Bri-Toon

Roar

That looks really good. I like the spots in the sidewalk in which rain splashed. I also like the choice of having light, rain, and a night sky, all together. The way they come together almost makes me feel like I'm there.

I vote for the third. I like the filters added on the first and third. The second is most detailed but it is too saturated compared to the other two and since you are trying to portray a horror theme. (The colors are always toned dark in horror movies, and not fully being able to make out the face or minor details can make the picture look more scary.) In the second and third, it looks like you have a shadow of a man on the face's forehead which can't be seen as well on the first. I imagine it is supposed to be noticed. Also, the dark eyes on the third actually works for me. Since this is horror, the rules of photography may bend a little. It's all about the scare.

I agree with this request. A user can have a full palette of custom swatches, but the user can't find those colors (easily) without a palette in the Effects panel.

Hi,
 
it would save a lot of time if the layer fx "gradient overlay" AND outline ("Umrandung" - see 3rd attached image) would have the same functionality as "color overlay": the ability of choosing swatches - gradients in this case.
 
For a vice versa functionality - see also:
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/25422-how-to-get-a-color-gradient-from-layer-fx-into-swatchesgradients/
 
 
Thanks for taking your time and thinking about it,
Stefan.

As a user who experimented a lot with vector graphics over the years, I find it might be helpful for others for me to share the differences between Illustrator, DrawPlus, Designer, and CorelDraw. A lot of you might be unfamiliar with one or more of the programs. There are things I like about each and things I do not like. Onur has decided to help out in giving me background to CorelDraw since that is one I am unfamiliar with.
 
I will explain why I prefer certain programs and why I don't prefer them with the features that I find most or partially helpful. Here are 26 I came up with.
 
Last Updated (1/27/2017)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
 
 
Flood Fills
Being able to add fills to unclosed shapes (overlapping regions)
Illustrator: Yes, but fills cannot be added to weight variations, brush strokes, or effects DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Artboard Tool
The overall canvas which can be resized manually or multiplied
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Nested Layers
Layers that can be expanded to reveal the paths within
Illustrator: Yes, but sublayers will cause each layer to be expanded when the file is open (CC1 & below) DrawPlus: Yes, but sublayers cannot be added, and paths and groups cannot be hidden or locked Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Pencil Path Continuation
Being able to continue a path from its end point with the pencil tool
Illustrator: Yes, but sharp corners or sensitive handling will cause the shape to delete or change form DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it will be added in 1.6 CorelDRAW: Yes Fast Loading Effects
Effects such as inner and outer glows, shadows, feathers, and blurs
Illustrator: No, They take far too long to load depending on the amount (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Image Tracer
Converting a picture into vector artwork
Illustrator: Yes, but it takes far too long to load depending on the size (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Rounding Single Corners
Creating round corners to a single corner as oppose to all corners of a shape
Illustrator: Yes, (Updated) DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes, but not as simple as Designer Transparency Tool
Adding a fade effect to objects
Illustrator: No, but there is one for InDesign? DrawPlus: Yes, but it only works on single objects or groups Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Fill/Stroke Switcher
Switching the color of your stroke to your fill or fill to your stroke
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Tools and Layers
Having pixel tools and layers available
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pasting Inside
Being able to paste clipboard selections into objects
Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus: Yes (Updated) Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Replicate Tool
Being able to make duplicates of an object by resizing its bounding box
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but a replicate feature will be added to 1.6 CorelDRAW: No Customizable Vector Patterns
Ability to change the size, rotation, and skew form of a pattern fill while its selected
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: No B-Splines
Creating B-spline curves enabling the nodes to be in an outer fenced area
Illustrator: No, not in CS6 and below at least DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it has the Smart Curve Pen Tool CorelDRAW: Yes (Updated) Smooth Gradients
Having to easily create gradients, then rotate and resize them easily
Illustrator: No, You must use the Gradient panel resulting B/W first, then adjusting it is not user friendly DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Smooth Type on Path
Having to easily create type on a path, and then being change the path's size or shape
Illustrator: No, Changing the size and shape was made a lot more difficult than they needed to be DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Over 1,000,000% Zoom
Able to zoom into your drawing over 1,000,000% zoom size
Illustrator: No DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Preview
See what your vector drawing would like like in pixels
Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Realistic Brush Presets
Brush presets that that look natural
Illustrator: No, there are several brush presets, but they are all flat DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Lots of Shape Tools
Having a variety of shape presets to choose from
Illustrator: No, a total of 6 in the latest version, and live shapes weren't introduced until CC DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: Yes, and excellent manipulation for the cog tool CorelDRAW: Yes Redraw Paths
Able to redraw a selected stroke
Illustrator: Yes, but it can change the form that was not altered DrawPlus:  Yes, but it can be tricky to figure out Designer: No CorelDRAW: No Indicators
Indications of which tool, swatch, path, or other options are selected
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  Yes/No, no indication on swatches, paths, or effects Designer: Yes/No, dark indications on tools are hard to see with the dark background CorelDRAW: Yes Eyedropper on Select
Copying a color while an object is selected to change the selected object to that color
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes, but it cannot copy the other properties CorelDRAW: Yes Vector Eraser Tools
A tool that erases vector objects and maintains its quality
Illustrator: Yes, but it changes the shape's proportion DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: No, but there is a pixel eraser tool CorelDRAW: Yes 3D Extrusion
Turning flat objects into 3D objects, and then rotating them in a 3D perspective
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Full Boundary Selections
When objects are selected with a complete close from its selection box and not partially selected
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes, and partial selections can be used as well if adjusted in the preferences CorelDRAW: Yes   
If this is very helpful to people, then I will update this list as progress moves forward. I hope this helps.

