Otto Manuel

I am seeing the same thing (not blank but Use Document Profile) in V2 for JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, TGA, WEBP, JPEG XL, & most but not all of the PDF presets.
That's why I asked for more info. I assume this is something that affects the V2 Windows versions but it does not seem to affect the Mac ones.

Honestly Walt,
Anyone who understands the complexity of Affinity Designer 2 probably knows that of the 16 format choices in the Export dialog, only seven, the PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PDF, JPEG XL, and WEBP offer a selection of ICC profile and only one of those seven has a suggestion already populating the drop down box selector, so it's going to be one or more of the other six, the six with blank drop down selection windows, that is or are potentially relevant.
Does it really matter which of those six I am perplexed by?
Heck, I am perplexed by all six of the empty drop-down box circumstances.
The PDF example makes sense to me... its default is to display "use document profile" which in my mind seems like a perfectly sensible message, but that example is not blank, and here I am asking about the reasoning behind the seven blank circumstances.
The  PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, JPEG XL, and WEBP export dialogs seem like they could be improved with a default such as "use document profile".
Thank you.
 

The frequent requests for screenshots or example projects often...   ... as in this case, where basically anyone who has exported a PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF or WEBP must have encountered the blank space in the Affinity Designer 2 Export dialog's ICC Profile drop down selection.

 
Why oh why?
I selected the sRGB option and made my own preset because I don't have the patience to use an EXIF tool after the fact to determine if the blank space choice has become the embedded color space information or if I can trust Affinity Designer to embed the color space that I selected and used while drawing the document.
It just seems weird.
I wonder why it has not seemed evident that the document color space should be the obvious first choice, and then options for conversion can be made as might seem suitable. 
 

Honestly Walt,
Anyone who understands the complexity of Affinity Designer 2 probably knows that of the 16 format choices in the Export dialog, only seven, the PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PDF, JPEG XL, and WEBP offer a selection of ICC profile and only one of those seven has a suggestion already populating the drop down box selector, so it's going to be one or more of the other six, the six with blank drop down selection windows, that is or are potentially relevant.
Does it really matter which of those six I am perplexed by?
Heck, I am perplexed by all six of the empty drop-down box circumstances.
The PDF example makes sense to me... its default is to display "use document profile" which in my mind seems like a perfectly sensible message, but that example is not blank, and here I am asking about the reasoning behind the seven blank circumstances.
The  PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, JPEG XL, and WEBP export dialogs seem like they could be improved with a default such as "use document profile".
Thank you.
 

The frequent requests for screenshots or example projects often...   ... as in this case, where basically anyone who has exported a PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF or WEBP must have encountered the blank space in the Affinity Designer 2 Export dialog's ICC Profile drop down selection.

 
Why oh why?
I selected the sRGB option and made my own preset because I don't have the patience to use an EXIF tool after the fact to determine if the blank space choice has become the embedded color space information or if I can trust Affinity Designer to embed the color space that I selected and used while drawing the document.
It just seems weird.
I wonder why it has not seemed evident that the document color space should be the obvious first choice, and then options for conversion can be made as might seem suitable. 
 

Affinity Designer 2: Export? Why is there a blank ICC profile when the document setup has a designated color profile, and the embed ICC profile is selected?
When I see it left blank, I wonder why I am not dumb enough to trust the process, and wonder why Affinity Designer 2 is not smart enough to fill in the blank.
I could understand making a selection if you were converting the color space, but if you have a color space assigned to the document and have chosen to embed the ICC profile, would it not seem reassuring to see the ICC profile, that you have already designated, displayed in the blank space where designated ICC profile labels seem to be intended to appear?
Is this a normal, intended, purposeful circumstance?
 
Processor    AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16-Core Processor 
Installed RAM    96.0 GB (93.6 GB usable)

System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch    Pen support
Edition    Windows 11 Pro
Version    24H2
Installed on    ‎4/‎1/‎2024
OS build    26100.3775
Experience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.66.0
 

Hi,
 Thanks for sharing the tip. I did not about and had never used the style picker. My first few tries with the style picker resulted in total confusion. I still don't get how it's supposed to be helpful.
 For the time being the four step process seems more immediate.
 I need to figure out, and hopefully appreciate the thought behind the style picker functionality.
 Thank you.

