Sharpness problem with Affinity 2.2.1

[pthompso]

With Affinity 2.2.1 on flattening a document or saving in any format, tiff, png or jpeg there is  a slight loss of sharpening. There is also a slight but definite change in the colours, particularly blues. Has anybody else noticed this? It is very frustrating and I am at a loss to know what is happening. This loss of sharpening was also a problem with some versions of Affinity 1 although to a somewhat greater degree. I cannot remember what resolved the problem at that time but it did eventually stop happening. I would welcome any suggestions and comments. I have been puzzled at my dissatisfaction with my processed pictures since last upgrading Affinity 2 but only spotted the problem today.

[walt.farrell]

It would be helpful to have a copy of a sample document before it is flattened, so we can see the details of the document and see the loss of sharpness happening.

 

[NotMyFault]

33 minutes ago, pthompso said:

With Affinity 2.2.1 on flattening a document or saving in any format, tiff, png or jpeg there is  a slight loss of sharpening. There is also a slight but definite change in the colours, particularly blues. Has anybody else noticed this? It is very frustrating and I am at a loss to know what is happening. This loss of sharpening was also a problem with some versions of Affinity 1 although to a somewhat greater degree. I cannot remember what resolved the problem at that time but it did eventually stop happening. I would welcome any suggestions and comments. I have been puzzled at my dissatisfaction with my processed pictures since last upgrading Affinity 2 but only spotted the problem today.

The symptoms you are describing have been reported before. 
in most cases, it was caused by:

• inspecting files at zoom level different from 100%. This affects sharpness / noise filters mostly, but can lead to color shifts depending on content.

[pthompso]

Thanks for your replies. Images posted in this reply.

The difference in sharpness is very evident here in the drummer (Bones). Flatten this pic and it immediately looks exactly like the jpeg or any other format it exported in. This happens at the same screen size and resolution etc. and makes accurate sharpening impossible. 

 

P9010019 2.afphoto

[NotMyFault]

Cannot spot any visual or numerical difference with multiple methods:

• merge visible on top. Set blend mode to difference. Add levels with white level set to zero. Not a single pixel differs.
• export as PNG uncompressed. Not a single pixel differs.
• jpeg shows expected compression artifacts.

[NotMyFault]

Which os / gpu do you use?

[NotMyFault]

As you document is RGB/16 some color differences are expected exporting to jpg (8 bit only).

other differences may be caused by preview apps and (lack of) support for color profiles 

[pthompso]

I apologise for my ineptness here. I have never used a forum before and don't yet understand how it works.

I have spent the afternoon finding that this happens with EVERY afphoto when I flatten it or export it. I do not understand why there should be any visible change to the image at all when I flatten it. It should appear to be EXACTLY the same.

Thanks for your help but I remain baffled by what is happening.

Mac mini M2 Pro.

[pthompso]

Mac mini M2 Pro. Sonoma 14.0

I do not understand why flattening an afphoto should result in any visible onscreen changes. It means I can never view a processed picture exactly as I have processed it except within the Affinity editor. This is not at all satisfactory.

[NotMyFault]

Normally it doesn’t.

as a cannot reproduce this issue on my M1 Mac, others with same hardware may steps in and try to reproduce.

 

[NotMyFault]

Left: Image open in Photo.

Right: Export to JPG, 85% quality.

identical except jpeg compression artefacts

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, pthompso said:

The difference in sharpness is very evident here in the drummer (Bones). Flatten this pic and it immediately looks exactly like the jpeg or any other format it exported in. This happens at the same screen size and resolution etc. and makes accurate sharpening impossible. 

 

1 hour ago, pthompso said:

I do not understand why flattening an afphoto should result in any visible onscreen changes. It means I can never view a processed picture exactly as I have processed it except within the Affinity editor. This is not at all satisfactory.

You must evaluate all sharpening operations (such as your multiple Live Unsharp Mask filters) at 100% Zoom. You cannot accurately determine how they will look if you are zoomed out, e.g.,  to the 28% Zoom that is needed to see all the image on my screen with my studio layout. This is because of the way that Affinity uses MipMaps technology to speed up the screen display.

Flattening (during Export or manually while editing) will also give you a true view of the amount of sharpening you've applied, which you can do non-destructively using Merge Visible. @NotMyFault mentioned using that to examine your document and to verify that the export was correct. You could also use that while editing:

1. Set the sharpening parameters.
2. Merge visible, so you can see how it truly looks even though you're zoomed out.
3. If it's not good, delete that layer, and readjust the sharpening parameters again.

But the way the application is designed, to really see what the Unsharp Mask is doing while you're adjusting it, you need to be at 100% and panning around the image if you need to see its effects in different areas.

So, rather than applying the filter and evaluating how it looks with the entire image visible:

you need to get to 100% Zoom and view it this way:

and pan to see the other areas of the image.