As a user who experimented a lot with vector graphics over the years, I find it might be helpful for others for me to share the differences between Illustrator, DrawPlus, Designer, and CorelDraw. A lot of you might be unfamiliar with one or more of the programs. There are things I like about each and things I do not like. Onur has decided to help out in giving me background to CorelDraw since that is one I am unfamiliar with.
 
I will explain why I prefer certain programs and why I don't prefer them with the features that I find most or partially helpful. Here are 26 I came up with.
 
Last Updated (1/27/2017)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
 
 
Flood Fills
Being able to add fills to unclosed shapes (overlapping regions)
Illustrator: Yes, but fills cannot be added to weight variations, brush strokes, or effects DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Artboard Tool
The overall canvas which can be resized manually or multiplied
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Nested Layers
Layers that can be expanded to reveal the paths within
Illustrator: Yes, but sublayers will cause each layer to be expanded when the file is open (CC1 & below) DrawPlus: Yes, but sublayers cannot be added, and paths and groups cannot be hidden or locked Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Pencil Path Continuation
Being able to continue a path from its end point with the pencil tool
Illustrator: Yes, but sharp corners or sensitive handling will cause the shape to delete or change form DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it will be added in 1.6 CorelDRAW: Yes Fast Loading Effects
Effects such as inner and outer glows, shadows, feathers, and blurs
Illustrator: No, They take far too long to load depending on the amount (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Image Tracer
Converting a picture into vector artwork
Illustrator: Yes, but it takes far too long to load depending on the size (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Rounding Single Corners
Creating round corners to a single corner as oppose to all corners of a shape
Illustrator: Yes, (Updated) DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes, but not as simple as Designer Transparency Tool
Adding a fade effect to objects
Illustrator: No, but there is one for InDesign? DrawPlus: Yes, but it only works on single objects or groups Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Fill/Stroke Switcher
Switching the color of your stroke to your fill or fill to your stroke
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Tools and Layers
Having pixel tools and layers available
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pasting Inside
Being able to paste clipboard selections into objects
Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus: Yes (Updated) Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Replicate Tool
Being able to make duplicates of an object by resizing its bounding box
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but a replicate feature will be added to 1.6 CorelDRAW: No Customizable Vector Patterns
Ability to change the size, rotation, and skew form of a pattern fill while its selected
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: No B-Splines
Creating B-spline curves enabling the nodes to be in an outer fenced area
Illustrator: No, not in CS6 and below at least DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it has the Smart Curve Pen Tool CorelDRAW: Yes (Updated) Smooth Gradients
Having to easily create gradients, then rotate and resize them easily
Illustrator: No, You must use the Gradient panel resulting B/W first, then adjusting it is not user friendly DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Smooth Type on Path
Having to easily create type on a path, and then being change the path's size or shape
Illustrator: No, Changing the size and shape was made a lot more difficult than they needed to be DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Over 1,000,000% Zoom
Able to zoom into your drawing over 1,000,000% zoom size
Illustrator: No DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Preview
See what your vector drawing would like like in pixels
Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Realistic Brush Presets
Brush presets that that look natural
Illustrator: No, there are several brush presets, but they are all flat DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Lots of Shape Tools
Having a variety of shape presets to choose from
Illustrator: No, a total of 6 in the latest version, and live shapes weren't introduced until CC DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: Yes, and excellent manipulation for the cog tool CorelDRAW: Yes Redraw Paths
Able to redraw a selected stroke
Illustrator: Yes, but it can change the form that was not altered DrawPlus:  Yes, but it can be tricky to figure out Designer: No CorelDRAW: No Indicators
Indications of which tool, swatch, path, or other options are selected
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  Yes/No, no indication on swatches, paths, or effects Designer: Yes/No, dark indications on tools are hard to see with the dark background CorelDRAW: Yes Eyedropper on Select
Copying a color while an object is selected to change the selected object to that color
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes, but it cannot copy the other properties CorelDRAW: Yes Vector Eraser Tools
A tool that erases vector objects and maintains its quality
Illustrator: Yes, but it changes the shape's proportion DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: No, but there is a pixel eraser tool CorelDRAW: Yes 3D Extrusion
Turning flat objects into 3D objects, and then rotating them in a 3D perspective
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Full Boundary Selections
When objects are selected with a complete close from its selection box and not partially selected
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes, and partial selections can be used as well if adjusted in the preferences CorelDRAW: Yes   
If this is very helpful to people, then I will update this list as progress moves forward. I hope this helps.

