Pixelated

[hodmandod]

I'm trying to adapt to Fresco after using Draw for some years following on from the original Ideas, which I loved.

With Ideas and Draw my drawings were always crystal clear no matter how much I zoomed in and when I exported them in PDF format they stayed that way.

With Fresco, during the drawing process the line quality seems to deteriorate the more I add. This is especially the case when I merge layers together. The end result is hopelessly pixelated when I zoom in, and although the exported PDF image size is large, it's equally hopeless in terms of clarity.

Am I doing something wrong or is this a built in penalty for using the free version?

[Sjaani]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, and I don't think it is a built in penalty for using the free version.

Fresco uses shapes for vector rather than a true point to point vector line. I think this is more likely the cause for the slight pixelation we get in Fresco when using the Vector brushes..

[hodmandod]

Thanks for the reply. I assumed Fresco would use vector in the same way as Ideas and Draw? Maybe I'm being overly demanding, but the difference doesn't seem slight to me. I'm attaching some close ups close ups for comparison. Fresco is the top one, Draw next, Ideas at the bottom.

[DaveJCummings]

What size of file are you working with? What DPI? 

[hodmandod]

Thanks for your question. I didn't knowingly chose any DPI. I thought when using vector this was unnecessary. Draw was a relatively simple program to use and all I had to chose was paper shape. I did the same with Fresco. I use only vector brushes. 

[Sue Garibaldi]

Hi Hodmandod. 

What version of Fresco were you using when you exported these PDFs? There was a bug in v2.0.4 so make sure you're using v2.0.5 and give PDF export another go. 

Let me know. You should be getting the same quality export you had in Adobe Ideas and Adobe Draw.

Sue. 

[hodmandod]

Hello Sue,

I remember you helping me with the transition from Ideas to Draw! I found that so hard at the time. Draw is second nature to me now and I'm finding it equally hard when Fresco doesn't respond to the finger gestures (for undoing the last action, especially) I've become used to. 

To answer your question, yes, I'm using v.2.0.5. It isn't a problem of export, though. The pixelation is occurring in the app itself. I have an image with two layers, both of which were made up of several merged down layers.  One of these layers is crystal clear; the other isn't. Yet they were drawn in an identical way.

My memory is that during one of the merge downs, the fuzziness suddenly appeared. Initially, it was only in the layer I was merging down, but as I worked on the merged layer itself, the fuzziness seemed to spread. 

Shortly after this I found the paint brush no longer drew lines. Although I was working on a layer that wasn't hidden, I kept getting a warning that I wasn't able to draw on a hidden layer. Eventually, I closed the app, restarted my iPad, reopened Fresco and it worked okay again. But the fuzzy pixilation remained.

I'm going to try and recreate what I did before it went wrong and see how that goes.

Thanks,

Nicholas

[Sue Garibaldi]

Nicholas. 

I know you work primarily with the vector tools but you're not by any chance merging a Vector Layer with a Pixel Layer or a Vector Layer with an Image Layer are you?

As soon as you merge a Vector Layer with either of those two layer types it becomes a Pixel Layer. 

Let me know. 

Sue.

[hodmandod]

Hello Sue,

I'm beginning to think I must have done this - inadvertently. 

I've been fumbling around so much trying to get to grips with Fresco anything is possible.

Occasionally I've selected a pixel brush by mistake but I only need to do one stroke to realise my mistake. However, I think I must have switched layers after doing this without undoing the brush mark and then merged that layer down later thinking it had something else in it.

Many thanks for the explanation,

Nicholas

[Sue Garibaldi]

Nicholas. 

It's a lot learning a new app and it's really, really easy to pick up the pixel brushes 1. without even realizing it and 2. without even thinking about how they differ. 

Do let me know if you notice it again and neither scenario is true. (Layer groups will cause pixellation too but I believe that's only noticeable on export.)

Sue.

[jonk80455617]

Certinally no slight pixelation in Fresco. I bought my iPad Pro to be able to use simple and intuitive Sketch without pixelation, and I am now selling my iPad because of tecknocratic and overloaded and severly pixilated Fresco. A big sorrow that Sketch no longer is possible to use. Sigh.

[Sjaani]

The more you zoom in the bigger the pixels look on any app. Or are you stating that the pixels at 100% on Fresco where enough to discourage you from using it any further?

