On Scaling Layers, Rasterization and Blurry Exports…

[Guest]

Yesterday I made a comment about how when exporting compositions that contain scaled layers (that have not been rasterized ahead of time) you can get unexpected results (blurring, pixelation, etc.) when exported. I just spent some time experimenting with and documenting what I'm referring to, as it's something that catches me out quite often.

When you scale a layer, be it a pixel or image layer (this may apply to other types of layers, but I haven't tested it) what you see in Affinity apps will often differ from when you see when the composition is exported. Within Designer (I tested this only in Designer, but I assume it also applies to the other apps) the layers appear crisp and clear as you would expect. When exported however, the artwork often appears fuzzy and blurred out. You can fix this by rasterizing your scaled layers before export (this even applies to pixel layers) which will give you the expected results.

As layers are only labeled (Image) and (Pixel) it's often difficult to determine which layers have been scaled, and therefore which layers need to be rasterized before export. It would be REALLY helpful if either the Affinity apps would visually indicate scaled layers and/or automatically rasterize scaled layers on export (this could be an option in the export dialog). Having a means of reverting to the original size/scale of a scaled layer would also be really helpful. Currently I always have to open the image in the finder to get the original dimensions.

One last gotcha to mention. If you naturally think "I'll just select all these layers and hit rasterize" you're unlikely to get the results you're looking for on export. Unless all of the layers are contained within a group only the first item selected will be rasterized. So despite being able to select a number of layers and apply rasterize, the rasterize command is only applied to one (the first selected) layer.

I'm starting to think of 'rasterize' within the Affinity apps more as a 'render/bake' (borrowed from 3D app lingo) feature, which locks the resolution of the scaled layer to what you currently see within your Affinity Designer (or other Affinity apps) composition.

My Affinity Designer example file (shown above) is attached, as are the original assets I used in the example.

assets.zip Example.afdesign

Edited October 29, 2021 by Guest
Typos.

[walt.farrell]

You can tell if an (Image) layer has been rescaled by selecting it with the Move Tool and looking in the Context Toolbar. For example:

If the percentage is not 100% then you know it has been rescaled. If you have two dpi values showing then you know it has been rescaled asymmetrically. The pulldown will give more info.

If the dpi does not match the document dpi, or if the x/y positions of the layer as shown in the Transform panel are not integer pixel values, then the rasterization that happens during export is more likely to cause some problems, I think.

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

You can tell if an (Image) layer has been rescaled by selecting it with the Move Tool and looking in the Context Toolbar. For example:

If the percentage is not 100% then you know it has been rescaled. If you have two dpi values showing then you know it has been rescaled asymmetrically. The pulldown will give more info.

Huh. I had NEVER seen that before. I wouldn't expect to find that information in the context bar, and (for some reason) keep looking for it in various studio panels—the layers and transform studio panels being the most obvious. FYI - you only get the scaling value with image layers, as pixel layers only display the dpi with no option to change (or replace) anything.

Having the option to automatically 'bake/render' these scaled layers to the document dpi on export would be a huge timesaver, especially if these end up buried in nested groups. I'm mainly trying to document it for myself (and anyone who runs into these issues) as the way Affinity apps work with images, pixel layers, resolution, etc aren't necessarily intuitive—especially if you're coming from another popular creative suite of tools.

I'm also secretly hoping that the folks at Serif might read this and one day improve the mental models and user experience(s) concerned with these features.

[walt.farrell]

41 minutes ago, Bryan Rieger said:

Having the option to automatically 'bake/render' these scaled layers to the document dpi on export would be a huge timesaver, especially if these end up buried in nested groups. I'm mainly trying to document it for myself (and anyone who runs into these issues) as the way Affinity apps work with images, pixel layers, resolution, etc aren't necessarily intuitive—especially if you're coming from another popular creative suite of tools.

I don't think it can be an option, as they must be rendered at the document DPI when you export to a raster format. Therefore it must happen automatically, as it does today. But you may be safer doing it manually, so you can check the pixel alignment, etc. and view the results. (On the other hand, I seem to remember other discussions here where Exporting was not causing blurring, but Merge Visible and Merge Down did cause it. If so, there is more going on here that I don't understand, and someone else will probably be along with more information )

I suspect (but haven't checked) that the other applications simply don't let you misalign layers, and don't let you have differing layer dpi values. Affinity does, but with great power comes greater opportunity to mess things up.