vonBusing

Status: Public Beta
Purpose: Stability and General Testing
Requirements: Mac OS 10.9 or above
Hi,
We are pleased to announce that Affinity Publisher build 221 is now available as a manual download from the link above. All being well we will put it on auto-update early next week.
As this is a beta it is considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity where you may be adversely affected by the application failing, including the total loss of any documents. 
We hope you enjoy the product, and as always, if you've got any problems installing or running up, please don't hesitate to post in this thread.
Any problems actually using this version please make a new topic in this forum and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Please feel free to leave general suggestions and comments in the Discussion Forum. 
Many thanks for your continued feedback.
---
Updates and Fixes
Master Pages
Due to the changes in Master Page functionality in this build we strongly suggest you backup any documents that are valuable to you before testing.
It is now possible to edit the content of Master Page Text Frames and Picture Frames directly from a spread the master is applied to. By default, on editing, the content attribute for the item in question is automatically unlinked, but the other attributes and geometry remain locked. It is also possible to entirely lock the Master Page instance if desired, to prevent unintended content edits. Finally options are available to edit all attributes of Master Page items linked - the Master Page and any other pages it is applied to will be updated - or to edit all attributes unlinked - only the copy on the current spread will be updated. In both of these cases an information bar is displayed while the editing ‘mode’ is active.
Text flow between frames on masters is honoured when the master is applied and it is possible to create text flow between frames that have come from masters. When auto-flowing text from a frame that comes from a master the text auto-flow will use the matching frame on subsequent pages that have the same master applied or insert new pages with the same master.
Note that the previous default behaviour was to edit all attributes for all master items linked, but also to lock the Master Page instance in the layers panel. If dealing with an old document and the new functionality is desired the instance will need to be unlocked or the Master reapplied.
Link to master page tutorial / video here
Amalgamated Text > Insert Text from File and File > Place
- Text > Insert Text from File has been removed and File > Place should be used instead. The types of files available via File > Place depends on context, for example if a Text Frame is selected then text files will be made available.
Performance
(Win) Fix for system mis-reporting RAM on some systems leading to poor performance.
- If 'RAM Usage Limit' in Preferences > Performance is set to 1024MB you may be experiencing this issue. If so please set the limit manually to a higher value (typically the amount of Physical RAM installed) or Ctrl-Run Up to reset settings.
Menus and Studio
(Mac) Fixed the spurious black tiles issue when switching between multiple documents
(Win) Fix for redraw issues when dragging document windows between monitors on some monitor setups
(Win) Fixed Show Bleed failing to work under some circumstances
Fixed min / max size issue for some panels
Added Tooltips to Page Navigation controls
(Mac) Fixed Colour Panel tabbing issues
(Mac) Fix for Pasting control characters into Find and Replace fields.
(Win) Fix for Find and Replace fields not being cleared when starting a new document
(Mac) Paragraph / Character Panels now always show scrollbars if necessary
(Win) Fix for Min / Max / Defaults in Paragraph Panel Justification settings
(Win) Fix for crash trying to insert a Text Field without a text frame selected
(Mac) Fixed Text Wrapping Dialog tab order
Section Page Count is actually Section 'Last Page'
Added 'Run Last Page' to Fields Panel
Added Next and Previous Frame page numbers to Fields Panel
(Win) Tools toolbar leaves monitor viewport when undocking on some monitor set ups
(Win) Document Zoom Level is changed to 'Fit' when a Symbol / Asset etc is dragged out
(Win) Fixed drag drop from Explorer to floating Document windows
Fix for Paste Inside being disabled with multiple objects selected
Section Manager selection fixes
Tools and View
Fix for Text Frame Baseline Grids drawing incorrectly
(Win) Fixed issue setting CMYK colours for Guides
(Mac) Fix for incorrect Ruler Origin on spreads other than first
Text and Tables
Tables and Text frames can now individually be set to ignore baseline grid
Added support for language dependent smart quotes
Allow for space above at tops of columns in more places. Fixes issues with Art Text
No longer apply initial words formatting automatically to text generated by lists
Fix for effect of next paragraph style on character formatting not being undone correctly
Fix crash justifying narrow text
Page Number glyphs are now shown as placeholders on master pages
When creating a TOC reuse an unused style if there is one
Fixed Hyphenation to exclude nulls from hyphenation strings because they confuse length rules
(Mac) Fixed failure to ever set Restart Numbering 'Now' in Text Style Editor
(Win) Fixed issue with Arial Black being incorrectly reported as missing
Fix for Edit Text Style controls not updating when Font Family changed
Fixed issue changing Table insets after scaling
Fixed issue scrolling through the Font List if fonts with long names present
Resizing text frame no longer causes issues with cursor position on the text ruler
Fix for punctuation stopping 'Capitalise first word of sentence' from working
Import / Export and Printing
Fix for some EPS imports being incorrectly translated
Document fields such as 'Author' and 'Subject' are now exported to PDF
(Win) Fix for some stroke widths being printed incorrectly on rotated objects
(Win) Fix for flipped text printing
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Earlier Release Notes Beta 206
 

