Why no retina awareness?

[211Oakland]

Or did I miss something?

 

AP persists in showing images at 2:1 at "100%" or even larger at "actual size" for the same image. So a 1000x1000 pixel image is showing at 2000x2000 at 100%. With a retina aware application, I can just move from my 2560 monitor to my 5120 and the image should be half the size in each dimension, but that doesn't happen.

 

I haven't got "open in low resolution" checked. So I'm not sure why it doesn't behave as all my other image editors do re retina awareness.

[Leigh]

What your seeing is correct. One of our developers, Andy, explains more here.

[211Oakland]

Intended, I guess so; correct? not so much.

 

He wrote "Affinity will show the same thing on both retina / non-retina screens - because that's how retina stuff should work." No; user element stuff (icons, text, etc) should work that way but NOT the work image. Many of us want to proof images 1:1 on different display devices and this mucks that up. Yes, I can understand that relative sized views like "fit" or maybe "Actual" might be the same, but 1:1 (which my math calculates to 100%) should be that: one pixel for one pixel, and is relative to whatever you're displaying on in the sense that different display devices have differently sized pixels.

 

Granted, some might want to see the same "size" on very different PPI screens, but I think the default should be that 1:1 means what it says. Working with photos is somewhat different from a graphic that doesn't start with a photograph, in that there are no pixels till you put them there. But photo editing is different. The pixels already exist.

 

And my version of AP does not ever show an image at 1:1 (100%, actual or pixel), nevermind the business of other screens. A 1000x1000 pixel images measures about 9"x9" on my retina iMac in AP. That's really 200%; it should be about 4.5" on a side, as it is in Aperture, Lightroom, Photoshop, Graphic Converter, etc etc. Again, some simple math shows that 1000 pixels is about a fifth of the 5120 px screen, or in inches a fifth of about 23". If was only designing HiDPI graphics this might be nice; I know some folks who always have to work at 200% in Photoshop cuz stuff is so small. But I didn't buy a retina Mac to see everything scaled by default to fit old monitors.

 

I'm still hoping that something is wrong here with my AP and this isn't how it is supposed to work. When I am looking at an image with pixel unit measurements, I expect those pixels to match the pixels on my screen; using the "pixel view" doesn't do that. There appears to be no way to get there other than to "scale" at 50%, but this leads me to wonder what's going on in the background if AP can't do a proper 1:1 as all my other graphic software can.

[anon1]

" If you want to see your document at "native" pixel size, and your document unit is pixels, Hit Command-9 (Zoom to "Print" size - it should probably be called "Physical" size..) - and you then see it at half the size. "

 

​Dosen´t this work for you?

[211Oakland]

No, it doesn't. Command-9 is called "pixel size" in the menu. It shows a 1000x1000 pixel image at 2000x2000 on my retina iMac, which is 200%, or 2:1. Part of the problem is that the sentence quoted doesn't say 50% of what. I hate to keep saying it, but I'm looking for one pixel in image to one pixel on screen or 1:1 or 100% or even "actual size" if that means actual pixels (although of course more expensive pixels are smaller than cheapo pixels...heh).

 

And it would be odd to the point of counterproductive to have a "print" size measured in pixels, since we use dots for print, pixels for display devices or images themselves, but I digress.

 

But I think I've sussed out that it may have to do with the canvas. I don't notice that much, since I'm retouching photos and so don't make use of the canvas, since in fact it covered 100% by the open photo.

 

If I create a new canvas, 5120x2880 (5k iMac), and set the dpi at 220 (rounded PPI of 5k iMac)  IT will show properly at what I consider to be 1:1 at actual size; if I place that 1000x1000 image on it, that image will now be 1:1 as well. The problem is that I'm stuck with all that extra canvas at that point, so that's not a solution.

 

BTW, if I view that same photo in Apple Photos, and I use the slider to set "100%," it measures that proper 4.5" dimensionally. So at least Apple agrees with me about what 100% on a retina iMac means.