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Why no Bitmap mode?


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On 4/7/2020 at 11:37 AM, nik78 said:

You should be kidding because no one works that way.

They are all used together and not for one specific purpose.

That should be Affinity's goal (and  it sort of appears to be going that way).

I've been in this business for 35 years. That's the way it's done.

That is the way professionals work.
No one relies on one app as being good for just photos or illustration or anything else.

You go from one to the other all the time.

Solution is :

Affinity Designer should have a "no antialiasing" export option as Illustrator does.

Add bitmap mode to Photo and the problem is gone and you will get a lot more illustrators as customers.

Like I said: should have been there from day one.

YES!

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Well yes, I agree with all that.

An image created in pure black and white - scraperboard, for example, probably needs to be scanned at 2400 dpi at least, on a scanner in bitmap mode, so no greys are picked up at all. It can be converted back to greyscale if necessary, but it isn't really necessary if the publishing software can use the image correctly. It needs photo software to scan and retouch and publishing software to publish it.

I do this a lot. I don't want greys when I scan an ink drawing. I want edges to be as fine and clean as possible, so a high resolution is required. I have to use photoshop, because PS can handle bitmaps and dpi in excess of 400. It was a bit of a shock when I discovered that Affinity pretty much decided that 1 bit and anything above 400dpi was not in their world view. I didn't think to consider that it wouldn't be.

I'm not sure where the idea that 1 bit belongs in an illustration program comes from. But if the software can handle 1 bit and edit it, great. I don't care about the semantics. Just give me the tools.

I also use duotones and tritones a lot, either with true greyscales or with bitmaps, or a combination of the two. Sure you can make a sort of simulation in RGB, but it doesn't really do the job creatively, visually or mechanically. It's a little difficult to export to a couple of spot colour screens out of an RGB file. Or even greyscale separated plates.

It would be lovely if Affinity dropped the idea that there is no need to work above 400 dpi and that greyscale manipulation is old hat, but I'm not holding my breath.

Just sayin'

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Hm. Perhaps it's just me, but I can convert an RGB image into 1-bit in APh, edit it as 1-bit at 1200 ppi, and export it as a genuine 1-bit at 1200 ppi with a few clicks:

 

 

The two things I can't do directly and that I would like to have as well is to:

  1. export 1-bit TIFF from Affinity; I need Apple's Preview app to convert the PNG to 1-bit TIFF (without resorting to PS, of course; I'm using PS here just as a proof)
  2. edit 1-bit images directly in APh and save as 1-bit *.afphoto, without having to export it as PNG over and over again

Or am I missing something else y'all need and I currently don't?

Note that the exported PNG or TIFF can be easily placed into Publisher layouts, assigned spot colors, you name it:

 

Edited by loukash
compacted screencast from 70MB to 6MB…

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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2 hours ago, Fixx said:

It is just you. We others can do only thresholded greyscale document and export it to 1-bit PNG.

Are you replying to me?

If so: Well, yes, of course! That's what I've been doing in my example as well. The point is that the data I'm working on effectively behaves as "1-bit" within Affinity, albeit "faked". I am mimicking to be working in the 1-bit domain, and from what I can say by now, I can do everything with it I'd do if working on a 1-bit image in Schmotofopp. Yet the end result is a genuine 1-bit PNG as long as I use the correct export setting.

Hence my request: "edit 1-bit images directly in APh and save as 1-bit *.afphoto, without having to export it as PNG over and over again"

2 hours ago, Fixx said:

There is no 400 dpi limit in Affinity, it is just the ruler adjustment that stops at 400. You can numerically enter quite big numbers.

Exactly. Stuff like this is highly counterintuitive and also very inconsistent across the Affinity apps. Bad UI design.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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  • 1 month later...
On 4/7/2020 at 5:50 PM, walt.farrell said:

But why is it Photo that needs bitmap support?

Maybe because 1-bit does not leave gray artefacts and can be much easily traced by a vector app?

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/24/2021 at 9:03 PM, cadobir said:

but 1-bit graphics are still very important for certain vital sectors of graphic arts.

Exactly! It's not a question of some presumably outdated workflow which has a demand for 1-bit-graphics but as an illustrator or designer you just want to be able to give your designs the look you want them to have. And in this respect 1-bit-graphics are as valuable as ever in getting there.

The way Photoshop gives you different choices of how to convert greyscale images to 1-bit-graphics is so convenient, easy to handle and super useful for the visual effects you want to produce – I was definitely stunned when I discovered that Affinity Photo doesn't offer this (in my opinion) absolutely fundamental choice of pixel format...

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  • 1 year later...

 I just came here to find out why I can't edit a simple black and white logo on my just purchased Vs suite/ package

only to find I have to use Windows paint..

 

A crude work around.. bring a windows snip into AP resize and tart up (for want of a better word) nd then snip the enlarged frame and import into Windows Paint and then save it to BMP. It's pathetic! 

I used to use full version of Photoshop (don't have access to it now) to do this every day... So disappointed with my AP vs2

Edited by Grazuncle
corrected an error
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30 minutes ago, Grazuncle said:

I can't edit a simple black and white logo

Not even when you:

  1. select the Pixel Brush
  2. set its color to RGB 0-0-0
  3. enable snapping
  4. select the Pixel Work snapping preset
  5. adjust the brush size to whichever width (integer pixel) you want
  6. paint away?

Works for me. Pixel perfect.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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11 hours ago, loukash said:

Not even when you:

  1. select the Pixel Brush
  2. set its color to RGB 0-0-0
  3. enable snapping
  4. select the Pixel Work snapping preset
  5. adjust the brush size to whichever width (integer pixel) you want
  6. paint away?

Works for me. Pixel perfect.

Thanks for that... I'll look at it.

I mentioned b&w just now just because that is what I'm working on.. It can be any colour combination.

however I need a file for a program that uses BMP files (Only).. I can't save to BMP in AP. Not that I have discovered yet.

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Just now, Grazuncle said:

however I need a file for a program that uses BMP files (Only).. I can't save to BMP in AP. Not that I have discovered yet.

Fair enough, BMP export isn't supported in Affinity. 
But I'm quite confident that there exist at least three thousand freeware apps for Windows that will convert a 1-bit PNG to BMP. :) 

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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Maybe it is better solution to trace the 1-bit image and import it as a vector?

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

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51 minutes ago, NNN said:

Maybe it is better solution to trace the 1-bit image and import it as a vector?

Have I totally overlooked the Trace Persona in v2…?!

Oh, wait… :/ 

Sarcastic jokes aside: As far as I understood from posts e.g. by comic artists, using vector shapes is apparently the worse option than using 1-bit pixel layers. (Personally, I take vector over pixels any time, but I'm not a comic artist.)

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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55 minutes ago, loukash said:

Fair enough, BMP export isn't supported in Affinity. 
But I'm quite confident that there exist at least three thousand freeware apps for Windows that will convert a 1-bit PNG to BMP. :) 

I'm already using a free application as I stated in my first post.. Windows Paint. 

I'm going back to using Photoshop Elements 2020 for this often fiddly daily job. It does save to BMP  I know you can do workarounds (and i have been doing it) but I don't want another step in my routine if I can avoid it.

I have read of others opinions that defend AP and that it is a photo app. So is Photoshop and that has BMP support. Are they wasting their time with that too. They are all just colour manipulators to me. I'm not convinced

It's just an opinion guys/gals.

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