Winsome

It was more to clarify the need for Serif (and myself). Hope you get your wish. 🙂

There is no significant learning curve in the vector part of Affinity. If you are a beginner, the learning curve is more to understand how to use and combine the few tools. That's a job for YouTube and similar channels. No user interface can or should solve that. If all the most elementary functions have to go into the first level of the user interface, then the program surely identifies itself as a simple program for simple needs. Then there is really no room for more. That's fine too, if that's really the purpose of the program. I certainly hope not... There are plenty of fine programs that can do that. That's not how Serif markets Affinity.

Yes, I just discovered that corners don't scale with object when I pasted some smaller (but detailed) pieces of vector graphics from a document into a much larger main document in Designer, even though I had enabled "Scale with stroke". The graphics looked crazy with giant corners. Do I really have to go back and convert all those little objects to curves in the original object? As you should only do when something is final. And really shouldn't have to do. This can really mess up workflows, efficiency and at the same time the reputation of the company. That's a problem, Serif. Waiting for fixes is a critical problem. I can't believe we're talking so many years.

I have found it works as I suggest Paint Shop Pro, the logic that when there was no document I could throw the clipboard into the program as a new document in a split second was a huge help. That it couldn't be done with an open document was totally logical, and so I had to go to the menu where the option is not saved, but is at the top. There is not much room for guesswork. It's right at your fingertips. But we're talking about functionality for creatives who do a lot of small image operations that can easily go through clipboard, and many times, and these rigid bureaucratic workflows get in the way of fast process. We are also users who actually close documents before we work further. If Affinity had a Close all it might also be the case for Serif's customers from time to time, but it does NOT. Well look @Pšenda, when people unite and explore possibilities, something happens. Opposition alone accomplishes nothing. Not a bad suggestion! 🙂 Another option that should be possible along with many others is that it's possible to add it to the toolbar, so you can get the image in a bit faster without a menu. Of course, you can do that in ... can you guess it... Vectorstyler! Not being part of a huge group of creatives chained for 10-20 years to a company's fixed design decisions and comprises:

Doubtless? 😃 I think - with two decimals - that it will confuse about 0.00 of Serif's customers.

Rubbish. It is missing exactly as many tools as customers complain about! You have to do anything MANUALLY and you may survive that when doing simple stuff but the moment you work with something even the least complex or have to reuse something complex in a different perspective in vector, it's manual work all the way to the finish. In other words, as a creative you are severely limited and have to spend an eternity on things that can be achieved with a few clicks away in another program. Designer does nothing different with vector. It just has almost no vector tools, that's obvious to anyone. You've paid little money for few vector features. There's no real escape from that fact, and there's certainly no rhetorical one either. Ergo, several features have been requested longingly and passionately for years. Ergo, someone recommends a complementary program. Take it or leave it. Well, there is one thing Designer does differently. It's the algorithms in Boolean operations. They are flawed.

Yes, so it is an equivalent to the Color Table from Photoshop you need, where you can save eg 16 colors and reuse them in another indexed color image or use them as the starting point for color reduction. Exactly, what I do in a for example 16-color image is to save the 16 colors as a color table and when I load an image and reduce to 16 colors (indexed), I load the palette (my color table) and specify that Photoshop should reduce colors from it and apply the 16 colors of course.

I believe it is this feature from Photoshop you are missing?

Thanks Walt, I know, I use it a lot. I have customized and simplified shortcuts to the extreme. 🙂 But that's the default setup that 100% of everyone will encounter, and 99% are unlikely to change, so having control + V work in this case will just make the scenario smoother. Have a great weekend!

A very small request, input: It happens very often, I copy something to clipboard and start a program where I paste it directly. So not in a document, but AS a new document. I would appreciate if programs like Affinity Designer (and Photo) in the state where there are no open documents, like after program start, when activating paste just does the same as New from clipboard. It's just easier, and I think people can easily understand that control + V with open documents doesn't do the same as with no open documents. It's something that will make life a little bit easier in the many, many operations I do over the course of a working day. The default shortcut to paste New from clipboard is long, nobody remembers it, and then you have to go to the menu with pointers anyway.