As a user who experimented a lot with vector graphics over the years, I find it might be helpful for others for me to share the differences between Illustrator, DrawPlus, Designer, and CorelDraw. A lot of you might be unfamiliar with one or more of the programs. There are things I like about each and things I do not like. Onur has decided to help out in giving me background to CorelDraw since that is one I am unfamiliar with.
 
I will explain why I prefer certain programs and why I don't prefer them with the features that I find most or partially helpful. Here are 26 I came up with.
 
Last Updated (1/27/2017)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
 
 
Flood Fills
Being able to add fills to unclosed shapes (overlapping regions)
Illustrator: Yes, but fills cannot be added to weight variations, brush strokes, or effects DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Artboard Tool
The overall canvas which can be resized manually or multiplied
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Nested Layers
Layers that can be expanded to reveal the paths within
Illustrator: Yes, but sublayers will cause each layer to be expanded when the file is open (CC1 & below) DrawPlus: Yes, but sublayers cannot be added, and paths and groups cannot be hidden or locked Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Pencil Path Continuation
Being able to continue a path from its end point with the pencil tool
Illustrator: Yes, but sharp corners or sensitive handling will cause the shape to delete or change form DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it will be added in 1.6 CorelDRAW: Yes Fast Loading Effects
Effects such as inner and outer glows, shadows, feathers, and blurs
Illustrator: No, They take far too long to load depending on the amount (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Image Tracer
Converting a picture into vector artwork
Illustrator: Yes, but it takes far too long to load depending on the size (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Rounding Single Corners
Creating round corners to a single corner as oppose to all corners of a shape
Illustrator: Yes, (Updated) DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes, but not as simple as Designer Transparency Tool
Adding a fade effect to objects
Illustrator: No, but there is one for InDesign? DrawPlus: Yes, but it only works on single objects or groups Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Fill/Stroke Switcher
Switching the color of your stroke to your fill or fill to your stroke
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Tools and Layers
Having pixel tools and layers available
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pasting Inside
Being able to paste clipboard selections into objects
Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus: Yes (Updated) Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Replicate Tool
Being able to make duplicates of an object by resizing its bounding box
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but a replicate feature will be added to 1.6 CorelDRAW: No Customizable Vector Patterns
Ability to change the size, rotation, and skew form of a pattern fill while its selected
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: No B-Splines
Creating B-spline curves enabling the nodes to be in an outer fenced area
Illustrator: No, not in CS6 and below at least DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it has the Smart Curve Pen Tool CorelDRAW: Yes (Updated) Smooth Gradients
Having to easily create gradients, then rotate and resize them easily
Illustrator: No, You must use the Gradient panel resulting B/W first, then adjusting it is not user friendly DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Smooth Type on Path
Having to easily create type on a path, and then being change the path's size or shape
Illustrator: No, Changing the size and shape was made a lot more difficult than they needed to be DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Over 1,000,000% Zoom
Able to zoom into your drawing over 1,000,000% zoom size
Illustrator: No DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Preview
See what your vector drawing would like like in pixels
Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Realistic Brush Presets
Brush presets that that look natural
Illustrator: No, there are several brush presets, but they are all flat DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Lots of Shape Tools
Having a variety of shape presets to choose from
Illustrator: No, a total of 6 in the latest version, and live shapes weren't introduced until CC DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: Yes, and excellent manipulation for the cog tool CorelDRAW: Yes Redraw Paths
Able to redraw a selected stroke
Illustrator: Yes, but it can change the form that was not altered DrawPlus:  Yes, but it can be tricky to figure out Designer: No CorelDRAW: No Indicators
Indications of which tool, swatch, path, or other options are selected
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  Yes/No, no indication on swatches, paths, or effects Designer: Yes/No, dark indications on tools are hard to see with the dark background CorelDRAW: Yes Eyedropper on Select
Copying a color while an object is selected to change the selected object to that color
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes, but it cannot copy the other properties CorelDRAW: Yes Vector Eraser Tools
A tool that erases vector objects and maintains its quality
Illustrator: Yes, but it changes the shape's proportion DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: No, but there is a pixel eraser tool CorelDRAW: Yes 3D Extrusion
Turning flat objects into 3D objects, and then rotating them in a 3D perspective
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Full Boundary Selections
When objects are selected with a complete close from its selection box and not partially selected
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes, and partial selections can be used as well if adjusted in the preferences CorelDRAW: Yes   
If this is very helpful to people, then I will update this list as progress moves forward. I hope this helps.

