[Affinity Photo] Prevent fuzzy outline

[Kaffeepause]

I kindly ask for help in the follwoing matter, I don't get the desired result.

 

For my work I create presentations and job aids and therefore I create screen shots with magnifying glass effect on areas that I wish to highlight, similar to the effect in the preview app.

 

To achieve this I create a circle selection around the highlighting area on the first layer and with CMD+J I create a new layer. This new layer then contains the selected detail. Then I enlarge this detail picture slightly by a transformation. At last I add the Outline effect and an outer shadow.

 

My problem is that the outline is very frayed, fuzzy and unbeautiful. When I do the same in Photoshop, however, it is sharp and clear.

 

In Affinity Photo I tried to get better results with "Smooth" and "Refine Edges", but with no success. I added 2 example pictures to show the difference. Both are based on the same picture, a screen shot made on a Windows PC and stored as *.bmp file.

 

Because I dislike abonnement software, and like very much Affinity Photo, I want to go away from Photoshop as soon as possible and therefore I kindly ask for help to get the same result in Affinity Photo as I get in Photoshop.

 

Thank You very much in advance.

[MEB]

Hi Kaffeepause

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

I see what you mean. You can use a vector shape (Ellipse Tool) to get a clean stroke, but using an Outer Shadow and an Outline FX (which is what i believe you're doing) should really give a better result than this. I will investigate it further and fill a bug report if needed.

 

Meanwhile here's a quick workaround that should give you a clean result:

- draw an ellipse with the Ellipse Tool and give it a width, covering the area you want

- duplicate your screenshot layer: right-click on it on the Layers panel and select duplicate or simply select it and press ⌘ (cmd) + J

- drag the duplicated screenshot over the ellipse shape layer (we are using the vector shape as a clipping mask) in the Layers panel

- select the ellipse layer and enlarge it to the size you wish if needed (the clipped screenshot will also scale with it). If you want to enlarge only the clipped screenshot, select it from the Layers panel and scale it as you usually do.

- add an Outer Shadow to the ellipse.

 

 

The advantage of this is that you can resize the shape and the screenshot inside independently from each other to suit your needs.

Check the attached file for a sample.

focus.afphoto.zip

[Kaffeepause]

MEB thank you very much for your answer.

 

I re-created your workaround step by step and received exactly the wished result. That's great!

 

And the mentioned advantage that I can resize either the shape and the picture inside or each other is much more better than my primal approach. Using a vector shape as clipping mask is so much more elegant. Thank you for that.

[MEB]

You're welcome  ^_^

Glad to know it's sorted out.

[BlauerClaus]

Hi MEB - is there any way to give the zoomed part of the picture any kind of glass effect, lens distortion effect or sheric distrotion effect which simulates the glass distortion? Whenever I apply one of the present effects to the shape or the underlying picture, it is applied to the center of the overall picture, and not in the center of the shape.

 

Ideas? 

 

Best regards

BlauerClaus