Mr. Doodlezz

Their username is so unassuming, but they have come in with other gems in the past. I enjoy their responses. Even the snark.

I +1'ed your initial request for auto-distribute to key. You may be interested in editing your post (up to you).

Funny enough, @,,,'s method only works in the Context Toolbar for me, but not in the Toolbar version of the alignment functions which of course is what I would normally use. Weird.

Alignment handles might be helpful for your (or others') workflow also. Admittedly, breaking old AI habits is quite difficult, so I think keeping the key element method for all our alignment/distribution methods is good for helping newbies to transfer over their skills more easily. We have enough fun over here with just aligning to the "pixel grid".

Hey everyone,
Update: Okay, apparently I completely missed the introduction of Key Objects somehow. Thanks for telling me it’s already there! 🤯
Firstly, however, part of my original subject was that key objects should work for any alignment – this includes the spacing operations »Space Vertical« and »Space Horizontal«. They currently work for the general alignment options such as top/bottom, left/right.
From my logic it could/should work like this:
If NO key object is selected, the last set »Align To:« option works as intended and expected. However, if a key object IS selected, the »Align To:« option should react and prioritise it by changing the »Align To: Key Object«. As soon as there’s no Key Object selected, it switches back to the previous item in the list, like »Last/First Selected«. Without checking, I think this is how it works in Illustrator as well.
And I mean, it's just logical (at least to me): If a user actively selects a Key Object (and for Designer this can't be accidental, since you have to hold down an extra key on your keyboard), the user most likely wants to use it as such.
So the Key Object should always have the highest priority in the list of alignment candidates/options.
Secondly: They also only work from the Context toolbar – when I work with the toolbar popup and want to align (top/bottom, left/right, ...) it prioritises the selected »Align to:« option from the drop down. I think there's an item missing from this list for key objects to work in the toolbar popup as well, and I think that's the culprit.
It's not at all obvious that »First Selected« equals »Key Object« in the »Align To:« dropdown in the Toolbar (not Context Toolbar).
–––
I very dearly miss the ability to click on one of multiple selected shapes (especially in Designer and Publisher) in order to define it as some sort of »pivot« object, so to speak, around which all other alignments will happen since day one switching to Designer almost ten years ago. (Wow, Designer really turns 10 next year!)
The »First/Last Selected« options in the »Align to:« dropdown come close to what I mean, but are not as intuitive, nor do they work for all alignment operations such as »Space Horizontal/Vertical«.
Illustrator has solved this more elegantly and functionally by allowing you to mark one of the already selected objects as the »centre« by clicking on it, around which all further alignment operations will take place. They call it »Align to Key Object«. Here's a short clip of how it works. Here’s a video that explains its differences a little bit better compared to other alignment options present in Designer.
Please please pleeease Affinity, I need this QOL back in my process and would love to see it and in the Affinity Suite. 🥲
Cheers
Dennis

Key object is in Affinity 2 apps. Option/Alt-click one of the selected objects to make it the key object - it gets denoted by a thicker outline. Key object is used by alignments and by the command Cut Curves With Key Object.

Sorry, @walt.farrell, the website bugged out on me while editing my comment, feel free to re-read it – but there’s no need, I guess because …
I now have to admit, you're on the right track, I think!
Although, yes, regrettably it completely erases the Fill Layer's mask by covering it with black, it also resets the Fill Layer's colour to white (as expected).
One can easily check this:
Create a Fill Layer. Change it’s colour to what ever suits you. (Except white, obviously. 😁) Draw something on it’s integrated Mask. Hit D. Result:
The Fill Layer suddenly appears transparent, evidently because its Mask is filled with black.
But with Layer → Invert (⌘+I), as suggested by Nathan, a white fill layer is revealed again! The previous choosen colour is gone – magic! (Or something like that.)
Therefore, I now assume that Set Fill to Black and White actually affects both, the Fill Layer itself and the Fill Layer Mask.
It seems that the white fill is assigned directly to the Fill Layer, while the Mask gets the black fill, making it look like it's transparent.
Man, at this point it almost feels like a game of social deduction. 😅
The only thing I'd like to know now: Is that how the Fill Layer really was murrrderrred? 🔎‍

I think you are correct.

Thank you  
I know where I was going wrong, I was using the option on  Document>Add Pages From File, which always gives me a field with a Page number, yet when I do it from the Right Click menu in the Pages panel, that field does indeed open blank!  I'll get both of these issues logged with the Dev team  

Hey @stokerg, sure!
Here is a clip showing both scenarios in sequence.
Add_Pages_Bug.mov
I have also added some information about scenario two and clarified my previous post about it, hope this helps recreating it.

Which version of MacOS are you running?  On both my MacBook and iMac running Ventura, when I clear the Pages field, the page number comes back as soon as I select another option on that window.
Mysekf and another member of Tech Support have tried replicating both of these on Windows and haven't been able to.  The only time we can get that box to be empty is when we delete the Page number of that field.  Could you provide a screen recording, either from Mac or Windows, as I feel I'm missing part of the puzzle and it would be good to see the issue in action, so i can get it logged correctly with the Dev team  

Hi @Mr. Doodlezz,
Many thanks for providing detail, I've replicated this across both platforms and it has now been logged with the developers.
During testing, I did find find out that if the document colour format is set to CMYK, this transparency bug does not occur, it will set the fill colour to black when using the shortcut. I also found that when this issue does occur in RGB documents, you can still invert the fill layer (Layer > Invert) and the fill layer will be opaque and you can then change the fill colour, so it's not completely irreversible.

When you first brought up the Add Pages dialog, what was in the box next to Pages?  Was it the last page number?  If so, did you delete it? I agree there is a bug here but for me to trigger it i had to delete the number from the Pages field, set Add Pages to Last Page and then click okay.  I just want to make sure i'm getting the recipe correct 
 
@MikeTOThe field is disabled on Windows when you set Add Page to Last Page, however if you delete the page number first, then set Last Page and try to add the page, you'll get the error.  MacOS won't allow you to leave that field empty, you can delete the page number but as soon as you leave that field, it comes back.

@Mr. Doodlezz, