PaulEC

It would be interesting to know if there is some technical reason for needing online registration, or if they just want to get your details for some other purpose (marketing?) . With Serif's old (Plus) range of software, you had to ring them to get an activation code, the only reason for which was so that they could keep you on the phone for ages trying to sell you other products!

Serif is the company, Affinity is the range of software that it produces. Previously Serif had another range of similar software (the "Plus" range: PagePlus, DrawPlus, PhotoPlus etc) And yes, there are quite a lot of people who used that and now use Affinity.

I doubt if they lose me, (or a few of "us") as customers it will make any difference whatsoever! However, it's a marketing truism that it's easier and cheaper to retain old customers than to find new ones! We'll have to wait and see how Affinity develops over the next few months. Only time will tell how many customers stick with them! FWIW: I have no intention of moving away from Affinity at the moment, I still really like the software, but I have no intention of spending any more on it in the future, until we see how things develop. Will we actually get any worthwhile improvements to v2 before v3 comes along, and, when it does, will there be a perpetual licence option, with a guarantee that there will be no future problems with activation?

Yes, I agree. I've not only invested in both versions of the Affinity suite, but I've also purchased a fair amount of Affinity specific brushes and other content. I'm not happy about spending any more without cast iron guarantees about the future of Affinity. (Something that Serif, and Ash, can't give, now that Serif is owned by another company!)

I think that, for me, the big problem with this take over is not so much the possibility of Affinity moving towards being a subscription service (although, on principle I object to that,) my main concern is regarding continuation of service. I've seen it happen before, when a smaller company is bought up by a larger one. At first, everything is fine, everyone is happy. The old managers retain their positions, and have a nice pay out, there are promises of further investment and new, superior products. Then the bubble bursts. The parent company decides that profits are not good enough to justify their investment. They want them to start cutting corners, use cheaper materials, move to cheaper premises and lay off staff. The product is not as good as it was, there is little new development and innovation, inevitably sales drop and customers go elsewhere. The end result is that the smaller company effectively disappears. I'm not saying that this always happens, but it is a genuine concern!

Not if it doesn't have shareholders! Serif and (AFAIK) Canva, are private, rather than a public companies, so the directors and board have no one to answer to but themselves!

Although I purchased both v1 and v2 I would not be happy if I was forced to go back to using v1, because I could no longer reinstall and activate v2. I really think that, rather than promises, Serif should give us a way now to activate v2 without the need to go online!

My wife (who is a professional illustrator and surface pattern designer) is in the same position. She moved to Affinity from Adobe a few months ago, partly to avoid the subscription, but mainly because she actually prefers using Affinity. When she found out about this take over, she was really depressed that, having spent time learning the new software, she may soon either have to go back to Adobe, or try to find another alternative.

This is my biggest concern. If Affinity goes down the Swannee and Canva decides not to keep the validation servers going for the old versions (v1 and v2), what good is a "perpetual" licence to existing users, if there is no way to reinstall it and keep it working?

It's about 90 staff in total, they are not all developers! FWIW: I used to work for a firm that acquired quite a number of other businesses over the years. The pattern was usually the same. The directors/partners did very well from the take over, the other top staff did reasonably well, and many of the support workers were made redundant! (I'm not saying I think it will be the same with Serif and Canva!)

It must be said that the old Plus/Legacy Serif software was sold as a "lifetime" licence (not subscription), but Serif washed their hands of those apps several years ago. Some do still continue to work, but others are problematical. Serif will no longer help with any support, either supplying product codes for people who have lost them, nor will they help with any technical questions. I can see that this could well be the same case with the Affinity software in a few years. I really hope that Serif will provide some means of off line activation, in the event of the current versions of the apps being replaced with newer versions (under the Canva banner,) for people needing to reinstall their current versions. I suspect, that like Adobe, Canva will not be interested in maintaining online activation systems in perpetuity.

I must agree that I can't see why the brush should be highlighted if it isn't selected!

Apart from the missing resources there doesn't seem to be a problem with editing the file. I can remove and add pages, edit the text etc with no problems.

Easiest way. Select the layer you want to adjust. At the bottom of the Layer's Panel click on the Adjustment's button, choose Brightness & Contrast. Note that this adjustment is non-destructive, (unless you hit Merge,) you can close the dialogue either by clicking on the X, or with the Escape key. The adjustment will show in the Layer's Panel and you can readjust it by clicking on the adjustment in the Layer's Panel.

Why do you think that buying the same product again would be of any advantage? You can only buy v2, which you say won't work on your system. You cannot buy v1 directly from Serif, nor from anywhere else. If you do not already own v1 you cannot now "switch" to it. Version 1 and Version 2 are separate products – if you buy v2 you do not get a copy of v1 included with it! (This applies to all Affinity software whether you buy the Universal Licence or the individual apps).

There is – Use Caps Lock.

I have been caught out a few times by not noticing that Wet edges was set, however some brushes need it to be set to, so I don't think having it off by default, and only working if you explicitly set it, would be desirable, as you wouldn't know which brushes were intended to use it. It could also be annoying for people who frequently want to use Wet Edges. I don't really think that making duplicate brushes with your preferred settings is really very practical for people with a large number of brushes. My own feeling is that there should be a general option to keep the settings as they are now (Wet on, Wet off or Leave it as it is) or to override the Leave it as it is option and turn it off so that when you choose a new brush Wet Edges is turned off unless it is explicitly set on by the brushes designer. (IOW, the Leave it as it is setting is treated as Wet off.)

Number 4's name escaped me at first! Then I thought of Lee Marvin ('no idea why I always get them mixed up!) but realised that the first name was wrong! then I got it! 😁

This is actually due to the magnification at which you view the filter effect. You need to view it at 100% to get a good idea of the actual effect, even then, due to the way it is displayed on screen, the printed version may look slightly different.

Of course it should cycle the tools if you have disabled using the shift key! Enable the shift key and the tools will only cycle when you press the shift key in conjunction with the letter key. If you have disabled the option to use the shift key, it will cycle the tools with just the letter key.

Personally I prefer to avoid destructive cropping, so rather than deleting part of the layer I would either clip the layer to a shape or use a mask,.

If you want to separate a multipage PDF into single pages, the easiest way is to use a third party app, such as PDF24. You can download it for Windows and there is also an online version. https://www.pdf24.org/en/

The most surprising thing about this whole affair is not so much that Kensington Palace issued a photo of a happy, family portrait that had been slightly retouched, but that certain members of the press and media reacted with such a "holier than thou" attitude, condemning the "edited" image; as though they themselves never use photographs that have been heavily altered, including, nowadays, with the assistance of AI.

This has nothing to do with my reply nor the post I was replying to!

The one that is annoying me is number 8. I'm sure I should know who he is, I just can't think of his name! 😁 EDIT - Got it now, thanks for the hints! (I'd been thinking he was an actor that I couldn't quite place!)