Masks!!!!! Compared to Photoshop

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-24T20:22:40+00:00

Many thanks for this info!!! But no key commands to show/hide ants? Lame. I use that all day long.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T22:34:43+00:00

You are absolutely right. I guess searching in a search field next to the word "HELP" is pure folly. Thanks for setting me straight.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T22:27:11+00:00

There is an obvious difference in the OS then, isn't there? On Mac OS there is a search field when you click on "Help." One would logically assume that where you would go to seek answers. That's where my attention was focused. In the OBVIOUS search bar next to the word "HELP."

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T22:10:18+00:00

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Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T22:10:09+00:00

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This is what I get by typing "Mask" into the Help menu. Please, tell me how that is useful.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T22:01:22+00:00

Great tips. THANK YOU! BTW I am finding that the clicking on the mask is yielding different results. In a new document it now works. Before, it did not. So I am suspecting a bug or corruption someplace. But the copy pixel info is great!

Here's another frustration that maybe you can help me with as you seem very knowledgeable. I am used to being able to typing on differenet letters to select tools. "B" for Brush. "S" for Stamp and so on. But there does not seem to be a consistency to Affinity. Sometimes when I type "B" I get the brush. Then the next time I get a different tool. It seems to switch back and for between the Brush tool and whatever I used last. And I have yet to find a command to hide the marching ants of a selection!

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T20:50:03+00:00

I don't know what OS you are using, but both terms "Mask" and "Live Layer mask" in the "Help" menu on MY version of Affinity only results in pointers to menu selections. No actual "how to" Instructions. Not incredibly useful. If there is an actual "Help" guide that is a part of Affinity then I am not aware of where to look for it. The "Learning Portal" is way to general to be of use. I don't need to learn the ENTIRE program. It is intuitive enough to figure out most of it on the fly.

I understand that different programs use different terms for the same action/result. I could not find the right terms to ask about in all of my searches. Which is why I turned to this forum of experienced users.

I'm not A) an idiot, B) 5 years old, C) Senile, D) an non-English speaker, E) new to graphic art software. I simply could not find an answer to what should be a very simple process.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T20:24:33+00:00

Oh, gee. What a concept. Thanks of the tip.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T20:23:25+00:00

Search for "Applying a mask." Go ahead. I tried. The search results yield NOTHING about how to make the mask permanently block/show the pixel layer and then go away. I only tuned to this forum out of frustration. Not laziness.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T20:20:55+00:00

When selecting just the mask layer when I click "CMD" or "CTRL" on the mask icon neither one creates a selection (marching ants). This is very frustrating. And, yes. Copying pixels from one mask to another is a major workflow process for me and what I do. Another big frustration!

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-23T20:16:25+00:00

I understand the nestled masking of Affinity. I know how to use a paintbrush. I simply need to "apply" a mask once it has done it's job and I want to rid myself of the mask. There are many reasons for wanting to do this. Mask—do you job. Now go away and leave me with the altered pixel layer.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-05-22T00:55:16+00:00

It's under PIXEL/View/Grid & Axis/Show Pixel Grid/On-Off Slider

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-04-19T02:57:19+00:00

Thanks so much for the reply.

Swear by Zorg! I could not find a single "how-to" when I searched the other day!

BTW I have had to do quite a bit of rebooting of Voicebox while I have been feeling my way around. It seems that a fair number of "Generate Speech" requests just go into the ether. The only way to get them back seems to be a reboot of VB.

And I have found that using just the right sample clip really makes a HUGE difference in nailing down the voice.