[jonk80455617]

Hi, and thank you for answering. Yes, discourage at 100 % - at least when it comes to watercolor, which is the only brushes I use.  Even if I use a canvas of like 400 dpi I can see the pixels at 100 % - and worse of all, when it's printed the pixels are still there. What's the point if you cannot  print giclées? Why not add a rendering function? Must have been some in Sketch, why was that taken away? Look for instance at https://www.expresii.com/youji-rendering-engine.html. A marvelous program, unfortunately the creator has no financial means to make it work on iPad. Why not start a collaboration with him, a person who clearly understands the essence of art. An understanding that also Sketch had - so exemplary simple and intuitive - as with watercolor paper, real brushes, colors and a bowl of water on your table. All which Fresco lacks, instead overloaded with tools and possibilities - does not the creators of Fresco understand that art is created when met with limitations, not the opposite?  Full freedom and the possibility of doing whatever - which seem to be the goal of Fresco - simply make art unnecessary. But of course, I can fully understand that there are many who are amazed of how much one can do with Fresco - but why not keep Sketch for us who just want to paint like we always have, only now with an iPad instead of at an irl studio? It was such an amazing thing with Sketch - a portable studio which you could bring along wherever you went - what a blast when it was shut down. I have tried to communicate this several times, but unfortunately never any response - until now. So once again, many thanks for wanting to know more. Actually, had just taken photos of my iPad Pro and Pencil to to but out a sales add when I saw your response - maybe now I wait a little. Hopefully you can answer if there is any plans within Fresco to do anything about the rendering issue for instance? Kind regards, Jon

[Sjaani]

Watercolour, oil and the pixel brush are based on raster so they will always have pixels, I didn't notice them to the extent you mention.

Sadly I can't answer for the intensions of Fresco. I completely agree it is a bloated app.
When it was first released it was awesome. Though I'm more interested in the oils than the watercolours. The flow was fantastic, the ease of use again fantastic.

With every version release they have tried to please lots of different people with lots of different requests to make it more like Draw/Sketch/Procreate etc and the app has lost it's true beginnings in my eyes. It was a great digital painting canvas. Now I rarely use it!

[jonk80455617]

The thing with Sketch was that there were no pixels even if you magnified to maximum 400 % - must have been some rendering made in the backround. Sorry that Frecso lack this feature. Anyhow, thank you for your feedback!

[DaveJCummings]

You say you are working at 400 DPI,  how big is the actual file? Because depending on the size of the canvas, it'l get pretty pixelated quickly if you zoom in too much.  It's not a Fresco thing, its not an Adobe Sketch or Draw thing,  you get the same pixeation if you're using Photoshop, or any graphic editor program by any other competitor that's using raster images. No matter how big or how many DPI the image is,  you zoom in enough, you're going to get pixelation, it's the way raster images are.  

[Sjaani]

Exactly the more you zoom on any pixel image the worse it looks.

[jonk80455617]

Hi and thank you for feedback! The size I am using is either equivalent to A4 or A3. When using the same format and dpi with Sketch I could zoom to then maximum 400 % without seeing any pixels, with Fresco I can detect them already at 100 %. The same when I print, wich makes Fresco impossible for me to use. I figure that there must have been a program of some sort (rendering machine) in the background bluring the pixels out in Sketch - why not in Fresco? Or even better, as in Expressi as posted above ( https://www.expresii.com/youji-rendering-engine.html ). Sadly enough Expressi doen't work with iPad... Many thanks again for answering me.

[Sjaani · Accepted solution]

Fresco is bitmap based so you should expect to see pixels.
If you're using the vector brushes and seeing pixels then something needs to be looked into.
I can zoom in 1000% and have no pixels on the Vector brush, but the other brushes show clear pixelation at 100%.

[jonk80455617]

Thanks, but vector is not the issue here. Fact remains that in Sketch you couldn't see any pixelation at maximum 400 % zoom when using watercolor brushes. I cannot see why this could not be the same with Fresco?

[ev4n0w]

I'm with you, the pixelation gets really bad when merging plain vector layers. Neither the size of the canvas nor the zoom are a factor here. It simply just does not want to merge layers. Each layer was crystal clear on its own, same size canvas, same size brush, then I merge, and boom, pixels. I was a big AI Draw (for iPhone) fan, and it never did this. I miss it a lot. Draw's stencil/tracing tools were so incredibly useful.