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Brush strokes look jaggy compared to Photoshop


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I just found out about Affinity Photo and was really looking forward to make the switch from Adobe Photoshop, so I decided to get the free trial.

As soon as I started using it, I noticed an issue with the brushes. I use a Wacom tablet, but even when I try drawing with the mouse the brush strokes are still not perfectly smooth like in Photoshop, and instead they appear jaggy. I noticed a bunch of threads by other people on this same issue, and they never seem to come to a solution...I tried disabling/enabling Windows Ink, changing the Brush hardness etc.

It seems like the View Quality (Bilinear) is not enough for some reason, also I don't know if this only affects the editor or not, but even when I export a .png the lines are still not smooth. I'm really eager to get the program, but this is a real deal breaker for me. Is there a way to fix this or not?

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3 hours ago, PetervL said:

Go to "more" button and set spacing to 1% See if this works for you.

Yeah I tried that already, doesn't work. It doesn't seem to be brush related, more like a rendering issue or something...a brush with the same exact settings in Photoshop doesn't exhibit these issues.

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11 hours ago, MadPropz101 said:

I just found out about Affinity Photo and was really looking forward to make the switch from Adobe Photoshop, so I decided to get the free trial.

As soon as I started using it, I noticed an issue with the brushes. I use a Wacom tablet, but even when I try drawing with the mouse the brush strokes are still not perfectly smooth like in Photoshop, and instead they appear jaggy. I noticed a bunch of threads by other people on this same issue, and they never seem to come to a solution...I tried disabling/enabling Windows Ink, changing the Brush hardness etc.

It seems like the View Quality (Bilinear) is not enough for some reason, also I don't know if this only affects the editor or not, but even when I export a .png the lines are still not smooth. I'm really eager to get the program, but this is a real deal breaker for me. Is there a way to fix this or not?

Are you using a tablet? You need to use Windows ink or High Precision when drawing with a tablet. Drawing with a mouse will produce jagged lines regardless of which mode you pick. I recommend always activating Stabilizer when drawing with a mouse to deal with those jaggy strokes. I personally use Window Mode with around 15 in strength.

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7 minutes ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

Are you using a tablet? You need to use Windows ink or High Precision when drawing with a tablet. Drawing with a mouse will produce jagged lines regardless of which mode you pick. I recommend always activating Stabilizer when drawing with a mouse to deal with those jaggy strokes. I personally use Window Mode with around 15 in strength.

I'm sorry, but didn't I already say in my post? I use a tablet, I messed around with Windows Ink and it doesn't change anything...stabilizer doesn't change it either, and neither does the pressure button.

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7 minutes ago, MadPropz101 said:

I'm sorry, but didn't I already say in my post? I use a tablet, I messed around with Windows Ink and it doesn't change anything...stabilizer doesn't change it either, and neither does the pressure button.

Sorry, I missed that part. Just woke up, so my brain isn't completely there, lol. ^^;

Do you have a way to record your screen and post a video of the problem in question? I also use a Wacom tablet (Cintiq 13" HD), but I can't really replicate your issue it seems. 

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19 hours ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

Do you have a way to record your screen and post a video of the problem in question? I also use a Wacom tablet (Cintiq 13" HD), but I can't really replicate your issue it seems. 

Agreed. We need to see exactly what you're seeing please :)

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On 3/28/2021 at 11:54 AM, PetervL said:

Go to "more" button and set spacing to 1% See if this works for you.

 

On 3/28/2021 at 3:37 PM, Frozen Death Knight said:

Sorry, I missed that part. Just woke up, so my brain isn't completely there, lol. ^^;

Do you have a way to record your screen and post a video of the problem in question? I also use a Wacom tablet (Cintiq 13" HD), but I can't really replicate your issue it seems. 

 

10 hours ago, Chris B said:

Agreed. We need to see exactly what you're seeing please :)

Sorry for taking a while, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ksxy2TFOgc

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2 hours ago, MadPropz101 said:

Sorry for taking a while, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ksxy2TFOgc

I think some of the differences in behaviour might have to do with the default brushes that you are using. They are a bit wonky and the brush settings in Affinity are not quite the same as the defaults in Photoshop. I personally changed the basic brushes to behave more like the Photoshop ones. Could you try my brush pack that I have posted here and see if the round brushes I made feel better? Here's a video example of how my custom brushes look and behave as a frame of reference (this is without Stabilizer btw).

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34 minutes ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

I think some of the differences in behaviour might have to do with the default brushes that you are using. They are a bit wonky and the brush settings in Affinity are not quite the same as the defaults in Photoshop. I personally changed the basic brushes to behave more like the Photoshop ones. Could you try my brush pack that I have posted here and see if the round brushes I made feel better? Here's a video example of how my custom brushes look and behave as a frame of reference (this is without Stabilizer btw).

 

I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but custom brushes exhibit the same jaginness in your video. I have also downloaded the pack to try it out myself, and it has confirmed it. It doesn't seem to be an issue related to any specific brush, but the software itself.

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Your strokes seem to be quite a bit rougher than mine—can you check to see if it makes a difference when drawing at 100% zoom as opposed to a zoom less than 100%?

We do have an open issue wherein drawing at zoom levels below 100% can make the brush look a bit rougher. I also believe Photoshop applies some mild smoothing to their strokes whereas we do not.

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7 hours ago, Chris B said:

Your strokes seem to be quite a bit rougher than mine—can you check to see if it makes a difference when drawing at 100% zoom as opposed to a zoom less than 100%?

We do have an open issue wherein drawing at zoom levels below 100% can make the brush look a bit rougher. I also believe Photoshop applies some mild smoothing to their strokes whereas we do not.

The roughness does vary depending on zoom levels, but it is always there regardless. Is there no way currently to make the strokes smooth? Are you guys working on an update?

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Photo doesn't apply any auto-smoothing whatsoever for raster brushes. The Stabilizer option is supposed to help you work around this but you need to find the right balance between how much pull or resistance it gives you to meet your natural flow when painting.

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3 hours ago, Chris B said:

Photo doesn't apply any auto-smoothing whatsoever for raster brushes. The Stabilizer option is supposed to help you work around this but you need to find the right balance between how much pull or resistance it gives you to meet your natural flow when painting.

Well that's disappointing...the stabilizer doesn't help make it any less jaggy. Hope you guys change this in the future. Thank you for the answer.

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14 hours ago, ZufDraw said:

I was able to reproduce some of brush issues consistently. I'm on a Mac though, but just to mention. The main issues I experience are described here

 

 

And here about jagged lines, mainly due to zoom levels:

 

 

Thanks for posting, it does seem like you have found what causes the issue!

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