No Brush Size Indication?

[racerwhiteside]

Maybe it's just me, but there isn't any indication of the pixel size of the brush in the "Brush - Editing" window. Every other parameter has a box next to its respective slider, allowing you to see and compare changes you're making. Why not have a display for maybe the most important adjustment...? I'm not sure if it's always been this way or if this changed after an update, but either way it's pretty frustrating while working on a project and trying to maintain consistency between brushes. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by racerwhiteside

[Komatös]

Hi @racerwhiteside and welcome to the forums.

This is a know bug and is fixed in the 2.3 Beta.

[racerwhiteside]

Maybe I'm unfamiliar with how this works, but I just downloaded an update this morning (2.2.1) and I'm confused why such a basic thing wouldn't be fixed immediately? Why should I have to download a separate beta just to see what size my brushes are in the version I paid for? 

[NotMyFault]

Almost all software vendors have adopted agile software development methods, using sprints of fixed periods (1, 2, or more weeks) and internal or public beta versions before publishing official sw releases.

Release mostly contain multiple of such bug fixes, and/or new functionality and can take any period from 4 weeks minimum to several month. Major vendors adopted a fixed monthly update cycle for security related patches (Microsoft at al), and 2-3 functional upgrades every year. Affinity was slow in the past requiring multiple month, but has increased the pace after launching V2.0

Only in absolute emergencies like 0-day security issues (or corrupting files) you will get a faster turnaround, or a release limited to one fix.

[R C-R]

FWIW, this bug does not seem to be present in the Mac versions.

[walt.farrell]

26 minutes ago, R C-R said:

FWIW, this bug does not seem to be present in the Mac versions.

Right. The Beta fix list says that AF-380 is specific to Windows. 

 

[racerwhiteside]

I can understand update schedules but honestly this just feels a bit irresponsible from a software engineering perspective - some might even argue that, in terms of software interface usability, not having something as foundational as the brush size indication in an art program is an "emergency" and worthy of a quick patch just to bring your program up to world-class standards. I personally wouldn't be disappointed if an update came out today for "2.2.2" and the only thing it fixed was the brush size indication. Maybe that's just me?

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, racerwhiteside said:

Maybe that's just me?

Yes, it's just you.

Everybody has their favorite "must fix ASAP," "I can't understand why something so fundamental ever made it into a release version" thing to gripe about. But there are dozens of them, some that have been around since the very first versions, so there would be a never ending string of minor updates if they tried to fix them one-at-a-time ... & of course, for any software this complicated fixing one thing not infrequently breaks something else.

That's why essentially no software producer releases updates that address just one thing.

[racerwhiteside]

Okay fair enough but this is a pretty significant usability issue. Usually when something so fundamental breaks with an update, it's appropriate to issue a quick fix instead of just leaning back on "oh well this is how Microsoft does updates so maybe we'll see it change in 6 months". I know I'm not the only person who misses the days when you spent money on a product and it just WORKED. I didn't ever have an issue like this with, say, Photoshop 7 for example. Of course the companies making the software will continue to release shoddy half-baked products - and charge good money for them! - as long as there are forums full of people apologizing on their behalf.  

[KarinC]

I notice that the size doesn't appear in the editing box but it does appear in the tool bar as you are editing. (In Windows). Not perfect but you can see the size as you edit....until it is fixed.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, racerwhiteside said:

Usually when something so fundamental breaks with an update, it's appropriate to issue a quick fix ...

How many developers have you seen do that? Can you provide a few examples?

Besides, as @KarinC mentioned, it seems that this Window bug does not prevent you from seeing the brush size as you edit it, just not where it should be shown or you expect to see it.

[KarinC]

Back to the issue. I was thinking that if all you want to do is change the width of the brush stroke it would be better to do it from the tool bar rather than editing the brush. That way the default width isn't changed and it would be quicker. (not that the issue doesn't need to be fixed).