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loukash

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Everything posted by loukash

  1. Affinity Designer, affects v1 as well as v2, also both MacOS desktop and iPad versions. Tested on MacBook Air M2 15", MacOS Ventura, and iPad 8th, iPadOS 16.7.2 Steps to reproduce: apply a vector brush stroke to text give the stroke any color set the stroke to "Order: Draw stroke behind" the stroke becomes black for solid brushes or "black-ish" with color tint for transparent brushes, even though the color well still displays the applied color Draw stroke in front: Draw stroke behind:
  2. [offtopic] I know. Would you like to browse all my 42 pages worth of attachments for me to find that link…? (That was a rhetorical question.) But for the record: the Other Media > Insert Existing Attachment button in the Submit Reply form, on the other hand, takes me to a window where I can actually search the attachments by keywords. Yep, I'm giving my attachments reasonable file names so that I can get back to them later. But it doesn't tell me where they have been used. [/offtopic, please do not reply to this!]
  3. As I said: For example, I had an ID brochure layout where I was in fact using tables as a clunky workaround because ID originally lacked other options to format the paragraphs the way I wanted, with multiple lines and background colors. At least as of CS3, that is; unfortunately I didn't have the budget to change the template layout after upgrading to CS5.5 where it maybe may have been possible. Nonetheless, it was a p.i.t.a. to maintain over the years, because the data came via XML import and auto-formating (something I still miss in APu though, duh!). But importing XML to table templates was (possibly still is?) a major p.i.t.a. in ID because it requires precise hierarchy, otherwise it will just silently fail. So in this particular scenario, I definitely don't miss it… Whereas the paragraph decorations in Publisher did exactly what I needed, even without XML, importing as a plain tab-separated text, combined with some smart conditional paragraph formating and Find & Replace. Formating the brochures in APu was then about twice as fast as in ID5.5: ^ Screenshot from my forum archives; apparently I've already posted this example before.
  4. That's definitely a flaw. But there's a couple of workarounds, admittedly a bit clunky: Also, rather than using tables like in ID back in the day, in some scenarios I found a much easier workflow to simply use regular text frames with multiple paragraph decorations; in a way that wouldn't even been possible in ID (as of CS5.5 which was the last version I've used).
  5. You can "squeeze" them with Affinity export as well. Just don't use the default presets. In the Advanced tab you have several options how to "squeeze" your pixels directly at export. It's mainly about DPI, downsampling, and JPEG compression. And also about ICC profile embedding; especially CMYK profiles will add additional MB.
  6. That will rasterize all content. To keep the PDF file size low, this is definitely the last thing you would want to do. Adobe PDF is definitely classes better in optimizing the output than PDFlib which is what Affinity is utilizing. To work around that, make sure to avoid any unnecessary rasterizing in the document itself. Adjustment layers and layer effects are the most common culprits. When exporting drafts to send to clients, usually I'm massively reducing the DPI and the JPEG compression for downsampled images in the export dialog. E.g. for proof reading, my clients are usually fine with images being downsampled to 150 DPI at JPEG compression 60.
  7. So they have four weeks to eat the cake and keep more than half of it, too. Ain't life great…?
  8. I'd expect the next massive discount to arrive around Black Friday or so, so still within the time frame.
  9. For what it's worth, it took me three years until I was ready to switch from Adobe CS5.5 to Affinity (while Publisher was also finally released then). It's not just a bunch of differently laid out filters and panels, it's the whole mindset that needs to adapt to new workflows. Looking back, I'm stunned how clunky some PS "workflows" actually were. Take your time, you still have 179 free days to go.
  10. On the other hand, digital drop shadows are ugly and are being massively overused, so…
  11. Speaking of… … this is what it looks like (that's an old screenshot which I have apparently posted here before): The benefit of such a self-designed FileMaker solution: I can have as many note fields as I deem necessary. And so I have many… So there's the project notes tab (the one that says "NO NOTES" when empty), a global client notes tab, an invoice note field, a private note field (for notes like "this client is a *&%*ing &%ck"), and each task entry also has an invoice note and a private note field. It can also link to my older note taking apps like The Hit List or MacJournal if I need to look up some of the original notes from a decade or two ago. One of the fields can also link to the Finder project folder, so from here I also have a quick access to the Affinity files, if any. And that's the point: Affinity apps are often a part of my projects, but they are not exclusive. That's why I need project notes outside.
