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23 Comments
Jody Shumaker
on March 10, 2021 at 9:16 pm
Do we have to purchase a psd paper file in order to follow along with Lesson 3? I don’t have a psd file because I don’t use photoshop. I am trying to follow along using Affinity Designer which I just recently purchased. Where can we obtain a psd file to do Lesson 3? I don’t see one in the resources that we were to download.
Hi Di, Sorry, English is not my mother tong and I do not understand the buttons you push to change the color inside the layer. I can understand “Back space” but it seems to not be suffisant. Thanks!
Hi Di,
I have purchased your Digital Paper Alchemy course.
I am having trouble when I open the file as in the Affinity Designer video. I downloaded the resource files which are saved as JPG files (Is this correct)?
When I ope the same image as the Affinity Designer Video shows in the lesson where you change the colours of the background and flower I don’t get the files to open in Layers. All it shows me is the 1 layers being the complete image, no layers to work with. I am not sure what I am doing wrong as it is the same in Adobe Elements program also. I don’t have Adobe Photoshop. Can you give me some assistance, thankyou Ronis
Hi Ronis.
The bonus files are JPG format. They are not layered. You can use them as is or add textures and overlays to change them.
They are not meant to be edited that way. The idea is for you to create your own patterns. I will add a bonus file with patterns that I created today.
Hi, I don’t understand how you are actually selecting the colors from your swatch. I see the swatch colors in the layers and I saw that you dragged in your swatch image on another tab, but after clicking on the eyedropper tool I get lost. Appreciate a clearer explanation. Thanks.
Hi again. Also when I select a layer to change the color of, I do Alt+backspace, but it fills the entire layer rather than the images. My layer images are not selected like in your video.
Hi, I don’t understand how you are actually selecting the colors from your swatch. I see the swatch colors in the layers and I saw that you dragged in your swatch image on another tab, but after clicking on the eyedropper tool I get lost. Appreciate a clearer explanation. Thanks.
Hi Diana, I am in Photoshop, I can get the image in a layer to isolate with the [CTRL]+Click but how do I stop that isolate when I am all done changing colors?
Is it possible to do the vector part (the one you did with the leaves) in Affinity? I don’t have Photoshop and I am trying to follow along in Affinity, but I am not seeing how to do those same steps? Can you still do it in Affinity, or do you have to have something like Photoshop to do that part?
I can see that I have the same problems as many here who work in affinity designer.
I need a way to pull out the layers of a patten in Affinity Designer. Plus I don´t have a magic tool to select the different objects as showing in the video – so I can´t follow along with this training with pattens.
I’ve struggled in Affinity Designer as well but the critical step I missed was to click on the pixel layer button top left. This doesn’t work with jpegs but does work with vectors
I finally figured out HOW TO PULL LAYERS OUT OF THE LEAF PATTERN that Di used. Be sure your copy of Affinity is the latest copy. Also, when you do this, be sure you are in PIXEL mode. I kept forgetting and it made me crazy with things not working right. Third, it worked best for me when I closed the file after I exported each layer with a color. When I did not do it, strange things started happening – like everything turning brown when I tried to use the eyedropper. The green layers are easier than the brown one.
The file is in Pixabay. I found it by searching on leaf pattern. Open a 12 x 12 paper in Affinity Designer, same way as for the psd files. Drag the leaf pattern into it. Change to the Pixel persona. Duplicate the layer, so you have 2 identical layers that say Background. Click on the second layer. There are 3 ways to select a color layer. I had to switch back and forth between them to finally get what I needed, and I am not sure why.
Click on the eyedropper and choose your first color. (When I did not do that, the rest did not work for me.)
Be sure you are still on the second layer. If you are not on any layer (because Affinity will click off the layer every so often), you won’t be able to click on menu items. Select the layer again.
First way to select all the parts for that: click on the “Flood Select Tool” – it looks like the magic wand in Photoshop. Make sure that Contiguous is checked on the menu just above your picture – the one that changes when you change tools. Click on the color you want. Sometimes that worked ok. Sometimes it selected the whole leaf. I got it to select just the one color by clicking repeatedly if it did not do it correctly. If it only selects the right part on one single leaf, click several times. If it is still stuck on only the one leaf, go to the Third way (below).
Second way to select all the parts: click on the brush just above the Flood Select tool.
