dangerman2000

@loukash - Thanks for those links - it looks like Crop is a hot button and there is awareness of it. For trim, in Photoshop, there is a menu item where when selected it trims the canvas to fit your image (it uses the top left pixel color, or bottom right color as a basis). For me, this is super handy in managing images for the web where you trim, compress and save it off. You can do it all without touching the mouse. I may be an old dog and need to dive deeper into the use of artboards, but they seem like an additional canvas to define when you just want to quickly optimize an image. @NotMyFault - That is a great trick using Quick Mask! Clever.... Proof that there is more than one way to skin a cat! Thanks!

@jaedee - Thanks for that, I've never thought to move/transform a selection, other than with a nudge. That gets close, it's definitely not as elegant or seamless, but does get the job done in a few extra steps. There are a few of these seemingly minor things that Affinity products have which prevent me from fully making a switch. Great products though. Ex. the lack of a trim feature comes to mind, (I'm sure there is a 5 step workaround), and being able to crop a canvas on Aff.Designer. Grrr. Thanks.

Hi - This is a simple usability enhancement that the lack of it drives me bonkers in Affinity products... In most other design products when you are creating a selection (marching ants) or drawing an object (circle, square, etc), you can reposition the selection/object by holding down the space bar and moving your mouse. It is almost as fundamental as copy/paste. The mac supports this in screen capture: 1) Press Cmd+Shift+4 to enter screenshot mode.... 2) Now drag a selection 3) Now hold down shift and watch it more. This interaction is really important when trying to select a circle with a circle. It applies to all affinity products. Please like or thumbs up if you feel that this should be added to the enhancements list!!!

Ah.... got it! Thanks!

Yes. That would be great. It's not a major game changer, but it just seems like it was over-looked at some point.

Problem: Like many on this board, I am a gradient aficionado. Maybe I'm just a man in transition, but many design sites dedicated to gradients only provide hex values for you to copy and paste. This proves to be a bit of a quagmire and requires some gymnastics with Affinity designer. You now need to do a screen capture, shrink it down and try to sample an edge. I don't have AF-Photo, so this may be an issue there too. Request: It would be splendid if the color picker off the gradient menu and gradient map included an input to display and paste in a hex value. Below is the current menu and

Hello - This has been mentioned on a number of posts. I would like to formally and informally request the great AD developers to consider connectors, magnetic lines, whatever you want to call it. As you know, the purpose of these lines is to support making flow diagrams and make moving objects with lines easier. Similar to visio, omni-graffle, and creately.com/ This would be a giant quiver in the AD toolbox for UX designers. If it could be made flexible enough to apply to other objects besides lines, it could conceivably support the idea of "bones" ... which could be great for animations etc. This may be a different feature though. If you support this idea, please consider liking it. Thanks!

... Nevermind. I discovered the Export Options are not global options but you have to define per slice. Grrrr.... Makes sense though.

Hi can someone explain how to export slices to SVG? Here is what I am trying: I have a bunch of slices > I go to Export Options panel and select SVG (for web) > Then I select all my slices (checkboxes) and press the button called "Export Selected" ... it then generates a bunch of .png files. What am I missing? Thanks for your help. I'm using AD 1.4.2.

I love AD, but find cropping and dealing with the canvas size terribly frustrating in it. For the most part, everything in AD is very fluid.... but to crop the canvas, I haven't been able to figure it out. I believe the only way to do it is to open the Document Setup window and type numbers in boxes and repeat until you get the crop just right. If there is another way to do it besides using the Export Persona, I would love not to have to do all my cropping in PhotoShop and then import into AD just to size the canvas right. Is there a way to crop the canvas using a tool? Trim functionality is definitely part of making cropping simple and easy. I would love to see this on the roadmap... it's not a differentiator, but it seems like a "table stakes" item.

... just to pile on to this, since AD programmers tend to make things more awesome than what we expect... Enhancement: You could also throw in the ability for line segments (with/without arrowheads) able to be attached to other objects... a la Visio/Power Point for use in making diagrams / wireframes / flows etc. Last I checked AI, FW, etc. did not have this.

