Fahad Javed

Affinity Photo doesn't offer 'Symbols' or 'Assets', but there are both 'Styles' and 'Text Styles' panels in the Studio. The same shape tools are available in both apps.
 
Neither of the Affinity apps can read the native Adobe Illustrator format. They can only read the PDF stream which is included in an AI file when it's saved as PDF-compatible (which I understand to be the default setting).
 
It's important to note that all text is rasterized (so it's no longer editable) when you export to PSD format.

Just Voted for Affinity Designer,which at this point stands at 44% of votes. Best Of Luck to the entire Affinity Designer Team,lets keep our fingers crossed.

Hello everyone, just to let you know, we're one of the finalists in this year's Microsoft Windows Developer Awards, in the Application Creator of the Year category. If you have a Microsoft account (e.g. Hotmail, Xbox, Office365), and feel like giving us your support, then you can cast your vote at the following page:
 
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/projects/events/build/2018/awards 
 
Thanks for your time.

Hi Stephane,
 
Here are the possibilities:
 
(01)How to start an a new project or file in Affinity Photo with Transparent Background?:
You can create a new document in Affinity Photo,using the menu path:
        File > New
              [OR]
        'Ctrl' + 'N'
When the dialog shows up,check the 'Transparent Background' checkbox in the 'color' area of the 'New Document' dialog box,which is not checked by default.
 
(02)How to set a transparent background,in case you have forgotten to set Transparency when creating a new document in Affinity Photo?
In case you have forgotten to set the transparency checkbox when creating a new document,you can still set it by going to the menu path:
           Document > Transparent Background
 
(03)How to Export a logo in Affinity Photo to a .png file with Transparency:
In case you have created a logo in affinity photo, provided that you have already have removed the background color[using the 'flood select tool'[w] or other selection options]. If the background is transparent you will see white and grey boxes. You can now export .png file with transparency either using :
 
File > Export... [OR] 'Ctrl' + 'Alt' + 'Shift' + 'S' and choosing .png
 
[OR] second method would be using the 'Export Persona' Persona[its at the end with 3 circles]. Once you are in this persona,to the right side you will find Panels for 'Layers' and 'Slices'. All Logos or Graphics that are created in modules like for example 'Layers','Groups' etc are already provided as slices in the export panel,based on their dimensions(length,width),but you can create a custom slice by using the 'Slice Tool'(shortcut 'S' in export persona) to define your own area of slice.
 
Once slices are there,you can select each slice,in this case your logo image,and click the play like button(a Triangle button that collapses or expands slices) at the left side to reveal the export options that you can select. Click the '+' button to add multiple images,here you will choose the 'PNG' option from the dropdown. now click the 'export' button for each image to export one image format at a time manually,or you can click the 'Export Slices' which indicates the no of slices selected and export all the image formats in one go. 
 
In case you want to export the .png file when ever you make any changes to the layer,you can check the 'Continuous' option to let Affinity photo automatically export the .png file for you in background,when ever you save the document.
 
I hope you find these useful.
 
Thanks

Hello everyone. I hope the community has interest in building terrains,asking questions related to this topic or better yet posting their own creations and sharing them with all of us. Keep that sporting spirit going people and participate .

The screen shot shows a roughly created height map in Affinity Designer's Pixel Persona[] using the Paint Brush tool[] and using grey scale values[] and how it is used in generating a 3D Terrain in Blender by applying this height map Image as a 'Displace'[] modifier on a Grid []Mesh Surface. For smoothness, i have applied a 'Subdivision Surface'[] modifier. Modifiers in 3D Modelling tools help modify an object's geometry. They can be accessed in the Tabs on the right side[] and have a 'wrench icon'[] . Just click the 'Add Modifier'[] dropdown to add the modifiers mentioned above. Notice, if you apply these modifiers by clicking the 'apply' button it will apply the effect and remove the modifier from stack of modifiers applied. If you want fine tune control over these without removing them from the stack of modifiers,don't apply them.
[1] = Displace Modifier Added, [2] = Subdivision Surface Modifier Added
 
[ >>>> [Source Files]]
>  The Height Map file in Affinity Designer has also been attached[File Name = Terrain_Height_Map.afdesign]. 
 
