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Sizing seems wrong


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IPad Pro .  Designer 1.6.1.40

Attached is screenshot of:

New Document - 6in x 4in @ 264dpi (Native iPad resolution).

So, should at 100% View, measure 6x4in on screen.

However the Navigator at 100% shows doc at 200%, with actual size of course at 50%.

I reported this before, when helping test iPad Photo beta.

 

I have included snapshot of Grid settings at the top to show a more serious problem : no matter how many times I specify 1in spacing, it insists on changing it, as in shot, to 0.97. Doesn’t seem a lot, but you can see the result in the grid on the 6x4in  image.

 

I don’t think there’s some config setting I’ve missed - but could well be wrong about that!

 

12DCDE42-C865-40B5-B453-911978332D20.png

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Hi @Glenn,

The native iPad resolution is not 6 x 4 inch. So that's why you see your document not being displayed correctly. More, your navigator is set to 50%, and not 100%. 

As for the grid, it seems to be a bug linked to the document's DPI. If you lower the DPI to 265, you would be able to set the grid to 1 inch. I will log this with our devs. 

Thanks,

Gabe. 

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3 hours ago, GabrielM said:

As for the grid, it seems to be a bug linked to the document's DPI. If you lower the DPI to 265, you would be able to set the grid to 1 inch. I will log this with our devs. 

Could this have something to do with a pixel to inch rounding error or something like that? I'm not sure of the exact H & W dimensions of my 9.7" iPad's screen, but assuming the 9.7" diagonal spec is accurate to at least 2 decimal places, with an aspect ratio of 4:3 (2048 by 1536 px) that works out to 7.760" by 5.820",  making the actual PPI of the screen about 263.92, not quite the 264 ppi quoted in most spec sheets.

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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Sorry if my post was not clear.

 

On 8/8/2018 at 8:57 AM, GabrielM said:

The native iPad resolution is not 6 x 4 inch

But I never said it was. Nor would I: resolution being measured not in inches but dpi (or ppi) - as I said in my post:- Document is 6"x4"  @ iPad's native resolution of 264dpi.

 

On 8/8/2018 at 8:57 AM, GabrielM said:

More, your navigator is set to 50%, and not 100%

Yes, I know. That's my point...

When the resolution of a document is the same as the resolution of the display, a 6"x4" canvas (or object) will - should - physically measure on the screen as 6"x4" when the View is set to 100% .

In the case shown, it measured 6"x4" at 50% view.

Only when the doc and display have the same resolution (264 in iPad's case) will Navigator's 100% Pixel View display the image at its actual dimensions. At no other resolution will Pixel view show Actual size.

What I've found is that: if a 6"x4" document is created with pixels as units @ 264dpi (1584x1056), then 100% View in Navigator correctly sizes the canvas or object on screen to measure as 6"x4".

If that 6x4 document is created using inches or centimetres also @264 (I haven't tried other units) then 100% View shows the object at twice its size. As I say, originally: to present its actual 100% size, Navigator needs to be 50% (as shown).

Similarly, while pixel-based docs will create accurate grid spacing, those based on inches or centimetres will have spacing that's not accurate - as in screenshot.  (seems to be only @264dpi - not sure).

Likely this hasn't arisen because 264dpi is probably not much used! I use it because I need an actual, Print-size view. Which means Document res matching Display res. Resolution can always be changed (non-resampling) to match media later.

 

Apolgies for long-windedness. Seem unable to be concise these days..!

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I think you mixed up the terminology a bit. Resolution is defined by the number of Pixels (not inch) in Height and Width. PPI / DPI would be the density of those pixels/dots per inch. Setting your document to 264dpi will not result in an "actual size". Because of the native 2x DPI of the iPad, you would have to check your design at 50%, and not 100%. When zooming, Designer iPad will ignore the document DPI and render everything at native 2X DPI. There is no "actual size - which calculates the zoom based on the DPI" on the iPad. So, all the "DPI dependent" units ( cm, inch, etc) would be calculated at the iPad 2x native DPI, meaning a "true" size would be shown at 50%. 

That's exactly why you see the correct 100% when creating a document in Pixels, and a "wrong" zoom level (50%) when creating it in inch.

I hope this gives a bit more detail on how it works :)

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Gabriel, Thanks so much for the detailed explanation.

(Sorry, long-winded again - but unavoidable, I'm afraid...

First, I do need to repeat that I have never said, nor ever thought, the dimensions of a document have anything at all to do with a document's resolution. In my example, 6x4" is immaterial (it could have been 7.8x3.6 inches or mm ; the resolution I gave it  - in this example 264 dpi (to match iPad's resolution, as I believed it be) would always have been 264 for the purposes of this proposition : i.e. that a document (any dimension, any unit) would be expected to appear at those dimensions on screen if the document resolution is the same as the display resolution. 

But what I definitely did not know was the x2 factor of the iPad resolution. 

In Apple's tech specs (and other reviews etc I've read) it's stated clearly that the Resolution of the iPad Pro is 264dpi. 

I do appreciate you pointing out this x2 factor (cos I really never that), and how this explains why Designer's Navigator displays the size of any document created in units other than pixels not as 100% but 200%..

