Bryan Rieger

The new smoothing algorithm is fantastic! It's such a pleasure to use now, and with almost (I'm just being very fussy) no clean up required. The new implementation of the auto-close settings is really intuitive. Well done. I'll report back any issues I find with it, but just wanted to acknowledge what an improvement this is.
Addendum: Okay, now I know this is going to sound whiny, but is there anyway to reduce or turn off the smoothing? It's now very difficult to draw a rough, hand-drawn line. I do LOVE the new smoothing algorithm, but there are times where I want my lines to look a little rougher.

For SVG you can use variable fonts if the rendering application supports it. ie: you can use variable fonts in most web-browsers available today. For other contexts such as importing into other applications; CAD, 3D tools, cutting tools, etc I suspect most SVG implementations in these contexts won't support variable fonts and converting text to curves will likely produce much better results.

Could you attach a copy of that line with the curve (pre-expanded please). I've got one to expand slightly incorrectly, but not had anything expand quite like that has!

The contour from the line width tool isn't automatically carried over to additional strokes that have been applied to a line/curve, making it difficult to create an outline that matches the existing line contour. It is possible to select the another stroke and set line widths for it (which is very nice), but being able to apply the existing line width settings applied to additional strokes would also be helpful.
Above: Current line widths are not applied to additional strokes.
 

Above: An additional stroke with separate width settings applied to the same curve (very nice).

The contour from the line width tool isn't automatically carried over to additional strokes that have been applied to a line/curve, making it difficult to create an outline that matches the existing line contour. It is possible to select the another stroke and set line widths for it (which is very nice), but being able to apply the existing line width settings applied to additional strokes would also be helpful.
Above: Current line widths are not applied to additional strokes.
 

Above: An additional stroke with separate width settings applied to the same curve (very nice).

For SVG you can use variable fonts if the rendering application supports it. ie: you can use variable fonts in most web-browsers available today. For other contexts such as importing into other applications; CAD, 3D tools, cutting tools, etc I suspect most SVG implementations in these contexts won't support variable fonts and converting text to curves will likely produce much better results.

I think being able to set the tolerance of auto-close feature would be helpful so folks can tune it to their liking, or set it to ‘maximum’ where it would always auto-close regardless of the distance.

The new smoothing algorithm is fantastic! It's such a pleasure to use now, and with almost (I'm just being very fussy) no clean up required. The new implementation of the auto-close settings is really intuitive. Well done. I'll report back any issues I find with it, but just wanted to acknowledge what an improvement this is.
Addendum: Okay, now I know this is going to sound whiny, but is there anyway to reduce or turn off the smoothing? It's now very difficult to draw a rough, hand-drawn line. I do LOVE the new smoothing algorithm, but there are times where I want my lines to look a little rougher.

I think being able to set the tolerance of auto-close feature would be helpful so folks can tune it to their liking, or set it to ‘maximum’ where it would always auto-close regardless of the distance.

I think being able to set the tolerance of auto-close feature would be helpful so folks can tune it to their liking, or set it to ‘maximum’ where it would always auto-close regardless of the distance.

I think being able to set the tolerance of auto-close feature would be helpful so folks can tune it to their liking, or set it to ‘maximum’ where it would always auto-close regardless of the distance.

The new smoothing algorithm is fantastic! It's such a pleasure to use now, and with almost (I'm just being very fussy) no clean up required. The new implementation of the auto-close settings is really intuitive. Well done. I'll report back any issues I find with it, but just wanted to acknowledge what an improvement this is.
Addendum: Okay, now I know this is going to sound whiny, but is there anyway to reduce or turn off the smoothing? It's now very difficult to draw a rough, hand-drawn line. I do LOVE the new smoothing algorithm, but there are times where I want my lines to look a little rougher.

Hi All,
Below is the list of all new feature and improvements which are included in the 2.5 beta (bug fix list is available here).
To learn more about these features please click on the link to go to each feature's dedicated post. To give feedback or report bugs against any of these features please reply to that same post (also check out bug reporting and feedback tips).
Variable Fonts  Line Width Tool Pencil Tool Improvements QR Code Object "Default preset" for grid Typography Dialog turned into a Panel Other Improvements Getting the 2.5 beta
If you have not enrolled into the beta program yet and would like to take part, you can do so here. This will immediately give you access to the latest 2.5 beta builds to try for yourself.
If you are already enrolled in the beta program you have two options:
1. If you still have the 2.4 beta installed, you can now run up those beta versions and you will be prompted to update them to the 2.4 beta.
2. If you have uninstalled the 2.4 beta, you will need to go back to Your Account -> Downloads and product keys and find your previous order for the Affinity Beta Software Program, and you can download the 2.5 beta from there.
Thanks,
Ash

Apps: Designer
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad
We have made some further improvements to the pencil tool.
Firstly we are now using a new curve smoothing algorithm which we believe gives general better, smoother, results when using the pencil tool.
Secondly as has been commonly requested we have now changed the "Auto-close" method so that when you have that option checked in the context toolbar the curve only closes when you are near to the start point of the curve being drawn. You will now get an indicator when you are in range of the start position of the curve so you know when a curve will be auto-closed.

