Bad_Wolf

Hi Dermatix, I am using Affinity Designer on Windows 7, on a Fujitsu Siemens Esprimo 9510 mobile laptop, with SSD, 6GB ram, Centrino II dual core processor 2.4 Ghz. This laptop is almost 10 years old (end january 2019). For me, Affinity Designer does what I want and I have no speed complaints. It is also very stable, no crashes. Hope this helps. Chris

Hello MEB, Thank you very much for your reply and advice. A dedicated tool will be a better option if you create many databases. But I only need to create them once in a while and I am used to Affinity Designer (which I use for a lot of projects). I used dedicated tools in the past, but when I draw it manually I remember it better. In that way when the database is not too big, I can remember it out of my head. Yesterday evening I experimented a little and made the head section containing the name of the table, then the sub-head with the 3 columns; Index - Fieldname - Fieldtype. Then the fieldinformation row which is just an empty sub-head and everything snapped nicely together. I will store those objects as assets, so they are ready to use. Also the snap to grid option is very handy in this case. Lets give an example, like I drawed yesterday. Rowheight : 8 mm Columnwidth index : 8 mm Columnwidth fieldname : 32 mm Columnwidth fieldtype : 16 mm In the "Grid and Snapping Axis" dialog, make sure "show grid" is checked and "Use automatic grid" / "Uniform" is unchecked. For the grid lines and sub-division lines I use two different colors. Then go to the "Advanced" tab and make sure the value of "Divisions" for the "first axis" is "1" and the value for the "second axis" is 2. When everything is done properly, you see now your main gridlines squared at 8 mm. The vertical sub division lines are in a different color. These sub division lines are for connecting in the middle of the fields. Make sure in the "Snapping" menu, make sure "Snap to grid" is checked. When you now draw your rows in a multiple of 8, they align perfectly. This is what I found out yesterday with a little experimentation. Maybe it will work for somebody else too. Thank you again very much for your advice and help. Chris

Hi, I have to draw a database scheme for a database I am developing for one of my applications. I know there are applications which create sophisticated database designs. However some are expensive, others are for complex database design and others are free but need Flash which I do not use. My database designs are very simple. The consist of 3 colums; Index key Field name Field type The first row is just the heading, the following rows represent each field in the table. Some in the table have the role of indentifying the record related from one table to the other. A relation is represented by a line, going from one table to the other. Tables can be moved, so it is important that the connecting lines remain connected with the tables. It is perfectly fine when I have to move the lines manually by adding or removing nodes. It should be ideal if I can draw a table and store them somewhere in a library within Affinity Designer. I can do that by using the "Assets" feature. Because in Affinity designer we can easily align objects to each other, I am thinking creating an asset for the table heading and an asset for the field. I can add fields to the table by first draging a table header from the assets which contain the tablename, a subheader containing the description of the table record and then fore very field I need, I drag a field asset from the assets. In this way it will also easier to connecting relations (lines) to the fields. Is this a good idea or do you have a better suggestion ? I will appreciate your suggestions very much and thank you in advance. Chris

I am also looking forward very much for the beta cycle of Publisher. I do not expect a full featured application. Just basic page layout capabilities will be enough to start with. I am sure Publisher is worth the wait.

On this moment I am learning Blender which is open source and also 3D. Looks very promising to me.

I am using a Wacom Medium size Intuos 5 Touch (comics) tablet. It is small enough to take together with the laptop and exactly big enough to draw comfortably. It is important that you get used to your tablet. I use it for everything and don't want a touchpad or mouse any more. Like others say, make sure you set it up correctly to your preference. Chris

A few months ago I found in a thread on this forum that movable rulers will be available in version 1.7. Last week, I read somewhere here on this forum that it should be available by the end of this year (2018). A knife tool should also be in the pipeline. Maybe somebody from Serif can shine more light on this. But together with you, I also hope it will come soon. I am sure this is worth the wait.

