Lojza

Haha, well.. how did I know you'd ask? ;)  Basically, we've decided to release a small update to the App Store to fix the majority of issues found by users of Affinity 1.3 before moving on to 1.4 - so although we're working on the new features day-to-day in our 1.4 branch, we are also maintaining the 1.3 branch and adding fixes to it so that we can give people the best experience with an update to the Mac App Store version within the next couple of weeks (hopefully). The beta has to come from the 1.3 branch as that's what we're going to push to the App Store as an update when we know that everything is working as expected :)

Hi,
 
I'm so enthusiastic about Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo (both bought and watched over their beta versions for more than half a year...). I also found that Serif offers PhotoStack for photo management, but this app seems a little bit "outdated".
 
So, are there any plans to revive PhotoStack and make it more Affinity-like and Affinity compatible?
 
The background is I'm looking for a decent photo manager, that would go well with Affinity Photo and that would completely replace Photos by Apple, which I consider a really weak app.
 
Thank you.
 
 

DEPRECATED THREAD
The Photo tutorials listed below have been refreshed and moved. Please see this new thread or use the Affinity site Photo Desktop tutorials webpage
 
In support of our fantastic photo editing app, please use this comprehensive and structured set of videos for accelerated learning!
The video tutorials are available on Vimeo and YouTube via these links:
 
Vimeo - http://affin.co/PhotoVids
YouTube - http://affin.co/photoyt

We now have a specific Beginners Series of videos tailored to absolute beginners, with a more manageable pacing and focus on concepts and straightforward procedures. They all include subtitles to aid understanding.

The tutorial set includes:

