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Herbert123

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  1. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from garrettm30 in CDR Import   
    InkScape supports CDR files, and will import CorelDraw files - up to a point. More complex artwork with clipped areas and gradients are not very well supported at all. Still, if you have a lot of black-and-white clipart in CDR format, and no access to CorelDraw, InkScape may be used to convert simpler CDR files to SVG, and then imported into Affinity.
     
    I agree with Top Cat: proprietary native file formats will always present issues. It is just not possible (without an extraordinary amount of time and effort) to achieve perfect imports. Even SVG (an open standard!) import still is problematic at times in most applications. It is unrealistic to expect perfect imports from formats such as PSD, CDR, AI, InDesign, and so on.
  2. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from chessboard in CDR Import   
    InkScape supports CDR files, and will import CorelDraw files - up to a point. More complex artwork with clipped areas and gradients are not very well supported at all. Still, if you have a lot of black-and-white clipart in CDR format, and no access to CorelDraw, InkScape may be used to convert simpler CDR files to SVG, and then imported into Affinity.
     
    I agree with Top Cat: proprietary native file formats will always present issues. It is just not possible (without an extraordinary amount of time and effort) to achieve perfect imports. Even SVG (an open standard!) import still is problematic at times in most applications. It is unrealistic to expect perfect imports from formats such as PSD, CDR, AI, InDesign, and so on.
  3. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from Markio in Corner fitting for dashes   
    As far as I am able to ascertain, Designer lacks an option to fit a dashed stroke to the corners, which automatically adjusts when the object is resized. It would be an extremely useful feature to have.
     
    Like this:
     

  4. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from pottering in [AD] Isolation Mode   
    I understand that. I am providing an alternative viewpoint that not all designers are in love with Illustrator's isolation mode. I am not the only one - visit Adobe forums, and a quick search will result in questions from users how they can turn off isolation mode.
     
    And I am not inherently opposed to an isolation mode - merely the way it is implemented in Illustrator. I do like opening a symbol or smart object in its own window when working on complex art and layouts. Having the rest of your design faded out - no, thank you.
     
     
    Various reasons. Under pressure from a deadline, and complex artwork tends to become laggy to work with. A secondary click may be interpreted as a double-click under circumstances. Besides, double-clicking is 1) frustrating when the user works with a Wacom, and 2) to be avoided in relation to repetitive strain injury. Third, if alternative methods exist, we ought to explore those as well, and see if we may improve on the Illustrator working methods.
     
     
    Ah, my mistake. It was late when I wrote that line. I meant that in that other application I can either hold down a modifier key or switch selection mode, and a single-click selects any object in a group or sub-group. No need for double-clicking at all to work with groups and sub-groups.
     
    Also, in that other application I can easily select objects 10 levels deep with one click. Then select another object in another group anywhere in the canvas with one click. Selecting is dependent on a mode switch - which means I can drag a selection marquee around objects within the active group that I am working in without accidentally selecting other objects or groups.
     
    ...
    The reason for my counter posting is really only to start up a discussion to explore alternative workflows to solve these workflow issues in Affinity Designer. I and others do NOT like the isolation mode as it is currently implemented in Illustrator. Double-clicking as a common GUI action has its drawbacks as well.
     
    So, let's explore various options, I say. Let's not be bound by what is standard in Illustrator, and perhaps we can discover a method of selecting, and working with, objects in groups that is an improvement over what Illustrator offers - because I feel Illustrator's workflow is a pain in the neck.
  5. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from GalaxySurfer in [AD] Isolation Mode   
    I understand that. I am providing an alternative viewpoint that not all designers are in love with Illustrator's isolation mode. I am not the only one - visit Adobe forums, and a quick search will result in questions from users how they can turn off isolation mode.
     
    And I am not inherently opposed to an isolation mode - merely the way it is implemented in Illustrator. I do like opening a symbol or smart object in its own window when working on complex art and layouts. Having the rest of your design faded out - no, thank you.
     
