What's the equivalent tool in Affinity Designer to recreate the colorize functionality of the 'Hue/Saturation...' adjustment layer in Photoshop?

[rnbutler87]

I'm trying to move away from Adobe and use Affinity products exclusively. Things are similar but on this one topic I can't seem to make headway.

I have small black pixel graphics imported from Photoshop. And in Affinity Designer I'd like to colorize them using an adjustment layer, similar to how I'd do in Photohshop. However, the Lightness slider of the adjustment layer in AD doesn't seem to affect (i.e. lighten) black like it does in Photoshop and therefore I can't colorize the black graphic. I've found a way around it in AD by using the colour overlay effects set to screen or similarly putting a shape above the graphic and setting it to screen. 

However, out of curiosity for future use is there an adjustment layer in AD that will colorize black similar to that in Photoshop?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Richard

[Medical Officer Bones]

Layer Effects --> Color Overlay --> Lighten Blend Mode, pick a colour.

 

*edit* Oops, you already mentioned the same method.

[Fixx]

1 hour ago, rnbutler87 said:

the adjustment layer in AD doesn't seem to affect (i.e. lighten) black like it does in Photoshop and therefore I can't colorize the black graphic

AD HSL adjustment certainly lightens black but there is no Colorize option in AD (or in AP either) like in Photoshop.

[R C-R]

Is there a particular reason you want to use an adjustment layer rather than the Color Overlay effect? Both are non-destructive -- their effect can be changed or removed at any time.

[JimmyJack]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

Is there a particular reason you want to use an adjustment layer rather than the Color Overlay effect? Both are non-destructive -- their effect can be changed or removed at any time.

I can't speak for the OP, but the fact that the FX will be rasterized on export is one reason.

[R C-R]

Just now, JimmyJack said:

I can't speak for the OP, but the FX will be rasterized on export.

The OP said it was a small black pixel graphics imported from Photoshop, so isn't it already rasterized?

[JimmyJack]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

Is there a particular reason you want to use an adjustment layer rather than the Color Overlay effect? Both are non-destructive -- their effect can be changed or removed at any time.

 

51 minutes ago, R C-R said:

The OP said it was a small black pixel graphics imported from Photoshop, so isn't it already rasterized?

I though your point was that they are both non-destructive (and inside Affinity you are correct). But anything that bakes in a change I would consider ultimately destructive. 
It seems, though, like the point is moot..... the stand alone adjustments result in full rasterization too! Even of masks and clips. Not sure why I thought otherwise .

[Fixx]

Right, most (all?) adjustment layers, HSL included, rasterize on export. I wish it were otherwise, it would be really cool to be able to alter colours via adjustment layers and keep result as vectors. 

But yes, OP has pixel graphic so it does not matter here.

[rnbutler87]

Hi thanks all for your replies!

12 hours ago, R C-R said:

Is there a particular reason you want to use an adjustment layer rather than the Color Overlay effect? Both are non-destructive -- their effect can be changed or removed at any time.

I suppose it's just for the continuation of a workflow I'm used to using in Photoshop. However I can adjust to alternative ways of working i.e. using a colour overlay effect (even though this seems buggy - it's very laggy to respond to colour wheel changes in the colour overlay effects (as opposed to the document colour wheel changes) and crashed yesterday when I was applying the colour effect across multiple objects...)

15 hours ago, Fixx said:

AD HSL adjustment certainly lightens black but there is no Colorize option in AD (or in AP either) like in Photoshop.

It does seem to be lightening black but not very much, even at 100% - I would expect all colours, even black, to be completely white at 100% lightness.

I've attached an example of what is going on in my document when using an HSL adjusment layer. It's at the top of the stack, set to normal, everything else is below it and only applied to the red square area so you can see the result. 

Is this expected functionality of is there any reason why it's not applying to the100% lightness to blacks? (I can think of some great examples when this would be useful but not in this instance!)

Again, any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Fixx]

All white when L = 100 %

 

[rnbutler87]

32 minutes ago, Fixx said:

All white when L = 100 

This is what I would expect too and I can clearly see it works for you but I'm still having no luck - I've even opened a new document and tried it in the Beta too...

