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I recently watched the tutorial video on macros. I hadn't used them before so I gave it a go.
I tend to specialize in restoring vintage photos & one of my regular procedures in Photo is to reduce the DPI to 300 without changing the pixel size of the photo.
This is required because when scanning old photos I often set the scan DPI to 800 or a 1000 in order to enlarge the photo.
So the procedure is as follows: Select Document/Resize Document, untick Resample, change DPI TO 300, click Resize.
I recorded this as a macro but surprisingly found that it changed both the DPI and the pixel size.
Original Document size is 5665 x 3423 DPI 1000
Running the macro resulted in a pixel size of 4960 x 2965 DPI 300
Why is this? Where have I gone wrong?

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Uncheck resample when changing the DPI, When you uncheck resample the dimension boxes are greyed out, you can then change the DPI without affecting the images dimensions.

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What was the size of the document that you used when you recorded the macro? I suspect that's where the 4960x2965 comes from. It appears that it records the dimensions as part of the macro, even though you uncheck the resample. I'm thinking this might be a bug.

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447728684_ScreenShot2019-10-09at16_50_43.png.eafa0e58f774b5227fc72c82a5bfee8d.png

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Dazzler is basically saying redo the macro again because the dimensions are programmed into the macro. Just uncheck resample before changing the DPI

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1 minute ago, D23 said:

firstdefence - What are you saying? With Resample unchecked it wouldn't/doesn't change the pixel size but it does change the DPI.

Yes, this is why the size boxes get greyed out they won't change.

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@firstdefence Try recording this as a macro. Sure it greys out the size as normal, but it seems to record the image size of the document that I have open when I record the macro. So, say if I have a document at 100px x 100px at 72DPI and I record the macro (unticking the resample button as you've said, and changing the DPI to 300), I end up with my orginal image at 100px x 100px and 300dpi. So far so good. But now I export that macro, and run it on an image that is 200 x 600px @72DPI, and I import the macro and run it, I'd expect to get 200 x 600px @300DPI but instead get 100px x 100px @ 300DPI ?!!

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2 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Dazzler is basically saying redo the macro again because the dimensions are programmed into the macro. Just uncheck resample before changing the DPI

No I wasn't saying that at all ... I was testing this myself and finding out there's what looks like a bug here. It's recording the dimensions of an image when it shouldn't be.

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3 minutes ago, Dazzler said:

@firstdefence Try recording this as a macro. Sure it greys out the size as normal, but it seems to record the image size of the document that I have open when I record the macro. So, say if I have a document at 100px x 100px at 72DPI and I record the macro (unticking the resample button as you've said, and changing the DPI to 300), I end up with my orginal image at 100px x 100px and 300dpi. So far so good. But now I export that macro, and run it on an image that is 200 x 600px @72DPI, and I import the macro and run it, I'd expect to get 200 x 600px @300DPI but instead get 100px x 100px @ 300DPI ?!!

Was just replying about the apparent inflexibility of this when written as a macro, it's a one shot deal and you'd have to have multiple macros for different dimensions/DPI

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Just now, firstdefence said:

Was just replying about the apparent inflexibility of this when written as a macro, it's a one shot deal and you'd have to have multiple macros for different dimensions.

Yeah, that kind of defeats the purpose of recording macros. You should be able to do DPI changes like this without the image dimensions being affected by the macro. I'm saying bug!

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5 minutes ago, Dazzler said:

Yeah, that kind of defeats the purpose of recording macros. You should be able to do DPI changes like this without the image dimensions being affected by the macro. I'm saying bug!

It's not a bug just a limitation of the Macro recording abilities and the available options, if it gave you the cog so that you could just turn off resampling it would be fine. I'd say it was more of an omission. I'm sure the macro abilities will improve just don't hold your breath.

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3 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

if it gave you the cog so that you could just turn off resampling it would be fine.

The macro is not resampling the image it is using the dimensions of the original image when the macro was recorded

It is a bug that has been reported previously

4 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

I'm sure the macro abilities will improve just don't hold your breath.

Agreed

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Just now, firstdefence said:

It's not a bug just a limitation of the Macro recording abilities and the available options, if it gave you the cog so that you could just turn of resampling it would be fine.

Maybe the cog thing is a protected piece of IP that can't be done here? But yeah in PS that would be an option. Anyway, 'tis a bug, has been noted by the devs and hopefully they'll fix it. It should recognise when recording the macro that you've unchecked the resample button, and at that point the dimensions should not be recorded into the macro (because they are not relevant in any way) and it should replicate the DPI change only when played back.

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Just now, D23 said:

Oh well, first foray into Photo macros - Result: Fail

Yeah that's a real shame, and a bit of a surprise. However, in general I really like the way they've separated the 'macro' parts from the image type in Photo - so converting to different formats whilst applying a macro at the same time is a breeze compared to a PS macro, where you have to deal with the 'override file open' type things that never seem to work as you'd expect them to. It's early days with this software - and once they've cracked these early bugs it should become a fantastic piece of software.

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As I said, I was just trying macros out & picked a very simple procedure to record. For such basic stuff it's probably no quicker to run the macro than to do the whole thing manually.

But yeah, excellent software, can't complain. Thanks

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10 hours ago, D23 said:

I tend to specialize in restoring vintage photos & one of my regular procedures in Photo is to reduce the DPI to 300 without changing the pixel size of the photo.
This is required because when scanning old photos I often set the scan DPI to 800 or a 1000 in order to enlarge the photo.

Changing the DPI does not by itself change the pixel size of the image unless the photo is being printed and only then if set to 1:1 scale. Basically, this is because DPI is just metadata encoded into the file, which software may use or ignore. For more about this see for example the Affinity Spotlight article Understanding DPI or A Complete Guide To Understanding DPI.

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I realise that DPI can be difficult to get to grips with but my method works for printing at a bureau.

A test:

I scan a photo at 1600DPI (to increase the pixel dimensions), bring it in to AP & change just the DPI to 300 & save it.

I then send both photos to the bureau (photo 1 at 1600DPI & photo 2 at 300DPI - pixel ) & chose a print size of say 12" x 8".

The bureau informs me that photo 1 will be a better quality print than photo 2.

However, I've always understood that 300 - 400DPI is best for printing so that's why I change it.

So if I wanted an extra large print I would scan the photo at a higher DPI.

The above is probably all wrong & I welcome being corrected & educated.

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As others have mentioned, this is a bug—and a pretty nasty one as it can ruin images if you don't realise or use it with a batch job.

I do the same as you when scanning: I.E. Scan at a high scanner DPI, then afterwards straighten, crop to the correct aspect ratio, resize to the final pixel dimensions, set to 300 DPI.  Therefore below is a 300 DPI macro I recorded in an earlier version of Affinity Photo, which still works OK in the current version of Affinity Photo.  You can use this if you want until it's fixed:

Affinity macro file:
DPI.afmacros

 

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