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Hi, I'm missing the option to use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. I realize you can do this by holding Ctrl (Cmd), but it was far easier for a Windows kid to use in version 1. Am I missing a checkbox in Preferences somewhere? TIA, Gary

Thanks, you v_kyr. Worked a treat. I'm only sorry I'm not as quick to adapt as I used to be. I'm anal and need to have an EXE file backed up locally.

Hi, and thank you for how fast you replied. And I'm a little less sheepish seeing that I'm not the only one to ask about enabling a choice of install locations, based on using the msi installer. But I don't see one available on the downloads page in my account. Am I looking in the wrong place? TIA, Gary

Hi, and sorry that this is not a features question! Where, physically, is Designer 2.1 installed on my drives? I'm desperately short of space on my drive C, and while installing this version, I noted that it didn't give me an option as to where I wanted Designer installed. I assume it's drive C, my primary drive, but I cannot locate it! Have I taken too many stupid pills, or is there a way to define the destination upon install and redirect it? Manyh thanks in advance!

Yes, yes, and yes! One investment in time, three uses for the finished idea! "Second-level" tools, modifiers for appropriate shapes (shapes with control points in this example) can be executed from a Context menu entry—also from a tool that changes behaviour by holding modifiers keys (Zoom tool +Alt/Opt=Zoom out), and also, also by double-clicking, right-clicking and so on. Let's call the tool that changes node function a Node tool, okay? When you double-click a smooth node, it becomes a cusp node in Xara Designer. I realize you have a function that converts a node property when you Alt/Opt+hold on a node control handle to toggle between smooth and cusp, but to get picky here, that's one more step in the process the artist needs to perform to reach their goal. Little things add up. At least they do in politics. —g

No, Eℓƒяє∂, the toolbar flyout actually isn't a fast enough method to create a fast basic shape. At least not for someone who nursed their way up to compound paths on CorelDRAW. Again, I believe it's incumbent upon the brilliant designers who engineered an award-winning program to check the competition, and more often than not challenge themselves to a "What's the quickest way?" mental contest. Metaphorically here, to borrow from advertising slang, the Rectangle tool, or the Line tool (generic terms here) are parity tools, every program has one. And if you can't improve on the way they work, improve upon how quickly they can be accessed and executed. I'd offer the palette treatment for shapes, as Corel has had since the 1990s. Not to be critical of a hard-workng company, but Corel Corp. has too many redundant features. It's great to be able to do something three different ways, but entirely unnecessary if two of the ways are cumbersome and just plain dumb. And I realize I've been underwhelming in these discussions and I'll still use AD if they don't change a single thing. My spouse Barbara tells me that's what true love is.

Thank you for a vote of confidence, Petar. I will mull a suggestion around a lot of times before posting, because I need to keep in mind that the Windows version of Designer is almost two years younger than the version for Mac. Use all three mouse buttons—I learned that the wheel can also be used as a button from other graphics programs. Use the context menu for what it's been used for. "Any process the takes the artist away from their work is an unnecessary distraction." —some Microsoft engineer When I'm not laughing, I'm crying at some of the awkward stunts Adobe Systems has pulled over the years with graphical interface programs. WHY, in God's name, do you fold a brilliant little program, Adobe Dimensions, into Illustrator...and then run the whole thing from within a proxy box?! A proxy box. Why didn't they go full bore and make it a command line feature? Seriously, and not to rant at all (this forum is fun!); designers eat, breathe, think and work visually. If there is a short(er) graphical way of doing something—short of being bizarre—you just do it. Thanks mightily! —gare

I'll make this UberSuggestion once a year, okay? Hoping it isn't too late in the cycle—the length of which is unknown, right?—to suggest... If you want to conquer the world with AD, the world is not limited to Adobe Illustrator. Two Windows drawing programs—MAGIX Xara Designer and CorelDRAW—have some features and tools worth investigating/adopting/stealing. The foremost one I'd like to see implemented is a truly context-sensitive right-click pop up menu. The fewer trips away from my cursor, the better—you work faster when your tools are close at hand, in the same way you get more meat at dinner when the serving plate is closer to your fork. </attempt at humorous analogy> Play "what if" with me for just a moment? The Shape tool is new and a really terrific too for someone who began with vector art in 1991 and had a "Line tool, deal with it" tool. But what if all the shapes could be accessed by a right click menu when the shape tool is clicked on? And "what if" there was one editing tool for lines and control points, whose purpose is determined by holding Alt/Opt, Cmd?Ctrl? I've always learned new curse words when working in Illustrator with lines. Direct Select, Change Curve, Add Point, ya-dah-dah. All those tools are covered in Xara with one tool, and the commands are repeated on the context menu bar, somewhat redundantly. Quality over quantity. Again, just a suggestion. I didn't get a pony for Christmas so I'm accustomed to disappointments. Happy 2019. Or Else. —Gary

Rick— Unintentional gaffe in your post: "womone". Someone, right? Because I originally scanned it as woman, and the woman behind me became offended. "It's so easy even a someone could use it!" Happy New Year, Gary

I regret my offering is not a low-poly model.

Thanks right back at you, Alfred. I'm all for making this a yearly thing. What do y'all think?

Sorry, it's not a piece of graphic artwortk, but rather a musical one (from a previous career!): This is a digital download of about 60MB, of mp3 files. It’s a mix of styles—from the 17th century, to jazz, and back again. I used digital sampling software and an occasional synthesizer to reproduce the wide range of instruments you’ll hear. a standalone download page on my website No nonsense, no self-center redirect. This is just from the heart of a fellow artist and his spouse, trying to put a little more love into this world. Happy Holidays, all! Gary and Barbara Bouton <I used a number of different programs to draw the work, including a lot of you-know what, begins with an "A">

Just a thought: it's a fairly standard convention in some of the graphics programs I use, to just double-click the origin box joining the rulers to reset. It's the first place I try when opening a new program and have screwed up the rulers.

Me, I'd be happier than a pig in fecal material if you folks just took "the best of the best" features in products, both existing, such as CorelDRAW, and orphaned, such as Creature House Expressions. There's a lot to like with AD, and I'd just like to see it grow without falling while running, as some other commercial software has done. Good luck, Jim. Other products will self-destruct in 10 seconds. ☞ ♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬.... ☺ —g

I got on a roll last year with trying to shade very simple shapes elegantly in an effort to sort of put opposite qualities together in a single composition. I used TopMod to fuss around with a Platonic shape; it's a wonderful, free, therapeutic modeling program.

Beautiful! Milton Glaser did something not quite as refined, as a poster protesting global warming recently.

I discovered a few really awful photos of a camera my Dad gave me when I was about 8 years old, a trusty, nearly indestructible AGFA. So I used what I could find as references on eBay, and took the approach that if an area isn't clear in any of the photos, I'd draw it that way.

Oval, I think you forgot the tags <sarcasm> and </sarcasm> -g

I was kidding. Before Windows, I had my share of command line work, and DOS programs that attempted to create a GUI. I use a command line today to play Zork, and that's about it. My point, though, Paristo, is that a program, one can call intuitive—to varying degrees of success—I believe depends on how easy you make it to immerse the artist in the UI. To me, a proxy box popping up is not only interruption, but also wakes me out of a sort of "dream state" I've been in, ignoring real and virtual stuff around me and just concentrating on my task. And 100% agreed that there are many "offenders" in the Good UI arena, including Microsoft. I just picked on Adobe Systems because I think they get lazy once in a while, resting on their laurels and reality that they're a market leader. It happens. Sometimes, but not always, I can accept the reality that some programs, Illustrator in particular, demand idiosyncratic moves on the user's part. That is, non-intuitive gestures and key combos that once the user has memorized, make the program more accessible. This is relative, of course. But it also explains why person X doesn't "get", for example Illustrator, and dismisses it as a tool. While person Y has "met the program half-way", and works like lightning through it, bedazzling on-lookers. • More than anything else, I'd like to see keyboard customization, extensive customization, available in a future build. • Real, inspired use of options on the right-click context menu. • Use of keyboard Ctrl, Alt, Shift in combination with the mouse wheel. To constrain motion, to add to a selection while defining the selection…if the mouse wheel is only for zooming and scrolling, then it's being wasted as an input thing the rest of the time. I really, really love the way this entire line of software is heading. Many, many thanks for including Windows in your user base. Please continue to keep it fast, tight, and open for revisions based on artist input. One Happy Camper, Gary

Oh, absolutely! That was "creative hyperbole" (for those can't say "exaggerate). I use inventive non-rational accounting to cover my software expenses. Software X is less than a set of snow tires, Software Y is 4 gallons of Haagen-Daz, and so on.

At the risk of being screamed at, we're talking about $50 U.S. for a new registration? Um, isn't that chicken feed to actually own, and not cloud-rent, a capable DTP program? Seriously, competitively speaking, what place does this put APub in? I think my bottle returns are worth $50 this week; "chump change" is not worth sweating anything over. My 2¢, devalued and cost-adjusted for Today's World™, g

To wax anal here a little (?), I read the Microsoft Guide to Interface Design, 246 B.C., and one of the mantras was, "Do not let the UI get in thne way of the user's creative process." Adobe Systems violates both the letter and the spirit of this, with "proxy boxes" all over the place. Dear Adobe Systems: It's called a graphical interface. We're supposed to drag and move live in the document window, not an interruptive dialog or proxy box. Why don't you just send the user to a command line? Seriously, Affinity shall continue winning awards as long as you avoid the pitfalls of those who've gone before you. TIA for listening, Gary

Hi Jet and thanks for the info. Just a stray question here from a keyboard combo kinda guy. Would holding Ctrl/Cmd while using the pen get rid of the need to move your pointing device up to a toolbar to change the pen's properties? I'm not quite following, with a superbly engineered existing program why context menu options aren't specific to a tool, and why Ctrl and Alt/Opt don't serve an "extended" purpose. I'm not presumptuous enough to suggest a design, but CorelDRAW and other design programs make extensive use of keyboard shortcuts, so they can clutter the toolbars with other stuff :). Love to see the Best of the Best in the new version. My Best, Gary