Jimmini

I created a small node setup in Blender that generates a rainbow spiral, to give you an idea on how this approximately works, just in case.
 

 
The left most node gives the image coordinates, the right most is the output. Nodes can be grouped and reused for more complex setups. Just download the software from blender.org and open the .blend file within the attached zip file. You can manipulate values in the nodes and the result gets immediately displayed to the right. Of course, Blender really isn't made for image editing, so it lacks some important things to make this more than just a small peek at what could be.
 
Sure, this isn't a small feature request, but I think this could greatly enhance the program's scope and provide a massive selling point that surely would find a lot of fans.
Spiral Node Texture.zip

This absolutely needs to happen and would take Affinity to the yet undiscovered realms of next generation software, far from the reach of Adobe Stagnation CC. Layers are fine for the most part (and Affinity already offers much more flexibility than Adobe's stuff in this area), but the possibilities of a node based system would be truly endless. I can't even imagine all the amazing stuff some creative heads would build with this. Even more, they could share their setup with the community, allowing everyone to effortlessly apply it to their own project. In Affinity Designer, it could be used to create new types of shapes. All without scripting and installing of plugins. This system is even used in game developement, namely Unreal Engine. But also in Blender and the ones the OP mentioned.

Interesting. I'm actually not aware of what the most "correct" color space for interpolation is. LAB does indeed seem to come quite close to linear sRGB in your example, and you can actually use that as your document color space and it will interpolate accordingly.
What I was referring to though is that, in sRGB documents, currently colors are interpolated without first applying the inverse sRGB transfer function on the stop colors, which is what I did (abusing one of my own programs) in the examples above.
sRGB colors are stored in a non-linear encoding to increase precision for lower (darker) values at the expense of higher ones, as 8 bit integers are not enough otherwise, but those values should never be used for processing if a correct result is expected. I assume the rationale for doing it regardless is to have consistent results in comparison to other software. A gamma setting (like the one for blending layers) could allow both results (approximately).

You're welcome, Alfred.
 
The great thing about nodes is that you can easily reconnect them. So if you, for example, reconnect the "wire" that goes into the "hue" parameter to go into the "value" parameter (by dragging the "plug"), you get something like a red rose. Or you can connect them both to get a different result again. Even more, all this could be easily reconnected to get a distortion filter for an actual image. Or to specify this spiral as parameter for any other filter... truly endless this stuff. It would be great if there was an open format for this, to share nodes between applications.
 
I've got some more examples attached. This is all achieved just by changing some values, adding a few nodes or reconnecting them.

I created a small node setup in Blender that generates a rainbow spiral, to give you an idea on how this approximately works, just in case.
 

 
The left most node gives the image coordinates, the right most is the output. Nodes can be grouped and reused for more complex setups. Just download the software from blender.org and open the .blend file within the attached zip file. You can manipulate values in the nodes and the result gets immediately displayed to the right. Of course, Blender really isn't made for image editing, so it lacks some important things to make this more than just a small peek at what could be.
 
Sure, this isn't a small feature request, but I think this could greatly enhance the program's scope and provide a massive selling point that surely would find a lot of fans.
Spiral Node Texture.zip

I created a small node setup in Blender that generates a rainbow spiral, to give you an idea on how this approximately works, just in case.
 

 
The left most node gives the image coordinates, the right most is the output. Nodes can be grouped and reused for more complex setups. Just download the software from blender.org and open the .blend file within the attached zip file. You can manipulate values in the nodes and the result gets immediately displayed to the right. Of course, Blender really isn't made for image editing, so it lacks some important things to make this more than just a small peek at what could be.
 
Sure, this isn't a small feature request, but I think this could greatly enhance the program's scope and provide a massive selling point that surely would find a lot of fans.
Spiral Node Texture.zip

This absolutely needs to happen and would take Affinity to the yet undiscovered realms of next generation software, far from the reach of Adobe Stagnation CC. Layers are fine for the most part (and Affinity already offers much more flexibility than Adobe's stuff in this area), but the possibilities of a node based system would be truly endless. I can't even imagine all the amazing stuff some creative heads would build with this. Even more, they could share their setup with the community, allowing everyone to effortlessly apply it to their own project. In Affinity Designer, it could be used to create new types of shapes. All without scripting and installing of plugins. This system is even used in game developement, namely Unreal Engine. But also in Blender and the ones the OP mentioned.

No problem. Let me know if you have further questions. We do take advantage of the system colour profile for HDR too. You’ll need a 32-bit document and a compatible monitor (see 32-bit Preview Panel). 

In Affinity Photo 1.7.0.367, when switching to a document with an open live filter window, the application becomes unresponsive.

Hi Jimmini,

I don't believe this has ever been possible in Designer. I've just tried it in 1.6.5.135 and the behaviour is the same. I'll pass it on to development to see if they can improve this. 

Thanks 

The Affinity Publisher 1.7 free public beta is now available for Mac and Windows.
Please go to the Affinity Publisher page and press the "Download for Free Now" button to add it to an affinity store basket.

