SrPx

I agree that this would be practical.Like you, used that a lot... Is one of those things not critical for me (as are some very few fixes) , but I can't disagree.

I'm not in disagreement with several details, here. I can't agree in all, though... Neither I am actually really willing to be in an opposite side, here, mostly giving my take at it, as one more. Is not for the sake of a discussion, is how I really think about it... Oh, you mean that you want the tools to be easy to professionals more versed in other tools and fields (ie, an architect), but who have to use some 2D retouching or vector tools as part of their daily or weekly activity (even if not being hardcore designers/photographers/super experienced illustrators). Yes that can be considered, imo, a professional use. Of a lower level, but still, is part of the activity that brings food to the plate, it must work, and it can't fail, those are common factors. Anyway, I believe is not always the case that when it is easy for the less experienced, it automatically that translates into a better approach for more hardcore pros. IE, in the cases we've been talking about lately: Most pros will prefer to handle a number of shortcuts because this speeds up the workflows immensely ( and yep, B staying in the brush, not switching again, is one of those things that benefit both types of users). And yet, the more casual user (ie, doing some retouch from time to time) , less experienced (or not at all) has probably not all that workflow glued to the brain, neither a muscle memory making the entire shortcuts thing something natural and comfortable. And therefore, needs a button for undo, needs to access every single tool with an icon, etc. I just know by experience that after some dedicated training, the shortcuts (combined with GUI, of course... the idea is not remaking VIM, here) route ends in faster work (ie, I taught family and friends some of these ways: they prefer them now, and these are definitely non-pros). I have tested this in very different fields, and it's a mantra among all pros I know, even different disciplines (3D, several categories inside 3D, 2D same story, etc). But you don't say that being easy for the non experienced, is better also for the pros. You specifically mention that if it is easy for the less advanced, must be easy for the pros. Well, besides they have hardwired certain habits, for a longer time and intensity than the newcomers, the fact is that for the most pros, "easy" is already all, is not really too much aiming anymore for the easiness (yes for efficiency, in that regards, IE: Less clicks, for speed's sake). Meaning, the priorities are shifted to the actual most advanced capabilities of the software, specially whether if can be accomplished what the market requests at every moment in its highest specs, also to its stability, performance...That kind of things. Ease of use... Well, the learning curve is a smaller worry. Efficiency is important, though. If it is hard to learn, but in the end, it is efficient (fast and effective), whatever the learning curve, it is worth it. And then, yep, about pros and hobbyists (imo this is a common issue) being too many years using the same UI without trying other apps.... there's an issue in getting too used to certain software... it can become really hard to get the same level of familiarity with a new one.... As for brush shortcuts or etc... I welcome whatever improvement made to anything brush related...that's for sure.

I believe is not actually random. It switches to the latest tool you were using, before the brush. This can be handy in some situations, but rarely when using a brush. Hitting B again should stay in the brush, I agree (or be there, as I already mentioned above, an optional setting in preferences, to have one behavior or another). Now, is that a big thing ? LOL. Well, certainly not in my book... I've also been 20 years (quite more, also) working doing graphics...getting paid for it. Technically , more, since '95...A pity I didn't taste PS 1.0... But yep 2.0. And also Corel Draw 1.... And... I agree ! Affinity IS professional, heck yeah. The other day saved a difficult situation with actually the Publisher beta ! While I know shouldn't be relying on it for pro work, yet... But I saw it making a pair of details nicer than the competition (yeah, not gonna get specific here about the feature, sorry) ...people was saying it was super beta, very initial version yet, etc.. But dared to use it, and got happily surprised. Was gonna buy it just to support Serif, but heck, now I know I will do as it will be pretty useful for me.