Hi GRScott,
Make sure the document's colour format is not set to Grey 8/16 (menu File ▸ Document Setup..., Colour tab, Colour Format dropdown). Change it to RGB (or CMYK) if that's the case.

Hi William Overington,
We usually provide a new Beta before the previous one expires so a new one should be out soon even if just for renewing the expiration date.

Has anyone else noticed how many programs at least on the Mac are using icons that are basically round, sometimes with things sticking out of them?
 
Safari, Chrome, Scrivener, Aperture, Sigma PhotoPro, On1 Photo RAW, FontBase, Davinci Resolve, Fusion, Atom, Android Studio, Xojo, Datum, Steam, iBooks, BRU Server Config, Finale, Traction Waveform, Homespun Instant Access, Deckadance2, Tangent Mapper, iTunes, Aiseesoft Mac Blu-ray Player, Xamarin Workbooks, Norton Security, Compare & Sync Folders, Contour Shuttle, CodeMeter, Dashboard, FireFox, FontForge, Help Crafter, iZotope Ozone, Launchpad, MarsEdit, MPlayerX, OpenOffice, ParticleShop, Phocus, Photos, Scribus, SoundSoap+, StuffIt Expander, TeXShop, Time Machine...  all have round icons, and yet they are mostly all sufficiently distinct that telling them apart is not much of an issue.
 
Triangles in and of themselves are not really a problem either, nor is this completely unique... Aurora HDR is using an icon that is basically a triangle, for example (someone heavy apparently sat on each of the sides for a while and bent them a bit)... though not nearly as common as the round icons.

The Open Document Format (ODF) used by OpenOffice/LibreOffice is well ... open.
Word can save documents to the ODF text file ODT format.
How about supporting LibreOffice Writer ODT import?
I would assume it is much easier program to import an open and well documented format.
It is quite annoying to have to save a LibreOffice ODT text document to DOCX format to import into InDesign.
Plus it would provide encouragement to use an open format.
Would also encourage use of FOSS and reasonably priced software over entrenched monopolies and extortionate prices.
 

Happy … snowy … new year everyone! And thank you for a new beta, Matt! 

 

You know, I retyped that so many times thanks to over-active auto-correct and it still came out wrong... oh well, you know what I meant!
The Pen and Node Tool improvements are mainly around snapping and cusp editing, I believe (Ben was looking into this and I've been very distracted trying to achieve another new feature... very nearly done, but there have been many many distractions!)
 
I think the problem is that maybe the naming of the feature isn't giving you enough of a clue about what's happening? This feature is taking all the curves from within the selected objects and merging them into the first selected object, deleting all the (now empty) other selected nodes. The results will always be an object with many curves (a 'polycurve') and just one colour and line style. It is not creating a group of those objects. For example, draw a large circle and a smaller inner circle, hit Layer->Geometry->Merge Curves and you'll get an 'o' shape, just one object with two curves, one fill, one line. The opposite is true for 'Separate curves' - hit that and you'll get two objects, each with one curve and each with the fill and line of the original single item.
Hope that makes sense?
Matt

Thanks team!
Fix for default 'dartboard' names? Cool! ;-)
What are the pen and node tool improvements?

