Gelphyn

We are pleased to announce updates for the MacOS release of all of the Affinity Suite, to version 1.8.6 
These updates make our applications fully compatible with Big Sur and optimised for the Apple M1 chipset (Apple silicon).
This new support for Big Sur 11.0 comes in ADDITION to our existing support for macOS 10.9 to 10.14, and so this 1.8.6 release works on all of them, and is suitable for all our macOS customers.
New Press Release on what Big Sur and Apple M1 hardware mean for the Affinity Suite
Changes in this build
Apple just released Big Sur, its latest major macOS update. This update is something our developers have been working on for quite some time and we’re thrilled to share that our latest 1.8.6 update for the macOS versions of our apps is fully compatible with Big Sur, which means even better performance of Affinity apps on Mac. Perhaps even more exciting though is that 1.8.6 is fully optimised for Apple silicon, the new faster hardware architecture, starting with the M1 chip, as announced by Apple at a launch event on 10th November 2020. For more on Apple silicon, see this page on our website.
This update is a "universal" install, built for both the existing Intel based architecture and the new Apple M1 based architecture. Whatever hardware you are running on this new release is built for optimal performance. It also comes with a new icon, to reflect Big Sur styling, and some behind the scenes tweaks focussing on performance.
UPDATING TO THIS VERSION (Free for existing customers)
The software version can be seen on the splash screen and the About dialog (in application menu, for example "Affinity Photo" > "About").
These threads below (to the last update for each application) describe how to install these new 1.8.6 updates and the features and fixes in the earlier updates.
Affinity Photo for macOS 1.8.4 Affinity Designer for macOS 1.8.4 Affinity Publisher for macOS 1.8.4

HI @vonBusing
Thank you very much for the information about Curve Text, I certainly was not aware that it existed and could not find any reference to it on the Affinity web site.
Experimenting with Text input the Area on the Left rejects both Artistic and Frame Text, although either can be dragged or otherwise manouvered onto it.
The Area on the Right accepts Artistic Text input, although ion the is case because it was copied and flipped through 180°, any input is upside down. It refuses to accept Frame Text directly into the area.
It exists and so should have a purpose but I do not have the time or need to discover aspects that seem undocumented, whilst remain happy to place Text, in standard closed areas, by the usual means.
Thanks again for your input and time, best wishes, G

Dimension lines will not be added to Affinity Designer as a base feature. We may produce another application or an additional persona that contains features like dimension lines, scale drawing and connectors.

It takes a lot of trial and error to understand curves in computer drawing. Or an innate ability with beziers, cubic beziers, quadratic curves and a bunch of other stuff I have no idea about.
 
One of the most interesting ways to learn about curve optimising (and therefore how they work) is to manually trace a Nike tick. It's a much more interesting thing than it first sounds to be, and will reveal much about how curves work in drawing apps.
 
You've gotten onto something complex, an overlapping line. That's advanced stuff, dude!
 
:: Pun alert
 
Drawing software is primitive.