More about Shadow Creation

[R C-R]

22 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

@v_kyr Your Swatches Panel isn't the same as mine.

For the built-in swatches of the Gradients color palette, it is hard to see where one gradient ends & the next begins unless the Appearance menu fly-out is set to "Show as List," which also shows the name given to each gradient:

AFAIK, the above are the 4 default gradients that ship with the app.

[Dennis Nisbet]

Alas, I created a Gradient fit for the gods! Now I am armed and dangerous. Right?

Wrong! Macros can't select from a layer.

Who told me that Macros in Affinity had some shortcomings? Everybody!

Thanks again. What a learning experience.

BTW, I got several great tips today and I tried them all.

[v_kyr]

2 hours ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

Wrong! Macros can't select from a layer.

See the tutorial video I referenced above „Macros layer behaviour“ to get an idea of how to do that via the menu entries instead then, when recording macros.

[Dennis Nisbet]

@v_kyrI am going to try this and see if I can get it to work.

It does remind me of a very old story about a man and a new suit.

As the story goes, a man decided he needed a new suit in a hurry. He stopped in his favorite clothing store and after telling his story, he tried on a suit which didn’t fit quite right. The Taylor, recognizing that the man was in a hurry and needed to get the suit right away began tucking it here and there while having the man hold the tucks in place with his armpits, hands, knee joints and even his chin. When the man left the store, wearing his new suit, two men saw him and commented to each other. One man said, “Look at that poor crippled man”. The other man said, “Yes, but look at that beautiful suit”.

When creating Affinity Photo, the designers had an example available that demonstrated how something should work. There was little need to step backward!

It is worth pointing out that the Affinity Photo process may be non-destructive and that is a big deal.

If all this works, and a Macro can be created, it doesn’t make any difference because the process will be transparent to the end user. 

And yes, there is another big upside. There are features in Affinity Photo that far exceed anything else on the market. To me, it is worth the time!

Once again, my thanks to all of you that have participated in this process. I have learned so much.

[v_kyr]

BTW, these here from the Arrange top menu are also usable for layers in macros during recording ...

• All the way to the front
• One forward
• One back
• All the way to the back

       +  Also Select > Deselect layers can be handy here sometimes (see the video)

... though using a good layer naming convention and selecting layers on a named base then, via the Assistent during macro recording, might be the better and prefered way.

 

[Dennis Nisbet]

Please watch the video. I've hit another snag.

[R C-R]

41 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

I've hit another snag.

Why are you holding down the Control key when you are trying to select the Shadow layer? Also, why hide the Model layer rather than just moving it down one (from the Arrange menu)?

BTW, maybe it is different on Windows but on my Mac I can record the Selection from Layer step, either by CMD-clicking on an already selected layer's thumbnail in the Layers panel or from the Select > Edit Selection as Layer menu command.

[Dennis Nisbet]

CMD on a MAC and ctrl on a PC

On a PC, ctrl + click on the Layers Icon selects the subject. Select>Edit Selection as Layer just puts a red mask over everything.

I was hiding the Model Layer so I could watch the Gradient creation process. The plan was to make it visible after the shadow layer was created. Yes, could have also moved it down at the end.

Can you do a Layer selection on a MAC while recording a Macro?

Thanks again.

[v_kyr]

Same here as for R C-R for recording that marching ants subject selection via cmd-click, which works but I'm actually too under OSX with that. To do the same instead with the menus (on the German language version) the menu entry to use then here from the Selection menu reads translated "Selection from Layer" ("Auswahl aus Ebene"), which performs the same operation then under OSX.

Don't know if the selection was blocked or so in your case on Windows, but you can try to deselect layers via a menu option or the specific layer by clicking outside on the canvas and then reselect the layer to use, in order to see then if that helps for going on with recording.

[R C-R]

47 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

On a PC, ctrl + click on the Layers Icon selects the subject.

Are you sure it doesn't create a "marching ants" selection around the layer instead? As I understand it, on both Mac & Windows to select a layer from the Layers panel, you just click on it without holding down any keyboard key.

50 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

Can you do a Layer selection on a MAC while recording a Macro?

@v_kyr already posted a link to a video about how to select a layer on a previous page of this discussion. If you missed it, it is the Affinity Photo - Macros: Layer Behaviour video. If you mean making a Selection from Layer "marching ants" selection, as I said in my last reply I can indeed do that in either of the two mentioned ways.