Status: Beta
Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not submitted
Download: Here
Hello,
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the beta of Affinity Designer 1.7 for macOS.
Designer 1.7 is a significant change to the currently shipping 1.6 version. Files edited in this version will not be backwards-compatible with the shipping 1.6 version. As such, we would not recommend using this 1.7 version for critical or production work at this stage. It is inevitable that there were will be a number of issues with 1.7 but we hope these will be minor and aim to resolve any issues very quickly, so please use it and explore the new features, but also do keep in mind that you may find snags and we would appreciate your help with finding and reporting these to us.
If this is your first time using a customer beta of an Affinity app, it’s worth noting that the beta will install as a separate app - alongside your store version. They will not interfere with each other at all and you can continue to use the store version for critical work without worry.
It’s also worth noting that we aren’t done yet - we are still working through reported bugs from previous releases and hope to fix as many as possible before the final release of 1.7.
With all that said, we hope that you will enjoy the new capabilities introduced in this initial release and we look forward to any and all feedback you give to us.
Many thanks,
Matt
 
Affinity Designer 1.7 - Changes since last Beta release
- New program and document icons.
- New 'Cube' grid setup mode (take a look in 'View' -> 'Grid and Axis Manager...').
- Sub-brush editing fixes and improvements.
- HSL adjustment UI fixes.
- TIFF import/export improvements.
- Fix for loading very large JPEGs
- Fix for rendering issue with edit controls on the context toolbar.
- Fix for default artboard names sometimes causing sub-folders to be created in Export Persona output.
- Memory management tweaks.
- Fix for sporadic OpenGL issues (black squares appearing at random).
- Rotation of brush tips using keyboard modifiers can now occur during drag.
- PDF export improvements.
- Fill Tool is now plane-aware and generates initial fill handles appropriate for the current plane.
- UI gamma change now functions correctly on Mojave.
- Font list tweaks.
- 'Create artboard' option in New Document dialog should be initialised correctly now.
- Vector brushes now allow for non-pixel-aligned head/tail offsets when dragging (just hold Alt/Option to avoid pixel-snapping).
- Symbol fixes.
- Pen and Node Tool improvements.
- EPS import improvements.

Affinity Designer 1.7 - Changes Since Last 1.6 Release
Tools
- We've overhauled most of the core tools, adding subtle new features to make you more productive:
   - Node tool has a new 'Transform Mode' which provides a containing box for the selected nodes and allows for more freeform editing of the nodes.
   - Node and Pen tools have an utterly amazing Construction mode which gives easy access to common construction features to help you build complicated shapes or intersections accurately and easily, giving you simple access to parallels, right angles, reflected and mirrored angles, in addition to circular construction snaps and all construction intersections. This really needs a video to show how to use it - but it's awesome.
   - Pen tool now has a 'rubber band' mode and also a mode to allow future curves to be added to the current object's curves (for example, the character 'a' is constructed of two curves in a single 'curve object' and this mode makes that construction simpler).
   - Node tool can now auto-snap nodes if you drag a node from one curve over the top of a node from another (selected) curve and pause, it will offer to snap to the same geometry as the node you're hovering over (ie,  modify the on and off-curve nodes to match). This is really useful for trying to reconstruct areas of one curve from another curve.
   - Node tool now allows for lasso selection of nodes by holding the Alt/Option key and dragging a selection lasso.
   - Pencil tool now offers a 'sculpt' mode that allows for extending or manipulating curves in a more natural way. More to come in this area soon.
   - Many tools now allow for 'Alignment widgets' which you can toggle the visibility of in the context toolbar. When enabled you can visually adjust the alignment or even, for example, 'align to centre, snapped to the left edge of this object' by simply click/dragging.
   - Fill tool correctly allows editing of skewed fill handles and newly-created skewed fills draw much nicer now.
   - Ruler origin can be edited by simply dragging the area where the rulers intersect each other - it can even be snapped onto objects in the document.
   - Guides can be edited in most tools by simply dragging a guide in the ruler area.
   - Grid setup is now more interactive: origin can be dragged, axis scale adjusted and angle adjusted on-document, complete with snapping to objects and angles in the document to help you reconstruct useful grids from finished artworks or sketches.
   - By enabling 'Edit in Plane' on the new Isometric Studio, tools can edit objects and appear to make those edits along the currently active plane - extremely useful for artists who enjoy working with any axonometric projections.
   - You can now drag the rotation centre point (when enabled on the context toolbar) while holding Ctrl and it will translate the object - this is actually very useful for positioning and snapping objects relative to others.
   - Shapes tools now have presets so you can create your own favourite shape setups and more easily use them again.
   - There are just far too many subtle tool changes to mention here, but hopefully you'll find the tools much improved 
 