Hi,
After focusing on this subject a bit, I have learned that I can use the Transform Tool to perform some of the operations I would like to perform, but I have to select at least two sets of nodes.
In other words, I select the multiple layers, in my example's case that is four, then I marquee select two node locations, so I have eight nodes selected, then I employ the Transform Tool to rotate the shape, and all the curves remain aligned.
I can not affect all the editing I want to do, but incorporating this into my workflow will be super helpful.
In retrospect, I realize I have done this before, but had not thought of it in the context of today's preoccupation.
Thank you.

As a reminder, this thread's original focus was on Affinity Designer 2 and its buggy Warp Group issues when the Convert to Curves command is run, rather than a not-so-smart debate about smart nodes, which may or may not be smart enough to warrant debate.
If we are going to digress into an off topic debate can we please discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using the Convert to Curves command on a warp group to one-click instantly erase all the layer names in your group?
Subtopics could include subject lines like "how many is too many?" 
For example, is losing the names of 99 layers and then patiently renaming them one by one acceptable to you? Would 100 layers be too much? What is the threshold before losing names to an oversight/bug/fubar becomes frustrating and or intolerable?
🙂
Good times!
 
 

As a reminder, this thread's original focus was on Affinity Designer 2 and its buggy Warp Group issues when the Convert to Curves command is run, rather than a not-so-smart debate about smart nodes, which may or may not be smart enough to warrant debate.
If we are going to digress into an off topic debate can we please discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using the Convert to Curves command on a warp group to one-click instantly erase all the layer names in your group?
Subtopics could include subject lines like "how many is too many?" 
For example, is losing the names of 99 layers and then patiently renaming them one by one acceptable to you? Would 100 layers be too much? What is the threshold before losing names to an oversight/bug/fubar becomes frustrating and or intolerable?
🙂
Good times!
 
 

There are more bugs in Affinity than in a rainforest. I don’t know how they find that acceptable, but I do know where to look. I had a quick look at your test file—thanks for that—and assumed the issue was related to the smart nodes. Bingo: by converting smart nodes to smooth nodes, converting the warp group to curves works much better.
The issue with grouped elements losing their names gives—just like the above—the impression of a rushed and sloppy piece of work.
I hope this helps you move forward a bit.

Affinity Designer v2.6.2 
OS Name    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Version    10.0.19045 Build 19045
Processor    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900H @ 2.50GHz, 2496 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    32.0 GB
System Manufacturer    Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
System Model    Creator 17 B11UH
Graphics    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU
 
Here is an example project featuring a leaf. I have a big leafy bush with many leaves. The problems manifested with this single leaf are multiplied by the number of leaves in my leafy bush.
It's a bummer.
Is there a way to use warp groups without wishing you didn't?
Feel free to take a look at the attached test project.

WARP-TEST-01A.afdesign

I would love to be able to search by layer name.
Using a search feature would be like using a computer in the 1980s, except it would be 2025.
Search would make life easier, save time, and preserve more energy for creativity to flow.
Wouldn't that be fun?

Yes, it would actually save time — especially if Affinity could search by name. 
Right now, you can only rename one item at a time by starting rename, typing/pasting a name, hitting tab (not enter), renaming the next, repeat repeat repeat repeat. Trivial Serif code, trivial process, waste of the customer’s time.
Similarly, I also recommend enabling sorting for a selection of layers — most importantly reverse, but also by label, for instance when you've numbered them yourself.
Shall we just mention VectorStyler again as inspiration?

If numbered is selected, as shown below, otherwise it happens without numbering:

Note the options for changing the order, which can be quite important if elements were created in the wrong sequence or if you’ve received a design where that’s the case.

It’s not just fun — it’s meaningful and extremely time-saving. 

Aaand I almost forgot it can search as well:

Search is extremely valuable for the user when dealing with hundreds of layers — especially if one of them is hidden. And did I mention that search is extremely valuable for the user when dealing with hundreds of layers — especially if one of them is hidden? I could also point out that search is extremely valuable for the user when dealing with hundreds of layers — especially if one of them is hidden.
Time is money, time is opportunity, time is limiting, time is critical. 
So yes, absolutely — that’s a request I can get behind.

