Hokusai

MattP, Thanks for the response. I'm looking forward to seeing the improvements and added functionality to the vector brush and the pencil tool (down the road of course)! Hokusai

I'm looking forward to seeing Affinity's take on the gradient mess tool. I don't really like Illustrator's gradient mesh tool. While it is powerful, it is hard to work with and it is very unintuitive (in my opinion). I'm hoping that the gradient mess tool in Designer will be much more intuitive.

MattP, Are you sure that this is there and working? It doesn't work for me (at least in Designer). If I choose the vector brush and then click to begin and then shift + click to make the ending point, nothing happens. Is there a setting that I'm missing? This works with the pen tool but not the brush tool. Maybe there is a secret setting that I missed? Hokusai

While I believe that they are planning to add multiple artboards to Designer in the future, I think that multi-page documents are more the realm of Affinity's forth coming app, Affinity Publisher. They have said that they hope to have a beta available towards the end of this year.

Thanks! Looking forward to it!

vonBusing, Thanks for the explanation. I don't use Office (on Mac or Windows) at all and while I have seen them here and there, it wasn't so often (and they always brought problems) so I wasn't sure why anyone would need or want them.

vonBusing, Just a quick question, why do you want to export files as EMF? Aren't there better formats out there (like PDF or SVG)?

LilleG, I agree, if we could choose which colours to include in a shortened list that would be very handy. Hokusai

I added a rough mock up to better show what I'm talking about. I don't think it would be reasonable to be able to view all colours as it would take up too much space but recently used or often used colours would be very handy.

LilleG, Thanks but I think we are talking about two different things. I'm talking about a contextual menu option not a context bar option (in Designer). I don't believe that there is a dropdown as of now for colour selection in the contextual menu. I would like to save "mousing" so that I don't have to go to the context bar or the Swatches palette all the time. The contextual menu is accessed by either right clicking (if you are using a two button or magic mouse) or by control clicking if you are using a one button mouse. So if someone is using a large monitor, having to mouse over to the context bar or the Swatches palette can be tiresome (depending on how often you have to change colours of course). What I'm requesting is once you draw or create a shape you can simply right click and then the colour swatches could be accessed via the contextual menu. This would help to reduce the amount of mousing and save time. When I'm using the same colour over and over, this isn't a problem as I can copy the style and then simple command + shift + v to paste the colour style but when I switch colours I have to go to the context bar or the Swatches palette.

MattP, Thanks for the response Matt. I would greatly appreciate a "fill" shortcut, "," (only the comma key would be ideal as I and the other converts from that other vector program have major muscle memory for it)! Thanks Matt! Hokusai

I'm not sure if this has been requested before or not but I would like to suggest an addition to the contextual menu. I would love to be able to right click or option click and then be able to select a colour to use (from the Swatches). Having a flyout that would show colour swatches so I can add them without having to go to the Swatches Palette. It would be a big time saver for me. As well a "fill" shortcut would be nice too!

Just a quick question, in the previous beta there was a switch fill and stroke keyboard command added "shift + x" and a set fill to none "/". I would like to know if there is a simple "fill" or "use last colour as a fill" keyboard shortcut that I somehow missed? Maybe this has been added and I missed it? I know that it has been requested before but just in case, I would like to request it.

retrograde, Thanks for clarifying. I wasn't sure if that is what you were talking about or if you were talking about something else. I agree with you, it would be nice to have a way to lock/hide and unlock/show items in a more efficient manner. Right now it can be done but it isn't very efficient (in my opinion). Hopefully the talented Affinity team will come up with a good solution that is just as good or better than what is currently out there.

Retrograde, Are you talking about something like Illustrator's Hide/Show all? In Illustrator I normally select all then shift click and deselect the items that I want to isolate and the short cut command + 3 to hide everything but what I want to work on. Then to bring them all back it is another simple short cut. It is very fast and it is easy to isolate things. Or are you talking more about locking all and then unlocking all?

Garytagreg, Thanks for the tip. I tried what you suggested but all of my Affinity Designer files all still showing blank icons. It isn't a big deal as it doesn't affect the files themselves but it is nice to be able to see what a file is by looking at the icon. Maybe they will show up in a later beta? Hokusai

MEB, No, I'm running 10.10.3. All I get is blank icons. The page previews were showing up for me just fine (in icon mode) before the last beta but now they don't show up. Hokusai

MattP, With the previous betas file icons would display properly when viewed as icons but with the latest beta they don't show up in icon view. It isn't a big deal but just something to know.

retrograde & MattP, Thanks for filling me in (sorry for the bad pun)! Hokusai

I'm also loving the key shortcut for fill (shift + x), I'm not sure if I'm just dense or what but I can't seem to find the shortcut for "no fill". Could someone enlighten me? Thanks!

Glad to se the contextual menu (right + click or control + click) on the Layers Panel! Way to go guys, now only if you could add a "Hide/Show all" with a keystroke, I would be in heaven! Thanks, keep up the good work! Hokusai

MonkeyFire, I'm also under the impression, like agoago, that you can't move the canvas. I think what you are experiencing is you are moving the scroll bars, this is very different from moving the canvas. You are moving your view of the canvas but you aren't moving the canvas. If you look under the preferences you will see a preference for the middle wheel, you can turn it off there (even if you don't have an actual physical wheel, some mice are touch sensitive and the top may be acting like a scroll wheel). Please see my attachment for a better description. You didn't say what mouse you are using but I'm guessing that the "top of the mouse" is set to be the scroll wheel and so Affinity is scrolling. You might also be able to adjust the settings of your mouse but I'm not sure. I hope this helps. Hokusai

Slettli, If you create a logo using vectors and you save the logo or export it as a PDF or an EPS file, then it will look like it has a white background but in fact it there isn't a background at all (unless you added one). A transparent background is used with raster formats like PNG (JPEG, TIFF, Photoshop, etc). Where are you planning to use the logo? In print or on the web? Best of luck, Hokusai

Achim63, Thanks for the link! I used to use Silhouette a long time ago and I thought that they were no longer around. Good to hear that they are still in business. For me, I normally just recreate artwork instead of using a converter but there are cases when it is useful. Thanks again! Hokusai

Adrian, I use Affinity Designer mostly to create artwork but I spent many years working in print design and once the Affinity team gets some more print friendly things from their Road Map into Designer, I will say goodbye to Illustrator for ever. I have replaced Illustrator with Designer in most of the things that I do but there are a few things that Illustrator can do that Designer can't yet do and so I'm forced to keep Illustrator a while longer. Designer is improving at a very fast pace and I know that they are working to add more things aimed at UI designers (https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/6958-affinity-designer-for-ui-designers/) so if you give them some time, I think that it will work nicely for you. I also have iDraw and while it is good, it lacked some very basic features (like no CMYK for one, maybe they have added it by now but it didn't used to have it). I think that iDraw is a good application but it doesn't have as many tools and features as Designer (in my opinion). Plus I feel that Designer has tons of nice little, well thought out, features. I think if you use it for a while, you will love it. Plus at the price that they are selling it for, it is one hell of a bargain. I have never used Sketch and so I can't comment on it but I am very happy with Designer and I can't say enough good things about it. Hokusai