BatteriesInc
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Everything posted by BatteriesInc
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OK, "anything sensible" that is still actively maintained and improved ;) : even Lightroom isn't that good, and I intensely dislike cloudy apps. That said, I would welcome a platform that allows catalogues of external data to be incorporated, I have some data kept in a cloud platform (typically aged material) because there's only so much room on a local harddisk - it would be good if you can either add separate directories and drives (in which case I could just mount the external resource as a directory with tools such as "Mountain Duck") or web resources such as webdav or SFTP/SSH servers. You don't need that mounted if you only access the indexes and thumbnails or, alternatively, you could store the indexes of such drives on the same location so you could switch resources on and off (as it would be rather pointless to want access to an image if you're out of reach). Last but not least, I want to be able to switch OFF facial recognition. It's all very nice if it's a personal collection, but as soon as it concerns a professional photographer such data soon becomes a potential Data Protection violation risk that is worth avoiding. The incoming GDPR has teeth in the form of substantial fines.. -
Well, I wouldn't want to affect a Royal "we", but when it comes to a DAM I must actually agree, there is definitely a "need", also known as a ready market. There isn't really anything sensible out there that allows you to tag images, manage copyrights (let's not forget that), sort on all sorts of parameters including whatever available EXIF data and even dimensions etc etc etc. The only other option I see here is some Open Source project which could incorporate things like Graphics/ImageMagick and exiftool for image handling, but I lack the bandwidth to get that organised and keep it from getting mired in pointless politics. Given past performance of the Affinity team which I enjoy daily with Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo* there is a high degree of confidence that whatever they dream up will be good and innovative too, and they have access to plenty of people here who would love to help with requirements gathering and alpha/beta testing (sticks up hand). That's probably their only problem: they set the bar pretty high for themselves with AD and AP :P - my confidence in them delivering something good is only exceeded by my impatience to see it appear :rolleyes: .. * They should really come up with some joint license - it's worth having both
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Hi, Could any of you great experts tell me how I could use Affinity Photo to make an image partially transparent? If I, for instance, have an image of a cup leaking lemonade I'd like to make the lemonade partially transparent so it picks up the background of whatever I drop it on. I'm hoping to use some images in a presentation and although I can probably get away without this, the perfectionist in me just won't shut up :). Before anyone mentions that Powerpoint has such facilities, (a) I don't use Powerpoint and (b) that's not the point, I'm trying to get comfortable with image editing in AP which I don't use much (I'm not a professional) and this was something I haven't managed to work out. Thanks in advance!
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Mea Culpa - now it works in Safari and FF. Weird. Maybe there was a network problem. In any case, it's now working - thanks for checking :)
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Hi, the Vimeo video "Affinity Photo - Aligning Images" appears to be either damaged or blank. I was looking at some education to blend a number of images with each other (a sort of montage), and came across this video which is blank so I guess that needs fixing. If you have a tutorial on image blending I'd welcome a link - it's specifically soft blends which graduate into transparency that I'm after. (yes, I know that's probably very basic knowledge for a designer, but I have never claimed I am :) ) I found the cutting out video which is a start. I suspect there will probably be a gazillion tutorials for Photoshop based composites, but I was hoping for an Affinity specific one. If there isn't one, not to worry, I'll probably manage using examples of "that other" software, but maybe it's an idea? Cheers!
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Hi, Affinity uses the data provided by a font to position font strikeout (as I found out when posting this as a bug). The problem: if the font supplier made an error or you'd like a different effect you'll have to make your own strikeout as that position cannot be adjusted. Feature request: an ability to adjust font strikeout position. Cheers!
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"We would recommend that all users download and use this version. It should be considered more reliable than the current Mac App Store version (1.5.4)" As I've just lost work to a spinning ball (after discovering a bug - just filed that), I'd love to. However, the betas (quite sensibly) run isolated from the production version: what do I do to give the beta the same brushes, tools, settings (etc etc - basically everything the production version has installed)? I understand it has to be a copy rather than a link so a bug won't wipe the production settings, but on the other hand, without the full tool environment it's only half a test to start with :). Cheers!
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Photo 1.6 Beta – when?
BatteriesInc replied to anon1's topic in [ARCHIVE] Photo beta on macOS threads
Just out of morbid curiosity, does being passive aggressive ever produce results? The Affinity team is IMHO doing a good job, clearly visible in every new release. You're welcome to pay for Photoshop if you think that is better - personally, I found it worthwhile to (a) do everything in Affinity and ( B) participate where I can in the beta program to help (I'm not a professional, but I seem to have some talent breaking things :) ). I worked for decades with Microsoft software, so I know what problems hurried software can bring, and as one of the earlier users of Linux I also know how critical UI design is to usability (hence macOS + Linux in my shop). Given the quality of what Affinity cooks up in AD and AP (and the new ideas) I'm quite prepared to follow their pace with at most some good natured ribbing because I like the result. "Gimme something innovative", however, is unlikely to yield any result. -
Thanks Lee, I literally just discovered a different route to Rome - as I needed the background transparent, the power of the erase tool came to the rescue instead. However, I will preserve your answer (or rather mark it) because I do indeed want this to work :). Thank you for helping! Cheers.
