Selection PLUS doesn't exist

[hwarwick]

To replicate:
1. open an image in Affinity Photo.
2. click Elliptical Marquee Tool (or another other Marquee Tool, but Elliptical is how I found this)
3. Select a part of the image with Elliptical Marquee Tool.
4. Add to that selection using the Elliptical Marquee Tool.

Result:
Nope.

Expected:
1. A key command executed in conjunction with Mouse Down that will select part of the image using Marquee Tool without "letting go" of what is already replace.
2. For this key command to be noted through the application of a plus sign (+) next to the Marquee Tool Crosshair.

Note:
Affinity Photo will DESELECT part of a Marquee Tool area using the alt key, which is noted by the appearance of a minus sign (-) next to the Marquee Tool crosshair.

Note: 
This is not unusual for image editing software - Photoshop has this, as does Paint.net and Pixelmator. That one can Deselect part of a Marquee Tool selection shows that there is the ability to edit a Marquee Tool selection negatively. This should be able to be done positively. That it doesn't is kind of embarrassing.

Note:
The following keyboard combos were tested (Results):

Shift (nothing),
CTRL (nothing),
Windows Key, Alt (invokes negative selection),
Shift Alt (also results in negative selection),
Shift CTRL (nothing), Shift Windows (nothing),
CTRL Alt (also results in negative selection),
CTRL Windows (nothing),
Windows Alt  (also results in negative selection).

System:
HP laptop, i7 / 8GB / 1TB, Win 7

Edited July 10, 2019 by hwarwick
forgot kbd commands tested.

[carl123]

Change the Mode in the context toolbar to Add, to add to the first elliptical marquee drawn

or press the Right Mouse Button and drag to add to the first elliptical marquee drawn

[hwarwick]

Thanks for that. I know about the "Add" tab, but that's really poor UI design. A simple shift would be vastly more efficient, intuitive, and productive (viz every other image editor out there). I didn't know Right Click would do that, but right click for this seems VERY counter intuitive, as right click is normally used for information or alternative uses of the mouse. I just tried the right click, and it didn't work.

I opened an image.
Clicked on Elliptical Marquee Tool
Click-Drag selected part of the image.
Right Click-Dragged to add to it.
Result: nothing happened.

Again, I could click on "Add" button, but wow - what a lame UI design / workflow, especially when a simple "Shift-drag" would suffice....

But thanks for the info. If I can get the right click drag to work, that would be excellent.

 

Edited July 10, 2019 by hwarwick

[carl123]

With the marquee tool selected if you look at the bottom of the screen you will see the Hint Line which gives you the modifier options for the tool.

I use a pen rather than a mouse so when I drag and right-click it works fine

When I use my mouse I get the (+) sign added to the crosshairs (when I right-click) but nothing is added when I drag - I have to use both the left & right click buttons to add to the selection 

Try that

 

[hwarwick]

Hi!

Nope - still doesn't work. Sigh. 

H

[walt.farrell]

29 minutes ago, hwarwick said:

Nope - still doesn't work. Sigh.

Did you try pressing the right house button first, then the left, and then dragging?

I think you need to do it in that order (but I can't check right now). You should be able to release the right button once you've pressed the left button and started the drag.

[hwarwick]

On 7/11/2019 at 2:59 PM, walt.farrell said:

Did you try pressing the right house button first, then the left, and then dragging?

I think you need to do it in that order (but I can't check right now). You should be able to release the right button once you've pressed the left button and started the drag.

AAaaaaaaaaah - got it. Holy cow how unintuitive. Thanks! 

-H

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, hwarwick said:

AAaaaaaaaaah - got it. Holy cow how unintuitive. Thanks! 

-H

And, as it turns out, I seem to have been wrong now that I have gotten to the PC with the mouse.

The required sequence to add to an existing pixel selection is either:

1. Click the Add button and make the new selection; or
2. Drag another selection, and ensure that when you release the left mouse button you have the right mouse button pressed. It does not matter when you press the right mouse button as long as it is pressed when the left mouse button is released. I'm not sure this is behaving correctly, as the cursor changes to include the + as soon as the right mouse button is pressed while dragging the mouse, and doesn't change back when you release the right mouse button. But if you're not pressing that button when you release the left mouse button it becomes a "New" operation, not an Add.

[fde101]

According to the documentation, shift constrains proportions:

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Selections/selections_marquee.html

[fde101]

On 7/12/2019 at 3:15 PM, hwarwick said:

Holy cow how unintuitive.

It's actually the control key on the Mac.

Windows only has three modifiers instead of four, so Serif ran out and had to improvise, which for this feature resulted in a form of mouse chording, which most computer users today are unfamiliar with.