Chiefmonkey

Hello Support,
I'm a laser cutter and crypto artist and I make things like you can see in the attached image.   
I've purchased both Affinity Photo and Designer.
The three main functions I need in any Vector Software are:
Blending between Shapes e.g. from a Circle to a Square with ability to set number of steps in between  Shape Creation Tool as in AI (I see you have boolean operators but these are seriously cumbersome to use in comparison to AI's shape tool) Offset Path e.g. click a path, click offset path (I did a workaround of duplicating my stroke, then on one increasing the Stroke to 20pt then Expanding the stroke, then removing my original stroke/shape away from the new expanded stroke... a ridiculously long winded way of doing it) I've seen requests for these features going back to 2014, which is really quite worrying.  You use to have a roadmap but thats disappeared.
My question is this... are you still working on any of these features so many people have requested?It would be great to see them on a Roadmap...
Can we have some transparency on when these features will (or will not) be worked on?  
I've looked all through the forum for answers but found nothing (apologies if I've missed it) but fluffy answers like "coming soon", "any day now", or "it's in the roadmap"... clearly these don't cut it and date badly looking back at them (somebody wasn't being 100%)... straight forward, honest answers would go a really long way. 
Can you please bring the Roadmap back? (it's at least something)
Chiefmonkey

Hello Support,
I'm a laser cutter and crypto artist and I make things like you can see in the attached image.   
I've purchased both Affinity Photo and Designer.
The three main functions I need in any Vector Software are:
Blending between Shapes e.g. from a Circle to a Square with ability to set number of steps in between  Shape Creation Tool as in AI (I see you have boolean operators but these are seriously cumbersome to use in comparison to AI's shape tool) Offset Path e.g. click a path, click offset path (I did a workaround of duplicating my stroke, then on one increasing the Stroke to 20pt then Expanding the stroke, then removing my original stroke/shape away from the new expanded stroke... a ridiculously long winded way of doing it) I've seen requests for these features going back to 2014, which is really quite worrying.  You use to have a roadmap but thats disappeared.
My question is this... are you still working on any of these features so many people have requested?It would be great to see them on a Roadmap...
Can we have some transparency on when these features will (or will not) be worked on?  
I've looked all through the forum for answers but found nothing (apologies if I've missed it) but fluffy answers like "coming soon", "any day now", or "it's in the roadmap"... clearly these don't cut it and date badly looking back at them (somebody wasn't being 100%)... straight forward, honest answers would go a really long way. 
Can you please bring the Roadmap back? (it's at least something)
Chiefmonkey

Hello Support,
I'm a laser cutter and crypto artist and I make things like you can see in the attached image.   
I've purchased both Affinity Photo and Designer.
The three main functions I need in any Vector Software are:
Blending between Shapes e.g. from a Circle to a Square with ability to set number of steps in between  Shape Creation Tool as in AI (I see you have boolean operators but these are seriously cumbersome to use in comparison to AI's shape tool) Offset Path e.g. click a path, click offset path (I did a workaround of duplicating my stroke, then on one increasing the Stroke to 20pt then Expanding the stroke, then removing my original stroke/shape away from the new expanded stroke... a ridiculously long winded way of doing it) I've seen requests for these features going back to 2014, which is really quite worrying.  You use to have a roadmap but thats disappeared.
My question is this... are you still working on any of these features so many people have requested?It would be great to see them on a Roadmap...
Can we have some transparency on when these features will (or will not) be worked on?  
I've looked all through the forum for answers but found nothing (apologies if I've missed it) but fluffy answers like "coming soon", "any day now", or "it's in the roadmap"... clearly these don't cut it and date badly looking back at them (somebody wasn't being 100%)... straight forward, honest answers would go a really long way. 
Can you please bring the Roadmap back? (it's at least something)
Chiefmonkey

