AdrianKLægreid

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This is the first beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.6 may not open in 1.5 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.6 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.5 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
First and foremost, the 1.6 version is mainly about: Light UI! (go to Preferences->User Interface) Improved view pan/zoom performance and new pixel-differencing pixel shader Improved performance with large documents New font chooser dropdown with recents, used fonts and favourites New Glyph browser Stroke stabiliser for all pencil and brush tools Align to key items (first/last selected) Text frame vertical alignment options Fit frame to text (double-click on bottom centre handle). Transform panel uses the rotation centre Scale/shear can now be performed about rotation centre Double-click now resets shape handles and rotate/shear handles Many PDF export improvements including vector export of multi-stop gradients Numerous bug fixes and stability improvements

This is a minimalistic view of my layout on the desk at home.
I started out with the intention of only making the keyboard, but then I wanted to make more :D
 
 

I'm long-in-the-tooth in the graphics world. I was involved with evangelizing early graphics and multimedia programs, working with Apple, at the dawn of the personal computer age. One company, Macromedia, had a great idea: Unify vector and bitmap programs under one powerful hood. Fireworks was the eventual product. Unfortunately, Macromedia made some bad business decisions, and Adobe, which badly needed Dreamweaver, and feared Fireworks, bought the company, put Dreamweaver at the front of the suite and marginalized Fireworks. Why? Because they had already joined Microsoft in the idea that a program that is complicated sells training, but TWO programs that are complicated sell even more training.
 
More than 30 years later, we're still stuck with that legacy. It is counter-intuitive though. If you're a designer, you're in and out of Affinity Photo to do this or that, and they've given you some basic text and illustration tools, just like our friends at Adobe, to appease you so you're not in and out of two programs all day, gathering your digital pitchforks and rioting at the inefficiency of it all.   If you're a photographer, and you have a messy line around someone's neck edge, you COULD spend ten minutes airbrushing it, OR, you could, if you are in a vectored environment, just build a skin tone line, up it to 2-3pt. and gaussian blur it until it matches the edge of the neck.
 
In the real world, we have one desk, with lots of tools at our disposal, when we're doing physical layout work. Why do we need to keep two in our digital workflow?
 
A modern program which brings the entire suite of tools together in one space, so you're not in and out of two programs, improves workflow, reduces wasted time switching, and allows creatives improved creativity that leads to better work at a lower production cost.  Man hours, after all, are man hours, whether you're billing them or paying for them.
 
Steve Jobs said it best back in 1977: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.  So make Affinity the most sophisticated product out there and create Affinity One, a unified product, and I know that I, and thousands of other graphic and photographic professionals will be HAPPY to tell Adobe what they can do with their kludgy, klunky outdated products.

Status: Customer Beta
Purpose: Fixes & Minor Improvements
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5.5 Beta 1 Here
 
The purpose of this version is to improve the stability of the released product. It contains no dangerous changes, only fixes and minor usability improvements. We would recommend that all users download and use this version. It should be considered more reliable than the current Mac App Store version (1.5.4)
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
 
Fixes/Improvements
Controversial change to pixel documents: 100% view now maps document pixels directly to screen pixels. If you have a retina Mac you will now see 100% view showing a pixel in the document on each pixel on your display. Wireframe view mode now allows the user to select locked items by click or marquee. Basically, if you're in wireframe view and you can see it, you can now click it to select it. This makes wireframe view much more useful for toggling on/off to select specific items in the document. With rulers visible and a high-frequency input device such as a pen tablet (or a mouse in macOS Sierra) the rulers would make the document update very slowly, this has been resolved. SVG export of gradients is now more compatible with QuickLook. Stability fixes for text. Fixed bug applying OpenType contextual rules. Fix for crashes with 32bit documents on Lion and Mountain Lion. Fix for right-clicking a text object in the Text tool failing to select the current word if the user is over the caret. Improved PSD import/export of HSL adjustments. Improved PSD import of fill layers with empty stroke masks and also parse line origination data. Import badly-formed PSD files created by Marmoset. Fix for occasional crash with embedded documents. PDF export fix for Overprint flag which was not getting unset at certain times, leading to items unintentionally overprinting. Fix for system chime noise when holding Cmd+Alt+Space. Fix for layers panel showing incorrect document information when changing from Separated window mode to normal mode if multiple documents are open. Fix for some images opening and saying they are 1dpi

So you're saying I shouldn't submit a bug report about not being able to use my 2011 MBP screen as a multi-touch screen when using this app? Will the next beta enable the touchscreen on my MBP?
 
