LCamachoDesign

Yeah, this is pretty much my take. And we've seen mergers and acquisition on the design/software enough times to know this will likely end badly. I mean, just look at Gravit Designer -> Corel Vector after the acquisition, or even more recently Vectornator -> Linearity Curve after VC poured in. This is why we can't have nice things.  

Yeah, this is pretty much my take. And we've seen mergers and acquisition on the design/software enough times to know this will likely end badly. I mean, just look at Gravit Designer -> Corel Vector after the acquisition, or even more recently Vectornator -> Linearity Curve after VC poured in. This is why we can't have nice things.  

That just speaks to exactly what I was saying. The field changes too fast for wasting any time doing custom solutions. When I posted, the only thing you could run locally was Stable Diffusion 1.5. While that works, the quality was pretty substandard, but you only needed a GPU with 4Gb VRAM. Yes, you could use custom checkpoints and LoRAs for waifus, but... that's not the scope here.
Jump forward to today, and now you can run SDXL locally. And the quality is much higher than 1.5, vanilla SDXL is ballpark MidJourney 4 I'd say. With ControlNet and LoRA / LyCORIS I'd say you get MidJourney 5 level of generation. But you also no longer can run with 4Gb VRAM, you need at minimum 8Gb, with 12Gb being the recommended value. Basically, you need a 3070 or 4070 and up. Yes, you can use quantization and other fiddly trickery to run below that. I can run SDXL locally on my M1 iPad Pro, but you're looking at 5 minutes per image, it's just not realistically usable.
But like you said, it doesn't actually change my initial point, it's still better to have a plugin to connect to these generators. Again, looking at back to when I first posted, Automatic1111 was the way to run SD locally. Fast forward to now, and ComfyUI is the way to do it. Even when A1111 tries to catch up, with the 1.6 release a few days ago, it still can't catch Comfy, it doesn't have support for Control LoRA, and that's a massive downside IMHO. If Serif were, back then, to try porting A1111 into the Affinity suite, that time would've been wasted, they'd need to scrap everything and start again with ComfyUI to be competitive.
So yeah, have a plugin system, and let others do that job. This is not speculation either. Just look at Krita, people spent time doing A1111 plugins for it last year... fast forward to today, and both top plugins have gone belly up. The development is now on the ComfyUI plugin hosted at CivitAI.

No need to. There is nothing wrong with the context toolbar in the move tool. 
In fact aligment buttons listed in that toolbar act like simplified version of what you have and can do in the alignment panel.  They allow a quick align to the selection bounds or key object. It's simple and intuitive. No need to think or remember that "first selected" is required to honor key object like it is in the main alignent panel.
The way to go:
Add a new "Key Object" category in the drop-down menu for the "Align To" option. Then it won't be so hidden anymore. Bring back the old behavior. Allow the user to select the "Align To" option before performing the alignment operation.
This option affects how the alignment operation is performed and should not be grayed out or unavailable before the alignment is performed. Move the "Size / Rotate to the same" buttons to the transform panel.
After selecting several objects, these buttons would become active in the transform panel and you could adjust the size and rotation. More sense for the user. Describe in detail in the documentation that: spacing now considers key object, set selection box considers key object,geometry Subtract will subtract any overlapping geometry from the key object, Size / Rotate to same will use key object as the source if nominated. @Ash make changes as in the points above and we users will have intuitive, simple solutions and you will have more satisfied users.

Yes it is true that Key Object is a relatively hidden feature / one you need to know about. We should probably at least add a tooltip in move tool when you have a multiple selection to call it out.
We do have a number of things which support key object within a multiple selection. Initially the main thing requested was for alignment (and yes understand the comments on needing first selected checked in the alignment drop down, but also the default behaviour of align - what you get from the Layer -> Alignment menu as well as the alignment options which become exposed in the context toolbar when you have a multiple selection - uses key object if you have one nominated). 
Additionally:
- Spacing now considers key object as per this new addition
- Set selection box considers key object to allow multiple opjects to adopt the same selection box as your key object (again added in this beta)
- Geometry Subtract will subtract any overlapping geometry from the key object if you have one selected, rather than just the object at the bottom of the selection which is the default behaviour
- Size / Rotate to same as added in this beta will use key object as the source if nominated (or the first object selected if key object isn't nominated).
- If you choose rename layer with a multiple selection this will rename the key object if you have one nominated too.
There are some other functions which would be useful to take account of a key object nomination which we plan to add over time...
 

