Select Color Range

[Meganfallow]

Hi, 

 

I’m currently using Adobe products in my workflow in the office to create and set designs up for screen printing. However, I’m going to be away from my work station for a while and was hoping this app could substitute for photoshop while I’m away. 

 

Before purchasing, I need to know if it’s possible to select a color range in the app version for my iPad. I’ve read through your forums and watched many videos, but I still don’t think this question has been fully answered. I’m going to do my best to explain by providing an example.

 

1. I start a project by my making any color changes or retouching that is needed. - CK you guys have got that covered

2. Lower the DPI of my image for screen printing purposes. —- This is off topic, but is it doable in the middle of editing photos or is this something that must be set when starting a project?

3. I need to start separating colors —- *** This is where I need further explanation.

A - Let’s say i’m Printing a pic of the beach. At this point i need to separate out maybe 2 blues, 2 tans, 1 white, and 1 red for a beach chair. Is it possible to select a tone of blue and adjust the tolerance and then save my selection into the channels pallets?

B - In photoshop, I’m also able to access a file color library under Color modes. Here I can change an image that is recognizing 50 individual colors down to 6. Is this doable in your iPad app?

 

Thanks in advance for your help! It looks like you guys have a great community of artists and designers following you. Hope to be one of them soon!

 

 

 

 

 

[toltec]

9 hours ago, Meganfallow said:

2. Lower the DPI of my image for screen printing purposes. —- This is off topic, but is it doable in the middle of editing photos or is this something that must be set when starting a project?

 

 

 

 

 

You can certainly reduce resolution but there is no  sample by Colour Range on the iPad. 

Edit. There is a Sample Selection Tool on the Tools panel . I totally missed that 

The Desktop version can also select by Sampled Colour Range, but it is not as good as Photoshop as you can't do it from a selected area. Just the whole image.

[Dan C]

Hi Meganfallow,

Welcome to the forums

I'm assuming you're referring to Affinity Photo here, but please let me know if this is not the case!

6 hours ago, Meganfallow said:

Lower the DPI of my image for screen printing purposes. —- This is off topic, but is it doable in the middle of editing photos

This doesn't have to be done at the start or end of editing, you can resize your document at any time, changing the physical size or DPI in the app.

The Select Sampled Colour tool is available on the iPad, in the Selection Persona. You can use this to pinpoint a colour by tapping on it, then adjusting the tolerance until you are happy with your selection, however as Toltec has mentioned it makes the selection from the whole image currently.

6 hours ago, Meganfallow said:

In photoshop, I’m also able to access a file color library under Color modes. Here I can change an image that is recognizing 50 individual colors down to 6.

I'm not familiar with this feature and so can't compare it to Affinity, what is the option within Photoshop called that you're referring to please?

[toltec]

2 hours ago, Dan C said:

 

The Select Sampled Colour tool is available on the iPad, in the Selection Persona. You can use this to pinpoint a colour by tapping on it, then adjusting the tolerance until you are happy with your selection, however as Toltec has mentioned it makes the selection from the whole image currently.

 

Oh yes, I was looking for that a while back but totally missed it. Should have gone to Specsavers 

 

[Meganfallow]

@toltec @Dan C thanks for your replies!

 

So here’s a more detailed explanation of what i’m doing...

1. After making any needed edits, i’m flattening all of my layers and lowering the dpi from 300 to 120.

2. My next step is usually to go to Image > Color Mode> Index. From Here I narrow down how many colors are being seen and sometimes add new spot colors to the list.

3. From here I use object>select color range. Then, i select color #1 and fine tune it. So, let’s say I selected all of the light blue, but there are areas I think need to be dark blue. Once i’ve used color range to select a specific color, i can hide the marching ants and use the brush tool to paint areas of the selection as needed.

4. After adjusting colors as needed, I then move each individual color in the image to a channel and set to a spot color. This allows me to open the file in Illustrator and further edit as needed.

 

So ... @Dan C when you mention selecting from the whole image above, are you saying i can select a color range but it’s ignoring layers? Or am i only selecting colors from the layer or channel I’m working in?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Dan C]

52 minutes ago, Meganfallow said:

My next step is usually to go to Image > Color Mode> Index. From Here I narrow down how many colors are being seen and sometimes add new spot colors to the list.

Unfortunately there's no alternative to this feature in Affinity Photo currently, but it may be added at a later date. Equally there's no spot colour options in our iPad apps currently, an export can honour spot colours if the file has been imported but you can't create or manage spot colours.

52 minutes ago, Meganfallow said:

From here I use object>select color range...Once i’ve used color range to select a specific color, i can hide the marching ants and use the brush tool to paint areas of the selection as needed.

The Select Sampled Colour tool will give a similar outcome of the Select Colour Range option, without the preview panel used in Photoshop, however you can't hide the marching ants selection on the iPad version of Affinity, unlike the desktop variant.

52 minutes ago, Meganfallow said:

After adjusting colors as needed, I then move each individual color in the image to a channel and set to a spot color.

If you're referring to saving selections as a new channel, this can be done on the iPad

53 minutes ago, Meganfallow said:

are you saying i can select a color range but it’s ignoring layers? Or am i only selecting colors from the layer or channel I’m working in?

Apologies for not being clearer, you can only select from the layer you're working on.

[liumingming]

The color range is very powerful.  I hope that AP will join this feature later.