Gear maker

Chris, a workaround you might not know about is that if you double click on either of the color circles you will get a color chooser panel:

This allows easy conversion from different color formats and the insertion of hex RGB codes.  The format is larger than the color panel, so is easier to make certain color selections.

If the layer is selected, just "click" on its name.
Double-click in everytime would be better,  because the name is often edited while the layers are being moved.

Such an irrational statement!

@mdriftmeyer
There is no reason to change it. You obviously understand it to have rewritten it and no one else in this thread or any previous customer beta thread has asked what it means, but if they do I'll be sure to point them at your post. Please keep this thread relevant to the contents of the beta and not the English skills of one of the most talented vector graphics programmers on the planet. 

@walt.farrell I use a mac but I assume it's the same for Windows.  The color picker, not the eyedropper tool, works anywhere in the screen.  This works best if you are using separated mode so you can have another application visible behind AD/AP.  When you drag it around you'll see the loop being displayed anywhere on the screen.  It will then sample the color wherever.

Honestly there are more important things an image manipulation or vector manipulation software should do here, I personally won't expect those to offer the functionality or being able to replace other dedicated tools which are entirely specialized on these capture or screen recording authoring tasks. - In short, I won't expect AP/AD to offer here too what Snagit or other dedicated tools of that domain offer.
If I personally need such funtionality I take a dedicated tool for such stuff, since there isn't and never will be that one tool which can do and handle it all!

How about these versions?
 


S-Form_01.afdesign
S-Form_02.afdesign
 
 
With this type of drawing you have full control over curves, ends, strokes and even line style. If you are satisfied with the sketch, you can use the function "Expand Stroke" and get curves version.

...and in a few years the winds will blow eastward. Flat is slowing down and on its way out again (Windows is re-introducing glassy effects at this point). Who cares? As long as the GUI design does not interfere with usability, and the GUI controls allow for custom colour schemes and seamless GUI scaling across all devices and screens.
Which is not the case for most applications, including Affinity. Work on that first, I'd say.
 

Hey Paul, it's a tricky one. The vast majority of monitors, especially lower-end models, tend to ship with a high brightness level for the same reason as you've observed: everything looks "punchier".
 
Unless you're working specifically to a medium such as print, you should aim to make your brightness the same as the ambient light level in the room you're in. If it's brighter or darker then you won't perceive tones and detail correctly.
 
However, I'd really recommend that you invest in a colorimeter (e.g. the i1Display Pro) - this way you can profile your monitor to particular conditions, including brightness levels. For example, in a typical office environment with overhead lighting, you might calibrate your brightness to 100cd/m2. 120cd/m2 is the typical value given for general office and web use, but it really depends on the environment lighting. What will shock you is just how bright monitors ship by default: most iMac 5K panels I've profiled tend to be around 170 to 180cd/m2 by default (this is with the automatic brightness control enabled), but I've seen some other monitors that come in at over 200. I had an old Hazro monitor that was highly rated for photo work, and that was insanely bright to begin with.
 
With a colorimeter, you can also profile your display to a colour temperature more accurately. Most of the time you'd profile to D65 (6500K) for office and web use, as well as photo editing, but you can also profile to D55, D50 and other temperatures for print work, proofing, etc. It depends on what you need to do. You will likely find that your monitor has some sort of colour cast, even if it's slight. The 2014 iMac I use shipped with a horrible green tint, and I recently profiled a 2015 model that had a blue cast.
 
To give you an example, I typically create two profiles for my photo editing at D65 and D50 and I keep my brightness at 80cd/m2 because of dim lighting conditions. I stick with D50 most of the time (it also reduces my eye strain because it's warmer ), but toggle between that and D65 to sanity check my work. I'll often create a third profile which is based off the office's ambient temperature (profiling software allows you to take a measurement from the colorimeter) - this is for printed work where I want a closer idea of how it will look when printed and viewed under the same lighting conditions.
 
So, a bit of a ramble, apologies... At the very least, I would recommend making sure your monitor's brightness looks "level" with the room lighting, then work from there. I would definitely recommend looking at a colorimeter though, because that way you can ensure that you've taken steps to standardise your working conditions - that's all you can do, really. Different panels, different devices - they can all have varying temperatures, colour casts and brightness levels, and you'll drive yourself mad trying to satisfy every scenario. That said, if you have devices you can test on (such as phones, tablets, other monitors), all the better.
 
Hope that helps somewhat!

morbandit, I so totally agree with you.  I usually construct my drawing mostly from the top down, meaning I tend to draw a lot of the detail first then the background and that makes the layer's order be from the bottom up.  So I keep having to drag the detail on top of what I just created to keep it visible.  It's easier to drag and reorder 20 layers then it is to hit the toolbar icon before constructing each of 20 shapes.
 
What I have gotten in the habit of doing is to work with my current layer invisible until the shape is what I want.  Then drag it below the detail and turn the visibility back on to make adjustments and work with the color.
 
