justwilliam

Hi billbir, If you have used Aperture and Intensify without any major difficulties then Affinity Photo will not be a big jump for you to learn to use; rather it will be a big step up for you. Obviously, there will be many features, concepts, and even terminology that may be new to you but even with all of Affinity Photo's capability and 'complexity' it is in no way 'complicated'. The videos provided by Affinity are easy to follow, plentiful, and will have you up and running editing, compositing, and even manipulating, your photos in ways you haven't imagined. Did you know intuitively how to paint with watercolour before you bought your first brushes and paints? Or were you merely motivated by a desire to paint and learned through doing? Teeter no longer! I have all but metaphysical certitude that you will be ecstatic that you took this step. IMHO. :)

I hope someone can help me out with this! I love my MacBook Pro, but it's 6 years old now, and will need to be replaced as soon as possible. I've decided I need a larger screen, and have no use for the portability of a laptop anymore, so I want to go back to a desktop Mac. I've been glimpsing around here and there that the current iMac is perfectly fine for graphic design and illustration. Is that true? Does anyone else run your Affinity programs on an iMac? If so, what are your specs? Is there any lag at all? Beach balls? Even the slightest weakness, please post about here! Affinity Designer works fine on this old MBP, but of course, it's getting slower and slower, and I start losing the ability to drag layers around when things start getting too layer-heavy in a file. I really need some good advice from every day users on this, as I don't really trust the wonderful intentions of anyone being paid by Apple to tell me what will work best, and I haven't really been able to find any forum topics discussing this anywhere else. I'd love to hear from you guys on the Affinity development team! What would you recommend? I'm a professional illustrator, but I work freelance, so investing in something like a Mac Pro or any other super industrial strength Mac is way outside my range. If an iMac will do the trick, I'd love to know exactly which specs you'd recommend for optimum speed! Sounds like, as long as I pick the right model, everything I need will be onboard for doing illustration work. I just need to know which! Thanks so much in advance for any help! Budget is DEFINITELY a concern!! Patchwork, I did read that budget was definitely a concern for you, but nowhere did I see exactly what your budget was - so I’ll tell you how I worked through the same issue. I had a 2010 iMac with an i3 and 256 Mb graphics memory which was no longer up to the tasks of Aperture, Pixelmator, and Perfect Photo Suite 7.5. It was quite slow and more than a few layers in pixelmator or more than a few effects in PPS caused a crash - likely not enough Graphics memory (and the i3 might share some blame). So I decided upon a new imac with 1 GB of graphics memory and an i5 or i7. But when I priced it out I saw that I could get a 27 with those specs for about the same price (even though I have never been attracted to the 27” screen). I have for some time been a ‘preferred customer” at the place where I buy stuff which means I was supposed to get a 15% discount on the purchase of a new machine; but when I finally had decided and went in they told me they no longer had that offer! So I bought nothing and went to another place to make my purchase. After telling this tale of woe to the manager at this other store he offered me a 27” 5K riMac with the i7, fusion drive, and 4 Gb graphics card for the same price as the 27” I had planned to buy at the first place - the equivalent of about 2500 USD. I took it. I have had quite a few macs since 1986 but this one still amazes me! (I got it last December) I can happily say that I have put Pixelmator and PPS behind me now and have yet to see a beachball in AD or AP on the machine which I have now. OK, I hear you, 2500 is a lot of money for an iMac. But it is not. A 15” rMacbookPro with an i7 and an ssd will set one back about 2400. As will a non-retina 27” iMac with top specs. Even the 21.5” riMac with fusion drive, i7, 16 Gb memory, and the lowly integrated graphics will cost about 2000. (And you would not be pleased with the integrated graphics for long) So here is why it is not a lot of money. You had your last Macbook for 6 years. If we say one has the new one for 5 years then the riMac I have costs 500 a year and the 21.5” riMac costs 400 per year. This is excluding the money you get when you sell it before buying a new one (which would be much more for the 5K than for the 4K; if you could find anyone to buy a 5 year old 21.5” with integrated graphics 5 years from now). So I am guessing they actually cost the same. I would never recommend someone buy a mac that meets their needs today. It wouldn’t meet your needs in one or two years. But a top spec one should get you through for 4 - 6 years (buy Apple Care). So, in the end doing so actually saves money. If you cannot afford a top spec machine right now, then wait until you can. If you cannot wait, then do something to make that money appear. What you do not want to do is spend very nearly the same amount of money on something that is not what you need and will not last. That costs about double because you will find yourself in a very similar situation in about 18- 24 months when you are buying again. Had I bought a high spec machine in 2010 I would have got another two years out of the machine - for an additional cost of only about 400 compared to the 2600 I shelled out recently. There are those who say to get the basic iMac and trade up every two years to keep your hardware in step with the ever-increasing demands of software - that is a fools game and will cost a lot more than what I have proposed. You are likely always going to have a computer and it is just as likely that you will always have a mac and that is why I am presenting it to you as an annual business cost rather than a purchase. I did not intend for this to be such a long reply (I apologise) but I would not like to see someone who is planning on using the mac as a tool for their job (you work freelance) wasting money when what they are trying to do is earn money. This is just my opinion about what to do but I hope you consider it before making a decision or purchase.

