Jay1991

Merry Christmas & a Very Happy New Year to all of you !
Enjoy your well-deserved rest  
 
 

While I understand and mostly agree with the gist of your post, some caution is called for in perpetuating misconceptions—especially confusing to newcomers—by over-simplification and over-generalization.
A PDF exported from some other program is not the same thing as a native Illustrator file.
Illustrator can "open" a PDF because when it comes down to it, PDF started as a subset of PostScript and Illustrator is a full-blown PostScript interpreter. Illustrator can "open" a PDF in the same sense that Illustrator can "open" a PostScript file.
Think of a PDF as a print stream "captured" on its way toward the printer. Native constructs of whatever program created it have been deconstructed to simpler, more basic objects that  the PostScript interpreter in an output device needs to understand in order to render it. PDF is not really meant for full "native" editing. (Some features, like form fields, are obvious exceptions.)
A few years back, the much ballyhooed proclamation from Adobe was "Illustrator's native format is now PDF!" That is mostly marketing smoke-and-mirrors. What it really means is that the PDF format allows for inclusion of a "cordoned off" section (kind of like a commented-out line in a program) into which the program exporting the PDF can write a complete copy of its own fully native data, so that that content is recognized by the program that exported it, but is ignored by other programs.
And that's what Illustrator does with PDF. When you Save a PDF from Illustrator, you have an option to also include in the PDF a fully native copy of the document with all its actually native Illustrator constructs. Predictably, that makes the PDF file size much larger. But if you don't turn on that option, Illustrator saves just the functionally "dumbed down" (deconstructed) PDF content.
Inversely, when you Save a .AI file from Illustrator, you have an option to also include in it a PDF version of the content. So some programs that can't import actual Illustrator native constructs can import the PDF content. That's not the same thing as actually having an Illustrator import filter, like say Corel DRAW, that actually tries to interpret and convert native Illustrator constructs (blends and grads, for example) into its corresponding editable constructs.
(Many Adobe users are blissfully unaware that even its own Adobe InDesign page-layout application (at least as of version CS6) cannot really import an Adobe Illustrator file; at least not in the assumed common-sense sense. InDesign can only import the PDF version of the content in an .ai file if it's there. If you don't believe that, try it: Save an Illustrator file from Illustrator, but turn off the default (what should be called) "Include PDF version" option in the Save dialog. Then launch InDesign and try to import it.)
As I understand it, since PDF is now an "open" format, any software company that wants to can take advantage of that functionality. For example, there is nothing preventing Corel from burying its native DRAW document in a PDF that it exports, and any application other than DRAW would just ignore that content. It's much the same as when Macromedia Fireworks treated PNG as its "native" format. PNG format similarly supports a "commented out" area in which Fireworks copies its actually native content. A Fireworks document may contain vector-based artwork, live text, etc. If some other application opens a PNG file created by Fireworks, that application only sees a raster image. If Fireworks re-opens the same PNG, it sees and opens its native and fully editable content (if it's still there).
So yeah, you may get away with just changing the ".pdf" extension of a PDF exported by some program other than Illustrator to ".ai" and the recipient will be able to open it with Illustrator. But that is not the same thing as exporting an .ai file from a program that has an Illustrator export filter. Illustrator can open it simply because it recognizes PDF content. Unless the file content is quite simple, it will very likely not be nearly as natively editable as the recipient expects.
One should not rely on that practice to fool someone (especially a customer) into thinking they are actually receiving a native Illustrator file containing fully editable Illustrator-native constructs, just as if it had been created in Illustrator.
I'm not saying any of this to insist that Affinity needs a dedicated Illustrator export filter. Illustrator's too-long stranglehold exists not because it's "best" but just because that's what most people have used for too long. That's the way the world works. But strangleholds never become broken until they are resisted, and that's the way the world works, too.
I will use Affinity for its own merits, just as I do Draw or Canvas or anything else; not as "poor man's Illustrator." Unrealistic? Nope. That was exactly my stance throughout the whole history of FreeHand. If a printing house wanted to be awarded my client's projects, they had to support the application formats in which they were provided. It was always stipulated that any necessary edits would be performed by me.
PDF is the "great liberator" of Captive Creatives, that finally provided us more freedom to use programs we prefer. No longer does one have to use Adobe products. And we should use PDF as such, not continue to cower in the face of the monolith, just because it's still conventional-wisdom to many.
JET
 