[Dennis Nisbet]

In this case, it was "The Nut Behind The Controls"!

In the Select Menu, I was able to get it to work but not selecting the Icon. In the Menu, I was clicking the wrong thing.

On to the next step.

Thanks to both of you, R C-R and V_KYR.

[Dennis Nisbet]

I found some comments on the web about adding a fill or gradient to the marching ants selection within a Macro. There was no solution at this time unless you know something different.

[v_kyr]

Did you tried it?

Above in this thread I used a black fill on a selection for that purpose in a macro (see the above short videos with the woman/cowboy). Instead of a duplicate layer copy I used there a selection from a layer (marching ants selection of a persons outline), then created a new empty layer and filled the overtaken selection on that new layer with the fill tool & black color and named that shadow. Afterwards moved the layer one down and dismissed the selection.

[Dennis Nisbet]

I did not receive any video's on any of the threads except my own.

Also, I was hoping to find a way to add a gradient Shadow, not a Solid Fill.

Is that what you did?

[v_kyr]

See this posting here, there I used the fill (bucket) tool. - Gradient recording with macros is difficult, since the usual Gradient tool isn't recordable in macros here.

Instead an FX Gradient overlay effect would be recordable! - Another one is the "Layer > New adjustment layer > Gradient" which is recordable, but has other deficits, like no color transparency settings (for setting up a color-to-transparency gradient). Also it's applied as a mask here, which you would have then to replace from the selection layer in order to take any effect into account then.

After a try out I would say, use first a fill for the new pixel selection layer and then apply an FX gradient overlay effect, both should be recordable in macros!

 

 

[JimmyJack]

Or....

On 2/5/2019 at 5:33 PM, JimmyJack said:

What's holding you up on making a black to transparent gradient?  Make both ends black with one node at zero opacity.
Once you get that you can make it into a Style... which are assignable in Macros.

 

[v_kyr]

29 minutes ago, JimmyJack said:

Or....

What's holding you up on making a black to transparent gradient?  Make both ends black with one node at zero opacity.
Once you get that you can make it into a Style... which are assignable in Macros.

It's worth a tryout and maybe easier to use for the OP. - Though not sure here, if the macro would embedd the used style then in such a manner, that it can replay graceful the style also in other third party documents (when the macro is given away and used by third parties without having the style setup).

 

[Dennis Nisbet]

Jimmy Jack,

I can create the gradient without any problem but I have been unable to change that Gradient into a Style that I can add to other images.

I did find this statement in a Tutorial: The Styles panel lets you apply pre-designed drag-and-drop styles to vector layers.

I do not believe that anything I am doing involves vector layers. 

[Dennis Nisbet]

Is there any way to contact the people at Affinity Photo and find out if what I am trying to do is possible or will be in the near future?

This was a fairly simple Action to create in PS and I was really hoping to do the same in AP.

[JimmyJack]

19 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

Jimmy Jack,

I can create the gradient without any problem but I have been unable to change that Gradient into a Style that I can add to other images.

I did find this statement in a Tutorial: The Styles panel lets you apply pre-designed drag-and-drop styles to vector layers.

I do not believe that anything I am doing involves vector layers. 

Ah, in that case then making a style from an FX gradient, a la @v_kyr suggestion, rather than from the gradient tool is more appropriate.

[JimmyJack]

31 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

Is there any way to contact the people at Affinity Photo and find out if what I am trying to do is possible or will be in the near future?

This was a fairly simple Action to create in PS and I was really hoping to do the same in AP.

Are you trying to do something like this?? A basic "perspective" (actually just size and skew) drop shadow with gradient transparency and blur. Or did I miss something?

 

[Dennis Nisbet]

Yes, but I want to make it into a Macro. I can do this for me in AP now. I wrote an Action (Macro) in PS and had it made into a Script that I could share with many as well as use it on multiple images in a composite.

[JimmyJack]

1 minute ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

Yes, but I want to make it into a Macro. I can do this for me in AP now. I wrote an Action (Macro) in PS and had it made into a Script that I could share with many as well as use it on multiple images in a composite.

The GIF is of me using a Macro. One click.

[Dennis Nisbet]

I would love to try the Macro. Is it available?

[Dennis Nisbet]

Also, the PS Action and Script take advantage of the FREE TRANSFORM tool in PS.