bpedit

windows version = more issues for Mac users, simple
 
All you windows users bought non-Macs for what reason? More software choices maybe? It seems there are a lot more alternatives to AI available for windows than Macs. In fact, number of useful alternatives for Macs, besides Affinity,  zero. Finally, Affinity has come along to address this hole and obviate the need for an AI "subscription". As soon as Affinity attempts addressing both platforms, up go the issues and down goes the development pace.
 
I saw this happen with Canvas. It was a great program, rife with features and ahead of its time in many respects. And it was Mac only. Then it was Mac and Windows. Then it was only Windows. Yep. More cash. [in fact the introduction of Adobe subscriptions ushered an attempt to resurrect the Mac version, with mediocre results, for yet more cash.]
 
Thank you Affinity for producing a top notch, Mac optimized product.

windows version = more issues for Mac users, simple
 
All you windows users bought non-Macs for what reason? More software choices maybe? It seems there are a lot more alternatives to AI available for windows than Macs. In fact, number of useful alternatives for Macs, besides Affinity,  zero. Finally, Affinity has come along to address this hole and obviate the need for an AI "subscription". As soon as Affinity attempts addressing both platforms, up go the issues and down goes the development pace.
 
I saw this happen with Canvas. It was a great program, rife with features and ahead of its time in many respects. And it was Mac only. Then it was Mac and Windows. Then it was only Windows. Yep. More cash. [in fact the introduction of Adobe subscriptions ushered an attempt to resurrect the Mac version, with mediocre results, for yet more cash.]
 
Thank you Affinity for producing a top notch, Mac optimized product.

Wow! Affinity Designer looks very good from the git-go. It's fast, well organized and pleasant to use. The text handling has some excellent features already. Scrolling through the font menu and watching selected text change live, quite a treat. 
 
The main addition it needs for me to replace AI is arrowheads. I don't need a lot of useless style options such as Adobe offers, just filled triangles that have some adjustment options.
 
    •  placeable on beziers as well as straight lines
    •  auto scale to line thickness
    •  user adjustable scale acting on default size  (+% and -%, i.e.)
    •  user adjustable head angle (again, maybe relative to default)
 
And maybe, if not too much trouble:
    •  an option to have arrowhead extend line OR
           have the line shorten to place the arrow tip at the end of the original segment.
 
Thanks for listening,
Byrne
 
[edit] P.S. Another discussion of arrowheads suggests ability to round corners. Not strictly necessary for me but nice. Acts on all three corners, maybe adjustable as a proportion of the arrowhead's size.

Ugh, gulp here too. I guess I've seen in in forum posts but doesn't seem endemic to the design. Sorry.
 
On the other hand, "Welcome to Mac, all you ex-windows users!".

(This comes largely from a PM I had with a member who exhorted me to post it on the forum.  Since the Questions board is the closest thing to a general discussion area, I figured this would be the place to post it.  On the off-chance this gets me in some kind of trouble, I'm not going to try to throw him under the proverbial bus by using his name.)
 
One of our members expressed some confusion over the ⌥ Option key.  Wasn't it just another name for Alt?  After all, both Alt and ⌥ are labeled on the physical key anyway.  Or did it mean Alt was the same as ⌥⇧ (Shift)?
 
From a purely technical standpoint, ⌥ and Alt do send the same key code back to the system.  One still shouldn't use the term “Alt” to refer to the ⌥ Option key, however, since the buttons perform completely different functions.
 
The best analogy might be if I (an American) went to London, and asked where to buy pants, wanting to pick up some new khakis.  Technically, “pants” always refers to a unit of clothing covering the body from the waist down.  But I would find no khakis, for in the UK, “pants” means “underwear.”
 
The actual, functional difference between ⌥ and Alt, then, is thus:  On Windows, Alt is used in Ctrl-Alt-Delete, Alt-tab, and Alt-F4.  It also navigates on-screen menus, which keeps it from being used for much else, unless it's accompanied by Ctrl (the most common modifier) or Shift.
 
On the Mac, ⌥ is used to enter international characters and special symbols.  And while Windows Ctrl-shortcuts generally map to ⌘ (Command) on the Mac, ⌥ is very often used by itself as a modifier, especially in programs where typing is just another sometimes used feature.  Additionally the ⌥ Option key has been used for decades on the Mac to tell the computer to resize a selection while keeping it centered.  This was even implemented in the windowing UI itself when the Resize from Any Edge feature was added.
 
