Affinity Designer: Make crop tool work for Bitmap layers and background

[Julian23]

The AD crop tool apparently only works for vectors. I frequently miss the possibility to crop bitmap layers. 

It should be also possible to enlarge bitmap layers with this tool (by adding background color around it). 

 

This is especially important for the background. 

 

Right now, the crop tool does nothing, unless a vector layer is selected. In AffinityPhoto it is working ok.

 

BTW.: The pixel persona is also unusually limited when working on the background. I cannot create a selection (lasso) and do CMD+C to copy it. 

 

[Julian23]

I just checked with the AD beta - it seems so that the crop tool is working there - but it does not have an "apply" button anymore and I cannot enlarge a bitmap if I am working on the background.

 

The crop tool apparently create a cropping mask, thats ok for sub layers but does not helo so much on the background. Is there an option to enlarge bitmap objects?

[A_B_C]

Hi Julian,

 

let me just quickly answer your questions … :)

 

The Crop Tool in Affinity Designer (app store version and latest customer Beta) is object-based, but it should definitely work on layers of any kind. Please have a look at this post:

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/14738-cannot-figure-out-how-to-crop-in-ad/?p=65858

 

There’s currently no way to crop the document (canvas) itself in Affinity Designer by using a dedicated tool for that purpose. You will have to resize it using the Document Setup … options.

 

Furthermore, you can use the pixel selection marquee only on pixel layers. Please be aware of the difference between pixel layers and so-called image objects (or image layers). You can’t use the pixel selection marquee directly on non-rasterised objects, such as these. Please have a look at this post:

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/13651-layers-and-masks-concepts/?p=60276

 

To enlarge bitmap objects, simply select them with the Move Tool, and use the handles or the Transform panel for resizing.

 

Hope that helps …  :)

Cheers, Alex

[Julian23]

Hi Alex, 

 

>> To enlarge bitmap objects, simply select them with the Move Tool, and use the handles or the Transform panel for resizing.

 

 

Thanks for the clear explanation. 

 

I actually do not needed to enlarge a bitmap, I need to make its canvas larger by adding pixel to either side. 

 

I now found an easy way to do it: Create a vector object, place the bitmap inside and raster that. Only problem: that does not work with the background. I think it would be nice, if the crop tool would have a special mode just to resize the background.

 

Thanks, 

Julian

[A_B_C]

I am sure, you have seen this option, Julian: namely, the option to resize the document using Anchor to Page. This is virtually identical with the Resize Canvas option in photo editing applications …  :)