Beginners Series
Opening & Saving -  YouTube / Vimeo Layers - YouTube / Vimeo Adjustments - YouTube / Vimeo Filters - YouTube / Vimeo Exporting - YouTube / Vimeo  
Introduction
Discover Affinity Photo Getting Started Technical Benefits  
Basics
Document Setup Layer Concepts Layers Overview Live Filter Layers Scaling and Transforming Cutting Out Understanding DPI Accessing Help  
Transforming
Document/Image Resizing Canvas Resizing Cropping: Practical Cropping: Aesthetic Straightening Images Cropping: Golden Spiral Cropping: Options Aligning Images  
Selections and Masking
Making Selections Refining Selections Pixel Selections from Layers Quick Masks Mask Layers Exposure Merging Clipping vs Masking Vector Masking Using Adjustment Layers on Masks - YouTube / Vimeo  
Correction
Adjustment Layers Levels Curves Shadows/Highlights Split Toning and Selective Colour LAB Colour Mode Defringing and Chromatic Aberration Live Perspective Haze Removal FFT Denoise Removing Lens Flares Changing Eye Colour Graduated ND Filter Effect Salvaging Underexposed Images Dual Perspective Correction Perspective Skew Correction - YouTube / Vimeo (New: 20th April)  
Retouching
Cloning Inpainting Frequency Separation Liquify: Retouching Vector-Based Retouching Enhancing Landscapes/Architecture Vector Architecture: Worked Example Enhancing Camera Phone Photography Making Images Pop Revealing Sky Detail Bringing Out Water Detail Quick Inpainting Crooked Horizons - YouTube / Vimeo  
RAW Development
Raw: Discover Develop Raw: Developing Images Raw: Overlays Raw: Redeveloping Images Raw: Noise Reduction Maximising Raw Latitude Custom Tone Curve Raw Development Quality 32-bit Raw Development - YouTube / Vimeo Raw Colour Quality Automatic Lens Corrections Raw: Recovering Overexposed Highlights Raw: Exposure Bias  
Getting Creative
Lighting Creative Gradients Creative Black & White Sepia Images Brushes Blend Modes Blend Ranges Liquify Persona Sky Replacement Adding Borders Text: Branding/Watermarking Diffuse Glow Displacement Circular Bokeh Swirling Bokeh Simulating Ambient Occlusion Texturing with Blend Modes Creating Atmosphere Creating Light Beams Vector Lighting Simple Gradients Technicolor Emulation - YouTube / Vimeo Creative Painting Colour toning with shapes Infrared Emulation Radial Blur Regular Tone Mapping Compositing Landscapes Adding Extended Borders Creating Photo Collages Abstract Ideas #01 Abstract Ideas #02 Enhancing Low Light Trails Light Painting Compositing Tone Mapping Portraits HSL Tonal Separation - YouTube / Vimeo Orton Effect - YouTube / Vimeo  
Design Aids
Snapshots Modifiers Designer/Photo Interworking Pixel Accurate Design Placing Documents Useful Keyboard Shortcuts Non Destructive Inpainting and Cloning Layer Creation Behaviour Layer Nesting Exporting 3D LUTs LUTs for Tonal Adjustments View Points Global Cloning Subtle Toning Multiple Colour Formats Scopes Curves Picker Non-Destructive Dodge & Burn Flexible Defringing Edge Detection for Masking Split & Mirror View Batch Processing Clone Sources Pixel Art Resize Direct PSD write-back (round tripping) Freehand Selection Tool Undo History Importing .abr Brushes Undo Brush with Snapshots Quick Toggling Panels - YouTube / Vimeo Light UI - YouTube / Vimeo Brush Stabilisation - YouTube / Vimeo  
Channels
Channels Channels for Alpha Masking Channels: Creating/Storing Selections Editing Single Channels Channels: Greyscale Blending Channel Packing  
Filters
Live Filter Layers (Also in Basics) Apply Image Apply Image: Equations Equations Filter Dust & Scratches Filter Halftone Scanlines Effect Mirror filter Diffuse Glow Filter Defeating Filter Limits  
Panoramas
Panoramas Tricky Panoramas Panorama Distortion Correction  
HDR (High Dynamic Range)
HDR: Merging & Tone Mapping HDR from one exposure - YouTube / Vimeo HDR: Tone Map Presets HDR: Panoramas HDR: Preprocessing HDR: Advanced Editing HDR: Ghosts Removal HDR: 32-bit Editing  
Focus Merging (Focus Stacking)
Focus Merging Focus Merge Retouching Focus Merging Bracketed Exposures  
Live Stacking
Maximum Stacking Big Stopper Effect Light Painting Blending Stacking: Long Exposure Simulation Stacking: Noise Reduction Stacking: Object Removal Stacking: Exposure Merging Stacking: Star Trail Effect  
Live Projections (360 editing, perspective projection)
360 Live Editing - YouTube / Vimeo 360 Advanced Editing 360 Retouching 360 Multiple Views 360 Roll Correction - YouTube / Vimeo Live Perspective Projection  
 OpenEXR/32-bit
OpenEXR Multichannel Import/Export OpenEXR Import Options Editing 32-bit 3D Renders OpenEXR: Using Alpha Channels & Association  
3D Render/Texture Work
Seamless Textures Clone Sources: Texture Creation Enhancing 3D Renders #01 Enhancing 3D Renders #02 Tone Mapping 3D Renders 3D Relighting with Normal Map Passes - YouTube / Vimeo  
Colour Management
OpenColorIO Setup OpenColorIO Adjustment Soft Proofing Printing on Mac Printing on Windows Wide Colour Profiles vs sRGB - YouTube / Vimeo  
Macros
Macros Macros: Equations Macros: Layer Behaviour Batch Processing with Macros  
Finishing Off
Sharpening Selective Sharpening Exporting Export Compression Efficiency  
Plugins
Installing Nik Plugins (macOS) Installing Nik Plugins (Windows) Installing & Using Nik Dfine  
Projects
Nature Portrait Supermoon Product Shot Retouching #01 Nighttime Architecture Workflow - YouTube / Vimeo Portrait Retouching Workflow - YouTube / Vimeo  
Bonus Content
Uplift Epic Skies (1.6 Bonus Content) - YouTube / Vimeo  
Windows Workflow videos
 
In addition to the regular tutorials, we've also got some workflow videos shot on the Windows version of Photo that cover using a variety of features to edit an image to completion. These tend to be released on a more informal basis.
Hadrian's Wall Tiled Building Portrait Retouching Monochromatic Architecture Canary Wharf Banded Demoiselle  
 
Please let us know about areas you think need covering, have problems with, don’t understand, or just tell us if we’re on the right or wrong track. Simply reply to this pinned topic.

Have fun with Affinity Photo!

Best wishes from the Affinity Documentation Team!

Hi Lojza,
I see your point. I agree it would be a nice addition.
Thanks for your feedback.

Hi, I often design some assets for mobile apps and I usually encounter this problem.
 
At design time, I'm used to use the "Erase" mode for some shapes (using compound shapes and/or cutting the underlaying shapes does not work in cases I need to use gradient fills or colored strokes). During export to vector formats, these "Erase" effects get rasterized, which is not what I need for the mobile app assets. In the end, I have to make copies of all the designs and "flatten" them manually, which is really slow and tedious process... I have to expand all strokes, convert many shapes to curves and make boolean cuts them with the "Erase" shapes over them.
 
So, would it be possible to either support vectorized output of the "Erase" effect, or at least add some automated flattening procedure for layers / groups?
 