     
    Various reasons. Under pressure from a deadline, and complex artwork tends to become laggy to work with. A secondary click may be interpreted as a double-click under circumstances. Besides, double-clicking is 1) frustrating when the user works with a Wacom, and 2) to be avoided in relation to repetitive strain injury. Third, if alternative methods exist, we ought to explore those as well, and see if we may improve on the Illustrator working methods.
     
     
    Ah, my mistake. It was late when I wrote that line. I meant that in that other application I can either hold down a modifier key or switch selection mode, and a single-click selects any object in a group or sub-group. No need for double-clicking at all to work with groups and sub-groups.
     
    Also, in that other application I can easily select objects 10 levels deep with one click. Then select another object in another group anywhere in the canvas with one click. Selecting is dependent on a mode switch - which means I can drag a selection marquee around objects within the active group that I am working in without accidentally selecting other objects or groups.
     
    ...
    The reason for my counter posting is really only to start up a discussion to explore alternative workflows to solve these workflow issues in Affinity Designer. I and others do NOT like the isolation mode as it is currently implemented in Illustrator. Double-clicking as a common GUI action has its drawbacks as well.
     
    So, let's explore various options, I say. Let's not be bound by what is standard in Illustrator, and perhaps we can discover a method of selecting, and working with, objects in groups that is an improvement over what Illustrator offers - because I feel Illustrator's workflow is a pain in the neck.
  6. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from JET_Affinity in [AD] Isolation Mode   
    I understand that. I am providing an alternative viewpoint that not all designers are in love with Illustrator's isolation mode. I am not the only one - visit Adobe forums, and a quick search will result in questions from users how they can turn off isolation mode.
     
    And I am not inherently opposed to an isolation mode - merely the way it is implemented in Illustrator. I do like opening a symbol or smart object in its own window when working on complex art and layouts. Having the rest of your design faded out - no, thank you.
     
     
    Various reasons. Under pressure from a deadline, and complex artwork tends to become laggy to work with. A secondary click may be interpreted as a double-click under circumstances. Besides, double-clicking is 1) frustrating when the user works with a Wacom, and 2) to be avoided in relation to repetitive strain injury. Third, if alternative methods exist, we ought to explore those as well, and see if we may improve on the Illustrator working methods.
     
     
    Ah, my mistake. It was late when I wrote that line. I meant that in that other application I can either hold down a modifier key or switch selection mode, and a single-click selects any object in a group or sub-group. No need for double-clicking at all to work with groups and sub-groups.
     
    Also, in that other application I can easily select objects 10 levels deep with one click. Then select another object in another group anywhere in the canvas with one click. Selecting is dependent on a mode switch - which means I can drag a selection marquee around objects within the active group that I am working in without accidentally selecting other objects or groups.
     
    ...
    The reason for my counter posting is really only to start up a discussion to explore alternative workflows to solve these workflow issues in Affinity Designer. I and others do NOT like the isolation mode as it is currently implemented in Illustrator. Double-clicking as a common GUI action has its drawbacks as well.
     
    So, let's explore various options, I say. Let's not be bound by what is standard in Illustrator, and perhaps we can discover a method of selecting, and working with, objects in groups that is an improvement over what Illustrator offers - because I feel Illustrator's workflow is a pain in the neck.
  7. Sad
    Herbert123 got a reaction from angelhdz12 in Affinity Motion (After Effects/Premier alternative)   
    DaVinci Resolve is very hardware-hungry. If your hardware is well supported, then it flies, and runs stable. If not, well... That is indeed the disadvantage of Resolve - quite picky.
  8. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from RemN in A few questions from a Master of Illustrator   
    Often inspiration for new tools may come from the oddest and most unexpected places. The newest Grease Pencil additions in Blender demonstrate how vector drawings can be sculpted, smoothed, and adjusted with quite unique tools. Now, Blender is not exactly the most user-friendly tool for artists, but I do think the Grease Pencil shows the potential for Affinity Designer to incorporate a number of very interesting artistic tools.
     