It should be that if the Insert behind selection is clicked once it works for one entry, but if it's double clicked it stays selected until cancelled.
Mike

KipV, I can answer that question. The reason why I am not on the latest version of Mac OS, High Sierra is because I have a Mac Pro 2008. Yes, Apple gives us free Mac OS updates but they also leave behind hardware with every new release of the OS. So, even though I have an 8 core 3.0 GHz Xeon, with 32 GB of RAM, a PCI-e SSD card and replaced the original graphics card with something way better, Apple says my system is not compatible with High Sierra.
 
Now, I didn't let that stop me with my older 2006 Mac Pro, I have hacked that to install Mac OS updates on it through the years, and I tried that with my 2008, but it just was not that stable and so I went back to El Capitan. It is stable and fast for me and I am able to run all of my software on it, Affinity, Toon Boom, etc.
 
I am not interested in buying a Mac Book Pro or an iMac, I want another Mac Pro, a refreshed Mac Pro, that is hopefully coming in 2018. I want and need options that a tower provides. With my Mac Pros I was able to replace the CPUs, the hard drives, install faster graphics cards, put in newer bluetooth cards, etc. When you think about it, it is amazing that I have been able to use these two older towers for the past 10 years, I guess I can understand why Apple is reluctant to give us new Mac Pros, better to not produce them and force people to buy laptops or iMacs more frequently.

Xara Designer has a very nice Spiral tool too, and it's a joy to use. Here's a quick example:
 
 

Hi Raymondo, sorry it's confusing.  Designer decides which type of layer to respect the aspect ratio and which to not.  Sounds confusing doesn't it.  An image layer is automatically constrained to the aspect ratio, but if the shift is held down then it's not constrained.  Where a curve it's the opposite, normally the aspect ratio is not kept.  But if the shift is held down then the ratio is preserved.  Sounds even more confusing doesn't it.
 
But all is not lost, in the Preferences there is an option that lets you modify this.  Preferences>Tools has options that let the default be to constrain by default or not constrain by default or to allow AD decide which to use.

Hi voitek, this is not the best answer but one I recently ran into.  See if it helps for your particular use.
Mike
 

Howdy,
Here is an 8 minute video showing how to use the Pencil tool with Stabilizer to carve into a Donut shape using Booleans to get the stain. Just one way of doing it.
 
 

Just some thoughts to streamline the use of palettes in AD
 
1. Please default to loading the Document specific palette if it is stored with the document; right now, it's always on gray... that's a bleak, bleak world, and time waste to have to switch to the doc palette everytime I load a document with custom colors, which is always.
 
2. Import Palette - it's great that AD allows exporting palettes to share. However, it would be a great timesaver to allow direct selection of a file's palette without having to export first, then import. Meaning, the user could just go to Import Palette pop-up menu, and select an AD file which has an embedded palette. Saves time and extra files...
 
3. Add Palette - as soon as one creates a custom palette from the Add XXX Palette pop-up menu item, it would be very beneficial to have the (Re)Name Dialogue box come up to name the palette. Again, this saves precious time...

Moving the ruler and grid origins will be in 1.7.   The work has been done, but was part of a major reworking that couldn't be included in 1.6.  It will go through Beta when we get into the next cycle.  Due to the changes incurred it will require a full Beta cycle, hence why it is going to be in 1.7.
 

Are you perhaps thinking of palettes rather than swatches, Greg? If you add a new palette (via one of the options on the Swatches panel's 'hamburger' menu) and then right-click a filled object on the canvas and choose 'Add to Swatches... > From Fill', your shiny new palette will contain a single swatch from which you can create a colour chord.
 

I have a rectangle with a stroke aligned to the inside of a rectangle.  I wanted another rectangle that went from the edge of the stroke to the edge of the stroke.  Seeing as snapping doesn't detect the inside of the stroke I zoomed in.  But as I changed the zoom the width of the stroke kept changing as seen below.  Of course there are ways to get around this problem.  But it does show that there is a problem.

 
Using beta 8 on a mac running Sierra.

Hi,
 
I started w. the same basic approach, adding 3d, bevel/emboss fx. Started duplicating the rounded rectangle. shifting it a bit to the side to fake thickness.  Finally decided that the original had highlights that were drawn on. So I made several pen lines, varied the strok pressure, set different levels of blur  and opacity. Came up w. something close.
 
 

 
Inserted a wrong version of the image, can't seem to delete it. The first example is not finished...

I totally agree.  I put in a suggestion for it earlier and it didn't seem to get too warm a reception.  I hope you have better luck.  Used it all the time in PS.

I was just reading a forum entry asking "Does Affinity Offer an On-screen Ruler?" In it there is a mention of an app called PixelStick.  I went out to the PixelStick website: https://plumamazing.com/product/pixelstick/, did some reading and I've got to admit the possibilities were exciting.  FYI I have no connection to Plum Amazing or PixelStick other than I have just purchased it.
 