As for the reason the Mac keyboard often has “Alt” labeled on the ⌥ Option key, it's because the ⌥ Option/Alt and Command/Windows keys are wired backwards between Windows and Mac machines.  This isn't meant to imply that the names are interchangeable; it's meant to rescue the poor sucker who loads Windows on his Apple just to find it crashes so badly even Ctrl-Cmd-Del doesn’t work.
 
Hope that helps!
 

Wow! Affinity Designer looks very good from the git-go. It's fast, well organized and pleasant to use. The text handling has some excellent features already. Scrolling through the font menu and watching selected text change live, quite a treat. 
 
The main addition it needs for me to replace AI is arrowheads. I don't need a lot of useless style options such as Adobe offers, just filled triangles that have some adjustment options.
 
    •  placeable on beziers as well as straight lines
    •  auto scale to line thickness
    •  user adjustable scale acting on default size  (+% and -%, i.e.)
    •  user adjustable head angle (again, maybe relative to default)
 
And maybe, if not too much trouble:
    •  an option to have arrowhead extend line OR
           have the line shorten to place the arrow tip at the end of the original segment.
 
Thanks for listening,
Byrne
 
[edit] P.S. Another discussion of arrowheads suggests ability to round corners. Not strictly necessary for me but nice. Acts on all three corners, maybe adjustable as a proportion of the arrowhead's size.

Meet Blue Bunny, he's a happy little fellow...  :)
 
Continuing the Bunny series from some client concept sketches that never got beyond the proof phase.  
 
Thought I'd try something different on this one and play with some pixel painting texturing and also attempt at adding fur to this little guy. The fur is made up of repeating individual groups of "fur shapes" copying, rotating, skewing, repeat... each with transparent gradients and blur to add softness and hide some of the edges and yes it was a lot of work...  ;)
 
Really loving the ease of vector and pixel workflow! 

deeds,
 
I find this conversation tiresome, to say the least..
 
Show me *one place* in *any* of our marketing where we say we "replace" Photoshop, or "replace" Illustrator - if there are are any, I will happily have them removed immediately..
 
If you think that you can identify areas in which we are less capable than the products mentioned above, I absolutely guarantee I can identify fifty times more than you - we don't, and have never claimed to replace these products..
 
Our *users*, for their *particular workflow* might claim that we are in that position - but their words are not mine..
 
Affinity is a line of new products, with new ambitions and a new timeline - if you want a $50 Photoshop, or a $50 Illustrator at this point in time, you are in the wrong forum..
 
A
 

deeds,
 
VectorCat asked you"Is there data to support the idea that the forum is a "ghost town?" ought it be teeming with user by now, or does it take longer for software to grow a user base?" you didn't answer his question with facts only opinions. Opinions are meaningless compared to facts. Do you have any facts to support your opinions? Of course you don't because if you did, you would have said them. There are many people who visit forums and don't join but read the posts. This is very common. So you can't just look at the total number of posts or the total number of members and say "the sky is falling". 
 
Why are you so negative and pessimistic? The Affinity team needs constructive criticism and suggestions, not unrealistic predictions of doom by some "marketing" bloke who feels the need to prophesy. The Affinity team is working hard to make their products a cut above the rest. In my opinion, they have done a great job. Sure there are some missing features and a bug here or there but that is expected of a version 1 release. There are many things that Illustrator was lacking for more than 10 years. For example even up to Illustrator 7 the ruler was on the bottom and the left side of the screen, not the top and the right (which was and is common on most applications). As well, Illustrator didn't get a trace feature until CS 2 (version 12). It took Adobe 12 versions to add the trace feature and when they did, it was simply adding the code from Streamline into Illustrator and calling it a new feature (which is lame). So don't be so hard on the Affinity team. They have done a great so far and I'm sure that they will continue to add more features and fixes things that aren't working as soon as they can. In the end it comes down to the question "Do you want to be positive and contribute to something worthwhile or do you just want to be just a negative fearmonger?" 

• Open the Stroke panel.
• Click on the Pressure parameter.
• Add points (click on the existing plot) to the graph that pops up and arrange them.
• Use the PenTool to draw a line.
 
You may need to adjust the line width to enhance the effect. On the pressure graph, add extra points close to existing points to force a straight line.

Thanks for the confirmation, Matt. We can now sleep at night. Maybe the timing will coincide with Apple getting all the bugs out of Yosemite and I can feel free to upgrade.

