Outlined curves look jagged on exports in Affinity Photo V2

[pedroterrero]

Hello. When you apply an outline to a curve, it looks perfect in the preview, but looks jagged/pixelated when you rasterize that layer or export the document.

This is how it looks previewed in Affinity Photo (I zoomed it):

This is how it looks exported. You can also see in my right shoulder (yeah, that's me) it took some pixels from the background, so not only it pixelates the curve, but also doesn't respect it:

And last but not least, in case you don't notice anything special, if you resize the file while exporting, the artifacts will be more notorious:

I attached the document if you want to reproduce the issue. I tried all types of resampling while exporting and the result is the same. And BTW, this never happened in V1, just in V2.

affinityphoto2bug.afphoto

[NathanC]

Hi @pedroterrero,

There does appear to be quite a sharp transition between the curves layer and the image file when the file is exported, but this can also be seen within the app if you were to Layer > Merge visible the file and then compare. I copied the Curves and image layer over to V1 for comparison, and this sharp transition between the curves and the raster image is also present on export/merge.

Instead of applying an Outline FX to an empty curve layer, you could instead apply the stroke value directly to the curve and then align the stroke to the outside with the exact same settings used in your outline FX. After making some slight adjustments to the curve nodes and Outer Shadow FX it gives a much smoother transition between the image and the outline/border. I've attached the image and file below for reference.

Exported as JPEG:

Stroke Applied instead of outline.afphoto

[pedroterrero]

24 minutes ago, NathanC said:

Hi @pedroterrero,

There does appear to be quite a sharp transition between the curves layer and the image file when the file is exported, but this can also be seen within the app if you were to Layer > Merge visible the file and then compare. I copied the Curves and image layer over to V1 for comparison, and this sharp transition between the curves and the raster image is also present on export/merge.

Instead of applying an Outline FX to an empty curve layer, you could instead apply the stroke value directly to the curve and then align the stroke to the outside with the exact same settings used in your outline FX. After making some slight adjustments to the curve nodes and Outer Shadow FX it gives a much smoother transition between the image and the outline/border. I've attached the image and file below for reference.

Exported as JPEG:

Stroke Applied instead of outline.afphoto

Thank you for your suggestion! I tried applying the stroke directly on the curve and looks better.

I found out where the issue (the bug?) is. You have to:

1. Import a picture and apply the curve as a clipping mask

2. Apply the stroke as an FX. Everything should remain in the same layer

3. Reduce the size of that layer

4. Apply an adjustment layer, such as Bright and contrast

5. Export

As long as you keep the layer without adjustments, it exports the document with no artifacts, but when you apply an adjustment, the shape is jagged. I've tried with a document created in V1 and it exports with no issues. I attached that document for you to test too.

miniatura.afphoto

[NathanC]

Your attached file exports fine for me from what I can tell in V2 without the jagged transition, though your observation regarding the adjustment layer being the cause of the problem is spot on. Going back to your original file prior to my suggestion, if I simply just move the adjustment layer out so it's no longer a child layer of the curve and then straight back as a child layer and export it's all fine, this also doesn't occur if I re-create the adjustment layer from scratch and apply your exact same settings, was your file from your original post created from scratch in V2 or was it an imported document from V1?

 

[pedroterrero]

Yeah, it was made in Affinity Photo V1. Interestingly, copying and pasting the adjustment layer (I had a B&C) from that document in a shape on a new document doesn't affect the export. Creating a new one in that document does.

[pedroterrero]

Sorry for the bump, just to let you guys know that the bug still persists in v2.2.0.

[NathanC]

Hi @pedroterrero,

Apologies I must missed have your previous reply. I can see there is still a problem with your original linked document but it appeared to be file(s) specific to your V1 document and could be resolved by my proposed workaround by moving the adjustment in the stack and then back into the group or re-applying the adjustment, are you saying you're able to replicate this anti-aliasing issue completely from scratch in 2.2.0 or are you still working on V1 docs in V2?

I have followed your steps to replicate this from scratch from your earlier post in 2.2.0 and this all appears to have worked as expected without the issue shown on your V1 files. Also are you on Mac or Windows?

[NathanC]

Hi @pedroterrero,

I've now managed to replicate it with your steps, the reason I could never replicate this was because my  assistant was set to always add an adjustment as a new layer rather than based on selection so it has nothing to do with V1 files, after changing this I can now finally replicate the issue so I'll get this properly logged with the developers.

[pedroterrero]

1 minute ago, NathanC said:

Hi @pedroterrero,

I've now managed to replicate it with your steps, the reason I could never replicate this was because my  assistant was set to always add an adjustment as a new layer rather than based on selection so it has nothing to do with V1 files, after changing this I can now finally replicate the issue so I'll get this properly logged with the developers.

That's what I was replying, haha. New documents in v2.2 have the issue, documents made in V1 and exported in V2 don't. Also, rasterizing the layers is a workaround to avoid it and this is what I've been doing so far.

[pedroterrero]

The bug still persists in V2.3. 🫤

[pedroterrero]

The bug still persists in v2.3.1.

[pedroterrero]

Still persists in v2.5.3. 😐

[Alfred]

On 12/13/2023 at 9:27 AM, pedroterrero said:

The bug still persists in V2.3. 🫤

 

On 1/17/2024 at 9:07 AM, pedroterrero said:

The bug still persists in v2.3.1.

 

8 minutes ago, pedroterrero said:

Still persists in v2.5.3. 😐

This topic has been tagged with an issue-tracking number, so the Affinity Info Bot wil update the thread when the issue has been fixed.

[pedroterrero]

Hello, it's been almost two months since the last response and one year and a half since this was first posted. Is it really that difficult to fix? 😢