jmac

First I will say that I am very happy to see this software and impressed with what I have seen so far...with one exception. The lack of a complete user manual. I don't understand the idea among developers that their job begins and ends with the software and users will fumble and stumble and guess their way to a working knowledge of the program. Video tutorials are great and helpful. So is knowing I have a reference, provided by the developer, that explains what every tool, panel, and menu option is and what it does, as though the person reading it has never worked with this software before. This is especially true for a new software that hasn't been around long enough for authors to fill the void with How To books. From what I can see the information available under Affinity Photo Help is bare bones at best and some of the bones are missing. I spent a lot of time learning Illustrator and enough of Photoshop to do what I need and I am disgusted with Adobe's switch to subscription based software availability. So the discovery of Affinity Design and Photo is very exciting to me. Stumbling through video's and searching YouTube and Google for additional information to understand how to use your products...that is not so exciting.

Can you please kindly include subtitles into the video? I cannot hear as I am deaf, I have equal right right as much as anyone else since I have brought both apps.

Tutorials I dislike, regardless of the speed, are the ones with plenty of talking that you can't hear properly because of the 2000BPM techno music in the background!

I'm far from an expert with vectors, but when I watch most of the in-house vids at Affinity, I keep thinking to myself "I'm glad I already know what that term means", or "I'm glad I understand that the colour wheel effects 2 different parameters, depending on whether circle or donut is selected". 
 
There are a zillion small things that are perplexing until someone explains them to us. And unlike with Adobe products, there aren't shelves & shelves of books available at all levels. 
 
The problem is that videos are usually made by experts who are so immersed in the programs that they've lost all track of just how much complexity they've absorbed over the years. They can't even imagine what it's like to not know, for instance, what a stroke is.
 
I think the product could really benefit from Square One videos. Ideally, they should be made by someone whose field is teaching, and who has learned about vectors only recently!

First I will say that I am very happy to see this software and impressed with what I have seen so far...with one exception. The lack of a complete user manual. I don't understand the idea among developers that their job begins and ends with the software and users will fumble and stumble and guess their way to a working knowledge of the program. Video tutorials are great and helpful. So is knowing I have a reference, provided by the developer, that explains what every tool, panel, and menu option is and what it does, as though the person reading it has never worked with this software before. This is especially true for a new software that hasn't been around long enough for authors to fill the void with How To books. From what I can see the information available under Affinity Photo Help is bare bones at best and some of the bones are missing. I spent a lot of time learning Illustrator and enough of Photoshop to do what I need and I am disgusted with Adobe's switch to subscription based software availability. So the discovery of Affinity Design and Photo is very exciting to me. Stumbling through video's and searching YouTube and Google for additional information to understand how to use your products...that is not so exciting.

Looks like you're pretty close to me. That's nice work.

It seems to me that there is a separate, and possibly larger issue here. The fact that this is apparently a small company, with a dedicated but limited staff, working very hard to get two high quality products to market. They have had to push the Affinity Publisher beta release. It seems very counter productive to do a survey on the present demand for a product you may not even be able to start planning for maybe 2 years. Not to mention committing now, to a Linux version, and then having to listen to people complain about how long it is taking to release it. Nothing kills a company faster than taking on more they they can handle. It's easy from the outside to say "What about this feature? Why haven't you added the ability to do such and such? It's been a year a still nothing! This shouldn't be that hard!". We don't know the difficulties the developers face. The issues they are trying to resolve and those unforeseen they will have to handle. Nothing is impossible for those who don't have to do it. Not long ago neither of these apps existed and they are being expected to live up to programs that have been enhanced and redefined for 20 years. And now they should also take on Windows and Linux versions because clearly they don't have a well thought out business plan and are just making decisions on the fly. Come on. Cut them some slack.

Hello Mmillecamps,
 
I would suggest you buy both Designer and Photo if your budget allows. You will find as you learn more about working with scanned art that there are things you can do in Photo that would be easier and faster than in Designer and things you can do in Designer that are better suited to that program. And you can jump back and forth between the 2 applications so easily while working on the same file. Together they make a very good pair for creating the kind of illustration you describe.

