[Wonky Selection]

Weird. That's buggy

[Pencil Tool - still difficult to handle]

Please just make it automatically close the curve. If Use Fill is checked, it should close the curve. Why would I ever want to draw a filled shape without it being closed? 

[Swatches Have 2 Names (Fill/Global and Spot)]

Hi Callum,
 Thanks for the response. The Spot color name is not shown anywhere, but it's there. Create a New Spot Color. Right click on that swatch in the swatch panel. There is an option to rename Global Color, and there is an option to rename Spot Color. The Global Color name is used within Affinity. The Spot color name is adopted when the document is exported to pdf. This is not intuitive, but I noticed this when experimenting with how Affinity exports pdfs.

These are just some initial observations. My aim in this post is to get some insight as to why Affinity designed the naming of swatches this way so that I can appropriately adjust my workflow.

[Swatches Have 2 Names (Fill/Global and Spot)]

I've just noticed this. What is the use case? I'm guessing that this allows me to maintains a spot name like "PMS 100", but also name the global color something appropriate for the current document.

As an aside: Why doesn't Affinity save global color information in pdfs?

[APub | How can I extract Images?]

Awesome, thanks!
I was looking for a panel that had these features in View > Studio. I found the Resource Manager in the Document menu.

[APub | How can I extract Images?]

I have a document open that has raster images in it. How can I extract the image files?
In Illustrator I would Export to SVG, and have the images linked (I'd end up with and SVG, and image files in a folder). What Can I do with Affinity Publisher?

I understand that there are different ways to go about doing things with Affinity products, so I'll describe what I am doing and maybe someone can give me a good solution:
I am dragging an image from the Stock panel. I love this feature, BUT it is embedding the image (even though I have expressed preference for linking images when I created the document). I want to make this image linked so that my file is not bloated.

[Tab Stops don't update]

It's much better in the 1.7 Beta! It's still a little awkward, but seems completely functional.

The awkwardness I am referring to is this:

There are these 7 buttons:
[Positions]  [Align] [v]  [Leader] [v]  [...]  [x]

Clicking [Align] does nothing. Clicking [Leader] does nothing.

[Align] [v] should be just one button: [Align v]
[Leader [v] should be just one button: [Leader v]

The [...] button should be much larger and more visible; it seems to be more useful than the other buttons.
So, [Align] [v]  [Leader] [v]  [...] could just all be one button that does [...].

My very first suggestion of all of the above would be to just make the [...] larger and easier to click.

 

On 5/9/2019 at 9:53 AM, GabrielM said:

Hi @desult,

This seems to be fixed in the latest 1.7 beta. Can you please check this and confirm if it's still an issue? 

Thanks,

Gabe. 

 

[Tab Stops don't update]

Where do I find the beta download at?

EDIT:  I found it.

[Tab Stops don't update]

I'm exploring how to use tab stops in AD for the first time. I have quickly run into an issue with the way they function.

Here is what I am doing:
- Place cursor in paragraph that I want to apply Tab Stops to.
- Open the Paragraph Panel.
- Adjust distance (example 4 in)
- Press "Add New Tab Stop"

That works great as long as I get the distance exactly correct. I can Highlight the created Tab Stop and adjust Alignment and Leader, I cannot, however, adjust the distance. This feels broken. I should be able to adjust the distance without having to delete and recreate.

I thought it had something to do with the name of the Tab Stop, so I highlight the name to attempt to rename, but the new name does not stick.

 

[Replace one symbol with another]

Is there a way to select a symbol, then replace it with a different symbol from the symbol library? If not, could this be a feature request. It would help a lot.

[Affinity Photo and Designer 1.6 have launched!]

I'm most excited to see the ability to Unlock All on the list of new features! I've tried it out and live the way it works!

Something I've noticed though, the shortcut for Unlock All does not work if I use the CTRL+ALT+SHIFT on the right side of the keyboard, I've got to use the keys on the left side of the keyboard. I'm not sure if that is intentional or consistent with the way shortcut keys work.