I do welcome this change, but it really strikes me as a hidden feature, and although I don’t know what to suggest that would make it discoverable, it does merit some consideration. In this case, this new feature relies on two different pieces of knowledge that unless one has been informed about outside of the software (and can remember when it is needed!) there is no way to discover it by usage of the software except by sheer accident:
1. That there is such a thing as a “key object” and how to designate it.
2. That designating a key object changes the behavior of the distribute options (spacing horizontally and vertically).
I don’t think that including it in the software manual is sufficient. To give an example, I read this thread yesterday. Today I decided to try it out in the beta, but I could not figure out how to do it even though I read the thread yesterday. It was not until I went back and read again that I was able to identify what steps I had missed. If that happened with just one thread in the space of one day, what about those few people who actually do read through the manual entirely? When they read about such a feature that is a little bit on the niche side, will they remember that it even exists when it may be many weeks later before the opportunity for its use presents itself?
I did not even know that “key object” existed in 2.3. As a follower of betas, I probably read about it when it was new, but clearly it didn’t stick because I did not then have a use for it. And although there have been occasioned since where I would have found it useful in my work, it was as good as non-existent to me because I did not know it existed and therefore I did not go looking for it.
It may be that there is no way to make it more discoverable, and I certainly don’t mean that the feature should be removed if so.
Now that I do know that there is such a thing as a key object, I recommend that the concept should work not only for alignment, but also for transform operations, as I would use it for that as well. That is a separate feature request from this feature, so I don’t mean to derail the discussion, but I do bring it up because if a procedure is used more broadly throughout the software, it becomes somewhat less hidden, and that is at least a partial solution to discoverability.

Are there any plans of adding a two-dimensional alignment option? Akin to the "Tidy Up" option present in Figma.
I understand the objectives of those programs are a bit outside of the central scope of Affinity, but additions like that seem like the next logical step. Thank you!

Apps: All
Platforms: Windows, macOS and iPad
Within alignment options you will see three new options to make all items in your current selection adopt the same width, height or rotation. By default this will transform all objects to match the first item selected, or alternatively if a key object has been nominated (alt-click) it will use that as the source.
Additionally you can choose to maintain the aspect ratio of the objects being resized.
On desktop this is available via the alignment dropdown:

And on iPad via the alignment options panel which you can get to via the transform panel:

 

Apps: All
Platforms: Windows, macOS and iPad
While transforming any object with the move tool (whether resizing, rotating, skewing or moving) you can now hold space to temporarily toggle Lock Children on or off (to achieve the opposite behaviour of what you currently have set in the context toolbar).

Apps: All
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad
When in move tool double clicking a vector object takes you into node tool. It has been suggested that a double click on an object while in node tool should do the reverse and take you back into move tool (you could previously double click on the canvas / not over an object to return to move tool but this both loses your selection as well as not being possible if you are zoomed in). This has now been implemented in 2.4.

Apps: All
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad
Previously when you cycled your selection box this was only a temporary operation. You can now make this permanent...
From the select menu there are two options:
- Cycle selection box (this was the existing option)
- Set selection box (the new option)

Also note the shortcut for these - [Full Stop] to cycle and [CMD + Full Stop] to set on macOS and iPad or [Ctrl + Full Stop] to set on Windows.
The new feature is that after cycling to the selection box you want you can now permanently set that for your current selection by using the Set Selection Box command.
In the example below, I have two shapes which are rotated by the same amount. Therefore when they are selected by default the selection box is oriented to match the shape's rotation. Now if I want to permanently make those shapes have a selection box which is oriented to my page I can cycle to regular bounds and then Set Selection Box, which will now make that persist every time I select those items in future.

 
A couple of other notes on this feature:
As well as cycling to the base box and regular bounds of an object, if you have a grid set which has a different rotation to your page (or, are working on an isometric plane for example) you will additionally get the option to cycle and set the selection box to be aligned with the the current planar bounds of the selection. If you have a multiple selection which includes objects rotated by different amounts, if you wish to set your selection box for all objects in your selection to match the orientation of one of them you can set the one you want to match to be your key object. Then when you cycle your selection box the "base box" option will match that object's rotation.  
 

Apps: Designer and Publisher (+ some changes to the existing feature in Photo)
Platforms: Windows and macOS
We have now added the States panel to Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher which previously only existed in Affinity Photo. Layer states allows you to either:
Capture the current visibility states of your layers across your document Create queries based on various criteria to use to make a selection or toggle visibility of layers This feature is particularly useful to manage different variations of your work. As an example, one of the social ad campaigns for our recent Black Friday promotion was created in Affinity Designer across multiple artboards. Each artboard had 4 variants for English, Japanese, German and French language.

 
Previously if you wanted to toggle between the English and French version for example you would need to toggle the visibility of the appropriate layers on each artboard separately - not particularly workable when you have many artboards / spreads. The new states panel gives you a new way to work with designs like this. 

