Workspace
PhotoCraft canvas, panels and workspace explained
The canvas shows your document; the panels control what you change. Learn to separate a view problem from an edit to the actual image.
Separate the image from the view
A document has pixel dimensions and layer content. The canvas view has a zoom level and a position in the window. Zooming or moving that view should not be confused with resizing or moving the image itself.
Open a small image and use the available view controls to fit it in the window. Then inspect a detail at a closer view. Record the document dimensions independently of the zoom percentage; an image can look small on screen while still containing many pixels.
Use the panels to establish context
Before an edit, identify the active document, selected layer, selected mask if any, and active tool. Panels may move or be arranged differently between versions, so use the labels in your installed build rather than relying on a fixed screenshot.
Toggle one layer’s visibility to learn its contribution, then undo any experimental change. When editing a mask, verify that you selected the mask rather than the image thumbnail. This simple context check prevents many unintended edits.
Read the layers and masks guide when the document contains groups or imported PSD content.
If the window opens but the canvas does not draw
The project describes GPU canvas rendering with platform-specific backends. That architecture does not establish that every device or driver will behave identically.
- Try a small supported image to separate a document-specific problem from a blank canvas in every file.
- Record OS, PhotoCraft version, GPU, driver version and any visible error.
- Check current release notes and existing issues for your platform before changing settings.
- Follow only backend or driver instructions documented for that release. Do not assume a backend switch exists in every build.
Keep the original project available while diagnosing the view. A rendering problem and a file-parsing problem need different evidence.
Official sources: PhotoCraft README (opens a new tab) · PhotoCraft product page (opens a new tab) · Issue tracker (opens a new tab).