Please put the image dimensions in the UI!

[Stokestack]

This is such basic, necessary information... and not only is it missing from the main UI, but it's also missing from the Info panel. Seriously?

It should be in the UI at all times. Show us the dimensions of the current document in the unit of our choice (mine would be pixels). Photoshop does so in the status bar. I don't really care where you put it, as long as it's always visible.

If anyone seriously needs to ask why this is necessary: It tells you immediately if you need to resize something, perhaps for a particular use. It also tells you if an image has sufficient resolution to support a particular use.

Now you think of some uses! It's fun.

[Old Bruce]

Look at the transform panel.

[walt.farrell]

It's also in the Context Toolbar when you're using the View Tool.

[Stokestack]

4 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Look at the transform panel.

I did. It shows that my image's dimensions are all zero, despite it filling my screen. Screen shot below.

 

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

It's also in the Context Toolbar when you're using the View Tool.

Thanks for the info. That is nearly undiscoverable and absurd. We're somehow supposed to guess that to see image dimensions, we should go select a "hand" tool. And even if we'd used said tool in the past, the chances of happening to notice image dimensions buried in a tiny text string of stats in a toolbar - for a tool that has no settings and doesn't do resizing - are very very low. Now multiply that by the chance of remembering that a string of stats was displayed when you selected an irrelevant tool, and you get vanishingly low.

The workaround of choice for essentially every user is going to be pulling up the Resize Document dialog. Every damned time. Again, ridiculous.

[carl123]

4 hours ago, Stokestack said:

The workaround of choice for essentially every user is going to be pulling up the Resize Document dialog. Every damned time. Again, ridiculous.

The transform panel shows the dimension of the selected layer. So, with the move tool selected, just select your image layer and you will get the information you need

[Stokestack]

1 hour ago, carl123 said:

The transform panel shows the dimension of the selected layer. So, with the move tool selected, just select your image layer and you will get the information you need

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that doesn't work. Screen grab attached. The real image dimensions are more than 3000 x 4000. Oh wait: After you do a Paste, Photo puts a selection marquee around the entire new layer for some reason... in addition to the "selected" border and handles that it already has.

Let's look at how absurd this is: To see the "image" dimensions, you'd have to guess that they reside on a tiny tab in the corner labeled "transform," but only if you have one specific tool selected. And there'd better not be a selection on the canvas.

Oh wait: You're only seeing the dimensions of one layer and not the entire document.

Does that about sum it up?

 

[carl123]

1 minute ago, Stokestack said:

Unfortunately not. The sole layer was selected.

With the Move Tool Selected?

 

[Stokestack]

38 minutes ago, carl123 said:

With the Move Tool Selected?

See my revised answer above. In any other application, the "hand" tool IS the "move" tool. But of course, not in the world of Affinity.

I don't really see a need to explore further "workarounds" to this obvious problem. They merely prove the validity of the request.

[fde101]

1 hour ago, Stokestack said:

They merely prove the validity of the request.

You mean the request to constantly waste screen space displaying information that is completely irrelevant to 50% of users 90% of the time?  Most of my time spent editing a photo I don't care about this and would rather the screen real-estate be used for more productive purposes.  It is easy enough to look up the information when do I need it.

[Ron P.]

1 hour ago, Stokestack said:

In any other application, the "hand" tool IS the "move" tool

Not really, I've seen it called the Pan Tool.

 

1 hour ago, Stokestack said:

I don't really see a need to explore further "workarounds" to this obvious problem

They're not workaround, they're how Serif designed their apps. Also it is a problem only when you don't learn how the app works.

 

1 hour ago, Stokestack said:

They merely prove the validity of the request.

Ok, I'll agree about proving the validity...

[NotMyFault]

If need permanent display of dimension, you could use the metadata panel and put it wherever you want (even detached and always on top, or on a separate  monitor  

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/metadataPanel.html

You may need to adjust studio and/or create a studio preset to have this visible for all documents. 
 

If you could live with a keyboard shortcut: press c to access the crop tool (and escape when finished). It displays the current size of the canvas.

 

[PaulEC]

I really don't see any point in displaying this information all the time, it's not like it's suddenly going to change all by itself! As for the "problem" of "pulling up the Resize Document dialog. Every damned time." Just how many times a minute do you need to change size/dpi etc? Is hitting Ctrl+Alt+I that difficult?

It's really quite a good idea to learn how things work in the Affinity apps, rather than complaining that they are different to the equivalent Adobe apps. Also. I see no reason to assume that the way the Adobe apps do things is the right way, and anything else is wrong.

