Lojza

Guys, respect for the great work you do, but I feel disappointed with how current versions of AD and AP perform on Mac. I admit I've not been in touch for some... well years now, and I also admit that I'm a casual user (i.e. not using AD or AP on daily basis), but I've been one of the first users of the first betas and I count myself as one of the ultimately supportive users... Alas, current state of things makes me feel somehow sad. Not only there are small issues here and there across the apps, but also it seems that there are reintroduced issues in fuctions, which were already working in previous versions, but are broken in current versions. Here are some of my sad complaints: I'm not able to look through all the 100+ tutorials available, but I'm sure that it was possible to restrict live gaussian blur layer to a rectangle. Now it's not possible. Or at least I'm not able to do it intuitively. How in the hell am I able to blur a defined rectangle area of my image? I guess this does not apply to gaussian blur only, but also to other live filter layers. As far as I remember, several years ago, I was one of the first users who suggested that there should be a switch in Settings, which would allow to change dimensions of selected items either with or without preserving size ratio. This is now functioning improperly. I'm not sure whether it's in Designer or in Photo, but whenever I select a text layer or an image layer (or multiple layers), it's behaving inconsistently. Sometimes, resizing preserves size ratio with Shift, sometimes it works quite the opposite. I reckon the options should be clear: Move Tool Aspect Constrain = Automatic (based on selection) => do whatever you want Move Tool Aspect Constrain = Constrain by default => preserve aspect ratio no matter what unless Shift is pressed Move Tool Aspect Constrain = Do not constrain by default => sizes of selection must be adjustable freely, unless Shift is pressed Export to SVG actually brokes some curves - especially those with adjusted stroke width. I mean, how many times this was addressed? See the example attachment - comparison of PDF export nd SVG export. The blue parts should not be there... Also, I don't see any major shift in functionalities through the years. I know it's been and are difficult times for us here, but still... Will you introduce some breakthroughs or killer features? I mean AI for various filters or functions like resizing, noise reduction, etc. Or vectorizing functions for bitmaps? Or some UX revamping for common adjustments and filters which are somehow hard to geat a grasp on? Or making Liquify / Develop / Tone Mapping personas adjustable even after applying..? I'm sorry if it feels like an emotional flush or something. But even so, I hope it'll resonate somehow. However, cheers & keep up!

Thanks @Dan C for your assistance! Yessss! The original file downloaded from GDrive via web interface works well! Wow, you saved my day! (I actually use Expandrive most of the time for downloading/uploading to GDrive... So it seems the GDrive API is somehow messing with the files ). We can consider this topic closed Thanks again!

Hi @Dan C, any news on that? In the meantime, I'm struggling with another older file (created maybe in AD 1.5 and saved in AD 1.6, or maybe both in 1.6, not sure now). However, it's quite big design (140 MB) with some SVGs in it (as inserted files). When trying to open it in current Affinity Designer, the app throws tens of "Linked Resource Changed - Image ... has been modified outside of the application" warnings, then hangs the computer for some time, then hangs itself for another quite long time and finally (after a couple of minutes) opens the document, which seems OK. This file has never been uploaded to a network drive or cloud - from its creation, it stays on local disk. Is it possible to investigate on this as well? I'm willing to upload the file for your examination, if necessary (not publicly, however). Thank you!

Hello, The intro & context first: with MacOS X Mojave, there's a system-wide bug (namely affecting Preview in my case), that hides almost all detailed printing settings under "Printer Features" section within the printing dialog. Unfortunately, there's an "Account Track" option, that allows users to enter their credentials to be able to print on a company printer, which has been effectively disabled by this. So now when checking the "Account Track" option within "Printer Features", it won't do nothing (in previous versions of MacOS X / Preview, it has opened a dialog for entering Department Name and Password). For some time, Affinity Designer used original printing dialog, where all the sections were separate and it was possible to check the "Account Track" option, a modal dialog for entering Department Name and Password was displayed and everything went well. Probably with the latest update, the printing dialog in Affinity is the same as in Preview and the "Accoun Track" modal window for entering "Department Name" and "Password" is not invoked any more. Currently, only some apps on MacOS X keeps the original dialog (such as MS Word or Adobe Acrobat Reader). Would it be possible to utilize the older version of the printing dialog with Affinity? Or will it be sorted with MacOS X Catalina..? Currently, it's quite impossible for me to print directly from Affinity (Designer). Thanks for info. Here's the printing dialog from MS Word: Here's the printing dialog from Affinity (Account Track option does not do nothing):

Hi Dan C, Thanks for the response. I've uploaded the file to Dropbox. And yes, I moved it to Google Drive earlier this year and now moved back to my local drive.

Hi, I'm trying open some older .afdesign document in the newest version for Mac and I'm getting the "File type not supported" error: I can't remember in which version I've created the document, but it was certainly several years ago. Was there any backward compatibility break in the meantime? Is there a way how to recover the document? Thanks for any advice.

Currently (1.7.1 MAS version), the Transform mode within Node tool remains switched on only until another tool is selected. When switching back to Node tool, Transform mode is off. Please, would it be possible to set the Transform mode on/off based on what was last used within the Node tool? Even between AD restarts? Thank you.

I think I've never heard so much "super" adjectives in 19 minutes, but I have to say this video is super useful Thanks for that!

