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Tourmaline

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Posts posted by Tourmaline

  1. On 11/1/2018 at 2:32 PM, GarryP said:

    There has been a lot of discussion about arrowheads on the forum: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/3378-arrowheads-please/

    So, without wanting to go over all of that again, may I suggest something that could offer both line endings and a way of producing network diagrams and organisational charts (and dimensional lines)?

    Reference the attached image to get an idea of what I am talking about.

    Many applications offer line endings where the symbol at the end of the line is centred on the end of the line, as in diagram A. Personally I don't like this as arrows don't point to a thing they point into a thing which isn't usually what I want. I generally prefer diagram B where the line ending symbol is flush to the end of the line but the other way could be useful for some people.

    For organisational/network diagrams both ways could be allowed for and extended by allowing the user to select - via a simple check box for each line end - whether they want the line end symbol to be placed either (1) centred on the end of the line - default - or (2) at the first place the line 'encounters' another layer. (Selected layers will probably also have to be set somehow to 'join in with' this functionality, otherwise all sorts of layers could get in the way unexpectedly.)

    This way, the user could have the two scenarios - shown in diagrams C and D - where the dashed line represents a part of the line 'within' other layers (the circles). You could use this feature to easily create dimension lines (diagram E) and organisational charts (diagram F).

    You would still have to move the lines and diagram nodes about separately if the geometry of the diagram changes but if you just keep the line ends 'within' another layer you don't have much extra work to do as the application would work out where the line ending symbol should be.

    Would this be good enough for most simple network/organisational chart purposes? It's not true connectivity of layers/nodes but it would make things a lot easier to draw.

    arrowheads on diagrams.PNG

    We have arrowheads now in Designer...

    If they would implement such a feature, make it better then Microsoft's implementation. The lines go all the way...

     

  2. On 11/1/2018 at 10:01 AM, Randall Lee Reetz said:

    You know… connect objects with lines so that dragging objects causes connector lines to redraw appropriately as one might expect in org chart and mind mapping applications. Export network diagrams as outlines or import outlines and auto-create network diagrams. Please. Thank you!

    The feature you are looking for is allready in Microsoft Visio Professional.

    I doubt it is the target of Serif to replace 20 applications into one.

    The UI would be too cluttered anyway.

     

    Illustrator doesn't have this feature as well.

  3. On 9/3/2019 at 2:46 PM, JET_Affinity said:

    Yes, Illustrator has an auto-trace feature, as do most similar programs.

    Not that it matters. What many don't know is that Illustrator was very late to the whole auto-tracing thing, as it was in many other features. All three of its main competitors (FreeHand, Draw, Canvas) had full auto-trace features, while Illustrator (up 'till around version 9, as I recall) had only a crude trace command that only traced one color at a time.

    Nowadays, auto-trace features are very common both as built in features and as online services, and there are even free implementations of both. Tourmaline mentioned Inkscape and you yourself mentioned Vector Magic. And although their user interfaces differ in terms of eye candy, they all do pretty much the same thing, and results are all pretty much alike: "Garbage in, garbage out" very much applies.

    So as for "why," consider that in context of Tourmaline's first reply in this thread, in which he paraphrased Serif's replies (which you can read if you do a quick search for the already-existing threads on this commonly-requested feature). Unless and until Serif has something game-changing to bring to the auto-trace table, there are more valuable things for its dev team to focus on which constitute real opportunity for long overdue innovation in the vector-based drawing arena.

    I am among those who see no need for yet another "me, too" auto-tracing feature in Affinity. It's no more onerous to switch to another program for this very single-purpose function than it is to, for example, launch the scanning utility of my scanner. Even Corel long delivered its auto-trace solution as a separate standalone utility that was simply bundled with Draw.

    Moreover, when it comes down to it, auto-tracing is a bad practice that usually just swaps one kind of resolution-dependent ugliness (bitmap pixelation) for another (poorly-drawn vector paths).

    JET

    Most professionals will do a manual trace for logo's as it yields best results. I can image It might save time but with relatively complex logo's doing it yourself is always better then any trace program.

