Hokusai

MEB, I wasn't sure which Affinity Publisher was set to be released by the end of this year, the beta or version 1? Thanks for clarifying that. Hokusai

JeferLim, Just go to File/Export and then choose "PDF".

Braceyourself, Select the colour value that you want using the "Color" Palette and then click on the small palette options (it looks like 3 horizontal lines on the upper right side of the palette) you will see a "add color to swatch" and it will add the colour to your "Swatches" palette.

swimhq, Yes they do have plans to release a layout program. Affinity has said that they plan to release Affinity Publisher at the end of this year (or have a beta available by that time, I'm not sure which). Hokusai

travel bug, I think that the Affinity team is well aware of how many people are unhappy with Adobe's subscription model and I doubt that they would go down that path. Adobe's subscription model might be okay for some businesses but for freelancers, hobbyists, and others it is terrible. I think that Adobe's subscription model has forced many people to look for alternatives to Adobe's products (as omegaman has listed some). Luckily the Affinity team has been working hard on Designer and now Photo (and later Affinity Publisher). It is a good time for people who are looking to get away from Adobe as they now have some reasonably priced, professional level, powerful software available, no subscription necessary.

sergio, I also suggested this recently and it seems that some other people also would like to see this added. Have you tried the "History" palette? Affinity Designer has a History palette like Photoshop. I still miss the Undo menu having a more detailed description though!

deeds, No worries, I had to ask before too! You would think that it would be part of the main options.

deeds, click on the "More Reply Options" button on the bottom right corner (next to the Post button).

MattP, How about "set corners"? I agree with you "fix corners" sounds like they are broken. Hokusai

eejits, Are you making your drawing using vectors or rasters? If you are using vectors you can duplicate the hand and the newspaper. Then using the duplicates, bring the shape of the duplicated newspaper in front of the duplicated hand and subtract it from the duplicated hand using the boolean operations. Then place the original hand behind the original newspaper, leaving the duplicated (now cut hand) in front of the newspaper. I have attached an Affinity file for you to reference as well as a JPEG. The Affinity file has all the layers labeled and so if you look at it it should be pretty self explanatory (I hope). Sorry, this is a rather complicated way to do it. Once Affinity has a proper scissors or knife tool, all you would need to do is make a duplicate of the hand and then cut it where you like and delete the extra shape and place it in front. I think that a scissors tool or a knife tool is on the roadmap so hopefully in the future it will be easier. Best of luck, Hokusai Example.afdesign

Andy, I agree with sleepycal and deeds, especially for new users this would be helpful. This seems to be something that many users new to Affinity Designer have problems with (it was confusing to me to at first). Hokusai

Reminous, I haven't used CorelDraw all that much and I never noticed that feature but that sounds like a good, useful feature. +1 Hokusai

MEB, Thanks for the reply. I'm glad to hear that it's being developed. Project on an axis sounds like what I'm looking for. I'm looking forward to seeing it sometime down the road. Thanks! Hokusai

One thing I love about Affinity is when I hold down the shift key and copy, draw, etc I get a ghost line (sorry I don't know the proper name) that shows the trajectory of whatever I'm drawing or copying. I thought this is a very nice touch. My suggestion is to have the same kind of ghost line when using the Node Tool (maybe there is but I couldn't find it). I often draw shapes using the rectangle tool but I then have to convert it to curves and then adjust one side. If I hold down the shift key, it doesn't maintain the proper proportions (which I would think it would but it doesn't, I'm sure that there is a logical reason for this though). I have a hard time adjusting one corner or side of my shape and keeping its proportions because once you start dragging a node, all references to the original line are gone. Illustrator does this already and it works with the node tool but it isn't nearly as smooth nor as good looking as Affinity Designer's ghost line. Now only if Affinity Designer would show me the original path or line when adjusting nodes with the node tool then I would be able to adjust shapes with straight lines (at an angle) and keep the proper proportions. If this doesn't make sense, please refer to the attached sample for a better explanation. Thanks. My apologies if this has been requested before. I wasn't sure what term to use when I searched the forums for it and of course nothing came up. Ghostline.pdf

Dave, Sorry, I'm not sure you read my post. I never said that he should leave, I said that "if" he is unhappy he should go someplace else. I think that this is good advice, not just here but in general. If someone is unhappy, then maybe they can find their happiness in another place rather than being negative and spreading their negativity to others.

deeds, If you are so unhappy here why don't you go somewhere else? I don't believe that you can contribute anything useful other than to spout your negative opinions, so why don't you prove me wrong and make some worth while suggestions or comments?

