MikeBonds Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hi there, I bought Affinity Designer a few days ago. I have long been an advocate of Sketch, but really love what the Affinity line brings to the table. There is one major drawback that I have been noticing though. As a UI designer I expect borders and lines to be as smooth and sharp as possible, but for whatever reason this is not the case in Affinity Designer. I'm wondering if this is normal, and if so could some one explain why. As an illustration program I would expect smoother lines. Thanks, -Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Callum Posted July 28, 2015 Staff Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hi Mike, Welcome to the forums! This definitely isn't typical of Affinity Designer please could you attach an example file for me to look at? C Quote Please tag me using @ in your reply so I can be sure to respond ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBonds Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hello Callum! Thanks for the welcome. This is an example from Affinity Designer https://www.dropbox.com/s/ldkro5dnkf3htx2/AffinityDesigner.png?dl=0 This is an example from Sketch https://www.dropbox.com/s/t5p0b6e4ld6tu76/Sketch.png?dl=0 Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MattP Posted July 28, 2015 Staff Share Posted July 28, 2015 You're seeing the effect of drawing on partial pixels vs. drawing on whole pixels. Look at your Transform panel with that rectangle selected and it will read out that it does not start on a whole pixel. Turn on 'Force Pixel Alignment' and you won't create items which are on partial pixels :) Thanks, Matt Callum 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evtonic3 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I am investigating this too and I am wondering what is happening. Mike Bonds sketch png is crystal clear and the stroke is black. When I try to do this in ADI get grey stroke and "blurry" as he said. I also did the force pixel alignment with starting at a whole pixel as you have told us to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBonds Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hi Matt, Like the above poster, I have tried this as well to no avail. Was wondering if you could post a few examples of this working for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted July 28, 2015 Staff Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hi MikeBonds, evtonic3, You have to enable Snapping and check Snap to Grid in the Snapping Manager options (View ▹ Snapping Manager...). You may also need to change the alignment of the shape's stroke to Inside or Outside in the Stroke width dropdown. Take a look at this short clip. It's possible to control object's position in half or full pixels on the grid for full control. Enabling Snap to Grid let's you control object's position in half pixels, clicking on Force Pixel Alignment in the Persona toolbar allows full pixel positioning both for Move and Node tools. impixeldude 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evtonic3 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 a-ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBonds Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 MEB, thank you very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impixeldude Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 Nah, guys, it wont help! I've tried all variants of drawing and snapping, but in every view mode (even in vector mode with 100% document zoom) - I have blurry edges... I feel so much pain!!! Here's the example of how does the button with 1px stroke hurts my eyes in vector view mode at 100% scale. Ouch! The same button in PS CC 2015. Here's the same object, but in pixel view mode, with all possible and proper snapping, as you may see... Just compare the horizontal line - it is sharp and clean, while the vertical one stays blurred wherever I drag this little bch (by whole pixel, or half, with or without snapping). As a summary - I can't see sharp edges anywhere, except vector view mode with the document scaled up to more than 300%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted July 31, 2017 Staff Share Posted July 31, 2017 Hi impixeldude, Welcome to Affinity Forums :) Are you using artboards? If so, check the X,Y coordinates of the artboard in the Transform panel and set them to integer values. You need to change the number of Decimal Places for Units Types in Affinity Preferences, User Interface section to 6 to be able to see/check the decimal places in the Transform panel. To prevent this from happening make sure you have Force Pixel Alignment enabled from the start in the Snapping Manager. impixeldude 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impixeldude Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Hi, MEB! Thank you for response! I was checking the coordinates both of an object and artboards. All settings are set by defaults (except showing lines and text in points - they are all in pixels) Snapping turned on aswell. ). I've been experimenting with drawing objects with the strokes aligned to different sides (like you said here earlier) and came to conclusion, that "inside" and "outside" alignment gives the most desirable result. "Center" makes edges blurry anyways. But as for the snapping - I'm still having some questions With Force pixel alignment and Move by whole pixels options turned on, I'm still getting decimal values in XY coordinates, but this happens randomly. Some rectangles have values like xx,5. While the other can have even xx,8 or alike. So, does snapping work fine for me or am I misunderstanding the way it is working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted August 1, 2017 Staff Share Posted August 1, 2017 Hi impixeldude, There's a few situations where other snapping options may interfere with full pixel alignment. For example if you have a rectangle with 21 px width and have Snap to object bounding boxes and Include bounding box mid points in particular enabled, other objects may snap to the middle of that box which will give you a 0.5 pixel coordinate as a result (since the width of the box is not an even value). So disabling it in the Snapping options will prevent those situations as these options have priority over pixel alignment. Move by whole pixels does exactly what it says and moves (transforms actually) an object an integer value. This means that you have it enabled and are trying to scale a text box which does NOT have an integer width or height, it will always end up with non-integer values as coordinates, because Move by whole pixels forces it to move or scale an integer value in addition to the decimal value that it already possess. This option should only be enabled if you have objects that use sub-pixel coordinates (like icons for example where you may want to keep the sub pixel values - the decimal values- intact) when moving or scale them. impixeldude 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impixeldude Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Ok, got it, MEB! Thanks a lot for your help and patience! I will keep an eye on that settings while working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Lvovsky Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Hi, can someone pleas explain why some of my lines in my illustrations look blurry after when I export it? Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted May 22, 2020 Staff Share Posted May 22, 2020 Hi Daniel Lvovsky, Welcome to Affinity Forums Can you give us a few more details please? I'm guessing you are using Designer. Are you using brushes for those lines? What tool have you used to create them? Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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