spidermurph

Apps: All
Platforms: Windows, macOS and iPad (requires keyboard)
Keyboard shortcuts have now been added to change the blend mode of the current layer(s), or paint brush tool.
Holding Shift with + or - will go to the next or previous blend mode in the list. Additionally, you can use any of the shortcuts in the attached table to change immediately to a specific blend mode. These can also be customised (as well as assigning shortcuts to other blend modes where a default shortcut hasn't been given) within preferences.

This will change the blend mode of the currently selected layer(s) (in all apps, all platforms including iPad with keyboard attached), unless you are using the Paint Brush Tool (Pixel or Photo persona) in which case the shortcuts will change the blend mode of the current brush.

Please leave any feedback or notes of unexpected behaviour for this new functionality in this thread.

Hey, Howdy, Hi!  Just a suggestion for an improvement that would make many lives easier  I would love to be able to view my assets larger than they are by 50-100%.  Though they are indeed the size of a thumbnail (lol) and though I do have a decently sized monitor, I literally have to get very close to said monitor when my assets are very similar such as in the attached photo. I'm not a spring chicken and even bifocals don't help in this (though a magnifying glass does).  Maybe the panel can just be made to zoom the thumbnails when expanded instead of just a setting to make them larger?

When I select a folder full of images to place in a doc in any of the new programs, a place image panel is created. The challenge is when I place one of the images and attempt to make any adjustments to it, the panel and all the unplaced images disappear. Under these constraints I'm forced to place all of the images before I can make any adjustments to any one of them. It would be very helpful if the place image panel would have an option to keep it open, just like all of the other panels.

Yes please. Many designers use Samsung and other pro level tablets.

i like how Coreldraw give chance to adjust print area at print preview, while Affinity designer could not provide even now in V2.
or did i miss something? because sometime i like to relayout position or fitting the size of my artwork before it printed..
 

Super excited when I got an email about V2 and even downloaded the free trials, but after looking at the lack of added features, it's a big pass. I'll wait for V3 or V6 or V9, what ever it takes to make this software compatible with the printing industry (Almost 1 Trillion Dollar (US$) industry worldwide).
There is still no support for overprint fills and strokes for ink trapping and color mixing, spot or CMYK color separations, non-printable layers for die cut rules or digital finishing equipment. Let's not even mention the still clunky interface. It's not workflow, it's work stoppage. Need to pull down menus to change stroke weights and type sizes, really???
I have worked in the graphic arts industry for over 40 years from paste up and film to digital prepress and digital printing, and every major graphic software package since the original Pagemaker. I know a thing or two about the industry. The reason professionals use Adobe products is because they support this kind of work. Our designers and prepress technicians agree that Affinity files are challenging to work with, and the only thing worse is Canva crap. We charge extra for such files because of the time it takes to make them work with our equipment.
Bottom line is if your like me and don't want to pay for subscription software, be prepared to pay for it on the back end.

There are some issues with V2 and biggest problem is, that I'm not able to go back and use my saved files in V1.
1. Problem with exporting to pdf. With some files and with some pdf compatibility I'm not able to export my work to pdf file - still generating preview without result.
2. Problem with images - some images disappears from file somehow. When I reopen the file I'm not able to work with images - they are inactive and disappear from file and they aren't even in exported file.
These issues are really big and I would like to have some kind of possibility to export my file fo publisher file V1, to be able to work with them.

Maybe Serif should consider to re-release DrawPlus. Seriously.
A lot of users will probably be more content with it then they are now with AD 2 (...).
I personally would buy it in a heartbeat if it's less than E 35 and has offline activation.
In fact, Serif would probably have been better off giving DrawPlus a GUI makeover and calling it AD 2.  😄

Hello everyone,

This is my subjective list of missing tools I would like to see in upcoming updates.
It will definatly speed up my workflow, right now I have to find a workaround, which sometimes is frustrating 😞
BTW:
What is your missing feature ?

🙄
Serif Software, why is it that you allow serious customers to be met by a handful of completely random people who obviously make it their hobby to answer every post in here, with no particular skills or customer focus, but instead answer in the worst and most childish fanboy style. It's bad for business. And deeply unprofessional.
It hardly gets more childish than the quoted. But someone will succeed.

I'm finding the Ctrl > Drag Duplication a bit glitchy compared to V1. 
Some of the FX feature tend to lock out and not allow changes.

Its just crazy there isn't an Android version of Affinity.
My two cents.
Yadda yadda about M1 and processors etc. This is a professional tool, Affinity is not supposed to be just winning a drag race for number crunching speeds. I'd be quite happy with my Android tablet coming in a few milliseconds behind Mac, as long as it got the job done in a tolerable time. 
 
 

Not sure if this has been suggested.

The current option to customize the tool bar with the available tools is nice.  I prefer the added ability in addition to what is there to customize all the panels and have a universal tool set that consists of ALL the tools from all the panels and allow me to place any tool from any panel or menu on any other panel, tool bar or interface item.   This would allow for creation of custom panels and not just collections of panels.

