Bad_Wolf

I like to add, when I rotate the image frame so that the photo is shown in the correct position, and I change for example the height then it is not the height which changes but the width of the original photo. This gives a small photo. I have no idea, what goes wrong here and in the other application too. Chris

I like to add, when I rotate the image frame so that the photo is shown in the correct position, and I change for example the height then it is not the height which changes but the width of the original photo. This gives a small photo. When I place a landscape image, everything is as expected. I have no idea, what goes wrong here and in the other application too. Chris

Hello Carl, Thank you for your suggestion. I converted the photo originally from jpg to eps format and then opened the photo like you suggested in Publisher. In this case, the photo is in the correct position like it should be. Any Idea what is wrong when I use "Place..."? I think that my problem originate from the moment I took it. I looked in the meta information, but cannot find anything wrong. Have a lovely day. Chris

Hi All, Can you explain some kind of weird experience I have. I open a portrait photo in Affinity Photo and everything looks fine, in other words it is a photo in portrait position. Now I import the same photo in Affinity Pubisher and the photo is laying on its side, just as if it were landscape. I do not now if this is clear, but let me explain some more. The photo is a road with some lightpoles besides it. Now in aPhoto, the road is in its normal position with the cars in normal position. Now importing (placing) the same photo in aPublisher, the road, the cars and the lightning poles are on their sides. If this were the reality, the cars will fall over. Can anybody tell me, how I can solve this problem? In aPhoto there is nothing to solve, everything is OK. But from the moment I place it in aPublisher (or RagTime), I got that weird image. Because it is in the two applications, this is not a bug but something I did wrong. The photo is taken with a Canon SX40HD camera by myself and the original is in portrait position. Thank you so much for your help. Chris

Take into acount that ClipStudio Paint Pro (I have ClipStudio Paint EX) has a much steeper learning curve than Designer. I have both on this laptop and mostly use Designer. When drawing in ClipStudio Paint I need my drawing tablet, in Designer I can draw with the mouse too despite the fact the tablet is easier). You can animated your creations with ClipStudio Paint which is not possible with Designer. But this will be of no consideration now, but maybe an option for the future? Like other members said, both Designer and ClipStudio Paint have their own uses. If you like to create comic illustrated books, ClipStudio Paint together with Rebelle is a very good choice. Both have free trial versions, so maybe you should try the trial version first to find out which one you need in which case. Chris

Hi Walt, With the "Use shift..." deselected, it brows through rectange, oval, rounded rectangle tool with the single keypress "M" but also when pressing "M" & "Shift". It seems more beneficial to deselect than select de Use Shift option to browse through groups to me. Chris

I just tried it in Photo and when you press the "O" key when on a "Pixel" layer", it switches every time between the "Dodge Brush Tool", the "Burn Brush Tool" and the "Sponge Brush Tool". Its indeed nicely hidden, but still accessible once you know how. Chris

Hi, You can find the "Burn Brush Tool" in the "Pixel" persona on your left side. It is the "Flaming" icon. You can also press the "O" key on your keyboard, however this shortcut is also assigned to the "Dodge Brush Tool". So depending on your keypress, it is possible you have to press the "O" key twice because this key switches between the two brushes. By the way, I am talking here about Designer. I hope this helps. Chris

Affinity Publisher is not the right tool for creating ebooks. It is better to create your recipe ebook directly in a tool like Jutoh (easy and clean ebook code) or Scrivener. An ebook dedicated tool makes sure your book is reflowable. The difference between an ebook created with a dedicated tool and APub will be clearly visible. Even using a tool like Jutoh or Scrivener (I have both), you need an option to change the underlying code. You are going to waste much more time in altering the document coming from APub than when using Jutoh or Scrivener. But in the end it is your choice.

It surprises me that there are so many crack sites for Affinity programs if you compare the low (54 euro) price. To avoid any ransomware/malware problems which can cost you thousand fold, make sure you buy or download from the official channels. Be always very carefull with things which comes for free or are looking too good to be true.

You can use Moho for animating your characters drawn in Designer. However, be prepared for a very difficult learning curve. If you want to go cheaper, you can use Blender.