Thanks for considering. This would be a huge time saver in my work flow :)

Thanks for your suggestion @ZOPPOdesign.
Yes, presently it's not possible to define an object as a reference for the alignment. We are aware of this limitation.
This was already requested by other users too and should be implemented later (still may take a little).

Sounds like a reasonable thing to do...
 
Andy

Just a quick update, similar to my last step. When using "select sampled colour" choose the black text instead of the yellow and increase the tolerance until you are happy with your selection then use the "refine edges" and again "new layer with mask" from the output menu. This will leave the text and a transparent background. Took less than 10 secs...
 
 
Allan
 
 
 

I've used the Green channel to create a Luminosity layer, adjusted its Levels, applied an Invert adjustement, then filter Colors ▹ Erase White Paper.
 
Here is the result (transparent):
 

Hi Lojza,
 
I just gave this a quick go. If you use the "select sampled colour" from the select menu then click and select the yellow in your logo and increase the tolerance then apply. Next "invert selection" then go back to the menu bar to the select menu and choose "refine edges" and choose new layer with mask from the output menu. Just tried this and it worked for me and like you did use the "Erase White Paper" Filter..... 
 
 
Allan

It missed the cut by about 3 hours ;)
 
Expect them next week - and maybe a cheeky teaser video sometime soon..
 
Andy.

Hi Vlad,
 
We've had this discussion many times before - basically, our thinking is that objects which do have a natural aspect ratio (images, text) are by default created and resized with aspect ratio preserved, objects which have no natural aspect ratio (a shape, for example) are just created freely.
 
You'll notice there's a new Preferences option in this week's beta of Designer and Photo which allows you to decide if you want this behaviour or whether you want to always default to no aspect ratio lock or to forced aspect ratio lock.
 
Thanks :)
Matt

Purpose: Improvements, Features, Fixes Status: Beta
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not submitted
Download: https://s3.amazonaws...stomer Beta.dmg
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Documents made in this version will not be openable in older versions of Affinity Designer. This change was necessary in order to ensure a consistent baseline for our file format for the Affinity Photo Beta. When we update the Mac App Store version it will upgrade to this new archive version number too so will not be an issue in the future.   Improvements, Features, Fixes   This beta includes the first versions of Path Text and the Corner Tool. Please remember that both these features are new and as such may have a few niggles - just let us know and we'll get them sorted. At present, we are aware of path text with strikethrough on sharp corners producing undesirable effects. We have many plans to improve corners over time, but feel free to make suggestions and we will try to incorporate these.   Additionally, - Fix for swatch strip rendering incorrectly - Improved Yosemite look and feel - Remember recent colours for raster brush tools in the ‘recents’ area - Fix for colour picker occasionally returning the wrong colour - Single-click with tablets in brush tools now creates a more sensible sized nozzle stamp - Support for Airbrush Stylus wheel as a controller - Always pass key events to the main view unless you were in a text field - this should resolve some issues seen with Cmd+Space apparently not working. - Fix for redrawing issues seen in Lion (and occasionally Yosemite) with the Layers panel and Effects panel - Fix for opening bmp files - Added ability to set kerning and tracking of text in 1000th of the point-size - Intensity nozzles can now be 16bit, just like full-colour nozzles - Improved SVG export of rectangles - Typing 0->9 now affects the opacity of the selection. Typing ’4’ will set 40%, ’45’ will set 45%, etc. In raster tools it will set the opacity you are about to paint with. - Added shortcut for Convert To Curves (Cmd+Enter) - Improved PDF import of strokes - Improved PSD import - Improved EPS import - Fix for CMYK ‘Darker’ and ‘Lighter’ blend modes - Added Preferences item for choosing the default method of constraining aspect ratio - Allow all characters as valid slice export filenames, with the exception of / and :  - Ensure context toolbar fills show correctly after the document’s ICC profile is changed - Swapped the stroke alignment icons inside/outside as they were wrong - Correctly use the system highlight colour rather than overriding it  
 
Update: We have made the decision to build another beta with the intention of fixing a common crash seen using the context toolbar of the new Corner Tool. This updated beta, version 1.1.2.23074, also includes the following changes:
  - Path Text initial height can be specified by dragging in the Art Text Tool while over a selected curve - Fixes for issues surrounding read-only documents and read-only volumes (NTFS for example) - Edit all layers is enabled by default - Added Path Text menu item - Path Text can be created from curves with corners. Similarly boolean operations now operate as expected with corners - Fix for corners artificially being limited in size when applying to objects - Support for 8bit LAB TIFF files - Corner Tool UI simplified to avoid clutter - New cat shape (it’s now the shape provided by our competition winner!) - SVG export now outputs ellipses as ellipses, rather than outputting as paths - this saves space and makes the file more readable. Also output straight segments as lines - Fix for stroke widths appearing incorrectly when set to scale with object in certain circumstances - Fix for double-clicking an item in the Layers panel not zooming to it

Hopefully fixed this now :) It'll be in the next beta update - which should be later today, with any luck!

