Boldlinedesign

My first thought went to an option like procreate has now - where you can record to screen actions themselves. I googled "time lapse Affinity" and came across some videos explaining macros... I don't think that was the same as this.

I'll make a new post somewhere else on this

@Patrick Connor I apologize, I was not trying to post in the wrong spot to initiate this adobe topic. It was a mistake I didnt see until you pointed it out.

I don't know that I could run CS6 with Rosetta, since it stopped working on Intel macs shortly after El Capitan.... Is there a way to run CS6 on Big Sur?

@Nazario - Glad to hear I'm not the only one in this predicament! I'm sorry you had to make the move over to subscription. You make a good point, the new chips are so much faster, I'm sure a virtual machine would run well on them. Thanks for sharing your situation and your input. For the record, I'm excited about where the combination of Affinity Designer and VS - I'm hoping when I do upgrade to the new macs, I can try and do almost everything I need to between them and not need Adobe so much.... that's my goal

@Richard Liu - I do plan to keep running the current older machine as far as it will go. No plans to get rid of it. The Apple switch to new chips and the limited window to buy a new intel mac made me speed up my thoughts on what route to take

Can we add one more tool to the boolean set? A "merge" tool like in illustrator? The current "add" tool reminds me a lot of the "Unite" tool in Illustrator. It's like a scorched earth approach where everything is combined into one shape with one set of properties. The "merge" tool in Illustrator allows object with differing attributes to cut into one another like a cookie-cutter does. Also, I can put a fill shape of another color behind a vector fill with a negative shape and it will essentially fill that negative space. This is such an essential part of my workflow. I watch others forced to fill objects when there is still a closed stoke or go back in afterward and re-draw the existing shapes as fills only. What about a live paint fill tool that does not require a continuous united path in order to fill it, but instead recognizes all four sides being closed in some way, whether by the same stroke or different overlapped strokes?

I am debating if I should buy one of the latest intel-based macs before they run out and use that for a while until the new chip situation resolves itself after a couple years. I'm in a tough spot because I still use CS6 regularly for my work though I'm trying to do more of it with Affinity and Vectorstyler. I'm still running El Capitan to keep CS6 alive. My computer is older and I was planning to get another one next year, but this switch to ARM and away from Intel has me wondering if I need to make a move now. I could have stability in terms of what I have been doing, I could keep running CS6 as I wait for Affinity to do all I need it to do, and I could delay having to deal with a whole new system in terms of file structure, etc. On the flip side, staying with intel and maintaining use of El Capitan means that many of the apps can't be updated past a certain point (though that hasn't caused major issues so far) but also web browsers are warning me that they won't be updated past a certain date fast approaching - same with Flash support, etc. Ideally, I would want to stay current so I can appreciate the new improvements to other applications, be better protected with my browsers, etc. Is it feasible to wait and get a new mac next year and run a copy of virtualization software like VM Fusion to have a copy of el capitan available to run CS6 in the future for the times I need it? Ultimately, I'd love to have a way to never lose access to CS6 even as I transition away from Adobe so I always have the option to use it when necessary. Perhaps I'm working too hard to avoid enslaving myself to Adobe's subscription model? Perhaps letting this effort to maintain CS6 go and go with the subscription until Affinity catches up? - my fear there is it takes them another five years to add in the standard things we've asked for over the last five years?

@JET_Affinity I can understand why the extra nodes created by the blob tool would be annoying. I'm not going to repeat unnecessarily the reasons so many of us find value in the ability to free flow line work. There's value in a certain level of vector in photo and a value in a certain amount of raster in affinity. Equally, it would only increase the value and ability and range of designer to have the less mechanical and more artistic ability with vectors.

They said their plan was to make VS about 100 dollars, no subscription, with free updates for a year. Then you'd buy it again when needed

@Rocket_Poop - how are you doing it right now? Are you doing strokes and then expanding and merging and then doing a few more? Why not wait until the end of the inking and expand and divide or merge then?