  4. On 8/27/2019 at 2:45 PM, Pyanepsion said:

    :D The conclusion of Lesbillbell is of course excessive. The fact remains that the Footnote feature is sorely lacking. Because of this rather surprising lack, many hours are spent creating these footnotes, and then adapting them when the position of the footnote changes pages as the replay proceeds.

    I am quite sure we will see the light of footnotes/end notes. But I presume stability fixes have priority at the moment. A version 1.8 or 1.9 might see foot/end notes.

  5. 3 hours ago, LibreTraining said:

    Renaming fonts properly requires editing multiple fields within the fonts.
    Due to the missing information it is unlikely any automated tools could do it correctly.

    Renaming font files is rather simple and many font tools can do this.
    I am assuming this is what ESF is doing (butIi do not remember, and their sales-pitch website has no documentation).

    I tried Extensis Suitcase Fusion -- did not like it and un-installed it within days.
    If you are a "professional" and only use a fairly fixed list of commercial fonts, Google fonts, and Adobe Typekit - it may work for you.
    But if you are editing fonts, installing multiple modified versions for testing, un-installing, fixing - ESF quickly became a nightmare.

    In regards to the issue in this forum thread, ESF does not appear to be of any help in fixing the problems.

    I've got thousands of fonts but never experience any problems with Suitcase Fusion.

    Auto font activation is nice to have.

  6. 2 hours ago, Catshill said:

    This feature is in Serif DrawPlus 10. Trace if I remember. Is it replicated in AD?

    It has been requested for many times over and over  and it will probably be included in a version 2.0

    Serif stated that they will only include this function if it works the way they think it should work, as in effective tracing.

     

    For now you can use the tracing engine of Inkscape. It's quite good.

  7. On 8/22/2019 at 7:19 PM, impossiblecolor said:

    A DTP without referencing is incomplete. I own Affinity Design and like the company, but I have a 200 page book full of references. There is no way I'm going to enter these manually. I too want to ditch the Adobe chains completely and give you my money, but at present this is a lame product. If people are only using it for small projects like flyers, just stick with Designer.  Desktop Publishers need to support real books.

    Not only books, also a lot of magazines are made with DTP programs. And they don't need that feature.

  8. On 10/29/2018 at 3:28 PM, Mattie said:

    Hello,

    I'm new to Affinity (trying to learn it so I can leave my Illustrator subscription). I use vector software to create sewing patterns, so length and measurement are really crucial features for me. If it matters, I'm using the desktop Mac version.

    I'm having trouble finding any way of measuring things that isn't strictly vertical or horizontal. Illuatrator tells you the length of a line or curve a couple ways (pic below). 

    Does Affinity tell me this information somewhere that I haven't found yet?  I know the box in the bottom right has H and W values, but that is only helpful for straight lines that are vertical or horizontal. Please don't tell me I have to rotate every line to horizontal to measure it...

    Thank you for your assistance!

    Draw Over Photo1540822581842.png

     

    On 10/29/2018 at 3:28 PM, Mattie said:

    Hello,

    I'm new to Affinity (trying to learn it so I can leave my Illustrator subscription). I use vector software to create sewing patterns, so length and measurement are really crucial features for me. If it matters, I'm using the desktop Mac version.

    I'm having trouble finding any way of measuring things that isn't strictly vertical or horizontal. Illuatrator tells you the length of a line or curve a couple ways (pic below). 

    Does Affinity tell me this information somewhere that I haven't found yet?  I know the box in the bottom right has H and W values, but that is only helpful for straight lines that are vertical or horizontal. Please don't tell me I have to rotate every line to horizontal to measure it...

    Thank you for your assistance!

    Draw Over Photo1540822581842.png

    You know about these plug-ins for Illustrator?

    https://astutegraphics.com/software/vectorscribe/

     

    scroll down to all features, including measurements.

    Dynamic Measurements

    Ideal for fashion designers, cartographers and technical illustrators the Dynamic Measure Tool allows quick and accurate measurements, with the option to convert into artwork.