Third way to select all the parts: On the top menu, click on Select, then Select Sampled Color (which will be gray if you did not select a color with the eyedropper). It might select the wrong color of green. Make sure that the right shade is showing in your color picker.
If the right parts are selected, then add a pixel layer. Turn off the other layers, click on the pixel layer. You will see the outlines of the selected part. Click on the Flood Fill Tool – looks like a paint bucket. Make sure the right color is still selected (because sometimes you might see the wrong color). Click inside one of the outlines. All outlines will be filled with the color. They will still have the marching ants look, but don’t worry about that.
Make sure that layer is selected, and no others are selected. Export the file as a png file to wherever you can find it on your computer.
Then click on Select then Deselect. Close the file. Open the leaf file again. Repeat for the second green. If it acts weird, close the file, close Affinity, then open Affinity again and open the leaf file. Start with your second color, do it the same way as the other file, export and make sure you name it a different name. Again, click Select then Deselect. Then close the file.
For the brown part, the only way that worked for me is the second way with the Selection Brush tool. Make sure it is very small, smaller than the diameter of the brown parts. For me, that was 8 px. Click exactly inside the brown part somewhere. If it does not get the whole thing, click on the part it missed – for me, that was the stem. Once you have it selected, add a pixel layer. Turn off background layers, click on pixel layer and you should see the outlines. Make sure the right color is selected (brown), select the paintbucker, click inside one of the shapes, and all should fill with brown. Export with the third name.
the way you use this is, have 4 layers. One should be the background layer. If you have not made one yet, you can open the leaf file, make a pixel layer, use the eyedropper to get the color from the leaf file, then fill your new layer with that color. In the next layers, insert one of your 3 new files in each layer. Make sure those 4 layers are visible, all others turned off, then you will see the leaf picture. Change colors just like you did for the psd file.
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Do we have to purchase a psd paper file in order to follow along with Lesson 3? I don’t have a psd file because I don’t use photoshop. I am trying to follow along using Affinity Designer which I just recently purchased. Where can we obtain a psd file to do Lesson 3? I don’t see one in the resources that we were to download.
Hi Jody
I will add one to the resources today for you.
Hi Di, Sorry, English is not my mother tong and I do not understand the buttons you push to change the color inside the layer. I can understand “Back space” but it seems to not be suffisant. Thanks!
Hi Virginie
You have to hold down the ‘ALT’ key on your keyboard and the ‘BACKSPACE’ key at the same time. Let me know if that does not make sense.
Di
Hi Di,
So: Alt + Back space
Thanks, it works 🙂
Is there a way to pull out the layers of a pattern in affinity designer?
We will record that video for you.
See my answer at the bottom of the page
Hi Di,
I have purchased your Digital Paper Alchemy course.
I am having trouble when I open the file as in the Affinity Designer video. I downloaded the resource files which are saved as JPG files (Is this correct)?
When I ope the same image as the Affinity Designer Video shows in the lesson where you change the colours of the background and flower I don’t get the files to open in Layers. All it shows me is the 1 layers being the complete image, no layers to work with. I am not sure what I am doing wrong as it is the same in Adobe Elements program also. I don’t have Adobe Photoshop. Can you give me some assistance, thankyou Ronis
Hi Ronis.
The bonus files are JPG format. They are not layered. You can use them as is or add textures and overlays to change them.
They are not meant to be edited that way. The idea is for you to create your own patterns. I will add a bonus file with patterns that I created today.
Hi, I don’t understand how you are actually selecting the colors from your swatch. I see the swatch colors in the layers and I saw that you dragged in your swatch image on another tab, but after clicking on the eyedropper tool I get lost. Appreciate a clearer explanation. Thanks.
Hi again. Also when I select a layer to change the color of, I do Alt+backspace, but it fills the entire layer rather than the images. My layer images are not selected like in your video.
Hi Melodye
If you are using Photoshop you need to Control Click on the layer to get the marching ants, then you can change the color.
Hi, I don’t understand how you are actually selecting the colors from your swatch. I see the swatch colors in the layers and I saw that you dragged in your swatch image on another tab, but after clicking on the eyedropper tool I get lost. Appreciate a clearer explanation. Thanks.
Hi Diana, I am in Photoshop, I can get the image in a layer to isolate with the [CTRL]+Click but how do I stop that isolate when I am all done changing colors?