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I have a simple JPG generated by some software, and I'd like to replace one colour (straight black or white) with another, or make it transparent. So far, any attempt to use the colour replacement brush tool have not given any result, and my search on the forum found its use to be an as yet unanswered question. I was hoping this brush would act as pick-and-replace tool (if pixel is <colour set> then replace with the colour set as front) but evidently I have this wrong. As I have both AD and AP, here are my questions: - which is the best to use? - what is the exact process to replace a specific colour x with a colour y? (layer select, any settings that can mess it up, which brush to choose, how to choose the colour to change and set the colour it will be replaced with). - just in case I come across this later, is there also a way I can control the *range* of colours accepted for replacement (the cat example isn't universally the same orange). I'm clearly missing something simple, but I can't seem to identify what.
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Could I suggest you place this list somewhere as a page for both AD and AP, reachable from the public Affinity website? You have a generic "Tutorials" link there, but this list is so much more informative and ought to impress anyone looking for either product - and then you only have to tell us that there's an update :). That brings me to a second point: date the entries and highlight anything less than a month old, if you have the date information it's not that difficult to automate. Cheers :)
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Yes, about that Publisher being available.. *cough* :) Happy New Year, still.
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Barcode Generator for Designer
BatteriesInc replied to johnuy's topic in Older Feedback & Suggestion Posts
I like that idea - vector based barcodes would ensure bar/space separation survives scaling (within the formal specifications, of course). 1D barcodes like EAN/UPC, Code 39 and Code 25 need crisp edges between bar and space if they are to be read successfully by standard pen and laser scanners, 2D codes like QR, Datamatrix tend to be more forgiving as they are read by cameras (PDF417, though, is again very picky due to its high information density). You can, of course, cheat a little if you only need Code 39: get the free 3 of 9 barcode font and scale as desired, be aware you're only allowed alphanumerics. Case is not relevant - the variant Code 128 can handle that but is rarely used. Small caveat, though: do not use EAN/UPC codes without understanding the principles and rules behind their numbering scheme. An airport that shall remain nameless once did that, and I'm pretty sure that some luggage still hasn't found its way home, a decade or so later :). -
Yes, I wasn't impressed much by it. Which means we still don't have something decent :(
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I've stayed tuned for a while, but realistically you have about a week left :). Anyone tried this Pixa thing? http://www.pixa-app.com. I've grabbed the trial, but am travelling right now so no chance to use it yet..
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Hi, Maybe it's dealt with, but I found that pulling down the font selector to set a font for an asset on the left of the screen is unhelpful in that it covers the very object you're trying to change. This removes some visual feedback and requires making sure the object is not on the left hand side before pulling down the font menu. I'm not quite sure it's fixable without a lot of effort, though, as you need to move either the object or move or shorten the font menu so it doesn't cover the text field you're trying to set. It's not exactly a major issue, more itch-level annoying :) Cheers!
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Hi, Sometimes I'm assembling components on a page, but I'm working on a canvas that is sized towards the end result. Is there a way to keep objects dragged off-canvas visible or do I have to switch to a "canvas + artboard" model to keep track of those objects? If, for instance, I create an A4 landscape canvas and drag an object outside the canvas area it basically becomes invisible and can only retrieved by either block selecting the whole area and dragging it on the canvas again or highlighting the relevant layer and dragging it back onto the canvas. Is there a setting for the off-canvas border to remain behind objects dragged off-canvas? Attached: example circle partly vanishing when being off-canvas Cheers!
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Thank you all for the replies! The aim was indeed to retain vector/layer data so that the imported images integrate and become an integral part of the whole design - SVG and PSD seem to work best. Cheers :)
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One of the sources I use supplies images in PNG, EPS, PSD and SVG format. What is the best format for importing images into Affinity Designer drawings?
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** Important Designer Mac 1.5.2 Update Notice **
BatteriesInc replied to TonyB's topic in News and Information
App store - Preferences. Either untick "Install app updates" or go for the whole hog and untick "Download newly available updates in the background". Not sure if you'd also untick "Automatically download apps purchased on other Macs" if you have multiple machines, but the above is presently worth doing. Again, we are very sorry and will make sure this never happens again. Hey, normal human beings make mistakes, it happens. Just don't aspire to Microsoft levels of patching :P. (BTW, thanks to your warning I caught it in time) -
I'd like to create an A5 size field of circles, all spaced 5mm apart. Is there any clever, fast way of doing this so that all circles are spaced accurately, and they maybe can be changed later? I've had grid snapping enabled, but that works only on one circle, and as soon as I do a power duplicate I don't get snapping because I'm dragging a whole line of them, and cursor key nudging doesn't seem to get added to the motion for the next power duplicate action. I've also looked at using symbols for this because it would allow me to change the whole page of objects at once, but the sheer volume of them leads to many encounters with the macOS spinning ball so that was possibly stretching things a bit. Advise welcome.
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Got it, thnx :)
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Hi, if I'm working with designs that have a lot of layers it's sometimes quite hard to identify the active layer in the layers list as it may not be in view and will thus require scrolling up and down before you can find the highlight. Is there a way to quickly jump to the highlight in the layer list, or (even better) some sort of option that allows the active one to be scrolled into in view? I accept the latter might not work when working with multiple selections, but when creating this would be quite handy because you don't always have to mine the relevant layer out of a long list.. Cheers!
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I love the various grids on the crop function in AP, but when you correct image tilt and want to keep as much of the image as possible you have to fiddle with the cropping until you have caught the maximum rectangle. Maybe you already have a function like that hidden somewhere, but if not, it would be great if there was a function which could sense the edge of transparency itself and crop just before that. I would certainly help less gifted people like me :)
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I found that I always have to set a coloured background of sorts when I'm working with white or light coloured objects (hence my feature request), but it's worth locking that layer or you end up accidentally selecting it and dragging it all over the place :rolleyes:
