Quarian

On it as soon as the US Apple store has it up.

As a graphic design professional myself, I must confess to having the same concern stated in the above post about the name "Publisher". I just wrote it off to the assumption that many within the industry would, over time, just start referring to it by a nickname (such as "APub") or get used to stating the entire name (like "Quark XPress"). Not to try to change the name of your product, but--if you did--I would suggest three names that haven't seen use yet in the arena that describe what your software does yet are different enough to not be confused with another package. "Affinity Layout", "Affinity Multipage", or maybe--in keeping with trends today--"Affinity Multipub" (short for "Multipublisher") as hardcopy, pdf and ePub will be at least three of the end products output by the program. As I stated earlier, these are suggestions IF you considered changing the name. At this point, the buzz around the upcoming package in the community is a dull roar, so I really don't expect you to, but options, I have found, are always a good thing.

"Affinity Animator", perhaps?

The only thing I can tell you as a workaround is that Scribus 1.5.0 developmental preview DOES, in fact, import .CDR and .CMX files. You may be able to export these from scribus as .pdf and import them into Designer. If it helps, both AD and Scribus use LittleCms for color management.

If it helps anyone, the development version of scribus 1.5.0 imports .cdr and .cmx files. It MAY be possible to export these from scribus as .pdf files and open them in AD.

By the way, to the devs, just picked up DrawPlus X8 a few days ago and the rostrum camera TRULY kicks A$$. You guys ROCK.

Now THERE'S a good idea, artyr. I've been asking the devs to consider making a An "Affinity Animator" almost since Designer came out in beta, but a plug-in for Motion that allowed the import of AD assets would actually make more sense.

So, you went old school and specified to the printer to print the spot colors wherever you had certain colors indicated as placeholders in your document. Cool! "Rubylith, anyone?" PLEASE let us know if that was successful in final printing. Your answer may be the workaround for everyone on this board who's waiting for Pantone inclusion in AD.

On most versions of AI, "create pdf compatible file" is usually on by default.

To "piggyback" on MEB's answer, the .AI file must have been created or saved in a format of Illustrator version 9 or above. In version 9, AI introduced saving their files natively with PDF information embedded. This embedded programming is what enables Affinity to open .AI files. If your files are that old, before opening them in AD, resave them in a newwer version of Illustrator, if possible.

bercik, you may have to export each layer of your artwork out of AD as it's own svg. That's an old school workaround from back in the day when you couldn't import layered files into AfterEffects. It's a bit of a pain, but it is effective. Hope this helps.

Just curious, given that a lot of people are saying that Metal is supposed to supplant openGL in the Mac OS--should this be true--how, if at all, does this programming change affect Affinity? Given that we've seen Designer run on an iPad, my first reaction would be to say "not at all." but I am curious as I--and many others--are, as they say, all in. As always, thank you for listening.