[Stokestack]

"Learn how the app works?" My entire request was based on how the app works, and hasn't been invalidated by an exploration of it from anyone in this thread. So apparently nobody knows "how the app works," because nobody has shown how to fulfill the request.

As usual with apologists for inept design, now that the feature has been proven to be missing you resort to, "Well, you don't need that anyway." Or "you're holding it wrong." Or "I don't want that."

Maybe you're responding to someone else, because I never said to clone Photoshop. The simple fact is that other applications manage to show this information (and do lots of other basic things, like resize the selection marquee) with a UI that's no more cluttered than Affinity's.

If you're so upset about extra crap in the UI, refer us to your request to consolidate the Gradient controls that are scattered over a dialog box or two, in addition to a separate tool in the palette that hides some critical others.

[NotMyFault]

well, you are free to raise requests based on your personal preferences. 

• Some request might get liked (upvoted) by other users.  At this time I cannot spot a single like. But this can change any time.
• Some request might get comments questioning the request. Probably more frequent if the request is reasoned straight from the start with a certain level and type of emotion, and the requested  function is actually available, but maybe just hidden by the inconvenience of a single click or key stroke away. I’m not really surprised if the request won’t get on no. 1 priority from Affinity. 

I hope we can all calm down a bit, everyone (including myself 😂) had its fair chance to make his point.

It hurts if your fantastic idea doesn’t resonate well, please don’t take this personal. The next might be the rock star  

 

 

[Medical Officer Bones]

I agree it would be handy (and expected) to display the current image/layer dimensions in the info panel. I would also expect to see it displayed there, instead of "Memory Efficiency" or "Memory pressure", which seem quite useless to me. In fact, the Info panel already displays the colour mode, bit depth, and colour profile, so it is somewhat incomprehensible that basic image properties such as image / layer dimensions are omitted.

Or just in the bottom bar at the right, or something. It wouldn't take up any extra space. Combine this with a current layer size would be quite handy as well and not necessitate the use of an extra transform panel.

Or a simple option to include the dimensions in the displayed title, just like some of the alternatives do.

And the behaviour of the move tool is inconsistent in that it will display the layer size of an image layer, but not of a pixel layer or background layer in the tool properties. Instead it *does* display the PPI value for all of them - so why not their pixel dimensions? PPI is a useless value unless the actual pixel dimensions are known!

For example.

To figure out the dimensions and PPI of a pixel layer, I must open the transform panel to inspect that layer's dimensions, select the move tool, and read the PPI values in the tool's properties bar. Which is somewhat awkward, to say the very least. (not mentioning the mid-tinted grey used to display that PPI value, which makes it unnecessarily hard to distinguish and read...)

Conversely, to figure out the dimensions and PPI values of a placed image layer, I merely must select the move tool, and both values are displayed in the toolbar (in white text!).

In any case, I don't believe this Hand tool trick has been mentioned yet:

- With any tool active (other than the Hand tool) press H: the current document dimensions are displayed in the top left toolbar properties. Press H a second time to return to your active tool.

This is quick and effective to note the current document dimensions, and switch back to what you were doing.

Unfortunately it still doesn't fix the incoherencies and inconsistencies related to the move tool and the lack of a consolidated group of image/layer property values displayed in one location in the GUI. But at least it allows for a quick document resolution check.
 

[Rich]

On 6/9/2021 at 2:12 PM, Stokestack said:

This is such basic, necessary information... and not only is it missing from the main UI, but it's also missing from the Info panel. Seriously?

I agree entirely. When I open an image file I need to know at a glance; dimension (in units of my choice), file size (mb), colour profile and bit depth. This information quickly tells me what I need to do for whatever purpose the image is intended for. That is just efficient workflow design, relative to having to look in other panels or have certain tools active to gather the various image data together. Also, I do not need to know my RAM memory efficiency or pressure -- ever.

But maybe some people need to know memory efficiency/pressure (on their 8GB systems) and other people need to know other information to facilitate their own workflow.

The solution: Give the user a choice of what information is displayed in the Info Panel via a simple "Info Options" dialogue where you just tic boxes next to various file information types. This would enhance the value and efficiency of Affinity Photo for each user.

[thomaso]

On 6/9/2021 at 10:12 PM, Stokestack said:

(…) missing from the Info panel (…)
It should be in the UI at all times. Show us the dimensions of the current document in the unit of our choice

I agree and would prefer have it displayed permanently.

One workaround: (In case it was not mentioned in the discussion yet / I did not read all)
If you type Cmd-A (select all) then the document dimensions get displayed in the info window, in your currently selected unit and completely independent of the selected tool or layer(s).

.

