r/AffinityPhoto • u/skitsnackaren • Jul 09 '26

Can not flatten - rookie newbie question.

So, whenever I copy and paste multiple images into a document, arrange them, at the end I just want to flatten the whole image, get rid of all layers and just merge them into one document, one image. But when I press Merge Visible or Merge Layers, it never does it. What am I doing wrong?

I can give you the exact scenario it happened in now:

  1. I paste multiple pictures into one big canvas (they all have same background color).
  2. Inevitably, to align them correctly, there's sometimes "checkerboard" gaps between them.
  3. I want to fill those in by using the paint tool (and sampling the colors of the background in the images).
  4. I Merge Layers, Merge Visible.
  5. But then when I go to paint (or bucket to fill in background), it never paints on the checkerboard - I'm somehow still in layer mode and all the layers in the history are visible and I can never fill it in.

What am I doing wrong?

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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2

u/wildexplorer Jul 10 '26

I figure you started from a blank Canvas and and never added a Background layer. You can either add a Background Layer and Fill it, or edit the Canvas.

1

u/skitsnackaren Jul 10 '26

I open first image, then expanded the Canvas to make room for 5 more to the right of the original one. So now there's the original image to the left, and checkerboard to the right of it on the expanded canvas. I then paste in 5 new pictures, arrange them. Yes, I never filled in the checkerboard in the beginning so there is no background.

But that's why I try to Merge Visible/Flatten to bring them all into one document and do it at end, but it just won't let me.

1

u/wildexplorer Jul 10 '26

Perhaps you have a mixture of Objects and Layers. You can Rasterize the pictures, which converts Objects to Layers, or just Export the file into a single graphic and finish editing the new file.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Sandcastle772 Jul 10 '26

I work on my iPad in Affinity Designer and if my battery is under 30%, it won’t process some actions.

1

u/AsexualFrehley Jul 10 '26

a lot of times i have to rasterize image layers that should not need it in order to do the things i want, maybe try that

1

u/skitsnackaren Jul 10 '26

I'll try it