Otto Manuel

Hi, Is there a technique for precisely locating the point of intersection of symmetry planes? I have been using the symmetry function at the default center of the project, but now would like to try moving the point of intersection elsewhere. I would love to be able to type in an exact location in a manner similar to using the transform move functions. Perhaps there is a way to use snapping? My impression is that it just slides smoothly across the project and there is no practical way to know where you have dragged it to, but I am hoping to learn that I just need to learn how to to place it precisely. If you have any suggestions please share. Thank you! Affinity Designer 1.8.4+ on Windows 7 x64

Thank you VERY much!!! Thank you!

Hi, I finally updated my Affinity Designer Windows install with the recent update, and now whenever I use the Move tool I am presented with purple colored boundary box outlines for every item in my design. It doesn't seem to matter if their layer is locked, or unlocked. I find it very confusing and would prefer to just look at my design without all the extra lines. I assume that this is just some preference I have not turned off in the new version of Designer, but I can't find a place to make a choice about the appearance of these lines. What should I do to turn the outlines off? Thank you! Affinity Desktop 1.8.4.693 on Windows 7. Edit to add: The solution presented below was the info I needed. In retrospect I realize that the issue was coincidental to the installation of the update and actually the result of my clicking on some snap settings. I had not attributed the display of the outlines to the choice I made and mistakenly assumed their appearance was related to the update process. Thank you!

Thank you for the helpful info.

Hi, The Affinity Designer Help File describes the Vector Brush features as such: "With the Vector Brush Tool you can create a hand-painted look by... Symmetry—when set to greater than 0, repeats the brush stroke around a number of axes (defined by the symmetry value). The center axis point can be repositioned by click-dragging it..." I can't figure out how to use symmetry features with the Vector Brush. I can use symmetry with a paint brush in Pixel Persona but I'd like to learn how to use the vector option that is described in the help file. What am I missing? Thank you!

Thank you!

Hi, Do I have it right? Are symbols stored within a project file? Are assets stored somewhere within the Designer installation file directories? Where on a Windows OS Designer installation are the assets files stored? I read the help files and still don't fully understand. Thank you!

Hi @Callum, Thank you for the suggestion. Your response actually provided a helpful clue. I figured out that I can use the layers panel to select the part of the eps file that I was trying to select. The point of confusion for me was that I was trying to make the selection using the cursor selection tool, and it repeatedly selected the former "stroke" rather than the fill. I am accustomed to working with Adobe Illustrator, where I can either use the "direct select" cursor to select the fill, or I can ungroup the contents of the eps file and use the "select" cursor to select the fill. In Designer, I can use the select cursor to tap on the shape and select the former "stroke", which has become an outlined fill of its own, or I can use the select cursor to drag across the drawing and select both the former stroke and the original fill. It seems the only way to select just the fills is to dig into the layer stack in the layers panel. I don't mean to compare the two applications, but the experience with Illustrator caused me to feel confused by the interaction with Designer. If there is another way to do this I will appreciate learning of it. I think I have the answer, but I prepared a quickly made drawing to upload so as to honor your request. Thank you very much! affinity test.afdesign affinity test.eps

Hi, I have made a few small illustrated objects that I have exported as EPS files which I may use in various graphic editiors while transitioning to more and more use of Designer. When I place these EPS files in a new designer project I am having difficulty with selections. For example; with objects that were made of strokes and fills, the strokes, which have been turned into outlined fills, can be selected, but I can not find a way to select what used to the fill associated with said stroke. What do I need to learn about to be able to modify these assets after placing them in a designer file? Thank you!!!

Thank you for the suggestion. I found this tutorial: https://affinityspotlight.com/article/frankentoon-mixing-vector-and-raster-graphics/ It explains the idea of clipping masks and how a raster brush can be automatically masked by a vector shape. This seems like an amazing feature!

Hi, I am slowly learning Affinity Designer, and growing to appreciate how wonderful it is. I can manage basic spot color and gradient fill vector illustration, but I am really impressed with the advanced vector illustration examples shown on the Affinity website, and would like to learn how the finished appearance is created. For example; Is there a long form tutorial that exemplifies how the illustration, that I have attached a screen shot of, was created? I am specifically interested in learning how to integrate the Raster effects with an illustration that begins as a vector line work. If there is no particular tutorial that covers the complete process, can you suggest a selection of applicable short tutorials that I can use to figure out how to incorporate the techniques into a complete work flow? Thank you!!!