Thanks for sharing. While not a complete replacement for dedicated arrowheads, it's a great example of the versatility of an existing tool. 

Just wanted to reiterate our intentions here: We are aware that users want arrowheads, so we are aiming to put them in as soon as we are able to. I'm very sorry if this deficiency is affecting your productivity and fully intend to get this addressed.

Found this neat trick playing with the pressure setting of a stroke...
 

 
Can also be used for tails...
 
 
 
Wouldn't use it for long paths though, it gets tricky to edit the shapes as it's mapped onto a narrow palette. Still fun for signage and as a design element, not technical illustration....

Nice feature, thanks for sharing. Any idea why the equals sign is necessary? Cinema 4D, a well constructed animation package, has a robust version of this feature, no entering of equals needed.

Ohh man I know this not like having vector arrow heads but you could just make your own "Texture Intensity Brush"  I think it would solve your problem until they implement that feature. I hate to see you blow a gasket over a arrow head option.
 
 
Here, I made you a couple just import this brush set. Adjust the stroke, modify the butt cap. and change the color. This should least give you the basics and you can use it with a brush, pen or a pencil.
 
 

Arrow heads.afbrushes.zip

Wow! Affinity Designer looks very good from the git-go. It's fast, well organized and pleasant to use. The text handling has some excellent features already. Scrolling through the font menu and watching selected text change live, quite a treat. 
 
The main addition it needs for me to replace AI is arrowheads. I don't need a lot of useless style options such as Adobe offers, just filled triangles that have some adjustment options.
 
    •  placeable on beziers as well as straight lines
    •  auto scale to line thickness
    •  user adjustable scale acting on default size  (+% and -%, i.e.)
    •  user adjustable head angle (again, maybe relative to default)
 
And maybe, if not too much trouble:
    •  an option to have arrowhead extend line OR
           have the line shorten to place the arrow tip at the end of the original segment.
 
Thanks for listening,
Byrne
 
[edit] P.S. Another discussion of arrowheads suggests ability to round corners. Not strictly necessary for me but nice. Acts on all three corners, maybe adjustable as a proportion of the arrowhead's size.

Wow! Affinity Designer looks very good from the git-go. It's fast, well organized and pleasant to use. The text handling has some excellent features already. Scrolling through the font menu and watching selected text change live, quite a treat. 
 
The main addition it needs for me to replace AI is arrowheads. I don't need a lot of useless style options such as Adobe offers, just filled triangles that have some adjustment options.
 
    •  placeable on beziers as well as straight lines
    •  auto scale to line thickness
    •  user adjustable scale acting on default size  (+% and -%, i.e.)
    •  user adjustable head angle (again, maybe relative to default)
 
And maybe, if not too much trouble:
    •  an option to have arrowhead extend line OR
           have the line shorten to place the arrow tip at the end of the original segment.
 
Thanks for listening,
Byrne
 
[edit] P.S. Another discussion of arrowheads suggests ability to round corners. Not strictly necessary for me but nice. Acts on all three corners, maybe adjustable as a proportion of the arrowhead's size.

A lot of value-adjusting sliders in AD max out at a certain value. But, for some of them, you can enter values into the input boxes that are greater than the slider value. For example, if the Inner Shadow Radius slider max value of 100% isn't enough, enter a higher value in the text box.
 
This doesn't work with all parameters of course, 100% opacity is as much as you can expect for example. Nice software.

Thank you for taking the time and sharing. You serve as not only a resource for using Designer but offer insights into the creative process.
 
Byrne

Hi to all,
Learn how to do a 3D simulation of a Lotus Flower in the Affinity Design. Learn the usage of lights and shadows. Enjoy.
:) 
 

 
http://youtu.be/JzPWNKpibgk

Hi "bpedit",
Thank you for your kind words.
To see the colours icon its easy:
1-Go to Menu "View" and select "Customise Tools"
2- A new menu appears to choose and drag tools for your palete tools. In the bottom you must choose "2" columns (that's the way I like my menu appearance).
3- After "close" automatically the Colours Icon appears.
 

Got it, thanks. I tried the 2 columns earlier but didn't know you had to close before the icon would appear.
 
I tried some shading but it was looking a bit blotchy. Then applied a little blur and it was perfect. Nice app.

Nice feature, thanks for sharing. Any idea why the equals sign is necessary? Cinema 4D, a well constructed animation package, has a robust version of this feature, no entering of equals needed.