Raymondo

Ah, it looks like it’s just a windows beta at the moment. Presumably 1.8 beta will follow for Mac in the near future.

Where are users getting beta 1.8 versions from for both AP and AD? I’ve not seen or heard anything about new betas being released. Anyone else heard anything?

Can the dev team tell me why we can’t access preset gradients In AP via the fx panel. It’s a constant frustration not being able to access my own presets. Also being able to access my own LUT’s is one thing but not being able to bring up a list to be able cycle through each LUT to see each effect is another production work frustration. I’m hoping that these issues will possibly be looked at as part of the next update. I’m no developer but these, at least on the surface, don’t seem major issues to resolve, you may well tell me different. Anyway I’m flagging these issues up that need improvement.

Hi F401z74 There is no knife tool in Affinity Designer at the moment but is on the road map to be implemented soon, maybe next update.

Whilst I am really pleased with Affinity Publisher as a whole I still find the page setup frustrating as hell. I just wish we could setup more than a 2 page spread and be able to change individual page sizes and be able to manually shuffle pages when laying out brochures etc. Yes I know comments from some on the forum say, well just add extra page width and use guides. Yes you can but it’s not a procedure which you should need to adopt in 2019. I just hope this is something Affinity will look at again soon. with regard to AP, again I am using this a lot but not yet exclusively. Why because at the moment AP can’t produce true duotone or tritones. Colour matching ability still not there yet. Also compositing, its a pain not being able to apply multi directional mask without having to use a separate mask for each direction....Ahh!! I love AP and my Adobe CS6 is very clunky and slow to respond theses days but I’m really hoping the AP will adopt these functions soon. AD is great but I must admit the main time I will use AD is for logo design. Now that a lot of the re-coding has been achieved, I’m hopeful that further improvements in the software won’t be so long in coming since Affinity should now have more time to focus on improving the usability of the suite. I have been one of your most, i hope constructive critics but hats off guys and gals, doing a grand job.

Interesting!

Hi MEB Ok, after testing various things I have discovered what I believe to have created the problem. What I hadn’t realised was that my right hand was allowing my pen to make contact with the tablet while I was looking at the screen. It appears that if you attempt to rotate the brush while you’re pen is in contact with the tablet then the app is likely to crash. Keeping the pen away, the brush seems fine. So, problem over I think. Worth noting if this ever pops up again as a problem.

Hi MEB Well they are third party hair brushes. I have to admit I need to test more to see if other brushes do the same. I will try turning off metal compute as well and see where I am then. Will come back to you in due course and let you know if the problem persists.

Using brush rotation with version 1.7.1 crashes app. Using either left or right arrow keys rotates but crashes if you try to rotate too much or too fast. Don’t think it’s me, needs sorting soon please.

I have been calling for the ability to create more than a 2 page spread for some time and the ability to individually set page size. I’ve heard all the arguments about using guides etc to achieve fold outs etc but it’s not the long term answer. Affinity has yet to acknowledge the benefits of the above in out of the ordinary design work or that in the future development of the program it will be considered. We can but hope though. Now that a lot of the major restructuring of the software is, as I understand it complete, more time might be available to consider expanding the use of Publisher. As it is, Publisher is pretty damn good and studioLink is superb but it still can be even better with a small number of improvements such as this. In my mind I feel a lot of professional designers will not switch to Publisher from InDesign while it can only produce a 2 page spread.

Looks like the “shape builder tool” in illustrator is similar to “smart tool” you are referring to which has been requested many times. Maybe something similar will be added in a future update. Affinity are, or should be well aware of this feature request so hopefully it won’t be to long coming.

As far as I understand the new version of CorelDraw is also now for Mac.

Hi Patrick I’m not sure I follow you as you said you envisaged adding tri-fold, Quad- fold and Z-Fold etc and you add ( I.e menu). I assume you mean then that you intend to add a few more presets (templates) to the existing drop down menu when choosing new. That’s not at all going to help creatives who like to decide on the the layout dimensional process. It would appear that Serif are, at least for the time being, going to concentrate on no more than bog standard design work. What you have illustrated if I have read you post correctly is a standard gate fold. I have said that creatives need freedom of expression when designing and that means being able to choose the layout to suit there vision. InDesign provides this and has done for some while. Why would any designer push to one side an established piece of software which has given them flexibility and has worked well for them for some years suddenly choose a new software which takes them back in time and restricts their creativity. From your post Patrick it comes across that Serif does not recognise or even accept that there is a need to expand the page layout tab I.e being able to shuffle pages and choose different dimensions etc (see post by Mark Oehlschlager and the illustration). In my time as a designer, I have worked on brochures, leaflets, exhibition stands, building wraps, vehicle graphics, packaging, In store displays and merchandising. I believe I am qualified to raise this issue as a genuine concern and can only hope that Serif looks again at its approach to page layout as there are a number of other posts here echoing the same thing and I’m sure there are others in the design community that will be looking closely at whether Apub is a serious option for them or not going forward into the future. Can you just confirm Patrick, is it just you that sees these posts or are they generally viewed for comment and consideration by more senior staff. I apologise if my post is a little tiresome as I know you are often all hammered from all sides but the layout tab itself needs looking at sooner rather than later, not expanding the new page layout menu. Fortunately I have CS6 so I don’t have a subscription to worry about so I can carry on with that perfectly well for the time being but I had high hopes for Apub as It is potentially a good program and it is very fast and efficient.

Thomaso I don’t think I can help you much more here as if you don’t even know what “ design industry standard” means I suggest you do some research on the internet.

Thomaso, I already have designer and have had since its release so I do have knowledge of it’s working. QuarkXPress, InDesign and Publisher are not dedicated vector programs although I will give you that they do handles vector. They are first and foremost page layout programs. Illustrator, CoralDraw, Affinity Designer and Freehand (now defunct) are dedicated vector programs. Why do you think the design industry standard Is either InDesign or QuarkXPress for page layout. Do you not think the design industry would have adopted your approach for page layout if that was the best way. I can see you are convinced your way is the right way and as I have said before, if it works for you, fantastic.