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Trying to record a macro


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I found that it was easy to adjust highlights, md tones and shadows separately by creating multiple layers and adding the appropriate mask three of those layers. I have done this successfully manually and decided to record a macro to take care of the tedious work of creating, labeling and setting the masks for each of the 3 layers. However, during the process of recording the macro and when I tried to select the second layer, this happened:

 

post-5675-0-88392900-1485270465_thumb.jpg

 

Here is a closeup of the dialog box:

 

post-5675-0-28336700-1485270508_thumb.jpg

 

This never showed up when I did this work manually but shows up for every layer after the first when I am recoding a macro. In addition sometimes the dialog box does not even allow me to select any layer as no choices are enabled. Why am I seeing this when recording a macro but not when doing this manually? And is there any way for me to proceed and still have the macro work?

 

I have tried responding to the dialog box during the macro recording but when the macro is played back with a new image it does not work as expected. What am I doing wrong?

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Mike...

 

This is a logic problem. Judging from your first screenshot, you have duplicated the Background layer 3 times and are going back to rename the 3 duplicates. The first one works because you don't have to perform a "Select Layer" operation - it's already selected. But when you try to select a different layer, you introduce a logic dilemma. You have 3 identical layers with the same name; which one should AP choose?

 

The answer to your problem is simply to rename the layers immediately upon creating them. Then, when you go back to perform an additional operation on a particular layer, that layer already has a unique identifier (its name) and can be chosen appropriately. Try downloading the macro I've included below, and add to it for extra stuff (the masks, etc. you want to create).

CreateAndLabelLayers.afmacro.zip

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
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smadell:

 

Your answer made so much sense that I wondered why I did not see that for myself when I was recording and, without any hesitation, I began recording again, this time renaming each layer as it was created. I got all 4 layers (1 Highlights, 1 Mid Tones, 1 Shadows and 1 Background) and began attaching the selections. Then I ran into this:

 

post-5675-0-19388700-1485276927_thumb.jpg

 

with this dialog box which has no enabled selection for me to make:

 

post-5675-0-36069900-1485276968_thumb.jpg

 

In this case I got only the first selection mask attached to the first layer but ran into the same issue when I tried to select the second layer. As you can see in the screen shot all of the layers are named differently and I still ran into this problem, although this time there are no enabled responses in the dialog box. So I am still doing something wrong but I have no idea what.

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I ran into the same problem you did, Mike. I would consider this a bug. I tried a few ways around it, but was not able to get past the step in which I have to select a second layer in order to mask it. I was able to use Blend Ranges on the 3 new layers, but I don't think that's what you're after. Sorry, my friend, can't help you on this one...

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

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MEB:

 

No. It seems more widespread than that. 

 

I tried the following while recording the macro:

 

1) Unlock the Background layer,

2) Duplicate the Background layer and rename the new layer Shadows,

3) Repeat, but this time use Midtones,

4) Repeat, but this time use Highlights

 

I was OK up to this point and thought I would try to add  the masks from the bottom up rather than from the top down. I tried to select the 3 layer (Shadows) and got the same message dialog box, but this time there were no masks attached yet. I could not even select the lower layer.

 

I did get a dialog box with the radio button marked Shadows both enabled and selected, but I got the dialog box when I do not see why I should have gotten it.

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I ran into the same problem you did, Mike. I would consider this a bug. I tried a few ways around it, but was not able to get past the step in which I have to select a second layer in order to mask it. I was able to use Blend Ranges on the 3 new layers, but I don't think that's what you're after. Sorry, my friend, can't help you on this one...

Thanks for trying. I do think there is some bug here as I am sure I should be able to select one of the layers.

 

You can see from the post above that I could not even select a layer if it was not the first without getting a dialog box, regardless of masks or not.

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Mike -- based on your post aimed at MEB, it seems that you were able to select the Shadows layer (when that layer was 3rd from the top, rather than the top of the layer stack). I think that the dialog box appears whenever you try to select any layer in the course of a macro, and is simply Affinity Photo's way of saying "I see you're selecting a layer here. Tell me exactly which one." And that's okay with me. If I get a dialog box saying "Select the layer called Shadows?" that, to me, is just asking for specificity. The problem is when you try to select the other layer (after having attached a mask to the Shadows layer). When you can't select the other layer, THAT is a bug.

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

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Perhaps, but my issue is that I expect the system to respond the same way when I am recording a macro as when I am not recording a macro, and that is not happening here. In the past when I have responded to that selection dialog box to continue recording the macro, the macro I got in the end did not even come close to repeating what I was doing when I was recording it. And, as I mentioned, sometimes the dialog box did not present me with an option that was usable.

 

In this particular case I stopped recording when I got this new dialog box, but I will go back and try again, if only to see if I can actually record a usable macro doing this.

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No. It still does not work.

 

In this case I created all 3 new layers and labeled each one appropriately. I then selected the Shadows layer (responded to the dialog box), created the selection and created the mask. So far, so good.