Variable fonts
Apps: Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Affinity Publisher
Platforms: All
You're now able to use variable fonts in all Affinity apps, providing a plethora of new typographic design possibilities.
As well as providing predefined font styles, such as light, bold and condensed, variable fonts give you fine control of specific design aspects known as axes of variation, or just axes for short.
To try out variable fonts in Affinity, apply one to some text and then:
- On desktop, click the Font Variations button on the context toolbar (or on the Character Panel).
- On iPad, tap the arrow to the right of Bold/Italic/Underline/Strikethrough on the Text Panel and then tap Variations.
Variation settings on desktop.

 
 
Variation settings on iPad.

 
You'll see settings for each axis that the font designer has made individually adjustable.

Axis' slider being dragged.
Many variable fonts allow you to adjust their width and weight axes, and possibly italic, optical size and slant. These five axes are common enough that they're defined by the OpenType specification.
All manner of other axes may also be adjustable, such as:
- the height of ascenders and depth of descenders to better fit your chosen line spacing.
- the stem terminals, to choose between straight and swelling.
- the width of counters, which are enclosed and partially enclosed spaces within glyphs.
For examples of other possible axes, check out the axis definitions that are available for variable fonts at Google Fonts.
You may see fewer axes in Affinity than are mentioned by a font provider's marketing. For example, Google Fonts lists 13 axes for Roboto Flex and Affinity exposes five of them. This is because we respect font designers' ability to specify that an axis should be hidden. This is part of the OpenType specification and means that software isn't meant to provide an interface for such axes.
Why would a designer do this? Well, a variable font might adjust an axis internally based on your choices for other axes that you can directly adjust. For example, observe how counter widths change when the weight axis is adjusted in the animation above.

Variable fonts and PDFs
PDF doesn't support variable fonts. So, when you export a PDF of an Affinity document that uses a variable font, we create a static instance of the font with fixed settings.
We've taken steps to ensure static instances of fonts are well named. You should find this minimises the need to identify the original variable fonts if you later import or place the resulting PDFs.

Apps: Designer
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad
Affinity Designer now includes a new width tool which is available by default alongside the pencil tool in your toolbar:

The Line Width Tool gives you an on-document way of editing the pressure profile of any curve. For example the curve below has 3 pressure points (5 including the start and end pressure). While in the Line Width tool the position of those points are shown along the curve, and you have the ability to drag to change the width and position of them. 
You can also click to add a new pressure point, or double click to remove any pressure point on a curve.

There are various modifiers available which you can see in the status bar:
Shift + Drag - allows you to modify the width at any point without adjusting it's position
Cmd (Mac) / Ctrl (Win) + Click - manually enter the width required at the chosen point
Ctrl (Mac) / Ctrl (Win) + Drag - move the point position without adjusting the width
Double click - remove pressure point
Additionally you will find some other options in the context toolbar when using this tool:

Adjust Line Weight - if this is turned on then should you drag the width of any point to be greater than the current line width (i.e. greater than 100% pressure) the line width will be increased to allow you to drag the width unrestricted. If it is turned off then the maximum width you can drag to is 100% of the set line width.
Allow point reordering - This option allows to you to specify whether you want to allow the tool to drag one point past another along the curve, effectively swapping their order, or not.
Snap to curve nodes - This will show any nodes on the curve as small white dots and will snap any pressure points to those nodes
Snap to widths on same curve - this will snap the width at any pressure point on a curve to other widths which already exist on that curve. This only applies when holding shift (i.e. you are adjusting the width without altering the point position).
Snap to curve geometry - this will snap the width to the geometry of any selected curves (again if you are holding shift). 

I know I joked earlier about the abuse of the laugh emoji, but I turned off Reaction Notifications a little while ago. They've become useless anyway. All I want to see in my feed is Patrick sharing the latest updates with all my unicorns achieved.
It's not going to happen. People are better off arranging their own offshoots for software enthusiasts. It wouldn't have to be limited to the industry, though we need the information on that use case the most to encourage competition, because there are a good number of smaller professionals as well who have communicated that they believed Affinity could be going for higher aspirations than it currently does. The messaging from Serif is so difficult that my simple hope is for Canva take over in such a way that we don't have to endure such poor communications ever again.
The navel-gazing that encompasses some of what I think can also be described as "non-serious" has largely been incentivized from Serif's OTT marketing and the speculation that that continuously generates. It sells cheap licenses but it is a far cry from incentivizing more discerning customers to jump onboard for the long haul no doubt when they see the amount of zealotry in the fanbase. Imo, it's toxic longterm for the userbase as some are turned off by the constant hype rather than being given straightforward and realistic expectations. It can leave the sense we stay in the dark as to whether these products remain a dependable platform for their longterm for our individual usecases. The messaging post-acquisition is not nearly enough to answer these questions and other than what we've seen, I've just accepted that for now at least this is not a safe ship for me.