No, actually they are not based on these apps. They are based on a new architecture and a fresh start. Serif also wanted a new brand. They did so entirely on macOS. And a lot in the apps is inspired by macOS and follows human interface guidelines. Sometimes a bit clunky and sometimes horribly wrong (Just navigate around in preferences). But at least trying to imitate. If they still had to carry over user interface features from their now archaic Plus range despite the wish for a new start on a new OS, then they really have been Windows fundamentalists then. There was no reason to carry over a bad design idea from Plus, was there. But they do not follow good usability and the recommendation to place panels exactly where you expect them as a mac user. In the first level of the menu, by the way. That's what it's all about. Usability. Quick access. Seamless work flows. I could easily find them in the View menu instead, but they're tucked away in a submenu and clunky workflow, and Serif haven't been able to embrace a common term like panels. Studio Tabs in Plus range and now Studios. Adobe is probably forgiven that in the Windows versions of their software they have put the panels easily accessible in a logical place, don't you think? And forgiven that Adobe simply call them panels. Studio is a pointless and confusing term someone must have protected with all he got in Nottingham. And I will never understand that a product that inspired by Adobes product had to do it their own way. It is not better, so why. So what I do remember from education and work experience is that you shouldn't invent your own logic. Lean against best practice from guidelines, competitors, knowledge from the world and user surveys.

That's a heartwarming line. It may even be a little too fast, but it's exactly what has gotten many of us ahead from bugs or obstacles. When you're struggling with a problem in your tool, and especially when a deadline is racing against you, it's invaluable help.

Sigh, that's exactly WHY customization options are requested. And the number of options is not the deciding factor, but the number of relevant options. The Soviet criterion for success in production in, say, 1970 was numbers. The result was a disaster. And you can imagine, dissatisfaction. I think and hope Serif would like to be measured on more 2022-like criteria's like quality and relevance. You will find many more (and relevant!) options and icons in other programs, while the number of different icons (functions) that can be placed on the toolbar in Affinity in version 1.x is minimal. The flexibility of the toolbar is at a low. The first thing many people do is remove the spaces between icons, otherwise the right alignment drags the few usable icons across a large screen. It looks awful and is clumsy to use. Some customers point this out and request improvements, but a group of mega posters (but not creatives, designers?) want to oppose with arguments so weak that they are almost unreadable. You people simply have to constantly and daily push against customer wants and needs that in no way go against your needs, and that creates noise in here, and is frankly unsympathetic. And it doesn't really resemble what is in the DNA of creatives, to create and move forward and improve. You have a problem with someone in need of something arguing passionately for it, while you yourself have soon written a whopping 22,000 posts in here? Do you realize how ridiculous that appears? If you had instead READ 22,000 posts and simultaneously tried to see the situation through the eyes of the authors, then you might have learned something. And look at me, dammit, now I'm writing to a wall on the Internet again. Serif, you probably got my point and others; I hope you add more options. There is a need for them and they are in demand by customers.

And he did by himself. He reverse-engineered it. I didn't try it myself yet, so I don't know how well it actually works with different AI files.

Use cases where you other hand is NOT near the keyboard - people don't sit and work like statue all the time Use cases on a laptop in a cramped environment (airplane or train) where reaching and using the required keys is not easy (believe it or not, but productive people working for money, moving between desks, from and to clients or locations do not sit at a desk with a complete setup alle the time). Use cases where the user does not have that other hand at all or has a non-functional arm due to disabilities When you just don't remember the shortcut for something like export and a button is the faster choice It is very common with usage scenarios where you either rely mostly on keyboard shortcuts or mostly on the mouse. Therefore BOTH exist. It is not necessarily only for combination. Etc. I missed those buttons a million times. See the pattern? Your starting point is yourself, your own limited use and an unbridled need to comment in here. You could certainly benefit from listening and investigating, as you simply cannot provide qualified help or qualified input without knowing something. We are not discussing whether the interface should be colored in pink or purged of binary references, but about something as simple and widespread as undo buttons and customization of a few more. I don't get what you're contributing. You asked - but not in the knowledge-seeking, curious way. It does in my real life computer setup, so yes, it does. And as hundreds of millions of people discovered the last 50 years, it is a huge benefit when working with computers. With your ending statement/question, I am qualifiedly convinced that you and I don't have much in common or to talk about. I'm not used to this Twitter level. Again the famous rock bottom level where I or others have to take a stand on such nonsense was reached. It is simply not serious enough. Period.

