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Paste into feature?


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I already asked about this before version 1.6.2 and was told it wasn't possible yet, but would be added to the requested feature list. 

 

Now, I see in the updated v1.6.2 that the paste menu has "paste into". I don't recall if it was there before. However, I just tried it and I can't get it to work. I make a selection, then copy selection to pasteboard. Then I make another selection, and then select "paste into", but the copied selection just pastes to the same location what I'd copied it from... not "pasted into" the new selection. 

 

Does this not actually work yet? Or, am I doing something wrong? Or, if this "paste into" feature for something else entirely?

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This only applies to object/layers in the Layers panel not to pixel selections. Paste into, pastes the contents of the clipboard inside the selected layer.

 

 

I don't completely understand this. If you paste an object on a layer, how is that different from basically copying/pasting from one layer to another? I don't get why "paste into" term would be used. 

 

Could you please describe how this would work? ie. is an "object" something like a logo graphic you might have imported in? How is "paste into" different from just copying to pasteboard, then pasting the copied item?

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Is this a question about Affinity Photo for iPad? :unsure:

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Hi skiphunt,

Do the following so you can see the difference:

Regular paste:

- open an image

- create a circular selection

- copy it to the clipboard

- then do a regular paste

The selection will be pasted to a new independend layer keeping its original position.

 

Paste Inside:

- open an image

- create a circular selection

- copy it to the clipboard

- draw a heart shape and make sure it crosses the pixel selection area (so part of it is inside the "pixel" selected area) 

- open the Layers Studio so you can see the heart shape layer

- perform the paste inside

- look at the heart  shape layer in the Layers Studio - it now has a small arrow on the left of its thumbnail

- click that arrow to expand the layer - as you can see your pixel selection was pasted inside the heart shape layer (it's now a child of that layer)

You are using the heart shape as a clipping layer here - your pasted selection is only visible inside the boundaries of the heart shape. This is what the Paste Inside does.

 

- change to the Move Tool and move the heart position to somewhere else on canvas - your pasted selection will move along with the heart shape because it's a child of it. Depending on the type of the layer where you are pasting inside this can lead to other results. For example, If the layer selected is a text object the pasted selection will be pasted inside the text, that is, clipped by the text - exactly like what happened with the heart shape. But if you paste inside a group layer (which is not an object but an organisational entity), the pasted selection will be simply placed inside the group as a new layer (no clipping here - because there's not object/boundaries to limit its visibility).

 

What you are finding strange here is the concept of clipping objects, that is, placing one object inside another so its only visible inside its boundaries. Check this topic in the Help for details.

 

Let me know if you still have trouble.

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Is this a question about Affinity Photo for iPad? :unsure:

 

 

Photo iPad... am I not in the right forum section? I made the post in the iPad section and it was there originally. 

 

Thanks. It looks as though it's been moved from the section where it was originally posted. :)

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Thanks. It looks as though it's been moved from the section where it was originally posted. :)

I may have have moved it back into the correct section  :ph34r:

Please tag me using @ in your reply so I can be sure to respond ASAP.

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Hi MEB, 

 

Ok, I get that... didn't know you could do that. cool :) and thanks!

I've just got 2 more questions related to this. 

 

1. I see you can copy/paste fx and "styles". Can you create and/or import and save your own "styles" to be reused? I didn't see anything about that in the in-app manual.

 

2. When you move a layer object onto another layer object, you either get a line above, line below, a line in the middle, or the whole layer icon turns solid blue. I get that the line above/below is whether the layer object is above or below the current layer you're hoving over, but I don't see any difference between dropping a layer object on another layer with the line in the middle vs the layer icon turning solid blue. What is the difference?

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Thanks. It looks as though it's been moved from the section where it was originally posted. :)

 

 

I may have have moved it back into the correct section  :ph34r:

 

Ah, OK. I guess I should have said it looked as though it had been moved from the section where it was previously posted! :P

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Hi skiphunt,

1. No, currently you can't import styles on the iPad version (this will be probably implemented later) but you can create them. Create an object with the style you want, keep it selected,  then tap the Layer FX Studio (fx icon) on the right of the interface, then tap the Styles button on the bottom of the Studio, and finally tap the small menu icon (thee three lines inside a square icon) and select Add Style from Selection.

 

 

2. When the blue line appears in the middle of the layer it means you are moving the layer you are dragging to inside that layer - it's the equivalent of doing a paste inside. If this layer happens to be an object as explained in my post above then you are performing a layer clipping operation because the parent's boundaries will limit the visibility of the dropped layer.

 

When you drag the layer over another layer's thumbnail and it turns blue you are performing a nesting operation. It means the layer you have dropped there will be nested to the parent layer, that is, it will only affect that specific layer. You can do this with adjustments or filter layers for example - drag them over a pixel layer's thumbnail to ensure they only affect that pixel layer. If the layer you dropping over a pixel layer thumbnail happens to be a mask (vector or raster) then that mask will be applied just to that pixel layer. This is called Layer Masking in Affinity Photo.

 

This may look confuse in the beginning but becomes clear with practise.

Here's an additional video tutorial you may want to take a look. It's for Affinity Photo (macOS) but the concepts are the same: Clipping vs Masking

 

You may be wondering how do you distinguish between a layer placed inside another or nested to it. In Affinity Photo (macOS) nested layers will add an additional thumbnail on the right of the parent's thumbnail when the parent's layer is collapsed. When the parent layer is expanded nested layers have a bigger left indent than layers simply placed inside.

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Hi MEB, I get just about all of that... but I'm not clear on what the difference of having a layer dragged inside another layer versus "nesting" a layer within a layer.

I'll rewatch the clipping/masking video also to see if that clears up the difference.

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In some situations there's really no difference - for example with adjustments - nesting an adjustment to a pixel layer or clipping it inside the pixel layer will not produce any visual difference on canvas. This is because the nested adjustment will be applied to the whole layer while the clipped one will only have effect inside the boundaries of the pixel layer data which basically leads to the same result. This is the confusing part i was referring to previously.

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In some situations there's really no difference - for example with adjustments - nesting an adjustment to a pixel layer or clipping it inside the pixel layer will not produce any visual difference on canvas. This is because the nested adjustment will be applied to the whole layer while the clipped one will only have effect inside the boundaries of the pixel layer data which basically leads to the same result. This is the confusing part i was referring to previously.

 

 

I just watched that video twice and still don't completely get the real difference between a clipping mask and a layer mask. I'll have to watch it again later and see if maybe it sinks in... but both clipping and layer masks appear to be capable of doing essentially the same thing. 

 

Yes, confusing. ;)

 

Can you tell me when I'd want to use a clipping mask versus a layer mask, and visa-versa?

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A nested mask will affect all objects clipped inside the parent layer (including the parent layer), while a clipped mask only affects other clipped layers below its position inside the parent layer (as well as the parent layer itself). All this flexibility is what makes Affinity Photo layer system so capable. You can nest/clip layers as you see fit to build complex photo compositions. 

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MEB, thanks!

 

I'm still mostly confused... but I'm getting closer to understanding how it works by simply making some mask shapes and trying both ways of clip/layer/nesting, etc. 

 

As a test, I made a heart-shape mask (using a different obvious mask shape than a rectangle to try and avoid some confusion). I've got an image of a lion that's placed inside the heart shape. When it's "locked" I can resize the heart mask and the lion image resizes with it. If it's unlocked, I can change the scale and shape of the heart mask/shape independent of the lion image, but I can't select the placed lion image to independently scale it up or down within he heart shape mask. I can change the scale of the heart shape to smaller, then relock and rescale... but I can't independently change the scale of the placed image within the heart shape. Should this be possible?

Again, this is just a test. I know how to make this do what I'm describing. I'm merely trying to understand how the functions work, ie. how to independently scale/size a placed image within a mask shape.

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Hi, I've got another question in addition to my previous one about scaling placed images within a mask object.

 

The second question is this... Let's say I have the heart-shaped object (that I used as an example in my previous question) that's filled with the placed lion image within it. Let's say I've got this lion-filled heart-shaped masked object floating on top of an image of flowers. The heart shape has a hard edge. Is there a way I can make the masked heart-shaped object have a feathered edge instead of a hardline edge? And, still be able to move it around atop the background image while retaining it's feathered edge?

 

By the way... I already know that I can simply select the layer object and paint/ease around the edges to soften it up. What I'm asking about is can I make the edge a uniform 10px feather all the way around without having to paint/erase it away manually?

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Maybe I haven't asked these questions clearly enough... 