General
- New brushes, styles and assets are now shipped with the product.
- Visible bleed (accessed from the View menu) so you can more easily design into the bleed area - a common feature request.
- “Alternate futures” for document history have been added. Traditionally, if you roll back the undo history then do something else all your changes after that point are lost. Designer will now display a small branch icon in the history tab when you do this. Pressing that button will cycle between all the different “futures” after that history entry - meaning you will never lose work you have done.
- New 'Isometric' Studio makes it easy to setup and work with various axonometric projections within the application.
- HEIF images can now be loaded directly into Designer. If they contain a depth map, this will also be loaded as a second layer. Because depth maps are typically lower resolution than the main image, optional “smart” upsampling will be performed.
- Designer now supports custom document presets - a popular feature request.
- A new blend mode - Linear Burn - has been added.
- New “Move inside / outside” commands have been added - useful for quickly clipping/unclipping.
- New "Merge curves/Separate curves" commands.
- Grids now have an editable number of angle subdivisions.
- The Hard Mix blend mode has been improved.
- Numerous text improvements have been made - including new features such as bullets and numbering.
- Significant PDF import / export improvements and fixes.
- Fix for occasional crash when using Construction points
- Improved Freehand import slightly - failing to read all of a file shouldn't force it to produce a 'failed to load' response, instead we just load the bits that we *could* read
- Fix for very poorly named Styles (oops)
- New splash screen and Persona icons
 
Brushes
- Designer 1.7 introduces a new “sub-brush” mechanism, developed in conjunction with Paolo Limoncelli (DAUB® Brushes). This exciting feature allows any brush to have a list of other brushes attached which will draw at the same time. Each sub-brush has a fully separate and customisable set of dynamics. You can control when the sub-brushes are drawn and how they blend with the main brush.
- Symmetry (up to 32-way) is now supported - including on-canvas controls and optional mirroring.
- Wet edges and accumulation are now available on colour brushes and brushes with HSL variance.
- Brushes with multiple nozzle textures have always chosen the nozzle at random. In 1.7, the nozzle choice has a dynamic controller and ramp for greater control.
- All pixel brush tools now support left and right arrow keys for rotation - a common feature request.

Adjustments
- The HSL adjustment layer has been rewritten. It now supports custom hue ranges, a new algorithm, new UI and picker controls.
- The Levels adjustment layer now supports output levels - a common feature request.
- The White Balance adjustment layer has been rewritten.
- The Selective Colour adjustment layer has been rewritten.
- PSD import / export of adjustments has been improved.
- The Vibrance adjustment layer has been rewritten.
- The Recolour adjustment layer has gained a lightness slider.

 
Misc
- Numerous other bug fixes - too many to list!

I have to confess that it isn’t my rendering! I got it (and ‘αℓƒяє∂‘) from here.
Please note my caveat about potentially inconveniencing other users who want to tag you in their posts.

If all vector drawn objects, dpi will not matter.
However, exactly how do you intend to have this printed?

