How to set pixels to centimeters overall?

[SKANTIN]

Hi,

 

English is not my native language so hopefully I can make myself clear.

 

I bought Affinity Photo a couple of years ago but never started using it because, for example, it was in some cases so frustrating to change the view from pixel to cm, so I went back on using Photoshop Elements.

 

The three things ( to adjust the composition) that are important for me,

1. To see the width and hight in centimeters in the transform window, and not in pixels when the Rectangular Marquee Tool is selected.

2. In cropping mode, to be able set in the width and height in centimeters before deciding where to put the ‘frame’ over the picture to decide how the composition will be.

3. To view the composition in print size.

 

Today I decided to try again to see if these things are possible to do with Affinity Photo, but I still couldn’t figure it out.

 

Maybe someone can tell if these things are possible.

And if so…are this settings also possible for the iPad version?

 

Hopefully someone can help me out

 

Thanks!

[PaulEC]

When creating a new document set the document (measurement) units to cm. When you open a photo, right click where the rulers meet (top left) and select cm from the list.

[Old Bruce]

I use the Rulers to set the document Units of Measurement if they are not initially what I want. Click on the intersection and the menu will appear.

 

I have no problem with the Crop Tool accepting the centimetres as a unit of measurement on the Context Toolbar. Granted it will revert to pixels but it will be however many cms by however many cms.

   Before

After  

 

24 minutes ago, SKANTIN said:

3. To view the composition in print size.

Do you mean view at 100%? Use the Command + 1 key combination for this, probably Control + 1 on Windows OS. Or is this for some arbitrary paper sizes.

[SKANTIN]

Hi guys, thanks for your replies!!

 

PaulEc, yes I figured that one out but was hoping that there was one button in the preference section to set everything to a centimeters.

But I guess that is not possible

 

Old Bruce, I didn’t knew that about the cropping section and the view in print size thing…this was very helpful, thanks!!

 

The thing about the transform window is that yes it displays cm with every tool in use except with the Marquee tool it displays px size.

I need it to be in cm because I do some measurements between two point before cropping.

If the transform window can be set to cm using the Marquee tool than I can skip the usage of Photoshop Elements

 

In Photoshop Elements it looks like this…..

 

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, SKANTIN said:

The thing about the transform window is that yes it displays cm with every tool in use except with the Marquee tool it displays px size.

It has to be that way because you can only transform, copy or delete whole pixels. If you’re working on a 300 dpi document, a one inch square will be exactly 300 pixels across but the width of a one centimetre square will not be a whole number of pixels. Photoshop Elements must be displaying an approximation.

[Gnobelix]

If the document is displayed in cm as described above, the Marquee tool will also be displayed in cm, (and is editable)
or did I misunderstand?
see tranform panel.

Cheers

[SKANTIN]

Yes, this is exactly what I’m looking for!

 

Strange enough when I select the Marquee tool, the cm changes to px in the transform panel…

Very frustrating as I cannot figure out why.

 

Anyway, I found a workaround…

First I use the Marquee tool and then switch to the Move tool.

The selected area stays as it is, and the cm are showed in the transform panel.

Not ideal but it works.

 

Thanks for your reply!!

[R C-R]

5 hours ago, Gnobelix said:

If the document is displayed in cm as described above, the Marquee tool will also be displayed in cm, (and is editable)
or did I misunderstand?

At least for me, that does not happen in the Mac versions. The marquee tools always show px values in the Transform panel, regardless of the document units.

[Gnobelix]

Hello @R C-R,

I have checked again, no matter which document unit is selected, the Marquee Tools shows the unit of the document.
I think that's how it should be. Maybe a bug in the Mac version?

I use the Windows Version.
Cheers

[R C-R]

Just now, Gnobelix said:

Maybe a bug in the Mac version?

Actually, after further testing with a clearer head (more coffee), I discovered that in AP I could force the Transform panel to display cm (or any other unit the document was set to use) for the marquee if I toggled on the Quick Mask feature & switched to the Move Tool. Once I did that, I could exit the Quick Mask mode & the Transform panel continued to show cm values.

