Grievance list

[Samuli]

I got a developer response from Affinity to my App Store review directing me to post here, so I'm going to list things that have hurt my productivity with Photo. If there is something I have misunderstood, I welcome suggestions for workarounds. I will add stuff as it comes up but let's start with a few obvious ones:

1. Masks. Creating a multiple gradient mask is not possible, only a single gradient per mask. This slows my workflow so much it's faster to switch to photoshop for masking. 

1b. The gradient tool: a single gradient per layer is in my opinion a misunderstanding of the function of the gradient tool. This might be ok for photo editing but for drawing and painting this is a tool for experimenting and quick adjustments, emphasis on "quick" – it's supposed to be quicker than painting a gradient in with a soft brush. But in painting, it's never just one gradient, it's multiple gradients interlocking and affecting one another. One gradient per layer is turning this relationship between brush and gradient on its head: now the gradient is the slow and measured approach and the brush is the one you can experiment with. It just slows you down because in effect, the quicker option is off the table.

2. Snapping manager. To turn snapping on or off, I need to open a huge panel that covers a quarter of my work area. I only use the one checkbox 90% of the time but it's not resizable. The menu option in PS is perfect for this because it's something that isn't common enough to warrant learning a keyboard shortcut but common enough to become a nuisance if you need to go to a menu, open a panel, click a checkbox and close the panel. I use dozens of keyboard shortcuts for multiple apps, so adding a new one is not a simple task, and has to be common enough to be used at least every two-three days to stay active. Solution found, thank you, awesome people!

3. The crashing. By far the most annoying thing is the unreliability. It just crashed while I've been writing this when I was placing an image (crash report attached). But this is a constant threat and it doesn't always recover gracefully, although I am happy to see recovery as a feature. 

 

Aff Photo-crash report.doc

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, Samuli said:

2. Snapping manager. To turn snapping on or off, I need to open a huge panel that covers a quarter of my work area.

To turn it on or off, using your currently selected snapping options, all you need to do is click on the magnet icon. I only get the panel if I click on the pull-down arrow next to the magnet.

[Alfred]

4 hours ago, Samuli said:

1. Masks. Creating a multiple gradient mask is not possible, only a single gradient per mask. This slows my workflow so much it's faster to switch to photoshop for masking.

You can use grouping to add multiple gradients to a single mask.

[Move Along People]

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[carl123]

5 hours ago, Samuli said:

3. The crashing. By far the most annoying thing is the unreliability. It just crashed while I've been writing this when I was placing an image (crash report attached). But this is a constant threat and it doesn't always recover gracefully, although I am happy to see recovery as a feature. 

Lots of the things that caused the program to crash are already fixed in the 1.7 beta, you may want to give that a try to see if your crashes disappear. (it runs separately to the released version so does not interfere with it in anyway)  

If you still experience a crash you need to report it in a separate thread on this forum as there may be something else going on in the program or your PC which may be curable another way.

When I first started using the program I would get crashes all the time, now using the beta version I will only get a crash about once a month and that's with using it every day. 

[Samuli]

6 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

To turn it on or off, using your currently selected snapping options, all you need to do is click on the magnet icon. I only get the panel if I click on the pull-down arrow next to the magnet.

Thanks very much, that's one down!

 

6 hours ago, Alfred said:

You can use grouping to add multiple gradients to a single mask.

Yes, that is true and I was aware of that, but worded my post carelessly.  My point was that creating multiple separate gradients is significantly slower than swiping five times in a single layer. It seems like a small thing but multiply this by a few hundred times per day and it gets way bigger. 

 

6 hours ago, haakoo said:

The name is Affinity Photo not Draw or Paint
 

Snark aside, the app contains DAUB brushes by well renowned digital painter and brush wizard Paolo Limoncelli, it is obviously also aimed at digital painters just as "Photo"shop is also aimed at digital painters. It's just a name. 

 

5 hours ago, carl123 said:

Lots of the things that caused the program to crash are already fixed in the 1.7 beta, you may want to give that a try to see if your crashes disappear. (it runs separately to the released version so does not interfere with it in anyway)  

If you still experience a crash you need to report it in a separate thread on this forum as there may be something else going on in the program or your PC which may be curable another way.

When I first started using the program I would get crashes all the time, now using the beta version I will only get a crash about once a month and that's with using it every day. 

That sounds promising!

[Move Along People]

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