I just want to second this. Export to DXF (in my case) would make it possible to use the beauty and simplicity of Affinity Designer for work on the laser cutter.
Maybe quantity of posts will help with this feature request: I absolutely NEED DXF import to make Affinity useful to me. I keep an ancient copy of Illustrator around simply because it does this.
My application is for the silkscreening and label generation for electronic products.
My CAD tool is SpaceClaim - a wonderful tool for usability, but very limited in terms of things it exports. DWG/DXF is the only usable vector format it will export.
Very detailed and relatively complex information is exported in the DXF, exactly to scale. That is the aspect that needs to be preserved. If I export as PDF, I lose the scale. I cannot capture as raster files and reconvert as information is lost and it is not accurate enough to do what I need.
I have read other posts and it sounds like others wish to do exactly as I. I periodically check on Affinity to see if this capability has been added. Until it is added, I cannot switch over to it from Illustrator - and believe me, I WANT to move away from Illustrator. I regret not having checked this exact capability before actually paying for Affinity Designer. I just assumed it HAD to be there.
I like the looks and the promise of the Affinity Designer tool, but without this key capability (DXF import), I cannot yet use it or recommend its use to my peers.
Please Please Please. I love the Affinity applications but this is the one thing that has me frustrated.... I am an illustrator that uses architects plans to build from and the import of other formats isn't satisfactory.
Thanks.
Today I went through Affinity Designer scouring for pre-press tools, there were none. No separations, no channel view. Only the workaround to freeze all layers in Affinity Photo and export each CMYK+ channel separately. Bit of a surprise. But since there's nothing there, here's what I wished were there. That and a decent printing dialogue. For the print simulation, I used to recommend Substance Designer (setup) + Marmoset Toolbag (presentation) for a while now. Not anymore though because I always end up doing the work. -_-
Scope: A new persona for all apps to address basic pre-press that are currently unaddressed.
Views: Toggle between several views for dedicated control options on each task. Some views can be combined to get a better idea about the end result. Noted with [separate] when one stands alone.
Overprint Check View Show realistic rendering of how the overprint will look based on selected profiles for ink, printer (optional, based on PPD) and paper.
Tools:
Range Selector: Like a mix of UPoint + drag and move, for fixing and optimising ink trapping (live dilate/erode on vector and bitmaps).
Coverage meter: Show where the ink coverage exceeds or meets 100% with a heat map overlay. A range selector then can be used to lower the ink as: lower total, lower c/m/y/k/+. Buttons could be used to control that: e.g.: [c] [m] [y] [k] for working on magenta and yellow at the same time.
Output Image: Render the simulation output of a whole document to an image (or PDF for multi-page)
Font Trapper: Local overrides on font trappings that didn't turn out as planned in the style and colour settings.
Print Simulation A simple simulation for base paper types and the ability to create custom ones (folder with absorption values, reflectance and a texture image for example) would be great to give clients a feel for it before someone has to spend money.
Tools:
Moveable light source: (useful for checking special inks, embossing/debossing, foil stamping and UV coats)
Review light: Choose between a set of standard review lights (e.g. Just Normlicht LED proofstation) to judge the print under various lighting conditions and help avoid ambiguous colour situations (like that dress).
Output Image: Render the simulation output of a whole document to an image (or PDF for multi-page)
Separation View [separate] View all separations in a gallery view with an option to overlay them to check whether they can be optimised further or whether they work as planned (how is the yellow faring with the black? Did the overprints turn out as desired in the OC view? Are all special ink channels present correctly?)
Tools:
Drag overlay: Drag a sheet onto another to see their interaction in the printing context.
Print separations: Print dialog allowing output of separations on a standard laser printer. This allows for a final manual check and also is of sufficient quality for a lot of silk screen printers out there.
Export to PDF: Save all/active/selected artboards/pages in separations to a multipage PDF ready for lightjet ripping