>  The Blender Source File with the Height Map Applied has also been attached[File Name = Blender_File_with_Terrain_Created_Using_Height_map_from_Affinity_Designer.blend][Added on 27th February 2018]
 
[ >>>> [Video File]]
Here is a short video[around 3minutes and 26 seconds] that demonstrates the steps required:[Update: Added the Video on 26th February 2018]

 
Blender can be downloaded from the following link:
https://www.blender.org/
 
[ >>>> [Exercise]][Added on 27th February 2018]
As an Extra Exercise,apply these concepts by making use of Real Terrain Height Maps[that contain Real World Elevation Data] generated by the following website for your own country or city:
https://terrain.party/
Just search your city or country and press the Export Button[] to export a zip file that contains the height maps for the searched area. Extract the zip file and apply it to your own blender files. Notice how the grey scale values are used based on Real World Elevation data.
Here is a sample of a terrain i generated using the Height Maps generated by this website:

 
Happy Learning
 

Hi, it's me, wavef again.
 
I've made a Real-Perspetive (not shear things) mockup in AD and you can see the demo in the gif below ( ad source file provided ).
 
it's a unreleased and unstable function in AD, maybe crash your app, damage your un-saved files, blow up your computer~ I don't know.
 
And you may notice "Mockup-3" in the demo has some render issus and it also bring that problem to the exported bitmap, that's why it's unreleased.
 
Keep in mind DO NOT copy and paste anything from this file to your working project !!!
 
 
 
[ GIF Preview ]

 
 
 
 
 
[ Download .afdesign source file ]
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-kA5GV7MxICMWZyT3hSalF3UUE

Hi simgonzalo
 
Make use of the 'Selection Brush Tool'[] to roughly highlight the Hair and leave the strands of hairs outside,as they will be selected using 'Refine'[] option on the toolbar. Now click the 'Refine' Button and use the brush selection to highlight strands of hairs outside to apply the edge refinement algorithm and switch to 'Black and White' overlay option in the 'preview' dropdown to see how much strands of hair are selected and repeat it to get the result you want. Here is a screenshot of the selection i was able to make using this. White Color Shows the selection you have made and black here indicates unselected areas.
 

 
I have also attached the editable affinity photo file[File Name = Perfect Hair Selection - Tip.afphoto ] with the selection saved as an Editable mask. Go ahead and open and experiment with this. I Hope this is helpful for you.
 
This is how the final selection mask looks like:

Hey
 
Where can I find them?
 
Thanks

Thanks everybody for your help!!
So, what I did was using the contrast between the hair and the background in the blue channel to make a better selection. Then I saved it on a separate channel and redefined on the real image, with some tweaks using ramp and feather. I think i got some decent results!! Then i changed the background to see good it was made.
Here you have my work

difficult hair.afphoto

Excellent Work. Nice Blog and a very interesting work space indeed. Thanks for sharing your workflow with us. 

And, here a video showing the new rotate-on-plane feature of the Move tool.  A new shape is created into a grid, using the "Edit In Grid Plane" mode.  Then, with the mode on, any rotations maintain the grid plane perspective.
 
RotateOnPlane.mov
 

And, here is a video glimpse of some of the improvements coming to the Node tool.
 
NodeTool.mov
 

Hey everyone. I've just launched a blog that I'm using to chronicle the development of my graphic novel, Somerton Man. 
 
While I'll be showing some final finished art down the road, the purpose of the blog is to document the creation workflow process. I have a suite of tools I use, that include Photo on both Mac and iPad, and Designer. I also use Concepts, Notes, Scrivener, Sketchup, MakeHuman, Skelly.... well, there's a list. But at the centre are the Affinity suite.
 