You should simply be able to add undo, redo, save, save as, print and export as toolbar buttons. Period. It can be so much faster in use in some use cases. I simply can't understand why these can't be added, when Serif allows you to add some almost arbitrary functions to the toolbar anyway. But there are other ways to do it, here from Vectorstyler, where undo and redo are available in the world famous context menu, which can actually always be called up EXACTLY where the pointer is, which I have become addicted to:

"I think that" does not work within the walls of companies and laboratories. Well, in some companies apparently. Let's instead at least refer to macOS human guidelines as a sort of starting point, Apple knows something about usability, sets the standard for macOS apps anyway and remember that Affinity was originally designed for this particular operating system: Apple macOS Human Interface Guidelines It is these guidelines Adobe has followed and also uses under Windows and everyone is used to them, so why deviate. Calling them studios... no comments. But in short, there is a lack of quick access to these panels... studios.

Agreed. They are obviously hidden too far away in the user interface. I believe macOS guidelines recommend them where they are in Adobe's applications, but am not sure. I also wish you could right-click a studios tab and get the list and selection there too, easily accessible.

Probably requested before, but I have to highlight the need and use case again. I and several other designers use symmetric nodes to make very attractive, natural and harmonious curves, quickly. It's simply an essential part of the visual identity we create, sell and it's part of our brands. And so it's vital that it's supported so you can deliver this, and quickly and effortlessly. As an even better alternative, in Illustrator I - and others - have been using the ridiculously easy curvature tool, which creates smooth, elegant curves with just a few clicks. Without this or symmetric nodes, in Designer you rely on much more work, thoroughness and precise adjustments. Time that could be better spent. I know Designer shows an indicator of when there is symmetry, and from there in Windows you can hold down BOTH mouse buttons and adjust both nodes (a bit easier on macOS), but it's far out of the way, and it's very easy subsequently to misadjust this node accidentally without noticing. And if anyone wants to ask if I know Smart nodes, the answer is, yes, I know them... and no, they are not a viable alternative.

It doesn't do much though - but does it FAST - and should be in the FX panel, of course.

Hello Serif I've been using Affinity Designer for some time now, and have missed this quite intensely along the way, so: I now work on both macOS and Windows with a mouse mostly, but also with an Apple Magic Trackpad 2. It is extremely efficiently stored in my muscle memory, so I work lightning fast with my right hand on the mouse/trackpad and my left on the keyboard for shortcuts. I work quite a lot and often adjusting a lot, lot of notes, thousands of clicks every day for periods. I change node type many times, and I miss a lightning fast way to switch between node types with a tap on the keyboard. Just one. You can do that in Coreldraw for example (and Vectorstyler). Today on macOS and Windows there are different and not as easy shortcuts for the same with mouse and keyboard in combination, but I miss that it is configurable, so you can also assign a key or a key combination for that matter. And especially just one key as a shortcut would make that workflow very easy. So in short, I suggest: You add the ability to assign a custom keyboard shortcut to sharp, smooth and smart node. That the option also can be just one key, e.g. S for sharp, O for smooth and A for smart (just example for illustration notwithstanding that they may be used already) That in the pen tool you can ALSO use them, so the last created node can be adjusted to sharp or smooth e.g.