Thank You for pointing this out, TonHaarmans. I went onto www.scribus.net today and saw that version 1.5.0 of Scribus has finally been released as...well, while not a stable release...a "preview" or maybe a "transitional" release might be a better description. While I can't describe all of the benefits of 1.5.0 in this space, please look at the "readme" file at this link: http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus_1.5.0_Readme Here are some highlights from the import functions: Adobe Illustrator: The Adobe Illustrator importer has been compelety rewritten. In hybrid AI files it’s now possible to select either the PDF or the AI part of the file. PDF: The PDF importer has been completely rewritten and now opens most PDF files with the layout 100 % intact. PDF forms elements are being recognized as such and can be edited in Scribus. PostScript: The PostScript importer has been completely rewritten and now opens most PS files with the layout 100 % intact. Adobe PageMaker: Scribus 1.5.0 includes an early version of a filter for files created in versions 6.5 and 7.0 of the once popular DTP program. CorelDraw (CDR, CDT, CMX): Thanks to the tireless work on libcdr, Scribus can now import files created by CorelDraw from version 1 to the present. Moreover, adding support for libcdr not only allows for importing CDR files, but also CorelDraw Templates (CDT) and CorelDraw Presentations Exchange (CMX) files. Enhanced Metafile (EMF): EMF files are 32-bit versions of the 16-bit Windows Metafile Format (WMF), which has already been supported by Scribus 1.4.x. InDesign/InCopy: While the reverse-engineering efforts regarding InDesign’s binary format (INDD) by third-party developers haven’t reached the stage of producing anything useful yet, Adobe has released a complete specification of the XML version of that format (IDML). Scribus 1.5.0 is being shipped with a basic import filter for this format, which will be improved and refined over time. It will also import InDesign XML Snippets (IDMS) and some InCopy XML files (ICML). iWorks Pages (PAGES): Pages is Apple’s word processing software, which also provides many DTP features. A native importfilter has been developed to import files created with Pages ’08 and later versions. Microsoft Publisher (PUB): An importer for PUB files has been made, which is also used for Publisher import into LibreOffice. It is supposed to import all Publisher versions. Microsoft Visio (VSD, VXD): An importer for Visio files has been made possible by the creation of libvisio, which is also used for Visio import into LibreOffice. It is supposed to import at least Visio versions from 2000–2013. Open Raster File (ORA): Open Raster is an open standard for complex bitmap files. It’s supported by all major Free image editors, including GIMP and Krita. Xara Designer (XAR): Xara Designer (formerly known as Xara Xtreme) is known as one of the most powerful vector drawing programs. Its file format (XAR) is well-documented, and thanks to many contributions from professional Xara users, the Scribus Team has been able to create an excellent XAR filter, whose implementation resulted in the addition of many new features in Scribus. XML Paper Specification (XPS, OXPS): XML is an alternative to PDF originally developed by Microsoft and now maintained and updated by ECMA International. Scribus 1.5.0 can import both the original Microsoft version (XPS) and the modified versions as standardized by ECMA (OXPS). Scribus 1.5.0 also exports to PDF/X-4. Hope this helps...I'll be using Scribus until Affinity Publisher arrives.

If it helps, Scribus DOES have this feature implemented by way of a Python script called "Scribus Generator." I mention this because--until Publisher arrives--I'm using Scribus in conjunction with Designer (as they both work with littleCMS for Color Management) for my multipage publication development. The original page on Scribus Generator is here: http://www.ekkehardwill.de/sg/ and the GIthub page for it is here (it has since had newer features added to it; the Github page houses the newest incarnation): https://github.com/berteh/ScribusGenerator Hopefully this helps the community and the Devs.

I used this feature in InDesign all the time on my old job laying out catalogs. We would get spreadsheets for new products and accessories from the pricing department as .xls files (and, later, .csv files) and would have to incorporate the entries into the layouts in tables. We still use it on my current job for map entries and other intermittent things. Hopefully, Data Merge (or whatever it will be called) will be one of the key things that makes it into the first version of APub. If you'd be able to apply styles to placeholders, so much the better.

By the way, Serif IS having a sale right now on their recently retired Plus range software for Windows. For the next 3 days as of this writing (August 18, 2015), DrawPlus x6 and PagePlus x7 (the ones I use) and others are on special for $15 USD. http://www.serif.com/sale/

Putting some resources out here right now. Anyone who knows me knows that I never buy new macs...I buy 2nd hand and upgrade them myself. www.macofalltrades.com: THE best prices on refurbished macs and accessories. I've been a customer for 10 years. All of my macs bought from them are still alive and thriving having been given to family and friends (the ones I'm not still using). www.everymac.com: THE resource for specs on every mac ever made. A must for upgrading older Macs. www.virtualbox.org: VirtualBox is FREE virtualization software. Does the same thing as Parallels for free; run Windows inside your Mac. BootCamp: Part of every OS X system since 10.6.8. If you don't want to and/or don't have the RAM to virtualize another system inside your Mac, use BootCamp and Dual boot Windows on your Mac. www.ifixit.com: instructions of fixing/upgrading Macs. Hope this helps.

"We can't compare software applications as if they were comparable directly in the current circumstances (Affinity /Adobe). There's a little gap between the two: 25 years. A comparison between a version 1.0 versus v18.0 isn't fair. People talk about Affinity apps as if they were done. They aren't. We just started..." Hence, the point of this post. As stated before, all of the little conveniences that Adobe put in their software has made us as designers so lazy that we "can't" use anything else...I flatly reject this way of thinking.

