could. . .. Actually - this is linked to my THIRD big problem - do you allow a linked (image) to be a mask or alpha layer? I can't see how - the best I can get is (Embedded document) - but it doesn't let me 'replace' that. Again - if I have an image and I re-output an alpha channel and want to easily replace it.. . especially if that layer is then moved. ..  dynamically linked (image) mask layers please.

 

This final problem is the last of my big four. ..  and with one solved, and one understood and hopefully being addressed.. . .  why not do them all in one go!?!

 

My last problem is recolouring alpha channels and then using them as an 'add' or 'screen' layer (I often use a recoloured zdepth output as a fog layer)  . . ..  in (cough) photoshop the blacks stay black when 'recolouring' and so they don't affect the colours on layers beneath - but your recolour affects blacks - I have to add another adjustment on top to squash the blacks back down.. ..   I'm all for Affinity doing things in its own way. ..  so maybe there could be your 'recolour' and also more photoshop like 'colourise' (or 'colorize' if you're american) - where it 'overlays' the colour adjustment - only affecting everything below black. Maybe it's a bitdepth issue. . . . 

 

Oh - and PC keyboard shortcut cards please.

 

:)

 

Cheers,

 

Marc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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16 hours ago, R C-R said:

BTW, you said, "Is there anything used more often than a black to white gradient?" I can't speak for anybody else, but I very rarely use black to white gradients, or for that matter any gradient with a pure black or pure white color stop.

 

:)

 

Fair enough.

 

I use them in every image for mixing different render outputs.. . . of course - not everybody is using Affinity for 3d viz stuff.

 

:)

 

M x

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@counterprojects/Marc

 

"Oh - and PC keyboard shortcut cards please."

 

Here?

 

HTH

Win 10 Pro, i7 6700K, 32Gb RAM, NVidia GTX1660 Ti and Intel HD530 Graphics

Long-time user of Serif products, chiefly PagePlus and PhotoPlus, but also WebPlus, CraftArtistProfessional and DrawPlus.  Delighted to be using Affinity Designer, Photo, and now Publisher, version 1 and now version 2.

iPad Pro (12.9") (iOS 17.4) running Affinity Photo and Designer version 1 and all three version 2 apps.

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23 minutes ago, counterprojects said:

I'd even been trying to apply gradient overlays to masking channels - which doesn't work - but maybe it could.

Assuming you are masking a pixel layer (if an image layer instead you would need to rasterize it first) you should be able to select the layer & on the Channels panel, right click on that layer's Alpha channel (not the Composite Alpha channel) & select "Create Mask Layer." Then select that mask layer with the Gradient Tool & apply a gradient in the normal way. Select color stops & adjust their lightness or opacity to control the mask's transparency effect. You can do the same thing with any mask layer, so you do not need to create it via the Channels panel -- just select the pixel layer & click the "Mask Layer" button at the bottom of the Layers panel.

 

Note that Affinity alpha channels do not affect color, only transparency, which may or may not be what you want.

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
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16 minutes ago, emmrecs01 said:

@counterprojects/Marc

 

"Oh - and PC keyboard shortcut cards please."

 

Here?

 

HTH

 

i have these - and they're brilliant - 'command' is the 'windows' button - but maybe some PC people don't know that. ..  was asking for others rather than myself.

 

:)

 

Of course - I just hit the photoshop keyboard shortcut and it's usually the same. ACE!

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12 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Assuming you are masking a pixel layer (if an image layer instead you would need to rasterize it first) you should be able to select the layer & on the Channels panel, right click on that layer's Alpha channel (not the Composite Alpha channel) & select "Create Mask Layer." Then select that mask layer with the Gradient Tool & apply a gradient in the normal way. Select color stops & adjust their lightness or opacity to control the mask's transparency effect. You can do the same thing with any mask layer, so you do not need to create it via the Channels panel -- just select the pixel layer & click the "Mask Layer" button at the bottom of the Layers panel.

 

Note that Affinity alpha channels do not affect color, only transparency, which may or may not be what you want.

 

Thanks for all these replies! I really appreciate the time people take to write back - it means a lot.

