Markio

Apps: All
Platforms: Windows, macOS and iPad
Using even space distribution on a multiple selection will now behave differently if you have a key object nominated. This relates to either the space horizontally or space vertically options available in the alignment drop down (or Alignment Options available from the Transform panel on iPad):


 
The previous behaviour was always to space the objects in your selection with (in the case of horizontal spacing) the furthest left item and furthest right item remaining in the same position, and all other items in your selection spaced evenly between them. This is still the default behaviour.
However, the new functionality is that if you additionally specify a key object in your selection (alt-click an object) the behaviour changes to mean the furthest left object and the key object will not change position, and the other items are spaced evenly between them. This is particularly useful as you may quite often have the first two objects in your selection at the correct spacing and you want to space all other objects the same distance. Now you can nominate the second object as the key object and achieve this.
Additionally if you Alt-click the spacing button the distribution will be calculated between the furthest right object and the key object.
Below shows the different results:

 
All the above showing results for horizontal spacing, but the same applies to vertical spacing when working top to bottom.

Hi, Ash.
As promised yesterday, I will share if this sounds good to me, and it sounds OK. Here is why:
Pledge 1: The perpetual Licensing model is what attracted people in the first place, but I feel like if some kind of subscription appears, it will be seen as a Red Flag if offered from you. If Canva is the one adding the Affinity Suite with their current Pricing Plans, well, that'd be seen like an addition. Still, I've read some comments that the Canva Team has changed pricing policies and this will still keep us watching closely. Pledge 2: Keeping Affinity as it is also key: installed locally with no need of being connected to the Internet (except when activating the Product). Now, regarding the development and the speed in which new versions are delivered: we will see if more money brings that but I'm not sure that we'll see Features coming twice as fast or double of them in the same period of 3 moths (roughly) when new releases come out, as an example.  Pledge 3: I like this one. Hope it works great Pledge 4: This is a complex one, because as you know, people have been really vocal about demanding Features in the forums, so there are features (as the one you mention on Pledge 2) that you are aware that people want for yesterday. I will take y time to fill the form you provided as well. We'll see if these pledges even last in the coming years.
Best regards!

The pledge to offer Affinity free to schools and non-profits is amazing. It will enable so many kids to learn with Affinity, and they will go on to use Affinity in their professional careers. This is something that would have been hard for a small company to offer but which the acquisition enabled. Bravo.

To followup on some of my comments yesterday, we are today enshrining our commitment to the Affinity community in 4 pledges made by the Affinity and Canva teams.
You can read about them here.

We do truly believe the coming together of Affinity and Canva is only going to be a good thing for our customers, staff and the development of our apps. We very much hope you will all continue to be with us on this journey.
All the best,
Ash

Yep. No changes to the pricing structure, until we change it. 

Yep, as Ash said, nothing changes.... until it does.

I'm just going to keep bumping this feature request whenever it surfaces. 
Vector pattern fill is one of the few features of Illustrator that I really miss. I used it regularly and frequently notice its absence.

Just reposting this v1 feature request in the v2 feedback forum.
Would be good to know if implementing this feature is even possible, I assume the inner software architecture doesn't allow it (only bitmaps) and it might only be possible with a hacky and unstable implementation, but if you can confirm it at least we can close the question with a definite answer.
Here's the v1 thread: 
 

Hi,

I'd like to write this suggestion for the upcoming features for Affinity Designer.
What I miss for since I started in Affinity in 2018, is the ability to Paint and use the Vector Brushes as Real vector,

Or, a tool to Paint in Vector (Like Blob Brush from Illustrator) without the need to draw a shape with the pencil / pen tool.

as an Example, I'm making many illustrations that need a flat painting style,

and if we could make Paint in Vector and also Erase like we do in Raster, it would be awesome.

