Smudge Tool Produces Unexpected Blocky Results (Photo 1.10.0)

[Mark Oehlschlager]

I was following along with a YouTube tutorial on creating a text blur effect, trying to recreate the effect in Affinity Photo, when I discovered that Affinity Photo's Smudge Tool yields unexpectedly blocky results – not the smooth smudging effect one would expect.

Have I got a setting wrong, or is there a bug with the Smudge Tool in Photo? (BTW, the same problem exists in Designer's Pixel Persona.)

See my screen grab below

And here is the referenced YouTube Tutorial:

 

[SPaceBar]

Hi @Mark Oehlschlager I've just had a try using the Smudge Brush Tool and I am not seeing the blocky results, I set my tool to have the same width / Flow / Strength as your screenshot and it definitely smudged.

Would you be able to provide a video of this happening please? Can you also upload your document so we can take a look?

[Old Bruce]

I get that stutter if I use a brush with transparency.

[Mark Oehlschlager]

@SPaceBar

I've attached a short video below.

I start with a single pixel layer with black text on white ground. Select the Smudge Tool. Select a soft round brush from the Basic collection of brushes. And then my smudging effort has blocky results.

[walt.farrell]

48 minutes ago, Mark Oehlschlager said:

Select a soft round brush from the Basic collection of brushes.

In other words, a brush with transparency, as @Old Bruce mentioned.

[Mark Oehlschlager]

@walt.farrell

I get the same blocky result with a hard round brush, only the effect is worse insofar as the hard edge of the brush is echoed.

See screen grab below.

[Mark Oehlschlager]

Okay. I was just playing with the settings for the soft round brush and found that the spacing for the default round brushes was greater than 0%. This, it seems, was the problem.

When I set the brush spacing to 0%, the smudging effect was smooth like pushing wet paint around.

I suppose there are circumstances where one might want the blocky effect of a spaced out smudge tool brush, but it seems counterintuitive. The general expectation  of selecting the smudge tool is to blend and blur. Should there not be a default setting to the Smudge Tool that automatically sets spacing to 0%?

Otherwise, I would suggest adding a contextual toolbar button for editing the properties of the smudge tool brush like the one we have for the regular paint brush tool – as a matter of convenience.

[SPaceBar]

 Hi @Mark Oehlschlager I have recreated this. I really like some of the effects you can get from increasing the percentage. I don't think it's a bug, as it's not broken but more of a suggestion or improvement. 

You could always mention it here and see what happens:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/53-feedback-for-affinity-designer-on-desktop/

[Ginhuardy]

I'm getting the same blocky shapes when I use the smudge tool, and can't figure out how to get a smooth smudge. Very frustrating. I've tried selecting one of the basic brushes, both round hard-edge and soft round, and have tried changing the spacing on the brush. None of it works. The spacing on the soft round is set to 25. It wont go lower than 1%. The hard round is set at 1% and won't go to 0.

I don't see how this blockiness isn't a bug - I never changed the smudge-tool brush or its settings (other than size) in the first place.

[Mark Oehlschlager]

@Ginhuardy

After selecting the Smudge tool, select a soft round brush from the basics set, adjust its size according to your need, and then set the spacing of the brush to 1% (that is the lowest possible value). That should enable you to generate a smooth blur with the Smudge tool.

I have no idea why the default spacing for the basic round brushes is set to 25%.