Some of what I read here remind me somehow that client I just had.
Since I moved completely to Affinity I am mostly using PDFs now. Client called me and said
- I need it in AI format
- But you can import PDF perfectly well to illustrator..
- No, I need it in AI format, I have a pipeline I use for years now! Please deliver AI!
So I just renamed PDF extension to AI and resent the same file (yup, it does work).
- You see what I mean? - client replied - now it works perfectly! You dont change proven, professional pipeline for no good reason!

Yeah man, I can see that alright... Slightest change of what people used to and drama starts. Something isnt named the same, shortcut is different, format - whatever. People start to freak out, totally unable to change even trivial things. And if some option they used to is not there? Uffff Forget it - looking for workaround is completely out of question. Even if sometimes - many times - it is a non-issue and you can keep on working happily after showing tiny bit of flexibility.
Most common thing:
"In Adobe it is certain way and here it is different!"
Yeah, so?
There is more than one way skin a cat. Affinity is not a Photoshop. It can replace it but its not a Photoshop or Illustrator reskinned with different name and priced differently. It has its own strengths. I wouldn't bloody use it if it was simply cheaper but I could not work professionally on it. Thats what I do for living, I cant afford not being able to do the job.
But I am and I am loving the Affinity way. Yeah you heard me - and I was using Photoshop professionally since version 4. Thats 23 years already. OK, minus last 3 because I have switched to Affinity immediately when it became available on Windows.
"ow, so you are Affinity fanboy then!"
I guess I am. I am loving it. Thats why I am here on Affinity forum. Meeting some Adobe fanboys.

Listen sweetheart, your new girlfriend is not your ex, ok? It will never be the same. I know you miss Jenny. Maybe you should go back to her? Yeah, she was with you just for your money, but if you are happy with that... Maybe you should never try to have a new girlfriend? Because telling Lucy constantly about how good you had it with Jenny will not make things any better...
 

Hi Friksel, nod74,
This was indeed being worked/fixed at the time of the post (it's being tested as we speak). The fix will be included in v1.8 Beta for Mac (not available at time of writing) and in v1.8 Beta for Windows (at time of writing the current Windows 1.8 Beta doesn't include this fix). Some issues imply rewriting parts of the code or the whole feature - they are not just simple corrections or addons to existing code and take more time and testing than usual. With Publisher's recent release a lot of time and effort was spent on solving its issues and on its integration with the rest of the suite which ended up delaying Designer and Photo 1.8 Betas a bit. As explained several times we have limited dev resources and some fixes may end up taking more time than we hoped for but that doesn't mean we don't care about customer's issues/problems. We are simply doing our best with the resources we have. Thanks for understanding.

LOL! Thanks for explaining things to me, very educating, I'll try to do better in the future. So if everything else is so accurate, do you want to explain to me what I'm seeing here?
(Blue background, white curve, semi-transparent pink result of expansion)

and, just for those commenters who are about to say "But what about CorelDraw? You didn't include it and it would've been perfect!"... (white background, black original curve, pink expanded result)

You'll notice that NOBODY has the right answer because - as I stated A LOT before - there IS NO RIGHT ANSWER because one curve does not perfectly become one other curve at an offset - MATHS DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY! It becomes potentially many curves, but in different ways. You need to use an algorithm to generate the offset and the results of the algorithm will vary.
So... sorry to break the awful news, but.... we're actually not that bad. Shocker. Double-shocker is the fact that I've actually shown you that we really do actually have a new stroke expansion function and the 'fanboys' aren't actually fanboys at all - they're just not ridiculously pessimistic keyboard warriors.
/micdrop
 

It wasn't necessarily that, it was that we didn't keep the roadmap up to date, and we started shipping new features which never appeared on the roadmap, and then customers (understandably) asked about why the particular feature they were interested in, that was still on the roadmap, hadn't shipped it yet. The roadmap was a vision of where we thought the software would go, 5 years ago, but over time, our vision has changed slightly (well, individual features have got re-prioritised).

We are sure that Serif will find a great solution soon.
Regards
Georg
 

To be fair, you did deliberately choose to use a small object there (or a low document DPI) because you know that's what provokes the incorrect behaviour. The results only look so wrong here because of the size it has been performed at. This is currently being fixed, as I mentioned many times before.

CorelDRAW® 2019 works extremely precisely in the same function, several times better than AD
and even if not, that should be no reason for Serif to sell inaccurate features / no reason not to mention them in Affinity Designer (Help) to protect users from production issues.

I understand the limited resources argument which is why I've refrained from commenting about this specific software issue any further. I do however have a problem with whoever it was that gave the green light to use misleading and broad claims about it being "the most precise" or "100% accurate" graphic design software in order to sell it. Honesty and integrity as well as being well organized is important too.

I understand the limited resources argument which is why I've refrained from commenting about this specific software issue any further. I do however have a problem with whoever it was that gave the green light to use misleading and broad claims about it being "the most precise" or "100% accurate" graphic design software in order to sell it. Honesty and integrity as well as being well organized is important too.

Thanks for the workaround, here is the post I was referring to.
 
"Affinity Designer is full of tools meticulously developed for achieving high productivity, while maintaining 100 percent accurate geometry."
"Affinity - the fastest, smoothest, most precise professional creative software."
Nobody else has a problem with sort of marketing? It's clearly not true, granted it only costs ~$50 and the second quote is a bit broad but
1. The lack of communication
2. The lack of progress
3. Misleading claims
is definitely concerning.

I would like to suggest in the future that prioritizing new programs and projects over critical functionality of existing products is a very poor choice. It makes it seem that the company wants new customers and more money over loyal satisfied professional.  
I don't think that Serif feels that way at all, so please don't act that way in the future. I know you folks have taken a sad beating in this thread over the years, it's very flustering I'm sure on that end of things too.   Please understand that for many of us, this function is so at the core of our work flow that it was (and is) hard to understand how anything else was ever getting worked on while it was still broken.   Please assign the correct folks to this right away if it has not already happened. Let us know that it is not on "the list" but actually on the "workbench". Please focus on being the responsive agile company that drew us all in in the first place.

Thanks for the workaround, here is the post I was referring to.
 
"Affinity Designer is full of tools meticulously developed for achieving high productivity, while maintaining 100 percent accurate geometry."
"Affinity - the fastest, smoothest, most precise professional creative software."
Nobody else has a problem with sort of marketing? It's clearly not true, granted it only costs ~$50 and the second quote is a bit broad but
1. The lack of communication
2. The lack of progress
3. Misleading claims
is definitely concerning.

Thanks for the workaround, here is the post I was referring to.
 
"Affinity Designer is full of tools meticulously developed for achieving high productivity, while maintaining 100 percent accurate geometry."
"Affinity - the fastest, smoothest, most precise professional creative software."
Nobody else has a problem with sort of marketing? It's clearly not true, granted it only costs ~$50 and the second quote is a bit broad but
1. The lack of communication
2. The lack of progress
3. Misleading claims
is definitely concerning.

Thanks for the workaround, here is the post I was referring to.
 
"Affinity Designer is full of tools meticulously developed for achieving high productivity, while maintaining 100 percent accurate geometry."
"Affinity - the fastest, smoothest, most precise professional creative software."
Nobody else has a problem with sort of marketing? It's clearly not true, granted it only costs ~$50 and the second quote is a bit broad but
1. The lack of communication
2. The lack of progress
3. Misleading claims
is definitely concerning.

