wantingtoswitch

Yes, please. We need feathering of vector objects!

I was told by the Facebook page manager for Affinity that animated GIFs could be a possibility after artboards are implemented. Oh please make it so with robust output options (# of colors, dithering, quality, # of loops). Fireworks is our best option now, and many Fireworks users are looking to Affinity as the alternative since Adobe has stopped supporting Fireworks. Photoshop's workflow is too slow, especially on the composition side. Fireworks interface for arranging animated GIFs is great (works with separate states that look like layers, can easily duplicate a state by dragging onto the new state icon within the pane) but we're not sure how long it's going to function without support. We use them for advertisements and need each frame length to be customizable. I'd imagine others would like to be able to drop video into the "frames" area, then set a default frame rate, etc.. since these days video to GIF is pretty popular. It's tempting to call animated GIFs antiquated or gimmicky, but this isn't true. They are still used heavily in advertising design and also made a bit of a comeback for compatibility on multiple devices. They also take less time to develop, so are especially valuable for low volume, quickly implemented advertising campaigns that are cost sensitive.

I would like to see a stamp/clone tool within the Designer app. It was explained to me in a reply to a message from your Facebook page that you didn't want too much overlap with Photo, and that having the same file format it would be easy to switch back and forth. However, the stamp tool is something that is great to have immediately on hand during composition and there are already a pretty decent number of bitmap tools in Designer, so it doesn't make sense to me that this wouldn't be in there considering how often it is needed on the fly. I am the director of Creative Development at an international advertising agency. We design online ads to be deployed in affiliate networks, and we use this tool constantly. An example would be if a background image has say, some tree branches that are interfering with the readability on the text. In this case, I'd like to stamp out some of those branches. Same goes for the opposite, we may want more branches if the text is reversed. Then we have to use these same assets on different dimension ads, requiring more on the fly stamping. Sometimes photos are cropped in a way where the canvas is not fully covered by the background image, in which case we'd like to use this....or when a portion of an image is cropped and needs to be rebuilt. Our environment is extremely fast paced. We can accomplish nearly everything we want to in Fireworks, though unfortunately some of the features are starting to fail since Adobe has stopped supporting it. Photoshop is a beast.... it takes so much longer to get the same result. We briefly played with the idea of using Illustrator since it is more point and click friendly in terms of selection and has a smoother work flow for rapid prototyping, but we'd still end up in Photoshop for the bitmap editing and animated gif output. Switching between apps, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is a real efficiency killer in an environment where 7,000 ads are cranked out every year. We'd love to switch to Affinity Designer if this tool + animated gif support are added. We have over 200 major name brand clients and use both of these features extensively every day. If it works out well for us, I'd even be willing to provide a shining review of the software, as I think what has been implemented thus far is excellent!

Yes, please add animated gif functionality. There may be an assumption that animated gifs are not commonly used anymore, but I am the Director of Creative Development for the largest international affiliate marketing agency and we create these on a daily basis with over 200 major brand clients. Photoshop is too bloated for what we do. We need fast, intuitive software and will soon be forced to leave Fireworks behind. I would LOVE to use Affinity. All it is missing is animated gif functionality and the stamp & clone tool within the app. We will be VERY happy if these are added to Designer and will immediately make the switch.