 

1. If I drag a star-shaped object onto the canvas, then drag that onto an image of a face to make a star-shaped mask with the face inside, and want to fill up the star with just an eye from the face... I can unlock the star shape, scale it down until the eye fills the star, then relock and scale the whole shape back up. But, can I ALSO leave the star-shape mask the size that I want it, select the face image I've placed into the star, and scale the face up to fill the shape with the eye instead? 

 

2. Now that I have a star-shaped mask with an eye image filling it, the edge of the star-mask has a hard, clean edge. If I want that edge to be equally softened with a feathered edge, all the way around by the same 10px amount, and remain scalable and movable within the canvas, can I select the mask edge and feather it? 

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As a test, I made a heart-shape mask (using a different obvious mask shape than a rectangle to try and avoid some confusion). I've got an image of a lion that's placed inside the heart shape. When it's "locked" I can resize the heart mask and the lion image resizes with it. If it's unlocked, I can change the scale and shape of the heart mask/shape independent of the lion image, but I can't select the placed lion image to independently scale it up or down within he heart shape mask. I can change the scale of the heart shape to smaller, then relock and rescale... but I can't independently change the scale of the placed image within the heart shape. Should this be possible?

Again, this is just a test. I know how to make this do what I'm describing. I'm merely trying to understand how the functions work, ie. how to independently scale/size a placed image within a mask shape.

 

What do you mean by locking here? how are you locking the layer?

 

 

I understood both your questions regarding scaling the image independently and feathering the shape. This is quite easy to do in the desktop version but apparently not so much on iOS (seems a few controls weren't implemented yet) - I'm checking this...

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What do you mean by locking here? how are you locking the layer?

 

 

I understood both your questions regarding scaling the image independently and feathering the shape. This is quite easy to do in the desktop version but apparently not so much on iOS (seems a few controls weren't implemented yet) - I'm checking this...

 

 

I've muddied the waters here. It appears I've mistaken the function of the lock button within the layer settings box. I was actually either selecting the image or mask object. 

 

Here's what I did... create document. Place lion image. Place Star object. Hover Star object layer over Lion image until full blue square and release. If I select the image layer, I can scale the shape and the lion image scales with it. If I select the star shape layer, I can scale and move that, but the lion image remains stationary.

 

What I was asking was if I can place the star shape where I want in the document, then select my fill image (the lion) and scale/move/position it within the star mask. I just tried the same thing with the desktop version, and I can scale each independently (mask shape or background image) just can't seem to do the same in the iPad version. 

 

The feathered edge isn't a big deal. I can paint the feathering around it, but it'd be nice if I could just assign a uniform value of feather all the way around without trying to paint it in manually. And, if you don't mind... can you say how this is done in the desktop version so that when/if it's possible in the iPad version, I'll know how to do it?

 

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Yes, the Lock button in the Layers options locks the selected layer, not the children as in the desktop version (in the context toolbar). Those are different features. That's why I asked how were you locking it on the iPad... This is not implemented there (as far as I know).

 

In the beginning there was a Feather FX (effect) that would do exactly what you are asking for when applied to a shape but it was later removed because it wasn't working as intended. I believe it will still be added at some point since it's quite useful, so currently, the only way to do this is through a raster mask. 

 

Regarding how to do it on desktop the desktop version, here's a way:

- open the image you want

- draw the heart shape in the middle

- convert it to curves - press  ⌘ (cmd)↵ (Enter)

- with the heart shape selected, switch to the Pen Tool and click the Selection button in the context toolbar to convert the shape into a selection

- switch to one of the selection tools and click the Refine... button in the context toolbar

- Use the Feather slider to feather the selection

- set the Output dropdown on the bottom to Mask and press Apply

You should get a feathered heart mask applied to the image.

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Thanks MEB! Got it. 

 

Now on the other question about scaling the image inside a mask shape... I just tried again... 

 

I think what I'm seeing here is the confusing difference between a clipping mask and a layer mask. If I drop my image onto my mask shape, and release while there's a blue line instead of solid blue, I can select the child/image under the shape layer and scale/position it independently of the shape... as I was asking about. But, if I release with the full blue square, I've got a different kind of masking going on and I can't select the filled/placed image independently. 

 

I'm still not crystal clear on the differences between a clipping and layer mask. And I'm not clear of if a "nested mask" is something else altogether. But, I am seeing some difference now. I'm just not able to identify which is which, and when to use one or the other. Is a "nested" mask the same as a clipping mask?

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