Affinity Photo, how to merge layers without blurring?

[RandallCC]

What am I missing?
I drew the image below, copied the layer, then merged down
tried different settings of pixel alignment, same blurry result

(copied and merged the image ten times, to make the blurring obvious. In my workflow I frequently draw on new layers that are later merged down so I would like to find a way to have no blurring, I get lost in the layers when there are too many)

 

 

[Pšenda]

22 minutes ago, RandallCC said:

What am I missing?
I drew the image below, copied the layer, then merged down
tried different settings of pixel alignment, same blurry result

The listed options have an effect only when placing and moving objects (in general, when transforming them). Of course, it will not affect the Merge functions.

https://affinity.help/designer2/English.lproj/pages/DesignAids/snapping.html

Edited December 3, 2023 by Pšenda

[NotMyFault]

It looks like you painted with a brush having partial transparency.

when you duplicate such layers, those images become more opaque with every copy, giving a mild blurring effect. 
 

the other more important aspect: you must pixel pixel align the lowest layer once before starting the duplicate and merge process. 

Use rasterize once, and there will be no further blurring by misaligned layer positions or dpi.

Every time you move, resize, rotate or otherwise change the layer position or dpi, you need this rasterize step.

Important: the lower layer needs to be rasterized, not the upper layer.

 

[RandallCC]

Yes, thank you. The rasterising is what I seem to have missed. Added a shortcut to do this efficiently. 

To help me understand:

a new pixel layer is not by default rasterised?

and every time I edit something on a layer I will have to re-rasterize the layer. Is this also the case when I just add brushstrokes?

[NotMyFault]

2 hours ago, RandallCC said:

a new pixel layer is not by default rasterised?

It is, but the mentioned operations (transform / more tool) can lead to misalignment, which needs a fresh rasterize.

 

Merge down in Affinity has the drawback that it does not do an implicit rasterize, while other apps do, leading to a great deal of confusion.

Add your vote here 

 

 

[RandallCC]

Done!

And just for good measure:

On 12/3/2023 at 12:37 PM, NotMyFault said:

It looks like you painted with a brush having partial transparency.

when you duplicate such layers, those images become more opaque with every copy, giving a mild blurring effect. 

 

the brush nor the duplication caused any blur, I made shure to check this before merging.

Anyhow: many thanks, you saved me a lot of unsatisfactory hassle & frustration (I was getting ready to export layered artwork to single layer tiffs and importing them back to continue working on them)

[Pšenda]

On 12/3/2023 at 9:08 AM, RandallCC said:

I get lost in the layers when there are too many

The disadvantage of merging layers is their destructiveness, as it is not easy to undo or correct the modification made. If you're merging just to make the Layers stack clearer, then try using groups. They have the same effect - several layers are displayed as one, but the sub-layers can still be edited.