Thoughts on the Tool Bars

[WeiPhotoArts]

What I like:

The Tool bar items are such a great improvement over PS5 and LR5. The basic function remains about the same, but your implementation is so “cool.” Everything works much faster with more precision.

I like the healing brush improvements from what I use in PS5 & LR5. I can see what’s being changed easily and quickly--and the healing is spot on.

The crop tool is nice, but could use more constraints, including a user-specified one. However, the use of Rotate, rather than the keyboard “X” to change the crop orientation from portrait to landscape is clunky. When the crop goes to portrait, sometimes the crop extends beyond the image, which doesn’t make it the right “constraint.”

I like the implementation of the gradient. Seems natural and pleasant.

Can the Tool Bar be movable? Photoshop has it initially on the left side, but I find moving it to the right, with the rest of the tools more convenient.

Burn/Dodge is great, especially with the “protect hue” button pressed.

Implanting is really amazing. Thought your video of the elephant and other examples were just lucky selections. But I tried mine, and OMG, it works...

Change your Selection of colors sliders (RGB, RGB-Hex, HSL, etc.). NO NEED to continue the consistency of sliders, which I find so “Photoshopie” (Yeah, that’s a word, but maybe across the Pond you say “Photoshopy.” Why don’t you just borrow your absolutely terrific HSL graphic from Affinity Designer? That’s the best graphic to select colors. However, when I tried to select a yellow from Affinity Photo Beta's RGB, I just was frustrated; yes, I used the color patch, but what yellow was a usual “Photoshopy” By-Guess-and-By-Golly. No need to continue with the past on this one.

Oh yes, RGB and RGB-Hex should have the same size (both width-length) color spectrum. But I think that oversight is just Beta. This last point is a “nit”.

[Andy Somerfield]

Hi,

 

We're going to add custom crop aspect soon, and I will make the X key do the landscape / portrait flip too :)

 

As for the colours, if you prefer the HSL wheel from designer, you can still use it - just click the burger menu at the top right of the colour panel, and choose "Wheel" :)

 

Thanks for the feedback!

 

Andy.

[WeiPhotoArts]

Andy,

 

Thank you kindly for reading and responding so quickly to your plan for the custom crop aspect and X key.

 

And once us guys across the pond realized you didn't mean   (like in hamburgers) as an icon to seek, I found the "Wheel." Am a happy camper. HSL in that way is a winner!

[MikeFromMesa]

As for the colours, if you prefer the HSL wheel from designer, you can still use it - just click the burger menu at the top right of the colour panel, and choose "Wheel" :)

OK. I give up. Unlike WeiPhotoArts I have no idea where the "burger" menu is on the HSL panel. Or even if I am looking at the correct "HSL panel".

 

If I load a raw image into AP and work in what I have been calling the raw persona (I don't know the correct term for what I think of as there AP equivalent of ACR) I can not find any HSL adjustment or panel so I assume you are talking about working in the develop persona (again, if that is the correct term for the normal editing part of AP that appears after pressing the develop button). In that persona the only HSL panel I can find is displayed when adding an HSL adjustment layer and I can find nothing that looks like a "burger" icon on that panel.

 

I did find the "setup wheel" at the top right of the UI right above the HSL layer (where I have positioned the layers panel) but that brings up the Blend Ranges dialog box. What and where is the "burger" menu?

[00Ghz]

Wait? Wasn't the X key assigned to fill/stroke color switch? It seems a bad idea to break the convention.

[LilleG]

Please keep the X-key assigned to Fill/Stroke color switch.  All of us soon-to-be ex-photoshoppers would be seriously confused if that is reassigned.

[ronnyb]

Please X for swapping current color selection (foreground vs. background or stroke vs. fill).

 

Can you implement Shift + X please, please, please!?! It should swap the contents/colors of Foreground and Background or Stroke and Fill, both in the color palette and in the current selection.

[00Ghz]

Please X for swapping current color selection (foreground vs. background or stroke vs. fill).

 

Can you implement Shift + X please, please, please!?! It should swap the contents/colors of Foreground and Background or Stroke and Fill, both in the color palette and in the current selection.

+100 for Shift + X

 

Also maybe Ctrl+X or something else for quickly removing the current fill or stroke depending which one is active.

[ronnyb]

How about just using / to assign current stroke/fill to None. Again this is one of those "industry standard," 20+ years-of-muscle-memory-I-don't-really-need-to-relearn kinda things...

[LilleG]

Well said, ronnyb!  "Industry standard/photoshop standard" should be followed wherever possible to reduce the learning curve for those coming from other apps.  And while a number of us want to move from Adobe as soon as possible, until Affinity gives us everything we need, there will be things we have to go back to Photoshop or another app to apply.  Different conventions simply makes it more difficult and slows us down.  Slowing down professionals is never something you want an app to do.