Thank you.

Hi, I purchased an Affinty Designer license to give it a whirl. One feature I have enjoyed in vector art applications that I have used in the past is the way overlapping vector strokes can be automatically join into larger simple shapes. Macromedia Freehand and Flash would accumulate brush strokes in into vector outlined blobs and at times this was very convenient. I was hoping that perhaps Affinity Designer might have such a feature. I don't see anything like that. Am I missing it some where? Thank you!

Hi, I am using Affinity Photo 1.7.1.404 on Win 7 Pro x64, with an older Wacom CTE-450 Bambo Fun. The Wacom drivers are the latest available for the device, but at this point are also relatively old. Occasionally my Windows install boots with a dialog "The tablet driver is not running". When this happens left click still works, but I have to reboot to get the full function. Lately , I have also had some issue with updates for the Chrome web browser debilitating the Wacom right click function. Windows 7 doesn't have Windows Ink so I can not utilize the popularly recommended turn it off fix. After a couple weeks of hoping for an update to the updates, I gave up on this and switched web browsers. I have one particular VST plugin, which I use in audio applications, that doesn't recognize my Wacom tablet, but that plugin is developed by a Mac developer who offers poor service so he has not fixed the issue. All the other software products written and sold by that vendor do work with my Wacom tablet so I am sure that the one product he sells that does not work could work if he cared to make it so. All of my other applications seem to still work fine with my tablet, but I anticipate more issues coming up because Win 7 and the Wacom drivers are so dated by computer time standards, so I was curious to see if can replicate the issue you have. On my system the right click function of my tablet pen works 100% ok in Affinity Photo. I hope this is helpful in some way. Thank you!

Hi, I am little surprised that someone at Affinity has not, at the very least, mentioned some awareness of this issue. I understand that this may not seem to effect everyone. For example; I made a fresh RAW photo with my Camera and developed it with Affinity Photo. My Preferences > Color is selected as sRGB etc. When I export that photo as a JPEG the metadata tagging is correctly recognized as sRGB. When I open a photo, that has been converted by Adobe Camera Raw and turned into a .Tiff with ProPhotoRGB, with Affinity Photo and export a JPEG with color space conversion to sRGB and ICC date embedded the tagging is not formatted correctly and the EXIF property is recognized as Uncalibrated. I also switched Preferences > Color to 16bit ProPhoto RGB and re-developed the RAW file into a new .afphoto. When I exported this as a JPEG with color space conversion to sRGB and ICC date embedded the tagging is formatted correctly and the EXIF property is properly recognized as sRGB. Finally, I repeated the test where I created a new blank project using the "Photo" and sRGB option. I painted some colors and then Exported as a JPEG with color space conversion to sRGB and ICC data embedded. The EXIF tagging is not formatted correctly and the EXIF property is not recognized at all. It appears as if the category doesn't have a value. I have hundreds of *final master* photos archived as flattened 16bit TIFFs in ProPhoto RGB format. I use these as the source file when I need to prepare a JPEG for some specific output. If I can not rely on Affinity Photo to resize, convert the colorspace, and tag the colorspace properly then my long term goal of using Affinity Photo to replace my current post processing toolkit is neutralized. The circumstance relegates Affinity Photo to an application which I may be curious about but reluctant to consider seriously. If I just got my first camera, and Affinity Photo was my first photo app, I don't think I would care. Conversely, it seems like there must be a very large number of photographers who share my circumstance, where managing an archive of 16bit deep colorspace images is routine and the ability to use a photo edit application to export examples of that library with proper formatting seems like a basic expectation. This problem seems like it must have an easy solution, but I am disappointed to see that no one at Affinity seems interested in commenting on the issue. I understand the fix may be a low priority in the schedule, but it seems like someone at Affinity should acknowledge that a fix is due. Thank you.

Hi, Thank you for the helpful reply. I just made an overlay with an example of a CR2 conversion made by Affinity Photo on the bottom layer, and an example made elsewhere on top. After aligning the pixels, I can see the narrow strips of additional information at the margins. Nice! Thank you!

