This build has been superseded by the release of 1.7.1 announced here
We are pleased to announce a major update for the Windows release of Affinity Designer, version 1.7.0
The changes in Affinity Designer for Windows 1.7.0 over the last Affinity Designer patch 1.6.5 are as follows:
CHANGES SINCE LAST VERSION
Tools
We've overhauled most of the core tools, adding subtle new features to make you more productive.
New Point Transform Tool allows you to scale and rotate objects from any node.
The Node Tool now contains a 'Transform Node' option which provides a containing box for the selected nodes and allows for more freeform editing of the nodes.
New 'Cube' grid setup mode (take a look in 'View' -> 'Grid and Axis Manager...').
Pen tool now has a 'rubber band' mode and also a mode to allow future curves to be added to the current object's curves (for example, the character 'a' is constructed of two curves in a single 'curve object' and this mode makes that construction simpler).
Node tool can now auto-snap nodes if you drag a node from one curve over the top of a node from another (selected) curve and pause, it will offer to snap to the same geometry as the node you're hovering over (ie, modify the on and off-curve nodes to match). This is really useful for trying to reconstruct areas of one curve from another curve.
Node tool now allows for lasso selection of nodes by holding the Alt/Option key and dragging a selection lasso.
Pencil tool now offers a 'sculpt' mode that allows for extending or manipulating curves in a more natural way. More to come in this area soon.
Many tools now allow for 'Alignment widgets' which you can toggle the visibility of in the context toolbar. When enabled you can visually adjust the alignment or even, for example, 'align to centre, snapped to the left edge of this object' by simply click/dragging.
Fill tool correctly allows editing of skewed fill handles and newly-created skewed fills draw much nicer now.
Ruler origin can be edited by simply dragging the area where the rulers intersect each other - it can even be snapped onto objects in the document.
Guides can be edited in most tools by simply dragging a guide in the ruler area.
Grid setup is now more interactive: origin can be dragged, axis scale adjusted and angle adjusted on-document, complete with snapping to objects and angles in the document to help you reconstruct useful grids from finished artworks or sketches.
By enabling 'Edit in Plane' on the new Isometric Panel, tools can edit objects and appear to make those edits along the currently active plane - extremely useful for artists who enjoy working with any axonometric projections.
You can now drag the rotation centre point (when enabled on the context toolbar) while holding Ctrl and it will translate the object - this is actually very useful for positioning and snapping objects relative to others.
Shapes tools now have presets so you can create your own favourite shape setups and more easily use them again.
There are just far too many subtle tool changes to mention here, but hopefully you'll find the tools much improved
General
Arrowheads are now available in the Stroke Panel.
New Appearance Panel allows for multiple strokes and fills on a single shape.
HDR / EDR monitor support
New brushes, styles and assets are now shipped with the product.
Visible bleed (accessed from the View menu) so you can more easily design into the bleed area - a common feature request.
“Alternate futures” for document history have been added. Traditionally, if you roll back the undo history then do something else all your changes after that point are lost. Designer will now display a small branch icon in the history tab when you do this. Pressing that button will cycle between all the different “futures” after that history entry - meaning you will never lose work you have done.
New 'Isometric Panel' makes it easy to setup and work with various axonometric projections within the application.
HEIF images can now be loaded directly into Designer. If they contain a depth map, this will also be loaded as a second layer. Because depth maps are typically lower resolution than the main image, optional “smart” upsampling will be performed.
Designer now supports custom document presets - a popular feature request.
A new blend mode - Linear Burn - has been added.
Layers Panel now allows you to tag individual layers with a colour and display thumbnails with transparent backgrounds and at different sizes.
New “Move inside / outside” commands have been added - useful for quickly clipping/unclipping.
New "Merge curves/Separate curves" commands.
Grids now have an editable number of angle subdivisions.
The Hard Mix blend mode has been improved.
Numerous text improvements have been made - including new features such as bullets and numbering.
Significant PDF import / export improvements and fixes.
Improved Freehand import slightly - failing to read all of a file shouldn't force it to produce a 'failed to load' response, instead we just load the bits that we *could* read
New splash screen and Persona icons
Brushes
Designer 1.7 introduces a new “sub-brush” mechanism, developed in conjunction with Paolo Limoncelli (DAUB® Brushes). This exciting feature allows any raster brush to have a list of other brushes attached which will draw at the same time. Each sub-brush has a fully separate and customisable set of dynamics. You can control when the sub-brushes are drawn and how they blend with the main brush.
Symmetry (up to 32-way) is now supported - including on-canvas controls and optional mirroring.
Wet edges and accumulation are now available on colour brushes and brushes with HSL variance.
Brushes with multiple nozzle textures have always chosen the nozzle at random. In 1.7, the nozzle choice has a dynamic controller and ramp for greater control.
All pixel brush tools now support left and right arrow keys for rotation - a common feature request.
Adjustments
The HSL adjustment layer has been rewritten. It now supports custom hue ranges, a new algorithm, new UI and picker controls.
The Levels adjustment layer now supports output levels - a common feature request.
The White Balance adjustment layer has been rewritten.
The Selective Colour adjustment layer has been rewritten.
PSD import / export of adjustments has been improved.
The Vibrance adjustment layer has been rewritten.
The Recolour adjustment layer has gained a lightness slider.
Misc
There is currently new free content available to claim in the Welcome Screen
This thread is for commenting on this announcement. Please do not post bugs or problems that you find when using this version of the software in this thread, instead make a new thread in the Designer Bugs on Windows section and questions about usage go in the Desktop Questions forum.
UPDATING TO THIS VERSION (Free for existing customers)
For purchases from the Affinity Store the software: Each time you start the software it will check for updates and offer any available update, or it can be downloaded from here. The new build will install over the top of any earlier version, with no need to uninstall. Alternatively you can log into the affinity store here and find the order in your account and use the download button in there.
For purchases from the Microsoft Store: These are done automatically by the operating system (next time you start the application)
FIrst, it is important to understand that the workbooks are not manuals, in the usual sense of the term. They do not, and are not intended to, explain everything in the product. They explain the basics of the product, and then they provide examples of some common situations you might face, and how to deal with them.
As I understand it, all of the examples should continue to be relevant, and all the approaches they document should still work.
But the current workbooks (again, as I understant the situation) have very few changes to cover new 1.7 features. Obviously, someone from Serif would know more, but I think they're quite busy at the moment dealing with the rollout of 1.7 yesterday, and issues that some users are having.
