How to select a RGB pixel layer

[Ton Takken]

I am a newbie/starter of using affinity photo. I managed to import a raw photo and modify this. ThenI xported my photo to my pc harddisk. But when I want to try to import in Develop Persona an other picture, I get the message: Please select a RGB pixel layerbefore entering develop.  My problem is that I do not have a clou how to do this ???? I can not find the right menu to do this. Who can help me with this ?

[R C-R]

From the Document menu, select "Convert Format /ICC Profile..." Then select one of the RGB formats from the dropdown menu in the window that opens.

[Ton Takken]

Reply Ton Takken

In the Document menu I can not select "Convert Format" because the select mode is not active.

This is really disappointing when you start using a new program and it blocks after one time using it.

[R C-R]

12 minutes ago, Ton Takken said:

In the Document menu I can not select "Convert Format" because the select mode is not active.

What do you have selected in the Layers panel?

[walt.farrell]

On 6/18/2019 at 1:43 PM, Ton Takken said:

But when I want to try to import in Develop Persona an other picture,

You don't "import in Develop Persona".

You Open a file.

1. If it is a raw file, Photo will automatically switch you to the Develop Persona.
2. If it is not a raw file, it will open in the Photo Persona. You can switch to the Develop Persona if you want, but it is not usually necessary in that case.

[R C-R]

8 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

2. If it is not a raw file, it will open in the Photo Persona. You can switch to the Develop Persona if you want, but it is not usually necessary in that case.

But only if you have a RGB layer selected in the Layers panel, just like the message says.

[walt.farrell]

5 minutes ago, R C-R said:

But only if you have a RGB layer selected in the Layers panel, just like the message says.

True. But if you open an image file, that will be the case automatically unless you happen to open a B/W or CMYK image file.

My main point was that it seemed to me that perhaps Ton was trying to switch to the Develop Persona with nothing open.

[R C-R]

7 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

True. But if you open an image file, that will be the case automatically unless you happen to open a B/W or CMYK image file.

Or you have deselected the pixel layer after opening it.

[John Rostron]

On 6/18/2019 at 6:43 PM, Ton Takken said:

But when I want to try to import in Develop Persona 

Are you trying to import a file on disk into the Develop Persona? If so, then it must be a raw file. Either open it from the file menu, or double-click on the file, or drag it onto the Photo workspace.

If you have an already opened  file, ensure that it is selected in the Layers panel then do as @R C-R suggests, then click on the Develop icon.

John

Edited July 8, 2019 by John Rostron

[howard_berg]

I am discouraged at using AP because of the "select pixel layer" prompt, and the online forums are not that helpful.  I use grayscale images from a microscope and it is not clear why that message comes (the software is not intuitive), which is unfortunate because this issue comes up immediately when trying to use the software....I tried converting the profile, and also looked in the layer menu, with nothing intuitively obvious.  Please change your software into something more friendly!

 

Any advice on how to get over to the develop persona with my grayscale image would be appreciated.

Edited July 23, 2020 by howard_berg

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, howard_berg said:

Any advice on how to get over to the develop persona with my grayscale image would be appreciated.

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

First, I'm curious what you want the Develop Persona for. If you don't have a RAW image you may find that you can do everything in the Photo Persona.

But if you do need the Develop Persona for some reason, the error message tells you everything that's important.

1. You need a pixel layer selected (make sure it says (Pixel) in the Layers panel). In some workflows you may end up with an (Image) layer. If that's your situation, you need to Rasterize it (right-click on it, choose Rasterize).
2. You need an RGB layer (not LAB, not Grayscale). As you've said you have Grayscale, you'll need to convert your image to RGB before you can use the Develop Persona. Document > Convert Format/ICC Profile will let you change from Grayscale to RGB.