Export selection exports whole document

[twojtyniak]

Export selection exports whole document. Even preview shows it disregarding selection. Am able to move selection, so I know it is selected. Export ignores selection.

Very repeatable. Very frustrating.

 

MacOS 12.6

Affinity Photo 1.10.5

[carl123]

Selection refers to the layers selected in the Layers panel not a pixel selection

[Dan C]

Hi @twojtyniak,

As carl confirms above, 'Selection Only' applies to the selected layer and not pixel selections - if you want to export the pixel selection area only I'd recommend using CMD + X to 'Cut' this section from the layer, then CMD + V to 'Paste' this selection to a new layer. Now, with this new layer selected in the Layers Studio, repeat your export and you should find only this area is included.

I hope this helps

[twojtyniak]

Thank you for the replies. I have cropped the photo to make use of it instead.

Not that any of you are responsible for the confusing language, but it is very confusing that when choosing Area in the Export dialog, "Selection" and "Selection Area" doesn't mean the area I have selected. There's a whole "Select" menu and there are all those things I can do to my selection, but when I export my selection no longer is my selection? Baffling switch of meaning to me. When using Designer it makes more sense to me as those are separate objects with their own dimensions.

Per the online docs: (Optional) If one or more layers is selected, the exported file can be trimmed to their boundary by setting Area to Selection Area or Selection Only, which include or exclude all other layers from the output, respectively.

Clearly it is my own ignorance here, but I do not understand how the "boundary" of another layer would be different than the boundary of all layers in a document. I can see how the boundary of an object is different, but not the layer itself. Does the Layer not have the same dimensions as the canvas? Is this dual use of selection just obvious to everyone else? Do you not ever want to quickly save off a selected area of an image as a separate file without having to add another layer to the file or create another afphoto file to do so?

Perhaps the choices in the "Area" drop down could say "Selected Layers" for clarity?

 

[twojtyniak]

I am just noticing that my cropping is not actually cropping the file. The cropped out area of the file seems to stick around. Is there something that I am missing that lets me "hard crop" the image to get rid of the stuff I am trying to crop off?

[ashf]

That's what it is.
Affinity does not crop layers when you crop the canvas.
And that's not the problem.
If you want to remove it, use the Rasterize & Trim command for the layer.

Also you can create a cropped layer by ⌘J to the marquee selection.

[twojtyniak]

Thank you for the tip on Rasterize and Trim, ashf. I would not have thought that I needed to do something further after the crop. When I look at Resize Canvas and Resize Document they show the existing size matches the cropped area size, so I had no expectation that my document was in any way larger than the cropped size.

Perhaps this product is just too sophisticated for my skills and needs.

[Dan C]

21 hours ago, twojtyniak said:

Not that any of you are responsible for the confusing language, but it is very confusing that when choosing Area in the Export dialog, "Selection" and "Selection Area" doesn't mean the area I have selected. There's a whole "Select" menu and there are all those things I can do to my selection, but when I export my selection no longer is my selection? Baffling switch of meaning to me. When using Designer it makes more sense to me as those are separate objects with their own dimensions.

Thanks for your feedback here! I can certainly understand how this language could be confusing, so I will log this as an improvement request with our team now to make this clearer within the Export dialog

21 hours ago, twojtyniak said:

Clearly it is my own ignorance here, but I do not understand how the "boundary" of another layer would be different than the boundary of all layers in a document. I can see how the boundary of an object is different, but not the layer itself. Does the Layer not have the same dimensions as the canvas? Is this dual use of selection just obvious to everyone else? 

There can be a bit of a learning curve here, as there is a difference between a layer and a Layer in Affinity apps - when referring to layers (lowercase), this is any object that appears in the Layers Studio. A layer, for example, could be a rectangle that is half the size of your canvas, for such a layer, the bounding box of the object is shown on the canvas, and used when exporting to 'Selection Area/Only'.
A layer could also be an Adjustment, such as Brightness/Contrast - by default an Adjustment will always be the size of the canvas, but can be 'trimmed' by nesting with a mask/vector layer.

A Layer (capitalised, found in Designer/Publisher, but not Photo) refers to a Layer container - these are essentially Groups which can have multiple layers within them. A Layer is always the full size of the canvas, however if you add a layer within a Layer that uses a bounding box (ie the Rectangle shape that is half the canvas size), then the Layer will assume the same bounding box as the objects within.

A Pixel Layer (found in Photo/Designer) is always the size of the canvas by default, but can be 'trimmed' by nesting with a mask/vector layer.

I hope this clears things up!

[NotMyFault]

The function you are looking for is available in the export persona. There you can create slices (rectangular selections from the canvas) and export them.

The term “selection” is unfortunately used across the Photo App for 2 totally different things, and you need to carefully check the context:

1. layer selections (in the layer stack / layer panel)
2. rectangular (or free-form) pixel selections on the canvas

 

[ashf]

On 10/25/2022 at 7:25 AM, Dan C said:

Thanks for your feedback here! I can certainly understand how this language could be confusing, so I will log this as an improvement request with our team now to make this clearer within the Export dialog

There can be a bit of a learning curve here, as there is a difference between a layer and a Layer in Affinity apps - when referring to layers (lowercase), this is any object that appears in the Layers Studio. A layer, for example, could be a rectangle that is half the size of your canvas, for such a layer, the bounding box of the object is shown on the canvas, and used when exporting to 'Selection Area/Only'.
A layer could also be an Adjustment, such as Brightness/Contrast - by default an Adjustment will always be the size of the canvas, but can be 'trimmed' by nesting with a mask/vector layer.

A Layer (capitalised, found in Designer/Publisher, but not Photo) refers to a Layer container - these are essentially Groups which can have multiple layers within them. A Layer is always the full size of the canvas, however if you add a layer within a Layer that uses a bounding box (ie the Rectangle shape that is half the canvas size), then the Layer will assume the same bounding box as the objects within.

A Pixel Layer (found in Photo/Designer) is always the size of the canvas by default, but can be 'trimmed' by nesting with a mask/vector layer.

I hope this clears things up!

BTW
The name of the Layer is little confusing.
Especially the "New Layer" command in Photo make people confused.
You may need to consider revising for the name/wording.
 

 

[twojtyniak]

I am pleased to see the frank conversation here. I realize that I expected to hear "that's how it is, learn it and live with it" and my view of the products and community is improved by what I have experienced. I will adjust my expectations up!

While we are talking about exporting, the v2 improvements are nice and I am pleased to pay money for this upgrade, especially vs renting software that doesn't seem to improve. Kudos to Affinity for letting me own software and also for making meaningful, valuable improvements.

One thing that still throws me off is that changing the export Area selection wipes out any pixel dimensions I have specified previously. I understand that my Area selection may cause a necessary change to those dimensions and so would propose that the Area selection be the first thing that can be interacted with rather than a later item which messes with earlier items in the dialog.