Apect ratio in rectangular marquee selections

[jplehmann]

I want to crop an image (not the document) to a specific aspect ratio like 4:6.  My understand is I can't use crop, I must use selections.  But selections don't appear to have a way to maintain aspect ratio.  How should I proceed?

 

thanks

[Asha]

Normally what I would do is a bit primitive, but will work. It is a bit less easy in AP, but here is the gist:

 

Create a new layer and draw a rectangle using the rectangle tool--make sure it is of known dimensions in the ratio you desire (you can see the numbers near the cursor as you draw the rectangle). Remove the fill, and put a rule in a color that stands out (like pure green or magenta). Use the shift key to constrain while scaling, and move to where you want it. Lock the layer if you want to make sure it doesn't change, and turn off the layer when you don't want to see the rule.  Later, you can use the rule as a guide for drawing your selection rectangle. Usually I use this for visualizing where something will crop without actually doing the crop.

[R C-R]

I have been using a variation of Asha's technique for this. I first draw a white-filled, no stroke rectangle sized to the desired ratio. (I find it easiest to do the ratio sizing with the transform panel's width & height adjustments, optionally using expressions like W*2/3 in the height adjustment to set the ratio.)

 

I position that over the image & drag it to the desired size by grabbing a corner handle with the move tool (it resizes proportionally by default), & reposition it as needed. Then I use the Layer > Rasterize to Mask item to turn it into a mask. I drag that into the image layer's thumbnail if I want only the image layer to be masked, or just put it above the layer(s) I want it to affect if I want some other layers not to be masked.

[dolunaykiz]

What, this is not an option? I mean, come on!

[firstdefence]

Why not create a rectangle 4:6 using R C-R's transform method and make the image a child of that rectangle then adjust to suit.

[JaapFoto]

Come on Affinity! This should be an feature!!

Even a more simple tool like "Paint.Net" has this feature.

Edited November 27, 2019 by JaapFoto

[Sepu]

Agreed! Can we add this option in near future update please.

[Jowday]

On 2/7/2016 at 3:24 PM, jplehmann said:

I want to crop an image (not the document) to a specific aspect ratio like 4:6.  My understand is I can't use crop, I must use selections.  But selections don't appear to have a way to maintain aspect ratio.  How should I proceed?

In Photoshop I often make and copy selections that must have a certain aspect ratio. It is a normal workflow in many, many, many use cases. 

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Affinity does not have that option. Unless I switch to crop. But I am not about to crop anything. *!"#!"*

No absurd workarounds needed, please.