Martijn Hoppenbrouwer

In reference to a thread about a deal-breaker-problem that still persists in over a year see: As >|< pointed out in this thread, "the current Affinity PNG exporter does not support variable opacity in an indexed-pallet image (commonly called PNG-8), hence the jagged edges." A professional webdesigner uses PNG's quite often. If possible SVG, but PNG is still (and probably will remain) needed for specific artwork that is both small in file size and has professional transparent edges. As most of the webdesigners, that use Adobe software, know that since the CC version their new PNG exporter is quite brilliant. It exports clean, sharp and small PNG-files in 8-bit with (near) perfect transparency. In my opinion, every webdesigner living and creating websites in 2018 and beyond, cannot have jagged edges OR large filesizes. And with Affinity you have to choose between these two. The only workaround is extra software, or something like TinyPNG, through which you have to pull/batch every exported PNG-24 file in order to recreate what Adobe can do with one click. The fact that you cannot export optimal PNG-8 files directly from the Affinity software, is a show-stopper. I think for every(!) webdesigner that wants to build good websites. The workaround is no viable option - it's too complicated, slow and (very) inefficient. There are quite some options in software, both offline and online that offer the same (or sometimes even slightly better) PNG-24 » PNG-8 conversions, so the technology is there. But for me personally, i cannot use any Affinity product now because the end result (the export) is un-usable and needs an extra conversion in order to be used on the web. This problem should be fixed as soon as possible, because i think that the effective (and professional) user-base of Affinity might double. Why? Because now only fotographers of graphic-designers can use Affinity in day-to-day use. I don't believe that way more webdesigners will join Affinity, IF the PNG exporter gets improved to a professional standard. Hope to see this get implemented » then i most probably will start using Affinity!

I think most people don't understand the problem and are trying to explain things that are irrelevant. I see more reactions about PNG and what it technically is, but the real problems is within Affinity and how it handles PNG, esspecially PNG-8. If the viewport or zoomlevel gives you certain problems, that is not even the main or biggest problem that i have. It's that after exporting a PNG to an 8-bit file, with transparency, it also gives the(se) ultra ugly jagged edges. The final file you work with in a website is simply unusable (ugly or 2 to 5 times too large) The difference between Adobe's export to a PNG with 8-bit and transparancy is night and day (Affinity export looks like a really bad GIF from 1992, and Photoshop delivers a perfect PNG with smooth edges and transparency and an even smaller filesize as well!) As a webdesigner i need PNG's to be the best they can be - professional, smooth and small in size. I'm really willing to start using Affinity, but this PNG (handling & export) problem is a 100% showstopper. What bothers me is that multiple people have been addressing this problem, but i haven't seen even 1 reaction from Affinity about this problem and IF and WHEN they are going to fix this. I think that no single webdesigner can use Affinity (Photo AND Designer) with the current state of PNG export. PS. i have tried this about a year ago, but my trial has ended obviously. I truly hope it is fixed, but after searching the internet i haven't found anyone with a (good) solution.

I'm quite worried that this won't get into Affinity anytime soon. These requests, especially about PNG / Diffusion / 8-bit / Alpha / Anti-aliasing started around 2015 and still no single feature has been implemented to get on par with the current PNG/save and preview options, some that are in PS for years now. I truly hope that the PNG-8 optimization gets into Affinity ASAP, because this is one the biggest deal-breakers for me. (working with web-graphics)