I can see that the discussion about global layers is developing a lot. I also see that Serif has added global layer functionality to Publisher - thanks a lot.
As an advanced user of typesetting software, I would like to mention a few important things - important for the future of Affinity software.
As simple as it gets, but not simpler.
Adobe has a lot of bugs in its software - everyone who uses it knows that. Even if the software does not close itself at the least expected moment, it tends to horribly slow down the speed of operation. Assembling a 100-page publication in InDesign with links to other pages makes using the program like playing a game on a very old computer. Illustrator also shows these features, just link a few photos, add a few effects and after comfortable use of the program.
I can see Serif starting to get lost in what is needed and what shouldn't be. I would like to add a few practical comments from myself, which are the result of many years of work in DTP.
Publisher - what is absolutely needed (for professionals of course):
1. Global layers
1.1. Layer rules (global as there should be no local)
No matter where I create a layer (Master or regular), it should be visible everywhere. Same with deletion.
Global layers are an invaluable tool for typesetting, especially large/very large and complex publications. If I create a layer, it should be visible on all pages of the publication.
The system as it is now in Affinity Publisher v1.8 where there are global and local layers will cause a lot of problems. I can already imagine how in a document that has 125 pages I have to look for a page where I placed some local layer with something that should not be in the publication. Let's say it's a price catalog and we have several different prices for a given product, e.g. regular price and promotion price. I accidentally placed a regular price for one product in the local tier. I turn off the "regular prices" layer and turn on "sale prices". With this product, however, I will have two prices imposed on me. The consequences of what is currently in Publisher for professional creators is unacceptable.
1.2. Bugs in Affinity Publisher
Unable to delete layer
How to do it:
a) create a new layer in the Publisher document on the Master page.
b) create a new layer on a regular page (not Master).
c) while still on the regular page, drag this new layer to the Master layer.
d) the new layer cannot be removed.
It cannot be deleted because it is in the Master layer area and these layers can only be deleted while on the Master page. But the new layer wasn't created from the Master page, but from the normal page, so it doesn't even appear in the list of layers.
2. Global Colors - Only Global Colors!
2.1. Swatch Management Policy
Creating a new color automatically adds it to Swatches. It shouldn't be possible to create a new color and not end up in Swatches.
It's great to be able to find all places in the document where a specific Swatches appears. Sometimes it drives a man to white fever looking on 200 pages of one color that is in Swatches. What if the sample wasn't automatically added to Swatches - you wouldn't even know it existed. Only after printing would it turn out that the whole material goes to the garbage because of one lost color sample. Who will pay for it?
Adding a color swatch in a Publisher document must necessarily result in that color automatically appearing in Swatches - there should be no exceptions to this.
Now it's like there are global and local colors. This is a very big Publisher's mistake. The sooner it is removed, the fewer people will turn their backs on Affinity.
The current version of Publisher generates two very serious problems. The first appears when you need to change a color in a million places in your publication. Without or when you need to find a color because it is on the swatches list but you don't know where it is in the document.

Apps: Designer
Platforms: Windows, macOS and iPad

Affinity Designer now supports both DWG and DXF export, available from both File->Export and the Export Persona.
It's important to note that both these file formats are primarily concerned with vector outline data, with limited support for many of the features Affinity offers. However, it's been a heavily requested feature particularly as it means outlines created in Affinity can be easily exported and consumed in various CAD applications as well as utilities for things such as vinyl cutters, plotters and CNC tools.
Because of this, as well as some of the other fundamental differences in the file formats such as layer structure, while both import and export of DWG is now available we do not consider this a format which is suitable to round trip in Affinity. Or put another way we would not recommend collaborating with an AutoCAD user on the same DWG file.
Within export we do offer various options on how to deal with some of the unsupported features / differences in the file format:

 
Layers
All entities in DWG/DXF belong in a layer. There is always a default “Layer 0” in a valid DWG/DXF file. Affinity also has layers. This setting determines how Affinity layers are mapped to DWG layers, and therefore which DWG layer an exported item belong in

Gradient Strokes
Determines what to do with strokes with a gradient fill applied, which DWG does not support.

Gradient Fills
Determines what to do with fills with a gradient fill applied

Bitmap Strokes
Determines what to do with strokes with a bitmap fill applied, which DWG does not support:

Bitmap Fills
Determines what to do with fills with a bitmap fill applied, which DWG does not support:

Pressure Strokes
Determines what to do with strokes with a pressure profile applied, which DWG does not support:

Overweight Strokes
Determines what to do with strokes with a line weight > 2.11mm, which DWG does not support:

Dashes Strokes
Determines what to do with strokes with a dash pattern applied. DWG does support dash patterns; however DWG dashes do not scale automatically with line weight, as they do in Affinity. 