 

I understand what you're saying - switching between mask layers and alpha channels - I was talking about bringing in completely separate greyscale (or colour but only a greyscale version is shown/used - but not destructively applied!!!) images as a dynamically linked (image) layer as a mask - anything that requires the user to rasterise should be avoided if possible - I should be able to select any placed (image) and directly replace it with another version. 3d software can output a LOT of different renders containing different information - zdepth, specular, reflection, refraction, movement, normals.. . . I build up an image with many (image) layers, then the client wants a change to the final image - but I _NEED_ to keep absolutely everything looking exactly the same... so I just replace the linked layers - easy.. . except for images I'm using for masks. ..  especially if I've adjusted the masks. .. . then these are NOT easy to replace and the changes are not easy to reproduce. . . the amended image looks different - the client gets angry. A 3d artist will do lots of bonkers things in image editing - but at the end of the day - they all need to be reproduceable. Which is why the Develop process HAS to easily repeatable.. . . it just HAS to - especially if Affinity wants to appeal to more professionals. Looks like Affinity knows that and are acting on it - another part of this 'Reproduceability' comes from dynamically linked images - and then, eventually, photoshop style Smart objects - which people have also been clammering for.

 

:)

 

Marc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, counterprojects said:

Oh - and PC keyboard shortcut cards please.

PDFs you can download are available:

• for Affinity Photo Windows here.

• for Affinity Designer Windows here.

• for for Affinity Photo Mac here.

• for for Affinity Designer Mac here.

 

These links (& much more) are from MEB's very helpful Quick Reference web page.

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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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Ah - I see the bit that was confusing . .. 

 

'recolouring alpha channels'.

 

What I mean is to take a separate greyscale image (alpha or zdepth) and then recolour it and apply it in the normal worspace - not as an alpha or mask - but as a coloured greyscale image.. . .  oh my it is confusing isn't it?! Should I add pictures? (no - not being condescending - trying to be more helpful!)

 

:P

 

M.

 

 

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Just now, MEB said:

Hi counterprojects,

Linked layers and support for smart objects are both being considered as improvements for later (among other things). There wasn't simply time to move that far yet. The dev teams are already quite busy.

 

Hi MEB. . . 

 

It's great to hear - I know people will use Affinity photo in different ways. . . and me coming on here saying 'I use it this way - please make Affinity Photo the way I need it' could be annoying. .. . I just think these are SO fundamental.. . they really need to be priorities. ..  what's more important than this? I'd drop smart objects for later - I can absolutely see how that's a different thing -  but you already have linked adjustable (image) layers - is it to much to just extend that to linked adjustable (mask) layers. . ..  easy peasy.

 

:P

 

M.

 

 

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5 hours ago, counterprojects said:

 

i have these - and they're brilliant - 'command' is the 'windows' button - but maybe some PC people don't know that. .. 

I would expect that the PC equivalent of 'command' is 'control' or 'ctrl', not the Windows button.

-- Walt
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23 hours ago, R C-R said:

...Note in particular the To save a color or gradient to a palette section -- you can save custom gradients of your own to any palette, even to the predefined Gradient Application palette, although it is suggested that you add them to ones you create. So you are not limited to the 4 default black/white/transparent ones, & it is a simple one-click step to apply them.

And how do you reuse and take those over into a adjustment gradient or fx gradient then? Go try to make a macro in which you want to reuse any of those and for adjustment gradients there isn't anything like a transparency setup here, there even aren't at least such predefined ones.

 

Quote

BTW, you said, "Is there anything used more often than a black to white gradient?" I can't speak for anybody else, but I very rarely use black to white gradients, or for that matter any gradient with a pure black or pure white color stop.

Then you don't deal much with custom black & white photography and their conversion, where these are an essential part for tweaking images into different BW styles too.

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38 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

And how do you reuse and take those over into a adjustment gradient or fx gradient then? Go try to make a macro in which you want to reuse any of those and for adjustment gradients there isn't anything like a transparency setup here, there even aren't at least such predefined ones.

I was responding to the comment in this post by @counterprojects about using the Gradient tool. That had nothing to do with adjustment layers or with macros.

 

As has already been mentioned in other topics about the shortcomings of macros, we know what you (& I, among others) want can't be done using macros.

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@R C-R Macros left out, gradients should be equally treated and thus offer a common denominator, but they don't. - Also something must have been changed here over time since 2015, since I recently saw somewhere an older AP video, where gradients for adjustments in the past offered some settings which are no longer available.

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
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  • 1 month later...
On 28-1-2018 at 11:14 PM, Pudens said:

Hi!

 

I have some presets defined, but I found, that changing from one preset to another, changes picture, but not all values in Affinity Photo (some changes, but i.e. color balance not). It can be misleading. Is that how presets works? Any changes in next versions?

 

This is still not working in the latest version 1.6.4.104 !! 

Affinity Photo  2.3.1

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Windows 11 Home 23H2 (Build 22631.3007) - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8565U CPU @ 1.80GHz   2.00 GHz - RAM 16,0 GB

 

 
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