Affinity Designer 1.6.5

Affinity Designer Beta

---

Any suggestions? I've also attached the AD 1.6.5 file should this be useful...

Thanks again.

AD_HSL-test.afdesign

[rnbutler87]

I think I've diagnosed the problem - I'm currently working in CMYK and experiencing this problem. However, when I change the document colour format to RGB, it works as expected....

Is this expected functionality for a CMYK document?

Many thanks.

[v_kyr]

The CMYK color model (process color, four color) is a subtractive color model ! - HSL (hue, saturation, lightness) and HSV (hue, saturation, value) are alternative representations of the RGB color model. In additive color models, such as RGB, white is the "additive" combination of all primary colored lights, while black is the absence of light. In the CMYK model, it is the opposite white is the natural color of the paper or other background, while black results from a full combination of colored inks.

[Fixx]

I consider this a bug as HSL should behave similarly regardless the colour model.

[Medical Officer Bones]

Just realized a simple vector rectangle overlaid and set to Lighten blend mode will do the trick non-destructively as well.

[lepr]

.

 

[rnbutler87]

7 hours ago, v_kyr said:

The CMYK color model (process color, four color) is a subtractive color model ! - HSL (hue, saturation, lightness) and HSV (hue, saturation, value) are alternative representations of the RGB color model. In additive color models, such as RGB, white is the "additive" combination of all primary colored lights, while black is the absence of light. In the CMYK model, it is the opposite white is the natural color of the paper or other background, while black results from a full combination of colored inks.

Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I may have to read about this more as not sure I entirely understand why HSL doesn't lighten black but it lightens other colours, even in CMYK. That being said, a CMYK document in photoshop behaves in a similar fashion with the HSL not lightening black very much so I suppose this is how these apps are designed to work.

 

57 minutes ago, >|< said:

 

There is a Recolour Adjustment in all of the Affinity apps. In the 1.7 betas, it has a lightness control in addition to the hue and saturation controls in the 1.6 apps, and that makes it the equivalent of Photoshop's HSL adjustment in colorize mode.

This is excellent! And it works on CMYK which is awesome. The ONLY thing is, in my 1.7 beta, if I lighten something and then shift the hue, the app crashes instantly. I suppose this is why it is still in beta tho...

Anyway, thank you for all your responses, this has helped clarify things immensely so it's greatly appreciated. I look forward to the 1.7 version of the app going live.

[lepr]

.

[rnbutler87]

10 hours ago, >|< said:

There is a solution for the 1.6 apps: use the Recolour Adjustment which has only hue and saturation controls, and put a Curves Adjustment immediately below it for a lightness control that will work with CMYK or RGB documents. Use the RGB Master curve (even if the document is CMYK) and slide the left end up for positive lightness, or slide the right end down for negative lightness.

Also, if you are working on a RGB document in a 1.6 app, the lightness control (incorrectly labeled "Luminosity") of an HSL Adjustment placed immediately below the Recolour Adjustment can be used instead of a Curves Adjustment.

Thanks you, this is great to know.

I've also downloaded the latest 1.7 beta (updated on Tues, I think) and tried the recolour in a CMYK doc and it no longer crashes! 

[iuli]

On 1/9/2019 at 10:40 PM, Medical Officer Bones said:

Just realized a simple vector rectangle overlaid and set to Lighten blend mode will do the trick non-destructively as well.

Brilliant! Thank you so much!

[Nat Roberts]

Some good advice in this thread. I too am wanting to switch 100% to Affinity.

I use the Hue/Saturation Adjustment in Photoshop very regularly, particularly in compositing. While there are ways to end up with the same results, the simplicity of the options within this tool eliminates multiple steps (for me anyway): Hue, Saturation, Lightness, Colourise.

By the sounds of it the lightness control works differently between Affinity and Photoshop too.

I guess I'll just keep working on getting familiar with Affinity and utilise updates as they happen. :)