Scale dash patterns
If any line weight adjustment is made to an exported curve (e.g. it is clamped to the 2.11mm maximum), you may expect the dashes to stay the same length, or you may prefer them to scale automatically as they do in Affinity. The former is similar to AutoCAD’s behaviour - when you change an entity’s line weight, it does not recompute the dashes, which is effectively the opposite of Affinity’s behaviour. If “Scale dash patterns” is on, Affinity’s behaviour is used, so dashes will be scaled down if the line weight had to be scaled down.
Apply drawing scale
When enabled, the drawing scale is honoured. If you export an rectangle that is 1 inch wide and your drawing scale is 1:10, the rectangle will be exported 10 inches wides. Note that Affinity documents support multiple drawing scales within the same document, which cannot be honoured in a DWG/DXF file, so only the first/common drawing scale is applied.
 

We are now in V2.3 of Affinity Designer and the vector brush still looks like this when using a pressure stylus. This is pressure sensitive vector brush using the basic Simple Ink brush. Rope mode and Window mode make no difference, same result. Is there any fix for this or plans to finally make these look decent?

I'll give a similar nod on this feature. My workflow in InDesign was to build documents with layers for specific types of content. One global layer for text, another for photos and another for vector art. For example; this would allow me to lock or hide the text layer while I scanned through a long document for an overall view and edit of the other content. I'm fine with the expanded layer view for content, page by page, but this seems better suited to Designer (Illustrator) which would be more prone to many separate vector elements such as a busy graphic.
Being new to Affinity products I'm more than happy to date. I'm being careful not to make a direct comparison to my Adobe background since I'm in a new country now with new ways.
One last point; when Adobe first released InDesign, it did not have a TOC generator. This floored me since Adobe had PageMaker at the time which could generate a TOC. The point is that a feature like global layering can still find its way into the program without giving up on Affinity. I'm happy and hopeful.

I think on Tim's screen recording it's not showing the move data entry dialog where he's controlling the scale and rotation of the duplicates. See screenshot below.
Create circle Set dash pattern to be 0-2-0-0-0-0 in stroke panel Set balanced dash pattern to on Set "scale with object" to on Hit return to bring up move data dialog Set scale to e.g. 90% Set rotation to e.g. 4 degrees Set duplicates to e.g. 30  

Yes, that's on our radar as a possible feature in future...

In Illustrator, it can be also an FX !
Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform
So, it's non destructive, you can change parameters all the time. 

It would be great to add a «scale each» checkbox

Absolutely agree this development cycle is the way to go. The number of improvements and fixes since 2.0 release has been incredible. Congrats to the Affinity fam for a great release and listening to users' feedback!

Include global layers, where content assigned to a specific layer will always appear visually in that order.
Should also be able to hide global layers and/or lock them from editing.
Would be great in conjunction with master pages to allow them to contain both underlayed and overlayed content.

This has probably been suggested already, but I really wish Affinity Photo could add a method of saving RAW edits using a xmp sidecar file (or other non destructive way like how Adobe Camera Raw remembers edits to dng files) so that I can re-open edited raw files a later date. An option to reset edits back to original settings of the RAW file should be included too.
The current method of having to bake edits after developing and to save as an .afphoto file is a pain, due to making another large file or having to re-edit the RAW again.

Apps: Affinity Publisher
Platforms: All
The ability to insert cross-references from one part of a document to another—for example, "For more information, see page 24"—has been added to Affinity Publisher.
Cross-references are managed on the Cross-References Panel (Window > References > Cross-References).

To insert a cross-reference, create an insertion point in a text object, and then click 'Insert Cross-Reference' (the circled plus symbol) at the lower-right of the panel. Inserting a cross-reference is also available from the right click menu when you are editing text. On the resulting dialog:
- Select the cross-reference's target, which can be an existing anchor, paragraph or index marker.
- Specify the text to be displayed by the cross-reference.
- Optionally, apply formatting and limit the amount of quoted text displayed by any field you've inserted into the display text.

Selecting a target
Use the upper part of the dialog to select a target. Choose the target's type (Anchor, Paragraph, or Index Marker) and then select the required target in the list below.
If too many targets are listed, use the Filter text and Filter style options to limit what's listed based on target text and/or paragraph style.
Specifying what a cross-reference displays
The Text option specifies what your cross-reference will display This can be a simple attribute of the target, such as its page number or quoted text, or you can enter complete phrasing into the box, e.g. "For further information, see 'Deciduous varieties' on page 264".
Click the downward-pointing arrow at the field's upper-left corner to insert an attribute of the target or a commonly used special character.