It's really not my experience with Vectorstyler, certainly not with simple operations, and I do use it daily and a lot, but we hardly use the program for the same purpose and in the same way, so those interested will have to try it out in the trial version and see if they experience any problems. It is pointless to post back and forth about it in the empty theoretical space. But again again again ... again. I personally use it to get ALL the features that are NOT in Affinity Designer, as a supplement to Affinity Designer. Vectorstyler is continually improving and helping me more and more to SOLVE MY DESIGN TASKS, the next big upgrade of Affinity will determine if I stay with Designer. Designer's share of my work is steadily declining. Simply because of what it can do and how fast it can do it. It all gets so black and white in here. But blocked by serious bugs with no hope of fixing, you have to go another way. Of course. That was my last post in this thread. 🙂

Yes, he is a crazy genius, he could probably easily replace 2-3 developers in some companies, but he is an open minded crazy genius, so you can get a lot of influence through his forum, where others contribute to the suggestions made. It's not impossible to imagine functionality changing significantly within a reasonable time, because he himself has stated that he wants all the feedback he can get. And unlike open source forums, he doesn't wildly protect his pet peeves or anything, but curiously asks questions. And he's actually designed the architecture of the program right out of the software architecture book, so fixes are made incredibly easily. And according to himself, the architecture is designed to support plug-ins - but in a future release. It is IMPOSSIBLE not to be curious. So bottom line is that not everything is carved in stone, but the program is in some places not easy enough to use, but not difficult either. The most important thing I've learned with software is to find a few programs and then get to know them thoroughly. I don't think VS is bad at all to get used to after I learned Blender 3D! But for Affinity Designer users, it's not taste and preference, but the brutal math: do I want to make and adjust 200 nodes to simulate a long uneven line, or do I want to drag a special tool over it in 3 seconds and get the same result in, say, VS? Will I spend days adjusting a detailed illustration to make it look natural in a different perspective, or will I do it in 3 seconds with a special tool, without touching the original (non-destructive effect) in VS. And so on. You can pay the expense for the big programs or do everything manually. We all live forever, don't we? Not really. So ... hello compromise. Free choice, of course, but I think there's a pretty strong opposition of principle in here. We could have got to know 3 features of VS better in the time we've spent typing on our keyboards in here. I've probably tried all the alternatives on Windows and macOS with focus on what gets results, secondarily what's reasonably easy to use. Affinity and VS do that for me together. But only one program is moving and adapting to user feedback: Vectorstyler.

What if Serif never add the features you need or does … badly. That happened before. You are nervous about what-ifs in a situation where you have nothing? You are probably not Coca-Cola, you can afford this gamble. Life is like this. All the way. We have next to nothing on shelf 1 and a ton on shelf 2. Further, do you remember Freehand? Several Google products now retired? And what if Serif goes the subscription way, like Adobe customers had to deal with from one moment to the other. There is no safety net. Anyway this user nuanced and described the subject elegantly: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/116946-blend-tool/page/2/#comment-945176

Only one way to find out. "Anyway, I hope when this is implemented in Designer, it lives up to the expectations." (Quoting you) When? If! On the Affinity front, people are waiting for the equivalent to the fabled year of desktop Linux. I've been listening to that dream on repeat since the turn of the millennium or more, and it's nowhere near happening, and similarly I've heard people dream in here about all the things that will come in Affinity when the miracle happens. It has to be released to be real. It needs to be more than elementary implementations and algorithms (think of the skinny discount contour tool again which you still have to make do with). And it must be released before the Sun enters its Red Giant stage. Yes, some features have been added along the way, incidentally from a simple version 1, so I don't see it as a sunshine story. It's never a winning argument to make a virtue out of necessity. But it was almost all bitmap features, while requests for non-basic vector features have gone unrewarded. Vector or raster, you decide Switch between full featured vector and raster workspaces with a single click Vectorstyler, Illustrator and Coreldraw have a "full featured vector workspace" - Designer has a bit more than the bare minimum. Despite this pompous and misleading claim. That's my point. It's simply not good enough anymore. So, no more talk, features please. And while waiting for the year of Affinity 2.0 or the Red Giant Stage, Vectorstyler is there. Or the bigger boys. Or a billion mouse clicks extra that no customer wants to pay for when you invoice your work.