Hokusai

I would like to request a preference box for the new zooming behavior (I looked for one but I couldn't find it anywhere). I've tried the new behavior and while I can appreciate how some people would like it, it isn't for me. In fact I dislike it so much so that I have stopped using the latest beta and I'v gone back to using the old Mac Store app. It is nice that I can use the old zooming behavior if I'm using the zoom tool but I rarely (if ever) use the zoom tool and instead access it while using another tool. I know that tastes vary and maybe I'm in the minority but it would be great if there was a preference that would let me decide if which zooming behavior works best for me. Thanks, Hokusai

MattP, Thanks for the response. If I'm using another tool, like for example the Pen tool is there a way to get the old behavior with the zoom too (without switching to the actual zoom tool)? Thanks, Hokusai

Just a question, is there anyway to turn off the scrubby zoom so that it behaves like the previous zoom tool?

motoko, I have always wanted this feature in a vector application too and I've never seen it. Now that isn't to say that it isn't around in some vector app somewhere but I've never seen it. I agree with you, it would be very useful to be able to print the outline view (and only the outlines) and I have always done it the hard way which is, as you mentioned, time consuming! If there is an easier way to do it, I'd like to know as well. Thanks, Hokusai

MattP or MEB, As a "pet request" of mine, I too was just curious if there was any plans on adding a Hide/Show All shortcut? No one responded to sldx's question about it and so I thought I would ask as well. I know that customizable shortcuts are planned sometime in the future but there currently isn't a menu item for "hiding/showing all". I know that you guys have a full plate and that you are busy working hard to make Affinity products great but for me it is a sorely missed feature and while I have been able to get by without it, I was hoping for some news on it. I also miss the "unlock all" command as well but for me "hide/show all" is my number one request! Keep up the great work! Hokusai

Narlei, As far as I know there isn't a "fill" shortcut assigned for Designer yet. This might not be exactly what you are looking for but the only work around that I know of is to copy an object or shape (using command + c) that has the color that you want and then if you use shift + command + v it will paste only the color (which is the style). This only works if you are going to be using the same color more than once (or if you have shapes or objects already made that are using the colors that you want). Hokusai

Oval, I would guess that the reason for this is because if they did, the program would be "a Jack of all trades and master of none". The program would be mediocre at many things but not good at anything. For me, I'd rather not have a program like that. A layout program and vector program have different focuses and as well different tool sets. So it is natural to separate them. Think of a hammer. A hammer is for hammering nails but you could use it for other things like opening glass bottles or as a paperweight (there are probably plenty of other uses as well) but those things are not what a hammer was designed for. Can you use it for other purposes? Yes you can but you would be better off using a tool that was specifically designed for that purpose. The same is true in this case. I know lots of people who use Illustrator (and before Freehand) to do page layout. Sure it works but it isn't the right tool for the job and in the end it doesn't work as well as if they had used a proper layout program. It will do in a pinch but it isn't the right tool for the job and using the right tool for the job makes all the difference in the world. Think of those multi-tool things that they sell that have different screw drivers and some other different tools all combined. Do they work? Yes, they do but they aren't nearly as a regular (singularly focused) tool. They are designed for the average joe, not the professional. Most professionals wouldn't use them because they don't work as well. Of course there is going to be some crossover tools but in general specialization is better. Hoksuai

sldx, Sorry I wish I could give you some kind of work around but unfortunately for now there isn't anything that can replicate the speed and ease of "Hide/Show All" yet. What I do when I'm using Designer is I tend to put things on different layers more than I do when I use Illustrator. This saves me time have to hunt through the layer stack (which I hate) so I can simply hide the whole layer (of course I still have to go to the Layers palette and turn it off which is slower than a simple key stroke). It isn't always possible but it does help. Everyone's work flow is a little different and I don't know if it would work for you but you might try it. Plus in Designer, moving things between layers is much faster than Illustrator and so I sometimes create two layers and build the bottom part on one layer and the top part on a separate layer and then combine them later by simply cutting the top objects and then pasting them on the layer below (and combining them). This allows me to hide the parts more easily so I don't have to dig through the Layer stack. Sorry I hope that makes sense. I'm hoping that "Hide/Show All" and "Lock/Unlock All" will make its way into a future version of Designer (and hopefully a version that isn't too far in the future). Hokusai