It seems to me that there is a separate, and possibly larger issue here. The fact that this is apparently a small company, with a dedicated but limited staff, working very hard to get two high quality products to market. They have had to push the Affinity Publisher beta release. It seems very counter productive to do a survey on the present demand for a product you may not even be able to start planning for maybe 2 years. Not to mention committing now, to a Linux version, and then having to listen to people complain about how long it is taking to release it. Nothing kills a company faster than taking on more they they can handle. It's easy from the outside to say "What about this feature? Why haven't you added the ability to do such and such? It's been a year a still nothing! This shouldn't be that hard!". We don't know the difficulties the developers face. The issues they are trying to resolve and those unforeseen they will have to handle. Nothing is impossible for those who don't have to do it. Not long ago neither of these apps existed and they are being expected to live up to programs that have been enhanced and redefined for 20 years. And now they should also take on Windows and Linux versions because clearly they don't have a well thought out business plan and are just making decisions on the fly. Come on. Cut them some slack.

I noticed in Affinity Photo 1.4, the preferences pane changed a lot.
 
I track all my custom preferences on my site here in case of meltdown and to share with others:
http://manuals.gravitydept.com/workspace/mac-apps/affinity-photo
 
When exporting or resizing the canvas, I was never sure which resampling method to use. It seems odd that the one which produces the worst quality (but is fastest) is the default. I finally decided to lookup and document what they all do. They all seem fast enough to me, so I always want the one with the best quality.
 
I think it'd be nice to set the resampling mode as a user preference so I don't have to remember to switch it every time I export.

Might come in handy. Thanks Will!

I really think implementing so many variations for the inpainting tool would be very complex. Unless I am completing misunderstanding it is the area of the photo surrounding the object to be removed that is important, not the object itself. Removing a post in a thicket of leaves is entirely different than removing one against a grassy field. There are other tools designed to be used in conjunction with inpainting to clean up difficult, complex areas. And sometimes you just have to use a paint brush and do it manually.

barninga, I didn't mean to imply a deficiency in the inpainting tool. Like you I have been amazed at what is possible considering the task being performed. I just meant that there are certain kinds of things that can't be replaced with just that tool. And a lot has to do with the surrounding area as well as the portion being replaced. When you see what it can do in one circumstance it's easy to expect that level of "magic" all the time and that is probably not a realistic expectation.

First I will say that I am very happy to see this software and impressed with what I have seen so far...with one exception. The lack of a complete user manual. I don't understand the idea among developers that their job begins and ends with the software and users will fumble and stumble and guess their way to a working knowledge of the program. Video tutorials are great and helpful. So is knowing I have a reference, provided by the developer, that explains what every tool, panel, and menu option is and what it does, as though the person reading it has never worked with this software before. This is especially true for a new software that hasn't been around long enough for authors to fill the void with How To books. From what I can see the information available under Affinity Photo Help is bare bones at best and some of the bones are missing. I spent a lot of time learning Illustrator and enough of Photoshop to do what I need and I am disgusted with Adobe's switch to subscription based software availability. So the discovery of Affinity Design and Photo is very exciting to me. Stumbling through video's and searching YouTube and Google for additional information to understand how to use your products...that is not so exciting.

First I will say that I am very happy to see this software and impressed with what I have seen so far...with one exception. The lack of a complete user manual. I don't understand the idea among developers that their job begins and ends with the software and users will fumble and stumble and guess their way to a working knowledge of the program. Video tutorials are great and helpful. So is knowing I have a reference, provided by the developer, that explains what every tool, panel, and menu option is and what it does, as though the person reading it has never worked with this software before. This is especially true for a new software that hasn't been around long enough for authors to fill the void with How To books. From what I can see the information available under Affinity Photo Help is bare bones at best and some of the bones are missing. I spent a lot of time learning Illustrator and enough of Photoshop to do what I need and I am disgusted with Adobe's switch to subscription based software availability. So the discovery of Affinity Design and Photo is very exciting to me. Stumbling through video's and searching YouTube and Google for additional information to understand how to use your products...that is not so exciting.