    Remember, these are all vectors:
     


  9. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from littledetails in Non-destructive workflow in Affinity Photo   
    I have been using Affinity Photo at work for a while now, and I have a couple of questions as to a non-destructive workflow. It is pretty good so far, although the overall workflow feels a tad destructive to me. I am used to both Photoshop and Photoline.
     
    1) after developing a RAW file in the Developer Persona, the changes are applied to it destructively, correct? In Photoshop we have the smart object approach to keep things "live", and in Photoline the RAW file is inserted as a regular layer in the layer stack, with live adjustments and settings.
    Any way to work non-destructive so as to keep the RAW processing live?
     
    2) similarly, is it possible to non-destructively use the liquify persona? In Photoshop we again have smart objects to accomplish this, and in Photoline the liquify tool adds a liquify layer which can be edited directly at all times (even possible to add as many liquify layers as you like, and stack those).
     
    3) after typing text, or creating a vector shape, when I apply a mesh warp or perspective tool edit, the layer is converted to pixels, and I can no longer edit the text. Other effects and distortions also rasterize the text layers. Is there a way to avoid this, and keep the text live?
     
    4) embedded and linked placeholder layers (PL) or smart objects (PH) are missing in Photo. Clipping layers can use smart objects in Photoshop, making it possible to re-use these masks (not very elegant, though). In Photoline and Krita it is possible to clone layers, and re-use them in the layer stack.
    I am wondering whether a similar feature (SOs and/or virtual layers) is planned at some point? Especially external linked placeholder layers are very useful - when used in combination with non-destructive tools.
     
    5) no fill patterns in Photo yet?
     
    6) I noticed it is possible to have masks within masks, and apply live effects to these masks. The trouble is, once these  layer masks are dropped on a layer, the embedded masks and effect layers become inaccessible: the layer stack hides them, and seemingly there is no method to twirl down the contents. Is a setting available to gain access to these embedded layers?
     
    Thanks.
     
     
  10. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from BennyD in Roughen Curves   
    Here are examples of possible roughen effects that work on vector shapes. In the two applications that I used to create these, the effects remain live and can be stacked for combinations.
     
    These should provide food for thought for the developers.
     

  11. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from ea0723 in Roughen Curves   
    Here are examples of possible roughen effects that work on vector shapes. In the two applications that I used to create these, the effects remain live and can be stacked for combinations.
     
    These should provide food for thought for the developers.
     

  12. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from amphioxus in Roughen Curves   
    Here are examples of possible roughen effects that work on vector shapes. In the two applications that I used to create these, the effects remain live and can be stacked for combinations.
     
    These should provide food for thought for the developers.
     

  13. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from lepr in Roughen Curves   
    Here are examples of possible roughen effects that work on vector shapes. In the two applications that I used to create these, the effects remain live and can be stacked for combinations.
     
    These should provide food for thought for the developers.
     

  14. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from lepr in Copy & paste vector between this and other apps, Blend tool   
    +1
     
    Come on guys, Illustrator, Xara, CorelDraw, InkScape, and even Photoline (which focuses on image editing!) have non-destructive blend tools. It really is an essential tool for all sorts of effects and shading.
  15. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from mwcs in Indexed PNGs with 8 bit alpha   
    I am surprised (no, amazed!) this is not already part of PNG export: it is an absolutely essential option for web, mobile and game design.
  16. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from Jens Krebs in Affinity Web?   
    Dreamweaver is a train wreck. It becomes worse with each new release, and the latest one (2017) is a real mess with that half-hearted Brackets integration. I left Dreamweaver years and years ago. Most coders did the same: DW does not even show up in any of the user statistics anymore (for example: http://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016
     
    Adobe should just bury it - leave it to Adobe to destroy good products (Freehand, Fireworks, Director, Dreamweaver).
     
    I work predominantly in Netbeans myself, with Notepad++ and Atom on the side for certain tasks. And PineGrow for a more visual environment that is still very code friendly.
     
