EASY Selections With The Affinity Photo Pen Tool

Do you have a problem using the Affinity Photo Pen Tool and choose to avoid it? If so, this video may be the solution to those problems. Let me show you a simple way to use the Affinity Photo Pen Tool to create accurate Selections and Masks.
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[@rickrockzyootoob]

FINALLY! So many other videos are showing me how to create masks using the selection tool, but I wanted to do this the way I used to do it in Photoshop so I could save the path! Thanks so much for sharing this, Robin.

[@RobinWhalley]

You're very welcome. I'm pleased to hear that you found it helpful.

[@jorghahn2903]

Yours are definitely the best AP tutorials on YT! Thank you!

[@RobinWhalley]

Thanks for the great feedback. I'm glad that you think so.

[@ianyorke2617]

Another excellent Affinity video. There are thousands of video tutorials for Adobe so it's nice to see Affinity focused ones. Your focus on "here's what you need to do", rather than a complete "all tool options, kitchen sink" approach is also a breath of fresh air.

[@RobinWhalley]

Thank you. I do cover other software that I use as well in videos but it's nice to hear that you like the focussed videos. I like to keep them short and to the point irrespective of what I'm explaining.

[@joeking5211]

Super vid, Totally agree that just throwing the minimum nodes on first with the Pen tool and then adjusting is by far the quicker way than trying to match the outline when creating the nodes as virtually all the other tutorials show. One thing that I find makes it a bit easier to see when adjusting the nodes is to change the stroke width to be a bit heavier than the the thin blue lines and also change the stroke colour to something very bright and glary for the initial node adjustments and then when you have the correct shape put stroke width and colour back to default and tweek. Great vid, will checking your others.

[@RobinWhalley]

Thanks. Good tip about the Stroke Width. I don't like to include too many points in the videos because it can become confusing but this is one that might have benefited people.

[@robrussell7455]

Nice, clear description. I didn't know about that mask option!

[@RobinWhalley]

I'm glad that you liked it. In case you haven't seen it, I did a follow up to refine part of the mask kzbin.info/www/bejne/fV7YiWptqceXh8k

[@markgilder9990]

Nor did I and that was the bit I was struggling with.

[@nosnowflakezone3608]

A brilliant easy to follow explanation. Thank you.

[@RobinWhalley]

You are welcome. I'm glad you foun dit easy to follow.

[@markgilder9990]

Thanks Robin. I was struggling with the pen tool, but this training video was brilliant.

[@RobinWhalley]

The Pen Tool is great for creating selections. I also think it's much easier to use in Affinity Photo than in Photoshop. I'm glad the video helped.

[@GregWilliam-uh7bl]

Your videos have been so helpful. Thank you!

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad you like them. Thank you.

[@seancstudio]

WOW! This REALLY simplifies pen selection on a curve. I am okay at doing this in photoshop but I spend far too much time tweaking the curves. This is a great selling point for Affinity Photo. Excellent video.

[@RobinWhalley]

I'm glad that you liked the video. When you come from a Photoshop background a lot of Affinity Photo's features are easy to miss.

[@adrianliao]

Thank you for this video! will be using node tool more often now !

[@RobinWhalley]

You're welcome. It's a very useful tool.

[@Angelo28888]

thank you. I'm looking for this!

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad I could help. Thank you

[@richardvankesteren7013]

Very good explanation, I see now that I always placed too many control points.

[@RobinWhalley]

Thank you. It's good to hear it helped you.

[@Dexter101x]

Great video dude. I got Affinity only yesterday

[@RobinWhalley]

Thanks. I think you'll find Affinity Photo great to work with. Just remember, it's a bit of a steep learning curve at the start.

[@garrydawson5024]

Wow Robin - sooooooo easy and selections used to really give me a headache!! THANK YOU!!

[@RobinWhalley]

The Pen Tool is great for making selections with curved and straight edges. It's a lot easier to use than many people assume, especially those coming with a Photoshop background. I'm glad that the video has helped.

[@allantimms7462]

Another great video Robin. As usual you have demystified the murky depths of the pen tool. I have tried the methods espoused on other videos on KZbin and always got into a frustrated muddle when I tried to position the curve within the Pen tool. Either I added or deleted modes unintentionally. By splitting the selection into getting a rough selection using the pen tool and then moving the curves to fit I do not make the same number of errors. Incidentally, I find that positioning the nodes using the mouse and then refining the modes using my Wacom tablet works much better than using the tablet for both. Regards

[@RobinWhalley]

Thanks, that's great feedback. I must admit that the Pen Tool in Affinity Photo is easier to use than in Photoshop. Whilst it still supports some of the Photoshop features it has the benefit of being used in the way that I showed. Many of the videos (all) that I've seen still demonstrate it using the same Photoshop approach which I think is more difficult. I alos prefer using the Wacom tablet for this but I use a mouse fo the videos as that's what most people will have. Good tip though.

[@Keith12001]

Good video and tips. Thank you

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad it was helpful for you. Thank you.

[@scottcole7651]

Nice tutorial! Do you have one for this but for Affinity Photo on the iPad? So frustrating finding good tutorials for iPad Affinity products.

[@RobinWhalley]

Sorry I don't, but it's a good idea. I've added it to the list of future videos. I just need to get my video recording software working on my iPad from my new Mac.

[@stefanmarch]

Excellent video, thanks

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad you liked it. Thank you

[@gabequezada2066]

Great video Robin. I have a question. Can I use this pen tool to select perfectly exposed window with a nice blue sky then apply that selected window to a similar image and paste it? I do interior real estate photography and I need to make sure I dont have blown out sky. I know that it can be done on photoshop but I plan on abandoning them Thank you in advance Robin

[@RobinWhalley]

Yes, you could do that although I would be tempted to do it differently, or at least experiment with this idea. Use the Pen Tool to select the glass in the windows. You can then use this to create a mask that removes the area. Take a second photo from outside the window. You can then combine the two pictures in one image. Put the outside shot as the bottom layer and then the interior shot with the mask on top. The mask will then allow you to see the outside shot through the widow. You may need to do some tweaks to the exposure and opacity of the layers/masks to prevent it from looking fake. The alternative is to use an iPhone to take the photo. The HDR feature should be able to capture what's outside.

[@gabequezada2066]

@@RobinWhalley Thank you for the response Robin.. By any chance, do you have a video on that specific task of using the pen tool? Thank you again in advance

[@AnonymouslyP91]

Is pen tool selection available in Affinity Design as well? I tried using it and it's just for making shapes.

[@RobinWhalley]

The Pen Tool in Designer is only for drawing I believe. I don't use Designer very often but I don't recall being able to make selections with its Pen Tool.

[@lornaelliott6670]

Can all this be done in Version 1 of AP as I notice that this is AP V2

[@RobinWhalley]

I'm pretty sure that it's the same in AP1. It's a while since I used it in AP1 so there may be some small differences but I can't recall any.