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Individual RGB Visibility Toggles In Layers and Groups


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I am currently testing Photo right now as a viable replacement for Photoshop, after 24 years. Since I do game development, there is a very necessary feature that I need to use and can't find it in AP.

In order to do some special texture creation, I would need to be able to turn RGB visibility on and off individually per layer or layer group. In Photoshop, in a layer's properties, you can turn off Green and Blue, for example, and have only the Red channel show  for that layer (or layer group). Then, in another channel, only show the Green channel. In this way, texture maps can be created for use in 3D programs like 3ds Max, and in games for things like specular effects and normal maps for bumps.

 Also, I don't see a way to make adjustments to levels on a specific channel by selecting it and making the changes. I need to be able to see the grayscale of each channel as I'm tweaking it. This is especially important in specular and normal map creation for games.

 Hopefully, someone here has worked in game dev and knows what I am referring to. If I cannot control the RGB visibility and adjustments in layers and groups, then Affinity Photo will not work for what I am doing. I truly hope it's in there, and I just don't see it, or that maybe it's in the works for the next version. Thanks.

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  • 2 years later...

This is really a feature that needs to be implemented… I use it especially when working in LAB color mode, (which overall I don't think is working correctly atleast compared to PS) ButI need to be able to mix the A and B channels without the Lightness channel in the mix at all. I am really shocked this is not possible! 

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Well, I could atleast fill the Lightness channel with 50% grey and that did the trick. I feel for @TLeyva… Swizzling channels is a standard for 3D game asset creation… I would think the folks at Affinity could look into that with a fresh new approach that would really help them make in roads with that type of workflow.

 

 

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And continuing to look into this, I had the bright idea of using the equivalent of PS “Blend if” mode which is more powerful in Affinity… I have an image that I select the lightness channel and pull both the left and right sides of the destination curve down to the bottom- therefore eliminating the pixel values… it reduces the look but drains the AB channels as well in the composite (even though I didn’t adjust them) They appear untouched, but visually the effect I am going for is completely gone. Frustrating, I guess this should be a bug report.

 

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The best workaround is to use Channels mixer:

  • To select one channel (e.g. red or LA), set all other color channels to zero.
  • Save three presets (one for every channel).
  • You can activate them by one click in the adjustments panel.
  • You can even replace them in-place by clicking to another preset.
3 hours ago, 3DJ said:

This is really a feature that needs to be implemented… I use it especially when working in LAB color mode, (which overall I don't think is working correctly atleast compared to PS) ButI need to be able to mix the A and B channels without the Lightness channel in the mix at all. I am really shocked this is not possible! 

Could you give us an example what you mean with “mix”? 
My workaround described above is intended to make individual channels visible, and helps for all edits that use visible pixels. However it does not help in all cases with layer blending.
 

It can be used to non-destructively fill the L channel with 50% grey (set participation to 0, bias to 50).

So knowing your edit steps in more detail might show a full workaround.

An insuperable hurdle is layer blending / alpha channel handling. If you have partial transparency (meaning alpha values different from either zero or one), the alpha blend formula kicks in unavoidable. 
So if you want to combine (blend) 2 layers non-destructively, you are bound the the given blend modes which always respect alpha composition and gamma curves (depending on color format). You can only use channels mixer to replace pixel values before the blend formula does it magic, but you cannot create you own blend formula.

Using “Apply Image” you have a limited method do define you own blend formula, but it seems to be very limited which functions are available (basic math).

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