Hi Alfred, Regretfully I cannot remember the font name anymore. It is too long. The only thing I remember is the clover like ornaments. Those ornaments where clover leaves which are connected at bended sterms. Anyway, the font was excellent designed because those ornaments kept beautiful even at small font sizes which is a credit to the font creator. I had a subscription on MacUser and they had a monthly CD. From time to time, they had an extra CD which contained interesting extra's like applications, drawings, fonts and so on. At one time they included an extra CD full of fonts. However, in their next issue they asked not to use those fonts because for some unknown reason they had no permission to include those or some of those fonts. I still have the disk but no Mac to read anymore. So I cannot read the disk. Those ornaments where part of a normal font. Sometimes, because I miss those ornaments, I lookup fonts at Google Fonts but never found anything which comes close. Alfred, I know you are also a font creator because I also see you at the Font Creator forum just as Bhikku Pesala and some others. It would not surprise me if the font I cannot remember would be coming from your hand. Am I right in my assumption? Chris

If you wish you can connect a Paypal account to your bank account. I find this a much safer way of paying that creditcard. My creditcard get hacked at least 4 times in the past 12 years I am using credit cards. I had never safety issues with PayPal and you as the customer, is better protected. Chris

Maybe this advice will sound far fetched but it worked and still works for me. Go to Amazon and look for the book from Australian author Melissa Crowhurst with the title "Real Manifesting" and subtitle "Hacking the law of attraction". She only publish paperbacks, regretfully no epubs or kindle versions. But I tell you, she is very good. She also has a very good Udemy course "How to manifest using the law of attraction certification". The book is a good alternative for those moments you do not have access to the Internet. I recognize myself in what you have said. You have to bring your brain into that creative state of art. It isn't that difficult but you need to know "how". Do you recognize you want to create something, have a very good idea and then when you actually want to create you block? Your idea doesn't seems so good anymore or you do not know where to start. When you are staring at that blank page and don't know where to start, then take a good look at your idea. Just start drawing, if it is good or bad, doesn't matter, just draw. You correct later. Also split down your idea in regular shapes. See which shapes you need and how you can combine those shapes into the form you want. The boolean tools in Affinity Designer are your best friends. Take a good course about Affinity Designer. I can recommend Simon Foster's "Affinity Designer: Solid Foundations" on Udemy. This course is project based and you go through several different projects. This is also a very engaging and motivating teacher. I bought this course and followed it to the end. Like the title says; after finishing, you have a solid foundation to step up for your own projects. I do a lot of word processing and I started to make my own ornaments for lists, lines and so on. In the nineties I had an vegan ornamental font on the Mac I used back then. Regretfully I lost it when I switched to PC. A few months ago I started to create those ornaments again in Affinity designer based on my memory I had from them. So what I do is make sure I have a strong image in my head about the complete ornament. Then I break it down in small parts and start drawing each individual part. When I have all parts, I assemble the different parts in the whole ornament. It is very important to know what you want to create, the how you create is much less important at that stage. Focus on what you want to create. Avoid questions like "Can I draw this?" or "Will I succeed?" because they are limiting your creative thinking. Once you know what you want to create, just start and whatever you do, don't correct at that stage. When you create and correct, you switch between the right and left side of your brain. That switching has a negative influence on your creativity. You are creating digitally, so just start a new object instead of correcting or leave the object with its flaws and continue being creative. This is something I learned the hard way. Even in my word processing, I don't look for errors or mistakes when I am typing, that comes later. Many times my documents contain several different layouts which are defined in styles. So I type the text, then when finished typing correct it. After that, I create my styles by first format a small part of the text and then create a style based on that formatting. I also could just ask for a new style and start inputting the properties of that style. However, that breaks the creative process and invite mistakes. When the first style is finished, I go to the next and so on... When I have all styles then I start to apply them to the text itself. In the end, the text looks like I want. I deliberatelly left out the page creation itself just to make this example not to complex. Here it does not matter if it is word processing or artwork or anything else, what matters is the creative process and let it continue flowing with as little interruptions as possible. Withing your thinking, try to remain at one side (the left or right) of your brain and avoid switching between the two. You type the text, you are using one half of your brain, you start editing then you are using the other side of your brain. The same is true for your drawing. You draw using the pen tool, or the shapes or whatever else, you use one side of your brain. You start making corrections, then you are switching to the other side of your brain. Take this into account, because it is important both to be creative and to be productive! To finish my reply, I like to add something very important: You can accomplish more than you think, as long as you believe you are gonna make it! Chris

Hi R C-R, Thank you for your reply. The thread about the latest Designer beta was closed because it went too far off topic. I agree with you, "Break Curve" is a good workaround for the missing knife tool. For most artwork, this method is more than enough. Chris