Well then, you know me pretty well to decipher me from all other Brians. I feel so special.
 
 
So Max, are there any features particular you are looking for?

Welcome, Max. Even though I am not really staff, maybe I can help answer your questions in the meantime.
 
1st question:
Is Serif PhotoPlus X8 the same as Affinity Photo really?
 
No. Affinity is made by Serif, but I read from MEB's post a while back that the Affinity products were made from the ground up. Plus, there are some features exclusive to Affinity Photo and some to PhotoPlus.
 
2nd question:
If I purchase Serif PhotoPlus X8, will I get Affinity Photo for free or not?
 
Sadly no. Affinity is a separate suite of applications with a different engine and some different features.
 
3rd question:
Will Affinity Photo (Windows) be cheaper than Serif PhotoPlus X8 ?
 
I assume so. Photo and Designer are out for the Mac, and they're much cheaper than the Plus applications.
 
4th question:
What do I do? Do I get Serif PhotoPlus X8 now, or do I wait for Affinity Photo for windows?
 
It depends on the features you are looking for. It won't affect your second question. Do keep in mind that there is a free "Starter Version" for the Plus applications, and there will be a free beta for each Affinity application. You can experiment with them to decide which to choose.

Brian ('bleduc') has given you a pretty comprehensive answer. Affinity Photo has been available for two years but PhotoPlus has been developed over two decades, so PhP has many features that APh doesn't have yet. However, the Affinity app has features such as 'inpainting' (content-aware fill) and panorama stitching that are not available in any version of PhotoPlus.
 
 
You won't get it for free, but registered users of DrawPlus X8 have been promised a discount on Affinity Designer, and registered users of PhotoPlus X8 have been promised a discount on Affinity Photo.
 
 
Affinity Photo on Windows should be the same price as Affinity Photo on Mac (39.99 GBP / 49.99 USD / 49.99 EUR). PhotoPlus X8 is 79.99 GBP / 99.99 USD / 94.99 EUR.
 
PhotoPlus X7 is currently on offer for 19.99 GBP / 29.99 USD / 24.99 EUR.
 
 
As Brian has said, it depends on the features you're looking for. Please see Patrick Connor's post here for a summary of some of the main differences between the two applications.

Welcome, Max. Even though I am not really staff, maybe I can help answer your questions in the meantime.
 