 

I next selected the Midtones layer and got a dialog box with no enabled selection. That is, I could not respond in any way to the dialog box. In this case all of the layers were labeled differently, but it sill could not select the layer I wanted.

 

If I can not use the Macro functionality to create something this simple (3 new layers, each with a mask attached) I believe there must be a bug in the Macro/Record functionality. Given that MEB has been on this thread I do not know if I need to file a bug report or not.

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I think we are agreed that this is a bug. As such, it's up to Andy et al. to implement a fix. Bummer, huh...

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

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Sure, but just because we, between ourselves, decided this was a bug does not mean that the developers agree. Normally I wait for a moderator to say that it is a bug before I am sure it will be brought to the attention of the developers.

 

If I see something from a moderator saying that some lack of functionality is a bug I let things go. Otherwise I wonder if I should formally enter a bug report.

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Beat you to it - I put a new post into the Bugs section, referencing this thread.

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

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I may be all wrong here about recording your Macro. From what I read, you simply want to create and label three layers (or more) so that you don't have to do it manually. I was also noting your screenshots.

 

I did the following.

 

post-12616-0-35741300-1485311890_thumb.png

 

post-12616-0-85529300-1485311953_thumb.png

 

post-12616-0-00551900-1485312013_thumb.png

 

post-12616-0-04804800-1485312026_thumb.png

 

post-12616-0-78182400-1485312044_thumb.png

 

post-12616-0-68133700-1485312054_thumb.png

 

Now you have each layer with a unique name and can do whatever you wish with them.

 

I tried to upload the Macro but was unable to. If someone can let me know how to I will upload it.

 

Does this help?

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No. The macro I was trying to create started with creating new layers (only 3) and labeling them, and that part of the process worked. The macro recording failed when I tried to attach masks to each of the layers.

 

Essentially I could add one mask to one layer but when I tried to select the next layer to attach a mask to it APB raised a dialog box. Sometimes the dialog box had a valid selection I could make and some times the dialog box that was raised had no selection that could be made (that is, all of the radio buttons were disabled).

 

In those rare cases when I was able to work through each dialog box and select a layer and then add a mask, when I played the macro back I got something completely different from what I expected, but in general the process did not work.

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I don't do this type of posting very often so I lost my first message.  

 

Try it again.

 

so you are here      

 

 post-12616-0-01248000-1485371588_thumb.png

 

You must now choose the next step but the software doesn't know where you are.  Click on the Highlights layer

 

post-12616-0-26224500-1485371768_thumb.png  

 

and select now highlighting that layer.  

 

post-12616-0-82090800-1485371898_thumb.png  

 

select

 

Now click Midtones layer

 

post-12616-0-19591200-1485372062_thumb.png

 

 

Add your mask  

 

post-12616-0-65059300-1485372220_thumb.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I am sorry that it took me this long to respond but I was out of town yesterday and did not have a chance to get back to you until this morning.

 

I took your advice and re-selected each layer when recording the macro and that "sort of" worked. That is, I could record the macro fully and play it back, although it is not acting as I expected.

 

All of this came from what I remember about how I was able to handle masks back when I was using Photoshop CS 5.1, so it was a long time ago, and perhaps I am not remembering correctly, but I thought I remembered that I could create 3 new layers, tie the highlights, midtowns and shadows masks to the appropriate layers and then make adjustments to only those selected areas by dragging an adjustment layer to the appropriate place. That is not working as I expected with APB, at least as far as I have tested.

 

Nevertheless your idea of selecting a parent layer before selecting the child layer worked. Thank you.

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No worries MikeFromMesa.  So I built another Macro that uses -

 

Select - Tonal Range and then applying a Curves adjustment Layer.  

 

I believe that I did some adjustments with Lab - Master - Lightness, but you can change that.  All are applied to one duplicated layer.

 

You know the adjustments you like to make so build your macro with those in mind.  

 

tonal Adjustments with curves.afmacros.zip

 

As a side note, these macros that are built with AP's functions work perfectly with every image.  If you open Channels you will see the tonal adjustment in there.  

 

The one thing that AP wouldn't allow me to do is to rename the 3 curves layers, (probably an oversight) so the masks are from top/down - Highlight/Midtones/Shadows.  

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Thank you for the macro. In trying to understand what I was doing wrong I finally realized my problem.

 

When recording the macro I had just added the masks to the appropriate layers one after the other and the resulting structure did not work as I expected. This time I took the time to check and uncheck the appropriate layers as I added the masks (unchecking those not involved, checking the one I was using, but always leaving the Background layer checked) and that solved my problem. I now have a working macro that does what I wanted to do.

 

Thanks for your help.

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You are welcome, but now I am curious about what your macro looks like.  Would you post it so I can see how it works. with thanks.

 

Of course, although it is nothing special.

 

It is one of two macros I keep in a group I call Mikes and I could not see any way to export only one, so here are both. The first only performs a flatten followed by a matte since that is what I need to do to some images I process in On1 to get them to open in Dxo's Optics Pro. The second, cleverly named HMS Masks (for highlights, mid tones, shadows), is the one you are asking about.

 

Let me if you have any suggestions or questions.

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