Knight_of_Newbury, You could take a look at this tutorial specifically part 6.2; it may clear up some of your confusion. https://webdesign.tutsplus.com/courses/affinity-designer-quick-start

:) YES! :huh: You're not pulling my leg are you? :o I can't believe it! ^_^ I sure hope you're not pulling my leg. :D This is fantastic! :wub: I love these Affinity guys! :rolleyes: Is it 2016 soon?

I did in fact go through this whole course and wanted to share my thoughts regarding it. I will start by mentioning the author’s name here, Kezz Bracey, as zeebaf somehow neglected to do so when posting the link. I do not know that she will ever read this but want to send out a thank you in the event that she does. “Affinity Designer Quick Start” and was just what it said on the tin - a ‘quick start’ guide; but it was in fact a very comprehensive ‘quick start’. It was well organised from the very start and each subsequent ‘lesson’ built upon the previous. Each lesson was brief yet included all of the necessary information for each tool or task. Ms. Bracey began each part by explaining what could be learned in that part and proceeded to show by example how to use the tool or accomplish the task at hand. As I mentioned, this was a very ‘comprehensive’ quick start and after completion of this course anyone new to Affinity Designer will come away fully armed with a knowledge of the tools and prepared to begin creating. The lessons were presented in such a manner as to be neither too slow nor too fast and should not require the need for anyone to view a lesson more than once to understand the tools (but perhaps some may want to review a lesson if they had any difficulty with a specific concept such as ‘clipping’ or ‘masking’ - which obviously may be quite new for someone who has never been exposed to any type of design or editing concepts). I also felt a certain increase in my level of enthusiasm after each lesson - and I already knew almost everything contained therein; I think that others will feel the same. All in all I found this not only to be a quite complete introduction to Affinity Designer but also more than enough for most people to jump in and start creating. In her ‘wrap-up’ the author promised follow-up courses in Affinity Designer and in Affinity Photo. This was my first experience with tutsplus, and this author, but I will be checking back regularly to see what she has to offer next! I felt it rather unfortunate that I found no way to comment about this course directly on the webpage on which it was presented to give feedback to the author. For anyone new to Affinity Designer this course would serve well as a starting point and compliment the wonderful videos provided by Affinity which can then help them to rapidly progress even farther. I highly recommend it and look forward to what else she has to offer.

Thank you for the suggestion, Madame; but this is the same function which I had previously tried and of which Alex pointed out the unacceptable side-effects - only he showed it from the Character Panel whereas you show it from the Transform panel. But it was very kind of you to offer a helpful suggestion. :) I have used Pixelmator previously for photos, and a long time ago they had a 'perspective' tool and that was what I had hoped to find in AD without success. The 'Shear' function in AD works ok on the rectilinear portions of the text, or well enough at least, but it causes some unwanted anomalies on curves, arcs, or bends. I think what Alex suggested that one should find "appropriately slanted fonts or even draw them yourself" would be the best solution for me. I have only once downloaded a font (and it was free) but one hears horror stories of corrupt fonts possibly causing system-wide issues and I am not competent enough to diagnose or fix such issues - i.e., I'm a scaredy-cat when it comes to that sort of thing. :blink: So, I have been reworking these designs by choosing from the fonts which I have, converting the text to curves, and then attempting to adjust them to my liking; but, so far, not as successfully as I would like. :mellow:

Enrique, Perhaps the iBooks format’s possibilities for ‘interactivity’ are one of its strongest suits; not only for video (screen recordings?) and slideshow (small series of perhaps 3-7 images showing progression of a specific stage in design?) embedding, but also in the layout and tools available. For one example, many newbies (myself included) were faced with an enormous number of terms which are quite new to them and Apple’s built- in ‘define’ tool can come in handy or you could provide links in the text so that clicking on a term takes you to a glossary which you have created just for each volume. This way no one needs to learn each and every term but has the ability to learn those which are relevant to the lesson at hand. You can also provide ‘links’ to the ‘extras’ available on your website (specialty brushes, palettes, styles, fonts, etc., which you have on offer). You would be able to promote another volume of your ‘collection’ right in the text of the volume currently being used; i.e., “to learn more about facial expressions, download Volume 4: Facial Expressions”, if you see what I mean. Altruistically speaking, the iBook format would allow you to help a huge number of people along the way to learning both Character Design and (by default) Affinity Designer (without the usual associated high cost). Financially speaking, the iBook format also provides you vast marketing potential. Hopefully you will find a balance between that of honestly helping people to learn Character Design for a fair and reasonable price and that of creating an income source for you that is enjoyable for you. I have a small book on photography which I have been working on for a couple of years that is nearly complete and two follow-up books with more advanced information which are nowhere near complete. When Volumes 2 and 3 are nearer to readiness I have already planned to offer the first volume as a free iBook and then wait to see what reaction it gets before offering the other two (at a price point of about €2.99 - €4.99). I started this process more as a challenge for myself and since I learned all that which I know through the kind help and example of others (and some through ‘happy accidents’) I want to give away the bulk of my work for free. In effect, holding back, and charging for, some more advanced tips and techniques for the subsequent volumes is just something which I feel will provide a way for anyone who felt helped by the first free volume to make an ‘after the fact donation’ for it. Silly me. I assume that you asked your last question (in your post script) to the forum at large. My answer would be the obvious one: “developing one’s own style”. Most of what any of us has learned in life we have learned through imitation (language, for example); a small part we have added to this through some ‘eureka!’ moments here and there. So, creating variety or expressions we can easily learn from another; but to develop our own style is something that but few achieve. Musical or comedic improvisation is not at all ‘improvisation’ but rather it is calling upon what one already has and adapting it to a new situation. Eminem, BB King, Prince, Robin Williams, Beethoven, Maxfield Parrish, Van Gogh, Bob Dylan, etc. developed their own style - was that something that they learned? However the more differing styles that we each see and learn the more likely we each are to have those ‘Eureka!’ moments and, possibly, develop our own unique style. (Peter provided you with a very abbreviated list of some of the very people who have done so who also happen to be on this very forum.)

warwick, As you have openly invited criticism and already recieved a bit, I thought I might add some of my own (take it for what it is worth and, btw, I am not one of the more 'lovely' people here :rolleyes: ) As a reader of both 'Creepy' and 'Eerie' magazines in my youth, I am a fan of this type of illustrative art for just such a use as yours. What I see in this work is exemplary of that period even down to the colours chosen. The same is true of the chosen fonts, although I do agree with what has been already said regarding the number and disparity of the fonts and that three fonts is one too many. Perhaps were the text 'Strange Ingredients' made slightly smaller and moved to the left to allow for the 'Five Horror Stories' text to be positioned to the right of it using these same two fonts (but perhaps even matching the colour and even 'boxing' it in on its own) it could eliminate any 'busy' feeling with the text. Such a box was used at times for the publishing house's logo or name. But that is just an idea to ponder and may not be effectual or to your tastes. I do not, however, see any problem with the black line (and solid colour as opposed to the texture in the main art) separating the title from the art; in fact, such a 'device' was often used in the pulp fiction genre. As I said, I think that the colours are perfect for this type of book cover illustration and for that 'retro', early '70s period, 'cheap paperback' (if you will excuse the term) feel, but I felt very distracted by the 'apparent' highlight in the red area above and to the left of the head; it drew my attention to that spot repeatedly which is not something I would imagine that you intended. Perhaps the author's name could be positioned to fit on the left shoulder of the figure with only the skin as its background if its current position is not required by the publisher or something. This could also alleviate any tension between the texts while at the same time highlight the author's name even more. The red colour and the 'cracks' seen in the artwork at the top could also 'cross over' into the area where you have the title if you do decide to eliminate the black 'border' line; this was also a widely used 'style' or 'effect' in pulp fiction book covers. These are merely my humble opinions and they may find no one in agreement with them, but I thought I might share them with you. That being said, I think it appears quite professionally done and remains a wonderful cover for a book of horror stories - it entices me to want to read them. (Here is what I meant regarding 'a box of its own' in fitting with this genre; albeit in a very, very quick and dirty fashion:)