I'm inviting anyone interested to drop by and monitor the progress. I've got lots of good things to say about Designer, and a few criticisms, so I'm also open to ways of doing things more efficiently. There's also an FB page - working on getting that to update when the blog does.
 
My project is about using Designer as the central hub for bringing the project together. As such, this is only partly about virtuoso technique, but it's definitely about workflow and thinking out the stages of the book. If that's of interest, I'd love to hear your ideas.
 
Dan, Somerton Man Graphic Novel writer, artist.
 

This is a problem for finding the brush you are using. If you go somewhere else in the brushes panel, unless you remember both the category and the brush, you have trouble finding it again. Yes, you can see the brush names, but you have to mouse over all of them one at a time to locate a name. And you would have to do that for every category. Not a good solution. Breadcrumbs is the best solution.

The same here! MacBook Pro (a little younger than yours) and El Captain. And confusion also!
 
My brush lose his highlight also after a short jump to the second open document and back.
And – Murphy's law – I have still open two or more files :rolleyes:
 
Working with a few similar brushes and many tools I have frequently (and not only after a break) a second brush-question:
 
Which one is now (temporary) changed?
... simple because a brush lose his highlight also even where a little bit of settings has changed, e.g. the size(!). AP means, changing the size or opacity I crate permanently new (not saved) brushes. It is of course logical, but not the best usability-reason.
 
 
 
••• The name of category is not a problem: you see the name on the top of your brushes panel and you stay, whatever you do, in the same category (except you change it manually in the pull-down of the panel).
••• The name of brush as such is also not a problem. Mouse-over in the brushes panel and you see all the names.
 
The consistent and correct application of the highlighting is what we need. We can see the name of highlighted brush after mouse-over or in the title of setting-window after a click in the brushes panel.
After a change – of a tool, a file or of a brush settings – we see nothing :angry:
 
My usability-suggestion would be:
- to highlight a current brush in the panel after the change of tool or document or who knows what else (it is a bug!)
- to highlight a brush as a "current and temporary changed" in the brush-panel. Of course in different way than "current and original". (As a nice-to-have)

Yes, mine is a 2011 MacBook Pro, El Capitan 10.11.6. This is definitely confusing. I always lose the brush highlighting.
 
I would like to see the brush identified somewhere. Highlighting is good, but a better method would be to show the category and brush name, plus a highlight. For instance, a box could show a breadcrumb trail similar to how it is done on some web sites and file systems. Then if I go to another category I would still know which category and brush is active. I could get back to it. Otherwise, I'm lost.
 
Do the developers monitor these posts? Should this go in as a suggestion somewhere?

When I use a brush I know which one I'm using because it's highlighted.
 
If I then use a selection tool - L and come back to the brush tool - B, the brush is no longer highlighted, now it's no longer identifiable. What brush am I using? How can I know?
 
Is there a way to know what brush is currently being used?

Congrats Serif for getting this award. The past 1 1/2 years have been the best years for Serif as well as the community. Here is a Summary of their achievements in this period:
 
> Won the Best Imaging Software award from TIPA(The Technical Image Press Association)
> Launched Affinity Designer Workbook
> Launched Affinity Designer for Windows[version 1.5 and its minor updates]
> Launched Affinity Photo for Windows[version 1.5 and its minor updates]
> Added Touchbar support for new Macs for Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo
> Launched Affinity Photo for iPad
> Added ios Updates for Affinity Photo for iPad
> Created an Art Competition before the launch of Affinity 1.6 updates
> Launched Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo[For both Mac and Windows][versions 1.6 and its minor updates]
> Provided useful freebies for both Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo for both existing and new users on version 1.6 launch
> Launched Affinity Photo Workbook
> Won the ipad App of the year award from Apple
 
I wish Serif and Co the best luck for next year and Happy New year and Happy Christmas in Advance. The entire team richly deserves all the accolades.I hope they keep on achieving more and may they have a very good timeout after all this hardwork in the coming holiday season.
 
