More about Shadow Creation

[JimmyJack]

Oh, I'm all shut down and away from the computer now. Will attach something tomorrow.

Photo doesnt have a free transform. But it does have the perspective tool.

The macro I threw together is only going to be good for objects in roughly the same spot in the same sized document. Otherwise things will be moved around. Such is how the transforms are recorded (if I remember correctly). Maybe itll be a more universal solution to invoke the perspective tool instead as the last step. 

[walt.farrell]

8 hours 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?

Many of the Serif staff members participate in the forums, Dennis. Most are in the support organization rather than development, I think, but sometimes the developers participate, too.

In general they will not comment on which features are coming (beyond the simple listings in the roadmap topics) and will not comment on the timing of upcoming changes.

Knowing whether something exists does not require a staff member, usually, as someone in the community will often know that.

 

[v_kyr]

9 hours 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?

What do you expect them to tell you other, than we already did here so far?

Quote

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

Of course it's doable, many ways lead to Rome. But your actual knowledge about APh and it's functions & usage is more or less the limiting factor here. Some things from PS aren't exactly 1:1 adaptable here, since APh works for certain things slightly different.

[R C-R]

9 hours 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.

There is currently no code in the Affinity apps that can support PS actions or any kind of scripting other than the very limited script-like steps provided by the Affinity Photo Macros feature. So there is nothing simple about this -- before anything equivalent to a PS action could be added, the entire structural framework to support it would have to be created, tested, & debugged.

If the Affinity developers are already working on that, they are unlikely to tell us anything about it, at least until they have something they consider ready for customer beta testing. There are good reasons for that -- it is always better to under promise & over deliver than the other way around.

So unless we hear otherwise, it is best to assume that the only things possible for the near future are whatever we can do with Macros in their current state.

[Dennis Nisbet]

@R C-R Thank you for this information. I really appreciate everyone's input and help. Especially yours. 

For the most part, everyone that responded to my questions was sincere in trying to find a way to make this work. Unfortunately, Affinity Photo does not have much of what is needed to make it work and it also has a fairly steep learning curve. For an old guy like me, that is an obstacle.

I think I was told early on that it wasn't ready but was too stubborn to stop without trying.

In the interest of getting some work done, I think it's time for me to go back to PS and just check-in on Affinity now and then.

I think I'll take one of the online courses through Linda.com or some other company. I need to find something better than the current tutorials.

Thanks again for all the helpful information from everyone.

[v_kyr]

56 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

Affinity Photo does not have much of what is needed to make it work and it also has a fairly steep learning curve. For an old guy like me, that is an obstacle.

I think that‘s since you are more used to PS here and the way things work there. Every new software has some learning curve that‘s pretty normal. When I started to discover Affinity Photo I had similar feelings, since I too was more used to PS/PSE. But with some time and the more you use it, you will adapt to the way it works. You will then know what works and what doesn‘t, you will know how to yield the same result but done slightly different.

56 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

I think I was told early on that it wasn't ready but was too stubborn to stop without trying

Well you did it the right way via trying and learning, only if you try out several things you will know afterwards what they do and how. This way you get experienced and knowledged with a software. In German we say „Versuch macht Klug“, Try makes smart!

You shouldn‘t give up on that, it‘s a good learning example on how to deal with several aspects of the software and to enhance ones horizon for how APh works instead. So to say learning by doing. So keep on trying out things until your macro is ready to use for you, then dive into the next challenge!

[Dennis Nisbet]

@v_kyr Thank you. 

 

[Dennis Nisbet]

This is both on and off topic. I am posting it here because several of you have been very helpful.

As a newbie, I have searched the tutorials looking for specific information. 

For example, I would like to know all of the components in Affinity Photo that create or directly affect Gradients.

Next, I would like to know how to access each of these components.

Next, I would like to know how each of these components, work independently and with each other.

Next, does the Beta version of Affinity Photo work independent of the release version?

Next, does the release version have to be installed on the machine or can it be uninstalled and the Beta version will still work properly?

Next, should all of the sliders, etc. in the Beta version work properly if they were previously in working order on the release version?

Thank you for your input.