1st question:
Is Serif PhotoPlus X8 the same as Affinity Photo really?
 
No. Affinity is made by Serif, but I read from MEB's post a while back that the Affinity products were made from the ground up. Plus, there are some features exclusive to Affinity Photo and some to PhotoPlus.
 
2nd question:
If I purchase Serif PhotoPlus X8, will I get Affinity Photo for free or not?
 
Sadly no. Affinity is a separate suite of applications with a different engine and some different features.
 
3rd question:
Will Affinity Photo (Windows) be cheaper than Serif PhotoPlus X8 ?
 
I assume so. Photo and Designer are out for the Mac, and they're much cheaper than the Plus applications.
 
4th question:
What do I do? Do I get Serif PhotoPlus X8 now, or do I wait for Affinity Photo for windows?
 
It depends on the features you are looking for. It won't affect your second question. Do keep in mind that there is a free "Starter Version" for the Plus applications, and there will be a free beta for each Affinity application. You can experiment with them to decide which to choose.

Oops! Probably not. Apologies to Kip for hijacking the thread. :o
 
 
If the object that is being clipped has no opacity, you might find it quite difficult to see (either before or after clipping). :P
 
Suppose you start with a blue rectangle for the sky, overlapped by a green shape at the bottom for the grass and a yellow circle in the top right-hand corner for the sun. If you clip the green and yellow shapes to the blue shape, you'll get something approaching the "idyllic summer scene" (minus the fluffy clouds) in the tutorial video. If you crop the green and yellow shapes to the blue shape, the blue shape will disappear and the cloudless sky will become a skyless sky. ;)

Isn't the option to "resize just a frame, and all other content will stay locked" just the 'lock children' feature, available in AD 1.4.x?
 

Isn't it working? All it takes is to place your text cursor on a line so the cursor changes, and then just type. Are you perhaps using the artistic text tool instead of the textbox tool?

There wasn't originally, but it's been added.
 

Doh! My wife came into the room as I was posting, and she hadn't seen the page.

By the way, KipV, in regards to my comment earlier...
 
 
 
...it was a video on the constraints feature which will be released in Designer 1.5. I may have not explained it well in my quote, but this certainly looks great for layouts.
 

All my kids started computer drawing on my old Amiga, using a program call Deluxe Paint. All four became proficient, w. 2 getting degrees in fine arts. My younger daughter did not, but is now doing freelance design. She did her first computer drawing at age 3 1/2. We still have the glorious 90 dpi print out, called "Teddy bear falling off a mountain.".
 
Yesterday she stopped by, and so I showed her AD, and some clumsy work w. my new tablet.
 
Most of her work is in paint programs, not sure which, and I thought it might interest her to show how AD used both vector and bitmaps, particularly the vector brushes.
 
She was intrigued, and was also delighted with the performance. At one point, as I messed around varying the cog shape, she went "Whoa!" She said several times that some of what I showed her would have been very helpful in several recent jobs. She noted there were more blend modes than in Photoshop, which she has.
 
You folks at Serif have impressed someone who is quite proficient and practiced. Congrats.

Hi uncle808us,
You can access the document palette from the Swatches panel: click the dropdown and select the palette you have saved.
Yes, Affinity Photo keeps the palette updated when you save the document.

Usually a doc will automatically save a color palette together with saving the doc. AD, however, appears not to do this, although I have tried all three methods when saving my color palettes (application, document and system). Today I worked hard to streamline my color palette which had become quite complex. Then I foolishly went on working in the doc and forgot to save the palette, thus losing all of my work when I rebooted. I would think that AD would have some type of message reminding the user that the palette has been altered and not saved. 
 
Perhaps I am missing something here. (For sure I forgot to save the palette!) Could someone point me to more info on the color palette since it is more complex than Freehand or Illustrator (which is quite good, I'm sure), but with more options comes the need for a better explanation of how to exploit these options. Thanks!

Wow. I was totally unaware of this.

I am currently unable to launch the program, but I understand there is an option to right click and select "Find in layers panel." Someone here had the same problem.

Set the stroke alignment to outside (third icon in the bottom row of the Stroke panel).

Or just adjust the opacity in the Layers panel and not Colour panel. The Colour panel will change the fill and stroke separately, but the Layers will change them both together.