Hello Support,
I'm a laser cutter and crypto artist and I make things like you can see in the attached image.   
I've purchased both Affinity Photo and Designer.
The three main functions I need in any Vector Software are:
Blending between Shapes e.g. from a Circle to a Square with ability to set number of steps in between  Shape Creation Tool as in AI (I see you have boolean operators but these are seriously cumbersome to use in comparison to AI's shape tool) Offset Path e.g. click a path, click offset path (I did a workaround of duplicating my stroke, then on one increasing the Stroke to 20pt then Expanding the stroke, then removing my original stroke/shape away from the new expanded stroke... a ridiculously long winded way of doing it) I've seen requests for these features going back to 2014, which is really quite worrying.  You use to have a roadmap but thats disappeared.
My question is this... are you still working on any of these features so many people have requested?It would be great to see them on a Roadmap...
Can we have some transparency on when these features will (or will not) be worked on?  
I've looked all through the forum for answers but found nothing (apologies if I've missed it) but fluffy answers like "coming soon", "any day now", or "it's in the roadmap"... clearly these don't cut it and date badly looking back at them (somebody wasn't being 100%)... straight forward, honest answers would go a really long way. 
Can you please bring the Roadmap back? (it's at least something)
Chiefmonkey

thank you @dominik
all good... no offence taken at all... I guess this bit sums it up: "If they felt there was anything new or significative enough to add (disclose) to the discussion they would probably have done it by now."
Blending between Shapes  -  aka transitioning/tweening... can't believe this isn't a function/feature they'd want to include... an answer to this would be greatly appreciated  Shape Creation Tool - the Boolean tools are OK  (a "Shape Tool" would be so much quicker but hey I'm letting it go  lol)  Offset Path - in AI and others this is a 2-click feature.. but hey there is a workaround... it's cumbersome UX but you get there in the end... I'm letting it go 

Hi @Chiefmonkey
We appreciate your answer, I would like to share my experience mainly whit offset path.
I realized this is a tool I daily use in illustrator, specially on my work environment, usually I use cutting plotters, like Cameo, Graphtec and Roland to make designs, All these machines have their own limitations, that are hard to cut materials in small pieces. There is a rule of increasing the design using the offset tool, however most of the time is necessary to do it in a specific increments or reductions, like 3mm (metric system).

That been said, this is a tool I must have before to decide to use and purchase Affinity design as my main working tool.

PD: I'm attaching a job that uses this tool a lot as an example
 

(...)

The short answer is that you can’t create a vector drawing from a raster image without creating the vectors manually.
None of the Affinity products have a facility to convert raster to vector, yet.
It’s been asked for many times, and will probably come at some point in the future, but when that will be is anyone’s guess.
P.S. The Outline Effect that you used will only give a raster outline of the image. It finds the edge of the image and puts some pixels around it, it’s not what could be deemed by some as a ‘real’ outline.

Hi @Chiefmonkey,
I appreciate the way you are communicating your position and contributing to the forum.
d.

It depends on the situation.
Edit: I found that the "miracle" procedure was deleted from the original post. No wonder, what lasts a few seconds in Affinity, he created a minute using Shape Builder :-)

Hello Support,
I'm a laser cutter and crypto artist and I make things like you can see in the attached image.   
I've purchased both Affinity Photo and Designer.
The three main functions I need in any Vector Software are:
Blending between Shapes e.g. from a Circle to a Square with ability to set number of steps in between  Shape Creation Tool as in AI (I see you have boolean operators but these are seriously cumbersome to use in comparison to AI's shape tool) Offset Path e.g. click a path, click offset path (I did a workaround of duplicating my stroke, then on one increasing the Stroke to 20pt then Expanding the stroke, then removing my original stroke/shape away from the new expanded stroke... a ridiculously long winded way of doing it) I've seen requests for these features going back to 2014, which is really quite worrying.  You use to have a roadmap but thats disappeared.
My question is this... are you still working on any of these features so many people have requested?It would be great to see them on a Roadmap...
Can we have some transparency on when these features will (or will not) be worked on?  
I've looked all through the forum for answers but found nothing (apologies if I've missed it) but fluffy answers like "coming soon", "any day now", or "it's in the roadmap"... clearly these don't cut it and date badly looking back at them (somebody wasn't being 100%)... straight forward, honest answers would go a really long way. 
Can you please bring the Roadmap back? (it's at least something)
Chiefmonkey