But, the thing is, I've not seen this in any other app I've used - where any document of any dimensions, any units or non-pixel units, if created at the same resolution as whatever the display resolution, they display that document's dimensions at the same scale when view is set as 100%. This is what I call 'Actual' View.

How could any user know Designer would show things differently, particularly when the Help says....

[Sorry, don't know how to insert image inline. Please see below]

  
About Grids...
It seems (to me, anyway, in the cases I've tried) the flaw is not limited to the example I gave (6x4, at 264 - needing a reduction to 265dpi to be accurate)... But seems to apply to many documents - pixel or non-pixel, different dimensions, different dpi - when setting the grid to be a divisor of the width.

Please Try:
8" x 5" @ 300dpi  - Grid division to be 2" [Reverts to 0.853"]
1200pt x 600pt @ 144dpi - Grid division to be 300pt  [Reverts to 128pt"]
2000px x 1000px @ 72dpi  - Grid division to be 500px" [Reverts to 256px"]

(There were one or two that did not misbehave - but I didn't record their settings).

IMG_0402.JPG

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I have already logged the grid issue. Somehow the max value for grid spacing is determined by the DPI value. 

Quote

In Apple's tech specs (and other reviews etc I've read) it's stated clearly that the Resolution of the iPad Pro is 264dpi.

For future reference, the resolution is determined by height and weight in pixels, while DPI/PPI determines the density of dots per inch - or pixel per inch considering your tablet. I believe you got them a bit mixed up :)  

 

 

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1 hour ago, Glenn said:

when view is set as 100%. This is what I call 'Actual' View.

On the desktop Affinity applications, the zoom options "100%" and "Actual Size" usually give different results, in my experience. For me, 100% is much larger than the actual document size, and "Actual Size" is often a zoom of around 18% to 30% for my documents.

I can't comment on the iPad, but I thought I should mention that your terminology and Serif's might be different, as using the same terminology with different meanings can easily lead to confusion :)

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
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17 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

On the desktop Affinity applications, the zoom options "100%" and "Actual Size" usually give different results, in my experience.

I find this more than a little confusing, but on the Mac desktop apps (assuming 'Actual Size' Zoom is set to "Default" rather than one of the provided several Apple device presets) "Actual Size" is effectively the print size, which is determined as one would expect from the document dimensions & DPI.

For this "Default" setting (which according to the desktop help is only available when the document units are set to Pixel or Points) 100% & "Actual Size" are displayed at exactly the same screen size (& the on-screen & real rulers match). But in Affinity Designer on my 9.7" iPad, several weird things are happening:

1. Setting up a new document with the Print "Letter (ANSI A)" size, which should be 8.5 x 11 inches instead creates a document that is 9 x 11 inches.
2. In such documents the scale is slightly off. For example, a 3 x 4 inch rectangle with no stroke at 50% zoom (as set in the Navigator Studio) is on screen about 1/16" smaller in both dimensions as measured by a real ruler than it should be.

I have no explanation for any of this. :S

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 8/13/2018 at 1:59 PM, GabrielM said:

DPI/PPI determines the density of dots per inch - or pixel per inch considering your tablet. I believe you got them a bit mixed up :)  

 

Gabriel, I know you say it with a smile, but I do think that rather muddies the water a bit. We know dpi/ppi technically refers to Pixel Density, but isn’t it all but universally used to define Resolution?

But, all that aside, I would still like to know if it’s the Help file that’s not right, when it says (as shown in previous screenshot) that the Navigator’s 100% view applies to all - any unit - documents, or whether (my original point) it is the Navigator itself that’s actually not working as it should?

I don’t pretend to understand the x2 factor you mention, but it seems to add a complication to Designer that I don’t find in other apps.

 
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23 minutes ago, Glenn said:

We know dpi/ppi technically refers to Pixel Density, but isn’t it all but universally used to define Resolution?

I'm afraid no. Pixel density and resolution are completely different terms. 

24 minutes ago, Glenn said:

But, all that aside, I would still like to know if it’s the Help file that’s not right, when it says (as shown in previous screenshot) that the Navigator’s 100% view applies to all - any unit - documents, or whether (my original point) it is the Navigator itself that’s actually not working as it should?

I've logged it with our developers. They will decide which one is wrong and which one to amend. For the meantime, you can check your designs at 50%(if your working units are Physical) and that will be the correct print size. 

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Sorry, Gabriel. You keep misunderstanding me. Dpi/PPi is commonly used to define resolution is what i said. Not that Res and Pix Density are the same.

I see no point in pursuing this.

I'm glad you have recognised and logged this issue.

(Please note: None of this is meant to be unfriendly. I often find myself caught up in Forum confusions)....

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8 minutes ago, Glenn said:

Dpi/PPi is commonly used to define resolution is what i said.

That may be true, but neither one has an unambiguous, context-insensitive meaning because both "dots" & "pixels" can & usually do refer to different things in different contexts. For example, a screen pixel is not the same thing as an image pixel and a dot created by a dot matrix printer is not the same as a dot created by an inkjet printer.

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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