Viewing document as actual (printed) size

[rockclimber]

I would like to be able to view my Affinity Designer document as it will appear when printed.  For example, when I created a new document I set the document size to 203 mm x 279 mm and I would like to see it displayed on my iPad at this size.  I suspect that the answer to this question is either very simple or very complicated. Thanks. 

[Dan C]

Hi @rockclimber,

I have moved your question to the iPad section of our forums, as I believe you're using the Affinity apps on iPad. Please let me know if this is not the case.

9 hours ago, rockclimber said:

For example, when I created a new document I set the document size to 203 mm x 279 mm and I would like to see it displayed on my iPad at this size.

When you say 'displayed on my iPad at this size' - are you referring to viewing the document within the Affinity app on your iPad, or are you viewing the document using a different app/method?

Are you looking to have the document displayed so that, for example, 1inch on your iPad display matches 1inch in the document? (ie 'Actual size view'?)

Many thanks in advance

[rockclimber]

Many thanks for the quick reply!!  Yes, this would be viewing the document on my iPad. As another example when I created a new document I set the dimensions of the document at 100mm x 100mm.  When I open that document in AD, the aspect ratio is 1:1 which is correct, but when I created a 10mm  circle on the screen, it is physically larger than that, I.e., when I measure it with a ruler.  I was wondering if there was a setting that would automatically show the document as 100mm x 100mm on my iPad screen, i.e, an "actual size" button. The reason I am doing this is that I want to convert some of my drawings into wood carvings, and I need to assess if the size of something I have drawn is practical in terms of carving. Thanks again 

[Dan C]

No problem at all, thanks for confirming that

When zooming, Designer iPad will ignore the document DPI and render everything at native 2X DPI on the iPad display. There is no "actual size - which calculates the zoom based on the DPI" on the iPad, as is available on the desktop unfortunately. So, all the "DPI dependent" units ( cm, inch, etc) would be calculated at the iPad 2x native DPI, meaning a "true" size would be shown at 50%.

To test this, I created a document which was 300mm x 300mm @ 300DPI , then drew a rectangle measuring 20mm x 20mm. 
Then, I opened the Navigator Studio and set the Zoom to 50%. The 20mm Rectangle on the canvas now measures 20mm according to my ruler, meaning it's being displayed at 'true size'.

I hope this helps!

[rockclimber]

Great!  This seems to work. I viewed my 100mm x 100mm document at 50% and it measured (with a ruler) 100 x 100.  Similarly, my 10 mm circle measured 10 mm.  Do I need to set my DPI at a specific value to ensure this works. I think it was set to 144 for the 100 x 100. This help has been awesome, thanks. 

[Dan C]

Happy to help!

7 minutes ago, rockclimber said:

 Do I need to set my DPI at a specific value to ensure this works.

No, as far as I'm aware the document DPI is ignored when zooming into a document using DPI dependant units (essentially everything expect Pixels), viewing the file at 50% should always provide an 'actual' size of the object

[rockclimber]

FYI, I use an app called RapidResizer which allows me to accurately set the size of a printed image. Therefore, if I set the image size to the AD document size e.g., in mm, I get a paper copy which matches the AD size. I can then transfer this to my wood for carving.