Affinity Photo 2.1 (not sure if it is only related to this) copy and paste and export is not consistent

[CyberAngel]

Now this is probably me not understanding how the application works, and as someone who has come from Gimp, I am expecting what I am trying to do, to not be as difficult as it is.

I have attached the original image I downloaded from the internet, and I am just trying to take the games grid and separate that into its own image. And this is where my issues begin.

First thing that I do is place a marquee down as such, which fits the grid perfectly.

From here, I have tried various methods to copy that marquee and past it into a new layer, every method that I have tried and found as ways to achieve this on the internet, always ends up the same.

I end up with the pasted image 1 pixel bigger in the width than it should be.

I could use some help as to what I am doing wrong. I have also tried to crop, and while that has cropped the image on the screen the layer shows it as not cropped and I do not know what I should be doing from that point on.

 

 

 

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, CyberAngel said:

I end up with the pasted image 1 pixel bigger in the width than it should be.

Usually this is the result of the item you are copying not being perfectly aligned to pixel edges.

[CyberAngel]

6 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Usually this is the result of the item you are copying not being perfectly aligned to pixel edges.

That is why I made sure the image included that.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, CyberAngel said:

That is why I made sure the image included that.

With the decimal places for pixels set to 4 or more in preferences & the document units set to pixels, what does the Transform panel show for the dimensions & position of the image layer?

[CyberAngel]

17 minutes ago, R C-R said:

With the decimal places for pixels set to 4 or more in preferences & the document units set to pixels, what does the Transform panel show for the dimensions & position of the image layer?

I am not sure I follow. The settings are all default as far as I know, I haven't changed anything.

[R C-R]

Just now, CyberAngel said:

I am not sure I follow. The settings are all default as far as I know, I haven't changed anything.

Open Preferences > User Interface & make sure Decimal Places for Unit Types for Pixels is set to 4 or more. If necessary, change the document units to pixels (like from inches , mm, or whatever). Now select the image layer in the Layers panel, & check what the Transform panel shows.

If possible, also include a screenshot showing the Layers panel & the Transform panel.

[CyberAngel]

2 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Open Preferences > User Interface & make sure Decimal Places for Unit Types for Pixels is set to 4 or more. If necessary, change the document units to pixels (like from inches , mm, or whatever). Now select the image layer in the Layers panel, & check what the Transform panel shows.

If possible, also include a screenshot showing the Layers panel & the Transform panel.

The document is set to pixels, and the pixels decimal places is set to 1, but I am not using decimal places.

[R C-R]

7 minutes ago, CyberAngel said:

The document is set to pixels, and the pixels decimal places is set to 1, but I am not using decimal places.

Please set the decimal places for pixels to 4 or more & try what I suggested.

[CyberAngel]

Just now, R C-R said:

Please set the decimal places for pixels to 4 or more & try what I suggested.

How does decimal places work for something that is pixel based, and you can see that the location is not using pixels and the marquee is not using pixels.

I expect what I copy as per pixels should be pasted back as pixels with the same size.

[R C-R]

20 minutes ago, CyberAngel said:

I expect what I copy as per pixels should be pasted back as pixels with the same size.

This about where on the document pixel grid it gets pasted as well as its dimensions.

Also, if you leave the decimal places for pixels at the default, what you see in the Transform panel will be rounded off so you cannot be sure everything is pixel perfect. There are many, many posts about this.

Regardless, if you are not willing to try what I suggested, I can't help you with this but maybe someone else can.

[CyberAngel]

7 minutes ago, R C-R said:

This about where on the document pixel grid it gets pasted as well as its dimensions.

Also, if you leave the decimal places for pixels at the default, what you see in the Transform panel will be rounded off so you cannot be sure everything is pixel perfect. There are many, many posts about this.

Regardless, if you are not willing to try what I suggested, I can't help you with this but maybe someone else can.

Then why is that not the default then?

Ok, I made it 4 decimal places and made no difference.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, CyberAngel said:

Ok, I made it 4 decimal places and made no difference.

What does the Transform panel show? Screenshot?

[CyberAngel]

23 minutes ago, R C-R said:

What does the Transform panel show? Screenshot?

That is in my initial post!

