[Idea] Reduced Resolution Mode(s)

[shijan]

After switching to UHD display i noticed that PhotoLine UI response became slower, especially when edit high megapixel images (seems there is no any GPU acceleration for viewport). Also on macOS i noticed interesting user option "Settings->Display->Document->Use Retina Resolution". This virtually switches document view from UHD to HD and UI became much faster because x4 less pixels rendered in realtime.

So i got an idea - what if create a menu toggle(s) to quickly switch document to some reduced resolution(s) 1/2, 1/4, 1/8...
This could be single menu/toolbar/hotkey toggle + user setting to set reduction ratio. Or it could be few independent toggles (same logic as Usage->Zoom Fix)

Reduced Resolution setting should help during color correction of high megapixel images, when quick response from sliders adjustments is way more important than ultra fine details. I didn't saw any similar option in other apps, so it could be something really unique for PhotoLine.

[PhilM]

Could not PL detect this and adjust automatically resolution when needed ?

Phil

[shijan]

Adjust resolution mode automatically during zooming? Interesting, but i guess each resolution change in real time will consume a lot of processing to re-calculate new source image and so zooming in/out with mouse scroll wheel will be very slow.

[Vivi_Ram]

+1 for the idea. The resolution mode is implemented with perfected integration with vectors within Xara. The slider has a staggered way of reducing resolution, removing anti-aliasing for images AND vectors, and finally, when the slider brought down the last notch, the images just become an outline (i.e., a the shape of the image frame - for instance, if the image is square, you see a square, etc.) and vectors are rendered as outlines. This is a missing piece which is vital when you're working on extremely large documents and extremely large 4K images. Even texts are rendered as outlines.

See the example below:

Resolution Mode.jpg

This is an image version which is quite large, and reducing the resolution removes antialiasing and creates a manageable resolution.

Resolution Mode 2.jpg

This is the vector version with text on it, and it turns it into outlines.

This is one of my favourite features in Xara and why it remains my weapon of choice for all my professional DTP work. Rendering hundreds of page with tens of high resolution images? No problem! Just slide the view quality down.

When the resolution is brought to pure outlines for an image, you'll just see a outline shape for an image. Because in Xara, an image is nothing more than a vector with a bitmap fill inside it. And that brings me to another useful point. Within Xara, if you're trying to replace an image, you simply right click and click "Replace Image," and you can choose an image from file, from stock photo (Xara has an integration like Affinity Photo). It also has library within it, of images that you've previously used and saved, and you simply drag and drop into the image, holding down shift and voila, image is replaced.

[shijan]

Well, this idea is not about vector outlines. It just an idea to manually switch viewport to lower pixel resolution to decrease processing. All vector layers and on screen controls remain the same, but start to look more pixelated (at least this is how it looks on macOS if turn off Retina Resolution). So reduced resolution mode in not good for working with vector.

Reduced resolution mode (or Proxy mode) is mostly for color correction, when you need to look at full image fitted into window and adjust color correction sliders. Currently in this scenario PhotoLine in realtime renders all megapixels of source image and feels rather slow when work with very large photos.

res1.jpg

res2.jpg

[shijan]

By the way, some sort of optimization for vector graphics already exists in PhotoLine:

Screen Shot 2025-08-02 at 1.54.28 PM.jpg

[Vivi_Ram]

Fair!

[shijan]

I changed computer hardware from overclocked i7-8700K 6core/12threads to i9-10850K 10core/20threads (near same performance score as 10 core M4 mac mini) CPU and zoom/pan/adjustment sliders movement now fells much faster, but small lag is still exist. Tested on 10000x10000 px files. PhotoLine use all CPU cores and threads.