 

Affinity has now become officially cross-platform with the launch of Affinity Designer for Windows. It was our trail-blazing first app, and since being launched on Mac the response we have had to it has been unbelievable. It’s consistently been the top paid-for design app on Mac since launch, we’ve won a coveted Apple Design Award and there have been thousands of 5-star customer reviews on the Mac App Store.
 
For many designers, Affinity Designer has become their go-to app for everything from creating concept art, print projects, logos and icons to UI design, web graphics and mock-ups. And because Affinity Designer on Windows matches the Mac version feature-for-feature, PC users can now experience the same thrilling speed, incredible tools and supreme accuracy which has given Affinity Designer that formidable reputation.
 
For more information about the launch go here. Product information and how to buy click here.
 
Many thanks
Team Affinity.
 

Status: Beta
Purpose: Stability & Critical fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5.2 Beta 4 Here
 
This beta is intended to fix any critical issues found in the current App Store version and should be considered to be more stable than the App Store product.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes:
Enabled 32bit documents and associated studio UI (including OCIO) Resizing documents should scale guides and slices as appropriate so they appear to be in the correct location Fix for Mountain Lion in the new Export Persona (panels disappear completely and the app becomes unstable) EPS export improvements with thin lines and mitre joins Fixes for Text Styles (editing 'No Style' and clicking in certain areas of the style preview) OpenType tweaks Print speed improvements Fix for being able to measure between siblings inside groups and containers, also being able to measure immediate children of a container and between selected object and its ancestors. When space is tight, the measurements now appear out-of-line rather than scaling too small to be usable. Improved error reporting when opening PSD files Fix for PDF import of Japanese fonts Shortcut for soft-return is now shift+return Fix for issues seen when bleeds are unequal on different sides Fix for issues seen when trying to output selected areas to PDF and accidentally generating multi-page PDFs Automatic slice rectangle calculations should not include the layer effect inflation from the parents Improved output-path validation for Export Persona Added 32bit PSD export Added EXR/HDR export Initial support for new Touch Bar on MacBook Pro Added Polygonal and Magnetic lasso selection modes Fix for Fonts list jiggling around at times when moving up/down in the list Fix for copying groups within Symbols causing 'the beginning of the end' Had a baby daughter so wasn't around much Miscellaneous other fixes and improvements

Status: Beta
Purpose: Stability & Critical fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5.2 Beta 3 Here
 
This beta is intended to fix any critical issues found in the current App Store version and should be considered to be more stable than the App Store product.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes:
Resolved Font enumeration crashes at startup, including utterly broken fonts that trigger a system refresh of the font list when enumerated! Fix for Mavericks issue with the new Export Persona Fix for Assets being dropped into the Asset Panel even when it is collapsed - which explains why some people are seeing an inability to move objects to certain areas of the screen (it's because the panel is still getting tested as though it was not collapsed and you're creating assets every time you move!) Fix for crash seen when creating Assets from objects like Masks that perhaps have no dimensions by themselves Fix for renaming Assets causing a crash Fix for inability to change paragraph leading

Status: Release Candidate
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Submitted
Download: 1.5 RC1 Here (Updated at 15:31 BST to include a few extra bits)
 
This is a beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
macOS Sierra improvements (some dialogs were not getting their input boxes auto-selected which was a nuisance) Sharpen Tool (in Pixel Persona) now correctly performs Blur when holding down Alt/Option Auto-selecting layers with the new Preferences item won't force expansion of selected group nodes now Updated Assets Fix for colour conversion issue seen when copy/pasting a placed image which is of a different colour profile to the document Layer effects now allow the user to type in values in different units (points, inches, etc) Huge performance increase for marquee selection of objects in multi-artboard documents Correctly import miter limit in SVG documents PDF import and export of transparency groups should be much improved now Aligning objects in a symbol instance failed to redraw the newly aligned objects in other symbol instances Better logic for dragging out an Asset with constraints on it while Cmd is held PSD export of raster clipping masks improved PSD import fixes and improvements relating to solid white layers and being able to optimise and just use an opaque white document instead Slice Tool should respond to Escape correctly now Fix for occasional Symbol issue manifesting as the detachment of all attributes when only one is changed EPS and PDF import now generate documents with better structure when a large number of children nodes are imported Draw 'thin' lines in a visually nicer way Fix for crash when creating a Compound from a constrained object Fix for releasing compounds causing objects to move around if the contained objects had constraints Fix for solid fills not applying to pixel layers Pasted text should work correctly with text styles now Temporarily removed 32bit document format and functionality as this has not received enough testing coverage to release Fix for constrained objects in symbols acting strangely Miscellaneous other small fixes

I find doing these little "projects" is best way to learn an app. 
 
