Best "Adjustment" for Thinning Hair

[GDPR-354025]

1 hour ago, toltec said:

No offence first defence but I have to disagree with that. (always one, isn't there).

I was a professional photo editor for thirty years. Literally thousands of photos prepared for litho printing. But I am no good at creating anything, I have no artistic ability whatsoever I just edit.

Given the option of an automatic tool, I would have used it every day of the week because I was always under severe time pressure. If you knew the print trade, you would understand. When faced with 100 odd photos that needed preparing and several hundreds of pounds lost if a litho machine is idle for an hour. That is a lot of pressure.

Over the thirty years or so I have picked up a few things but time is money and I am not interested in learning every feature just for the sake of it. I suspect I am not alone. Most of the numerous tricks I learned was because I needed to do something (or rather a customer wanted me to), not because I wanted to.

But it takes all users, and I would have found Photo more or less perfect for my purposes. Are you saying Photo is only "for creative people", maybe I should get a refund 

Not everybody has the time to play around with software until they become experts. Some people just need to do stuff.

Toltec, I somehow missed this post. Every word you say, I agree with. So you're not the only one. 

Sincerely, 

[toltec]

13 minutes ago, American said:

I know you won't believe this, Toltec, but this did not appear in the Gradient "sidebar" earlier. Now, clicking on the Gradient Tool, and then on Fill, I got what you described. (I also finally found Help using the term "gradient editing." Thank you very much.

Of course i believe you 

[GDPR-354025]

Just now, toltec said:

Of course i believe you 

 

Hey! Show some respect to a future countrywoman. Or man.  (Affinity hair replacement surgery has not yet commenced, so the beard may reappear, in spite of Mr. Ritson's helpful videos.) I can't get the Gradient THING to appear on the right vertical side of the screen.

[PaulEC]

Quote

Not everybody has the time to play around with software until they become experts. Some people just need to do stuff.

I think this is a really important point. I'm quite prepared to spend time learning how to use new software. But, at the end of the day, it is just a tool to get the job done. I don't want software to be like a game, where I have to find hidden tools and spend endless time working out how to do something, because it's not documented and I'm expected to keep playing around until I can work it out.

[firstdefence]

3 hours ago, toltec said:

No offence first defence but I have to disagree with that. (always one, isn't there).

I have broad shoulders, if you can't take it don't give it I say. Its always good to read others opinions and perspectives, I appreciate honesty more than sensitivity, if someone disagrees with me or thinks I'm being an ass I'd expect them to say so. I read my post later and it does come across a smidge hostile; which wasn't my intent. 

[firstdefence]

1 hour ago, American said:

I can't get the Gradient THING to appear on the right vertical side of the screen.

Are you talking about the Colour Panel?
If so you can bring that into view by going to View > Studio > Colour

> denotes a sub menu from the main toolbar above the workspace.

If the Panel is free floating you can click hold and drag it over to the left or right to dock it with other panels or above or below other panels.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, PaulEC said:

I think this is a really important point. I'm quite prepared to spend time learning how to use new software. But, at the end of the day, it is just a tool to get the job done. I don't want software to be like a game, where I have to find hidden tools and spend endless time working out how to do something, because it's not documented and I'm expected to keep playing around until I can work it out.

1. If every tool, every Studio panel, every item that appears on a tool's contextual toolbar, every adjustment or fx window all were displayed at the same time, you would need several very large monitors just for that, plus one or more others for you document window(s).

2. While not everything is well documented, most are done using the same few types of UI elements like menu & submenu choices, popup sliders & panels, control handles, numeric entry fields, & such. So as you learn how these things work for one procedure, it should become progressively easier to see how they work with others.

3. This is true for any kind of software that offers a wide range of features. Each of them has what could be considered a 'personality' that has to be understood to use them efficiently & to the full extent of their capabilities. This takes time, much of which may need to be devoted to learning about any terminologies & technologies you are not already familiar with. After all, nobody is borne knowing any of this stuff.

[GDPR-354025]

7 hours ago, firstdefence said:

Are you talking about the Colour Panel?
If so you can bring that into view by going to View > Studio > Colour

> denotes a sub menu from the main toolbar above the workspace.

If the Panel is free floating you can click hold and drag it over to the left or right to dock it with other panels or above or below other panels.

 

Thank you so much! I didn't get a notification about this reply, but I'm particularly impressed with the animation, really.  (Do forum users get to choose whether to notify Original Posters of the fact that they have replied? You won't hurt my feelings by telling me Yes !)

The "Color" Panel appears on my version of the software, but there was a floating Gradient slider when I devised my new profile page that I afterward couldn't access from this Panel. I'm reading your response on Ubuntu now so can't check to make sure, but I did not use the Gradient Tool from the left vertical toolbar or, hence, anything from the context menu; I definitely used it from the Color Panel, and then seriously could not get it to reappear. Tomorrow is a holiday here, so I'm very grateful for your help, Toltec's, and Fredo's. Even I weren't on Ubuntu, it is almost Poldark time. First things first.

[toltec]

8 minutes ago, American said:

but there was a floating Gradient slider

Do you mean the one by clicking on the Swatch and then Gradient ?

[GDPR-354025]

8 hours ago, toltec said:

Do you mean the one by clicking on the Swatch and then Gradient ?

EDIT: NO-SLIDER-FOR-YOU, ETHELBERTA! As the slider you referred to was in the context menu, I tried to get it from First Defence's animated example, but Affinity said:

[GDPR-354025]

On 10/6/2018 at 10:44 AM, toltec said:

If you clone to a new layer, you will need to set the source to Layers Beneath.

I'd be interested to know if anyone finds that the various Inpainting-group Tools, as well as the Clone Tool, work extremely well when you begin or open a project, but then stop working after a certain amount of applications of the tool. I followed your instructions (and those from an Affinity Inpainting Tutorial) and found that for about the first half-dozen or so applications, these Tools work exactly as they're supposed to, very, very well. But then something just stops, and often, whether the Inpainting Tool is used or the Clone Tool, one of two things will start to happen. 1) No change at all occurs; or 2) the Tool not only does not "fix" or eliminate something you wish to eliminate, but it actually starts replicating those artifacts you wanted to get rid of. In the case of this post, stray fly-away hair I wished to get rid of started multiplying.

Perhaps this has something to do with the capacities of the computer/tablet/laptop Affinity is installed on. The Tools seem to just "get tired."

At least I learned a new way of using the Tools, and this is a good thing! Thank you.