motoko

Brilliant thank you very much. Will try that out soon. And if it work I'll make a few templates so I don't have to do the initial setting up.

Hey all, I have been looking for a way to easily create mandala's and other symbol type vector images. So far I've been using the off center rotation option and duplication. But if feels a bit clumsy, or at least sub optimal. I know there's symbols available and I do think the solution to a smooth workflow for manadala type stuff is in the use of symbols. Is there anybody out there that has some experience with symbols and is willing to share their insights? I am looking for MirrorMe type workflow. Thanks in advance.

Hey guys, Just a quick question as I'm trying to find out what I'm doing wrong (if anything). I have a file in Designer, consisting of both vector and pixel layers. It's an A4 sized template for printing and cutting the stickers for 12" vinyl releases. Once I have finished the design I export the whole file as 300dpi PDF. This results in a PDF approx 1.4 MB in size. On several occassions I have had the PDF returned to me from the printers, saying it's not the right resolution. They claim it to be 164 dpi. When I open the exported PDF in Photo or Designer and re-export on 300 DPI it creates a new PDF. But this time the file size is 1.8 MB and according to the printers, this is the correct resolution. I'm puzzled why my initial export doesn't pass their DPI check. I know it's hard to determine the DPI of a PDF, due to the progressive nature of the file. But still, I don't get it. I hope this all makes sense and someone can point me in the right direction. It bothers me having to go through the extra export loop just to get the file in the correct resolution apparently. Thanks.

I can't find it, so I'm assuming it's not there. But I could also be completely missing it. Anyway, I do quite a bit of artwork for music labels and for that I create a lot of 'New Documents' with the same dimensions and resolution, same goes for the Facebook banners that usually go with a release. At this point I have a few template documents with the correct document setup. But I aways have to remember to save as... if I don't want to overwrite the current template. First of all I would like to be able to specify my own document presets that I can choose when opening a New Document. This would include all parameters I can set in the New Document pop-up. Secondly I also have a few documents that have specific settings in terms of grid, guide lines etc. I would love to be able to save a document as template. Basically it would save a document not as a Affinity file, but as a template. This would be a regular Affinity Document, but that could be chosen from the 'New Document' dropdown menu and would act as a starting point. Saving the file would work as normal, but would not overwrite the template. Hope this makes sense.

Ha ha... Confusion all around. I was talking about Designer, but for now Edit > Paste Style works well enough. Thanks.

Yes, that works like a charm indeed. Thanks for that. To clarify, I have been very spoiled in terms of workflow and drag and drop. For the past 6 year I have been alpha- and beta testing a new Digital Audio Workstation that had a super smooth and lightening fast workflow. Even complex tasks never required to open any menu and everything was set up to be (also) drag and drop. The key was that you would never need to switch focus from the creative flow to think about menu items etc. Now that I'm switching to more graphical work I find myself needing to re-adjust my workflow to new software.

Right, never thought of that, although I usually go back and adjust stuff (both source and target FX resulting in re-alignment) as the project evolves and I feel that a simple drag / drop would be more efficient. I do think your suggestions might actually speed up things for me though. So thanks.

I've been working with the latest beta and especially with the off-center rotation. Awesome job and this kills probably the last reason I was still using Illustrator (as I use Inkscape for path tracing). So I've been putting together some mandalas as test and noticed I am using the same (or similar) type of FX on multiple items. At this point I'm replicating the FX by switching between layers and typing in the values as I switch. I would love to be able to drag the little FX icon onto a different layer or group to move. And using Alt as modifier to copy it. Or some other option to make my workflow easier. If there's already such a thing, I'm sorry for requesting this.

Oh, nice, didn't even know we had that. Thanks!

+1 for me as well. I usually do hand drawn pieces that I scan and convert to vector before processing in AD. At this point I have to rely on Inkscape (which does a fantastic job), but would love to be able to limit myself to the Affinity suite.

Hey guys, Here's another thing that's missing to make my workflow in Designer even faster. Maybe some of you find this useful as well. Here's the use case: Let's say I create a curve (a star shape or maybe even something freehand). I want to use this same curve a couple of times, but I want them rotated a couple of degrees on each copy. I duplicate the original one (cmd+J) change the angle on the duplicate and hit cmd+J a couple more times. Great. But let's say that during my work I come to the conclusion that the star needs one more pointy thing. Or I want to move a vector of the freehand. What I would love to be able to do is change one of the duplicates and have all duplicates change in the same way. Not on layer level (the angles should be independent for example), but on curve level. If there's an option for this already, I'm sorry I've missed it. Thanks.

Hey guys, After using Designer for quite some time for my artwork, I am now slowly starting to pick up tattooing. I do a lot of handdrawn designs that I scan, convert with Inkscape to vector and touch up / process in Designer. Which all works great. The only thing is that I have no option (that I know of) to print the outline view. Which would be a great help to create stencils. I'm aware of the difficulties adding an option to the print dialog. But how about a 'what-you-see-is-what-you-print'-option? So that the already available Outline View can be printed. If there's an easy way to do this already, please let me know. As I'm currently either using the outline FX or setting a thicker Stroke and setting all fills to white. It's a tedious and time consuming approach, that doesn't really work well if I want to color a design digitally as well.

Hey guys, Here's a few small requests: - Color selection for background. In the document setup there's an option to disable the transparent background, which turns the background white. I would like to see a color picker next to the checkbox to easily select an alternative color for the background. - Close after save when using cmd+W. I've noticed when I use cmd+W is get a warning changes have been made and if these should be saved. But after saving the document remains open and I have to hit cmd+w again to close the document. Would be nice to only hit the key combo just once. - Past inside when layer is selected. I'm usually working with a multitude of layers and layers inside layers. I would love the have an option to paste inside when I have a layers selected in the layer menu that already has layers inside it. Ideally a modifier key would be preferred to keep the current workflow default. Thanks.

As I'm increasing my client list and move to working on more commissioned artwork with text I'm finding it very cumbersome having to restart Designer (and Photo) every time I add a new font to the font library. Maybe I'm missing something very basic here, but it would be great to be able to refresh the font list from within the font toolbar (or menu).

Here's something I've run into a couple of times that should be fixable by either limiting the text length or using a filter to prevent the value from being entered. Scenario: - I'm working on a composition with multiple layers of vector (big ones) - I copy a large vector curve to my clipboard - I select a different layer from the layer section - I accidentally enable the textbox to enter the layer name - I hit paste (thinking I'm still in the editor / layer) - The entire XML vector text is pasted in the layer name text box and ultimately crashes designer as it's way too much info for the textbox.