AD: Group then Rasterize = PS: Flatten selection/CMD+E

Did this get implemented yet? I can't find it.

The spacebar modifier also does not work that allows you to move the selection. These are all important items that help you work in flow without thinking about the tool.

The plethora of shapes in Affinity designer is simply splendid. If the programmer is looking for more shapes to code, tell her to consider the coveted "L" shape. It is useful for drawing arrow heads, Tetris blocks, and to create the word LoLLipop. I have attached an image of the Firework rendition of the same tool. The AD programmer will undoubtedly figure out how to improve on it by including rounded corners, etc. Keep up the stupendous work.

Go to menu: Affinity Designer > Preferences > User Interface .... you can adjust the tool UI and font size in there. I think there is improvement to be made on the contrast on which tool is selected and I never can figure out which tab is selected either.

The Slice Selection tool needs this as well. Slicing/Export persona is painful, this would ease some of the alignment pain.

Kudos on the great app. This is a fairly basic ease of use suggestion... When you are dragging a selection box/circle or dragging out a shape, it'd be splendid if holding down the spacebar would move the selection/object. This makes it easy to get an exact selection... or enables you to size and position in one simple move saving a lot of futzing and keeping you in flow. This interaction can be found while taking a native screenshot on your mac (shift+cmd+4+drag... + hold spacebar) or on all the other drawing apps made by the company named after dirt bricks.... and Affinity is better than dirt bricks' products.

Super-duper. Thanks.

Context: I make assets for the web and mobile apps. I do not make my assets on a giant artboard. When you have a ton of images performance suffers, layers get janky, and all your eggs are in the one file. Slicing is time consuming. I want a single file that I can just export and be done. My A.D. usage = 60% of my work; PS + FW + AI = 40% - I'd love to be 100% A.D. because they've done a great job with it and I love it. Need: I want to be able set the canvas size with ease. To do this the A.D. needs the following... Request Visual crop tool - There is currently no way to crop that I could find other than to adjust the numbers... this is too hard. Trim Command - I could not find this one either. Auto-canvas size based on clipboard - Canvas size should look at clipboard and default to that size (cmd+n ... return ... cmd+v ... and I'm editing in PhotoShop) If you agree that this should be on the roadmap, like the post.. if not what am I missing? Thanks and keep up the great work!!!

I think the current ones look good. I am not opposed to change, but the proposed icons do not feel special. The gradient, geometric shapes, and colors have an 80's feel to them, which is awesome if you are going for a retro app. You will be tired of the new icons in 3 months time. I would encourage more explorations or open it up to your customers in a 99designs style competition.

Agreed... especially with the canvas size / crop etc. The canvas is a bit frustrating in AD, I would love not to have to visit the export persona and set up a slice in order to export a given size. Cropping should re-size the document. This would change my workflow for the better. Another simple one that would make AD smooth like butter is: Spacebar+drag moves/repositions the selection / artwork - This is just a common interaction found in native Apple screenshot application as well as other design apps. Basically, when you are drawing a rectangle or dragging a marquee, if you hold down the spacebar it should stop resizing and now move the object on the screen.

Hokusai - Thank you for your response. The issue is that I have over 75 .afdesign files, by requiring me to export everything as a PDF, PNG, JPG or other open format, it doubles the numbers of files that I have to manage; ensuring everything stays in sync becomes a headache.

Context: I would like to invite other people in my organization to my shared design folder. All my files are .afdesign and they cannot view them without buying the software. Proposal: Create a simple free viewer so that others could view my work without me doing extra "export/save as" work and managing multiple copies and updates of the same artwork. Requirements: - .afdesign file preview - Pan - Zoom This could be mac only. Some of this may already be written. If you have AD installed and click on a .afdesign file, it gives a preview in the file viewer. Aside: Adobe's Fireworks saved as an editable .PNG and this made it so easy to share work while maintaining editability. This is not proposing a change in file format, but that would be even better because everything supports .png.

Indeed. This is so handy on shapes, selecting with the marque, and potentially cropping (I don't know if they support cropping yet... I haven't found it at least).