Looking forward to the new tools in a coming releases. 
 
 

 

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5 Beta 14 Here
 
 
EDITED TO ADD: I have just (at 4pm BST) uploaded a new version of Beta 14 that will continue to run if you upgrade to Affinity 1.4.3 which is due to be released on 20th September in order to provide better compatibility with macOS Sierra. It is identical to the earlier download in all other respects. If you are not receiving a warning that there is a newer version then you already have this most recent version.
 
 
This is a beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
New Welcome Screen - currently not displaying content but it should start working properly early next week New samples Improvements to 32bit documents and unbounded colours (and colour picker) Taking a line down to zero width, then growing it again now keeps the original line colour Fix for Colour Picker Tool in macOS Sierra Fix for double-clicking the selected row in the Layers Panel causing the incorrect behaviour PDF export fixes (transparency usage and clipping issues) - hopefully also made CorelDraw-compatible PDFs SVG export fix for exporting transformed images Miscellaneous other small fixes

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5 Beta 13 Here
 
 
This is a beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Grouping, ungrouping and moving constrained objects in the Layers panel should now leave them in the same visual position with constraints relating to their new position Artistic Text creation is now more like the Mac App Store version Allow Pen Tool and Shape Tool to reinitialise the original mouse down position mid-drag by holding down Space Don't add undo history when 'Create' symbol resolves to no action (creating a symbol from an existing symbol, for example) Fix for moving Symbols up/down causing crash in certain situations Fix for moving objects inside symbols up/down not invalidating other symbol instances in the main view Performance improvement for Node Tool when selecting an object with a large number of nodes Fix for SMB share issues Removed duplicate Move and Artboard tool entries in 'Customise Tools' Miscellaneous other small fixes

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5 Beta 12 Here
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE BE AWARE - If you have not already run Beta 9, 10 or 11, this version will reset all your settings. If you have already run Beta 9, 10 or 11 then it will not. Please make sure that if you have created any palettes, styles, assets, brushes, etc in the current beta that you export them in the current version first BEFORE installing this beta otherwise you will lose them. This was unfortunately necessary for the Beta 9 build and should hopefully not be required again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   
This is a beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Added preferences item for whether the use prefers 'Scrubby zoom' or 'Marquee zoom' Added snapping for text height when creating Artistic Text objects Image exports that exceed the maximum dimensions of that file format are now scaled to fit, rather than cropped to the maximum dimensions Colour panel now has a special mode available only in 32bit documents (not finished at present) Ungroup All should not be ungrouping Symbols that were contained in the structure Initialise the first artboard with any guides currently applied to the document Added check for small mouse movement prior to showing measuring tools - this avoids the overly-intrusive Cmd behaviour at present Fixed PSD export of vector texture-stroked lines Fixed PSD import of 16bit documents Fixed TIFF import of 16bit images Fix for editing curves inside a compound object that is part of a symbol Advanced Navigator mode now correctly disables/enables the rename/remove options as appropriate Fix for creating symbols from within existing symbols Editing guides with the Guides Manager should now work correctly with many artboards Fix for colour picker showing incorrectly if the user holds Alt during a spacebar-pan Improved snapping performance with heavily nested document structures Fixed being unable to add text over pixel layers Miscellaneous other small fixes

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5 Beta 11 Here
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE BE AWARE - If you have not already run Beta 9 or 10, this version will reset all your settings. If you have already run Beta 9 or 10 then it will not. Please make sure that if you have created any palettes, styles, assets, brushes, etc in the current beta that you export them in the current version first BEFORE installing this beta otherwise you will lose them. This was unfortunately necessary for the Beta 9 build and should hopefully not be required again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   
This is a beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Hopefully resolved issues relating to document's reporting they are already open or have a restore file available Improved hit testing for text objects, plus clicking in text tools will now always prefer text objects when selecting Fix for text wrapping behaviour with unclosed frames PSD import/export improvements Improved performance for 32bit HDR document format Fixed raster painting on transformed pixel layers Re-enabled ability to export metadata in File->Export->More Assorted macOS Sierra visual fixes Added 'Paste FX' menu item Enter Node Tool after hitting the 'Convert to Curves' button Slice names now update when Artboard names change Document palettes are now available from the fill flyout Fix for export using incorrect aspect ratio if an artboard is selected and the size of the output is modified Fix for Pencil tool leaving artefacts if 'Use Fill' is selected HSL slider mode in the Colour Chooser now correctly updates the colour box to show the chosen Saturation level Vector export improvements relating to composites and PDF printers marks Fix for lines with square caps invalidating the wrong area and leaving trails on the screen Deleting a node in the Node Tool can now use the old method (by pressing Delete) or the new method that maintains shape by pressing Alt/Option + Delete Miscellaneous other small fixes

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5 Beta 10 Here
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE BE AWARE - If you have not already run Beta 9, this version will reset all your settings. If you have already run Beta 9 then it will not. Please make sure that if you have created any palettes, styles, assets, brushes, etc in the current beta that you export them in the current version first BEFORE installing this beta otherwise you will lose them. This was unfortunately necessary for the Beta 9 build and should hopefully not be required again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   
This is a beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Fix for Assets not snapping on the document as they are dragged out of the Assets panel Fix for measurements not working on documents with Artboards Fix for measurements stopping users from being able to resize about center in the Move Tool Fix for boolean geometry operations failing on many trivial cases Fix for incorrect cursors in Shape tools Fix for Zoom Tool not zooming about the point you dragged from! Fix for Assets with non-RGB8 data drawing strangely in the Assets panel Fixed 'Print Ready' documents accidentally defaulting to Grey/16 colour format Fix for Artboards with constraints applied causing mayhem Added ability to drag Opacity label in layers panel to change its value 'New from Clipboard' now sets the new document to dirty so it prompts on closing Use DPI information from placed images/embedded documents to place them at their correct physical size Miscellaneous other small fixes

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS VERSION WILL RESET EVERYTHING BACK TO DEFAULTS. Please make sure that if you have created any palettes, styles, assets, brushes, etc in the current beta that you export them in the current version first BEFORE installing this beta otherwise you will lose them. This was unfortunately necessary for this build and should hopefully not be required again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   
This is a beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Fix for all adjustments that use curve splines Fixed 'Bake Corners' in Corner Tool Fix for Divide geometry operation being incorrectly disabled Fix for incorrect colours being generated when a vector object is masked with a semi-transparent mask Symbols can be nested inside containers and the containers can be added to Assets correctly now
Stop Artboards reparenting into other Artboards while they are being dragged around Hopefully resolved file save/restore issues seen when starting from a 'recovery file' Fix for file corruption issues associated with certain SMB network shares Fix for crash seen when cancelling the Fill Tool's drag operations Fix for matte colour in Export Persona Fix for constraints applied to objects with have no width or no height Prevent nested symbols creating dangerous cross-document links! SVG export of relative coordinates uses a relative move for subpaths SVG import of <a> tags implemented Many text style bug fixes and tweaks PDF export improvements Asset panel UI improvements when interacting with it Fixed hex colour input not working as expected for the 'b' slider Fixed line properties flyout showing incorrectly rounded width in some circumstances Page Up/Down/Home/End should appear correctly as customisable shortcuts now Updated icon and cursor for Artboard Tool Slice Tool can now nudge with arrow keys, Slices now work correctly with document snapshots Added 'Space Horizontally' and 'Space Vertically' alignment options to complement the 'Distribute' variants Miscellaneous other small fixes

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This is an early beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Snapping improvements. Fix for PSD export to Apple Motion. Fix for PDF import issues with loading bitmaps which are different colour formats to the document and cope with JPEG2000 objects in the PDF. Miscellaneous Symbol fixes. Miscellaneous text fixes. Menus now respond to keyboard input properly. Colour picker works correctly with objects in the pasteboard when canvas clipping is off. Exporting vector masks with transparency to PSD now functions correctly. Fix for crash changing between retina and non-retina displays Minor bug fixes and stability issues.