[walt.farrell]

For your gradient questions: Opening the Affinity Help for your application, and searching for gradient should provide all the documented places where it's mentioned, and help you answer those questions. (Note: If you're using a Mac, and a version of MacOS that has problems displaying the Affinity Help, you can try the online version of the Help for the released programs.)

Beta vs Release: The customer betas (Photo, Designer) work alongside the released versions, and do not interfere with the released versions. You must have a released version installed to install or use the customer beta version.

Everything should work properly in the beta version that worked properly in the released version. However, it is a beta, and bugs happen. We're using the beta versions to try to help Serif find and fix those bugs.

[Dennis Nisbet]

Thanks, Walt,  I was hoping to find a way to short-circuit the process of reading a few thousand comments in order to find what I wanted. 

Just like those of you that have been working with Affinity Photo for a long time, you've seen it as it grows. For newbies like me who started with PS many years ago, PS is easy but Affinity Photo is not.

It only takes a few seconds to find everything you want to know about PS Gradients. Maybe there is a way to do this in Affinity Photo and I just haven't found it yet.

Again, thank you. If you have any other thoughts on this, I would love to hear them. 

[v_kyr]

Related to gradients and macros see for example ...

 

[walt.farrell]

15 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

I was hoping to find a way to short-circuit the process of reading a few thousand comments in order to find what I wanted. 

....

It only takes a few seconds to find everything you want to know about PS Gradients. Maybe there is a way to do this in Affinity Photo and I just haven't found it yet.

You'll note that I did not suggest searching/reading the forums, but looking at the official documentation (Help).

Or in the 3 Photo or Designer official tutorials about gradients (which you can find via Help > Tutorials).

[R C-R]

11 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

For newbies like me who started with PS many years ago, PS is easy but Affinity Photo is not.

Was PS easy for you to learn when you first started using it, or was it that you made the effort to study its documentation & experiment with it until you got a good feel for how to use its various features to get the results you were looking for?

[Dennis Nisbet]

@R C-R What I've experienced all along with PS is exceptional written support. This made it easy to move forward and easy to learn if you were just starting out. Many other people have told me the same thing.

The PS writers appear to be very intuitive when it comes to understanding market needs. However, since they have taken the same path as Affinity with these forums as their primary line of communication, I question how much attention they really pay to the input.

I wouldn't want to be the person(s) that have to sift through so many communications trying to determine the opportunities.

The obvious upside is that people like yourself have a wealth of knowledge and experience that enables you to solve a multitude of "local" issues at no additional cost to AP or PS.

[walt.farrell]

28 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

What I've experienced all along with PS is exceptional written support.

If I remember correctly (from long ago when I used PS for awhile) much of that written support was often from books provided by outside authors. (Though I believe Adobe might have produced a printed manual, at least.)

There are books, and video courses, like that for Affinity Photo, too. Not as many, yet. But they're there if you want to buy them.

[Dennis Nisbet]

Hi Walt, Yes, I am going to do that. I want to stay with written materials that I can download as much as possible.

I just bought and downloaded a course that was so much like the tutorials I had to listen to parts of both to make sure it wasn't the same person.

[R C-R]

40 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

What I've experienced all along with PS is exceptional written support.

Perhaps so, but it has evolved over many years to reach its current state, & has become progressively more complex as features are added or reworked to integrate with other reworked or modified features. Consider for example the current CC Gradients user guide entry. Imagine someone new to Photoshop reading through all that & trying to understand everything it includes only from reading that documentation, without doing any 'hands on' experimentation with the app.

[Dennis Nisbet]

@R C-R You are absolutely right. It is imperative that you work with the product a lot. But it is also helpful to have a reliable, useful and easy to navigate written and video guide.

PS doesn't do the best job at this either. However, I find their information more precise and easier to locate than what I am experiencing with Affinity. As I learn, I want to find, read, watch and understand how to do what I am attempting to do. 

I have a lot to learn and part of it shouldn't be trying to locate appropriate support information.

I would not be doing any of this if it were not for the fact that I really want to see some "real" competition for Adobe. This is the first time that I know where this is happening.

Last but not Least: I have included a video of where I was able to take the Shadow with everyone's help. Thank you. 