1) When resizing single element, proportions are preserved by default and Shift works as a modifier to change proportions.
 
2) When resizing multiple selected elements, proportions are NOT preserved. Shift works as a modifier to preserve proportions.
 
This feels like inconsistency and it makes learning AD harder. I would prefer behavior described in 1) as default for all resizing. Thanks for considering ;)

1) When resizing single element, proportions are preserved by default and Shift works as a modifier to change proportions.
 
2) When resizing multiple selected elements, proportions are NOT preserved. Shift works as a modifier to preserve proportions.
 
This feels like inconsistency and it makes learning AD harder. I would prefer behavior described in 1) as default for all resizing. Thanks for considering ;)

Excellent - thanks for that :)  We'll add something to preferences when we get chance :)

1) When resizing single element, proportions are preserved by default and Shift works as a modifier to change proportions.
 
2) When resizing multiple selected elements, proportions are NOT preserved. Shift works as a modifier to preserve proportions.
 
This feels like inconsistency and it makes learning AD harder. I would prefer behavior described in 1) as default for all resizing. Thanks for considering ;)

Thanks Matt, I really appreciate your positive attitude :)
 
In fact, I'm not used to Illustrator at all, neither other drawing apps except for Photoshop. Being rather UX than UI designer, I use prototyping tools more often (like Axure, for instance). So my point does not come from rather irrational "I am used to", but just from quite rational conviction that the same things should be achieved the same way. No more, no less.
 
Anyway, preference option, that would resolve this sometimes in the future, would be totally brilliant! :)

Hi Lojza,
 
As Miguel says, we're definitely always open to ideas and feedback - we just want to make the best program we can, so we don't ever want to be ignoring great ideas and saying 'we just do it that way' without there being a very good reason for it... During the beta of Designer we've had all sorts of combinations going on - from a version that had more rules than the current one for times when/when not to constrain with/without modifier, to versions that never constrained without modifier (just like Illustrator) because people were asking for different things and we were trying to make it fit... However, we've got to the point that the rationale behind the logic is simple (as Miguel says: if it has a natural aspect ratio - text and images, it will be honoured, otherwise it will not) and I think it's fair to say that if you have an image and you want to make it bigger you don't normally want to modify its aspect ratio, so why should you expect to hold down a modifier to make that happen? The answer is probably just 'because that's what other programs made me do for consistency, so it's what I'm used to' - this is fine, but we don't want to just be a clone of another app's decisions that we don't agree with 'just because'. Instead, I think I'd prefer to see the addition of a preferences option that made it act this way if you prefer it... just like how we have a preferences option to make selection act the same as in Illustrator (which I personally don't like as much)
 
Hope that explains some of the reasoning behind it :)
 
Thanks!
Matt

Hi,
 
here are some designs for my personal project: an iOS app for anglers:
 
https://www.behance.net/gallery/23018151/iFishBook-App-Design
 
(Still fighting with some AD bugs & UX inconsistencies, though :()

I see you point Lojza. I'm not arguing against you. I was just trying to explain the logic behind it.
Not everyone works the same way. There's other software that performs the way you describe (Corel). Illustrator does exactly the opposite (requires pressing shift to constrain proportions), so it's hard to find  solution that will please everyone. This was already discussed before, but we are still open to rethink it if the majority of users find this troubling.

Oooops, I'm sorry.
 
It looks like I really kept changing the opacity in the Colour Panel :(
 
Thanks for patience :)

I'm guessing it's not the Layer Opacity (on the Layers Panel) that's being changed in this example - I think you're actually changing the Colour Opacity (on the Colour Panel), perhaps? Layer Opacity acts exactly as you'd imagine - just affecting the global opacity of the selected layer(s). Colour Opacity does the iterative application that you've described - but that's because you've asked it to change the alpha component of the colours of the selected objects. An example would be: Changing to a red colour would change each of the children in a selected group to be in a red colour, rather than applying a red recolour to the group, so the colour opacity acts this way too.
 
So, in summary, if you try adjusting the Opacity shown at the top of the Layers Panel you should find it all works as you'd expect :)
 
Hope that makes some sense?
Matt

Great work Lojza. Clean layout, nice palette and icons :)