benwiggy
Members-
Posts
155 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by benwiggy
-
Accurately import PDFs?
benwiggy replied to benwiggy's topic in Feedback for Affinity Designer V1 on Desktop
We know! The question is ... how long before Affinity catches up? -
Yes, this does seem to improve things. Thanks. I can't imagine what duping the files changes.
-
Selection of text with different attributes
benwiggy replied to benwiggy's topic in V1 Bugs found on macOS
Thanks, -
Accurately import PDFs?
benwiggy replied to benwiggy's topic in Feedback for Affinity Designer V1 on Desktop
This is all very interesting, but why do other apps not have the problems that Affinity does with importing PDFs? -
Accurately import PDFs?
benwiggy replied to benwiggy's topic in Feedback for Affinity Designer V1 on Desktop
Is a placed PDF not opened, read, displayed, and printed? What many people want to do with PDFs is open them in a vector package for editing. Other apps manage to do this, outlining glyphs where necessary. Lots of Photo editors can raster a PDF page, without altering the text because it's tried to 'interpret' the contents in some bizarre way. -
Now that we have Passthrough PDF in Publisher, will we see a similar feature in Designer to open PDFs accurately, outlining any glyphs you're not sure about? (Or even an "Outline fonts" checkbox in the import options?) And similarly being able to raster a PDF in Photo without text being "interpreted"? Thanks
-
If a selection is made of text that has different attributes, there is no indication of that in the relevant settings. Only the attributes of the beginning of the selection are shown. So it's very easy to select a whole bunch of text and assume that all the attributes are the same, when they're not. E.g. leading, alignment/justification, line spacing, hyphenation, etc. Only point size and font style/weight give any indication - by going blank, which is perhaps not ideal.
-
The relevant thing is that the apps are much slower to launch than they used to be, and slower than is usual for any app.
-
See my comment above: I've already tested with Wifi off, and it's no different. Apple has promised to include an opt-out of the OCSP server in the future.
-
Most AV software causes more problems than it fixes. While macOS is not immune from vulnerabilities, it does have very good built-in security, and newly discovered threats are identified and locked out with security updates just as quickly as any third-party software might manage. (The same is true for Windows Defender.)
-
I suspect the exact details of the mumbo-jumbo may shed some light on the issue. I don't seem to have it with other apps - at least not to the same degree. I also tested launching with WiFi off, in case it was the OSCP server issue again, but no change.
-
When I launch any of the Affinity apps, they bounce in the Dock about 30 times -- about 20 seconds or so -- before I get the splashscreen. The app launches quickly after this point. Subsequent launches are faster. I'm not sure whether it's just the first time after every boot or after ... some time has passed. Anyone else had this? I'm on Big Sur, if that's a factor. I'm on a 2018 Mac Mini, so it's not a slow hard drive ....!
-
downgrade
benwiggy replied to affinityuser13's topic in Pre-V2 Archive of Affinity on Desktop Questions (macOS and Windows)
Another reason to maintain a backup. There are plenty of software developers that don't let you download earlier versions, either. -
The question remains, why, at version 1.9, several years into the planning of the project, is this 'the first step'? Why such an arse-about-face implementation, of turning every object inside a PDF into an Affinity data type (unfaithfully when it comes to text), when solutions widely exist for PDF as images, editable objects and rasterized bitmaps? It is only because the implementation of the rest of the suite is of such high standard and capability that this PDF blindness is all the more bizarre and inexplicable. There really ought to be an FAQ setting out the company's view on this, why they've done what they've done, and why it not working now is worth waiting for something later.
-
Here's an EPS file with embedded subset TrueType and OpenType fonts. Fonts.eps My point is: Affinity imports an EPS file as a placed 'image', just like normal apps do with PDF. I can render a bitmap of one. I can import one for editing, albeit that Affinity outlines everything. But that would be an improvement for PDFs over the current 'first step' in some strange and unusual implementation.
-
Dear MEB I would be very grateful if you could explain to me why Affinity has made this curious choice about PDFs, and what benefits it brings over the conventional methods used by every other application. It is a cause of huge frustration. I cannot raster a PDF into a bitmap accurately; I cannot open a PDF for editing; I cannot get an accurate representation as a page object. And yet EPS files work perfectly. Thanks
-
Affinity can interpret PostScript in EPS files with embedded fonts perfectly. Putting a PDF on a page is not a radically difficult new concept. It's been done since the 20th century. Yes, I know a little about PDF. 😉 There is "interpreting" and then there is "interpreting" - and for some reason Affinity's 'interpreting' is entirely different from just rendering as any other application would do it. It wouldn't matter so much, but for the fact that, as you point out, Affinity's interpretation is incomplete. We are in agreement that "some approximations are better than others". Every other approximation works sufficiently well, and Affinity's approximation does not. I am deeply disappointed that I cannot use Affinity reliably for the kind of work with PDFs that I need to do. If there is a paid upgrade to v.2.0, then I will certainly think twice before committing if the PDF workflow is not improved.
-
That's exactly what it does with EPS. 1. I'm not sure I want ads/logos 'converted to image file' - I want them passed through. But Affinity should convert to bitmap in Photo persona. It does not do this reliably. 2. Outline text for editing in Design persona. 3. Place as pass-through image object in Publisher persona. Is that not what you want?
-
"the PDF specification will always have features we won't support." "We are still working on aspects of our PDF importer that converts PDF to native Affinity" The design intent seems to be to provide an 'interpreted' PDF on the screen, regardless of the state of the beta development. Affinity is hell-bent on 'converting PDF to native Affinity', rather than just accurately rendering a PDF as a graphic object. This would be fine if it were guaranteed 100% accurate, but it isn't. Affinity should just treat PDF the same way it currently does EPS -- place as an image; open and outline the embedded fonts for editing or bitmapping -- with this 'interpretation' thing as an optional extra. They could save themselves a ton of work and satisfy most of their users. As it is, the current design fails to make Affinity a viable product for my workflow.
-
Affinity Publisher Customer Beta - 1.9.0.742
benwiggy replied to AdamW's topic in [ARCHIVE] Publisher beta on macOS threads
Apologies, I just came up with a name that sounded like the crappiest template-driven DTP app I could think of. Maybe I'll develop it myself. Maybe I won't: clearly there isn't a market for importing, editing or rastering PDFs. -
Affinity Publisher Customer Beta - 1.9.0.742
benwiggy replied to AdamW's topic in [ARCHIVE] Publisher beta on macOS threads
Call me crazy, but what about showing an accurately rendered PDF, displayed on the page? Like InDesign does. Like Pages does. Like Word does. Like Uncle Bob's BrochureMakerâ„¢ and every other app in the world does.