Neue Testversion 25.60b3

[Vivi_Ram]

Bug in the latest beta: Click on Text on Path within gallery immediately crashes the program.

Thank you!

[Gerhard Huber]

Tested this right now and see no problem.
Something special to do or a special background picture?

[shijan]

I emailed same bug on 2026-06-24 to Martin Huber "Program crash if click to View->Panels->Gallery->Text". Maybe it was already fixed earlier?

[Gerhard Huber]

Yes, I think so.

[Vivi_Ram]

Just tried it again. Clicking on "Text on path" within gallery consistently crashes the application. Not any other text setting. Just text on path. Using windows. latest beta. Can record video later.

[shijan]

Well, on macOS it crashes if i click on Text or Text on Path. Text in Path and Distort works normal.

Screen Shot 2026-09-22 at 12.17.22 PM.jpg

[Vivi_Ram]

Snapping Controls.jpg

Hello! An idea: Could we get a slider to control the degree of snapping. At the moment, PL's snapping is either on or off. It is extremely good but it is also a bit limited and intrusive sometimes. You want to be able to control snapping a bit more. At the very least, please could we have the option to reduce screen tolerance? Affinity has some neat controls including the ability to control the number of candidates (objects) to which snapping will happen. If adding this is too much work, then a simple ability to turn off snapping on and off particular objects at the very least would be very useful. Affinity also allows for that. Which is extremely useful.

[Vivi_Ram]

Strange behaviour: I am trying to isolate glass from a plain background. To do so, I am using a vector shape as a clipping mask. I created a virtual duplicate of the image and then dragged that into the clipping mask. However, nothing is happening. I noticed that it works perfectly when I do it to the original layer, but not when I use the virtual duplicate. Wondering what is going on?

Possible bug.jpg

[Vivi_Ram]

Another little improvement: Per page colour. At the moment, I can't seem to set colour per page. The colour is set globally. Please could we be able to set it per page?

Thank you!

[Martin Huber]

Strange behaviour: I am trying to isolate glass from a plain background. To do so, I am using a vector shape as a clipping mask. I created a virtual duplicate of the image and then dragged that into the clipping mask. However, nothing is happening. I noticed that it works perfectly when I do it to the original layer, but not when I use the virtual duplicate. Wondering what is going on? Possible bug.jpg

I just tried that here and it worked fine. Do you have a sample PLD-document showing the bug?

Aside from that:
- You are using a cut mask (though 25.60B3 calls it "Clipping Mask"). It is more efficient to use a layer mask or a real clipping mask.
- In your example, you might get a better result by using "Tool > Color > Color To Transparency".

[Vivi_Ram]

Let me set it up again and share it with you.

[Vivi_Ram]

@Martin :There you go! I might be doing something wrong here.

Cut Mask: How is it different from clipping. They behave virtually identically.

Correct me if I am wrong here: The way I understand it is this -

1. (Real) Clipping Mask - Take a vector object and use it to clip an object above it - like a cookie cutter and everything within the boundary of the vector object is visible. Everything outside is invisible. You group all the objects you want to be visible within the mask. The vector object clips everything within it in the same Z-order in the layer stack. This is simple enough to follow.

2. Raster Mask - Same concept as above.

3. Cut Mask - You set an object to cut mask and pull other objects into it as children. All the adjustments, brush strokes, etc, are all restricted to this mask. Which feels identical to what 1 is doing. Isn't this just identical to what Photoshop does when we clip adjustments to a parent layer "below" - PS reverses the order confusingly.

In any case, the behaviour I am pointing out is different. In the PLD file, I have set up two cut masks with the same vector shape. The first cut mask uses the virtual copy of the image. It is not getting clipped. Now, if you switch that layer off, you'll see the second cut mask, which works as expected. That's another thing confusing me.

I'd appreciate a clarification here.

Cut Mask on Virtual Copy.pld

[Vivi_Ram]

After a few hours pf playing about, I actually figured out what was going on. It boils down to a simple confusion about naming convention. Clip = Opacity Masking (This is the Xara terminology that finally helped click it), and Clipping Mask = Shape/Silhouette Masking (In Xara, this is called Clipping Path). Clipping Mask only considers the "shape of the layer" so to speak. Opacity masks take into account the luminosity values, just like raster masks. The only exception being vectors. Also figured why virtual layers were not getting clipped. They are simply displaying the data of the source layer, meaning there's nothing for the Clipping Mask to mask. Whereas when Opacity masked, the mask applies to the whole document or the group boundary if the layers are grouped with the mask. So virtual layers can be opacity masked. However, it still doesn't explain one thing: Why doesn't clip (opacity mask) take into account luminosity value of vectors? Maybe a feature not a bug. But still unclear why this is the case. Its not at all intuitive. Like Xara, clip should work the same for both vector and raster.

Once it clicks in, PLs system is remarkably logical and elegant, but by God the manual is not useful as a resource. I'll document this as video for new users.

It's also a good place to fix the UI copy. It is not instantly clear what each is supposed to do.

[shijan]

Clip is the old good "normal" PhotoLine mask. "Show" option usually should be unchecked for it. It could be placed inside layer or remain as standalone layer or grouped with layer(s).
Clipping Mask was introduced in 25.00b8(or something so) version and mimic how mask works in Photoshop. "Show" option usually should be checked for it. Layer(s) should be placed inside it.

Clip have special options for vector layer.
Clipping Mask don't have any options.

clip.jpg

clipping mask.jpg

[Vivi_Ram]

Yes, I made sense of it now. Thanks Shijan.

Now the other big confusion is also sorted. You can use luminance value of vectors too. It has to be selected from the drop down. As I mentioned, this is a case of UI labelling confusion. "Clip" and "Clipping Mask" are so close to each other and so overlapping that it is not instantly clear how they differ from each other. They're also close to each other in the actual menu and produce very similar results. The big difference is in that a clipping mask (what used to be called cut mask) does not take account luminance value of the the layer used as a clipping mask. It is always the pure alpha value. Whereas clip can use the luminance value of even vector shapes. So you can technically apply a gradient and use it to clip shapes below it.

The way I have now understood it in my mind is by comparing it with Xara's naming convention, which is native to me. Clip = Opacity Mask. Clipping Mask = Shape Mask.

An clip CAN be used as clipping mask (i.e., ignoring luminosity value in the dropdown) but a clipping mask cannot be used as clip (i.e., taking into account luminosity values)