Masks!!!!! Compared to Photoshop
Good grief!
Working with masks in Pshop is SO easy. After creating a mask on a pixel layer you paint on the mask layer with black to hide the pixels on the affected layer, and white to show the pixels. You can show the mask layer independently and edit it there. Or you can edit the mask while previewing the masking changes while looking at the pixel layer. To remove the mask and leave only the pixel layer you simply choose "Apply mask." The mask goes away and you are left with only the remaining pixels on the affected layer. You can even copy & paste masks, and make them from selections. Simple.
What is it with masking in Affinity 3.x??? None of what I do in Phop translates to Affinity. And one thing I have noticed is that if I choose to Rasterize the layer mask (which seems to be equivalent to "Apply Mask" in Pshop) the pixel layer get re-rasterized as well and gets soft and blurry.
I need to be able to create, edit, then apply and remove the mask in Affinity. I would be eternally grateful to anyone who can explain how masks work in Affinity 3.x!!!! thx!
PS I'm the typical Pshop user (since Pshop 2) who is trying to make the switch for obvious reasons.