Aongus Collins

I spent more than an hour using this latest beta today. Unwanted ripples/circles in the UI, plus lags with some widgets (e.g., having to click multiple times on a drop-down or disclosure arrow to get a response) made it so frustrating an experience I finished the piece in Illustrator. Please, please, give Wacom users an option to revert to Wintab. Other graphic/animation software (Clip Studio, Krita, Rebelle, Moho, Toon Boom) work fine with this.

Yes, the screen recording amplified them for some reason. This grab gives a better idea of what I'm seeing (Brush Tool). The ripples are fairly subdued now, and I can live with them. If necessary, I'll disable pressure sensitivity when it's not needed.

Hi Jon, Thanks for your reply! Here is a screen recording using a Wacon Cintiq 22 with the latest driver (6.3.38-2) -- please click the link at the bottom of this post. I've also attached screengrabs of the tablet settings. Actually the recording exaggerates the ripple effect which is not as intrusive now that I'm using the settings you recommended. Affinity-screengrab.mpg

Yes, I have the latest drivers, but not the BSOD logs.

Having tried various settings, I think the issue might be due to a conflict between Wacom drivers and Windows Ink. When I enabled Ink system-wide in the Wacom panel , I got two BSODs in two days. Since disabling Ink, no problems -- hardly a coincidence! A Google search for "windows ink conflict wacom" returns 220,000 results...

Correction: when I restarted the Beta, having disabled Ink in the Wacom preferences, the pen worked fine , but without pressure sensitivity.

Hi Mark, Yes, I have Window Ink enabled in the Wacom panel (screenshot attached). I've had issues with Wacom Ink before, on a different system that also ran Windows 10. I've enabled it only for Designer because of incompatibilities in other apps. Disabling Ink means that my Wacom pen doesn't work at all in Designer. When I try clicking on a tool icon or anything else in the UI the cursor mover but nothing else happens! The driver is 6.3.36-1. The only way I can get the tablet to work in Designer is to enable Ink and set the pen to mouse mode, with no pressure sensitivity. Even that is preferable to the distracting ripples!

I hope everyone at Serif has a great holiday, and thank you all for your inspiring work over this and the past few years! On your return, could I log this bug (or is it a feature?). In the latest beta, it seems support for Wintab has been disabled and Windows Ink made mandatory. The result on my Windows 10 system with both a Wacom Intuos 5 and a Cintiq 22 is: a distracting ripple effect on clicking any tool or icon item in a panel (clicking/dragging on artboard is okay) a really distracting large ripple effect on right-clicking anywhere in the program apparent lag in dragging some sliders in UI (combined with large or small ripples; size seems arbitrary) And as that wasn't bad enough, there seems to be incompatibilities between using the Intuos 5 with the latest Wacom driver and Windows Ink: e.g., difficulties in selecting select text in web browser. These distractions and lags and make using the current beta over extended periods, as required in professional projects, an unrealistic proposition. Other drawing programs such as Clip Studio Paint use Wintab for both vector and raster drawing to great effect. Would it be possible to restore Wintab support as an option, or at the very least get rid of all those hellish ripples? I have adjusted Windows Ink preferences as in the screengrabs but this hasn't solved the issue. All the best Aongus

For the non-subscription price Serif charges, the current feature set is more than generous. At some point I'm sure there will have to be a paid 2.0 upgrade to support further development; my credit card is at the ready!

Thanks! Your method works very well. Using a dashed stroke for a railroad is a great idea.

Michail, Here is a screenshot showing the process in more detail. I’ve also uploaded the file. For consistency, each set of roads is now on a layer level, not a C-level (that was an oversight). The lines are simple open curves, no boolean or compound operations were involved. I hope this is clearer! Road Map.afdesign

Nils, Michail, Yes, using layers can resolve the issue of varying road widths. Here’s another example, using open curves. As toth explained in an earlier post, when curves are open you can achieve a perfect illusion of 2 parallel lines. In the Appearance Panel the lower stroke must have a Butt Cap, and the top stroke a Square Cap. In this example the thinner strokes are on on a separate, upper layer. Although the roads don’t really join, they look as if they do... due to the way the uppe curves have been placed to cover the borders of the underlying curves.

(split from this announcement post) Thanks for a great update. As a quick test, I played with the appearance panel. Specifically, I tried drawing a basic street map, as you might see in a leaflet for a local business. Using the new multiple strokes capability, it’s possible to do to such work quickly Affinity Designer. First I drew the roads using a heavy dark stroke. Then in the appearance panel, I added a second stroke, in a lighter colour, above the first stroke. That produced the effect of parallel lines, with a fill in between. The technique will work only if another new feature in 1.7 is used: when using the pen tool, the "Add new curves to selected object object" button on the context toolbar must be selected. Then the lines blend together. The second stage in this exercise was to duplicate the artboard containing all the elements. On the second the strokes have brush styles to give a more hand-drawn style. This is a quick, very rough test, and I’m looking forward to exploring the latest Affinity advances in more depth!

As a sole trader, I'm interested in some of the points you raised. 1. Typically companies or traders ask for a VAT invoice in order to reclaim that part of a transaction when they submit a VAT return later. Software vendors such as Smith Micro have set up systems that allow customers to input their national VAT IDs in the checkout pages and -- in accordance with international agreements -- those purchases are zero-rated. I'd like to see Serif adopt that system in time, but currently their prices are so low as not to make it a big issue. 2. My understanding is that Serif's licence is basically per user, not per machine. If I have a number of computers, I may use the software on only one system at a time. If I hire an employee or a sub-contractor, I need to purchase an additional licence. This is good: if a machine dies, the licence lets me use the software on a replacement. If business expands to the point where I must employ someone else, the cost of an extra licence would be very small in comparison to my employer's liabilities!

Congratulations on your Windows launch. I've already got the Mac version, running it on a fairly powerful Mac Pro with lots of memory and a decent graphics card. My Windows laptop, on the other hand, is entry-level. I'm really impressed by Designer's responsiveness on the lower-spec machine. Subjectively, it's not a million miles from a workstation performance, at least when working on relatively straight forward files such as cartoons. And it works beautifully with a Wacom Intuous tablet. Affinity Designer is amazing value for pro software. The value proposition is even better when you factor in that Designer allows you to use older hardware for longer (also an environmental benefit!).