[AD | Layers | How do they function?]

3 minutes ago, R C-R said:

It varies depending on the complexity, grouping, layer stacking, & position of everything in the document but often it is as simple as clicking somewhere else, like a different part of the head that the eye is not covering.

 

Thanks! I've created some complex objects and tested it out some and it works pretty well to be able to click around and hop in and out of groupings.

 

[AD | Layers | How do they function?]

Is there a way to step back up the layer hierarchy without using the layers panel? Say I drill down into a character, then his head,  then his eye. Once I'm down editing the eyes, I want to just back up to edit the head without having to search the layers panel.

[AD | Layers | How do they function?]

Thanks for the replies. It's helpful to know about the Insert Behind/On top/Inside buttons, although they are a bit cumbersome to use. I did find out that I can double click a group to drill down inside of it, as owenr has said, then paste or create objects to have the same effect as depressing the Insert Inside button.

I think what is helping me as realizing that the layers panel is really a list objects and not layers in the sense I am expecting. That being said, I think aiming to have it be a list of groups rather than a list of layers might help me organize things.

 

I also realized that the reason things were always dropping down to the bottom-most "layer" is because that bottom-most layer was an artboard.

Edited: 9/29 . Fixed some typos and such.

[AD | Layers | How do they function?]

I just realized that the dark grey layers are actually artboards. I'm not really sure how that effects things.

[AD | Layers | How do they function?]

I also wanted to state that I come from an Illustrator background and the layers panel seems to function a lot different. I'm having a hard time managing where everything is placed.

[AD | Layers | How do they function?]

Can someone point me to a video explaining how the layers panel works?

Some trouble I'm having:

 1. I'm not sure how to control where new things I draw are being put.

     I can highlight a layer I want to work on and then draw something.

     The new thing I draw is put into the bottom-most layer (even though it is locked).

 2. Some layers are medium grey, some are dark grey. Why?

 3. How do I unlock things without having to dig through the layers panel?

[What is your pattern tool of preference?]

I too would like to know. I have Draw Plus, does it have pattern tools? How about something free? Inkscape?

[Is there a shortcut for Convert to Sharp, Smooth, and Smart?]

As the Subject says, I'm looking for a quicker way to access those tools to change the way the nodes behave and are shaped. What are people's workflow like for fine tuning the nodes and handles? Moving my mouse up to that bar every time is not great.

[Select Same Fill color?]

Is there a way to select all same fill color? Same with select same stroke color and other things.

[What programming Language is Affinity Designer written in?]

I don't mind learning scripting languages. Javascript tutorials are easy to find. After searching, so is python. Codeschool.com and Codecademy.com are two good resources to learn either. These are what I will use.

 

I was using Codecademy for awhile, but their Python course is using version 2, I don't mind being familiar with the syntax differences, but I would ultimately rather not be learning on an old version. I also like FreeCodeCamp and will probably use both that and Codecademy when I do get around to picking up Javascript.

[What programming Language is Affinity Designer written in?]

interesting choice for JavaScript.

 

most design tools I use use Python for scripting Maya Blender Fusion ...

 

add Krita to that.

I too would be much more excited about Python, not so much for Javascript. I guess it's another reason for me to learn Javascript even though I'm not too thrilled with it.

[Best Graphics Tablet under $100?]

I found 'touch' to be a total nightmare. Within a few days I turned it off completely. I found I was constantly triggering unwanted events with inadvertent hand movements.  :(

I too found myself turning off touch for the same reasons. I'll toggle it on on occasion though, but 99% of the time it is off.

[Cut tool?]

The Boolean operations are comparable to Illustrator's Shape Mode tools. Does AF have tools similar to Illustrator's Pathfinder tools?

[AD: List of missing fonts?]

How can I see a list of missing fonts in a document? When I open a psd or ai file, a dialog appears that gives me time to find the fonts before fully opening the file. When I open an AD file, a windows sometimes briefly appears that lists the font. That window does not always appear though. Where can I see a list of fonts used in the document?