LilleG

Ah, LilleG, you've come up with another weird one! You are the master-ess of wanting to do really logical functions, only to find out that illogical was the design key!  :lol: :lol: Why in the world would you ever think that a macro should be usable for various documents?  :lol: :lol:
 
Like you, if I wanted a canvas to always be resized to, say, 800 x 800, I would tell the macro to do that. I wouldn't tell it to add 1.5 to each side! Of course, as a Yank, I guess I just don't have the same thought-patterns as those on the east side of the Atlantic. :lol: :lol:

Hmmm, what I really expected was for the macro to remember the process, not the result.  I don't really want to repeat the exact result; I want to repeat the process in order to continue to expand the canvas as I add multiple borders.  

As a user who experimented a lot with vector graphics over the years, I find it might be helpful for others for me to share the differences between Illustrator, DrawPlus, Designer, and CorelDraw. A lot of you might be unfamiliar with one or more of the programs. There are things I like about each and things I do not like. Onur has decided to help out in giving me background to CorelDraw since that is one I am unfamiliar with.
 
I will explain why I prefer certain programs and why I don't prefer them with the features that I find most or partially helpful. Here are 26 I came up with.
 
Last Updated (1/27/2017)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
 
 
Flood Fills
Being able to add fills to unclosed shapes (overlapping regions)
Illustrator: Yes, but fills cannot be added to weight variations, brush strokes, or effects DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Artboard Tool
The overall canvas which can be resized manually or multiplied
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Nested Layers
Layers that can be expanded to reveal the paths within
Illustrator: Yes, but sublayers will cause each layer to be expanded when the file is open (CC1 & below) DrawPlus: Yes, but sublayers cannot be added, and paths and groups cannot be hidden or locked Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Pencil Path Continuation
Being able to continue a path from its end point with the pencil tool
Illustrator: Yes, but sharp corners or sensitive handling will cause the shape to delete or change form DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it will be added in 1.6 CorelDRAW: Yes Fast Loading Effects
Effects such as inner and outer glows, shadows, feathers, and blurs
Illustrator: No, They take far too long to load depending on the amount (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Image Tracer
Converting a picture into vector artwork
Illustrator: Yes, but it takes far too long to load depending on the size (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Rounding Single Corners
Creating round corners to a single corner as oppose to all corners of a shape
Illustrator: Yes, (Updated) DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes, but not as simple as Designer Transparency Tool
Adding a fade effect to objects
Illustrator: No, but there is one for InDesign? DrawPlus: Yes, but it only works on single objects or groups Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Fill/Stroke Switcher
Switching the color of your stroke to your fill or fill to your stroke
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Tools and Layers
Having pixel tools and layers available
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pasting Inside
Being able to paste clipboard selections into objects
Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus: Yes (Updated) Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Replicate Tool
Being able to make duplicates of an object by resizing its bounding box
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but a replicate feature will be added to 1.6 CorelDRAW: No Customizable Vector Patterns
Ability to change the size, rotation, and skew form of a pattern fill while its selected
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: No B-Splines
Creating B-spline curves enabling the nodes to be in an outer fenced area
Illustrator: No, not in CS6 and below at least DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it has the Smart Curve Pen Tool CorelDRAW: Yes (Updated) Smooth Gradients
Having to easily create gradients, then rotate and resize them easily
Illustrator: No, You must use the Gradient panel resulting B/W first, then adjusting it is not user friendly DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Smooth Type on Path
Having to easily create type on a path, and then being change the path's size or shape
Illustrator: No, Changing the size and shape was made a lot more difficult than they needed to be DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Over 1,000,000% Zoom
Able to zoom into your drawing over 1,000,000% zoom size
Illustrator: No DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Preview
See what your vector drawing would like like in pixels
Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Realistic Brush Presets
Brush presets that that look natural
Illustrator: No, there are several brush presets, but they are all flat DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Lots of Shape Tools
Having a variety of shape presets to choose from
Illustrator: No, a total of 6 in the latest version, and live shapes weren't introduced until CC DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: Yes, and excellent manipulation for the cog tool CorelDRAW: Yes Redraw Paths
Able to redraw a selected stroke
Illustrator: Yes, but it can change the form that was not altered DrawPlus:  Yes, but it can be tricky to figure out Designer: No CorelDRAW: No Indicators
Indications of which tool, swatch, path, or other options are selected
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  Yes/No, no indication on swatches, paths, or effects Designer: Yes/No, dark indications on tools are hard to see with the dark background CorelDRAW: Yes Eyedropper on Select
Copying a color while an object is selected to change the selected object to that color
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  No Designer: Yes, but it cannot copy the other properties CorelDRAW: Yes Vector Eraser Tools
A tool that erases vector objects and maintains its quality
Illustrator: Yes, but it changes the shape's proportion DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: No, but there is a pixel eraser tool CorelDRAW: Yes 3D Extrusion
Turning flat objects into 3D objects, and then rotating them in a 3D perspective
Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus:  Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Full Boundary Selections
When objects are selected with a complete close from its selection box and not partially selected
Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes, and partial selections can be used as well if adjusted in the preferences CorelDRAW: Yes   
If this is very helpful to people, then I will update this list as progress moves forward. I hope this helps.

For a better usability, please change at least the light colour of the search text (or/and of the top right search field) and change the colour or add a symbol like  for iOS or macOS contents. Could be done in less than 0.125 cat minutes.

Hi DavidMac
I've just tried this with the Pen tablet and the area is indeed too small to be easily reached without requiring much attention/precision. I'm passing this to the dev team to see if it can be improved a little.
Thanks for your feedback.

Shear and rotate handles have FAR too small a detection radius. They are unnecessarily difficult to find and use. Even after finding them, the tiniest drift in lowering pen tip to slate for the click will cause them to be lost again. I have checked every other graphics app on my system and they all have a far larger radius of selection.
 
So far this is the single biggest irritation I have with AP. I have used it almost exclusively for six months now and am delighted with it, I want to stick with it, but this one weakness could be a deal breaker. It's such a tiny thing but it costs me so much in time fiddling around and puts me in such a foul mood that I am not sure I want to put up with it much longer. What really irritates me is that I can see absolutely no good reason for it. Why make life so difficult? Sorry guys, in the midst of all the miracles you have achieved, this one simply makes life hard.

psangha1
 
Why would Affinity want to pay again to upload to youtube just for you? 
 
The vids have been working for the rest of the community here for over a year.  My opinion, it's time to give it a rest.

I prefer Vimeo and in this regard I have downloaded all 170 tutorials together with the text description of each tutorial. I have also created my own table of tutorials showing the name of the tutorial, the description as shown by James, the last update of the tutorial, the series number and category as per this website. When James made some changes to the categories and in some instances renumbered a few tutorials I made the necessary adjustments to my list. Why did I go to all the trouble to create a table of the tutorials? Simply put I needed some way of locating similar tutorials as an example on Filters - these are spread over Category Filters, Design Aids, Correction and Getting Creative.  Similarly if I wanted to find what tutorials are available for Layer, these are spread over Basics, Design Aids, Selection and Masking, Correction and Beginners.
I maintain my table (excluding Windows Tutorials) as each notification from James is posted.
I am looking forward to when a "Affinity Photo - Book" is published.
Warren (Stickman)

Thank you Trinity!  And it turns out that if you hold down Shift while using the scroll wheel in the values box then you can increment by tenths (0.1)!  Excellent!  You've made Affinity much more usable for me!

If you place your cursor in the box with the values you can then use your scroller on your mouse to adjust the values in single increments. Hope that makes sense!

The tutorial videos that Affinity provides are fantastic (essentially what sold me on buying and trying Affinity Photo), however it seems like they could use a tutorial video on some basics of using the user interface.  Much is obvious, a lot can be discovered by a bit of experimentation, but sometimes tricks like this are not easy to find (and thus should be in a video to explain and show them off).

Thanks!
 
This set together with new tools and some new actions will be part of the upcoming DAUB Inkers sets for AffinityPhoto.
 

Hey guys, I just wrapped up another mandala <3
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPLMsthj38l/
 
Once again, I want to thank the developers at serif for creating such a brilliant vector application! It's lightyears more intuitive than illustrator, and seemingly keeps improving (at a rather fast rate!). I would be nothing without the tools you've empowered me with  :wub:

Thanks, Paolo, these are wonderful …  :)
 
(Gosh, I cannot wait to have Affinity Photo on the iPad Pro … ;) )

I've been begging for a Destructive Crop since I bought APhoto.  An inches ruler with user-selected increments would be so nice.  A Resize that remembered the last used settings would be fantastic.  Let's hope that at least some if not all of your suggestions will be implemented.  

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/31440-feedback-ap-is-a-good-software/?p=152399
 
1
the new macro option is great and especially the layer selection method is outstanding but it definitely needs to be able to select multiple layers and also group them
 
2
the crop tool is really bad, it needs options to crop to opaque/ inpaint missing areas (which is already available in the panorama section), reveal the non-destructively cropped areas when extending a previously made crop, reset crop and remember the setting like "keep original ratio"
 
3
there needs to be an option to choose the rasterization algorithm
 
4
there is no great way of selecting color like blend if can do for luminosity, a non destructive color range selection tool would be really icing on the cake now!
 
5
curves are still half baked as you can not move the nodes with the arrow keys for precise adjustments, can´t set black and white points with color pickers and can´t visualize the color information of the image and the corresponding curve sections by hovering with the curser over the image and seeing a point on the corresponding part of the curve
 
6
samplers in the info panel can not be adjusted in size which gives imprecise readings influenced by noise e.g.
 
7
smudge tool has no sample from below option which can sometimes be really helpful in retouching (apply noise to the smudged areas is really that much easier this way)
 
8
USM has no preview for masking it´s effect
 
 
 
Linked layers are guaranteed to appear in 1.6 I guess and I´m very much looking forward to that!
 
Generally I think AP is an extremely useful tool with a great community and steady progress so I´ve not missed PS since I left it at all.
 
 
Cheers

Note: This is not a simple request.  There 4 interlocking parts, but I think if implemented, many of the complaints and comments about cropping will go away.  In addition, it will hide the fact that cropping to a specific ratio, then resizing with locked proportions does not work exactly right. 
 
Background:
 
 
 
I am an American so I necessarily use english measurement - I would like this request to have the option of selecting metric units for my friends in more reasonable countries.
 
As a photographer I, and most others, are frequently faced with the problem of being too far from my subject to get a picture without distracting objects in the frame.  Since I have a high resolution camera, I frequently also have pixels to burn, so my solution is to use a "Digital Zoom" after the fact. 
 
While the tools in Affinity Photo are wonderful for creating web images where a pixel orientation is the rule of the day, I can not find a way to accomplish a "digital zoom" where the actual pixels in the image are selected then removed from the file in a way that the image is actually reduced to the exact size specified in inches and the file size is also reduced.
 
I work in inches not pixels because that is how the media I use is measured.  The relation between pixels and inches is not constant.  For some purposes, printing on canvas for example, 200 pixels per inch is a good compromise between speed and presentation quality.  For photo paper I like to use 300 pixels per inch and for banners I can get away with 150 pixels per inch because the viewing distance is in hundreds of feet not inches.  Seldom do I use an image for multiple purposes and when I do I usually need to re-redit the original image so I always keep my originals just as they came from the camera.
 
All the changes requested below are designed to fit in the existing Affinity frame work.  If you find any request that would affect any existing user then I have made a mistake. Please implement in a way that users that do not need these features do not see a change in operation.
 
Feature Request:
 
 There are four interlocking items:
 
1 - A combination Destructive Crop  and Resize tool
2 - Additional preferences 
3 - Visible image sizes
4 - Rulers in Printing units.
 
User interface changes( Request - 1 ) 
 
1 - Add a feature to the existing crop tool by creating a new mode called "Destructive Crop"
 
2 - Add the letter "D' in front of the Destructive Crop preset. For example a standard 8 inch by 10 inch photograph would be designated D8"x10" Note: I chose the name to differentiate this crop from all the other crop modes which seem to be non destructive.  Of course the undo feature should restore the uncropped image so the action is not actually destructive until the file is saved.
 
Operation of the new feature( Request -1 )
 
1 - The user selects the crop tool
 
2 - A selection rectangle appears completely within the visible image frame the proportion of the previously used preset if any, otherwise, a selection rectangle appears entirely within the image in accordance with the first preset in the list as it does presently. NOTE: The reason for using the previously used proportion is to allow for rapid cropping of multiple images.
 
3 - The user is allowed to resize or drag the selection rectangle to choose any portion of the image. 
 
3a - The corner handles will allow a constrained resize of the selection box.  By constrained I mean, the size can change but the proportion can not.
 
3 -aa - Holding the shift key will allow unconstrained adjustment of the selection box and will change the proportions of the resulting image just as if the user had changed the original preset on the fly. (Note:  The instantaneous size is shown in the dimension box -see request below)
 
3b- Moving just off the corner of the selection box will change the movement to rotate.  This will allow free rotation of the selection box.
 
3c - Any other click and drag will result in the sliding the selection box in response to the cursor movement.
 
4 - Once the user has slid, rotated, and resized the selection box to the desired position, they commit the crop by either 1 -  Pressing Enter, 2 - Pressing Return, 3 -Double clicking inside the selection box, or 4 -Clicking the Apply button
 
Once the user has applied the crop, the following action will occur.
 
1 - The portion of the image outside the selection box is removed from the image entirely.  The remaining portion will necessarily be in the correct proportion for the next step.
 
2 - Using the document resize presets, resize the image to the correct dimension in inches such that a 100 % selection in the print function will result in an image on the paper that is accurate to within one pixel as measured on the printer. (Note: If the user selected an unconstrained resize, use the new image size as calculated from their movement and as shown in the display created in feature request  3.
 
 
Additional Preferences( Request - 2 )
 
Background ( Request - 2 )
 
To implement the cropping feature and allow for both metric and english as well as other measurements there must by a way to select these items per image and across images.
 
Feature request( Request - 2 )
 
In a preferences panel, in the new image panel, and in the resize document panel allow the selection of:
 
1 - Preferred units (MM, Inches, etc.)  Default - Pixels
 
2 - Specified pixels per inch for this document - Default - 72
 
 
Note: The following new preferences are settable in the preferences panel only
 
3 - Ruler units (inches, CM, Pixels etc)   Default  - Pixels
 
4 - Ruler divisions e.g. 1,2,4,8,10,16 , 21.  :Note: I Chose these numbers to allow for english 1/4, 1/8/ 1/16 English and 10 metric   Default - 21 (To match existing)
 
Operation of the new feature ( Request - 2 )
 
With this information it is possible to determine and maintain the size of the document in inches for display and adjusting the rulers in the following request.
 
 
 
Visible Image Sizes ( Request - 3 )
 
Background(3)
 
To implement the Destructive Crop there will need to be several new states added to the image itself in addition to the image size in pixels already maintained.   Once these are implemented there must be a way to display these values to the user.
 
Feature request( Request - 3 )
 
Adjust the primary user interface to include one additional field. 
 
1 - The field should be visible in all personas and at all times so my suggested location is at the very bottom edge of the user interface to the left of what is now the instruction area and aligned with the lower left side of the image frame. The field should be surrounded by a box with a dropdown widget.
 
2 - The field should be powered by a drop down that will offer at least 2 options
2a - Image size in pixels
2b - Image size in inches
 
 
Operation of the new feature( Request - 3 )
 
This field will allow the user to tell at a glance the size of the finished image and in the case of Unconstrained cropping see the size of image they are creating on the fly.
 
 
Re-originable rulers in multiple dimensional units( Request - 4 )
 
Background( Request - 4 )
 
Many photographs arrive at my desk taken with anything from an old flip phone to my newest professional camera.  These are in many sizes and shapes, yet I am supposed to quickly determine if I can reasonably print a bill board from this image, not knowing if it came from a Rolleiflex or a flip phone.  This is complicated by the fact that the customer only wants to print a tiny portion of the image.
 
Feature request ( Request - 4 )
 
Allow the rulers across the top and the left edge of the image to be displayed in inches or other units.  Then allow the origin of the rulers to be aligned with any part of the image.
 
 
Operation of the new feature( Request - 4 )
 
1 - Using the information added to the image as requested above, change the rulers operation to display rulers in the dimension specified in the preferences panel.
 
2 - Use the ruler division preferences to subdivide the rulers on the page.  This will allow the rulers to make sense to Americans in inches and fractions, old American engineers in inches and tenths, or the rest of the world in metric, while maintaining the pixels measurement for modern web designers. 
 
3  - When the user clicks and drags either ruler, a phantom ruler line will move off the ruler line with the cursor, either vertical or horizontal or both.  The user will position the ruler to their desired location and release the mouse.  The ruler will reorient the origin to the release point with numbers to the left or above negative and those to the right or below positive. Note: To select both rulers click to left and above the ruler junction.
 
4 - When the user double clicks in the ruler junction to the left and above the rulers the rulers will be re-origined to the upper right corner of the workspace.
 
 
 
Thank you for considering my  request.  I will by happy to respond to any request for more information or clarification.  I love your program and I will find a way to get my work done with it.  These changes would make my job easier, and faster. From reading the comments on the Internet, I suspect there are many others that would like these new features as well.  
 

yes! years of 2d/3d and photography.  
This software is the missing ring in my work. normally I use Photoshop + AI but not this time  :o    
 
thanks for your suggestions, this is my first work, I've spent a lot of time on testing the software.
 
take a look, this is the floats section.
 

 
 
 

Armed with a suitable PNG image on a transparent background, such as the attached 'Banner.png', follow these steps:
 
1. Go to the Brushes panel and click on the menu button in the top right-hand corner

 
2. Choose the option 'New Textured Image Brush' from the bottom of the list and browse to the image file that you want to use

 
3. Double-click the new brush to display the 'Brush - Editing' dialog

 
4. Adjust the stroke settings as desired, move the head and tail offsets to mark off the body section, and choose whether you want the body to stretch or repeat.

 
5. Press 'OK' to close the dialog, and then test your new brush.

I think it is important to remember that Affinity Photo is a product in its own right. It was not designed to be a feature-for-feature replacement of Photoshop (although I use it that way since it has all of the functionality that I ever used in PS, except the plugins, plus some additional functionality) but to do the editing that its designers intended. 
 
As good as it is (and I think it is very good) it is not a super-set of PS functionality. For example, as I mentioned, it still does not handle most PS plugins well at all. Still, it is only a bit over a year old, so I am prepared to give it some time.
 
And one very big plus is this forum. I don't see the Adobe software engineers hanging around and responding to questions on the Adobe forums, but they do here, and they listen. One example is the existence of a Flatten command that will flatten all layers without producing a new stamped layer. That did not originally exist but was added at user requests on this forum.

Photoshop does all of that - you don't need PS and Lr purely for image editing.

This technique is a very clever use of AP's ability to use both pixel-based and vector-based content seamlessly in a single working environment.  Very nicely done and the video makes it very easy to understand the concept and all of its features and powerful adjustments.  This technique could be extended to make any number of dodge and burn vector-based masks that would complement the available raw developer gradient adjustment, without the need for brushing in an edit.  A library of mask shapes could be made with each having its own macro to generate the initial shape.  The user could then modify the shape to their liking for the specific application.  
 
The example in the video of the vignette being converted to a curve to conform to some of the landscape features is a good example of taking, say, a gradient adjustment (a graduated neutral density filter, but in post) and adapting its effect to the landscape.  Etc.
 
Have you tried creating a Macro to build the basic structure of the vignette, with some of the controls exposed to the user?  It may be an ad-hoc way to provide the tool in a semi-automated manner to users.
 
Nice work!
 
kirk

Can i have that meal please...

Seriously, any user of this forum must be able to see from my post history that I will bend over backwards to help anyone out and will change pretty much any area of the application where it makes sense so that users are happy - and the point I'm trying to make here is that calling it PPI is a more specific usage of calling it DPI. DPI is still a completely valid term to use for screen-specific output, but the 'dots' refer to pixels at that point. Whereas PPI is more specific, it refers only to pixels. It's a less ambiguous term, so I have agreed at the outset that it would be more correct, but DPI is not wrong and it is more accessible to the rest of the world, hence why it said DPI in the first place. I'm sorry if I've not made as much sense as normal on this, I'm only able to get on the forum intermittently at the moment and not for very long at a time... :(

Oh good!  That would be lovely.  Nah, that's too mild a word.  That would be wonderful! :)