Thanks dragonhh! :D I stumbled upon these videos from Arcada Club previously and was pleased to take what I could from them (I was also quite please to find that all of the German from school had not been totally erased from my mind through these many years). I would recommend to anyone new to Affinity Designer, most especially those completely new to design and illustration, that they spend the time to view these videos. Those who choose not to do so will miss out on a fantastic online tool available which is shown in part 21! @ ronniemcbride - Hopefully that was a typo and what you meant to say was that your German “stinks”; otherwise someone who is close to you should pay you a visit and wash your mouth out with the oldest version of Kai’s Photo Soap for Windows that they can lay their hands on! :o :rolleyes:

I watched the free previews and felt that they were fairly clear to the extent that I signed up to view the entire course. As time allows I will go through the 1.9 hours of video. If I develop any positive or negative opinion other than average regarding the course as a whole I may post them here. As a 'newb' to any design or illustration software whatsoever before I purchased Affinity Designer (and Photo), I can say that I have learned everything that I know thus far by watching Affinity's own videos, participating in the forum, all of the the answers, tips, techniques, and tutorials provided by helpful other forum members, and of course lots of good old-fashioned, hands-on trying to put into practice everything that I learned as soon and often as possible. I can highly recommend that method to any other 'newbs'. Although we may not all learn in the exactly same manner, if we make use of every teaching aid available then each of us is capable of learning quickly - and enjoying the process.

ikarvs, As you mentioned in your original post that you were undecided on the format(s) for this project, I thought that I might suggest the iBook format for a number of reasons: Those who want to learn Affinity Designer (and even Affinity Photo and the hopefully relatively soon to be Affinity Publisher) are all already using a mac. The iBooks format easily allows for imbedded video and 'slide-show' type of content. The iBooks format allows for you to push updates to your content whenever tools and techniques happen to change in Affinity Designer. The iBooks format would allow for a 'basic' version to be offered free and additional 'books' can be offered which cover further techniques, tools, and topics more in-depth; an iBook which consolidates all of you presently offered iBooks (and future updates) could be offered at a discounted price over the cost of purchasing the books individually. It could work something like below but with your breakdown of volume content, of course: "Learn Affinity Designer" - FREE "Learn Affinity Designer - The Pen and Node Tools: Advanced" - €3.99 "Learn Affinity Designer - Boolean Operations: Advanced" - €2.99 "Learn Affinity Designer - Gradients: Advanced" - €2.99 "Learn Affinity Designer - Brushes and Styles: Advanced Use and creation" - €4.99 "Etc., Ad Infinitum" "Learn Affinity Designer - The Complete collection" - € (priced at something like (Total number of ibooks - 1) * 0.65)). As you create new content for individual books the consumer can delete their present version and download the newer. If the 'Complete Collection' version was done as a whole then the same would apply for it. I am sure there are other advantages to the iBooks format which could benefit both you as the content creator and the content consumers. Likewise there may be some disadvantage to this format which I am unaware. But, if the consumer finds the content useful, clearly presented, reasonably priced, and (to some extent) entertaining in the first free 'book', then you could be on to a winner. Looking at the two files you provided has piqued my interest and I would certainly download the first free book - whether I or anyone else would pay for more from the rest would obviously depend only upon your creativity, talent and teaching method. :rolleyes:

MEB and Bond, Does it make a difference which App (Mail or Designer) is the first to be resized?

alt+ctrl+click/drag left-right for brush size up-down for hardness Thanks goes to Madame for this tip. :)

Going to run downstairs and download it to my iPad immediately! (OK, I'm too old and out of shape to 'run' downstairs, but I will make my way down in the quickest manner possible just in case the link is taken down for some reason [i hope not]). Thanks jeffkovitz!

