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Asha

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Posts posted by Asha

  1. Sorry, I think I misunderstood your question, R C-R. When I FIRST click the crop tool, it defaults to "Unconstrained" and the bounding box is the same size as the file. When I switch to "Absolute", I can enter numbers that are larger than the canvas, and the bounding box goes beyond the edges of the file. At that point, it will crop, and add transparent artboard to the canvas. I was not able to get PS to create a bounding box larger than my canvas with just a simple linear dimension and no specified dpi, but I was able to drag the handles to make it larger than the canvas.

  2. I guess I'm missing something but if in PS you leave the dpi blank so it doesn't resample, don't you get the same issues as with AP if you set the crop size larger than the image size?

     

    Maybe it is just me, but I have always considered up-sampling to be something to avoid whenever possible, used only as a last resort when there are not enough pixels in the image to print or render at the required size. 

     

    PS will take whatever pixels are available to create a linear dimension. For example, I have a 25"x50" 72 dpi file. When I create a 5"x7" crop with no dpi, it always crops to 5"x7", regardless of how large or small I make it. The only difference is that the dpi will vary depending how many pixels are in the crop area. The crop box does not change in W to H ratio when it is resized like AP does (which is very frustrating when using AP). PS automatically limits it when the dimensions are first entered, but it can be extended--if so, the artboard becomes part of the crop. However, I don't know who would try to crop larger than the edges of the photo. The fact that this can happen by default in AP is another thing that makes AP's "Absolute" crop tool seem particularly unintelligent.

     

    I agree that upsampling is a last resort, and really is only good to about 1.4-2x enlargement, assuming you have good quality to begin with. Even with pretty basic modern P&S cameras, there are more than enough pixels to crop and resample to a standard range (up to 8"x10") for printing on ink jet.

  3. If you don't mind me adding my 2c here--the first frustration with the crop tool is when an "Absolute" ratio is entered. There is no opportunity to input dpi, and while that may be fine, it may result in a crop box that is nowhere near the size needed, especially if linear units are used. The second frustration with the "Absolute" setting is that the crop area doesn't stay constrained when one of the handles is dragged. Absolute should be, well, absolute. It is not intuitive to resize the crop box if absolute measurements were input to the top bar. It should be locked at the absolute size, whether that is some linear measurement at native dpi, or pixels or whatever.

     

    The 3rd frustration, and this is more of a "nice to have because we got used to it in PS", would be if we COULD put dpi in the top bar, that would allow us to crop and resample at the same time. Here is an opportunity to be better than PS for cropping--you can put a dropdown selection for the different resampling algorithms in the crop tool top bar. That way if people elect to crop and resample, they can control the outcome.

  4. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "I'm looking for a that looks about right" but Affinity Photo is not PS, nor is it intended to work exactly like PS or any other image editing app. If you want something that does, AP may not be right for you.

     

    I'm assuming the OP means that it more or less needs to be "square". Art materials, frames, mats, all have a hand-made quality and might not be exactly straight and at 90 degrees. Also, the camera may have barrel or pincushion distortion that makes straight lines look curved. Having photographed 2-d artwork, I understand the issue of trying to split the difference of all the imperfections that we see when we compare artwork to the perfect grids and guides within photo editing software.

  5. I also find the AP crop tool a bit frustrating. That is because I am used to the PS tool which will crop and resample in one step (eg, I can put in dimensions and dpi in the top bar of the PS tool). I agree that some improvements would be welcome.

     

    The best way I've found to use the AP "Absolute" setting is to use pixels and to drag the box without touching the handles. With linear dimensions (inches, mm, etc) the dpi of the document comes into play, and that can't be changed via the crop tool. If you want a constrained ratio that can be resized as well as moved around, then it is better to use the "Ratio" setting.

  6. To those who received acknowledgement from Nik--that is a better response than I got. It tells me that they are starting to pay attention. Whether they can afford (or care) to update their product to support Affinity is another unknown....

     

    I'm really a fan of On1 and DxO. They both have continued to keep their products current. However, Topaz has some really interesting tools that are a bit off the beaten path--might be nice for some more heavily filtered effects.

     

    icounter--you might try demo-ing DxO Film Pack--it has BW films pre-loaded. It currently doesn't work with AP, but you can use it as a standalone product.

  7. barninga--yes, back in the day we didn't have whizzy one-click things like layer effects and such. There is always a long way around, and I agree that AP has the majority of what is needed, plus they have some whizzy tools of their own!

     

    Since I've been using PS for a long time, I often am unaware of the newest additions, so I end up doing the old ways regardless :)

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