Sharpening lines

[vito]

So I have layers of lineart. In photoshop I use to enlarge the file and in order to show stronger lines ( with less grey pixels around them) I use to go to  filters and then Sharpen. I use to do it over and over again for every layer and multiple times on the same one if I need to. The sharpening filters are doing nothing on my lines in affinity photo. Maybe they've a better use for photographs? How do I solve My problem?

Cheers Help please

 

[John Rostron]

Are the layers you are trying to sharpen pixel layers? (With (Pixel) after the layer name.) If not, the use Layer > Rasterise. 

John

[vito]

Of Course... I'm talking about Photoshop and affinity photo...

[firstdefence]

1 hour ago, vito said:

Of Course... I'm talking about Photoshop and affinity photo...

Affinity Photo can have (Pixel) layers, (Image) layers and more. An (image) layer isn't as editable as a (Pixel) layer, so John was asking if the photo was an Image layer and if it was to Right click and select Rasterise to make it a (Pixel) layer so that you have more options for editing.

 

[vito]

PIXEL LAYER

[walt.farrell]

Perhaps you could make a sample .afphoto document with some example lineart that you're having trouble sharpening, @vito, and attach it here for us to look at. That's probably the best way to get good answers.

[vito]

These two images are in photoshop. First is normal . second is after using filter, sharpen. If i try all 3 sharpening filters in affinity they don't do this. I need to do this. fast and efficiently

[walt.farrell]

Again, it would help to have an actual .afphoto file that you're having trouble with, @vito. Screenshots are a poor substitute, especially screenshots from another application. Please give us a file.

[vito]

As you wish. this is a line on a canvas. I need to sharpen the line. I know slow tricky process. I need a fast and efficient one. like the sharpen filter in photoshop.

the line.afphoto

[firstdefence]

Duplicating appears to work best, so,

1. Duplicate (Cmd + J) the layer 10x
2. Right click on the top layer and select Merge Visible
3. Delete the layers below the top layer.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 again
5. Repeat steps 1 to 3 again but on step one do it 5x

You should end up with something like this

[walt.farrell]

Here's an Unsharp Mask applied 5 times (with radius and factor maximized) on the left, and the original at the same scale on the right:

                 

[vito]

I like it . I like both answers they're both working fine to me. About Walt.Farrel your procedure is working only if I use Linear Light as a blending mode.

Thank you very much for your kindness.

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, vito said:

About Walt.Farrel your procedure is working only if I use Linear Light as a blending mode.

I used Normal as the layer blend mode, vito. That was simply your image, with Photo's Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask applied 5 times to the pixel layer.

I was very puzzled by your earlier comment that none of the sharpening did anything, because Unsharp Mask (with appropriately high slider settings) has an immediately obvious affect, even used once.

[R C-R]

14 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I was very puzzled by your earlier comment that none of the sharpening did anything, because Unsharp Mask (with appropriately high slider settings) has an immediately obvious affect, even used once.

For some reason, on my Mac that filter has no effect on Vito's line, regardless of the slider settings. Neither does the live version or the Sharpen Tool. To have any effect, I have to change the color of at least part of the line from black to something else.

I suspect I am overlooking something but I can't figure out what it is.

[carl123]

 

 

 

1

3 hours ago, R C-R said:

For some reason, on my Mac that filter has no effect on Vito's line, regardless of the slider settings. Neither does the live version or the Sharpen Tool.

This has no effect for me either (Windows 8.1)

[Alfred]

If you start by exporting the image to JPEG to get rid of the transparency, you can open the exported image in Affinity Photo and apply a Threshold adjustment.

  

[R C-R]

26 minutes ago, Alfred said:

If you start by exporting the image to JPEG to get rid of the transparency ...

Alfred, if you use the OP's file as is, on your PC does applying the Unsharp Mask as @walt.farrell suggested do anything?

Prompted by your mention of transparency, instead of exporting to jpeg, I tried merging the original layer with a white rectangle placed behind it & then applying the Unsharp Mask filter to the merged layer. That did have an effect, although it left rough edges (left image). I also tried getting rid of the transparency via Select > Alpha Range > Fully Transparent & then using the Flood Fill Tool to fill the selection with white, which produced an Unsharp Mask effect like in the right image.

  

Anyway, it seems that the Unsharp Mask doesn't touch transparent (or partially transparent?) pixels, which is why neither I nor @carl123 saw it do anything.

Does that make sense?

[Alfred]

13 hours ago, R C-R said:

Anyway, it seems that the Unsharp Mask doesn't touch transparent (or partially transparent?) pixels, which is why neither I nor @carl123 saw it do anything.

Does that make sense?

That sounds as though it makes sense! I’ll try to remember to test this the next time I’m on my Windows machine.

[walt.farrell]

13 hours ago, R C-R said:

Anyway, it seems that the Unsharp Mask doesn't touch transparent (or partially transparent?) pixels, which is why neither I nor @carl123 saw it do anything.

But does not explain why it works fine on that image for me...

[firstdefence]

Same as Alfred and R C-R for me, with the file as-is unsharp mask has no effect, but, create a white rectangle underneath and merge visible and you will see the effect of the unsharp mask,  in that instance, as Alfred has said, a threshold filter is far more effective and it's flexible so you can choose the right amount of threshold to get the shape you want.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/unsharp-mask.htm

[R C-R]

56 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Same as Alfred and R C-R for me, with the file as-is unsharp mask has no effect ...

So we still do not have an explanation for why @walt.farrell gets an effect. Curious.

[firstdefence]

4 hours ago, R C-R said:

So we still do not have an explanation for why @walt.farrell gets an effect. Curious.

Just tried on a windows 10 system and from a straight open, and the use of the unsharp mask, it does the same thing as on Mac. 

I have no idea what Walt did, but using either the destructive and non-destructive unsharp mask has no affect.

[walt.farrell]

33 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

I have no idea what Walt did, but using either the destructive and non-destructive unsharp mask has no affect

I opened the file, used Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask... and dragged the top two sliders all the way up.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I opened the file, used Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask... and dragged the top two sliders all the way up.

So did I, but that had no effect.

[v_kyr]

When tried with the OP's file, the unsharp mask filter doesn't have any effect under MacOS, but just duplicating the layers will instead.