Yep, said that 10 days ago . I only posted 10 hours ago to try to solve some of the issues with the brush someone mentioned was having... Anyway, about forum polls, the forum stats (of the few of the members that are active, not busy with life, and see the poll in a particular moment of the year, even) are a small percentage of the actual software licensed users. Plus, this is more about how they (the company) market it, not really a democratic vote (it's their property, their "garden"...) in some agora... (this is a recurring theme in the Linux threads, too... Hello, Sisyphus, how ya doin'.... ) If you check, not even the slogans from the past, but even the current ones.... "Serif has been 30 years developing creative professional software" (sorry if the translation is not exactly this, I'm reading it in Spanish... ) That's just hitting the main page, not even clicking on any product... Back then, maybe when they launched the very first Mac AD, what I used to read in all their material, that this was a professional generation of their software, they aimed the more professional route, even differentiating it from their legacy (which I had knew and used a little). This was a bunch of years ago, made me interested about Affinity (mostly for the possibility of a PS competitor, I got only really interested in AD later on) just for that kind of statements. Happily enough, they delivered what imo is a professional set of apps. But following with my translation of the text you find just in your first arrival to Serif's site... (again, bear with me, am translating...) " We have stopped developing our Plus software range for Windows: We are completely focusing our efforts in the new Affinity range of professional graphic design software. You can yet purchase the PagePlus, PhotoPlus y DrawPlus licenses. " Again, that was terribly translated by me, surely it is much better written, in non broken English. But I bet that the main meaning is the same. Even more, the majority of the big press and bigger attention is from people wanting to know if it could be used (Photo) instead of Photoshop. Or at least, every single article writer, reviewer out there focus totally their review or article in the very comparison with Photoshop. Even the pros and cons are totally professional pros/cons, for professional usage, 99 times out of 100. PS! A 2D software that the defenders of dumbing down the Affinity's UI or the scope of use , is a software discarded as a term of comparison, for being aimed at the professional niche and being to complicated to handle for non professionals (not very realistic: A ton of teenagers, and people of certain age, have been handling it for their basic use for a long time. I mean, those are facts, at least, can't see how they wouldn't be. You can make a forum poll, and wouldn't be real even not just for statistic reasons of extreme weight, also because.. well, a lot of the pro type users are not of the kind that have to seek everything in the forum to do the work : they are used to solve a ton of things on their own, or, simply consult documentation, check video tutorials, etc (and mostly, just directly doing projects). I don't even do that, the GUIs today are super easy to handle and guess in like a pair of minutes. So, my point is, even in the best scenario, your sample data here would more likely be more of a less experienced range, so, would be non good data from start, to make stats among the licensed users of the apps. as the les experienced (in whatever the apps) are the ones needing to ask questions and be taught. And this from what was already a ridiculously small range of people, considering the so many licenses I am expecting Serif have sold (applying a simple rule: With way less media noise, working inside certain software and game developers, just the media talk would make anything get sells, no matter what). Please, realize I did write "Affinity users", not Affinity forum members... (is imo a much higher number) This is not said with any sort of animosity, right now am literally asleep, can't have have that sort of thing with the current little energy in me, right now Is not that it would be useless. It would be fine to know, in a particular moment in time, the proportion of pros and hobbyist users, ¡ In the forum ! . But I was speaking more widely, "Affinity users". As in the end those big numbers have a lot more influence.

Key shortcut : You can change that in shortcuts, easily. I don't remember now if you need to restart the app, though. Neither very sure on what "applies to all" or "ignore modifier" do, but most surely, those are useful to dig. Just consider there's a crucial difference with Photoshop : Even if you have only B for brush, hitting it again, even if by error, does not stay in brush, it toggles back to previously used tool. This even with your keys perfectly configured. This can be very handy (but in every app, to toggle to color picker, it's alt key, temporary usage, as in only practical way, as while painting it has to be a super responsive action), but wish there was an option to disable that toggling (as alt key is better for the picker), as most of the time sends you to another tool...I suggest a preference option here....Anyway, my main issue is in my sig : performance in the color picker. That's my real only current "issue" with the entire app, lol... Practically everything else, I can overcome... (for painting . Luckily I have other tools. Still useful for absolutely anything else. It really is worth the 50 bucks, no matter what) Defaulting to zero opacity ? That does not happen to me... Which tablet brand are you using? Maybe the driver is messing around... Does not happen with my wacom. I for one was very happy with our old Renault 9. Wasn't a Mercedes, but carried us everywhere...

I'm not fully understanding this... I believe you have options for it to respond (for both features) to pen pressure (even with a curve for each setting on how and till what extent pen pressure will affect each feature....) ? I might be missing some detail in your statement....

Thank you for the info ! The more tablets we know that work with Affinity, the better.

I'm not sure if I understand this well... You have the possibility of purchasing, for just some ( a bundle for 12 bucks or sth that level) coins, "beyond-amazing" as I call them, Paolo's Daub brushes. I've being playing with them and puts Affinity Photo in another league, in painting. (I still see core issues for painting in the application, but are being polished...). Indeed, I got them as well for other software for 2D and drawing (other company), as he does it for several software applications, and works great there, too. There are also other brush vendors for Affinity (I'm planning to get me an engraving one. Not that I need it, is just I love the output it seems to produce. I think this one is sold directly in Affinity store). And there are even free sets of brushes (in the forum).

It's funny... they try (impossible mission) to teach us not to speak so loud to the British and any other foreigner... And neither doing so among us, when they are near... I used to travel as a teenager, with the family... Wow, what a difference. I remember asking my father ... "Why is everybody whispering, dad ?"

Sorry, can't agree with that. I've worked at companies at so many levels and fields, using Photoshop, and I've trialed in several occasions the supposedly toned down PSE... And . WOW. Just WOW. Yeah, easy GUI, but no, thank you. They stripped down the thing so much than I can't even call it a toy... I mean,... NO CMYK mode (I'm better off with GIMP, then ! ) ... really advanced selections (often the ultimate KEY for really advanced photo manipulation, image editing in general)--> goodbye fair well, quite lower performance than in PS... dunno, it's way too many things. Fun fact: I have CMYK mode, I can use whatever the color profile there, in A. Photo. Advanced selections ? No problem, there too. And indeed. despite all that (and much, much, MUCH more) , still the ting costs 50 euros or so, and PSE about double. Maybe PSE had some red eye reduction or special ease of use more closer to one of those "fix your family photos" approaches, but really, for deep serious stuff, I'd feel way better covered with Affinity Photo than PSE, by a large difference. In that regard, also just using Gimp (but they still have certain distance to catch-up Photo)... So, I'd love to, but can't agree... If anything, I'd be to believe is PSE the one needing to "catch up" with Photo...

It was said in an overly positive tone.... But this forum has a bug since the beginning with the audio. This way they are never going to be better than Photoshop.

I do actually prefer Affinity Photo over Krita, for both digital painting and drawing. And Clip Studio Paint above anything else ( for these tasks). On earth.

You're welcome !

the 12 pen-display from XP is at 250$, is crazy. And has been reviewed, it's GOOD. I hate 12 i nches, have worked in a cintiq 12, but hey, to each his own. Fort what it is, that product is a golden purchase, if you don't deeply hate small display sizes and crammed app UIs, small font, etc.

22 inches model, from XP-PEN gives you quite real state to work with. At that size, if you are not a photolab professional (seems not) it can very well work as a main monitor, indeed, as it has an ok size. I'm speaking of the pro version, around 800 $. It has a 22E pro and 22 Pro versions (around 500... is not a bad purchase, either...IMO, better than the 16 inches) . The E version includes configurable function buttons, but not too fond of that, personally. Yep about the wacom disc (the pen-tablet from them, Deco 03, has a disk). It has also better cable management, important if planning to set the tablet-monitor near to horizontal. Not so much in a 45º or 35ª angle. The E has an antiglare filter as internal. I hate putting manually those filters, always make bubbles. So, for that alone I prefer the better version, the "E". Both have non battery free pens (that usually adds line jitter , but I've not read bad reports about it with these models, also, you can fix that with Affinity line stabilizer). Color is same for both, it seems, 77 - 88 % Adobe RGB, which is about fine for a semi pro (and pro in certain cases) usage, and definitely way enough for hobbyists. Typically it means 100% sRGB, so, many pod printers would work well with it, and a lot of screen only output (many digital printers today ask for just a sRGB file). Curiously, the 16 inches PRO model (they have a cheaper 16 model that DON'T) from them supports 92% of Adobe RGB color space. But I can't stand tiny monitors. Same case with another company, Artisul. 94% in their 16 inches pen-display, but not the case of the 22 model.. The Artisul 22 model covers a bit less color space, altho these settings are often misleading... not specifying , it can be 72% of Adobe RGB, or NTSC. In this case specs say it clear, is 72% Adobe RGB (strange as 72 tends to be referred to NTSC), so, in theory (I'd need to test and calibrate, see how each one behaves...) the Artisul has less coverage of that color space. Then there's Huion, and Yiynova. I know Yiynova is very good, for some reason, despite prices are very similar, people promote less Yiynova. I'm guilty too, but that's often for lazyness. I think that's crazy. But I definitely would only buy from them the very top, highest end model.(MVP22U V3, at the time of posting this) That said, in theory, the XP-PEN 22E pro monitor has wider coverage of Adobe RGB color space, by a little bit, but the fact is, I have read people complaining about color calibration to get good, pro accurate output with the 22 pro (non E) , while never with a Yiynova, and that guy I met once, really knew the deal with color management, said Yiynova is the best of the alternatives in that, he had tested it deeply, from what I read from several explanations. Even so, that was a while ago , and XP-PEN has kept improving. Seems there are more cases of compatibility with the XP-PEN brand than with Huion, which has several incompatibilities in some cases/tablets with Affinity, it seems. So, yeah, I'd go for a XP-PEN pen-display 22E, or a Yiynova MVP22U V3. When I said only the latest and best/priciest yiynova, I know why I say it... the 19+ model is a TFT TN !!! That's horrid for illustration/design or photo retouch. Thinking it deeply, I think I'd go for the XP-PEn PRO 22E. As most things point towards that one be the better choice, all things considered. Wacom is finally (extremely recent) coming to senses, lately, before the competitors completely grab the market from them in the low range of pen-displays. So, they have released now a 16"Cintiq, but... Beware my wording. "Cintiq". Not Cintiq Pro. That's the key. They finally are producing non premiums cintiq! So, that one is around 600 $, I believe. And.. hopefully...but who knows... along the way they MIGHT produce 22 or bigger size pen-displays. Once they do that, even with stuff removed from the non pro version, those are still more featured, and tons better than any alternative. THOSE would be the ones to have. Also: tested brand and devices durability,. more than any other. So, those really knowing by experience what is working in a tiny 16" (those who don't, please, don't risk it) ,is now a nice moment to get a cintiq for a bargain price. Those serious enough...IMO, wait for the next Wacom move, could be a cheapo 800 dollars 20 or 22, or a bit pricier 24. Indeed, the 24 and 27 are more in the pro range per se, I believe, as much they are going to consider 19 -22, as is a range where the Chinese, US, and German alternatives are grabbing market, too: good illustrators knowing that larger canvas+display is better for many reasons. If Wacom produces a 19 , 20 or 22 in the bargain pricing. Is a must-buy. Yes or Yes. Too much they'd have to cripple it for not. And seems not to be the line, as the 16 they just released has even tilt, something not present even in the alternatives, neither in the intuos non pro tablets, for a while. (while this seems to be like the intuos line in the pen-tablet type of product line. Is the affordable cintiq line. Finally.) There's the Dell Canvas 27" at 1700 dollars. Bit pricey, though, but is quite similar in all to a 27 QHD from Wacom, which was the top of the line since very recently (now is the 32) Whoever swears that a 16 inches is enough, has never drawn in a 27... or even in a 21....

Interesting idea.

I was going to suggest to copy hex color to clipboard, using RGB hex, sliders, instead of color wheel, so to copy the hex code from field box to the other document's field box.... But I guess makes no sense, as you find slow even the thing of: -the color wheel has in its top window area a tiny eyedropper. You drag and drop it on the image area where resides the color you want. It becomes the one in the tiny circle, not in the document's primary one (don't care about it now). Then you ctrl +tab (or click the other tab) to the other document, click only once in the tiny circle there (already had the color you set in the other one, as the tiny color picker is indeed "global") , because that click on the tiny color circle sample (you did not need to do so in the other document) puts the tiny circle's color into the main primary color, in this other document. It is handy (not just for this) if you have the "Color" studio detached, and near your working area, for speed's sake. But not covering or being an obstacle, Just near. It's 1 drag & drop in one document + 1 click in the other document (in that tiny circle). And you have your color passed through to primary. You can as well do your global swatches (swatches studio) by hitting the pallete icon in that window, having at the left of that icon selected COLORS (is global), not DOCUMENT. So not only you are having same swatch color in the other document, is also keeping a scrollable history of your added swatches, that you can reuse later. You can delete those afterwards ( tho might not be practical) Remember that's not the same than, also in swatches studio, the horizontal row of "recent" colors.... those are document-specific, not global. I mean, if you do it a lot, you might want even less clicks. Depends on your workflow. If is from time to time, is not so many clicks, specially the first method.

Not sure where I have read that some are having issues with the Huion in Affinity, but don't quote me on that...

That it takes patience to learn any new program, and that Affinity Photo is very capable. Is a good choice.

With your favorite Aero theme installed, have you checked you have the 4 main Aero features ? You can very well disable the rest, or, at least, if it's giving you an error, check that these 4 are CHECKED to be active (from a recent post of mine) : Desktop Composition (also, this one is key for Affinity), Show thumbnails instead of icons, Smooth edges of screen fonts and Use visual styles in windows and buttons . To establish these just go to : 1) Start menu ---> 2) Control Panel ---> 3) System ---> 4) Advanced system configuration (at the left area, in that window) 5) 'Advanced options' tab 6) in "performance" area, hit the "configuration" button. 7) Now in "Visual Effects" tab, check that the 4 above features are CHECKED, ON. That should do it, with any theme you use, no matter what. The procedure here should be : first set your fav theme, THEN check the settings manually, set what you need. As clicking on a theme tends to overwrite whatever you manually set in the procedure I explained, keep it in mind.

From which source do you get that most Affinity users are not professionals? I am one, I use the tools. I'd be interested in a link to prove that, as data. I mean, not that anyone needs to do so (not you nor anyone) but I mention it as am reading this lately... " is not for professionals ", and "is not being used by professionals" . I must be transparent, invisible too. Me and a bunch I know around here... And yup, both AP and AD are great for professional use. I know PS and AI inside out. Decades. And am here.... And yeah, any pro changes the shortcuts. Heck, my boss, last company, she was in charge of the marketing department, made a lot of stuff herself, but certainly not a pro in image editing. Not even close. Yet she'd change her shortcuts in any program that would worth it to do so. I'm not saying everyone must do the thing I do of even having X-Mouse Button Control to even "hack" the situation, and make each app behave with my own set of shortcuts+mouse action, but setting your own preferences in an app ? Pretty basic stuff, imo... I wouldn't call that exclusive "pro knowledge"... Pro would be knowing very well how to prepare a file for print, or advanced retouching, etc. I solved the brush "B" issue long ago, in preferences. The "not remembering settings" is a slow down, I recon it, it has less of a solution, but definitely (in pro activities, even), not a full show stopper. (one of the cases of : You get a lot more in the positive plate, to compensate)

I'd rather prefer Affinity Photo improving its painting capabilities (first, improving and consolidating the ones it already has, before adding anything else new). Krita , Painter, etc...often are short in features more in the land of image editing. There are several full digital paint softwares around (you left out Rebelle 3 and Art Rage, which absolutely beat anything else in that vibe, together with Painter....,) IMO. No real need for yet one more, but instead, have enough painting functionality inside Photo. Much more interesting for real life illustration gigs, projects, those with an angry client, dead lines, extreme variety of projects, being a work horse that allows you from doing pixel art gigs, to textures, to do children books illustration...YEP... Photo, I have designer (love it!!!) and yet I'd do ANY illustration with Photo. I'm a raster freak. Often digital paint tools miss the bus there in that illustration works are often needing Photoshop functionality. To the extent some don't even include text tools functionality. So, I'd rather not have that persona, as puts you away from those essential RASTER (not vector) features that you have in Photo. Also, use Paolo's Daub brushes in latest betas... you need very little more (ie, in my case, ONLY the alt color picking improved / deactivation of magnifier...and purchasing a new machine for performance with complex brushes, but that wouldn't stop me right now for painting with AP, as some complex brushes of average size, and even big brushes of just round shape, default type ones) for any painting project. A solid brush/color picking (mostly) core, and everything else can be worked around, and just keep improving slowly. But with those improved, for me there's enough features set, right now, for AP to be a full digital painting app. Indeed, once I see it working as expected in my machine (or a new one, lol...) I'll even contribute with my demonstration to that (that you wouldn't need anything else to paint, and that is MORE convenient for painting than a lot of digital painting specialized applications. At least for serious, paid projects, real life ones (opposed to just some hobby activity))

