Nazario

Cannot figure this out at all?! I've drawn a rectangle, edited the shape slightly but now need to open the shape to edit it further. How do I do it?

Hi guys. Bit embarrassed by having to ask this but I've been at it a while and still got no where really. I'm creating graphics for a potential new video game. Very basic 2D (top down) pixel graphics. I've created some track (see attachment) all I want is an idea of how best to create a 'switch' i.e. the track crossing over to the other track for a train to swap tracks. I've been trying to work out a formula like 25 pixels down, track should move 5 pixels across. But it actually distorts the track. i.e. the width between the rails varies. I've used the pen tool with beizer curves but I'm really just guessing at where to place the points etc Any ideas?

Hi Darren, I get the same problem. It's been logged from this thread: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/16808-media-browser-causes-ap-to-unexpectedly-quit/

Colour. Fonts. Compression. Distribution. Collation. Output. Calibration. Printer Drivers. There's a lot of things to be overcome with the iPad. Not being a developer I can't really imagine the possibilities; It will be interesting for sure.

While I agree on many of your points I don't think only having 3 apps will hold back Serif or the Affinity brand. As long as the three are capable of creating vector (Designer) and bitmap (Photo) images and producing layouts and press ready PDFs (Publisher) then the suite is essentially complete and will allow many to jump into the Affinity world without much trouble. At the moment we can create graphics and edit photos with Affinity but we are unable to create anything to put them to use. i.e. a multipage document/brochure or webpage. We still require Adobe for that. Creating Designer/Photo for iPad will still bring us to the point where we are unable to do anything with the files we create until Publisher is released. We might make a poster, or stationery set and fire off a PDF to the printer but without a real publishing platform from Affinity we will still have to rely on Adobe for those kind of things. 90% of my work is done in InDesign. I create in Photo and Designer but have to use InDesign to bring those elements together. It will be the same on any platform until Publisher is released. This is not a criticism of Serif or the Affinity team by any means, they are doing an absolutely fantastic job and I'm with them all the way but I just feel that getting the publishing app out there to close the circle first, so to speak, and then focus on expanding that circle.

Howdy, I was disappointed to read a while back that Publisher has taken a back seat to allow for iOS development on the iPad Pro. (Correct me if I'm wrong on that I did read it a while back.) With Photo and Designer coming along nicely I was hoping to be able to completely leave Adobe behind when Publisher launched as I believe are many other people. Looking from the outside of the development of the Affinity Suite I think the delay might be a bad idea and focus should return to getting Publisher out the door first. Many designers are stuck at a point of transition. Some have embraced the subscription model from Adobe, others have reluctantly accepted it and many flat out refuse to be held to ransom. With CS6 being the last supported version of Adobes software on Apples latest operating system and Apple's change in release pattern to annual releases there is a strong possibility come October when the next OS is potentially released that it will break what compatibility CS6 still has with OSX. Indeed El Capitan itself caused us to have to download legacy Java software to keep running Illustrator CS6. I fear the next OS will break it entirely. For those people that refuse to switch to Adobes subscription model and are waiting for Publisher to be able to completely leave Adobe, or those that are on the fence, and I believe there are quite a few, this will cause a problem if they wish to upgrade to Apple's latest OS when the time comes. If the new OS does indeed break compatibility and support is stopped for CS6, users will then be forced to either hold off upgrading their OS or reluctantly sign up to Adobes subscription model to bridge the gap. Thereby losing Affinity potential customers as by the time Publisher is launched they may indeed come round to being ok with using Adobe CC via subscription and not purchase Affinity Publisher at all. If Publisher is launched before (probably not possible) or at least around the time of the new OS then this decision won't be so much of a headache and Serif/Affinity should make themselves available to many new customers. By delaying I think they're practically pushing potential customers back to Adobe. I know developing is a very dynamic process and things move quickly at times but I think it bears thinking about somewhat. This is just my opinion obviously, what do you guys think?

I have a HP OfficeJet 7110e Wide format (A3) printer. While it is still essentially 'cartridge based' the cartridges are actually liquid inside (or so it seems) and it takes 5 minutes to prime itself in a morning sucking the ink/dye through the pipes etc. Never clogs up and is a brilliant printer. So good I bought one for home too.

AP and AD are super fast for me on both my SSD 27" iMac and my work HDD iMac. While an external drive may make things very slightly slower, it shouldn't really be that noticeable. It definitely shouldn't cause the UI to lag though. Its always a trade off between storage space and speed when it comes to external drives (unless you have thunderbolt). Maybe reinstall AP and see what happens. Its only two clicks of a button, it can't hurt.

Could it be a bottleneck in the connection to the external drive? What connection type is the drive? USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt etc? Try putting a few files on your main drive and see how AP performs?

Indeed you can :) Open Photoshop. Select the 'swatches' panel then choose the Pantone book you want. Then in the little drop down choose 'Save Swatches for Exchange'. This creates an ASE file which you can import directly to Affinity. No need for an app to convert the book. Thanks JF

Go to Applications > Adobe Photoshop CS'X' > Presets > Colorbooks and copy the books you want to desktop (so you don't spanner up the originals). Go here. http://www.dctsystems.co.uk/Software/ACB.html Download the app. Go to File > Open and select the files. Apple Colour picker will pop up and show Pantone colours are now in Apple Colour picker. Restart Affinity Apps if they are running then the Pantone swatches (or whatever you chose) will appear in Affinity Apps. Not sure what will happen once Serif guys actually include Pantone files but I can't see it being too much of an issue. You can now trash the .acb files on the desktop.

Clicking and holding is much slower than a click. You've already clicked for the colour picker tool, why click and hold again for the loupe? Its an extra step thats not needed. Just make the first click the loupe so its precise from the start. Maybe use an 'alt' modifier to select a gradient instead of the pixel.

I had to read that a few times. No wonder I couldn't figure it out. Thats a bit convoluted to say the least :mellow: Theres far too many extra steps that simply aren't required. One would think you select an object, click the eyedropper (needs a shortcut) which brings up the Loupe as your 'cursor', place it where you want and click to set the colour of the selected object. Depending on whether stroke or fill is active it will change the colour respectfully. Much more refined and intuitive is it not? :wacko: You guys are doing aigret job, don't get me wrong but that one is a little 'wonky' ;)

I still haven't figured out how the eyedropper tool works?! Can someone explain? It just turns every thing black for me. :blink:

I prefer the old icons. However, my style is based very much around minimalism and its strengths, but I see a lot of poorly designed minimal icons as people try to keep up with the latest design trends etc. just for the sake of it but don't fully understand or follow through with the concept. Affinity's new icons are not poor I just think they need tweaking. I would drop the gradients or reduce them so they are only barely noticeable. They are far too prominent and make the icons look very 'cheap'. Its like saying 'heres a symbol, its very simple, it works great in black and white and is memorable and relevant but lets whack a drop shadow and rainbow colours in it just so its looks like we've actually done something' which simply destroys the initial aim of having a more simplistic logo. I get clients ask 'is that it?' when I present them with logos sometimes purely because they don't understand the concept. When you explain it and follow through with it they end up happier as they understand what they are looking at and can see it working. A great logo is achieved when it conveys everything it needs to without any extraneous pieces. Its like a sculpture. Start with a block of marble and chip away everything thats not needed to unveil the masterpiece. The gradients are not needed and on top of that are too strong and make the logos look a bit tacky.

Designer for vector. Photo for raster. Publisher to bring them together. Simple.

I'd love to see Freehand's 'Reflect' tool integrated into Affinity Designer. Much more intuitive and powerful than Ai's lame attempt. With Ai you have to work out the maths in your head and type in the numbers to get what you want. In Freehand you simply selected how many reflections you wanted then dragged the tool. Instant live preview. Let go off the mouse and boom. Done. Very simple, but very powerful.

Great news :)

Just bought Affinity on the app store as it was billed as a professional alternative to Illustrator. Unfortunately when it comes to Pantone colours it can't be an alternative to designers until Pantone colour libraries are available for print based work (it still exists people). I've tried to install the profiles myself but no luck. Until the libraries are available I can't use Affinity for spot colour work. Its a bit like Pixelmator being great except it doesn't allow for CMYK. Two amazing apps let down by something so small. If I work in Affinity and need spot colours then I need to export to illustrate to add the colours so I may as well stick with Illustrator. Please can you add Pantone colour libraries.