Hi Jennifer. To stop the marching ants press Control D.
Is it possible to do the vector part (the one you did with the leaves) in Affinity? I don’t have Photoshop and I am trying to follow along in Affinity, but I am not seeing how to do those same steps? Can you still do it in Affinity, or do you have to have something like Photoshop to do that part?
We are trying to find a simpler way to to do this in Affinity. We will have a video for you on the long way.
Hey! Any updates on this? Did I miss the video someplace else?
See my answer at the bottom of the page
Hi,
I can see that I have the same problems as many here who work in affinity designer.
I need a way to pull out the layers of a patten in Affinity Designer. Plus I don´t have a magic tool to select the different objects as showing in the video – so I can´t follow along with this training with pattens.
I’ve struggled in Affinity Designer as well but the critical step I missed was to click on the pixel layer button top left. This doesn’t work with jpegs but does work with vectors
I finally figured out HOW TO PULL LAYERS OUT OF THE LEAF PATTERN that Di used. Be sure your copy of Affinity is the latest copy. Also, when you do this, be sure you are in PIXEL mode. I kept forgetting and it made me crazy with things not working right. Third, it worked best for me when I closed the file after I exported each layer with a color. When I did not do it, strange things started happening – like everything turning brown when I tried to use the eyedropper. The green layers are easier than the brown one.
The file is in Pixabay. I found it by searching on leaf pattern. Open a 12 x 12 paper in Affinity Designer, same way as for the psd files. Drag the leaf pattern into it. Change to the Pixel persona. Duplicate the layer, so you have 2 identical layers that say Background. Click on the second layer. There are 3 ways to select a color layer. I had to switch back and forth between them to finally get what I needed, and I am not sure why.
Click on the eyedropper and choose your first color. (When I did not do that, the rest did not work for me.)
Be sure you are still on the second layer. If you are not on any layer (because Affinity will click off the layer every so often), you won’t be able to click on menu items. Select the layer again.
First way to select all the parts for that: click on the “Flood Select Tool” – it looks like the magic wand in Photoshop. Make sure that Contiguous is checked on the menu just above your picture – the one that changes when you change tools. Click on the color you want. Sometimes that worked ok. Sometimes it selected the whole leaf. I got it to select just the one color by clicking repeatedly if it did not do it correctly. If it only selects the right part on one single leaf, click several times. If it is still stuck on only the one leaf, go to the Third way (below).
Second way to select all the parts: click on the brush just above the Flood Select tool.
Third way to select all the parts: On the top menu, click on Select, then Select Sampled Color (which will be gray if you did not select a color with the eyedropper). It might select the wrong color of green. Make sure that the right shade is showing in your color picker.
If the right parts are selected, then add a pixel layer. Turn off the other layers, click on the pixel layer. You will see the outlines of the selected part. Click on the Flood Fill Tool – looks like a paint bucket. Make sure the right color is still selected (because sometimes you might see the wrong color). Click inside one of the outlines. All outlines will be filled with the color. They will still have the marching ants look, but don’t worry about that.
Make sure that layer is selected, and no others are selected. Export the file as a png file to wherever you can find it on your computer.
Then click on Select then Deselect. Close the file. Open the leaf file again. Repeat for the second green. If it acts weird, close the file, close Affinity, then open Affinity again and open the leaf file. Start with your second color, do it the same way as the other file, export and make sure you name it a different name. Again, click Select then Deselect. Then close the file.
For the brown part, the only way that worked for me is the second way with the Selection Brush tool. Make sure it is very small, smaller than the diameter of the brown parts. For me, that was 8 px. Click exactly inside the brown part somewhere. If it does not get the whole thing, click on the part it missed – for me, that was the stem. Once you have it selected, add a pixel layer. Turn off background layers, click on pixel layer and you should see the outlines. Make sure the right color is selected (brown), select the paintbucker, click inside one of the shapes, and all should fill with brown. Export with the third name.
the way you use this is, have 4 layers. One should be the background layer. If you have not made one yet, you can open the leaf file, make a pixel layer, use the eyedropper to get the color from the leaf file, then fill your new layer with that color. In the next layers, insert one of your 3 new files in each layer. Make sure those 4 layers are visible, all others turned off, then you will see the leaf picture. Change colors just like you did for the psd file.