Nope...aero is needed for Affinity in Windows 7 (indeed, in win 8 and 10 is forced, yes or yes, by the OS, as far as I know...).... Just activate it in a minimal expression, I have it so (no glass effect, no aero-peek...Only leave ON : Desktop Composition (also, this one is key for Affinity), Show thumbnails instead of icons, Smooth edges of screen fonts and Use visual styles in windows and buttons (you can't disable this one without disabling Aero). And everything else unchecked, OFF. In one week you get very used to it. In one month you absolutely don't care. (has the plus that you can use some features that can come handy, not available if Aero is disabled). Performance wise, no difference in performance in my experience...I'm very geek, would have noticed... and my crappy old machine should notice it, as is low in almost all departments. Look at my signature, I have Windows 7. That line is not recommended, you enter if doing so in a non supported mode. The way to activate it, though, is hitting properties, after right click over the Affinity Photo desktop icon, and setting the parameter after the "C:\Program Files\Affinity\Affinity Photo\Photo.exe , put an space between the exe, and the parameter, and keep it inside the " (keep both ", it's needed) I totally DON'T recommend it. You might not get the same experience. And related to bugs, etc, I believe you wont get support if loading it so... I am not sure either how performance will be, as is all related with the graphic driver and dunno what. Yeah, I changed my habit of having no Aero, solely for Afifnity, but heck, it is worth it.... BTW, forgot, previous to reducing (if you do it afterwards, it sets some settings back on !! check them always after you do such change) I did set my fav colors theme for windows and backgrounds. You have already some color schemes, and maybe you like more the sepia-ish ones, or grey ones, like I do. Then go and do that "minimalizing" of the Aero settings list (leaving activated just 4 of them ! ) and...be happy with it. Cheers,

I'd love that, but that's also a hard path....I mean, the problem is that those companies are not making their proprietary, native formats open, fully open. IE, the case of FBX, as far as I know. So, is really difficult for a developer to play a guess work there, or that I have been told by several friend developers. And these are formats that store a ton of native stuff, related with how the internals, features work in those apps. Maybe wouldn't be even enough if counting with a complete specification. and for the same reason, I don't see ( in the line you also agree) that those companies would be facilitating that internal info, either... But I speak about a field (programming) which I don't know, just its effects on my workflows. So , the 'at least decent way', might be just a flattened one layer, no text info, etc...Not that useful, or, if reaching that situation, is better to use a more commonly supported format (Tiff, etc), if all what one can get is a very simplified flat export/import... IMO. I bet they, like me, would love that it'd be possible to open a native ps file and be able to do a seamless import even with very complex files (files also with smart objects, etc). I see in the export a similar issue. If they can't know how is that internal file structure, how could they build a complex layered file with layer effects, etc, that would open perfectly and fully seamlessly in PS? I mean, again, I'm speaking without having any real clue on the issues. But is what seems from outside, to me.

Their (Serif's) legacy previous generation is even older.... And well, Canvas ( I got some old versions in magazines, I'm with computers since '85) seems now is... 600 bucks perpetual license. And I keep suspecting from those vendors who are now (or even if for a while) introducing subscription as an option (here we are a ton of refugees running from that...) And in a certain way, Xara did as well, too (it's an easy UI to work with pixels and vectors, tho never liked the raster take at it). I don't see the point. Today's Affinity offer is not just a bargain, is a collection of great factors (price, purchase-ONLY, UI, ease of use, pro capability, impact in so many people, cross platform, lightweight, modern). So, whether or not has a set of features similar to others, older or recent, for me what is ground breaking is the combination of factors. How I can have an entire suite (for my needs, which are extremely varied, and professional, and Davinci and Blender do the rest of what I'd ever need, plus my usual set or arsenal of utilities) for ~ 150, with 3 main apps. More on topic, is always an issue. Top dogs wont help in any way competitors to open their native files. In the other direction, even if Affinity's would document their format... I mean, I'm very sure Affinity is starting to be a slight bit of a worry to Adobe: I don't see them clearing Serif's path by making their apps fully compatible with theirs...that tends to happen when/if the competitor gets the 1st place, and becomes dominant. But then the situation would be a extremely different one, and not likely to happen any time soon... (if ever. And I'm very fine with it..) I always see a very clarifying way in what happens with FBX format from Autodesk, and the spartan tries of Blender team to make importers and exporters for that. And I've watched a Ton's video on some details of the situation, which tells you why it simply wont ever happen, or very rarely ( a top dog making it easy for a dangerous competitor, even if quite below its position).