Cousin It, Your post doesn't make sense, the title of this topic is Affinity products for Linix. So you will continue to use Adobe Photoshop on Linux, wait there is no version of Photoshop on Linux! Maybe you want to comment on whether or not Affinity's products will be ported to Windows? If so, there are some other topics on just that if you would like to comment there. Hokusai

decimate555, I believe using the "move tool" (the black arrow) to add guides is by design but many people have requested that the ability to add guides with any tool selected though. I forgot the reason for this (I remember reading it somewhere but I can't find it now) but if you search the forums you might have better luck than I did or possibly one of the Affinity team members can shed some light on it. Hokusai

Paekke, I see what you mean, thanks for explaining. I have been using Illustrator for a long time and I've never used that, and to be honest I have never felt the need to use it. While it isn't for me but I can appreciate how it could be useful to some people and I can also understand why you would like to have it added to Designer. Hokusai

Paekee, You can already move points while you are drawing them by holding the command key and then dragging or moving the points. Hokusai

sldx, Hello and welcome to the forums (as I see that you only have a few posts). This has been requested before by some people, myself included. In fact it is the one thing that I sorely miss from Illustrator. You can lock and unlock easily but hiding and showing all is not smooth at all. Lock and unlock can be applied with a shortcut but to unlock an item you have to select it or dig through the layer stack (which wastes time) and it doesn't seem as easy or as fast as Unlock All. If you look through some old posts you will see that there are indeed others who would love to see these features added to Designer but as users we don't know exactly what the developers have in mind, maybe they do have something planned that will be better than Hide/Show all and Lock/Unlock all? Also, I don't think that we should assume that adding any particular feature is "easy". As a designer I have had many customers tell me that something is easy to do, when in fact it was incredibly difficult or next to impossible. I'm sure the same is true for the programmers. What seems easy to you and me might in fact be really tough to do. Don't get me wrong, I too am hoping that Hide/Show All and Lock/Unlock All makes it into a future release or that they come up with something that works better (you are right, the current methods for hiding and unlocking pales in comparison) but until that time, we will make do. Designer is a great program and it keeps getting better and better all the time. There are so many things that Designer gets right and I'm sure that they will work this out too. So be patient and have faith in the Affinity team. Hokusai

JimGoshorn, I see your point, you're right there are times when a colour image would be preferable. For me, the best solution would be a preference that allowed the user to choose. I think that being able to see the image in Outline mode (whether color or black and white) would be very useful. There are many times when I would like to be able to see the actual imagine that I'm using as a reference while I'm drawing in Outline mode. Hokusai

JimGoshorn, I agree with you, this would be a useful feature but I would prefer that the image not be in color, and instead be black white. This was brought up a while back by another member, Reminous. He said that Corel Draw makes the images appear as faded grayscale images when you view them in Outline mode. I think that something like that would be very useful in Designer, at least it would for me in my workflow. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/5503-what-are-these-boxes-in-outline-mode/ Hokusai

Dave, Thanks for the explanation. I'm looking forward to seeing a user interface with this, I think it would be very useful to be able to track things that will be vectorised. For small files it isn't a problem but with very complex drawing or pictures it is tough to track down what is causing it to rasterise. Hokusai

Dave, Thanks, I think I tracked down what was causing my problems. Not to hijack Walters thread but I was having the same problems as Walter but I think the cause of my problems are different. I am using the latest beta and when I exported it there were more options for the PDF export (more options is always better) and there was one option that was checked by default "rasterise any unsupported effects" but since I wasn't using any effects in my file I left it checked (my file is a super simple vector image with no effects). To make matters more confusing, there are presets and one of them is "PDF for print" but if I check this options it automatically turns on the "rasterise any unsupported effects" which rasterises my file. All of the PDF files that I exported were rasterised but once I unchecked that option, my problems went away and my files remained as pure vectors. Is this a bug or is it something that is a work in progress? Hokusai

Walter, I used to do it all the time too but I've got a file that for some odd reason just will not keep the vectors when I export to PDF. I've tried everything and for some reason it keeps turning everything into rasters.