Hi, I just play with the idea to use "artboards" with a size of 300 x 300 pixels for each letter. The layers panel will be much more organized and when creating other versions (bold, italic and bold italic) I can make a duplicate of the whole document and just change the individual artboards. In this way, for example the glyph "A" will be in the exact same position over all the versions. Just thinking after I finished my former posting. Chris

Thank you all for your very usefull replies which I appreciate very much. As a typesetter in the past, I read the "Typography is impossible" page which is very interesting. Also the link about the comic lettering by Milos, interested me a lot. I already found out that I can draw the glyphs in Affinity Designer and export them directly into Font Creator. In the Font Creator manual it is mentioned to draw the glyph in a box of 300 x 300 pixels. I feel more comfortable drawing in Affinity Designer than in Font Creator. Like Mike W said, creating fonts is a difficult process. I am a complete beginner, however I am very interested in this subject. Our small daughter use different numbers than we are using here. So besides the fractions, I will also create the numbers and letters she is used to. I persue to make a difference in our small ones life and hopefully many other children in Botswana. To make things easier for me, I took a look at Bhikkhu Pesala Sukhumala regular, Nutso2 and Cadman (PJ Miller) fonts in Font Creator. I am now thinking besides of the normal numeric, alphanumeric, punctuation and operators, to create the fractions like 1/2, 3/4 for example ready made in my font. Therefore I intend to create smaller numbers from 0 to 9 and then copy them in their specific glyph locations. I think for a beginner this is easier and I gain experience by doing it. Scripting at this stage, is not for me. I first have to walk then to run. Thank you again everybody for sharing and helping me. Wish you all a very nice day and all the best. Chris

When I am correct the Affinity team is working on movable rules for the 1.7 version of Designer. I hope 1.7 will be available soon because I really miss that feature too. However, you can have a movable ruler by drawing one yourself. However watch the resolution if you go for this method. I have one for 72, another one for 96 and for 300 dpi. Use very thin lines and group it when the ruler is finished. At least you can move it around and measure easily. If you use different measurements, like mm, pixels, you need a ruler for each measurement. It is time consuming but for this moment the only way to have a movable ruler. Maybe a plugin feature where users can create their own plugins. In this way, we can add our own functionality (like the measurement) ourselves (if we know how to program it). Maybe an idea for the future? Be creative

Hi all, I like to create a font in Font Creator which convert fractions written as 3/4 in the proper fraction format where the nominator and denominator are above each other with a dash in between. I like to create the font characters in Affinity Designer and then import them in Font Creator. I am more used with Affinity Designer. I intend to create one document which will contain all the font glyphs. 1. In the "New" dialog, which type do I use (web or print) and which resolution? 2. For a proper fraction, I need to scale the numbers so they fit on one rule when placed above each other. What height do I need to draw the nominator and denominator? Just use their full height and when imported in Font Creator scale them down until they fit vertically? 3. Maybe the wrong place to ask this question. How can I automaticly convert a fraction typed as "3/4" so the nominator and denominator are placed above each other with a dask (-) in between? I will appreciate your advice very much and will thank you in advance. Have a nice day; Chris

I got a reply on a similar thread asking about Publisher. I can only confirm what Stokerg says. However, when I see the quality of Designer and Photo, I am sure the wait is very worthwhile. I rather prefer the team spend longer on a stable release. I am also eager to test, however our patience will be rewarded.

Hello Callum and MEB, Thank you very much for your fast reply. I look forward to the beta of Publisher this summer. I am using Designer and Photo with pleasure and find them very good. I am sure the wait for Publisher will be very worthwhile. Thank you for those great applications. Chris

Hi all, The title of this thread does not say it all but it is already long. Does anybody have an idea when the Publisher beta cycle will start? Also can we create ebooks (epub, mobi, azw, ...) with Publisher? Thank you very much for any information you can give me. Chris

Alfred, The same is true for Designer. Just press "H" and you see in the context toolbar the same option to choose any measurement. To be honest, I found this out by accident. Chris