There is a software that takes this to a new level.  PaintStorm Studio Pro
paintstormstudio.com

That software allows complete customization of EVERYTHING within the interface including individual tools.   I would really like more of that type of customization within the Affinity softwares.  

Bringing the DELETE icon button over to the tool menu from the layers panel would be great!  
Stuff like that...

I use DrawPlus X8 for the many features that have not yet made it to Affinity.

It also has a blend tool, a 3D tool, and a shape builder.

1st of all, amazing build of the 2.0 version!
Love the addition of data merge. As well as the other aspects in the Suite 😃
I have however 1 question/request for the Software suite (all 3 of them).
The ability to change the UI when working on Windows.
As I work mostly remote on my Surface Pro. I find it many times handy working with the pen. However the UI on Windows is build on mouse and Keyboard work.
 
Is it possible to add an addition to the UI, where you have the ability to change the UI based on mouse/keyboard work or Tablet/Pen work/view. (As UI the Ipad has probably an amazing UI/UX experience, this could be something as base)
This by example with a click on an icon in the Toolbar or in view.
 
By not having loads of money for an Ipad, it sure would be amazing to have this added in a future update. 🙂

Hi, I have a Surface 8 Pro tablet and I'm trying to figure out if there are touch gestures in Affinity 2 like the two-fingers rotation.

Thank you 
 

now that v2 is here, with many new features, but many pros still needs some to really be comfortable with the Suite...
could we please have a minimal roadmap on what you are working on?
even something really generic like this Trello roadmap (for the Obsidian app).
we know, and you know, that we don't have many other options today.. or Adobe, or Affinity, unless we want to use separate apps for specific works..).. we want to support you, but we need to be kept engagend, and know where you are going!
for example: if you aren't goind to support ePub or external texts in Publish.. we aren't goind to use it for next books.
if you aren't supporting RTL before 3/5 years, we accept it and use something else from today.
if you plan automation in 2 years, we could use a temporary solution...
 
thank you!
 

Having used V2 for a short time I have a few comments on the bits I have tried.
PROS
The startup assistant screen is better now (almost as good as the Serif Plus one)
The Export preview is much better (as good as the Serif Plus one)
The Layers panel seems more versatile.
The style picker seems quite good but not much different to Paste FX and styles that we had before.
The Shape builder is handy (also a feature from Serif Plus range) but not much different to the boolean tools we already have.
Vector Warp is nice. (also a feature from Serif Plus range)
Knife tool is good (also a feature from Serif Plus range)
 
CONS
No bitmap trace (also a feature from Serif Plus range)
No Mesh Fill (also a feature from Serif Plus range)
No gestures for touchscreen users
No flood fill tool (also a feature from Serif Plus range)
No Blend/Morph tool
No AI tools
No 3D tools
No Android support
 
I know I bang on about SerifPlus products. But they were made by this company and had many of these features over 10 years ago.
I know the Affinity range is built on a new engine and has to accommodate Mac and iPad now.
But we have been waiting for 8 years for Affinity to catch up with features, they and most other software have had for years.
I'm hoping we see some of this appear in updates very soon. 
 
 
 
 

It would be so useful if there was an option to quickly flip a brush over it's horizontal axis (mirror). 
In situations where you are "stamping" brushes, this would be so helpful.

Have you all seen the new Inkscape 1.2
It has vector trace and a heap of other features you have been asking for and, it's free.
They have made a lot of improvements to the app and it feels very pro now.

Serif already had a very good autotrace function in their DrawPlus application. One wonders why they couldn't optimize the code and adapt it to their designer application.

This would be very helpful.

It would be a great thing if it were realized, also to implement many small shortcomings that Affinity designer still has compared to the competition. Equalized these small shortcomings AD has all the credentials to become a valid and better alternative for vector drawing.

To sum up what users want:
Transparency of currently supported/unsupported features to current and potential users so they can make educated decisions about workflows and programs. Buying a program with the expectation of better workflows and features only to stumble because of a feature that doesn't exist is a huge cause of grievance. Roadmap so users know which features are being worked on, instead of being left to wonder. If we see something like Android/Chromebook development, or performance improvements in the works, that might make a lot of sense to schedule ahead of development for this feature. Without a roadmap, it just feels like nothing is happening, and every now and then we get a release dropped without the features we want. SOME kind of community interaction would be massively beneficial. A feature that's requested STRONGLY enough by the community should be given some kind of formal response. 17 pages of replies, over 7 years, for a feature found on most vector-editing programs and required for many workflows, but missing from Affinity, should receive some formal response a little more than "we won't do it unless it's done well," and then silence. Plugins for new features or filters to be added in by third parties and the community. Not just brushes and textures, but actual code that can allow Affinity to do things it can't otherwise do. This way, the program can expand far beyond the core developer's capacity.