Layer thumbnails in Layer window are... wrong ?

[Starsk13]

I haven't check if this is also present in the V1, but today, trying to work fast and effective, it was very confusing and annoying...
Here in pictures, better to show than a bad explanation.
It would be great to fixe it
Many thanks !

Edited November 25, 2022 by Starsk13

[loukash]

That was already a problem in v1 that the Layers panel thumbnails don't update immediately. Mildly annoying indeed.

The "free space" at the top and the bottom?
Well, the thumbnail area is perfectly square.
Your blue rectangle isn't.  

[Starsk13]

Your are playing with my words
The image is full. 
Thumbnail should be full as well.

Second, thumbnail is not showing what's in the layer.

It's a major problem

Edited November 26, 2022 by Starsk13

[loukash]

22 minutes ago, Starsk13 said:

Thumbnail should be full as well.

Then other users would start to complain that the thumbnail cuts off content on the sides.
You can't please everybody…

[Starsk13]

Well, I used Photoshop for 20 years... impossible to not compare. 
There is not this problem in Photoshop...
You can say what you want, for me it's a problem and I don't like it.
Enought to not update to V2 as this is not fixed.

 

[MikeTO]

3 hours ago, Starsk13 said:

Well, I used Photoshop for 20 years... impossible to not compare. 
There is not this problem in Photoshop...
You can say what you want, for me it's a problem and I don't like it.
Enought to not update to V2 as this is not fixed.

You can remove the obvious gaps by turning off Thumbnail Background > Checkerboard in the Layers panel menu. That will give you a black background in dark mode and a light background in light mode. The default is Auto and that works well.

You would see the same checkerboard gaps in Photoshop depending on your settings. With Affinity, thumbnails are square so if the layer isn't square then the thumbnail must be scaled which will leave gaps on the top or bottom. The advantage is that the thumbnails are useful regardless of the canvas' aspect ratio.

With Photoshop and thumbnails set to Entire Document, thumbnails have the aspect ratio of the canvas so the background layer never has a gap. But any smaller layer will have gaps just like in Affinity. With thumbnails set to Layer Bounds in Panel Options, each layer's thumbnail has its own aspect ratio.

If you're working on a single image it makes little difference which option you select in Photoshop and Photoshop's approach might seem better because there are no gaps at all. But Photoshop's layers can take up more space in the panel with portrait images due to this design choice - all screenshots here are with medium layers. Affinity left, Adobe right.

 

Here's an example with two layers, a landscape canvas and a portrait second layer. Affinity's approach (left) shows the entire layers while Photoshop has huge gaps for the second layer with Entire Document (middle). With Layer Bounds (right), Photoshop's thumbnails are very useful but they're also very large.

  

Here's an example for somebody creating a tall infographic. Affinity's approach (left) means the background layer will be illegible but the second layer is perfect, so all the content I add to this infographic template will have great thumbnails. Photoshop's approach with Entire Document (middle) is illegible for every layer. With Layer Bounds (right), Photoshop's thumbnails are just as useful as Affinity.

 

  

I prefer Affinity's approach to thumbnails because I never have to tweak my settings if I start a different type of project. But I understand that we each have our own preferences. Perhaps it would be better if the layer thumbnail had no background at all but I find the black background is good enough for me.

[Starsk13]

Thank you very much for this detail answer. I will dig into it.

[debraspicher]

15 hours ago, loukash said:

That was already a problem in v1 that the Layers panel thumbnails don't update immediately. Mildly annoying indeed.

The "free space" at the top and the bottom?
Well, the thumbnail area is perfectly square.
Your blue rectangle isn't.  

In V2, layer thumbnails seem to render faster, but honestly, it could be my new hardware as that was also recent... but it is a usability issue, imo. There's many times I just don't look at the thumbnails because I can't trust them to wholly accurate, even now...

The way it clips is a compromise. In PS, the layer thumbnail would be proportional to the document dimensions as @MikeTO 's example clearly illustrates. I work in wide format also and this can be a hindrance.

I only wish they would lower the checkerboard contrast somewhat so that smaller detail/similar contrast work stands out better. But I rename/manage my layers well enough, it's not really a problem...

[Old Bruce]

On 11/26/2022 at 3:16 AM, Starsk13 said:

Second, thumbnail is not showing what's in the layer.

 

The Thumbnail is showing a Square. I doubt the canvas, the image, is square.