[Brian_J]

@CyberAngel With the pixel decimal places set to 4 or more (I would set it to the max of 6, myself), in the Layers panel, select the layer that you copied/pasted… i.e., the layer that seems to be 1 px too wide. What is shown in the Transform panel for the dimensions and x and y coordinates? Are all values whole pixels?

If you can take a screenshot of your entire screen that includes the Layers panel and Transform panel, that would be helpful.

[CyberAngel]

17 minutes ago, Brian_J said:

@CyberAngel With the pixel decimal places set to 4 or more (I would set it to the max of 6, myself), in the Layers panel, select the layer that you copied/pasted… i.e., the layer that seems to be 1 px too wide. What is shown in the Transform panel for the dimensions and x and y coordinates? Are all values whole pixels?

If you can take a screenshot of your entire screen that includes the Layers panel and Transform panel, that would be helpful.

At what stage, before I copy or after I copy, before selection it looks like this. You can see the selection is on the same. This is pixels, am I not understanding how there can be a half pixel?

[Brian_J]

5 minutes ago, CyberAngel said:

At what stage, before I copy or after I copy

After you copy. In the Layers panel, select the "games grid" layer that you pasted.

The layer you pasted may not be aligned to whole pixels. But, it could be something else is going on in your file.

If the layer you pasted is pixel aligned, it would be helpful if you could upload a file that shows the issue. Someone in here will be able to get it figured out.

[CyberAngel]

10 minutes ago, Brian_J said:

After you copy. In the Layers panel, select the "games grid" layer that you pasted.

The layer you pasted may not be aligned to whole pixels. But, it could be something else is going on in your file.

If the layer you pasted is pixel aligned, it would be helpful if you could upload a file that shows the issue. Someone in here will be able to get it figured out.

You mean like this?

[CyberAngel]

Affinity Photo file 

Steps to replicate.

1) create a marquee of 224x248

2) Ctrl + C

3) Deselect everything

4) Paste Ctrl + V

5) Move that layer out of the way

 

test.afphoto

[GarryP]

How, exactly, did you create the marquee selection?
I only ask as that’s quite a large area to select perfectly ‘in one take’ with such small pixels.

[CyberAngel]

14 minutes ago, GarryP said:

How, exactly, did you create the marquee selection?
I only ask as that’s quite a large area to select perfectly ‘in one take’ with such small pixels.

I dragged and eyeballed it at first, I knew the exact size, so I then modified what I layed down to the size I needed and then moved it into place with the cursor keys.

[GarryP]

I think we might be getting somewhere now.
How did you modify it?

[Brian_J]

22 minutes ago, CyberAngel said:

You mean like this?

Yes, perfect. That's the info I was looking for.

It doesn't appear to be a pixel alignment issue. At least, not in the way I was thinking it may be.

The extra width isn't completely transparent. If you create a black background, you can see a very faint color.

The only way I've been able to replicate the issue is to begin making the selection with the Rectangle Marquee Tool, then click Toggle Quick Mask (in the Toolbar) and finish making the selection by dragging the selection edges out. Using Quick Mask to edit selections has the effect of "blurring" the selection, for lack of a better term.

If you only used the Marquee Tool to make your selection, I'm stumped.

[CyberAngel]

1 minute ago, GarryP said:

I think we might be getting somewhere now.
How did you modify it?

Modify the marquee? I entered its details in the transform.

[CyberAngel]

1 minute ago, Brian_J said:

Yes, perfect. That's the info I was looking for.

It doesn't appear to be a pixel alignment issue. At least, not in the way I was thinking it may be.

The extra width isn't completely transparent. If you create a black background, you can see a very faint color.

The only way I've been able to replicate the issue is to begin making the selection with the Rectangle Marquee Tool, then click Toggle Quick Mask (in the Toolbar) and finish making the selection by dragging the selection edges out. Using Quick Mask to edit selections has the effect of "blurring" the selection, for lack of a better term.

If you only used the Marquee Tool to make your selection, I'm stumped.

That makes two of us.

[GarryP]

Manipulating a selection like that actually stretches/squashes the pixels in the original selection.
Because of that, sub-pixels will be created in the selection and, therefore, the software needs to do something with those sub-pixels when you copy the selected areas, usually by creating new pixels to hold the contents of the sub-pixels.