Developing a 8688x5792 .CR2 RAW file in Affinity Photo creates a 8736x5856 .afphoto Title says it all. My .CR2 file from a Canon camera is expected to be sized as 8688x5792 pixels, but after opening and developing the data into a .afphoto format the pixel dimensions are 8736x5856. It seems as if the demosaic process differs from that used by Canon, Phase One, DXO and Adobe RAW converters. What is up with that? Win 7 Pro x64 SP1 with latest updates. Affinity Photo 1.7.1.404

As a test I opened a RAW file in Affinity Photo and "developed" it. When I exported the photo as a JPEG it was tagged properly with the sRGB tag. So that seems similar to what you have observed. In all my tests where I open a file that has already been assigned another Colorspace the exports with sRGB conversion and embedded ICC profile are mis tagged with the "Uncalibrated" label.

Hi Chris, You evidently do not understand how logic works. An expectation that sRGB should be tagged properly in EXIF metadata has nothing to do with the fact that Adobe RGB can not be tagged. You are comparing Oranges to Red Herrings. I did not come to the Affinity forum to teach you how to use Photoshop on your Mac. Nevertheless, you may find the answer to your question on page 26: https://www.exif.org/Exif2-2.PDF Re: 4.6.5 B You may also find a special note which answers your question here: https://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/EXIF.html look for Tag ID 0xa001. HTH. sRGB on the other hand, is specifically intended to be tagged with a "1" in EXIF metadata, and when it is being tagged improperly, as with Affinity Photo's export function, there is an opportunity to fix the issue.

Hi, A colleague suggested that I attempt to edit the meta data of a JPEG produced by Affinity Photo. I used the editor at get-matadata.com to edit the Color Space entry from "Uncalibrated" to "sRGB". I then downloaded that modified file and used a Binary Compare application to see how it differed from the version originally produced by Affinity Photo. The attached screen shot shows the location where the code was changed to indicate that the colorspace is sRGB. Affinity Photo wrote the tag incorrectly and after manually editing the tag the color space is correctly identified. It would seem to be a simple fix to format the file structure in the manner which Adobe does, if someone will have the chance to look into the matter.

Here are readouts from Get-Metadata.com showing the differences between how Adobe encodes metadata and Affinity does: https://www.get-metadata.com/result/cecbba84-218c-4ff7-a8a4-2f256d8e0190 https://www.get-metadata.com/result/b62517a8-3af4-4323-810f-1966e02f1a19 You may notice that Metadata.com can not see the specific form of RGB colorspace info in the Affinity example.

Here is an article about the Windows Property System.Image.ColorSpace https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/properties/props-system-image-colorspace Which, to the best of my limited understanding, suggests that the "Property" is based upon or extracted from EXIF metadata but is stored elsewhere in the file structure. I did notice that Adobe and Affinity conform to differing EXIF versions: Adobe saves <exif:ExifVersion>0220</exif:ExifVersion> while Affinity saves <?exif:ExifVersion>0221?</?exif:ExifV?ersion>?

Here's another bit of information. I have been reading about how the addition of thumbnails can impact EXIF formatting so I tried another test. I opened the "painting" that I synthesized from scratch within Affinity Photo, changed my Preferences to not embed a thumbnail, and exported a JPEG with the ICC embed option. The resulting file is no longer recognized by Windows Properties Color Representation as "Uncalibrated", now it is simply unrecognized as anything. The field is left blank.

Chris, You are not being helpful. Lecturing about ProPhoroRGB and JPEGs, proselytizing about operating systems, reflecting upon "Windows(sic) Photos", (actually named Microsoft Photos and introduced in Windows 8) which hasn't been part of this discussion until you brought it up, and linking to a Pentax Forum thread where someone who admits he doesn't know what he talking about is answered by people who don't know what they are talking about, is a waste of your time. You may not know you are trolling, and you probably presume that you are trying to be helpful, but you are just interjecting where you yourself have repeatedly admitted a solemn disinterest, and that has been reflected by the content of your posts. Hopefully someone who does want to understand that there is an issue with Affinity Photo and Windows integration will recognize the circumstance and make some useful suggestion that may lead to an improvement. Thank you.

Here are the EXIF exports: Affinity_test_03.xmp Affinity_test_03-saved-by-Photoshop.xmp