Macro utility . Will it be improved?

[LyricsGirl]

Hi

 

I make kits for designers who use Affinity. I would love to create a variety of actions via the Macro command.

At this time it is rather simple and  cannot seem to do  many steps with choices along the way.

Will it be  improved  at some stage?

 

[walt.farrell]

It is rather simple, but there are ways to make some kinds of choices while the macro runs. Can you give some specific examples of the kind of actions and choices that you'd like to expose to the user?

[LyricsGirl]

To create actions similar yo those on Photoshop.So  while running the macro the user can select a texture or style, have certain existing A P filters run..

I really cannot be too specific here atm. If I can understand the capabilities then I can start designing actions to create certain effects.  In Corels PaintShopPro they have a Script  that is coded in Python, that can allow an action to happen, say the  add an outline and the user can select the colour from a palette, or open a folder and select a file or files.

Does this male sense?

 

Thank you for your assistance!

 

 

[walt.farrell]

Thanks. Yes, that makes sense.

You do not have all those capabilities in Photo. You can record many (but not all) of the things you can do with the mouse or keyboard shortcuts. You can allow the user to adjust parameters on Filters and Adjustment Layers that your macro adds to the document.

But to see what can or cannot be done in a macro you really need to try recording a macro and see if you can record the functions you want to record. I don't think there is a full list anywhere of what can or cannot be recorded.

There is no scripting capability.

[LyricsGirl]

14 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Thanks. Yes, that makes sense.

You do not have all those capabilities in Photo. You can record many (but not all) of the things you can do with the mouse or keyboard shortcuts. You can allow the user to adjust parameters on Filters and Adjustment Layers that your macro adds to the document.

But to see what can or cannot be done in a macro you really need to try recording a macro and see if you can record the functions you want to record. I don't think there is a full list anywhere of what can or cannot be recorded.

There is no scripting capability.

Thank you. Umm surely a script of sorts is recorded   and is the macro?  When the weather is warmer here... (Australia Winter and it is very cold) I shall feel more inclined to puddle about more.

[walt.farrell]

5 hours ago, LyricsGirl said:

Umm surely a script of sorts is recorded   and is the macro? 

Yes, basically a sequence of key-presses or mouse movements and clicks.

But not scripting as most of us use the term.

[dmmobley]

I would find it very useful to have a macro allow a user to adjust a crop in the midst of execution. I use Affinity Photo to digitize an old company publication (6x9 inch format stapled at the spine) where I scan spreads and then crop the two pages out of the spread (and adjust rotation slightly if required). I currently do the scans, open the JPG image, crop one page manually, and with a macro, convert to grayscale,  adjust the size to 1800x2700 pixels, and auto level, then export as a JPG (outside of the macro, since it won't do 'save as' or export inside a macro). I then undo a couple of steps to get back to the original image, do the crop for the second page and run the macro again, finally exporting as another JPG.

This workflow works quite well but it could be better if crop, export and rotation could be recorded in a macro but ask for user input on these things.

I have used Photoshop for this process before, but I'm liking Affinity Photo for this process even with the macro limitations.

Keep up the good work. I now use all three of the Affinity products.

[LyricsGirl]

If enough of us bark..