In this case I could set up a query with criteria which captures all my Japanese layers. From the states panel click "New Query" at the bottom, I called the query "JA" and set up my criteria to be "All Art Text and Frame Text layers that have a layer name which ends in JA" as below:


Because on each artboard we had used the consistent naming convention that all Japanese text has a layer name ending in JA, all English text has a layer name ending in EN, etc. it made it easy to then set up 4 queries for each of the languages. We could alternatively have used a convention like all French variants are tagged yellow, English tagged Red, etc. 
So now to switch from English to Japanese across all artboards I can just turn off everything that fulfils my EN query, and turn on everything which fulfils my JP query using the visibility on/off buttons next to the queries in the states panel - so in two clicks end up with the below:

 
While this example is only including text, of course I may have had different imagery for each locale and could have included those in the same queries to still have one button to toggle text and images of each language on and off. Also, as it's set up a query like this, should I add additional Japanese specific layers to any of the artboards and name them ending in "...JA" my JA query will automatically pick them up.
In Publisher the same principles apply giving the ability to globally toggle different layers on and off across all spreads in your document which match the criteria you have specified. While building complex expressions is easy, you may also find you wish to have a query for something simple like "Layer Type is Images" giving you an instant way to turn all images on and off across your whole document.
Additional Notes
As well as toggling visibility of queries there is an additional button to make a selection of all layers which fulfil the criteria specified in the query. This is also a new function not previously available in Affinity Photo. For those who used the States panel in Affinity Photo you will notice we have changed the name of what were previously called "Smart States" to "Queries". This reason for this is in the future we anticipate adding a new feature to this which would be better described as a Smart State (this will be something you can build from multiple queries). This will be something which we add in a future update. There is other new functionality we plan to bring to this in the future - namely ability to create presets and some level of integration with export options - but again that will be something for a future update.
 

This is definitely a bug, but I think it has already been reported.
I don't remember the bug reference number, moderators should certainly know more.

Hi @LCamachoDesign,
This is a known Windows bug when manually changing the % numeric value resulting in completely unexpected results, I'll bump the existing issue with your report. While not an ideal workaround the bug does not occur when using the slider to change the value, but % accuracy is lost as a result.

Thanks for the recipe.
Sounds like it might be the same problem mentioned by another user here: 
 
 

Create an object and apply a global color to it. Editing the said global color changes the object as expected.
Then convert that object into a symbol. Changing the global color no longer changes the object. Say that you now apply the global color to this symbol object, it starts working again as expected, but only for that instance. If you delete it and drag in another instance the global color will no longer work again.
See attached video for steps to reproduce.
Thanks!
2_Trim.mp4

Hi @LCamachoDesign,
Thanks for your report!
I can confirm I've been able to replicate this issue here and have logged it with our developers now for you.
I hope this helps

Apps: Publisher
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad
In Find and Replace fields are now available from the drop down. This will also include any custom text fields you have set up, therefore making it easy to replace many instances of a text string within your document with a custom text field for example.

In addition, as was requested during the previous beta, we have now added the option to ‘Convert Text to Field…’ from the right click menu when you have a text selection.

I tried duplicating a linked object and it kept the links intact, so good job on that! I hope there will be an option someday to use Duplicate Linked as an alternative to normal Duplicate.
It would also be nice if it was possible to edit the Transform Origin while doing the operation to better position the rotation point without needing to undo and repeat the process.
Edit: Just realised that I can activate the Transform Origin and edit it live without the window disappearing as well. This is awesome!

Apps: All
Platforms: macOS and Windows
There were a few requests from the previous beta we have now implemented in 2.3. As a reminder the move data entry dialog is initiated by hitting Return while in the Move, Shape, Picture Frame or Artboard Tool.
1. You can now choose duplicates to be created in front or behind the original using the new Insertion mode options
2. Scale has now been added, to quickly resize an object by a given %
3. Properties of the object being transformed can be adjusted without dismissing the dialog
The scale %, when creating duplicates, will also apply to every subsequent duplicate - a very simple example shown below with 10 copies of the same circle being created, each one at 80% the size of the previous.

You can of course combine that with other transforms, such as below a square being rotated and shrunk on each duplicate.

As mentioned you can also now adjust the properties of the object being transformed without dismissing the dialog. E.g. below I have changed the colour of the shape as well as changing stroke width to “scale with object” while keeping the current move data entry settings live.

Another minor thing to mention is we have also changed the ramp on the ‘Number of copies’ slider to make it more useable at lower values (i.e. the first half of the slider now just goes from 1-50, with the remaining half from 50-1000).
 

Yes, that's what I meant. Although I don't think I've ever customized my toolbar, and I did not have the icon anyway. Maybe the toolbar from 1.0 carried over, and counts as customized, or I just forgot. 🤪 This also happened on Publisher by the way, I did not see the icon on Designer persona until I reset the toolbar.
I'd do something simple like this. Put the new icon after the last toolbar icon, even on a customized bar like this. Show a small popup simply saying NEW, with a "Learn more" link to https://affinity.serif.com/whats-new/#2-1-vector-flood-fill-tool
User wants it, great, it's there. User does not want, they can hide it in 10 seconds.
You can't please everyone, but this is the least intrusive way to expose the new tool that I can think.
Thanks!