    To replace Dreamweaver, have a look at the PineGrow <-> Atom combo: bidirectional real-time updates while you work. A much better workflow compared to DW. It's pretty awesome. https://pinegrow.com/
  17. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from Besli in Maximum/Mimimum filters?   
    Are these available as live filters yet?
  18. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from CartoonMike in [AD] Isolation Mode   
    I feel a dose of reality is warranted here.
    Freehand never had an isolation mode like the one in Illustrator. It was possible to convert groups of objects to symbols, and edit a symbol in a new window. Not comparable to Illustrator's isolation mode - similar to Flash and Photoshop's smart objects, though. But quite useless for editing within context.
      Freehand's layer palette is terrible. Other organization tools in Freehand are antiquated. The way many tools work in Freehand  - frustrating. The GUI slow and cumbersome to work with in comparison with modern software. Let's avoid the "olden times were the best" syndrome. Freehand is a relic - granted, some nicely implemented base tools, but for the rest - blah.
      Frankly, I dislike Illustrator's isolation mode. Inadvertently double-clicking any group, and BAM! the rest of the design is faded out. This happened to me when working under the pressure of a deadlines all the time. Personally, I turned it off in the preferences. But then again, I really did not like working in Illustrator in the first place, and prefer other tools now. As mentioned, the layer panel is a mess. The workflow laggy and slow - unless expanded with plugins.
      IF the Affinity Designer developers ever decide to add an isolation mode like the one in Illustrator, PLEASE make sure it can be turned off. Not all of us are enamoured by Illustrator's implementation of this mode. I very much dislike the rest of my design faded out.
      In one of the vector/bitmap applications I use, working with groups is quite elegantly solved: two selection modes are available, and one of these allows for entering groups with two clicks. Selections occur within the group itself - dragging a selection marquee will only select the objects in the active group. And no need to fade out the rest of the design.

    Exiting a group in that application merely consists of a single click outside the group. It will then select the next parent level. No need for pointless double-clicks.

    Nor do I see any reason to fade out the rest of the design when editing a symbol. I'd like to see the actual effect and overall colour changes when editing symbols. If the need exists to focus on the contents of a symbol without being distracted by the design it is used in, opening the symbol in its own window works better anyway. And for complex designs it will provide a definite speed boost as well.
      Simple commands to enter and exit a group work just as well in my opinion.
      The same application I mentioned above allows for a smart object type workflow as well. Aside from symbols, I think smart objects would be far more useful to organize complex work with compared to an isolation mode.
      I do completely agree that Affinity Designer's current selection tools must be expanded, and allow us to work within groups only. I do not think Illustrator's isolation mode is the best approach. I believe Illustrator's isolation mode was conceived to deal with live paint mode in the first place? Let's not make the same mistakes Illustrator made. Isolation mode is a patch to deal with Illustator's less-then-ideal workflow and layers.
      The existing selection tools can be expanded easily with a group work mode. And add shortcut keys to enter and exit groups quickly with the keyboard.
  19. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from anon1 in [AP] Improvements of Curves Function   
    Refer to the image below. Compared to other Curves implementations, I like these things:
    the ability to work directly in HSV and HIS mode. Super handy. A simple saturation curve is quite powerful and simple to apply. the option to open any curve in a scale-able window that can be resized to any size - as big as the screen, if needed. I just do not understand why most image editors will not allow the user to do this. Photoshop's curve palette is tiny, even in expanded mode! Curves are so important, and this is one of my pet peeves.   thumbnails of curve presets. the option to apply curve presets to specific channels. various curve types: spline, langrange, bezier, line, text input, etc. a preview option with a split view of which the split can be move to the left and right  the option to quickly create a stepped curve. the option to invert a curve. the option to move the entire curve left, right, up, and down. My main issue with Affinity Photo's curves is that it seems quite heavy on processing. On an older i5 Windows tablet (EPE121) the curves choke that machine, and adjusting the curves is almost impossible. I do not experience that issue with other image editors and curves adjustments are snappy and responsive.
     
    Anyway, I feel it is a good idea to compare the various curves implementations, and learn from them.
     