BTW, if you are old enough to remember then you will recognize the name of the video. "Only the Shadow Knows"

[Wosven]

57 minutes ago, R C-R said:

someone new to Photoshop reading through all that & trying to understand everything it includes only from reading that documentation, without doing any 'hands on' experimentation with the app.

I remember the first Illy, PS and QXD little books I bought long ago (a lot of theory, some menu screenshots, few pics…). And I spend vacation reading them away from my computer, for really learning menus, understanding options, modes, etc.
I did the same later with HTML and CSS documentations, after spending too much time searching what was possible or not and how to do it.

That's more serious than playing with a computer and some apps, but it was more effective too! It would be more tedious with those apps and complete features books todays. But learning what you can do with an application can be helpfull, you only need later to find "how to" do it.

Since we already used others applications, we know what we should be able to do with Affinity apps, and documentation, videos and forums are easier for tips and help about that. We just need time to adapt and "un-learn" the old methods for new ones sometimes, and that's the difficule part.

[firstdefence]

Alienskins EyeCandy 7 does fair job on shadows but shadow work is labour intensive to do it well/realistically, especially when having to work over 3D forms in a 2D space, only skilled brushwork will get you good results here.

[R C-R]

14 minutes ago, Dennis Nisbet said:

I have a lot to learn and part of it shouldn't be trying to locate appropriate support information.

Whether it is Photoshop, Affinity, or any other similarly complex app, part of the learning curve is learning where (& how) to locate the most appropriate support information. For Affinity, that includes the items on the Welcome screen that opens by default when you start the app, including the "View Samples," "View Tutorials," & the 'Connect' links. It also includes the too often ignored Status Bar at the bottom of the workspace window, which is interactive & at least for me made it very easy to understand how many things worked without having to consult any documentation at all.

Also, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? 

[Dennis Nisbet]

@firstdefence My daughter is the Art Director for a printing company. Art, Computers, etc. was her field in college. What she can do easily, I will never be able to do.

What I learned over time was that there are thousands of people that just like to tinker with things like shadows and if they have an easy way to do it, that makes them happy.

There is nothing much better than doing something that makes other other people happy. 

[R C-R]

20 minutes ago, Wosven said:

That's more serious than playing with a computer and some apps, but it was more effective too!

The most effective thing anyone can do is to learn as much as they can about everything that affects what they can do with any app. For something as complex as graphics creation & image processing software, that includes a huge number of diverse subjects, including the perceptual models of human vision & how that relates to computer color spaces, the properties of light both physical & perceived, the often vague differences between technical & everyday terminology & the history of how they have evolved over time & why, the enormous body of technical information relating to typography in its various forms, the differences between vector & raster objects & among dozens of different file formats & how all that relate to document coordinate systems, & ... well, you get the idea:

It is never just about "how to," or pushing the right buttons or finding the right sliders or menu items, or whatever. On a much more fundamental level, it is about acquiring & using the skills & knowledge necessary to make the best use of whatever tools & techniques any app provides. There is nothing easy about that, but does not mean it is not well worth investing whatever time is available for that. 

[v_kyr]

Back to topic for recordable gradients in macros now. There are generally 3 ways to use gradients, namely ...

1. The Gradient tool  (the one you used ONLY so far and which isn't recordable in macros) [-1-]
2. An adjustment gradient from "Layer > New adjustment layer > Gradient" (which is recordable in macros) [-2-]
3. An "FX Gradient overlay effect" (which would be recordable in macros) [-3-]

In order to make use of [-2-] and [-3-] for your shadow selection layer (via a Ctrl-Click selection and a new pixel layer here) you have to fill the selection first with some color tone (black or gray etc.). Next you would then apply the [-2-] or [-3-] gradient type on that filled shadow layer. Where the importance is ...

• For gradient type  [-2-] you have to adjust the whole shadow layers transparency setting to your likings, since that one doesn't have/support transparency setups for the individual color points in the gradient panel itself. This one is added as a mask to the shadow layer.
• The gradient type [-3-] (the FX effects one) supports transparent color point setups for the gradient and is maybe the easier one to use for you here then!

[Dennis Nisbet]

@v_kyr You overwhelm with your knowledge of Affinity Photo and command of the written English Language language. I am trying to follow everything you have said in hopes that something will fit and make this work.

I'll follow up as soon as I take another run at it. 

Thank you.