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This is an early beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Fix for certain fonts causing startup crashes (hopefully!) Fix for Node and Pen Tools not working correctly at silly zooms. Asset collections can now be embedded in documents. If the document is given to another user, they will be asked if they wish to install the assets if they haven't already installed them: This is the start of being able to distribute assets easily to users inside a demonstration file showing their usage. Changed text alignment to use Command+Option+L and Command+Option+R to avoid the existing keyboard shortcut clash. PDF import fix for password-protected PDFs. Deleting nodes on stroke pressure profiles now works correctly with Delete key. Minor bug fixes and stability issues.

Hi,
 
I think it would be really awesome to have Affinity available on Steam, as an option.
Apart from games, Steam is also a software distribution platform...

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This is the third beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Symbolically linked text can be detached properly. Text Styles page menu option added: Apply Style and then Next Styles. Fixed crash with certain fonts (ZnikomitNo24). Fixed EPS export clipping paths getting combined with the following path PDF Export avoid using tiling bitmap patterns unless the fill is genuinely tiling. Fixed failure to rasterise transparency to PDF formats that don't support transparency Tweaked font size variables for cap height and x-height. Fixed position of text caret around line ends. Clip To Canvas is now saved. Import/Export of Assets now work. You can now rearrange the assets sub categories via the sub-category burger menu. Fixed Copy and Pasting from Apple's Photo app. Fixed Zoom shortcuts can sometimes crash. Fixed QuickLook thumbnail generation for files created in 1.5. Minor bug fixes and stability issues.

Hi,
 
We notice that a number of users are complaining that certain features (Inpainting brush, RAW develop, Document Crop, etc.) are not available in the current Affinity Designer beta..
 
There is a good reason for this - the product we have released is "Affinity Designer" (vector editor, graphic design tool).
 
So, to anyone looking for our fully-featured photo editing application - "Affinity Photo" - this is not the beta you were looking for!!
 
Affinity Photo on Windows will enter public beta for Windows later this year - you should wait for that announcement email if you want those things..
 
I recognise and appreciate that our marketing people made this far from obvious - and will apologise (on their behalf) for that.
 
Thanks,
 
Andy.

I am so excited about this program!
 
To give you a bit of background, I'm a financially-struggling designer with a lot of years under my belt. Years ago, before I had kids (late 80s, early 90s) I used Adobe Illustrator where I worked then. I have not, since, been able to afford to buy it nor have I found a vector drawing program I could afford. Over the years I've used a series of programs that were more image-editing software than vector drawing: Paint Shop Pro, GIMP, and recently Photoshop (because they let me pay $10 a month for it and I didn't realize till after I signed up that I agreed to do that for an entire year).
 
I've been playing with Affinity Designer for just a few hours, and watched a couple of the tutorials, and I'm just really excited! This is so much easier to learn and use than Photoshop. You've done a great job with this and all I can say is, thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU for finally bringing it to Windows.
 
I haven't done much with it yet, but it all has worked fine so far. I was even able to open an .ai file and that worked, too.
 
Thank you for allowing me to be part of this beta. I haven't seen anything about what we're supposed to do, specifically, as beta testers -- if I missed it, please point me in the right direction so I can be as helpful as possible.
 
 

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This is the second beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
- Fix for screen flicker issues on certain Mac systems (2015 Retina MacBook Pro 13", in particular)
- Numerous Text Styles improvements and fixes
- Fix for Embedded documents which aren't the same colour format or profile as the parent document
- Assets and symbols now work correctly with documents in different colour formats
- Updated assets that make use of constraints
- Fix for 'Lock Children' on the Move Tool's context toolbar causing all kinds of havoc with Constraints
- Fix for Symbols crashing with text
- Added live measurement tool. Select an object then hold Alt/Option and move your mouse over other objects to measure how far away they are. Measurements will also show when holding Alt/Option and nudging with the arrow keys
- Fix for strange behaviour when creating a curve in the Pen Tool if you had snapping enabled (it would draw a very cool-looking but completely crazy magenta 'waveform' as you moved the mouse around!?!)
- Fix for Pen/Node Tools not being able to reduce a node down to being coincident with both off-curve handles by Alt/Option-click
- Fix issues with editing global colours sometimes making many undo steps rather than one
- Miscellaneous small fixes

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This is the first beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
 
I am hoping for a brief video overview of the new headline features from Ash very soon and I'll add a link here when it arrives, but here's a quick summary in the interim...
 
