hexophile

Hi, Not sure if this is the correct place to provide this feedback but I have recently switched over from Adobe to Affinity. While the features and quality of life with this suite of products is generally significantly better, I wanted to come over with a few quirks that I have run into using the software that would make working in it significantly more pleasant. Specifically, when using gradients, in layer effects as gradient overlay, in the gradient map adjustment layer, and within the shape fill option and gradient tool you can not access recently used gradients. The process for doing this depends on which menu you are using. For shapes, you can generally use the swatches panel to get a recent gradient, but it requires some manic clicking, and often doesn't work very well if you are trying to do a lot of repeated modified gradients. For layer effects, it is essentially impossible to create a new gradient overlay that is the same as previous layer unless you paste the layer style which can cause other issues (like transferring stroke and fill options). Adobe offers a gradient preset dropdown and quick add button which allows you to load and save gradients across any gradient selection area with the click of a button. I know there are gradient presets somewhere in Affinity, but after lots of reading and digging through menus, I am still clueless about where these actually live and how to use them. A system more like PS / Illustrator would really go a long way here. Another lacking area is the gradient and fill tools. In PS, you have a separate dropdown to select blend modes for each use of these tools within a layer, or each gradient object in Illustrator. This means you can stack multiple blended gradients without having to create a new layer for each. The brush tool in Designer / Photo has this option and it should be available for the fill and gradient tools as well. Finally, the ability to modify placed gradients after the fact in Photo could be streamlined. After lots of use, I am still not sure whether or not in Photo and Designer it is possible to modify a gradient placed with the gradient tool after deselecting the gradient. Thanks!