BTW, it would be nice if the Live Perspective filter would remember that "show grid" was unchecked... The grid is useless anyway.

The title says it all: Live Perspective filter redraws only when zooming, but if adjusted without zooming, the resulting state gets clipped with the original filter boundaries. See the video here: MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.6), Affinity display setting: Metal

Well, I believe it's not that big problem to create a new API function on Serif's side to detect whether there is a newer version already avaliable in the App Store. I also believe that hardly any user would block AD/AP access to the Internet, so it should be quite easy to announce there is a newer MAS version available instead of this confusing dialog, that has been around since I remember (two years for sure). Actually, the beta versions work in the same manner - announcing there's new beta available and offering the link to the forums. Why not to detect a newer MAS version with a link to open App Store app to make the update easier? On a different note, switching from beta chain to MAS version is a bit of a tedious work. I mean, files associations have to be changed, settings, custom brushes etc. have to be updated in the MAS version... I understand this is a burden that we - the beta testers - have willingly decided to bear, but let's be honest - is there a real difference between the beta RC version and the MAS version finally released? I doubt so. Is there any REAL reason, why not to leave the latest beta version live, until the next beta version is available? For the past 3 years, I almost only work with betas. They are perfectly stable most of the time and offer new features that I appreciate and use widely in my workflow. However, once or twice a year, there's an unpleasant "window", when I'm forced to switch to the the MAS version because the beta version refuses to launch. Not cool from my point of view, namely when I'm satisfied with what the latest beta RC offers. Thank you for considering these points. I believe many of the other users would agree

Sorry, taking that back. Now I realized that the "Assign" and "Convert" buttons relate to Color Profile only, not to the Colour Format...

Hi all, I have a nasty problem: Designer document designed originally in RGB/8 which needs to be converted to CMYK/8 for printing purposes. With current AD beta on Mac, the original document cannot be converted to CMYK/8 - the buttons "Assign" and "Convert" in the Color tab of Document properties are disabled when choosing CMYK/8. Also, when creating a new CMYK/8 document and copy/pasting the contents from the original RGB/8 file, the colors get distorted badly. Is there a way, how to achieve CMYK/8 document without significant color change (of course, there will be some, but currently when copy/pasting, the result is too different). Thanks for any (quick ;)) advice!

Just a small bug: Paste Style (Cmd+Shift+V) does not work in certain cases. The one I spotted is when there's a stroke applied on an image object and then the image style is being applied onto another image object. The stroke style isn't copied to the target.

This beta often hang when opening a file or multiple files (ordinary JPEGs) with drag and drop from Finder. There was the same problem with the previous beta. The app remains responsive, but refuses to quit as "the files are opening"... The MAS version is OK and does not suffer from this behavior.

I tend to think it's some kind of Adobe Reader issue... Anyway, do you have the possibility to print this PDF and see how it comes out of the printer? Maybe it's just rendering issue. I see similar problems very often with PDFs exported from Photoshop, for example.

This is how I see the PDF in Preview on Mac. Nothing seems to be wrong. What viewer do you use?

Any advice on this, anybody? Thanks

This version started to render custom grid differently - from coordinates 0,0 even if Gutter is set to 8 px. In the previous beta, the grid has been drawn with the gutter on the Y-axis, i.e. from coordinates 0,8 (as the position of the icons on the screenshot suggests). Is this a new feature (i.e. should I adjust elements positions) or is it a bug? Thanks for info ;)

When resizing an object with Shift pressed (= constrain proportions) all works OK (in Settings, "Do not constrain by default" is set). But when pressing Cmd at the same time (in order to resize around the center), then Shift / proportions constrain stops to work and object resizes unproportionally. This applies for both AP and AD 1.6 beta. It works perfectly with MAS 1.5 versions. Please, look into it ;) Thanks!

I'm struggling with a rather simple task. I have an image and I need to distort it so like it looks like being wrapped around a bottle shape. You know what I mean... the sides are a bit pushed, the verticael center remains 1:1. Is there a way how to achieve this in AP or AD? Both Distort filter and Liquify persona provide results that are far from precise, editing curve nodes with image nested inside does not morph the image... I'm clueless. Maybe some advanced Equations filter inputs..? Thanks for any tips.

Hi devs, the live perspective filter seems to work badly in AP 1.6 beta 1: on different zoom levels, different parts of the original image disappear (see screenshot - 100% zoom, bottom of the chocolate is bitten out) when selecting pixel layer with live filter applied and exporting it as selection only, the exported image is cropped according to the original image boundaries (not reflecting the new boundaries with perspective filter) some residues of the original image are still visible when filter is applied - look at the bottom of the chocolate, there is a horizontal single pixel line (it is the bottom from the original image) all the points above applies also when rasterizing the pixel layer with live filter applied Thanks for looking into this ;)

I did some more testing and the issue seems to be related to only certain file types. Plain .afphoto / .afdesign are probably OK. But opening / editing / saving flat PNG almost certainly ends in the "unsaved changes" dialog loop.

I run the beta (in English language) on Sierra 10.12.5, too. So the OS version should not be the issue.

The bug is that the "file unsaved" warning pops up even when the file has already been saved (with the previous warning) and no further modification has been made.