deeds, VectorCat asked you"Is there data to support the idea that the forum is a "ghost town?" ought it be teeming with user by now, or does it take longer for software to grow a user base?" you didn't answer his question with facts only opinions. Opinions are meaningless compared to facts. Do you have any facts to support your opinions? Of course you don't because if you did, you would have said them. There are many people who visit forums and don't join but read the posts. This is very common. So you can't just look at the total number of posts or the total number of members and say "the sky is falling". Why are you so negative and pessimistic? The Affinity team needs constructive criticism and suggestions, not unrealistic predictions of doom by some "marketing" bloke who feels the need to prophesy. The Affinity team is working hard to make their products a cut above the rest. In my opinion, they have done a great job. Sure there are some missing features and a bug here or there but that is expected of a version 1 release. There are many things that Illustrator was lacking for more than 10 years. For example even up to Illustrator 7 the ruler was on the bottom and the left side of the screen, not the top and the right (which was and is common on most applications). As well, Illustrator didn't get a trace feature until CS 2 (version 12). It took Adobe 12 versions to add the trace feature and when they did, it was simply adding the code from Streamline into Illustrator and calling it a new feature (which is lame). So don't be so hard on the Affinity team. They have done a great so far and I'm sure that they will continue to add more features and fixes things that aren't working as soon as they can. In the end it comes down to the question "Do you want to be positive and contribute to something worthwhile or do you just want to be just a negative fearmonger?"

ShellyP, Just to clarify, you aren't able to print a file created in Affinity Designer as Landscape or you can't choose Landscape when you create a new file? As well it might help if you could indicate which version of Affinity Designer you are using (the Mac App Store version or the beta version). If you happen to be using the Mac App Store version, try downloading the beta and see if it will print your files correctly (it is free for those who have purchased the App Store version). Just remember if you open a file in the beta and save it, you won't be able to open it again in the Mac App Store version. While the beta is pretty stable, just to make sure, duplicate the files you want to test in case you have to go back to the App Store version. You can also try exporting your Affinity Designer file as a PDF and then try printing it using Apple's Preview or Acrobat. Best of luck, Hokusai

jd.tesch You aren't the first one to request Windows support, but you may be right, you may be the first to request it and use the proper tags! I agree with you completely in regards to Adobe. Their money grab with the subscriptions was the straw that broke the camel's back. I would recommend that you check out a Mac mini if price is an issue. Or think about buying a used Mac (any one will do, a used mini is a pretty good bargain). I bought a second hand iMac, it was cheap and it runs Yosemite and Affinity Designer (and Photo) like a dream. Just something to think about. Hokusai

Signguy, You can add a stroke to your object and then adjust the weight of the stroke to the desired thickness (this will match the shape of your object) and then go to Layer - Expand Stoke and I believe it will produce the effect that you are after. If your object already has a stroke, then duplicate the object and then expand the stroke (don't forget to either delete the middle part of the duplicated object or set the fill to be none). Good luck, Hokusai

Busenitz, Glad to hear that using a PDF file worked. Thanks for posting about it, it might help others out there that have the same problem. Hokusai

I personally have never met any professional graphic designers who use Linux and I've been in graphic arts since before Linux existed. I have met a few graphic artists (very few) who play around with Linux but I've never met one that actually used programs in Linux to make money. I'm not saying that they don't exist but I doubt that the market is very big (at least for a vector application, a photo app might be another story but I doubt it). Just my thoughts. Hokusai

I was noticing today that in Affinity Designer I can't tell what colour space a file is using unless I go to Document Settings. I thought it would be nice if the colour space was shown next to or below the file name: For example the title bar would read: "Affinity Designer - Untitled - (CMYK)" for a new document that hasn't been saved yet. This isn't something that is necessary mind you but a nice touch nevertheless. For people who work with images and logos for the web and images and logos for print, this is very helpful.

Busenitz, Are you printing a photo or some vector art? I don't believe that Affinity Designer has the ability to use bleeds just yet but it is on the roadmap. When I export a vector drawing, it doesn't create a white border but I haven't tried it with a photo. Have you tried cropping the PDF in Preview or Acrobat so that the border isn't there? I know it isn't ideal but it might work?

I see, it is good that you tired them both. Have you tried exporting your file as a PDF and then print the PDF using Preview or Acrobat? For me, when I have trouble that sometimes does the trick. Let me know if you figure it out.