Using presets
Phrases can be saved as presets for use across all your documents. Presets also ensure your cross-references adhere to a publication's style guides.
Fields in cross-references are automatically hyperlinked to their target when you export to PDF.
Limiting quoted text
Character style and other formatting options in the lower part of the dialog become available when the insertion point is immediately before or after a field, or when a text selection encompasses a field. (If more than one field is selected, the formatting options affect only the first one.)
The Page Number, Above/Below and List/Note Number fields display the corresponding attribute's value in full. All other fields display text that might be lengthy, such as a full paragraph. Use the 'Limit displayed length' option to restrict them to a sensible amount of text.
Quoted text can be limited to a number of words or the first instance of an 'end character', whichever occurs soonest. You can also choose whether to include an ellipsis or encountered end character in your cross-reference.
More about the Cross-References panel
When you insert a cross-reference to a paragraph, Affinity Publisher creates an anchor at the paragraph's start and uses that as the target. You can rename the anchor, if you wish, via the Anchors Panel.
The Source Spread option allows you to narrow the scope of cross-references listed on the panel, e.g. to the current spread or a specific spread.
With the insertion point at a cross-reference or target in document text, options at the foot of the panel allow you to instantly focus the document view on its counterpart.
Finally, changes to a document may result in out-of-date values in cross-references. For example, changing pagination, section names, or paragraph text at a target. The foot of the panel also includes options to update them individually or all at once.
We would love you to try out this new feature. Let us know what you think of it, or if you encounter any bugs or unexpected results.

My number one wish list for the next version of Affinity Designer is an easy pattern maker or an easy way to make seamless repeats. This would be a huge bonus for surface designers. Having to set up art boards and symbols and calculate offsets is just too cumbersome. This feature would finally allow me to ditch Photoshop (which as a fabulous pattern preview tool).
Thank you!

Apps: Designer and Photo
Platforms: Windows and macOS

A few improvements have been made to the brush panel on desktop...
1. You can now choose to show brush names
In the brush panel burger menu you can now optionally choose to display the brush name in the panel. 

2. Alt-drag now duplicates a brush
3. Brush panel now always highlights the current brush
Previously when you first selected a brush it would be highlighted in the panel, but as soon as you made any change to the brush from its default settings (e.g. change the width) then it would no longer be highlighted. The new behaviour is as follows:
1. When you first select a brush it should be highlighted blue
2. If you change any temporary settings for the brush (e.g. width, hardness, etc.) the brush will remain highlighted but highlight colour changed to red
3. If you change brush tools (e.g. between paint brush and eraser) which have different brushes selected, the panel will now automatically switch categories if needed, meaning you can immediately see your selected brush for the tool you have just switched to.
4. If you have changed any of the temporary properties of a brush you can choose to update the brush to use those as the default settings of that brush. This is available from a right-click on the brush -> Update Brush.
5. Alternatively if you want to reset the brush back to default settings you can choose Reset Brush.

4. Nozzle preview visibility improved
In V2 we added the ability to view your brushes as a grid of nozzle thumbnails without the preview of the stroke (panel burger menu -> uncheck "Show as List"). However, the contrast of the nozzle preview in this view could sometimes be very low, depending on the nozzle itself. We've made some tweaks in 2.1 to hopefully improve things.




Please note: These are mostly just desktop only improvements, although iPad versions do now show a brush as being modified with highlight colour changed to red. While it's not available yet, iPad versions will also have the ability to update a modified brush (from t left swipe menu on the brush) in a future build.
 

Hi All,
An update to the beta has just been made available which we are expecting to be the build we release publicly very soon! This means you can update your beta version to be the same code as what we will be our initial public release of 2.1.
We will therefore now have a period where the latest beta version is the same as the release version. That will remain the case until we begin a fresh beta which will either be a patch to 2.1 if we feel it's needed, or hopefully moving straight to the first beta of 2.2. At that point you will be able to update the beta versions you currently have installed for that latest update to test. 
During the period that 2.1.0.1799 is in sync with the release build (when 2.1 is made public) it's up to you if you want to continue to report any bugs in the beta forums or the main bug reporting forums.
I want to take this opportunity to thank you all so much for being so actively involved with the testing of 2.1 - along with all the new features and improvements we have got through a huge number of fixes, and that's only been possible with having so many of you putting it through it's paces. It's made a huge difference, and we're very much looking forward to working with you all on the next beta!
All the best,
Ash