[NotMyFault]

3 hours ago, thomaso said:

One workaround: (In case it was not mentioned in the discussion yet / I did not read all)
If you type Cmd-A (select all) then the document dimensions get displayed in the info window, in your currently selected unit and completely independent of the selected tool or layer(s).

Interesting. How did you get Info panel into that mode? Update: Your signature says you are on MAC, maybe it doesn't work on Windows.
Doesn’t work on my Windows PC, and doesn’t match the documentation in help file.

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Panels/infoPanel.html

According to help (and in my experience) it shows only relative data wrt mouse movement / move tool.

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by NotMyFault
Added PS

[Stokestack]

Oh noes, look out newcomers! Apologists gonna git you for wanting to see some useful information!

On 6/10/2021 at 2:42 AM, fde101 said:

You mean the request to constantly waste screen space displaying information that is completely irrelevant to 50% of users 90% of the time?

But you and the majority of users desperately need to see "memory efficiency and pressure," right genius?

[NotMyFault]

41 minutes ago, Stokestack said:

Oh noes, look out newcomers! Apologists gonna git you for wanting to see some useful information!

But you and the majority of users desperately need to see "memory efficiency and pressure," right genius?

I think nobody wants to see this or needs this. Kind of useless "debug info" from old days.

 

Back to serious mode: I really would like to understand what information you would like to see in the info panel, and for what purpose you need it.

The requested "document size" could be totally misleading.

• You can create a 6000x4000px document, place a 60x40px image / pixel layer into it, and stretch this layer to match the document size.
• Or create a 60x40 document, place a stock image of 6000x4000px into it. May leave it, or reduce it to match the document size.

So to be able using the info panel to judge if "a document" has "enough resolution" for any kind of purpose, your would need something far more capable:

• Showing the document size (used as intended resolution for your purposed use case)
• Listing the size of "key" layers:
  • the layers in the document contributing most to the visible canvas
  • Listing if any "key" layers have deviating DPI, or being rotated (which may impact effective DPI)
  • Indicating if areas of the current canvas have visible areas from layers with insufficient DPI

The term "key" layers is used to describe the following complication.

• If you have only one layer (assuming it is visible), it is totally easy: this is your only key layer.
• But in case of more complex documents it is difficult to decide which are the key layers. My preferred choice is rating (in %) based on what of a layer is visible in the canvas.

Please take my post as honest and serious question trying to solve a real world problem.

[Stokestack]

It's really not hard. Photoshop puts the document dimensions in the status bar, in your choice of units of measure. That's all we're asking for. I have no idea what you're on about with "key layers" and your imaginary complications. The document has dimensions; they are shown in the "resize document" dialog. Just show those.

This is a solved problem, for everyone except Affinity.

[iconoclast]

You can also see the document size in pixels x pixels in the Metadata panel.

For me it is not really an important topic, but f.e. in GIMP you can see the image size in the header, and also the file name, the colourspace, -depth and -profile, and the quantity of layers of the document. I think, it would be cool if Affinity Apps would offer this too. Might be a case for the "Feature Requests & Suggestions".

Edit: Oh sorry, I forgot that this IS the "Feature Requests & Suggestions" category.🙄

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

Doesn’t work on my Windows PC, and doesn’t match the documentation in help file.

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Panels/infoPanel.html

According to help (and in my experience) it shows only relative data wrt mouse movement / move tool.

The help doesn't mention a specific tool, right? Yes, the middle values (W / H) are relative and occur only during click+dragging a selection (running ants) but disappear when releasing the mouse button – except with cmd-A. Then the 2 values remain as long the full size selection exists, whereas the transform panel displays in W / H the values for a currently selected layer object, which can vary of course.

Note: if I click-drag a full size selection with the selection tool it also displays the document's size but only as long the mouse button is pressed. So the permanent view works only if I select via shortcut or menu Select > Select All.

[NotMyFault]

3 minutes ago, thomaso said:

The help doesn't mention a specific tool, right? Yes, the middle values (W / H) are relative and occur only during click+dragging a selection (running ants) but disappear when releasing the mouse button – except with cmd-A. Then the 2 values remain as long the full size selection exists, whereas the transform panel displays in W / H the values for a currently selected layer object, which can vary of course.

Note: if I click-drag a full size selection with the selection tool it also displays the document's size but only as long the mouse button is pressed. So the permanent view works only if I select via shortcut or menu Select > Select All.

Cmd-A trick (for info panel) works on Mac only, not on Windows. I filed a bug report.

[Wosven]

2 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

maybe it doesn't work on Windows.

It does. Without modifying anything, in the Beta.

I'm not sur what the "P" (French, "D" in English) stand for... or what the Angle refers to, since when drawing a square, it'll keep on being modifyed depending of its size.