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Hi,

 

I'm new to using Affinity Photo. I've been using PS up until now and I've always wanted to give this a try.

What I'm trying to do is have my pixel tool snap to a grid and color that entire pixel to create an upscaled version of pixel art.

 

for example my grid is divided into 32 pixel boxes, my pixel brush is set to 32 pixels but I want it to snap to the boxes

 

Thanks!

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Hi MartialGamer,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

I don't think this is currently possible. You can set the Pixel Tool size to 32px to paint blocks of 32pixels but they will not snap (the tool) to the grid settings. This is valid for all raster based tools.

Have you tried to use a (vector) rectangular shape (32x32px) for this? You can easily duplicate it pressing and holding ⌘ (cmd) while dragging it and it will snap to the grid of blocks defined in the grid settings.

You can then rasterise the layers later if you want a raster based image.

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I don't know if this would work for you but have you considered using the Pencil Pixel tool set to 1 pixel & drawing with Force Pixel Alignment enabled? Obviously, this will produce very tiny artwork but it will ensure that no anti-aliasing occurs so you get the blocky effect I think you are looking for. If you work zoomed in very far, you should not have any trouble seeing what you are creating. If you want, you can also enable the grid, turn off "Use automatic grid" & set the spacing to 1 px as a visual aid.

 

Because for some reason the Erase brush does not completely erase individual pixels even when set to 100% hardness at 1 px size, you can instead use the very handy for this option of holding down the CMD key on a Mac (or the equivalent on Windows) to toggle the Pencil tool mode to erasing (or to fill using the background color or undo from snapshot, depending on the "Alternate" setting in the Context toolbar).

 

To scale it up & retain the blockiness, you can use Document menu > Resize Document with Resample set to Nearest Neighbor, the size lock enabled to maintain its aspect ratio, & setting either the width or height to an even number multiple of the original size. This is easily done with an expression: if the width is say 18 px, enter 18*4 to scale it up by a factor of 4. (I had hoped that something like w*4 would also work but it does not seem to in the Resize Document window.)

 

Also, instead of rescaling your "master" document, you can use the rectangular selection tool to select & copy to the clipboard just whatever you want to resize, use "New From Clipboard" to create a new document, & scale that up using the above procedure.

 

EDIT: I just noticed I referred to the Affinity Photo Pixel tool as the Pencil tool. Corrected above to eliminate any confusion this might cause.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
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1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Have you tried the Pixel tool in the following way...?

 

It works on pixels... exactly.  When you've finished, just scale up your Pixel layer using the transform tab.  Lock the height and width ratio, then type "*=32" in the height or width box.

 

You can even continue using the Pixel tool on a scaled up layer, but you will have to set the Brush width to match the pixel scale (such as 32 px in this example).

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... Lock the height and width ratio, then type "*=32" in the height or width box.

For some reason I just cannot wrap my head around that 'times equals number' notational form. Typically, I use something like "w*32" which works fine in the Transform panel but not in some other places, like in the Document menu > Resize Document fields, as I mentioned above.

 

I just checked & the "*=32" form does work there, so I guess I will have to make more of an effort to remember its (odd to me) syntax.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Why not just use....

 

*32

 

Don't see the need for  *=32  or  w*32

 

for simple operations like these

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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Why not just use....

 

*32

 

Don't see the need for  *=32  or  w*32

 

for simple operations like these

 

There's no particular need in this case, but I think the advantage of using *=32 is that you get into the habit of using '(operator)(equals)(number)', so you won't get tripped up by something like +32 just setting the value to 32 instead of adding 32 to it.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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There's no particular need in this case, but I think the advantage of using *=32 is that you get into the habit of using '(operator)(equals)(number)', so you won't get tripped up by something like +32 just setting the value to 32 instead of adding 32 to it.

That is why I am in the habit of using explicit forms like w+32 or w*32. I just wish that worked everywhere, like in the Resize Document or Canvas windows, as well as in the Transform panel, where it does work.

 

While I am on the subject, I have noticed that dragging on a field name to change its field value, which I find very useful in the Transform panel, does not honor the height/width ratio lock when dragging on the w: or h: field names. It also does not respond to the alt/option key being held down to reduce the increment like when using the scroll wheel with the pointer hovered over the field value to change the value, which also honors the lock.

 

Basically, I would just like everything to be consistent for all numeric entry fields.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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While I am on the subject, I have noticed that dragging on a field name to change its field value, which I find very useful in the Transform panel, does not honor the height/width ratio lock when dragging on the w: or h: field name. It also does not respond to the alt/option key being held down to reduce the increment like when using the scroll wheel with the pointer hovered over the field value to change the value, which also honors the lock.

 

The aspect ratio lock is honoured when "scrubbing" the W and H values in the Windows versions of both AD and APh, but I can confirm that the Alt key has no effect on the size of the increment.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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The aspect ratio lock is honoured when "scrubbing" the W and H values in the Windows versions of both AD and APh, but I can confirm that the Alt key has no effect on the size of the increment.