I am guessing here but I would be surprised if the .CDR file type is not owned exclusively by Corel or who ever it is that makes Corel. Affinity Designer cannot open native .ai files that do not have a pdf component and since .cdr files do not contain a .pdf file, Designer cannot open them either. Which is likely the reason "new vector graphic programs "ignore"" .cdr files.

First I will say that I am very happy to see this software and impressed with what I have seen so far...with one exception. The lack of a complete user manual. I don't understand the idea among developers that their job begins and ends with the software and users will fumble and stumble and guess their way to a working knowledge of the program. Video tutorials are great and helpful. So is knowing I have a reference, provided by the developer, that explains what every tool, panel, and menu option is and what it does, as though the person reading it has never worked with this software before. This is especially true for a new software that hasn't been around long enough for authors to fill the void with How To books. From what I can see the information available under Affinity Photo Help is bare bones at best and some of the bones are missing. I spent a lot of time learning Illustrator and enough of Photoshop to do what I need and I am disgusted with Adobe's switch to subscription based software availability. So the discovery of Affinity Design and Photo is very exciting to me. Stumbling through video's and searching YouTube and Google for additional information to understand how to use your products...that is not so exciting.

For those who use tracing occasionally or who have a case where your usual tool isn't producing the results you need, VectorMagic is available to use online. You purchase token packs, in groups of five, at a reasonable cost. You get 2 free tokens just for signing up. Or you can pay $7.95 per month if you need traces more often. The on line service is more limited in terms of output formats but then again, it doesn't cost $300.00. I have not yet used VectorMagic but their results on the website site look impressive. Until AD has a tracing feature this might be an alternative for those not happy with their current tool.

I really hope it is more than "likely" the ability to align text vertically and horizontally will be added to Designer. It's a graphic design software. Full control over text alignment is essential to graphic design. Please do not let this be one of the "features" that distinguish Publisher from Designer.

First I will say that I am very happy to see this software and impressed with what I have seen so far...with one exception. The lack of a complete user manual. I don't understand the idea among developers that their job begins and ends with the software and users will fumble and stumble and guess their way to a working knowledge of the program. Video tutorials are great and helpful. So is knowing I have a reference, provided by the developer, that explains what every tool, panel, and menu option is and what it does, as though the person reading it has never worked with this software before. This is especially true for a new software that hasn't been around long enough for authors to fill the void with How To books. From what I can see the information available under Affinity Photo Help is bare bones at best and some of the bones are missing. I spent a lot of time learning Illustrator and enough of Photoshop to do what I need and I am disgusted with Adobe's switch to subscription based software availability. So the discovery of Affinity Design and Photo is very exciting to me. Stumbling through video's and searching YouTube and Google for additional information to understand how to use your products...that is not so exciting.

What is D&B? Dun & Breadstreet? I hate abbreviations, because they render the search functions in forums totally useless...

It will arrive, but in the mean time there is a trick to obtain a very similar effect.
You have to think in "grayscale"  ;)
Create a 512x512px light gray (75%) square as Texture Create a 1024px file for the nozzle shape, using a a similar level of gray for its fill, but add some noise. Make a new intensity brush using this nozzle and apply texture to nozzle Give a flow of 6-8% , linear Jitter to 100% and set spacing to 2% Your base is done, now set Wet Edges On and you're done.
Do not use all available pen pressure (to keep wet edges modulation low).
 

 
 
Ok, I know it is not an Opacity Jitter but the final result pretty similar.
Hope this will help you.

I'm with estavancarlos in regard to the color picker/swatches panel. in comparison to other features in Designer and Photo that are elegantly and smartly done, this area in both programs seems oddly out of step. Instead of elegant, awkward and cumbersome come more to mind. I hope this is an area that will receive some attention in the future.

In my opinion, the next round of updates should focus on color management. The color picker user experience is awkward. Requires multiple steps.

Another nice tutorial Allan. Thank you.