  12. Speaking of note taking apps, for general notes I'm using Apple's "Notes" app. Not only does it sync with iPhone or iPad via iCloud, but it also still supports the "antique" IMAP protocol, i.e. it can also sync as a quasi-e-mail account. Heck, my current notes still sync with my 20 years old PowerBook G4 via the Mail.app!
  13. Back on topic… Some time ago I have noticed that under certain circumstances, palettized PNG export may introduce random artifacts like the ones seen above, even though there was nothing in the original image though could have caused them. Somehow I worked around it though and didn't investigate the issue any further.
  14. So do I, since decades. But I, for one, prefer independent solutions. Since I have programmed a custom FileMaker office application a couple of years ago that can do almost everything from time tracking over sending invoices up to calculating my income tax, my project notes are now part of it. (No, it can't boil my tea water yet…) I used to use The Hit List app which was pretty good while it lasted, but it hasn't been updated in many years, and its time tracker was too rudimentary for my needs. Also, Affinity apps already have quite a few options to leave notes, e.g. via Preflight or Metadata. Both of which I'm using. So rather than a Notes panel, I'd prefer to see a "non-printable" attribute being added, so that we could leave visible but non-printable/non-exportable notes on pages and the like.
  15. So do I. But the big difference is that Logic works with completely different media. You don't have this large "timeless" canvas where you can place text frames with notes anywhere you want. You have linear tracks with audio regions on it. So you can add notes to each track in the Mixer, you can add general notes to your project, you can also use Markers for specific notes on the timescale. It is thus necessary to have dedicated space for notes in Logic. This time dependent linearity doesn't exist in Affinity. Your Affinity note can even be a blank named layer in the Layers panel. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't oppose a Notes panel in Affinity per se. But answering OP's question, I wouldn't consider a Notes panel "necessary". Nice to have at best…
  16. Don't know about Windows, but on Mac, odd glitches like this would usually hint at a font ID conflict or font cache corruption on system level.
  17. Two quite different approaches. Also, while affinity.help is (quoting myself) "pretty well written", Mike's PDF book is thorough and excellent. Those two models are not mutually exclusive. Both have their benefits at times. Back in the day I was reading official manuals of, say, QXP, yet I also bought e.g. Samuel Hügli's "Insiderbuch QuarkXPress" which had more practical examples and tutorials. Same e.g. for Freehand, Emagic Logic and quite a few other complex software tools I was using in the 90s and 00s. I've always found Adobe's manuals abysmal. Even in the olden days when inDesign was the best thing to happen to desktop publishing.
  18. Oh, definitely one that I've found pretty well written. But as already noted on page 1, I'd prefer a PDF version.
  19. Since many decades I have the habit to actually read manuals. Gear manuals, tools manuals, hardware manuals, software manuals, you name it. (I wonder if that could be the reason why I actually understand how to use my tools properly…? ) I've read many bad software manuals. Too many to remember them all. https://affinity.help wasn't among them.
  20. Ghostscript For MacOS here: https://pages.uoregon.edu/koch Also available via Homebrew: https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/ghostscript More on all that: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q=Ghostscript&quick=1
  21. Think twice before you ask the wrong question: you may give them an idea they didn't even think of yet!
  22. I'm not posting such stuff unless I try it first. But… … when using mm at this zoom level, I couldn't see any more differences when changing the 9th decimal place, so you're probably right anyway.
  23. You can actually enter as many as you want and they will be accurately applied, but only 6 places will be displayed at maximum, depending on the decimal places display settings. That said, these are value differences that you can only see at zoom levels of 100 millions of %, at the very fringe of what Affinity apps are even capable to draw on display. For example, at the zoom of 400000000 % you can still easily see a size/position difference if you type a 7th or even 8th decimal place when using mm units.
  24. It is not for our users to police who can, or can't post here on the Affinity Forums - or to decide how often other users can post. Fun fact: I haven't been even posting in this thread since last Wednesday, having a total of 6 (six) posts on the whole forums in June, including this one. So I'm a bit perplexed here about what exactly I should be taking a break from. Eh, what ever, never mind… I'm not taking all this stuff personally. Exactly.
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