Vectorstyler recently improved their warp function so the first and last letters were not squished by the typical warp. I tested this out today with a common team name I would use for screen print design. I created the text and arched it in VS, then made the triangle shape and used blend to make the pattern and then to also bend the arch of it. I copied and pasted it all into the new Affinity beta to play around with clipping the triangle effect inside the letters, add a stroke to the inside and use the new contour tool. I'm sure I could have done all of this in VS, but I wanted to see if using the tools VS has that are still missing in AD would allow me to do all I needed without resorting to Illustrator. VS has so many options made available to the user and the ability to do so much with pure vector. They are also super responsive to input and make changes very quickly to their beta. Their user UI is not as fluid or efficient as Affinity Designer - hopefully that will improve. It's also currently mac-only, though they have said they will port it over to windows once they finalize the app and release it officially. Affinity Designer has a more efficient and fluid UI but still seems to lack "basic" vector functions like 100% pure vector brushes, text and object warping, vector eraser and blob brush, vector blend, etc. It felt good to be able to create fully the type of stuff I was previously only able to do in Illustrator. My biggest fear was being stuck without these options if for some reason I could not longer continue to use CS6. The combination of VS and AD gives me the feeling I can do almost anything I need sans Adobe. It also tempers my impatience in wanting to see larger steps taken with the enhancement of Affinity Designer.

I updated to the newest version of 1.8 you just released - and now when I try to open my 1.9 beta I've used for days, it is asking for a license key and email... the problem is, I bought it from the app store on Apple... how do I get the license key? Is this new request for a license key confirmation due to the new update to 1.8 that it's basing validity upon?

I'm having the same issue tight now with the Affinity Designer beta. I was using it yesterday just fine, then today, it is asking for my email and serial

Thanks @DanG - I went ahead and sent you a PM

This looks really cool - I wish there was a way to test it out before investing 60 dollars into it

The welcome screen is a lot like other apps - it's more designed and caters to the new recruit and less to the grizzled veteran user. it can be easily turned off for all future openings. I like the idea of a place for recently used items but I also don't want to see the application cluttered with file thumbnails and the like when I first open it. Perhaps if it was in the new and open sections?

I'm trying again today with the same issues. is this a problem for anyone else?

I downloaded the new beta tonight for Designer and each time I tried to register or sign in, it would either stay on the loading screen forever, or tell me it could not connect. Not sure what to do about that

@Frozen Death Knight would you do a video showing how you use it in your digital painting? There's a real shortage of videos teaching how to paint digitally in affinity photo

I've been holding on to cs6 forever, using it for most of my shirt design work because I know it inside and out and can be efficient with it. Vectorstyler and affinity still give me great hope I can transition over to a combo use of the two apps. Using the strengths of each together to create what I do now in cs6. Add this is in no way dashing cs6 is great, but it's time is short and the options a combo of affinity and vectorstyler offer are limitless

@Dazmondo77 @lenogre I agree vectorstyler is impressive! Without taking away from affinity on anything, when I've made suggestions to vectorstyler for improvements, they are responded to and often the fix is within a few days. I sent an example to them of an issue with how it's warp feature negatively compressed the exterior bookend letters in a word and they just sent me a notice they fixed it in the latest build. Not expecting affinity to have that turnaround time but it's awesome to see solutions

Yes I'm sure the blob brush is really just an instant add Boolean. Affinity seems to have hit a massive roadblock getting their Boolean operations to work efficiently and with every update they seem to address it a little at a time. Getting clean Boolean operations appears to have vexed them. The add Boolean is better now than before and divide was self admittedly much worse before the 1.8 update. That said, it's frustrating to not see these issues fixed completely as update after update come out. In my operations currently, if I vector something in affinity, I copy it over to illustrator to expand and merge. I'm also limited to using only a few brushes if I want pure vectors. As you mentioned, I could use raster brushes or even the limited pure vector brushes and then use a live trace like vector magic to convert to vector and I've done that, especially with apps like procreate. My problem with that is it's an extra step in the creation process, vector trace still requires clean up after, and some methods of inking can't be accomplished that way. For example when I ink, I overshoot my lines intentionally and then convert to curves and divide so I can select and remove the excess and delete. I can't do that if I'm not using pure vector brushes in my opinion, I wish affinity would focus much more on truly fixing the Boolean operations once and for all, adding in the features most are clamoring for that keep it from being a true alternative to illustrator. That to me is more important than the change in 1.9 upcoming with system synch.

Speaking for myself, I need the ability to create in pure 100% vector without bitmaps or rasters. Yes I could use the brush tool and build up with strokes and add them together, but as you mentioned, it leaves a mess of useless nodes and sometimes using add and divide Boolean operations freezes my app, or parts of the design disappear. It's not a clean operation yet unfortunately. The blob tool also helps a vector program gain some artistic approach. With the pen tool, there's a mechanical and precise feel that is good, but still harder to be artistic and free flowing. Also, a blob tool can allow for a quick simple edit. It adds a more artistic dimension to affinity.

@LCamachoDesign Those are valid points about patterns. I don't do a ton of work with patterns myself, so it wasn't on my "urgent need" list - but it's certainly important