We, the Ministry of Inclusiveness and Diversity, concur. The imagery of humans on all Affinity product pages is, in one way or another, problematic from the point of view of gender, diversity, and cultural/religious perspectives.
What follows is an overall review of imagery as used on all of Affinity's landing pages.
Affinity Photo landing page
1 androgynous person at the top (unclear gender: could be both, or neither). This could be an affront to religious (sub-)culture groups. Or make some more traditionally oriented conservative groups uncomfortable. Some males may take offense. Some females may take offense. Better to remove.
1 woman's face to demonstrate retouching tools. This is an industry-targeted image, but the abuse of a woman's image leverages her looks in a feminist unfriendly manner. Perhaps an additional image of a muscular man with fake retouched abs? But that would be man-unfriendly, male-sexist, and gender conforming image as well. Can't do one, can't do the other. Removal would be best. Don't show retouching of any person, bimodal or otherwise.
1 woman used in an illustration in the PSD import/export. Only the face, though. There's a half-naked male surfer. Both are an affront to certain groups. The male is "surfing" the girl, which could be explained in a negative context and perhaps be seen as a symbol of male patriarchal domination over women. The half-naked male serves as an unwanted male sex-symbol, and also may cause friction with certain groups with thyroid issues hurting their self-image.
1 male in the Stunning real-time effects: the thought that only males would be able to drive motor cycles is an affront to gender-equality in the job market in general and motor sports in particular. However, portraying a woman being blown to bits might send out a negative message that alludes to women's inability to drive vehicles and causing more accidents than males (which is untrue, because young males cause statistically many more traffic accidents compared to young females). Best to remove this person, and just show the bike (best to check with motor bike brand if management objects to their cycle being blown up as well).
 
Affinity on iPad landing page
1 female portrayal in the heading. The snake symbolizes evil and the fall from grace, indeed the mortal sin, caused by a certain female in certain religious thinking. This is seen as a negative female portrayal by many sub-culture groups, and is better removed from the page to prevent misunderstanding. Seeing that all art portraying women throughout history somehow may be offensive to any one sub-culture group, it is advisable to remove all such instances or references. Perhaps instead show only the leaves.
1 young female child under the "Capabilities never seen before on iPad": portrayal of children may be seen as unwanted in certain sub-cultures. Better remove any such imagery. Two other instances on this page ought to be removed as well.
1 female at Dedicated retouching tools: See same comment above. Remove.
1 human hand at Fully optimised for iOS 11: a pure white hand may be understood as a symbol for white Caucasians, and be indicative for a lack of inclusive thinking in regards to cultural and racial diversity. The pointing nature of the hand gesture might be seen as an authoritative gesture. Removal is advised. Multiple instances of white hands on this page ought to be removed to prevent further potential misunderstanding.
1 partly visible young attractive female at Super accurate selections: might be construed again as a sexist image. Replacing with an attractive male could be seen as taking advantage of a sexist male image. Replacing with unattractive looking people might stir up negative connotations in other sub-culture groups. Call for removal.
1 attractive caucasian male face partly visible at Dedicated RAW studio: might be construed as a male sexist image. Remove.
 
Affinity Designer landing page
1 depiction of a female snake: suffice to say that this illustration cannot be used safely without hurting the feelings of certain sub-culture groups.
A very limited and small range of female and male depictions in the graphics used on this page. For example, a stylized group of humans with ochre red skins might be seen as inappropriate cultural appropriation of certain sub-culture groups of indigenous people. For the sake of inclusive thinking, it would be preferable to remove such imagery. 
 
Tentative Conclusions
In short, in favour of gender-neutrality and cultural/religious (sub-)culture diversity and inclusion, we (that is, an all-inclusive group of humans with no reference or preference to any gender-biased, cultural, racial, or religious (sub-)culture grouping) recommend the removal of all human forms and shapes from all landing pages. This is to ensure all humans and human members of biological and/or imagined sub-cultures, be it from political, religious, cultural points of view and who may feel excluded and/or misappropriated, abused, or genuinely uncomfortable in the most general and/or personal sense are respected and in no way whatsoever made to experience negative emotions on any personal level, not excluding individual personal subjective realities.
Furthermore, It would also be wise to refrain from portraying any animals on these pages, and, in effect, the most inclusive imagery would indeed be to include no imagery at all.
Thank you.
The Ministry of Human Inclusiveness and Diversity with the distinct understanding that this ministry identifies itself with no specific (sub-)cultural human groups based in any kind of racial, gender, cultural, biological, or religious thinking, opinions, philosophies, nor any personal subjective reality, including the Ministry of inclusiveness and Diversity itself.
 

I'm thrilled to say that we won! 
 