Walter, I see, thanks. My case is odd and maybe it still applies. I have a file with an image on the 1st layer for reference and then I have some layers on top that are vector only. When I want to export it, I just turn off the 1st layer (but not delete it) and then export it but it is making everything a raster. I was thinking that it would not include the image because it is turned off? What is odd is, the image doesn't appear in the PDF file, only the vectors but the vectors are now raster. I guess I will have to resort to deleting the reference image before I export it (or copying the vector work to another document of the same size before exporting it). Hokusai

MattP, In the latest Beta, when I add a layer the setting for the blend range default is "pass through" and not "normal", is there a reason for this? It is seems odd, I don't remember it being like that before. Hokusai

Walter, I have a similar problem with one of my files today and I can't figure out why my file is pixelated when it is a completely vector drawing. My file doesn't use any raster effects and there aren't any images or anything pixel in my drawing (there are also no pixel layers either) but when I export it as a PDF, it is completely rastered. I copied the vector drawing and pasted it into a new file and I was able to export it correctly but for some reason the original file wouldn't work? You might try copying your work and pasting it into a new file and then export it and see if it works better.

Jim, I see it is your first posts, welcome to the forums. A good place to start is the Road Map, it will give you an idea of where the program is going https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/842-affinity-designer-feature-roadmap/. There are some things effects that you can do in Illustrator that won't work well if you open them up in Designer (things like the vector effects warp, fish eye etc. I don't know about the gradient mesh tool as I haven't tried opening an Illustrator file in Designer that contains a gradient mesh but I would guess that it won't work well yet but it might in the future). As well there is a trial that you can download and I think that would be best for you to try it out and see if it is for you. As someone who has used Illustrator for over 25 years and as well Freehand (and Corel Draw a little if I had to) and I am very happy with Affinity Designer. In fact sometimes I have to use Illustrator and I miss all the features that make life easier that I have in Designer. There are some things that are not there yet but the developers are working very hard to make it a great app and as well the developers actually listen to users advice and requests. Let me try to answer your questions. 1). Yes, you can make compound paths and shapes both (in fact you can do non-destructive boolean operations too but there currently isn't a "merge" function like in Illustrator yet) 2). This is one for the developers 3). See above but it depends on what kind of things you do in Illustrator. Most things will open just fine between them but there are somethings that won't. 4). Another one for the Affinity team 5). Sorry I have no idea about this one? 6). I believe that there isn't yet but I know some people have requested it already 7). Rotating and flipping objects is easy much like Illustrator (skewing is better in Designer). 8). As of now Designer's colour swatches aren't global but it might be something that will change down the road. 9) The Swatch Panel currently allows you to hold gradients and colours (patterns haven't been added yet I believe). 10). Another one for the Developers. For me Affinity Designer's unlimited Zoom, the awesome corner tool, the easily adjustable shapes, the node tool that allows you to manipulate paths are way, way better than Illustrator. There are many other things that are much better as well but those are things some of the things that I love about Designer. Designer has lots of nice little touches that makes you think "wow that was clever" and "how did I live without this before?". Things like a "History" Palette, the ease at which you can move things between layers, and many more. Sure there are some things missing but it is a great app and it is getting better all the time. Also once you buy it for a very reasonable price you can then also download and use the betas along side the Mac App Store version. The betas, while betas, are solid. Best of luck, Hokusai

To be honest, I like the destructive boolean operations as the default because that is the expected behavior in vector apps. Don't get me wrong, I think that non-destructive boolean operations are great but like MEB said both are useful in different contexts and to me the expected behavior is destructive operations. I can also understand Dave's reasoning too though and so a preference setting like MEB suggested would probably be best as it would allow the user to decide which they prefer. Hokusai

dangerman2000, This is already possible, just export your Affinity Designer files as PDF's and then everyone in your organisation can do everything that you asked: pan, zoom, and even make annotations using software that is available for free. Hokusai

Ben, Thanks for letting me know. No worries, I'm not in a hurry and it might not even be something that Matt can figure out, I just thought I would throw it out there and see if he or anyone else had any suggestions or if anyone else had experienced similar issues. Hokusai