problem with document and brush sizing in affinity photo.

[TJack]

I have an issue with document sizing in affinity photo. I have two documents open of equal size in inches but different resolutions. One an 300dpi one at 400dpi. When I copy a layer from the larger dpi to the smaller dpi the image maintains the same size in inches and not the larger size it should when transferring a 400dpi image to a 300dpi document. Not only that but I have found when using a brush set at ten pixels with no size variation on either document the line weight stays exactly the same. Don't think this is a fault of mine and the app is unusable for what I want to do with this problem.

Im not sure if this is an issue in other affinity applications. Any ideas? I feel like i'm going mad.

[lepr]

9 hours ago, TJack said:

One an 300dpi one at 400dpi. When I copy a layer from the larger dpi to the smaller dpi the image maintains the same size in inches and not the larger size it should when transferring a 400dpi image to a 300dpi document. [...]

Im not sure if this is an issue in other affinity applications. Any ideas? I feel like i'm going mad.

That's not a bug. The pasted object's scale depends on the destination document's unit of measure (UOM):

• destination UOM is pixel - pasted object has its size in pixels preserved
• destination UOM is physical - pasted object has its physical size preserved

Be careful to not resample the destination document when changing its unit of measure for pasting purposes. The intersection of the view's rulers has a convenient right-click menu for switching the UOM with no resampling.

That behaviour normally matches across the Affinity apps. There has been an occasional regression in one app and not another, if I remember correctly, but the current macOS apps match. (I don't use the apps on other OS.)

(Be aware that there is a many years old bug affecting the pasted object's offset from the document origin when the destination UOM is physical - the offset should be the same physical size as it was in the source document, but it incorrectly is the same size in pixels as it was in the source document.)

 

9 hours ago, TJack said:

Not only that but I have found when using a brush set at ten pixels with no size variation on either document the line weight stays exactly the same. Don't think this is a fault of mine and the app is unusable for what I want to do with this problem.

Unfortunately, there is no way to specify that the brush's physical size, instead of size in pixels, is to be preserved when switching between documents with differing pixel density. The document UOM has no influence there in the current apps and that's probably more of an unimplemented functionality than a bug, in my opinion. You should post a feature request in https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/122-feedback-for-the-affinity-v2-suite-of-products

[TJack]

4 hours ago, lepr said:

That's not a bug. The pasted object's scale depends on the destination document's unit of measure (UOM):

• destination UOM is pixel - pasted object has its size in pixels preserved
• destination UOM is physical - pasted object has its physical size preserved

Be careful to not resample the destination document when changing its unit of measure for pasting purposes. The intersection of the view's rulers has a convenient right-click menu for switching the UOM with no resampling.

That behaviour normally matches across the Affinity apps. There has been an occasional regression in one app and not another, if I remember correctly, but the current macOS apps match. (I don't use the apps on other OS.)

(Be aware that there is a many years old bug affecting the pasted object's offset from the document origin when the destination UOM is physical - the offset should be the same physical size as it was in the source document, but it incorrectly is the same size in pixels as it was in the source document.)

 

Unfortunately, there is no way to specify that the brush's physical size, instead of size in pixels, is to be preserved when switching between documents with differing pixel density. The document UOM has no influence there in the current apps and that's probably more of an unimplemented functionality than a bug, in my opinion. You should post a feature request in https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/122-feedback-for-the-affinity-v2-suite-of-products

The brush size is set at ten pixels but the output size remains the same when used on a document with 300dpi or 400dpi. Unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying, surely the size of the brush should correlate with the document size. Otherwise whats the point in setting the pixel size of a brush. 

 

However I noticed when resizing a document and opening the document properties tab I may have switched or moved to the other document window, then inadvertently changed the size settings of the corresponding document. This may have been the reason for my confusion and the brush not appearing as it should. It is however a bit of a trap for people like me. It could be prevented by blocking any actions until the current action is complete. 

 

I did also manage to copy a layer or selection into a smaller document and maintain its scale following what you said. Im not sure what use it is other than auto scaling down larger selections/layers to the physical size and layout of a smaller document, and I assume selection or layer may not scale up so well if taken too far the other way.

 

It is a little convoluted though as switching back and forth between document units can be little annoying when copying and pasting between documents, resizing or working to certain scale. It might not be a bug but it certainly bugged the hell out of me, but now I know I am aware of it. Thank you for your help.

[Lee_T]

Brushes are always listed in px size, but you are free to type in the brush size in cm/in as "1cm" or "1in" for example if you prefer.

Lee

[TJack]

18 minutes ago, Lee_T said:

Brushes are always listed in px size, but you are free to type in the brush size in cm/in as "1cm" or "1in" for example if you prefer.

Lee

Do you mean as a brush name? Ah I see. I can do it in the toolbar at the top but not in "more" brush options panel. Actually over the moon with that. That makes things easier. Thank you.

 

[lepr]

1 minute ago, TJack said:

Do you mean as a brush name?

They mean enter a physical size in the brush width field. It will be automatically converted to a size in pixels. There still won't be automatic preservation of the physical width of the brush when you switch between documents with differing pixel density (PPI, misnamed as DPI in Affinity). That's why I suggested you create a request topic for that functionality, as an option, if that indeed is what you want.