    All measurements from simple lengths, angles and path area to distances along path remain dynamic, removing any guesswork and tedious calculations.

  9. 6 hours ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

    If you are on Windows, and have no need for a prepress PDF toolset, then I recommend PDF-Xchange Editor. Great annotation/commenting/revewing tools, form creation, OCR, Scanning, and full PDF editing. The GUI is miles ahead of Acrobat (that horrible form properties dialog in Acrobat...). It also supports (as far as I have tested) all Acrobat Javascript. It even loads and displays 3d models embedded in a page.

    I found it to be an excellent Acrobat replacement. Only its prepress tools are missing, unfortunately.

    How is PDF to Word conversion, I found all lacking compared to Acrobat Pro. I see it has only renting plan.....

  10. On 8/23/2019 at 9:06 PM, LibreTraining said:

    InDesign is better at dealing with bad fonts, but it is not immune from the issues.

    I have a couple thousand fonts installed, including all of the Helvetica Neue LT Std family,
    and all of the Helvetica Now family.
    No font issues in APub.

    I would suggest you do the following ...

    1. Un-install all Helvetica fonts.

    2. Check the fonts folder to be sure all Helvetica font files are gone.
    FontExplorer X Pro has a tool which removes all un-installed fonts from the fonts folder.
    It checks Windows to see if the font is installed, and if not it moves the font files out.
    This tool exists because having un-installed font files in the fonts folder can cause problems.

    3. Run a tool to correct Windows registry errors regarding fonts.
    MainType has a Registry Fixer tool for this purpose.
    FontExpert has a Detect Font Problems tool for this purpose.
    I prefer this as it seems to work better.
    The FontExpert 30-day trial is fully functioning including this utility.

    4. Delete the Windows font cache files (multiple)
    There are many easy to find tutorials on this, and even a batch file available to automate it.
    Font caches get messed-up.

    FontExplorer X Pro has tools to clear the operating system font cache, and application font caches.
    It will clear QuarkExpress, Microsoft, and Adobe application font caches.
    These tools exist because font caches get messed-up.

    Installing a bunch of broken fonts is a sure fire way to cause problems.

    5. Reboot your system.
    Your Windows font cache will be rebuilt.

    6. Re-install the Helvetica Neue LT Std fonts.
    Just highlight the files, right-click, and select Install.

    7. Start APub and test.

    I would expect it to be working fine.
    If not, I am out of ideas.

    4.5. use Font Doctor to detect and repair corrupted fonts.

  11. On 8/10/2019 at 2:01 AM, MJBFI said:

    I'm looking for a way that three numeric digits (i.e. "150") to be included in the Drop Cap. Can only seem to get the first digit, even with Initial Word set.

    Use the A (artistic text tool) and type in 1. Use the Drop cap on the 1. Artisitc tool 5 and drop cap and artictic tool 0 Drop cap, all same size. With alignment you can align the way you like. All 3 digits same size. You can group them.

     

  12. On 7/25/2019 at 6:29 PM, Glicky said:

    Or try Foxit PhantomPDF (with more editing features) from the same company, for $129.00 a 1-time purchase.

    https://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf-editor/

    Unfortunately there's only one really good in converting Word documents and that is Acrobat Pro. If you need that feature don't waste time trying others, they all are not as good as Acrobat Pro. Tried them all, was very disappointed no one came close. Tried them on a variety of documents and all had their problems.

    At least, those were my findings. YMMV.

  13. On 7/13/2019 at 7:48 AM, Jaffa said:

    Yes, on my desktop PC (Windows 10), I have two monitors, the bigger for the image and Affinity Photo on the smaller.  For the greater part of the time, all is fine and works well.

    However, although the main program and the most used panels, such as layers, history, colour, etc are there, quite often when I use something like a 

    filter or the warp mesh tool it opens on the bigger monitor and behind the image.  To fix this, I minimise the image and drag the panel over to the smaller monitor.  It is a pain when I

    have to do this several times for each editing session.  Is there any way to have all fresh panels open on the smaller monitor please?