My workaround is to use Inkscape's Path > Simplify tool. I copy the expanded stroke, paste into Inkscape, apply Simplify, copy and paste back into Designer. The clipboard copying behaves well (on Windows at least) and the result is normally fairly accurate. Of course if you've got a copy of Illustrator handy there's a more sophisticated simplify option available.

Click here to download the latest beta
Status: Customer Beta
Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes
Requirements: A valid product key (for Affinity Store purchases), or an installation of the full retail version from the Microsoft Store

As this is a beta it is considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that may be adversely affected by the application failing, including the total loss of any documents. We hope you enjoy the latest build, and as always, if you've got any problems, please don't hesitate to post a new thread in this forum and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks once again for your continued feedback. 

If you have a general question about the software, please head over to the Questions Forum, or if you have any suggestions, please head over to the Feature Requests forum.
Fixes
Added support for HDR monitors (new HDR options in 32-bit Preview panel, now visible by default in Photo) Fixed stroke phase failing to work when adjusting dashed line Fixed creating palette from CMYK images imports as RGB Fixed brush body option not reflecting the correct value Fixed Flip/Rotate toolbar icons not correctly reflecting the state they're in Updated Welcome Screen Fixed 'Open folder in Explorer' not working with special characters Fixed Expression trig functions to use degrees by default (same as 1.6) - in previous 1.7 patches, angles had become radians Fixed failure to report errors when exporting single items Improved handling of non-displayable characters (control and formatting characters could be presented due to copy+paste from web pages, etc.) Fixed drag and drop not honouring the insertion target Added support for TIFFs with old-style JPEG compression Fixed colour picker clamping values in 32-bit documents Fixed crash when converting documents to 32-bit Select tool will share common options with related tools Added option for continuing the selection when adding new curves in Pen tool Renamed "Show Rotation Centre" => "Enable Transform Origin" Added User Rotation Centre to Node tool transform mode Changed "Add to Curves" mode, to clear other selected objects when closing a curve Fixed Colour panel's Lab opponent sliders to go from 0 to 32768 rather than 32896 Fixed inability to create unbounded colour values on advanced colour dialog Fixed Character Variants failing to show up in Typography panel Changed default shortcuts for Precise Increase/Decrease Leading (to avoid conflicting with Windows default text editing shortcuts) Fixed ability to switch to a tool in a different Persona by cycling tool shortcuts Fixed poor quality app logo in menu bar Use cornered curves for snapping bounds calculations Point Transform tool now ignores logical groups for snapping purposes Added support for 16-bit CMYK TIFF Improved handling of document save failure during close (previously a failure to save during close would be ignored) Removed Delete key from list of available keys for shortcuts (Delete is always delete) Fixed Grid colours not being saved correctly Fixed thumbnail viewer (thumbnail previews should now work again in Windows Explorer) Fixed grid system failing to work in anything other than pixels Fixed Add swatch from Fill as Global only works once Renamed "Create Colour Chord" => "Add Chord to Swatch" Fixed crash if paragraph panel undocked in non English and DPI is scaled Fixed crash on Reset Studio with no document open Fixed Layers panel drag indicator when not using small thumbnail sizes Fixed crash converting colours of embedded document Fixed crash opening a RAW file Fixed Erase, Blur and Sharpen Brushes are missing Symmetry, Mirror and Lock options Changed Lock Colourspace on the Colour Panel to be on by default Fixed Shape preset thumbnails being clipped in Light UI Improved Transform handle hit testing Fixed errors caused by attempting to save a file to a destination with no available space Artboard positions are now shown relative to the spread Fixed Delete button on Appearance Panel sometimes disabled Fixed View Mode to reset when switching documents Fixed Point Transform panel to allow negative numbers for rotation Changed Arrowheads to be grouped Added missing Constraints panel min/max fit tooltips Fixed asset thumbnails of some drag / drop files Added ability to import TIFF assets Asset names now use filenames by default Fixed crash when deleting fills from the Appearance panel  1.7.0.293 release notes
 

Beta versions aren't meant to be used in production...

Beta versions aren't meant to be used in production...

Beta versions aren't meant to be used in production...

Beta versions aren't meant to be used in production...