Jean-Marc Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 Hi everybody , is there a way to get a bigger picture view of the layers in the panel ? I know in the preference panel you can increase the size of text ( only two options standard or Large ), I'd like to know if I can get the same way with the small icons of layers. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 There is no way to increase the size of the thumbnails in the Layers panel. It is a feature several users have asked for from time to time in the Feature Requests & Feedback forums, but there is no indication from Serif of if or when that might be implemented in some future version of the Affinity apps. Jean-Marc 1 Quote 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hifred Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 It is unfortunately not possible to increase the size of layer and mask thumbnails, they also always appear square, regardless of the image format. Edit: R C-R was quicker. Jean-Marc 1 Quote [Poll] Do you need a DAM? And what should it be like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Marc Posted February 2, 2019 Author Share Posted February 2, 2019 Thanks for your answers, I will plan to change my glasses... firstdefence 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hifred Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 2 minutes ago, Jean-Marc said: Thanks for your answers, I will plan to change my glasses... Better give Serif another nudge in the feature request forum. Quote [Poll] Do you need a DAM? And what should it be like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 52 minutes ago, hifred said: It is unfortunately not possible to increase the size of layer and mask thumbnails, they also always appear square, regardless of the image format. I am just guessing but I think they decided to make them unchangeable & small because allowing users to increase their size would make the Layers panel more difficult to use than it already is when there are lots of layers, since that would mean a lot more scrolling to get to a specific layer, as well as requiring a proportionally wider panel to fit more than the thumbnail into it. Patrick C 1 Quote 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hifred Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 Well, that's the whole purpose of making this layer/ mask preview size editable in PS, AI, IN. If you work with very many layers regularly you can decrease their size - if not - by all means make them big. It should be the user who decides what too much scrolling means. Good Layer filters and Search help too. Right now the small and hard coded square thumbnails are top reasons why I find the Layer Panel difficult to read - already with just a few layers. lepr and Jean-Marc 1 1 Quote [Poll] Do you need a DAM? And what should it be like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABD Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 2 hours ago, R C-R said: I am just guessing but I think they decided to make them unchangeable & small because allowing users to increase their size would make the Layers panel more difficult to use than it already is when there are lots of layers, since that would mean a lot more scrolling to get to a specific layer, as well as requiring a proportionally wider panel to fit more than the thumbnail into it. While I get it, there's also another way to quickly find the layers. Build a search option. For someone who's organised enough to name the layers, it'll be a good solution to easily find the layers. I think this was also a feature request from a few users. Jean-Marc, gdenby and R C-R 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medical Officer Bones Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 4 hours ago, R C-R said: I am just guessing but I think they decided to make them unchangeable & small because allowing users to increase their size would make the Layers panel more difficult to use than it already is when there are lots of layers, since that would mean a lot more scrolling to get to a specific layer, as well as requiring a proportionally wider panel to fit more than the thumbnail into it. If that is what they were/are thinking (which I very much doubt), than that is up-side down thinking indeed. In truth, the entire layer panel in Photo is in dire need of a redesign. Just that checkbox to hide and show layers, and placement of the checkbox to the far right of a layer thumbnail is quite bad GUI/UX design, and just needs to be fixed. I've discussed this in another thread a while ago, though, and it doesn't really need repeating here. Suffice to say, compared to the layer panel design in Affinity Photo (and Designer), almost any other image editor (commercial and free) provides the user with a (far) better user experience. And it is not only the Layer panel GUI design that is an issue, but also layer management, or lack thereof. Other applications allow for colour tagging of layers, searching for layers (and types of layers), seamless zooming in and out of layer thumbnails, clear indication whether advanced layer blending options were used, and more. I expect the Affinity developers are aware of the issues related to the current Layer panel implementation compared to the competition, and will improve things by version 2. Rome wasn't built in a day. lepr, hifred, PaulEC and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulEC Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 Sorry if this is a bit OT, but I think there is a similar problem with the Assets Panel in Publisher. It would be really nice if you could change the size of the thumbnail and if it wasn't cropped to fit a square. Medical Officer Bones, hifred and Jean-Marc 3 Quote Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz : 32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hifred Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 5 hours ago, Medical Officer Bones said: I've discussed this in another thread a while ago, though, and it doesn't really need repeating here. I do remember and agree with every word - I'm just not sure how effective such forum feedback really is. Is there someone who looks for repeating feedback pattern and picks up ideas also outside the feature request forum and puts them onto a list? We don't know. Just a few days ago I commented in a thread which had a well chosen name and already went on for more than forum page. I happened to get an answer by a staff member which made clear to me that the underlying issue wasn't understood yet. In that case, with my answer I was able to sell the idea, but I tend to think that such is rather the exception, but the rule. Quote [Poll] Do you need a DAM? And what should it be like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Wahl Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 I can't increase the size of the panels in layers but I've had off and on success increasing the length of the layers panel... sometime an arrow with points pointing up and down appears at the bottom where the trash can, fx, mask icons are and allows me to pull the menu down increasing vertical space... Affinity Designer needs to work on this so it's a consistent feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron P. Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 Welcome to the forums @Robert Wahl, Do you mean the thumbnail size ? If so, go to the burger menu, the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner. Click on it and you get the option to change the thumbnail sizes from Small, Medium, and Large. I know trying to lengthen the Panels are a big pain, trying to get that double-headed arrow. How about dragging the Layers Panel out, then you can make it as long as you want. Do you know you can Customize the Studio and Save them? So move things around, get them how you need to work, then in the View menu, scroll down to Studio Presets>Add Preset. jdrkw 1 Quote Affinity Photo 2.4..; Affinity Designer 2.4..; Affinity Publisher 2.4..; Affinity2 Beta versions. Affinity Photo,Designer 1.10.6.1605 Win10 Home Version:21H2, Build: 19044.1766: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3301 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s);32GB Ram, Nvidia GTX 3070, 3-Internal HDD (1 Crucial MX5000 1TB, 1-Crucial MX5000 500GB, 1-WD 1 TB), 4 External HDD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Wahl Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 Thanks, Ron... I'm new to Designer and finding my way so I appreciate you words of wisdom. I just discovered the double headed arrow by accident. I kept using Designer and getting irritated that my layers panel was so short... LOL. The thumbnail size is fine but I'll play with it anyway. Again, thanks for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron P. Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 Your Welcome Quote Affinity Photo 2.4..; Affinity Designer 2.4..; Affinity Publisher 2.4..; Affinity2 Beta versions. Affinity Photo,Designer 1.10.6.1605 Win10 Home Version:21H2, Build: 19044.1766: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3301 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s);32GB Ram, Nvidia GTX 3070, 3-Internal HDD (1 Crucial MX5000 1TB, 1-Crucial MX5000 500GB, 1-WD 1 TB), 4 External HDD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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