Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Losing fine detail of polygons when zoomed out and in scaled export


Recommended Posts

Hi :) 

I'm drawing a large set of fantasy mapping assets using Affinity Designer.  This is part of a sheet of various weapons in the collection. 

I'm having an issue with the very fine point of this polygon on the poleaxe spear point, which vanishes into a black line more and more as you zoom out.

image.thumb.png.70cbc9b41faaac04a0e4f348af2e3e01.png

Zoomed in, it looks like this

image.thumb.png.1dc77752fdb2f3b685d8b90811c8aafd.png

I'm drawing these images much larger than they need to be in order to get the detail correct without too much fiddling around, but when I scale them down to the correct size when I export the poleaxe I get that same black line where the tip of that polygon has vanished.

In this screen shot (below) the first image is the full scale export from Affinity.  The second one is the scaled export direct from Affinity, and the third one is the one I reduced in GIMP from the first full scale Affinity export.image.thumb.png.0f580e99a54ac0576d618c5d741f885e.png

And here are the export settings I used when exporting the scaled image (centre above) directly from Affinity.

image.png.ab031fd872b8347175a8ff8a64497550.png

Please can someone help?  What am I doing wrong?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you upload the source adphoto document (only the axe) in full resolution?

The preview app resamples files again when zoomed, blurring the rendering, try to compare them when opened in Affinity Photo, and use exactly 400%.

The exported png has structures of 1px width, so pixel alignment can dramatically change the result. Unfortunately Affinity has no tool to inspect export results in realtime (e.g. changing size or resample mode), and export preview does not give exact results.

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the 400% zoom of the full scale original

image.thumb.png.3e1bd8c773cfa487ac93c5ea3012e793.png

This is the 400% zoom of the version I scaled during export from Affinity

image.thumb.png.4446106b68a36f74212eff6790e45790.png

And this is the one I scaled down in GIMP from the full size export.

image.thumb.png.9652b118409bd1b5cdac0a5bc33358c4.png 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please try merge visible, then hide lower layers, before export.

when I remember it correctly Affinity has a „special“ way to handle export with resizing and layer blending / resampling:

  • each layer gets resized individually in the target resolution, then all gets blend together. Unfortunately this can lead to different results.
  • Using merge visible before export ensures what you see gets resized and exported.
  • As you document contains partial transparency, the lower layer would shine through and darken semi transparent areas.

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is the result of exporting a scaled png after merging everything.  It's good, but I need to keep the originals as they are, not merged.

For now it is easier for me export at full size and scale in GIMP.

image.thumb.png.c284d717b30c26d9b0b658fa4b6172ea.png

Do you know if there are any updates planned for the way scaling is done during export?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A big issue or resizing to 10% of original size is that resampling will factor in only very few pixels from the original image. From 10x10=100 only 1 pixel will survive, and the colors will not consider all 100 source pixels, but a weighted sum of max 9 neighboring pixels. This can lead to drastic color shift, you get many different results by simply shifting your grouped layers to different pixel positions.

Other apps may handle export with resizing differently (better) than Affinity.

Affinity does a good job for factors 2-4, resizing above those factors is very tricky.

Merge visible helps in most cases.

 

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Mouse said:

It's good, but I need to keep the originals as they are, not merged.

merge visible does not harm the original layers, they stay full intact and untouched. Simply delete the temporary pixel layer when done.

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, lacerto said:

That was a sad try as I later noticed that I had somehow managed to turn off scaling of all FX applied in the design myself, before turning them back on 🙂

A lifetime of experimentation is how I got to where I am, so I appreciate it when others add their effort to mine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.