I'm just going to add what I think it's an important technical point, rather than discussing thread locking vagaries.
Serif themselves should not add any AI related features to Affinity. This field is in constant change at this point in time. Plus, due to the nature of how it works, i.e.: needing vast amounts of compute power that are unavailable locally to nearly all users, the most likely future will be that a considerable number of cloud AI image generator and editor APIs will exist in the market.
As such, what Serif should be focusing is what I've already mentioned dozens of times. Plugins and scripting. Plugins and scripting should be their top and only priority. Then users and API providers will be free to add whatever generative AI they fancy. Or none if they dislike, do not have use for, or simply disapprove of its usage.
Furthermore, when the field inevitably changes, all that needs to change is the plugin/script, and that will be the responsibility of the creator, be it a user or API provider. Serif should not, and must not, spend their time chasing this industry. It changes too fast, it contains too much, it's just too much for any single company to keep up. It also gives the user freedom to use any provider they personally like, rather than being forced to use whatever Serif would choose.
Thanks!

Yeah, we'll see what we can do - thanks!

Apps: All
Platforms: macOS and Windows
When in the move tool, as well as other object creation tools such as shapes, picture frames and artboard tool, pressing Return or Enter will now show a new dialog, allowing you to specify a precise distance you want to move your current selection. e.g. below I am moving the apple 100px to the left and 200px down. As you can see that also shows what it means in terms of what angle and distance that relates to. You can alternatively choose to manually specify distance and angle. 

The original position of the object is indicated with a light grey box.

In addition you can chose to duplicate the object to the new position, and also specify how many copies of it you want to make. In the below example I've moved the item 200px at a 45 degree angle and checked the duplicate box, and 5 copies. This results in a total of 6 apples.

 
As you are adjusting any of the values you will get a live preview of your result. You can choose to cancel the operation with the Cancel button (or Esc) or commit with the OK Button (or Return / Enter) or simply by clicking off the dialog.
The dialog will optionally remember it's previous values the next time you bring it up when you have "Previous Settings" checked, meaning you can move multiple objects one by one by the same amount (for example in a case where items are on different spreads / artboards or in other cases where achieving a multiple selection of them to begin with is difficult). A Reset button is also available to quickly zero all the values in the dialogs to start from scratch.

As well as manually typing the values in, you can also change them by click-drag on any of the labels, or using mouse roller when hovering over any of the input boxes.

Rotation

As has been requested during the beta of this feature we have now added the additional option of Rotation. This again makes it easy to rotate an object by a specific amount. It also opens up some useful options when used in combination with duplicate.

e.g. in the example below I have created a ring of 25 evenly spaced squares, by moving the transform origin of the square and choosing a rotation of 14.4 degrees with 24 copies. TIP: you don't need to get your calculator out as all of these fields accept equations. So in this case you could just type "360/25" in the Rotation field to work out 14.4 degrees is the required value.

You can also try playing with a rotation and distance step on duplicates for various effects. e.g. below a couple examples with a line and a star where copies are being stepped by both a distance and rotation:


 

Apps: All
Platforms: macOS & Windows
In any of the shape tools, picture frame tools and artboard tool you can now cmd+click (macOS) or ctrl+click (Windows) to bring up a dialog to manually specify the size and other properties of the object you want to create. The new object will be created in the position that you clicked, and you have the option in the dialog to change whether that position relates to a specific corner, side or the centre of the shape being created.
For example, here I want to create a circle with 20mm diameter centred at the corner of the square. So I choose the Ellipse tool and then cmd / ctrl + click over the corner of the square. I then get the option to manually enter the size I want the circle to be, set the anchor position to be centre, and hit OK.

Each tool will remember the settings of the last time you created that shape. So in this case the next time I cmd+click with the Ellipse tool it will still be set to 20mm x 20mm anchored to centre.
Some additional notes about this feature:
When the dialog is up you can commit by clicking OK, hitting Return / Enter or clicking anywhere else on the document You can cancel by clicking Cancel or hitting Esc You can click-drag on any of the labels in these dialogs to change the values. So here you could click-drag on the "Width:" label for example. Hover + mouse roll over the values also changes them of course (along with Shift or Alt modifiers to increase / decrease steps made by a factor of 10). If you create a shape by dragging it out on your document, that will also set the W+H for the next time you cmd+click. e.g. if you drag out a rectangle at 100mm x 50mm and want to create another one you can just cmd+click and that size will be preset.