Hello,
on macOS there is an extremely helpful shortcut: cmd-click on the filename of the titlebar of a your applications document window. This brings you to the finder-place where the very document is stored. This is not implemented yet in A-Publisher. Please don't forget, it is very helpful.
Thanks for bringing a great product to the market!!!

Sounds like you have View > View Mode > Clip to Canvas enabled. If you disable it you can paint outside the main canvas area and into (or beyond) the bleed area. (I'm not sure it should be necessary to disable that option, as I think it would work better if the definition of "Canvas" for clipping purposes included the bleed area.

This sort of thing is entirely possible in APub.
Design the certificate. Place the certificate design on the Master Page of a document that is not using Facing pages.
Switch the the first page of the document. I would add a layer at this point for the text. Add a single text frame where the names go. Make a paragraph that centers the text. Set the paragraph style to begin on the next page like so:

Then simply import the text. It will overflow and I find it distracting, so I shut it off at the lower right corner of the text frame. Then shift-click the flow icon and all the pages will be built automatically. Takes mere seconds.
I have attached a simple example as a ZIP. It contains the APub file, the certificate graphic and a text file.
Certificate.zip

Agreed that it would be helpful if the bleed area was properly visualised in artboard mode.
For non-artboard documents, you will have to disable "View">"View Mode">"Clip to canvas" to make the canvas edge visible. I would have expected it to be visible even when Clip to canvas is on, though.

Hi!
Currently, when exporting to pdf, the default area setting is set to "All Spreads" in the export dialogue. I'm not sure when this is actually helpful, but 99.9% of the time I use "All Pages" (otherwise I export current page/selection). Could this be the default instead or, at least, stick once it is changed?
I'd be glad to hear when and for what purpose people are using the All Spread area setting. 
ref, this thread: 
 

Hi!
Currently, when exporting to pdf, the default area setting is set to "All Spreads" in the export dialogue. I'm not sure when this is actually helpful, but 99.9% of the time I use "All Pages" (otherwise I export current page/selection). Could this be the default instead or, at least, stick once it is changed?
I'd be glad to hear when and for what purpose people are using the All Spread area setting. 
ref, this thread: 
 

With the number of times this question shows up, I would suggest this could be a pinned thread in the forum.

I think it would be sufficiently intuitive if double-clicking on the master page thumbnail opens it in the workspace, while double-clicking on the master page name field itself just puts it into edit mode.

Updated to 192 with Auto-update without issues.
It would be more helpful/logical if the Auto-update message gave the 4 part version number (1.7.0.192) rather than only 3 parts version (1.7.0). Especially during beta programs where the 3 part number is not expected to change although new versions are distributed. Currently, you have to open the About window just to get that last number.

I contacted support in BBedit and they came back with a reply which suggests to me that Affinity have some work to do to make Aff Pub fully compliant so that the copy and paste functions will work for us all. 
Here is the relevant response,
Upon examination, I observe that Affinity Publisher is putting both 'public.utf8-plain-text' and 'public.utf16-plain-text' content types on the clipboard; however, it is populating the latter while leaving the former empty, and that is not appropriate:  if an app _provides_ both types then it should also _populate_ them both (and since one can represent the same text in UTF-8 and UTF-16, there's no impediment to doing so).

So, this discrepancy is responsible for why nothing happens when you attempt to copy text from Publisher and paste it into BBEdit, and I hope you find this info helpful.
How do we get Affinity to work on fixing this problem?

@Old Bruce: At some occasion, I was having a similar frustrating experience with the font menu. Then I realised the subset option was set to "Used" rather than "All" (visually, it's not super obvious which one is selected, at least in dark mode). Once that was corrected, the menu showed the relevant match of fonts.

… still keeping my fingers-crossed for a colour separation panel …
+1
(Even better: an Acr*bat alternative in Serif style.)

> See: Affinity Publisher Beta Help > Publishing and Sharing > PDF Publishing > Publishing PDF Files:
Oh. Maybe then I mean better indexing. I looked for export - which of course is the command involved.

That's "News" to me.