lol thank you haakoo, appreciate your response... but you're right I don't like that answer lol
Any software not listening to its users will see their users slowly disappear to solutions that do listen to them... it's just what happens 
This is a quote of the Affinity Designer homepage:
"Thousands of designers around the world told us how they need their graphic design app to behave. We put that knowledge at the core of Affinity Designer."
I guess they've stopped listening
All I'm asking for is some clear and transparent communication as to whats happening with these 3 features which have been requested from years ago... the need for them hasn't gone 
Guess I need to hit twitter to see if that will prompt a reply... or something... anything... give me a grain of insight, anything lol

Cheers Dominik
I appreciate your reply
These are 3 major features in most other graphics tools and the community have been asking for them for years... all I'm asking for is some communication... some open and honest transparent answers... These are feature requests, I'm not complaining they're not in, I'm complaining about the lack of communication or the fob-off's "coming soon"
Thats frustrating as hell
All I'd like is a straight forward "This feature will be added in version 1.7.x and that is expect 15 Febraury 2020"   OR   "This feature will never be added because blah blah blah... but we are doing this instead"
Something just something... so far I've not seen a conclusive answer to any of these questions... would be great if a member of the dev team chip in here.

I like the Affinity Software, I've bought both... generally they're pretty damned good and better than Inkscape (which I really wanted to like but regretfully don't get on with) and better than adobe in some regards... I've also owned my own app development business before and totally appreciate priorities of work and complexities of software like this.
Just wish there's was an improvement in the communication of these three features that have been requested many times for years now.

The main reason I'm aware that people shy away from Roadmaps is because they can't stick to them 100%... but it really doesn't matter, just communicate what you have achieved and double down on what you haven't for the next release... but communicate
Thanks again Dominik... apologies for my ramble... I feel better now lol

Can be shared/copied using Style or Paste Style.

@dominik yep cheers mate... if you ever hear of a workaround for Blending between shapes please do let me know 
@Pšenda I agree... I can live without the Shape Tool... the boolean operators are actually a no brainer and in some circumstances quicker 
As for the Offset Path, I shall struggle on... painfully clicking 30 times to simply add a uniform outline to a previously drawn shape... I'm letting it go... it's gone... all is good in the world 
Appreciate your time guys... thank you

BTW, I'm not saying that the features you mention are not desirable. In the contrary. I share your notion that these would be welcome to have 
d.

Freeware, but ultra basic (but a lot of ppl just need this) : Microsoft Gif Animator.
 
Open source, but I recommended first MS gif Animator just because this one I haven't tested, but OS software gets always my preferent vote, is this little thing, a bit more advanced than MS gif animator, called GifApp.
 
Gale is amazing, much focused in pixel art painted sprites (in case you do that thing). And free. For actually loading and saving animated gifs, is needed the commercial version, that price in yens I believe is around 18$, and I think you can purchase directly there even if you are not in Japan (used to be an issue with japanese software, the payment platforms had its issues. I think you can purchase it right away there.)
 
The one used in mobile game studios like Gameloft (so that's quite remarkable) is in a good portion of projects, (or used to be, am now a bit disconnected, not working in that anymore) is Pro motion. i don't particularly like it, but some colleague insists is the best piece on earth to make sprites.(my main tool at jobs was always just PS combined with Animation Shop from an old PSP 7.x/8.x, loading layered PSDs to preview the anim and draw at real time animation). There's a free version very limited, but i don't know your needs. It does export animated gifs, again, dunno if does so the free one.
 