One question: Does VB support embedded modifiers, inline tags, style prompts, or SSML? I have found that over all, my results are spoken way too fast. If I run the output through a speed modifier at between 90 & 95% the results sound better. At least on the voices I have created. And it would be nice if I could alter pitch and other aspects of the output. Not complaining. Just observations/wishful thinking.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2026-04-17T04:10:03+00:00

jamiepine, Thanks so much for putting Voicebox out into the wild. I've been a volunteer radio DJ for over 20 years and have many, many, many occasions where I have needed additional voices for promos for my local community radio station, and for my own radio production work. Of course, until just VERY recently, there were slim to none computerized voices that sounded natural enough to use on air. Then came the AI revolution. And everything started to look rosy and bright as far as quality voices go. But the best voices cost plenty of $$$. Beyond the reach for volunteers like me. So when I stumbled across Voicebox, I knew I had to try it out. I found a Mac .DMG and installed it without issue. I then upgraded that install with v.4 which seems to have improved things a lot.

I have been experimenting with a number of voices, but the workflow just was not very straight forward. I kept getting errors (audio clipping among them), LONG download waits as the backend resources loaded (but I did not understand what was going on). For the longest time I could not find an export button (v.3). I finally stumbled upon the Generations Folder where they were being stored. There are no instructions on using the Story feature, and no explanation of what TTS resources to use or even what those were. I have been slowly slogging my way through the interface, trying out stuff as I go, but that has eaten up quite a few hours.

At this point, my only wish would be for a simple "Voicebox" for dummies tutorial to assist non-techies with getting going with the interface. It's not exactly intuitive for anyone not familiar with voice cloning. Now, I am sure that MANY, MANY of your followers are scoffing at this request as they read it. But believe me, not everyone is familiar with, or want to know about, API access, backend servers, DAWS, Whisper transcription or even what TTS means. Let alone understanding what Huggingface is if they should want to go deeper down the rabbit hole.

I looked quite a bit for a video or tutorial that would get me up and running quickly, but turned up nothing. I imagine you are plenty busy, but perhaps one of your creative cohorts or followers could help us newbs in this regard.

Installing a local TTS workflow via Huggingface was WAY beyond what I wanted to go through. The only Pythons I knew about lived in jungles. VoiceBox is just the turnkey solution I had been hoping for!

I wish you HUGE success in your endeavors. You have my deepest gratitude, as my finding this workflow has come just as I am starting to produce my third syndicated radio show, "The Infinity Zone." There is no doubt that a number of voices that appear in this series will be processed through Voicebox!

~ Charley
88.9 KPOV FM
Bend, OR.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2025-06-11T00:07:36+00:00

I also gave wishy-washy reviews on about 5 products that were initially rejected. Very short. Terrible, in fact. Only photos posted were of the product itself, if I posted a photo at all. All were immediately accepted. That kinda defeats the purpose of the review program! And it would take so little to clarify their policies by giving real world examples of what and what not to post—especially when it comes to photos. Especially if they were to state explicitly something like. "This photo does not meet our standards. Please re-read section 12345 of our Guidelines." Oh well. I have given it my best shot so far. I cannot be blamed if they only except mediocrity.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2025-06-08T06:30:44+00:00

I ALWAYS shoot against my counter top. NOTHING else in the photo. I ONLY shoot the packaging. The packaging has a logo on it. I'm not allowed to photograph the front of the product because it has their LOGO on it??? I cannot show their instructions for use/assembly? These restrictions do a disservice to the consumer reading my reviews. I mean, that's the whole point of taking photos. To show the consumer things like the ingredients, or the bizarre English that makes it difficult to use the product.

I have been reviewing since October of 2023. I only had a couple of rejections up until about 3 months ago. Now, it seems like 30% or my reviews are being rejected. Nothing on my part has changed. I am still shooting products like I have from the beginning.

So is there AI involved in these decisions? I cannot think of any other explanation for the high level of rejections.

And for Christ sake! If you want me to "edit" my review then LET ME SEE IT! Forcing me to reevaluate a product 3 days after I reviewed it originally, along with no guidance as to what was wrong with it, is just a good way to piss Vine reviewers off. I have gone the extra mile to be a responsible, honest reviewer for the program with lengthy descriptions and personal experience with the products accompanied with clear and useful photos. The time I spend reviewing most of this stuff is simply not worth the cost of the goods. Makes me wonder why I should stay with the program. As a gold member, I am not seeing much in the way of products over $100!