By the way, I know the html5 exporter is a stretch, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Since the title alone of ths discussion is sure to draw attention, I might as well put in my bid... 1. An .idml importer (scribus developmental edition 1.5 claims to already have one) 2. A function wherein you can import a multipage pdf and designate if you want to import certain pages as master pages. 3. A PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4 and PDF/A exporter. You also may want to consider PDF/UA as well, nobody else except Adobe and Microsoft can do accessible PDF. If Affinity could do it, it would guarantee you market share. 4. An ePub 2.01 and 3.0 exporter. 5. An HTML 5 exporter. Recently, at a class I was attending, the instructor showed us that a certain product with a subscription model that you're competing with is going to have html5 export so that, in the same way one could author swf interactivity, widgets can be created for ePubs and web sites.

I was thinking that this transitional format could import the layout without linked pictures, text w/ formatting stripped out and retain some form of barebones master pages.

Question for the devs: would it be possible to develop a file format and/or filter that can import the baseline structure of a pageplus document without necessarily importing the entire file in order to give pageplus users a point to recreate their document from in APub as opposed to having to rebuild from scratch if/when they come over to APub from pageplus?

Okay, I must be reading this wrong then... http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/nuke/sys-reqs/ I thought they were saying that to get the full performance out of Nuke, that you have to have a video card capable of supporting OpenCL. Didn't see the "optional" line...I stand corrected. Nuke does NOT need the GPU. Thank you for the correction, Ash.

One of the questions I see asked a LOT in the forums is how to accomplish Motion Graphics with graphic assets created in Designer/Photo. I leave the mechanical details of preparing the AD and AP files in the capable hands of Ronnie McBride. What I want to do in this space is present options OTHER than After Effects. Some of us either can't currently afford AfterFX, others may not currently want to feed the beast that Adobe has become (I know I don't). Affinity, I also realize that Serif just discontinued MoviePlus...so, if you guys don't see yourselves coming out with an "affinity animate" app (or "affinity animator"; if you use it, you heard it here first), here are some alternatives you might be willing to suggest to take the heat off. The following solutions are "node-based" (as a reference, Motion and After Effects use a "layer-based" user interface to create compositions) and require a discrete GPU (mid to high-powered video card; Intel HD 4000 ain't gonna cut it). Nuke Non-commercial edition (free w/limitations) Blackmagic Design Fusion 8 (free; Mac version announced this week at NAB2015. Will be out within July-September 2015 timeframe) Resolve Lite 11/12 (free; version 12 coming out soon) This one is open source, node-based and doesn't require a discrete GPU. Natron does all it's processing and rendering on the CPU (so this one is perfect if, like me, you have a Dual Core i3/i5 that only has intel HD graphics...Mac Mini, anyone?). It is using an OpenFX architecture, as well, so many commercial OpenFX plug-ins can be installed in Natron (btw, it's pronounced "Ney-tron". But it is also relatively new...and potentially very powerful. Natron 1.2.1 (open-source; CPU based) These two are not free and are layer-based, which might be easier to work with if one has never done Animation/Motion Graphics before. Not to say that they don't have learning curves, but--It's been my personal experience that--most persons with experience with layer-based software for static graphics have a common point of reference starting with one that has it in the UI for motion graphics. Which is why many After Effects users were Illustrator/Photoshop users first. HitFilm 3 Pro ($299) Apple Motion 5 ($50) I didn't include Blender here because I was strictly keeping it to Motion Graphics, not 3D...however, Blender is also an alternative that can be considered in this list. Although it's motion graphics solutions (by way of add-ons) also tend to be node-based. Of the solutions mentioned above--if it helps--I have used (and still advocate) Motion, HitFilm (for the "Atomic particle generator" and the true 3D compositing of 3DS, LWO and OBJ models), Blender and Natron. Hope this helps.

Affinity, I know that Serif just discontinued MoviePlus...so, if you guys don't see yourselves coming out with an "affinity animate" app, here are some alternatives you might be willing to suggest to take the heat off. BTW, except for HitFilm and Motion, all of these are "node-based" solutions and most of them require a discrete GPU (except for HitFilm, Motion and Natron...Intel HD 4000 ain't gonna cut it). Nuke Non-commercial edition (free w/limitations) Blackmagic Design Fusion (free version) Resolve Lite 11/12 (free) Natron 1.2 (open-source) HitFilm 3 Pro ($299) Apple Motion 5 ($50) Hope this helps.