Thanks for that. So if one other Mac user can confirm that the lock is not honored when scrubbing on the w or h text labels, I will report it as a bug.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
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1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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The ALT key has no effect when scrubbing on the W or H text labels but the shift key does

 

Resulting in 0.1px movements rather than 1px movements

 

Both on AP and AD (Windows)

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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The ALT key has no effect when scrubbing on the W or H text labels but the shift key does

 

Resulting in 0.1px movements rather than 1px movements

At least on my Mac, using the Shift key does not change the increment, nor do any of the other modifier keys affect it.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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In Preferences > User Interface make sure you have at least 1 decimal place set for px (etc) or shift does nothing for me also

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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In Preferences > User Interface make sure you have at least 1 decimal place set for px (etc) or shift does nothing for me also

I normally use the default values (1 decimal place for px, etc.) but it makes no difference if I use that or higher value settings. Shift has no effect on the increment.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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The ALT key has no effect when scrubbing on the W or H text labels but the shift key does

 

Resulting in 0.1px movements rather than 1px movements

 

Both on AP and AD (Windows)

 

On my Windows versions, I see the behaviour that Carl has reported: Shift increases the value by tenths, but Alt has no effect.

 

On a Mac ⇧ (shift) increases the field value by ten, ⌥ (option/alt) increases the field value by a tenth. If it's not working for you is probably because you have changed some settings/shortcuts on Affinity or in the OS itself.

 

For what it's worth, Shift for large increments and Alt for small one would feel more natural to me than the current behaviour (Shift for small increments) on Windows.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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On a Mac ⇧ (shift) increases the field value by ten, ⌥ (option/alt) increases the field value by a tenth. If it's not working for you is probably because you have changed some settings/shortcuts on Affinity or in the OS itself.

Any idea what setting or shortcut would cause this? My Tools > Nudge Distance is set to the default (??) 1 px & the Modifier Nudge Distance to 10 px.

 

It works fine when using the scroll wheel method; it is just when scrubbing on the text of a field label (like "w:" or "h:") that the modifier keys have no effect. This is in both apps.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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On my Windows versions, I see the behaviour that Carl has reported: Shift increases the value by tenths, but Alt has no effect.

 

 

For what it's worth, Shift for large increments and Alt for small one would feel more natural to me than the current behaviour (Shift for small increments) on Windows.

Hi Alfred,

This will be changed for the next Beta so it works the same as it does on Mac except instead of ALT we will use CTRL (ALT is used to access the applications menus).

 

 

Any idea what setting or shortcut would cause this? My Tools > Nudge Distance is set to the default (??) 1 px & the Modifier Nudge Distance to 10 px.

 

It works fine when using the scroll wheel method; it is just when scrubbing on the text of a field label (like "w:" or "h:") that the modifier keys have no effect. This is in both apps.

Currently on Mac, the modifiers don't work with the scrubbing method, only with the mouse wheel. This is already logged to be looked at.

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This will be changed for the next Beta so it works the same as it does on Mac except instead of ALT we will use CTRL (ALT is used to access the applications menus).

 

 

Currently on Mac, the modifiers don't work with the scrubbing method, only with the mouse wheel. This is already logged to be looked at.

 

I hope the behaviour on Windows will be changed so that it works as it should do, not as it currently does, on the Mac! :P

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Currently on Mac, the modifiers don't work with the scrubbing method, only with the mouse wheel. This is already logged to be looked at.

Thanks for the clarification. Do you know if for the scrubbing method not properly honoring the w/h ratio lock in the Transform panel is also logged?

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Thanks!

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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For some reason I just cannot wrap my head around that 'times equals number' notational form. Typically, I use something like "w*32" which works fine in the Transform panel but not in some other places, like in the Document menu > Resize Document fields, as I mentioned above.

 

I just checked & the "*=32" form does work there, so I guess I will have to make more of an effort to remember its (odd to me) syntax.

 

I've covered this subject so many times already.

 

The *= notation is used to say "multiple the current real value by a given number".  It is significantly different to just writing "* 2" at the end of the existing text as the text will be showing a rounded value.  So, "3.5" might have actually been 3.510024, but has been rounded for display.  If you type "3.5 * 2" you will get 7, not 7.020048.

 

You can also use "w * 2", which uses the real value for "w"... which in the case of the Transform tab will be the current width.  The *= notation means you don't need to worry about what the variable name is.

 

You can actually type "*2" or "/2" into any box and it will do multiplication with the current real value.  This was a compromise for * and / only.  It does not work for + or - though.  As has been said, using the += notation is important, as +2 will not work as relative addition, but result in a literal value of "2".

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  • MacBook (Early 2015), 1.3GHz Core M, Intel HD 5300
  • iPad Pro 10.5", 256GB
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