Summary:
Symbols - Objects can be made into symbols and remain editable on document at all times - instantly updating other instances. The 'Sync' button on the Symbols panel controls whether changes will be made to all instances, or just the current instance. Found on 'View'->'Studio'->'Symbols'
Constraints - Objects can be made to constrain in certain ways when their parents change. For example, an object could be anchored to a corner of its parent and told to not scale when the parent is scaled. This is powerful for UI mockups and allows you to see in realtime how dialogs may scale, for example. Found on 'View'->'Studio'->'Constraints'
Assets - We now have an Assets panel that you can use to drag any documents into from your document. Dragging items back out creates new objects from them. You can also add Symbols to your Assets if you wish. Found on 'View'->'Studio'->'Assets'
Text Styles - We've added support for text styles - and it's really very powerful... It probably needs a video tutorial all to itself to describe how to use it properly! Found on 'View'->'Studio'->'Text Styles'
Export Persona - The Export Persona has much greater functionality, allowing you to specify many export sizes and formats from each slice area/object. It also has presets for creating common icons, making Xcode asset JSON and even for creating JSON export for Spine (2D animation software by esotericsoftware.com - we're not affiliated with them in any way, but they suggested they'd like to use Designer for content creation so we tried to enable it)
Snapping - This has been greatly improved, as has the 'candidate' snapping system (there are options for this in the snapping setup). We now also support 'gaps and spans' to aid with object construction and object geometry snapping. We will soon add 'measuring'
Colour Picker Tool - We've added a colour picker as a dedicated tool. I'm open to suggestions on your favourite shortcut key for this one and we'll add it next time :)
Styles - Now has a 'spotlight' style search box.
Tool shortcut fixes for International keyboards.
You can now drop colours from programs like Chroma (by softpress.com - again, no affiliation but they mentioned they'd like to do it, so we tried) directly onto objects on the document.
Embedded documents should now usually export as vector elements rather than being rasterised.
Many PDF/PSD import/export improvements.
You can now choose which artboard to display for an embedded document (if it contained artboards) rather than being forced to see the whole document.
Selection has been improved to hopefully stop people getting frustrated about not being able to click to select the things they can see!
New Beta Icon - Perhaps the biggest change, we've finally thrown out the old Beta icon and its terrible, terrible 'chain' hanging the beta sign off the icon! Hurrah!
 
 
Known Problems:
I've accidentally left the Links panel available in the UI and also the option to mirror the document to iOS is still there too... I'd encourage everyone not to delve into any of this... The Links panel allows you to specify for any object which artboard it will transition to and in what way it will transition when it is touched. It's only of any use to you if you have the iOS Mirror application (which we aren't ready to release yet) and by enabling the links on your objects, you may well be left with a document which will not open again in the future if the developer decides to change anything... Also, the Artboard Tool's context toolbar includes Header and Footer controls - this is also related to previewing on the iOS Mirror application and is to enable scrolling website mockups. So there you go, you know what we're up to a little ahead of time, but it would take me too long to build the whole application again without it all! ;)
 
Embedded documents in colour formats/profiles which are different to the parent document might draw strangely - this will be fixed for the next beta, sorry.
 
Assets and Symbols are all currently assumed to be in the current document format and colour space - again, this will be fixed for the next beta, sorry. They also don't currently get snapped as you drop them onto the document - this will be fixed shortly, too.
 
 
The Future:
We'll try to update the beta a lot more regularly again, hopefully weekly but it will depend on whether enough is ready to warrant a new beta. Expect this first beta to have a few snags, but we'll try to get them turned around and a new beta out very quickly when they are identified. We have a number of other smaller things to tweak that will hopefully improve the whole experience subtly and these will also appear in the coming weeks.

The Affinity Windows beta launch is getting very close now...
 
So, I was just wondering how many of the current forum members are planning to give it a whirl on their Windows machines when the time comes? I've been peeking over the top of the wall to take a look (i.e. running it on my Macs via BootCamp) and it looks like it's coming along nicely - but I just wondered how many of the familiar faces will be participating in the Windows beta too?
 
Thanks,
Matt