This app is so cool and it only costs $7.  It does so many things that AD/AP still do not have the tools to accomplish.  The really great feature is that it will sit on top of all other apps so even when using AD/AP it is visible.  Though it can be hidden when desired.
 
-It can be custom scaled using the ruler in AD/AP then be used to measure the distance between any two points at any angle.  Likewise any known object size can also be used to calibrate.  Of course if the zoom or document dimensions in AD/AP are changed it needs to be recalibrated, which only takes a half minute.  Calibrations can be stored so they can be reused say at 100%, 150%, 200% etc.  If only it could sense the zoom itself...
-Because it's always shown I can set it for a distance then use it to show where I need to place an object or node.  About the only real negative I have found is a node can not be placed on any of the 3 ticks, so they have to be placed close and then moved to be under the tick.  Easy to do.
-When moving endpoints a loupe shows an enlargement for more accurate tick placement.
-Each end tick is shown in the center of a circle so planting the tick in the center of a circle is easy.  This allows measurements of distance from the center to anything else.
-It displays the tangents for a circle at any angle.
-It displays perpendiculars for any angle.
-It displays the center point and points twice as wide.
-It measures any angle.  Plus because it is visible on top AD any angle shown is easy to copy.
-It allows a baseline angle to be set and any angle can be measured or drawn with respect to this baseline.
-It counts the number of screen pixels anywhere on the screen.  Not much use in AD, but possibly handy for AP.
-It works on any app currently displayed on the screen.
-It has other functions like a screen grab and a color reader.
-Pressing an opt H toggles it's visibility.
-Angles can be locked so they don't get changed when changing distances or moving.
-Distances can be locked so they don't change when changing angles. 
 
There's probably another couple dozen functions it can be used for that I just haven't found in the couple hours I have been playing.  I recommend you take a look to see if it will help you.  There is a free download to try it out.
Mike

Yeah, I have been using it for a long time, even back when it used to be free! Or maybe it was shareware or asked for a donation back then, can't remember. It would be cool if we could start a thread where everybody mentioned little side apps that they use with their Affinity apps. We always have people ask for this particular feature, or for that, but there really are a lot of small nimble apps out there that can help bridge the gap in the meantime.
 
Here is another app that I recommend to people, Wheel Masks for iOS. You are able to work on colors and create swatches, and generate an .ase Adobe swatch file which you can bring into either Affinity app or a swatch file to bring in to Procreate. Here is a page describing what it does: http://wheelmasks.com
 
 

I was just reading a forum entry asking "Does Affinity Offer an On-screen Ruler?" In it there is a mention of an app called PixelStick.  I went out to the PixelStick website: https://plumamazing.com/product/pixelstick/, did some reading and I've got to admit the possibilities were exciting.  FYI I have no connection to Plum Amazing or PixelStick other than I have just purchased it.
 
This app is so cool and it only costs $7.  It does so many things that AD/AP still do not have the tools to accomplish.  The really great feature is that it will sit on top of all other apps so even when using AD/AP it is visible.  Though it can be hidden when desired.
 
-It can be custom scaled using the ruler in AD/AP then be used to measure the distance between any two points at any angle.  Likewise any known object size can also be used to calibrate.  Of course if the zoom or document dimensions in AD/AP are changed it needs to be recalibrated, which only takes a half minute.  Calibrations can be stored so they can be reused say at 100%, 150%, 200% etc.  If only it could sense the zoom itself...
-Because it's always shown I can set it for a distance then use it to show where I need to place an object or node.  About the only real negative I have found is a node can not be placed on any of the 3 ticks, so they have to be placed close and then moved to be under the tick.  Easy to do.
-When moving endpoints a loupe shows an enlargement for more accurate tick placement.
-Each end tick is shown in the center of a circle so planting the tick in the center of a circle is easy.  This allows measurements of distance from the center to anything else.
-It displays the tangents for a circle at any angle.
-It displays perpendiculars for any angle.
-It displays the center point and points twice as wide.
-It measures any angle.  Plus because it is visible on top AD any angle shown is easy to copy.
-It allows a baseline angle to be set and any angle can be measured or drawn with respect to this baseline.
-It counts the number of screen pixels anywhere on the screen.  Not much use in AD, but possibly handy for AP.
-It works on any app currently displayed on the screen.
-It has other functions like a screen grab and a color reader.
-Pressing an opt H toggles it's visibility.
-Angles can be locked so they don't get changed when changing distances or moving.
-Distances can be locked so they don't change when changing angles. 
 
There's probably another couple dozen functions it can be used for that I just haven't found in the couple hours I have been playing.  I recommend you take a look to see if it will help you.  There is a free download to try it out.
Mike

Ah, Alfred you may be right now that I reread the topic.  Mea culpa, first time today!