raptor

While not ideal, these changes that temporarily break software or your workflow tend to happen everywhere, not only in Linux. Apple on MacOS broke a lot of perfectly good programs with their yet another shift to different architecture and not supporting OpenGL anymore. And Microsoft slowly makes Windows a nightmare for any serious professional work. Sure, the programs are running on it fine but the OS is spying on you, forces you to update even if it breaks things and MS can change anything with the next coming update. You never know what is going to happen. This is in my opinion a horrible working environment. It is not your computer anymore. A lot of people deal with it only because of software compatibility, there is no alternative for certain software or games. Linux is definitely not perfect (and I myself criticize a lot of things about it) but this issue with Wayland is hardly a typical "problem with Linux". This is a problem with almost every OS or technology at one point. What surprises me a bit is the hostility from quite a few users against the Linux port. I get it, if you don't use Linux you don't want Serif "wasting" money on the development. But I still think Linux port would be beneficial even for you in the long run. Windows is probably on its way to become full-on Software-As-A-Service with all of the bad things that it brings. Lots of users are here because they got fed up with Adobe's SAAS model. When and if Windows becomes exactly that, what are you going to do? Wouldn't you be glad for an Affinity Linux port (already being developed and ready to go)?

Please no another software tied to Steam. I appreciate what Valve is doing for Linux and I have bought a few games and a software from their store. But I still prefer a software that doesn't require regular online check. Standalone and independent (on any app store) programs are best.

It is simple. Windows 10 is privacy and user control nightmare. Appart from 24/7 spying (and no, it is not "telemetry", it is just plain spying/surveillance), someone else (read MSFT) can remotely control anything on your computer, change or force some settings and updates, install, unistall whatever they want. You are no longer in control of your computer and your data. For some people this is unacceptable and they will not put up with that. Not sure why some people are surprised by this backlash or even mocking it. Windows 7 was good. I agree with that. At least until they started with the "telemetry" updates.

Agreed. Codeweavers definitely come to mind.

Count my vote in for the whole Wine thing. If Serif helped to ensure that their products ran on Wine (without any show stoppers) it would be a great gesture and they could sell more licenses. I don't know how difficult it would be and how much money and resources it would take but I imagine it would be much easier than making a native Linux port. They could test the waters this way. For example there is a "one man band" developer of the Windows NURBS modeling package named MOI (Moment of Inspiration) and he is always making sure his program works on Wine. Another example is Photoline - very small team and they also support Wine installation. It always makes the company likeable in my eyes and I want to do business with them even more. It is not just cold harsh calculated business. Doing a little bit extra for people (even for a minority) can go a long way. Another reason why to write software for free(dom) OSes could be ideological and pragmatic at the same time. I wonder if the Serif developers and owners themself want to be stuck on a spyware and surveillance riddled OS forever (Windows 10)? I guess they use mainly Macs but unfortunately Mac OS is slowly becoming surveillance OS too ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS2lJNQn3NA ), especially now with their own new M1 chips (much worse than Intel ME and AMD PSP). That being said I don't want to preach anything to anyone and respect everyone's choice of OS. Sometimes I just wonder what would it really take for the majority of people to get upset and kick those spying OSes out of their machines. Maybe if Microsoft moves to a rental-only model and Apple builds an always-on camera into their displays ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm9JIojVvRg ) :). Somehow I doubt it. Of course I expect at least next five comments to contain the phrase "tin foil" :).

Hi, maybe these workarounds could help a bit untill this area of a program gets improved (hopefully): https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/51458-affdes-lockunlock-workarounds-and-tips/

This is just a small tip/warning but it took me a while to figure out what was going on. Since Designer has the Pixel persona one has to be aware that there is the second type of selection - the pixel selection. The first type is obviously the object selection (selection box). If you are working with both types of selections (switching to Pixel persona and back) at one point you may forget to clear the pixel selection (deselect) or you may create the pixel selection accidentaly. And that might cause problems/confusion later on. This happened to me: While in Draw persona I selected a pixel object and noticed that the selection (bounding) box is completely off the object and has a different size: I thought that it had to be some kind of a bug. It took me a while to figure out that it is in fact a forgotten (or accidental) pixel selection. So ultimately Ctrl + d solved this issue. So if something is off with your object selection box or you get any sort of weird behavior alway try Ctrl + d. Maybe this is too obvious but you never know... Anyway I just wanted to share this.

Hi MEB, thanks for the reply. Yeah, it looks like the info about the Pen tool feature is mixed up with info about the Node tool. Thanks for logging it. Recreating the node handles using the Pen tool while holding Shift can be a feasible workaround until (and if) we get something like angle snapping for handles in the future.

Aff. Designer 1.6.4.104 According to the manual I should be able to select a node (via the Node tool) on an already drawn curve and Shift+drag the handle to constrain it to a 45deg intervals. It doesn't work. Shift+drag just slides the handle along the imaginary line defined by the original orientation of the handle. From the manual Drawing curves and shapes > Edit curves and shapes: Is this supposed to work at all? Maybe I just misunderstood the info in the manual. Or is it indeed worded incorrectly? Maybe it should read "The Shift key constrains the node to 45 degree intervals". Then it would make sense.

Thanks a lot, Gabe. I don't understand why it is like that (I would expect the artboard presets to be independent on document resolution) but at least I know how to work around that now. On the other hand it's not a big deal at all. I am planning on doing my own artboard presets anyway (including "CSS pixel resolution").

Aff. Designer 1.6.4.104 Windows Hi, I am confused by the resolutions of the artboard presets. For example why is iPhone 5's artboard size 426.67px x 757.33px? Hardware resolution of the iPhone 5 is 640px x 1136px and "CSS resolution" is 320px x 568px. The size values of the artboard preset are not even whole numbers. Maybe I am missing some crucial information/knowledge here. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.

I agree. This is one of the basic features that I really miss and makes the Designer incomplete (at least for me). I have been waiting for any sign that this feature is being actively developed (or even considered) for a long time. I know they had this feature in early versions but decided to remove it because they were not satisfied with the results. I guess it is in limbo right now. No mention in a roadmap. If any Serif developer is reading this could you please update us on this? Is it silently being worked on? Is the work on this being considered? Or is it completely in limbo? Thank you.

I also would like to see a scripting support. In my opinion a real professional software should support at the very least scripting and ideally plug-ins/addons. I often keep coming across problems/annoyances that could be solved by scripting. Macros are extremely limited. I also vote for python.

I agree. It is even more important considering the programs have no proper scripting support.

Hi Nezumi, if I understand you correctly you want to make a marquee selection on a layer and than crop it. This is my workaround: 1. Make a marquee selection * 2. Invert the selection 3. Delete the selected pixels 4. Deselect I have created a macro (named Crop Layer) from these steps and have it in my Library so I can quickly get to it: * Warning: don't resize the selection once you make it because of this bug (still not fixed ): https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/37131-aff-photo-transforming-a-selection-causes-it-to-have-soft-edges/

When you click on a macro in your Library palette A. Photo always switches to the View tool (the hand) afterwards. This is really not what I usually want. Almost every time I want to use the Move tool. So every time I use a macro I have to manually press V or click on the Move tool icon. It kind of disrupts the flow. Please make it customizable which tool will be activated after clicking a macro. For example, you could add support for tool switching to the Macro editor (so activating any tool would be registered as a step). Or make the program remember the last active tool before using a macro. Or at the very least change the default automatic switching from View tool to Move tool. Similarly I would prefer the Move tool to be activated after I have created a new document. Now it also defaults to the View tool. I can easily navigate the view with the Move tool but I cannot select and manipulate objects on canvas with the View tool. So the Move tool is much more useful as a default. Thank you.

Definitely this. +1000 I was very surprised not to see HSV(B). There is nothing wrong with it and it is everywhere. For me it is much more intuitive than HSL. HSL is indeed weird. Right now I have to learn HSL because of Affinity instead of just using easy HSV(B) right away. This is what puzzles me: In certain areas Affinity apps just copy Adobe apps (too much) with all the Adobe shortcomings but in this case they totally deviate from the standards and replace HSV(B) with HSL.

Hi Chris, thanks for the info, that sounds great. It's good that Serif team also improves the apps in those areas. Maybe it doesn't make headlines but it is very important for comfortable flow of work.

Hi Matt, thanks a lot. It is good to know it has the attention of the developers. I wasn't aware of your posts regarding this issue.

Sadly the stabilizer will not help here. See my post (and topic) about this issue: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/45951-adesigner-aphoto-bitmap-brush-engine-is-low-quality-lines-are-faceted/#comment-249752 Serif should really take a look at this.

Hi, what is your exact version number of the beta? As of 1.6.0.89 Trial it looks like this ("grab areas" are highlighted in red): I wanted to make a feature request but came across your post. Did they add the "grab rectangle" (bottom right corner) now?

+1

Hi SrPx, my machine is certainly not high-end one but it can run Crysis so it should be enough for Affinity :). CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge Dual-Core 3.1 GHz LGA 1155 65W (4 logical cores) RAM: 6GB of Crucial DDR3L-1600 GPU: Asus ENGTX275/HTDI/896MD3 system HDD: Seagate BarraCuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" data HDD: Seagate Constellation ES ST31000524NS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" SSD solely for Windows pagefile: Crucial M4 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT064M4SSD2 I have just done a test: free memory: 3.7gb used cpu: around 14% Affinity Photo and Designer were running (no other files opened) no other demanding app was running 640x480 canvas, 96dpi RGB 8bit single layer basic 2px brush -> Still the same results - faceted lines even when drawing very slowly Just for the sake of curiosity - can you reproduce this problem on your rig?

No problem at all, Kaze. I have just posted my tips (illustrated with animated GIFs) here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/51458-affdes-lockunlock-workarounds-and-tips/

Affinity Designer 1.6 (some tips also apply to Photo 1.6) Since Affinity (Designer) is not the best tool when it comes to locking/unlocking objects and generally managing objects I have been searching and coming up with workarounds ever since I tried the Windows beta. Here they are: 1) Selecting and editing a locked object directly on canvas using Outline mode: + does away with endless searching in the Layers panel + the operation does not affect other (strategically) locked objects ... unlike Unlock All - doesn't work in case the object is hard/impossible to select in Outline mode (pixel image) - more work required if you want to quickly edit several locked objects 2) Selecting and editing a locked object directly (sort of) on canvas using Unlock All, Undo and focus in Layers panel (Preferences > User Interface > "Show selection in Layers panel" must be on): + does away with endless searching in the Layers panel + the operation does not affect other (strategically) locked objects + works for all objects - is not quick or straightforward (could be improved if Designer had scripting, maybe AutoHotkey/AutoIt could be used) - a lot of work required if you want to quickly edit several locked objects ... TIP: assign a keyboard shortcut to "Unlock All" for quicker operation Serif Should really improve the UX of the Affinity apps as far as locking and managing of objects is concerned. These are just workarounds. There are some now ancient apps with much better UX than what we have today. If you have any more "lock/unlock" or "show/hide" tips or workarounds, please share them.