But I had to do that each time I changed the marquee in any way (adding or subtracting to it, creating a new marquee, or using a different marquee tool) so it is not a very good workaround. Of course, there is no Quick Mask mode in AD or in the Pixel persona of APub, so it is workaround only for AP.

[SKANTIN]

Well I think I tried as you describe above but it didn't workout for me....probably I'm not doing it exactly as you describe.

I'm on a Macbook so maybe it is a bug.

I'll try to figure out how to report this.

Meanwhile I'll be using Photoshop Elements just for making the composition.

Thanks guys!!

[R C-R]

17 minutes ago, SKANTIN said:

Well I think I tried as you describe above but it didn't workout for me....probably I'm not doing it exactly as you describe.

I'm on a Macbook so maybe it is a bug.

I'm confused. Didn't you say above that switching to the Move tool as a workaround worked for you?

[SKANTIN]

4 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I'm confused. Didn't you say above that switching to the Move tool as a workaround worked for you?

Yes that is true, I did said so...

I have to select an area with the marquee tool...than toggle to the move tool to check the size in cm in the transport window/panel.

Than I go back to the marque tool to adjust the size and check it again by selecting the move tool, etc etc...

It will work out at the end but is quite a workaround. It is easier in Photoshop Elements.

 

[Old Bruce]

17 hours ago, SKANTIN said:

I have to select an area with the marquee tool...than toggle to the move tool to check the size in cm in the transport window/panel.

Than I go back to the marque tool to adjust the size and check it again by selecting the move tool, etc etc...

After toggling the Move tool to check the size why do you then go back to the Marquee tool? Why not just type in 8cm and 9cm into the Transform window?

Have no pixel layer selected*, draw out your selection with the marquee tool, toggle to the Move tool and use the Transform Panel to change the size of the selection.

 

*If you have a Pixel layer selected you'll stretch or shrink the actual pixels when you use the transform panel.

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

After toggling the Move tool to check the size why do you then go back to the Marquee tool? Why not just type in 8cm and 9cm into the Transform window?

@SKANTIN, note that the Transform panel accepts values entered in any supported unit types (any of those that appear in the popup menu if you right-click on the units in the ruler) so for example, if it is showing px values, you can replace that with values like "8 cm" or "0.1 m" (making sure to remove the px so there is only unit in the field) & that value will be applied.

[jayjj]

I am having the same problem. Its ridiculous, that serif spent all this time and could not achieve the most simple of things. Opening a new document in units other than pixels. Just trying to be too clever is of no use to anyone. I dont expect them to post this

[jayjj]

On 1/14/2022 at 1:32 PM, SKANTIN said:

Yes, this is exactly what I’m looking for!

 

Strange enough when I select the Marquee tool, the cm changes to px in the transform panel…

Very frustrating as I cannot figure out why.

 

Anyway, I found a workaround…

First I use the Marquee tool and then switch to the Move tool.

The selected area stays as it is, and the cm are showed in the transform panel.

Not ideal but it works.

 

Thanks for your reply!!

What a palaver!! Cant believe how hard it is to do the simplest of tasks

[thomaso]

Hi @jayjj,
Welcome to the Affinity Forums!

How come you are so excited in your first posts? It's not even clear if your posts are just meant as a comment or if you want to ask a / this question yourself.

In case the latter was your intention:

On 10/5/2022 at 4:19 PM, jayjj said:

Opening a new document in units other than pixels. Just trying to be too clever is of no use to anyone. I dont expect them to post this

14 minutes ago, jayjj said:

What a palaver!! Cant believe how hard it is to do the simplest of tasks

Opening a new document in units other than pixels is one of the simplest tasks to choose when opening a new document – whereas I must admit that opening and new sound unclear, too, since open may affect files that already exist while new is rather a process of file creation.

However, both offer a simple solution to set their unit:
• For opened documents it is a click on the intersection of the two rulers.
• For new documents it gets set in the "New…" setup window.