    Couple the panels on the right. then you can open them in the panel bar and shouldn't cause problems. If you drags panels out of the panels bar then this might happen.

  14. On 7/14/2019 at 1:34 AM, walt.farrell said:

    Also, it doesn't seem to depend on the extension. A .afpub renamed to .afdesign still doesn't show the thumbnail in XnViewMP. Also, a .afpub file opened in Designer and saved as a .afdesign file doesn't show the thumbnail.

    However, an artboard-based document created and saved in Publisher as a .afdesign file does show the thumbnail in XnViewMP (though one saved as a .afpub doesn't).

    I suspect that the XnViewMP developers wrote code to read the Affinity files directly, rather than using the proper Windows API to extract the thumbnail. But that's something the XnViewMP developers would have to comment on, and something that should be raised with them.

    Yes, it's a bit strange. Afdesign and afphoto do work but afpub doesn't show up. It should work since all 3 extension are completely the same.

  15. 7 hours ago, Pattou said:

    I agree

    Those APub 'personas' could be there for users who do not own APh/AD allowing them to edit pictures (bitmap/vector) with some apps features. I like the idea of apps integration but right now, one have 5 UI to set up (plus 5 for betas)... my brain may bug on this but Studio Link would be more meaningful if opening the full APh/AD UI for users owning the 3 licences IMHO :).

    And as long as pictures (whatever they are) are truly linked and sync, I do not see a problem opening the 3 apps instead of personas through SL.

    P.

    I don't see the problem either.

    If you did some research you would know how it works but instead uses the term misleading for his lack of research...

     

    I've been here from the beginning on this forum and I can't recall Serif made any promises or assumptions that all features of Designer or Photo would work.

    As I stated before, you can't cram in all features from 3 apps into one application.

    That's why Photoshop for instance has some new features and loses some others...There is a limit you can put in a UI...

    @Peter Petrenko,

    They could do that, yes. Calling it Publisher light...

  16. 7 hours ago, MCFC_4Heatons said:

    How would that work? You need registered versions of Photo and Designer for the the Design & Photo personas to work inside Publisher.  We already had licensed copies of Photo and Designer, we bought Publisher purely for bringing the features of Photo and Designer into one single app. Unfortunately we were wrongly under the impression all features of Designer & Photo would be integrated which is not the case .....

    Your profile says you're an advanced member ???

    Some of the so-called advanced members on here seem to be leading a culture of attacking people on the forums  who dare critise any aspect of Affinity software.  Questioning how and why is how we improve things.

    Improving things is only done by constructive comments...

    "You bought Affinity Publisher with mislead information, and you don’t need it... Hmmm..."

    You don't do research before you buy something???

     

  17. 21 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

    I don't think MCFC_4Heatons has said that. They already own Designer and Photo. They were hoping that Publisher would give them the integration into a single application, given they own all three.

    They still have full integration, with edit in....It's a roundtrip to either of the two apps but you can go back and forth as you like. The tools in Publisher are basic, so you can do all the edits you like either being basic or expert. As Haakoo also suggested.

    Full integration would mean no need for the stand alone versions, or if you interpret it differently all features used in the stand alone apps. 

    There is only so much room for menu's etc in an app so combining all 3 into one app would mean sacrifises, wich expert don't want, they need the extended set of features in the stand alone apps.

    Studiolink is far from being a dissapointment to me and a lot of other users...

    You have the power of basic edits at your fingertips or extended features of each app with edit in...best of both worlds.

     

    I think the words very dissapointing is a bit harsh...Studiolink offers way more then any competition.

     

  18. On 7/12/2019 at 4:04 AM, MCFC_4Heatons said:

    We have no use for Publisher but purchased it as we wanted an integrated version of Designer & Photo - unfortunately its not a FULL Photo and Designer Integration so there's still a need to do 'edit in Photo' or 'edit in Designer' for some features, which is VERY dissapointing - I would suggest some of the information about StudioLink has been misleading.

    So basically you expected a full Designer and Photo integration for the price of Publisher alone? If so, what purpose have the stand alone versions if this was the case?!

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