Hi all, I just looked in the beta forum and found out that the beta thread was closed again because people keep asking/demanding for a knife tool and go off topic. Despite the fact I also would be very happy with a knife tool, I am trying to use the boolean operators (Add, Subtract, Intersect, Xor, Divide) where possible to get the same result. In other cases I try to use "Break Curve". In most cases my workarounds for missing features are fruitfull. Now I am wondering, are there better techniques than the two I described above, to get the same results as using the knife tool? Any input or thought on this subject, would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for sharing your techniques. Chris

Hi all, Thank you all for your answers. Indeed, the Windows version does not have the "check for updates" version. I also cannot update remotely because the internet connection at my home in Botswana is very poor. My wife has to download the setup file first and then update it. The whole process is straightforward and easy to follow. However, her IT knowledge is very limited and she need a full visual guide of the whole process. I know this may sound silly, however this is the truth. The video tutorial or guide, must be exactly how the process happens. If something gets different, then it will be a problem. Normally, this should not be a problem because we are together two times a year. However, because of Corona, we last see each other more than one year and a half ago. I just want to keep the software up-to-date, both here as in Botswana. Your input will be very much appreciated. Chris

Hi all, Can you help me with the following problem I have. I need to show my wife in Botswana how she can update Affinity Designer. Piece of cake I hear you say but that is not so true. First, my Affinity Designer application on a Windows 10 laptop is up to date. I am waiting now for several weeks in the hope, Serif would release an update. Regretfully that is not the case. I do not want to damage the installed Affinity Designer application because it is working fine. Can anybody telling me, how I can show the update process without altering the Affinity Designer I am using? I am thinking about installing an older version in a separate directory, let it run and when it ask to update, just update and record that whole process. Will this be safe? Thank you so much for your input and help, which I do appreciate. Chris

CA2 was a very nice application and I loved it also very much. Despite I did not install it on this Windows 10 laptop, has anybody any experience with using CA2 on Windows 10? If so and the experience is positive, you can maybe use CA2 on Windows 10? Who knows. Chris

Hi Frozen Death Knight, Thank you for your reply and information. These are exciting times and we have to wait until Serif will announce new features. Sure a happening to look forward too! Chris

Hi all, Regretfully we are deviating from the original subject, which is about a future 2.0 release of Affinity. Does someone know if there is a kind of feature list for version 2.0 for Designer? Personally, I am looking forward to a "knife" tool and mesh and text warp features. Have a nice day. Chris

Thank you v_kyr for your advice. I have the ebook from H.M. Turnbull which is really great. He gives very good advice and his results are very nice. I prefer to use Affinity Designer for creating the entire map. I also have Inkscape installed on this laptop. So to get more feeling with the subject, I will use Inkscape to fractalize the map and then see how I can get the same results in Designer. This is my first map-making, so it is a challenge. I had hoped that Affinity could automate the whole process a little, however, I have to do it myself or like you suggest let Inkscape do it for me. This is a nice project and I learned already a lot. I really do appreciate all the advice given here, which also helps me accomplishing my map project. Wish you a very nice day. Chris

Indeed, I meant X8 the latest version. Very good suggestion about exporting from DrawPlus and opening in Designer. In this way, I can win two times. I can export the island like it is in Designer, import it in DrawPlus and when it is roughen enough export and open in Designer. I will install DrawPlus tomorrow and experiment with the whole proces. Thank you again Alfred, you are very talented and helpfull. Have a nice day! Chris

Thank you so much Alfred for your fast reply. I think I have to place the nodes myself and change them accordingly. I can select "New view" in the "View" menu and select the area where I am currently working on in a 1:1 scale. So even when I work on a bigger view in the original window, I get a good idea how that will look at a wider scale in that new view window. Compare it with a kind of "live" preview. In fact it is a kind of continent I am drawing and my problem is that I quickly loose track when drawing and adjusting on a wider scale. I have a license for DrawPlus X9, maybe installing it, roughen the coastllines and when I am satisfied, taking a screenshot and place it in the background and then trace it. But I have the feeling that the "live" preview idea is still preferable. Your help is much appreciated. Thank you again. Chris

Hi all, Can you help me with fractalising a coastline in Designer. I drawed a big island with inlets and outlets. I drawed it with the pen tool because the island must be irregularly shaped. All went fine and the island take its rough form. But now I want to fractalise the island so it becomes a more natural shaped one. To be clear, I am drawing a map here. Inkscape has a fractalising feature, however I want to do it completely in Designer. But I have no idea besides of putting more nodes on the curves and do it myself. I like a truly unpredictable pattern, that is my intention. Can you please guide me on my way how to do this in Designer. Thank you in advance for your input and help. Chris