    I do like the alpha channel option in Photo.
     

  20. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from Garish in Image Trace - Raster to Vector conversion   
    I use Inkscape's built-in bitmap trace. Works really well for black and white line art conversions. Save as SVG, and import into Affinity.
  21. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from SrPx in New App/Implementation: Affinity Animator   
    Check this out! Blender 2d animation tools coming soon. Looks quite amazing. Blender is getting out of hand now :-P
     
    And all "vector".
     

  22. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from neeklamy in Add a Lighter/Brighter UI-mode (implemented)   
    I have a couple of IxD related question for the Affinity developer team:
    Is an experienced Interaction/UX designer part of your team? Did you perform usability tests with test participants right from the start using prototypes? Do you currently perform usability tests? Just curious about your development workflow in regards to usability design - this is not meant in a negative manner. When I design GUIs, games, and sites I almost always perform usability tests with test participants. These may either be formal or informal, depending on the scope of the job at hand.
  23. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from Zenith1980 in 3D extrude and 3D paths   
    Blender supports direct vector export with a SVG plugin and through its freestyle non-realistic renderer. For free.
     
    Both can be combined in AF Designer to create shading and great looking edges. Also important: each edge of a 3d object can be manually controlled for vector output, making it extraordinary powerful for technical illustrations.
     
    In this sense it is rather more powerful than Illustrator's 3d extrude and revolve functions. No limits as to the shapes of the 3d objects either. And if you need textures, one option is to render out a bitmap of the fills, and combine these with SVG line art.
     
    The SVG export plugin generates this out of the box (pure SVG):

    The freestyle SVG plugin is aimed at line art export (extremely simple example):

    And why not combine the vector strokes with the bitmap render:

    The only drawback: you will have to learn a bit about using Blender (loads of tutorials, though!).
     
    Or export as a pure SVG with patterned fills:

    Or a semi-transparent SVG wire:

  24. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from John Rostron in Affinity Web?   
    Indeed! Pretty excellent replacement for Dreamweaver. I use Pinegrow as a super-charged visual inspector, as well as for quick web setups. It supports the main front-end html/css frameworks as well (Foundation, Bootstrap, Google Material).
  25. Like
    Herbert123 got a reaction from Mediafuel in Sharpening for Web?   
    It's difficult to answer: I process each image individually for web use. After processing I scale down with either Mitchell-Netravali or Catmull-Rom resampling algorithms. Catmull-Rom in particular keeps small details clear and sharp. I NEVER EVER use Bicubic, Lanczos 3 or 8 for downscaling images: Lanczos works well for upscaling, not so much for the other way around - especially when dealing with sharp-edged illustrative artwork.
     
    Read up on it here: https://pixinsight.com/doc/docs/InterpolationAlgorithms/InterpolationAlgorithms.html
    Scroll down for visual comparisons. Catmull-Rom and Mitchell-Netravali just result in better down-sampled images. I also found that scaling down sharp-edged artwork with Lanczos may introduce artefacting or halos between dark edges and light fills. In any case, Lanczos results in too soft a result - as if blurred a bit. 
     
    Unfortunately Affinity Photo or Designer do not offer either Catmull-Rom or Mitchell-Netravali as a resample algorithm (yet?). That is a real shame, because it does make quite a difference. Anyway, you can always download ColorQuantizer, which is free, and does support these algorithms (and many more!). Then save the result as a lossless PNG, and open it in Photo for further processing.
     
    http://x128.ho.ua/color-quantizer.html
     
    If your content is illustrative sharp-edged artwork, PNG works best. For best final compression and quality control again ColorQuantizer bests every single other tool out there. I never rely on anything else at this point.
     
    Regarding final web output formats: for photos I never us PNG - instead I would suggest JPG at a higher quality (up until the time that we can finally say farewell to JPG and use WebP instead).
     
    If you prefer to keep using PNG as a final web output format for photos, I would advise you to do the final compression and optimization again in ColorQuantizer.
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