 

Dear Serif,
 
I hope you are doing fine. First of all congratulations on launching the updates for Affinity
Designer and Affinity Photo1.6 and its minor update 1.6.1. 

Secondly,congratulations on launching the Affinity Photo Workbook Recently.
 
I have a request to make,and i will be doing that not only for my self but on behalf of the
entire affinity community at large. Its quite frustrating to buy Affinity Products online as
digital downloads with no physical cd's in packages,but to only buy Affinity Workbooks online
with physical copies only and that to restricted to a certain demographic i.e not being shipped
to all countries.
 
This means that Serif is catering to 100 percent of end users as far as the their affinity
applications are concerned,but only to a fraction of those with regards to their official books.
In this day and age,digital downloads of work books lets say in PDF,epub,mobi and other formats
is a must and could be catered to,just like many companies do.
 
In case Serif does not agree with the digital books arguments,let me give you an example of the
books that i bought from SAP Press 'https://www.sap-press.com/'. 
SAP press lets you buy books in Hardbound,ebook(price is less than hard copy) and combination of
the two as a combo with discounts. By buying digital books from them,you get 4 formats for each:    
    (01)pdf
    (02)epub
    (03)mobi
    (04)Online version of the book in html[can only be accessed through their account]
I'll also provide details of some security features that they have provided in the PDF file of
the e-book.    

> Each Book you buy online has a digitial watermark indicating who bought the book and unique id
of the book generated only for the end user. The digital water mark includes the following
information in their Note on Usage page in the book:
    > Copy no
    > Name of the Buyer
    > email address of the buyer

and with certain restrictions in the PDF document file like:
    > Printing: Allowed
    > Document Assembly: No Allowed
    > Content Copying Allowed
    > Content Copying for Accessibility: Allowed
    > Page Extraction: Not Allowed
    > Commenting: Allowed
    > Filling of form fields: Allowed
    > Signing: Not Allowed
    > Creation of Template Pages: Not allowed
 

 
> This was sample of a pdf ebook bought from SAP Press.
 
> If serif has concerns regarding this,they can also password protect their eBooks for end users
to open them.
 
Secondly,digital ebooks help you when you are travelling and you can't carry books around in your
luggage and they also help,especially if the topic being covered is related to a Digital
Software,where you can search for a keyword or a topic quickly.
 
> I hope that the people at Serif are listening and they come up with a solution for this rather
than ignoring the ebook issue,as it is quite frustrating that you can't avail discounts on books
recently launched and that to at discounts for a week and you can't buy them.
Lastly,Serif should also work with their distributor of Physical books,to expand their list of
countries,so that more and more users can be catered to and also build partnerships with online
retailers like Alibaba,Wal mart and others,apart from Amazon.
 
Serif, kindly come up with a solution to buy workbooks as ebooks on the affinity store.

 

Dear Serif,
 
I hope you are doing fine. First of all congratulations on launching the updates for Affinity
Designer and Affinity Photo1.6 and its minor update 1.6.1. 

Secondly,congratulations on launching the Affinity Photo Workbook Recently.
 
I have a request to make,and i will be doing that not only for my self but on behalf of the
entire affinity community at large. Its quite frustrating to buy Affinity Products online as
digital downloads with no physical cd's in packages,but to only buy Affinity Workbooks online
with physical copies only and that to restricted to a certain demographic i.e not being shipped
to all countries.
 
This means that Serif is catering to 100 percent of end users as far as the their affinity
applications are concerned,but only to a fraction of those with regards to their official books.
In this day and age,digital downloads of work books lets say in PDF,epub,mobi and other formats
is a must and could be catered to,just like many companies do.
 
In case Serif does not agree with the digital books arguments,let me give you an example of the
books that i bought from SAP Press 'https://www.sap-press.com/'. 
SAP press lets you buy books in Hardbound,ebook(price is less than hard copy) and combination of
the two as a combo with discounts. By buying digital books from them,you get 4 formats for each:    
    (01)pdf
    (02)epub
    (03)mobi
    (04)Online version of the book in html[can only be accessed through their account]
I'll also provide details of some security features that they have provided in the PDF file of
the e-book.    

> Each Book you buy online has a digitial watermark indicating who bought the book and unique id
of the book generated only for the end user. The digital water mark includes the following
information in their Note on Usage page in the book:
    > Copy no
    > Name of the Buyer
    > email address of the buyer

and with certain restrictions in the PDF document file like:
    > Printing: Allowed
    > Document Assembly: No Allowed
    > Content Copying Allowed
    > Content Copying for Accessibility: Allowed
    > Page Extraction: Not Allowed
    > Commenting: Allowed
    > Filling of form fields: Allowed
    > Signing: Not Allowed
    > Creation of Template Pages: Not allowed
 

 
> This was sample of a pdf ebook bought from SAP Press.
 
> If serif has concerns regarding this,they can also password protect their eBooks for end users
to open them.
 
Secondly,digital ebooks help you when you are travelling and you can't carry books around in your
luggage and they also help,especially if the topic being covered is related to a Digital
Software,where you can search for a keyword or a topic quickly.
 
> I hope that the people at Serif are listening and they come up with a solution for this rather
than ignoring the ebook issue,as it is quite frustrating that you can't avail discounts on books
recently launched and that to at discounts for a week and you can't buy them.
Lastly,Serif should also work with their distributor of Physical books,to expand their list of
countries,so that more and more users can be catered to and also build partnerships with online
retailers like Alibaba,Wal mart and others,apart from Amazon.
 
Serif, kindly come up with a solution to buy workbooks as ebooks on the affinity store.

 

Hello, Fahad Javad,
 
The JF-17  is well proportioned. One can easily see how all the parts fit together.
 
If you would like to make the image look more photo-like using only vectors, check some works like these:
 
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/43997-dream-car/#comment-221003
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/25272-edison-bulb-i-find-doing-these-little-projects-is-best-way-to-learn-an-app/
 
There are more if you dig back thru the history. The best examples have the vector work as well as the end result. A very few show how the vectors are made partially transparent to add a fade away glint layer. The technique can also be used on non-mechanical drawings. One might shade a cheek, or add a glow to an eye.
 

HI @Bri-Toon,
 
There are some resources available now for Google Web Designer:
 
(01)Google Web Designer Help Center:
URL = https://support.google.com/webdesigner/#topic=3249465
 
(02)Google Web Designer Blog:
URL = https://webdesigner.googleblog.com/
 
(03)Google Web Designer - Forums:
URL = https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gwdbeta
 
(04)Google Web Designer - You Tube Channel:
URL = https://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebDesigner
 
(05)Learning path: Get started with Google Web Designer[you will need to login using your gmail account to go through this course]
URL = https://academy.exceedlms.com/student/catalog/show/1025?utm_source=hc&utm_medium=hc&utm_campaign=gwdhc
 
After studying this learning path,you may also attempt the 'Google Web Designer Certification' from this link:
https://getstudiocert.appspot.com/gwd
more info can also be found at:
https://support.google.com/webdesigner/answer/6238186?utm_source=studiocert&utm_medium=studiocert-gwd&utm_campaign=gwd-afa-studiocert

Dear Affinity Team,
 
Here are some suggestions for improvements, based on the experience i have gained while using Affinity Designer.
 
__________________________
 
(01)We should have the ability to "move" or "copy" a style from one style category to another,in the context menu.
(02)The search feature should also allow usage of regular expressions such as:
    * etc.
    e.g: fire*flare*
    it should bring in a list like for example:
        fire_flare_01
        fire_flare_02
        fire_flare_03
(03)If we can get a summary of which attributes are saved withing a style,that could be quite useful,and all the elements impacted by it e.g: Layer,object properties,effects,adjustments etc.
    e.g:
    layer->alpha = 50%
    effect_applied->GaussianBlur
    effect_applied->GaussianBlur->Properties
        > Radius = 0.4 px
        > Preserve alpha = false    
        > Scale with Object = true
    object_properties
        > stroke_color = red[#CC5555]
        > fill_color = white[#F8F8F8]
(04)Generating Cascading Styles sheets from styles,so that they can be utilized in websites.
(05)Live Preview of Styles when an object is selected and the cursor is hovered over a style.
(06)Styles with longer names are cut out. We should at least have the ability that when we hover over a style,we can get the entire text of the style name as a tool tip.
(07)A Zoom slider to "increase" or "decrease" the size of the style preview thumbnails,just as provided in the "Navigator" panel.
(08)Ability to show or hide "style name text" in the "Styles" panel menu.
 
Exporting Images as Outlines or wireframes:
> We have the outline view mode that gives us wire frames of the underlying graphics in affinity designer. Can we get the ability to generate wire frame of the entire graphic as an image,with options for changing wire frame like:
    > wire line size[e.g: 0.54 px]
    > wire line style[e.g: dotted]
    > wire color[e.g: white]
or is there a way to apply an effect to do the same thing
 
Layers Panel:
(01)Ability to search layers[just like the search mechanism in "Styles" panel] by:
    > (a)Name
    > (b)Type[e.g: vector layer,pixel layer,group,masked etc]
    > (c)Layer Effect[e.g: Gaussian Blur]
    > (d)Adjustments[e.g:Levels]
    > (e)Locked/Unlocked Layer
    > (f)Visible/Invisible Layer
    > (g)By Symbols[e.g: wheel]
(02)Ability to convert "group" to a "layer" and vice versa.
 
__________________________
 
 

Hi Stephane,
 
Here are the possibilities:
 
(01)How to start an a new project or file in Affinity Photo with Transparent Background?:
You can create a new document in Affinity Photo,using the menu path:
        File > New
              [OR]
        'Ctrl' + 'N'
When the dialog shows up,check the 'Transparent Background' checkbox in the 'color' area of the 'New Document' dialog box,which is not checked by default.
 
(02)How to set a transparent background,in case you have forgotten to set Transparency when creating a new document in Affinity Photo?
In case you have forgotten to set the transparency checkbox when creating a new document,you can still set it by going to the menu path:
           Document > Transparent Background
 
(03)How to Export a logo in Affinity Photo to a .png file with Transparency:
In case you have created a logo in affinity photo, provided that you have already have removed the background color[using the 'flood select tool'[w] or other selection options]. If the background is transparent you will see white and grey boxes. You can now export .png file with transparency either using :
 
File > Export... [OR] 'Ctrl' + 'Alt' + 'Shift' + 'S' and choosing .png
 
[OR] second method would be using the 'Export Persona' Persona[its at the end with 3 circles]. Once you are in this persona,to the right side you will find Panels for 'Layers' and 'Slices'. All Logos or Graphics that are created in modules like for example 'Layers','Groups' etc are already provided as slices in the export panel,based on their dimensions(length,width),but you can create a custom slice by using the 'Slice Tool'(shortcut 'S' in export persona) to define your own area of slice.
 
Once slices are there,you can select each slice,in this case your logo image,and click the play like button(a Triangle button that collapses or expands slices) at the left side to reveal the export options that you can select. Click the '+' button to add multiple images,here you will choose the 'PNG' option from the dropdown. now click the 'export' button for each image to export one image format at a time manually,or you can click the 'Export Slices' which indicates the no of slices selected and export all the image formats in one go. 
 
In case you want to export the .png file when ever you make any changes to the layer,you can check the 'Continuous' option to let Affinity photo automatically export the .png file for you in background,when ever you save the document.
 
I hope you find these useful.
 
Thanks