Swoop Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Not sure if this is a issue or me doing something not quite right in the Beta of Affinity Photo?! When i have prepared a low res jpg for web use (say 200kb) I always add a © of my name, I am noticing that when the layers are flattened for completion the text does not appear to be standing out as it should. I hope the attached example explains better! Any help or advice would be appreciated. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted February 23, 2015 Staff Share Posted February 23, 2015 Hi Swoop, Welcome to Affinity Forums :) The flattened image must display (and export) as it looks inside Affinity Photo unless you resize and compress it when exporting. In this case i believe it's a combination of factors that's leading to a loss of legibility. The jpeg compression, the textured nature of the photo with highly sharpened detail that interfere/blend with the small letters, the lack of contrast between the texture/colour of the road and the white of the letters (which are very thin) and the font chosen (the italic variant doesn't help much here too). There's some ways to workaround/improve this: - you can use a slightly bigger font size and/or change the font used - you can add a subtile blurred darkened shape below the text to increase the contrast with the background - sometimes outlining the text with a stroke helps, but in this case the letters are too small to benefit from it (worth a try to see if works. the outline doesn't need to be necessarily black.) - you can also try to incorporate the text outside the image, on a framed area (although this isn't probably what you're after). Swoop 1 A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoop Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Hi MEB Thanks so much for all your advice, I will have a play with what you suggested, and I agree the road surface and small font doesn't appear to help with this particular text layer. Loving this Affinity Photo Beta and thanks once again for your advice. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted February 23, 2015 Staff Share Posted February 23, 2015 You're welcome Peter ;) A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoop Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Hi MEB I have been playing around with the text layer on the same image and I am starting to bang my head against the wall a bit :-) When I add a text ayer to the image it is crisp and perfect in the Affinity Photo Beta App. When I come to save the image in .jpg at a reasonable size for web use (250kb) the text is not as sharp as it was in the app!! Bit confused to be honest. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted February 23, 2015 Staff Share Posted February 23, 2015 Since you are resizing the image on export make sure the Resample algorithm in the Export dialog is set to Lanczos. If this still doesn't solve the issue, can you post a sample document so we can take a look? It could be a problem/bug with the export... A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoop Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Here you go MEB 1st image is a screen shot of the text in-app so to speak 2nd image is exported in Lanczos and fractionally not as sharp. Definitely so much sharper in app and obviously the smallest the text the fuzzier it is. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted February 23, 2015 Staff Share Posted February 23, 2015 You can't compare the details and sharpness of an image at full resolution while you work at it on Affinity with an exported down sampled image for web. What is happening here is expected. When you are seeing the image on your screen at full resolution you get the most faithful reproduction you can get of the data captured (photography) and the object rendered on screen (text). When you export and resize the image you are actually discarding data. All the elements will have to fit the size you specified on export (that is much smaller then the original image). Obviously the smaller the image and text is the more problematic those issues become (blurred image/text fuzziness). There's also another detail: since the text is also being down sampled with the image it also looses some quality. You can try to go a step further if you reduce only the image using a lossless format (.png) and add the text only after the downsampling process (instead of reducing it originally with the image). But this is highly dependent on the quality of the text rendering engine at small sizes. It may worth a try but i don't believe it will improve things by a large margin. The font used can also impact legibility. Some work way better at small sizes than others. Only then export the composed image as jpg. A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoop Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks MEB Saving it as a .PNG and then rendering a new text layer and then exporting it as a .JPG definitely worked with a much more sharper text albeit very onerous. With every respect and no implied offence to you or this great App, I can render text in pixelmator without having to save it as a .PNG and then a .JPG and it is very sharp! I wonder if anyone else has this issue of fuzzy text on a saved .JPG or could it be a small Beta type issue in Affinity Photo? Thanks MEB, hopefully this can be sorted somehow. Best regards Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted February 23, 2015 Staff Share Posted February 23, 2015 No offence taken. If it's not working as it should, we have to take a look at it. It could be a problem with the export code or something else... I will check this out. A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoop Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Hi MEB Sorry I couldn't post yesterday but I hit my post limit :-) This forum will not let me upload the format which you asked me to send to you! I am getting the Error message saying I am not permitted to upload this kind of file!! Maybe you could try and replicate a 955px x 637px .jpg saved at about 250kb with a small font wrote on it, and see if the font is fuzzy when you save the image. (and view it outside Affinity Photo). Cheers MEB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoop Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 Just downloaded the very latest version of Affinity Photo. I have to say there is still an issue with slightly fuzzy text when the image (sizes and dimensions as above) is saved as a decent sized .JPEG If you physically merge down the text on the image or just simply save it as above the text rendering is not crisp and clear as it is on the screen before it is saved! I won't harp on any more about this issue but I need text on images so it would be very important for me. I do like this programme but the text fuzziness is a pain and it is just not right! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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