cut out selection problem

[Magic Pete]

Having used Serif PhotoPlus for a long time, I'm not exactly a beginner and one of the facilities used a lot is the 'Cut Out Studio'. Now, having Affinity installed one of its facilites I want to try is cutting out a subject from the background. I have viewed the available video many times and have tried doing it live with my own picture to no avail. 

Video says - Open picture - choose the Selection Brush Tool and brush over the area required and the usual 'marching ants' will appear. Sadly when I do this the result is nothing. No 'Marching Ants' or any indication of the area selected is shown.

Can anyone please help. Many thanks. Pete.

[MEB]

Hi Magic Pete,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Is the Selection Brush Tool mode set to Add in the context toolbar right above the work area (on the left)? If it's set to Subtract change to Add, since there's no active selection to subtract from (you are creating a new selection).

[Magic Pete]

Thank you for your very swift reply - all the way from Portugal I note. Yes, that is the answer. Easy when you know how as always. 

With due respect to the author of the video, I'm a little surprised that the video, being aimed at a 'newbies', didn't mention this obvious necessary requirement.

I was always impressed with the Cut Out Studio in PhotoPlus, almost automatic in many cases, so I'm due for a long learning curve in Affinity. At 84 years old I hope I can manage it . . .  On a totally different note, I see that the sending of messages in the forum doesn't have a spell checker. Perhaps that's something else I have to discover. . At my age the eyesight is not so good these days.

Thanks again.  Pete

[BobsDaubs]

29 minutes ago, Magic Pete said:

  On a totally different note, I see that the sending of messages in the forum doesn't have a spell checker. Perhaps that's something else I have to discover. . At my age the eyesight is not so good these days.

Check out grammarly.com  It will check your spelling and your grammar at the same time right here in the forums. Best of all, it is free.

[Magic Pete]

Thanks for that tip. I have installed it. So if there are a lot of spelling mistakes I will know who to blame.. Well, its found a mistake already so it seems to work. Thanks again.  Seems nice folk here. Just as well with my learning curve with Affinity, I'm bound to be back asking questions. 

Cheers. Pete. 

[toltec]

1 hour ago, Magic Pete said:

 At my age the eyesight is not so good these days.

If that's the only thing not so good these days, you er, ...

what was I saying ? 

[Magic Pete]

17 minutes ago, toltec said:

If that's the only thing not so good these days, you er, ...

what was I saying ? 

 . . . at my age, I can't even recall whatever you might be hinting at???  Please be more explicit . . .  or perhaps not! 

Pete

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Magic Pete said:

With due respect to the author of the video, I'm a little surprised that the video, being aimed at a 'newbies', didn't mention this obvious necessary requirement.

If you mean the Affinity Photo - Making Selections video, at about the 2:00 mark, James talks about going to the Context toolbar to change the selection mode to Add. Since the mode is set to "New" when he starts demonstrating the use of the selection brush, while it might be easy to overlook that, in all fairness the video does show that requirement.