Now that I have had a brief time to become familiar with this workaround suggestion to turn the elements into symbols, I realize that the names of my elements are not preserved; it just appears that they are preserved because every element is automatically placed within a newly added layer.
The name of the element is transferred as the name of the Layer, while the name of the actual element is deleted and substituted with "Curve".
This means that in my layer display, I now have twice as many rows to sift through. The names of my elements are still deleted and replaced with "Curve", a bunch of Layer rows are added, and I have a bunch of symbols gathering in the symbol window.
Ideally, I could simply *bake* the warp into the group without deleting all the names of my elements. 
In other words, it would seem ideal if a simple process could simplify the document rather than add layers, pardon the pun, of complexity.
Thank you.

Designer v2: Does Convert to Curves have to erase the names of the elements converted?
Whenever I make a drawing, I habitually name every element, regardless of whether it is an object or a curve.
Whenever  Sometimes when, I use Convert to Curves, the names disappear. I would like for that not to happen.
Is there an option to preserve the names?
I like to use Select > Select Same > Name to select and make minor adjustments to the color or stroke of multiple objects simultaneously.
It always seems like a waste if time to have to rename all the elements that have their name lost.

They are two separate applications, so yes version one will remain.

Hi,
 re: Affinity Designer for Windows
 This morning I was pixel painting in a multi layered project and repeatedly made the mistake of painting on a layer that was "locked".
 I acknowledge that I must have mistakenly caused the wrong layer to become selected, although I didn't know when that happened and would have to undo a bunch of work to start again. This happened several times. It was enough to cause annoyance.
 I know enough about Designer to regard the lock feature as untrustworthy, but today i was enjoying painting with the pixel brush and color choices so I wanted to trust that when I started painting in the intended layer that I remained in the intended layer.
 Am I missing a preference or checkbox? I would like a locked layer to be locked and safe from unintended modification.
 Thank you!
 

That is exactly what happens with a .aftemplate file. Each time you open it you get a new document which has to be saved with a name of your own or the Untitled default name.
Make a document with everything you want, size colour space, margins, Master/Parent pages, Actual pages, Document palettes, text styles, even text and images. Then go to File > Export as Template... and save to wherever you would want to have your template files stored.

Using the reverse engineer procedure I think I stumbled upon the idea that the extension of the Round Cap and Square Cap is 50% of the stroke width. For example if the stroke width is 100, the vector brush will extend 50 pixels beyond the end point node.
 

Using the reverse engineer procedure I think I stumbled upon the idea that the extension of the Round Cap and Square Cap is 50% of the stroke width. For example if the stroke width is 100, the vector brush will extend 50 pixels beyond the end point node.
 

In the Stroke panel, with the brush stroke selected what setting does it show for the Cap type?

Thank you to everybody.
I started making a few engraving brushes, and realized how easy it is to make a brush. I also realized that a very good way to understand the suitability of a brush in a specific circumstance is to have a familiarity with the source files.
I think I will pursue making more brushes that are designed to be contextual to the goals I have.
Thank you!

Hi,
 Thank you @Dan Cfor the follow up comments and questions.
 I have ungrouped and re-grouped the groups which cleared the group color assignments and let me continue as I had hoped. Thank you!
Yes, I believe that at one point I had purposefully selected the group and assigned the colors. On other occasions I will use the group to conform a stroke size throughout the group layers. When I do this, a stroke color is assigned. It seems there are repercussions to using a group's stroke size, stroke color, and fill color that I only acknowledge later in a project.
One thing I have learned is that after the group has assignments to the parameters mentioned, I can still go to the individual curves and override the group assignment with specific choices, but the group parameter settings remain as evidence of the previous action even if they are no longer applicable to some of the nested layers. 
I think the circumstance that I caused, and which inspired this question, is related to that sort of sequence of events.
Thank you for the help. 

Hi,
 Thank you @Dan Cfor the follow up comments and questions.
 I have ungrouped and re-grouped the groups which cleared the group color assignments and let me continue as I had hoped. Thank you!
Yes, I believe that at one point I had purposefully selected the group and assigned the colors. On other occasions I will use the group to conform a stroke size throughout the group layers. When I do this, a stroke color is assigned. It seems there are repercussions to using a group's stroke size, stroke color, and fill color that I only acknowledge later in a project.
One thing I have learned is that after the group has assignments to the parameters mentioned, I can still go to the individual curves and override the group assignment with specific choices, but the group parameter settings remain as evidence of the previous action even if they are no longer applicable to some of the nested layers. 
I think the circumstance that I caused, and which inspired this question, is related to that sort of sequence of events.
Thank you for the help.