Aammppaa

The Martian looks very cute… is that what you are trying to achieve? The top reflection in the eyes should perhaps be red (reflecting Mars at the top of the image)?

There are already so many ways to zoom using mousewheel, keyboard, layers panel, navigation panel, zoom tool - all of which feel more elegant than having two tools each with such a limited function. https://affinity.help/designer/en-US.lproj/pages/GetStarted/zoom.html

This is by design, although I agree that it is pretty unhelpful!

This has been discussed before…

Everything is linked in Photo?!

Do you know that you can already paste without format by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + V? Or via Edit > Paste without Format Currently Ctrl + Shift + V defaults to Paste Style. But there is no reason why you couldn't change these around in Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Edit > ...

@Jon W Is it useful to send you the 3 install logs? (2 Failed and 1 Success) Where should I send it?

For the first time ever… "Setup Failed" No explanation. Is there an install log somewhere? Tried reinstalling, and failed a second time. Ran Designer Beta (to confirm still version 119) - it was. Quit, and tried install a third time. "Setup Completed Successfully" Hmm. Odd. Also… Please, please, please can the installer show the full build number 1.6.5.xxx? Perhaps even tell you Current Version > New Version.

Continue to be impressed, not only by your results but also your dedication and playful curiosity.

Could you do the following? Create a layer called GUIDES. Draw a line with the pen tool. Rotate it to any angle you like. Ensure that snap to geometry is turned on. You now effectively have a rotated guide! You can also set a look for the guides layer, such as 0.25 point, dashed, magenta lines, to keep your guides distinct from your design.

Just wanted to say how impressed I am that Affinity developers engage in such a constructive, open, cheerful and polite way with the community on this forum. This simply doesn't happen with any other application (let alone suite of applications) that I use.

You are correct that an Outline fx does not create a true vector object, but is a visual effect suitable for raster output only. In many situations this will suffice, but for certain applications, particularly those involving a real-world cutter which requires a vector line to follow, it is not appropriate. A true outline tool is in the Affinity Designer roadmap, and will arrive some time before version 2.0, but there has been no sign of it so far, so it will be many months, even years, away. You can work around the shortcomings, but it is long-winded and runs up against other long standing bugs in Affinity… Design your logo using Outline fx to give you a visual impression of how things will look with the outlines. Once happy, duplicate the logo, remove the Outline fx. Boolean add all the shapes to get a single Curves object. Add a stroke of the required width, aligned to the outside of the object. Use Expand Stroke to convert this into a vector object. Add the expanded stroke to the Boolean add and put behind the logo. Of course you would need to do this more than once if you require more than one vector outline! And it all has to be redone if you change the logo design! Also note that Expand Stroke is not accurate for very small shapes! Work around this by increasing the size of the whole object by x10, expanding, then shrinking by /10. And Boolean add tends to leave behind stray nodes when the two shapes have an aligned edge. Work around this by using a center aligned stroke in step 4, with double the width of the outline that you need. In short - if this is a one off job, you can do it in Affinity, but if this sort of thing is a daily requirement for you, sadly Affinity just doesn't cut it right now. I am confident that these bugs will be fixed and the Outline tool will arrive, but for now you probably need to look elsewhere.

@Phil_rose Your current workflow is exactly what I described above, and has fewer steps than you are used to in PS! Create curves adjustment & modify to your liking. Hit Ctrl+i to invert the mask. Paint with white onto the mask. In Affinity all adjustments are created with their own mask layer so you do not need to create a separate mask, or fill layer. The mask is by default fully white, so hitting invert will flip it to black, leaving you able to paint in the adjustment to your heart's content.

In the desktop version you can simply type a percentage - e.g. 50% or 225% Is it not the same on iPad?

You can set a keyboard shortcut for New Fill Layer in Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Photo > Layers But this probably isn't what you actually want to do! Instead, either apply the adjustment and then invert the adjustment (Ctrl+i) which actually inverts the adjustment's inbuild mask layer to black. Or adjust your workflow, and create a selection before you add the adjustment. This automatically creates a mask and applies it to the adjustment. The mask can be edited in all the usual ways (such as Refine Mask, Paint Brush, Eraser).

The suggestion to make the Create Artboard check box sticky is perhaps a good one. There are very many areas of Affinity where remembering the user's preferences, or last used setup would be a welcome addition!

If you don't like the Node Tool icon, then remove it from the Tools: View > Customise Tools.

@Petar Petrenko There is a check box in the New Document that does create an artboard rather than a page - if you prefer.

You need to select in a slightly different way… CMD click will indeed select within the symbol (I think it always drills down to the lowest object in a group / layer) Double click drills down one layer at a time. So double click one item in your group, repeatedly if you need to drill down several layers. Now shift click will select other objects at the same level of the layer tree, so you can easily add to your selection.

@waveman777 When you want to see what things look like without the bounding box, don't deselect the object, instead hold the spacebar. Bounding boxes, curves, snapping candidates etc. will be hidden until you release. Could you use snapshots to help in cases where you need a before and after when making numerous changes to a document?

Or do it directly on the page… https://affinity.help/designer/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=/ObjectControl/rotateShear.html?title=Rotating and shearing objects

ADe can have as many artboards as you like within a single document. I do not use Illustrator, so I can't comment on importing multi artboard Illustrator files, or objects outside Illustrator artboards not being imported/shown. But within ADe I can place objects outside artboards with no issue. Perhaps you can attach a small example file, produced in Illustrator that shows the issue? Alternatively, I hope someone with experience of both softwares can assist you.

Griddify looks simple, intuitive and quick. It certainly has some features not easily reproducible in Affinity. Have you fully explored the grid functionality within Affinity? Because some of what is demonstrated in Griddify can already be accomplished. For example non-uniform grids and grids with gutters. Take a look at this example… Also, have you explored creating guides directly on the page? Guides dragged from the ruler with the selection tool will use your current snapping options, so can be easily and accurately be placed, even snapping to mid-points and gaps. Also, @Ben has already previewed some improvements to the snapping system that are coming in the 1.7 update. See There certainly is room for improvement, but hopefully some of this helps your work flow.

An improved transform widget is coming in 1.7 as previewed throughout this thread…

Great suggeston. Renaming anything (layers, assets, symbols) in Affinity is cumbersome (and inconsistent) at present.