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)?

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)?

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)?

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)?

Agreed. Codeweavers definitely come to mind.

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.

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.

This has been mentioned before, but I do wish that Serif Affinity staff could at least open a discussion with, and cooperate with,  CodeWeavers' developers to deliver Affinity Photo with Wine for Linux. That would be a least effort and least expense way of delivering Affinity products for Linux users and I'd be happy with a compromise option like that.

I agree and I can get away with using native Linux Pixeluvo for many things (it's an Adobe Photoshop Elements equivalent) and I've also used the capable Fotoxx in the past. For more complex work, the fully featured PhotoLine does work well with Wine and if anyone wants to try that option then I'd recommend Russell Cottrell's An Introduction to Photo Editing with PhotoLine free Pdf guide.

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/

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.
 

Would it be possible to have a setting or (perhaps set it as standard) that when you zoom in and out using the Command + / Command - shortcuts to get the image to zoom in and out centred around the cursor on the screen?
When masking a large image and needing to zoom in and out a lot to look at what you're doing it would be nice to be able to zoom back in again to the spot you need to work on quickly. As you'll already have your pen / mouse pointer in this position then it would be really easy to get back to where you want again without having to first zoom to the level you want and then scroll around the document to the position you want.
Many thanks if you consider this.
Best wishes,
Mark
 

It would be very helpful if we could grab the crop tool at any point on the 4 sides of the rectangle, currently, we are able to grab it by the 8 the predefined points which is not always ideal because sometimes I need to zoom in very close at a certain point of the image and the 8 predifined points are often out of view. This is already possible in Photoshop so it should also be possible in Photo IMHO.

hi,

I've been using affinity designer since 1 full year, so I think it's time to place my thoughts here as professional User, for long period of work I really miss more customization by the user side, as I work with vector pieces, sometimes is really time-consuming to click on the buttons to apply some simple changes, so I think the toolbar top options should also be available to apply as hotkey, because I can't see these options as option to use in my keyboard. I think this would be very helpful during my daily work and for all users as well.

thanks

Hi, I too have requested this and other features regarding lock/unlock about year ago - https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/24994-better-lockunlock-workflow-gui-skinning-and-other-suggestions/#comment-118274 . At least we now have the Unlock All command. But it is still not enough for me because it is destructive - it doesn't retain the memory of your strategically locked items and doesn't allow you to lock the items again once you are done with editing. Serif should really add non-destructive Unlock All (= Unlock All temporarily). Xara (see the second GIF in the linked post) has had this very elegant feature for a long time (temporary Unlock All and temporary Show all). It is an essential feature for me and once you try it for a while every other layer based 2D software that doesn't have something similar seems very slow and unwieldy. Sadly Xara has some huge problems as far as vector editing and precision so I am looking more and more at Affinity Designer. I hope Serif will really start to make the user experience of the Affinity apps much better and more elegant. As far as UX Affinity apps have been really lacking a lot of smart features and thought-out ways since the launch of the project - up until several days ago we even haven't had the basic destructive "Unlock All"! I was very surprised by this when I first tried the Windows beta. I had expected the complete opposite since it was a brand new software and Serif could learn from mistakes of other 2D software makers and countless wishes of users (for example Illustrator users had requested better lock/unlock workflows for ages).
I am going to post a new feature request regarding the "temporary Unlock all" and "temp. Show All" soon. I posted the previous thread in the beta section, it is old now and mixed with other requests. I also want to make better demo videos.
You can try these two workarounds I discovered:
workaround 1) Switch the "View mode" to "Outline". Outline mode allows you to select even locked object directly on the canvas. The catch: it doesn't work every time. I think bitmap images get ignored and something else might as well.
workaround 2) Click Layers > "Unlock All". Select the desired object (let's call it "object-X") on canvas. It should get automatically selected and shown at the Layers palette. Remember its position in the Layers palette - it should be at the bottom of the visible part of the list - as the last fully visible item (if you don't have a lot of items in the list it might be higher). You can point your cursor directly at it. Now apply Undo (or Ctrl z) - "Unlock All" will get undone. The object-X will get deselected and locked (it will revert to the previous state) but now you know its position in the Layers palette and you don't have to scroll to find it at all. It is the next-to-last item in the visible part of the list (right below your cursor). So now you can simply select it via the Layers palette.
I will probably make a short video about this.
 

We might soon be using Affinity apps on Linux via Windows virtualization with GPU passthrough without any lag or hitches (with native-like performance). These guys are hard at work on seamless Windows virtualization under Linux desktop:
Windows OS is running in its own window side by side with Linux applications (no host OS - guest OS switching) while using GPU passthrough.
This would allow us to use Windows apps without any (significant) performance penalty on Linux and run it isolated from the Internet - so no telemetry/data mining/spying/lack of user control. Linux would be the base system (also for any Internet activities) and the Windows apps without any real alternative would run via this technology.
This is something I want to try when I get a new computer. High-core-count Ryzens or new Intel CPUs should be good for this. I am glad that AMD caused high-core-count CPUs to move into mainstream and get cheaper.
Of course it might not be as seamless as running the native Linux app but it looks pretty promising.
I will donate at least a few dollars to the main guy working on this project.
 

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.
 

Hi, I am testing the 1.6.0.89 Trial of Photo and Designer right now. Unfortunately the line rendering hasn't been improved at all. There is of course the Stabilizer but this tool is no replacement for proper line rendering. It might be useful in certain cases but it is unusable for regular sketching (too much lag, lack of control over the resulting shape, only slow and deliberate movement required, you have to fight the tool if you want to sketch quickly).
I have recorded short video demonstrations (GIFs) describing the disadvantages of using Stabilizer as a solution for faceted lines. I also added a comparison with other programs (see below).
If someone from Affinity is reading this - please fix the line rendering. The lines should be smooth even without any stabilization. Take a look at the quality of the lines for example in Autodesk Sketchbook Free. As far as I know there is no stabilization employed yet it allows you to draw extremely fast with no lag and with total precision (the line goes where you want it to go). I suggest downloading the Free version and studying the implementation while sketching with Wacom tablet.
I don't say that a stabilization in general is bad. But it is a separate tool (or option) and should not be used as a fix for low quality line rendering (but maybe Affinity didn't add Stabilizer to fix the line rendering and they plan on solving this issue in the future - I don't know). Even with Stabilizer on, the lines are sometimes still faceted (if you set a low Flow value).
 
Drawn with Wacom Intuos 2 A5:

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.
 

Affinity Designer Trial 1.5.3.69, Affinity Photo Trial 1.5.2.69
The bitmap brush engine in both programs renders hand drawn lines with very low quality - lines are not smooth, they end up faceted/broken no matter the drawing style or brush settings.
Sadly this is not adequate even for basic sketching. I am sorry to say that but this is the worst I have seen.
The last picture is from OpenCanvas - line rendering in OC is very good. This is how it should be done at the very least. Even Photoshop (an all around app not specialized in sketching) has always done an adequate job in this regard.
One of the best rendered lines I have seen were in Autodesk Sketchbook (and of course Studio Tools/Alias). But since even inexpensive Sketchbook went rental-only I have lost interest in the software.
Sorry if this has already been talked about and put on the roadmap. I did a quick search and didn't see any thread mentioning this issue. With high quality bitmap brush engine Affinity apps would become much more versatile.

 

Hi both,
 
In the next beta:
 
The borders have been increased to 5 (the left border bug is already fixed).
A grab handle has been added to the bottom-right corner of floating documents.
Dock, Dock All, Float and Float All has been introduced to the window menu.
The hit test area for docking/undocking has beeen improved.

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.