I don't know that Serif ever promised to outright compete directly with Adobe, but the carrot was left out there for so long that it seemed at least a far off aspiration. Now Canva takes over and screams "We're going after Adobe!!!"... there's that hype train again. Can it actually deliver? Canva's market is no where near the industry space and is much larger. How much of the perceived aspirations are legitimate goals or are just clever marketing? And at what point are we just projecting into Affinity what we want it to be?.. those are the important questions for me.

Thanks for that answer. It inspired me to dig around a bit and I think this process works:
1) Open the PNG file in Fireworks.
2) File, Export
3) Change file extension to PSD
4) Click the Options button.
5) Set these values

6) Click OK, then Save the file.
7) Open that PSD file in AP.
8 ) There will be a Layer called "Background". Click the down arrow and see the layers in that area.
This seems to work - all the PNG layers are now PSD layers because you set the Photoshop Export Options.
Huzzah !!

I need serious customers who together form and create a serious forum. Can't you see the absurdity in a serious thread surrounded by the usual? No, I miss real professionals or deeply serious and experienced creatives who are completely focused on creating and not on filling letters on the internet.
I have realized - and it seems others here have too - that this is just not the case here. I don't know how the forum ended up mostly as a club for a few and as a zone cleansed of deeply serious and professional people. Perhaps that reflects reality.
But look, if I keep responding here, it will just become another serpentine spiral of wasting time and nonsense. I'm just saying again, there's a lack of a forum for those of us who use these programs to create at a high level, and who only need to use this forum occasionally, hoping to get responses from like-minded people - and from those with specialties or serious experiences out there where delivery happens, not the same few who know the programs inside out.
There are a few here - and full respect to them - but they are far, far too few, and they are drowned out by club members who drown serious people and experiences in assumptions and opinions and top-drawer advice.
I hope I can navigate the Canva takeover and development in a serious place well away from this forum.
Take good care of Affinity, Serif. It is a valuable tool for me in its current form, despite its shortcomings.

Is there a separate forum for serious customers who use the software for serious purposes? I ask because every time I visit the forum, I get the impression that there are incredibly many people in this forum who use it more as a warming room and for social purposes. Even this thread about something really pervasive, which can have drastic or significant consequences for several million customers, ends up wildly unserious.
There is more focus and serious users in even smaller open source forums, so I am speechless at the absence of a forum with a network of serious users of the software when the forum is hosted by the company behind the programs. It is just not helpful or trustworthy for allegedly professional software, and the content becomes significantly more serious and focused when you visit Reddit or other places.
Anyway, I'm going back to passive spectator mode, I'm probably not the only one holding back on asking about professional or advanced challenges when it's the same few who always answer here, not the right few in the specific context being asked about, and moreover, not the professional few in that context.
Having stated one's opinion thousands of times does not confer professional expertise. That's what the internet has proven.

I wouldn’t make anything of it, as the ads were likely made before the acquisition was finalized, and the teams at Canva are only now likely beginning to think how best to integrate the Affinity products into their overall brand and messaging.

The only reason I mentioned it was because I have never seen a commercial for Canva on any other streaming service besides in Prime Video, nor on any broadcast or cable TV networks. So I am a bit curious about if this is the start of trying to reach a broader viewing audience or what.
The comment about Affinity was just in case anybody wanted to know if it was mentioned.

I wouldn’t make anything of it, as the ads were likely made before the acquisition was finalized, and the teams at Canva are only now likely beginning to think how best to integrate the Affinity products into their overall brand and messaging.

FWIW I've been super happy with the Xence Pen Tablet (Medium) which replaced my Wacom Intuos and works great with the Affinity apps. The Quick Keys controller is really handy as it enables you to largely work without also having a keyboard directly in front of you for common shortcuts.

@William Overington a great idea and $2.25 will get you a medium size drip coffee at Starbucks.
Also see: Ideas are cheap.
Can we please end this bizarrely surreal, entirely pointless thread? It would be impossible to calculate how or even if your idea had any impact on future sales as it's unlikely that 'your feature' would ship in isolation. The apps are a holistic collection of features and tools, and not broken down and valued by their constituent parts.
If/when Canva/Affinity release their SDK feel free to build your own extensions, plugins, etc and charge what you want.