 

What's New in Affinity Photo 1.6
 
New light user interface option New stroke stabiliser for all pencil and brush tools New "Edit In" integration with Apple Photos  Metal 2 accelerated view optimised for macOS High Sierra Improved view pan/zoom performance and Improved performance with large documents New font chooser dropdown with recents, used fonts and favourites New Glyph browser Align to key items  Text frame vertical alignment options  Fit frame to text Custom brush wet edges Outlier stacking mode Improved Photoshop Plugin support Improved Live Filters performance Many PDF export improvements including vector export of multi-stop gradients Numerous bug fixes and other improvements
  For more information about the Affinity Photo launch and how to buy go here. 
 
What's New in Affinity Designer 1.6
 
New light user interface option New stroke stabiliser for all pencil and brush tools Metal 2 accelerated view optimised for macOS High Sierra  New font chooser dropdown with recents, used fonts and favourites New Glyph browser Improved view pan/zoom performance  Improved performance with large documents Align to key items  Text frame vertical alignment options Fit frame to text  Many PDF export improvements including vector export of multi-stop gradients Added 'Unlock All' and 'Show All' commands Numerous bug fixes and other improvements  
For more information about the Affinity Designer launch and how to buy go here. 

This is gonna be one of those things people are gonna look at me funny over, cuz it's such a little thing. But I just have to ask...
How difficult would it be for you all to use the standard Win10 minimize/maximize/close buttons in Designer and Photo? I'm used to the size and spacing of them, to the point I can hit them without even looking, plus it'll look more like it fits in better with the rest of the OS.
Yeah, I know. It's not a big deal, but I just gotta ask.
 
 
 

​This one is done by using one of DAUBs Pigmento Brushes and some overlay (snow).
 

Another bitmap painting using DAUBs brushes.
 

You're welcome, Alfred.
 
The great thing about nodes is that you can easily reconnect them. So if you, for example, reconnect the "wire" that goes into the "hue" parameter to go into the "value" parameter (by dragging the "plug"), you get something like a red rose. Or you can connect them both to get a different result again. Even more, all this could be easily reconnected to get a distortion filter for an actual image. Or to specify this spiral as parameter for any other filter... truly endless this stuff. It would be great if there was an open format for this, to share nodes between applications.
 
I've got some more examples attached. This is all achieved just by changing some values, adding a few nodes or reconnecting them.

That's actually a very good request. I would even go a few steps farther. I think the biggest hurdle for this, would be the user interface. But a node editor could be a solution to this, like Blender or the Unreal Engine has. I think I'll even make a separate feature request for that, if there isn't one already. That would make me uncontrollably throw an exorbitant amount of money to the screen. By the way, Photoshop can't do a lot of things that Affinity Photo can.

hi,
i am excited with the affinity photo. its fast and looks real alternative to photoshop. i have been big fan of deviance resolve and nuke. the node base workflow is far advance to layer based work flow.
i think if the code is all new and still developing its the perfect time to integrate node base editing along with layer base workflow. 
 

You're welcome, Alfred.
 
The great thing about nodes is that you can easily reconnect them. So if you, for example, reconnect the "wire" that goes into the "hue" parameter to go into the "value" parameter (by dragging the "plug"), you get something like a red rose. Or you can connect them both to get a different result again. Even more, all this could be easily reconnected to get a distortion filter for an actual image. Or to specify this spiral as parameter for any other filter... truly endless this stuff. It would be great if there was an open format for this, to share nodes between applications.
 
I've got some more examples attached. This is all achieved just by changing some values, adding a few nodes or reconnecting them.

You're welcome, Alfred.
 
The great thing about nodes is that you can easily reconnect them. So if you, for example, reconnect the "wire" that goes into the "hue" parameter to go into the "value" parameter (by dragging the "plug"), you get something like a red rose. Or you can connect them both to get a different result again. Even more, all this could be easily reconnected to get a distortion filter for an actual image. Or to specify this spiral as parameter for any other filter... truly endless this stuff. It would be great if there was an open format for this, to share nodes between applications.
 
I've got some more examples attached. This is all achieved just by changing some values, adding a few nodes or reconnecting them.

Sorry, I still used 2.71, it seems they clamp the hue parameter in HSV nodes now. Here's the updated file. I just had to place a modulo node between the add node and the HSV one.
 
Changing the value of the multiply node (which currently is 100), changes the zoom factor. With the power node on the right (currently 0.15), the "acceleration" of the spiral can be adjusted. I really don't know how even such a fairly simple thing can be made using traditional layers + filters with that kind of freedom to precisely adjust every parameter in every way mathematically possible, especially non-destructively. I absolutely love the idea of being able to mathematically/logically generate and manipulate images.
With Affinity being internally node-based and the team being this talented, I have a good feeling about the future of this feature.
Spiral Node Texture.zip

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/15873-coming-2016-32bit-hdr-editing-sneak-preview/?p=81085
 
After all affinity is node based internally anyway

Both Photo and Designer are effectively node-based internally. We chose to expose the object model to the user as a traditional "layer stack" because that's what people expect..
 
Perhaps in future we might expose a node representation - but not today!
 
Andy.