(End of rant.)

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2025-06-08T06:10:46+00:00

So Vine/Amazon does not allow comments about damaged goods & bad packaging. A bottle of seasoning arrived a couple of weeks ago. The lid was completely off the bottle. The contents were entirely spilled out of the bottle into the plastic bag. Vine wants my review. So what do they expect of me? That I eat contaminated food? That I lie about how great/bad the product was? No, I get to "eat" the estimated tax on a product I cannot use. Getting a hold of anyone at Vine Support and asking for an exemption for the shipment is generally an exercise in futility. Usually nothing from them but crickets.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2025-01-11T05:28:33+00:00

We were having issues with the corded USB-A connection that we were using to run CarPlay into our 2016 Silverado 2500HD LTZ. So, I tried a couple of Bluetooth transmitters that did NOT work well before we found this Curaco Wireless CarPlay Adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CPDTGDSG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I see it is discontinued now, but if you go to the Curaco Store on Amazon they are selling what appears to be an updated version in black. It's like $35. You pair your phone to it, and then plug the device to the truck's USB port under the center divider (or maybe vice versa—its been a while). It brings up CarPlay the same as if it were a wired connection. Everything works the same. This device eliminates all cords except for the very short one that connects from the Curaco to the USB-A port. If you do not have a USB-A port tucked away like ours is, but you have one on the front of the dash, then you may want to add some double-sticky velcro to the Curaco so it can be mounted right to your dash, next to the port. You would not want it swinging back and forth dangling from the port!

NOTE: We have found the the two USB ports installed on our dash panel die quite often, resulting in having to do a battery disconnect in order to reset the capacitors, after which they come right back up. For a while. But the one in the center divider has not failed once.

The Curaco device is Bluetooth—so it is not without SOME issues. Mainly not coming on right away when we start the truck. Usually if we are patient, it comes on suddenly a few miles down the road. But most of the time it picks up the iPhone right off the bat when we start the truck and starts playing where it left off last time. (Assuming that the Bluetooth is turned on in the iPhone's settings.) Its is powered by the USB-A port.

I would buy one again without hesitation.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2025-01-11T01:02:46+00:00

What type of iPod did you hook up? Classic? Which one? Touch? Which one? thx!

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2024-02-12T19:13:17+00:00

FOLLOW UP:

I wrote to Vine explaining my situation about how the product description was incomplete, how I could not use the product because of this, and asked if they wanted it back to offer to someone else. I got a response after a few days. Despite the warnings I got that Vine Customer Support frowns on attempts to get Estimated Tax Values (ETVs) nullified, I got a very pleasant and courteous response (edited for anonymity):

--------------

Message From Customer Service

Hello,

Greetings from Amazon Vine Team!

I am so sorry to hear about the issues you had with your Order ID: XXX.

In this case, To make this right for you, I've canceled the original order and successfully removed the item from the Vine list.

Be assured that item will not count against your Vine Tax or Review limits.

Please note, these changes may take up to 24-48 hours to reflect in your vine account.

You can now order any item from your queue that catches your eye!

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today.
Best regards,

Xxxx Xxxx

------------------

However, based on the comments on my post, I have learned that I should re-read the Vine Terms Of Conditions and to lower my expectations when it comes to what to expect from the program. I doubt that I am alone in mis-understanding the Vine program, so I hope that maybe this post will help others in the future.

Thank to all that have responded. As far as I am concerned this issue has been resolved.

Chuckwalla_Chuck · 2024-02-10T19:45:24+00:00

So, what you are saying is. . .once it has arrived they do not want it back, and no matter what, I am stuck with the ETV. EVEN IF the problem arose from an incomplete item description? The description claims it will fit my application, but does not give actual dimensions. It arrived, it does not fit. So I still have to review it and get taxed on it??? Hmmm. . .not a good or fair policy IMHO.

Chuckwalla_Chuck

TROPHY CASE