Going higher in features(or actually, equal or less than Pro motion, but this one heading higher resolution work more than pure pixel art) and capabilities, (but for pixel art probably Gale and Pro Motion are better) , DragonBones. Dunno if can export gif anim (you can always just load the PNGs of the anims into MS gif animator.). Seems is free, I yet don't understand why...price 60$ or so, I believe...
 
My favorite for sprites (of higher resolution; Casual/shareware/web/tablet/phone games, not so much pixel art) animation : Spine. used largely by many Unity engine game studios. Funnily, I've never seen if it exports gif animated, but I'd bet that thing does even make your morning coffee, so, yep. But yes, expensive... You check the features and the good name among pros that it has, and you then you understand the why...
 
Edit: Of course, you can use my favorite free painting tool (which I plan to use in perfect combination with AD and A. Photo) Krita which in version 3.x stable adds animation. A bit over complex UI though for newcomers, for what is the animation module. (opposite to its painting UI) , but I like how advanced it is already, will have a look with more time at some other moment.
 
And at last, there are sites to make your gif anims, and download them, but I never like that for privacy reason, and lack of control.

Hi @Chiefmonkey,
Serif is communicating very straight forward on what features are coming next or on what features are being worked on. This is done via the public beta versions. If it is not in the beta it is not coming soon. This may be not exactly what you are asking for in your first post but this is more of an answer than 'not communicating'  
Usually the beta versions run for a couple of months before they turn into an official release. That way you can tell some time ahead of what is to be expected.
Everything else you are asking for - I'm sorry to put it that way and please take no offense - is very unlikely to happen.
Cheers,
d.

@haakoo
how do you know that?

Somewhere I read the guaranteed information, that it would be up 29 February 2021 between 14:35 and 14:48.

lol thank you haakoo, appreciate your response... but you're right I don't like that answer lol
Any software not listening to its users will see their users slowly disappear to solutions that do listen to them... it's just what happens 
This is a quote of the Affinity Designer homepage:
"Thousands of designers around the world told us how they need their graphic design app to behave. We put that knowledge at the core of Affinity Designer."
I guess they've stopped listening
All I'm asking for is some clear and transparent communication as to whats happening with these 3 features which have been requested from years ago... the need for them hasn't gone 
Guess I need to hit twitter to see if that will prompt a reply... or something... anything... give me a grain of insight, anything lol

If memory serves correctly (and I am probably wrong) Publisher was going to be released in 2015 as a beta and a finished product in 2016. Didn't happen.
 
As it is right now those three are not available. Your best bet is to work as though they will never be available. If there is a better tool handy then use that one.
A roadmap is not the terrain.

Something like this?
 
1. Draw a rectangle shape.
2. Add a mask and paint with rough brushes until you're satisfied with the edges.
3. Place a wrinkled paper image over and clip it to the rectangle shape and adjust the opacity to your liking. (see the layer setup below)
 
I used a little outer shadow on the rectangle shape for effect.
Trying to keep all such shapes as vector objects as long as possible gives you the option to scale it how ever you like without loosing any quality.
 
Here's a link to the wrinkled paper i used in this example
 
Cheers / Johny
 

 

Hey @Kaffeepause,
I've just added a little example Affinity Photo file (Papierabriss.afphoto). Just play with the different layers and you will get the idea. The vector calendar is just the base for the rasterized pixel calendars.
For the top and the bottom paper I've inverted the mask layer (⌘ i on a Mac).

Keep on drawin'
Norbert
Papierabriss.afphoto

Good to know that you found this already. Yes, it is just a workaround but the only thing we currently have.
 
They do not give this information in general, except for a view hints now and then that something is being actively developed.
There has been a (better several) long discussions about roadmaps. Currently there is no roadmap. It may be that this will change at a later time. Basically it has proven that wether they provide such information or they don't, people are always complaining, no matter what
Cheers,
d.