megalofauna

Cool. Thanks for the info. 

Same question as OP. I'd love a way to click-convert to smooth or smart node points. 

My sister has a Radeon GPU on Win 10 and uses Affinity Photo with no hiccups, I'll find out what model she has.
What is your full system spec as it may not be your GPU, it could be other hardware. I'd flesh out your sig with a more detailed system spec, i.e motherboard, what ram brand etc.
Also see this new post: 
 

I'm sure you're aware that this is not a good idea to shop around for any recently released GPUs (thanks to episode 2 of the Bitcoin craze).
I'm guessing like most software Affinity on Windows is primarily being developed/tested with Nvidia GPUs. One of the 3xxx-series GPUs therefore should make for a good fit. I don't think you need to go with the high end either for this particular application. But if the current street prices for the 3080 don't deter you - that's surely a top contender.
Previous generation 2xxx series Nvidia cards will be equally useful - you could even go with a second hand one if you can't find anything new at reasonable prices. RTX 2070 and upwards would be my recommendation.

Due to lack of native solution I present you Spaceman
It allows you to backup and restore workspaces of Photo, Designer and Publisher. There's also sync option if you want to have same UI in Publisher personas and standalone applications.
Spaceman is command line tool with very straightforward operation, backups are created in folder from where it is started.
Feel free to suggest further improvements and give me a shot if you found bug!
Edit:
There was a problem with compiled .exe so now I'm sharing .bat file instead (and also for peace of mind of @CLC )
 

Spaceman.bat

Since you are on Windows the shortcut uses Alt instead of Option.
You can see all the available mouse modifiers in the status bar at the bottom of the Designer screen.
Alt + Click on node = Convert to sharp node Hold Right Mouse and Left Click on node = Convert to smooth node Alt + Click on Handle = Remove handle Drag + Right mouse = Resize both handles  
 

Agreed! I relied heavily on Command-H in Ai. Having the choice of seeing the vector nodes and bounding boxes assist in making clean, decisive judgments about optical composition while working on the screen.
 
I am encouraged by the great strides Serif is making! Thanks for working hard to advance this excellent software. Down to the details, but the details are important.

I would personally pay double the price I paid for Affinity (so 100% price increase) if it meant it would use Astute Graphics' vector cleanup and boolean formulas for adding vector shapes.

[Designer]
 
Hi,
 
Is there another way to convert nodes, other than going to the Pen or Node Tool's Contextual (horizontal) Toolbar, and pressing buttons? Like, shortcuts for:
Convert to Sharp or Smooth node? Or Reverse Curve?
 
I already have keyboard shortcuts for Close and Break Curve – whose toolbar buttons are right beside the Convert ones. But those are the only Pen or Node Tool shortcuts I could find in the Prefs.
 
Two related things I would love:
- A way to 'pull' Control Handles out of a sharp node (or pop them back in to make a sharp point),
via some modifier key(s) with the node tool. (Like: after-the-fact editing of a path, not while drawing it.)
 
and
 
- When you're manipulating one of a node's Control Handles, 
for a certain modifier key(s) to cause its opposing handle do the exact same thing – i.e., stay in perfect symmetry/mirror image. Including, on a non-smooth node, the control handle angle.
That would be _so_ handy! (It's available with 3rd party Illustrator plugins)
 
Thanks for your attention!
 
- pbass

Hey @Ben, thanks for the reply.
 
I really need to have a go myself as it's difficult to explain and understand via a forum but I think by looking at the work through that @GarryP did and what you've said the isometric function and edit in plane look great if it has the option to expand the SSR effect.
I understand that Designer has a different approach to handling the SSR formula but SSR has only one task and it's super simple.
To take an existing shape and convert it to an isometric/axonometric projection. Either top, right or bottom.
The reason of this is that the original shape, dimensions and scale may be very important to the end (isometric) result.
All the important making and doing is done in the flat elevation and then converted not the other way around.
It's kind of the fundaments of working in isometrics.
That could have it's use but it's like putting the horse behind the cart if you get my drift.
You make flat,  then convert and then build.
That shape is then the basis for building whatever you want to make and you've left SSR behind at that point.
Creating in the isometric plane is okay but you're already in a distorted view so it can't be accurate from the start.
I've been working making isometric designs and illustrations for 32 years now so I can see it from a practitioners view point and although these tools look great they do seem to be missing the point a little from what I see but enough to render it almost useless to build complex shapes and designs that are faithful and accurate to the original.
I started off doing isometrics on a drawing board using pens, iso guides and rulers and then Mac Classic's came out and someone worked out the SSR formula in Freehand.
That was the big transformation but the rule has stayed the same: Make your flat shape. Apply SSR. Build your isometric object.
 
To show you how I work and use SSR to build isometrics I wanted to take something that's original (flat) appearance is very important so I chose the Affinity Designer icon/logo.
I made a flat, paths version of it, converted it to iso using SSR and only then started to build the 3D.
All the information I needed is in step 1.
All the conversion is done in step 2.
Everything after that is just embellishment, faffing about and building using the same principles as the "cube with a punched out corner" I did above.
I can't imagine recreating the Affinity Designer logo using "edit in plane" with any degree of accuracy.
Please don't get me wrong here.
I have HUGE respect for you guys that put these packages together and I'm telling you this with the very best intentions (I want to use Designer for isometrics) but when it comes to this area I do feel you may be missing the point a little and that would be a great pity.
 

 
 
 

Here's another vote for this feature. Almost finished with a project and whoops, can't do free transforms…

I agree.  This feels like a really important feature that is missing.  I spent a long time looking for it before stumbling across this thread.  Still love Affinity products, all of them, but this feels like a glaring miss for a vector program.

Thanks, Aammppaa!

I definitely didn't search before posting. Good reminder. 

Glad there's a workaround and fix in the next release.

👍

I did—this guy. 
 
 
Stopping the process restores normal mouse wheel functionality to Designer. 
 
I sure do like that little utility, but it's nice to know what the issue is. 
 
Thanks for your help, Mark. 

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?