You just can't help but love a sunset; each one is different yet each one is perfect! :)

I am working on some preliminary designs for a coffee cup and a T-shirt or hoodie graphic for my beloved wife which relate to her beloved little summer car. (There is no actual 'club' or if there is then she is the only member!) I will likely look online to see if I can find more appropriate fonts before I can start to complete these, but I have a question regarding how I can 'transform' the font. In the first of the attached files (the Black, Red, and Yellow one) I could not find a way to make the letters 'lean' in the way that I had wanted; I succeeded in getting the larger four-letter text in that graphic to lean but only by actually drawing them but I was hoping that one could simply add text with the Text Tool and then 'transform' it somehow. (I wanted the other two words to lean in much the same manner as the four-letter text.) Is this not possible or was I merely not clever enough to find my way to the right tool? BTW the Blue and White one is for a T-shirt or hoodie and the other is for a coffee cup for her - she really loves her new Lada! :rolleyes: I thought to put this in the Share Your Work topic but, as this question was the main reason for posting, I put it here; that being said, I am certainly always open for suggestions and criticism on the current state of my somewhat primitive efforts.

Watching your latest video has quickly become a traditional Saturday activity! Well done as always and I hope you continue. :)

Can one simply create a 'style' that does nothing and then if you want to 'undo' a style which you have applied much earlier on in the project you could select that layer and apply the 'empty' style. I have not tried or tested this, but it sounds as if it might work.

I like it - I like it a lot! The birds add a sense of motion to this surreal scene. Have you tried adding some motion in the water in his 'previous' footsteps?

Very well done - again! Concisely shows and explains one, and only one, action clearly. Keep 'em coming! Do we get another one next Saturday? :rolleyes:

Monsieur Devaux, A partir de la photo que vous aviez posté , je utilisé le filtre de fréquence de séparation et ensuite utilisé la brosse de guérison sur la couche basse fréquence ( les paramètres par défaut ) et puis je appliqué un flou gaussien à la couche de haute fréquence . Les résultats ont été assez que je pense que bon si vous essayez ceci sur l'image originale que vous pourriez avoir des résultats acceptables . Si vous suivez avec l'outil de denoise il devrait être encore mieux. (Je ne peux pas parler français , de sorte que vous à blâmer Google Traduction pour les erreurs malheureuses dans ce poste . :rolleyes: )

Well done! It made me all tingly. :D

I've marked my calendar! :)

Aha! I never knew this. Thank you for pointing that out to me (I always like to learn to find my way around the program more and more). I just tried it. But it is still two extra clicks to get what the rounded rectangle tool gives me from the beginning. I understand that I will have no influence on the developers if this is something that a large number of users want to get rid of, but I only wanted there to be at least one voice against what I feel is not the best move regarding this tool. I suppose that I have accomplished that goal. I'll be quiet now. Thanks again, Dave, for the tip. :)

Quite true, but at the cost of extra steps. I have never tracked my usage as such, but I would be willing to guess that I, personally, use the rounded-rectangle more that the rectangle tool for my needs. I rather like merely pressing m to get to the round-rectangle tool and then click-dragging out my rounded rectangles as opposed to click-dragging a rectangle and then pressing c to get the corner tool and then dragging the corners. Plus I have the added benefit of a small red dot in the event that I want to change that rounded corner and ALL corners at once - something which I do not get with the rectangle/corner tool method. Whether that should be termed a matter of taste or a matter convenience I will leave for someone else to decide - but I can unequivocally state that I prefer the faster, easier, simpler method in this particular instance. Perhaps I could suggest that there be only one tool for rectangles - rounded ones - and that there be created a set of steps to go through each time for those who wish to have it converted into a 'regular' rectangle. Certainly everyone here would be all for that! :rolleyes: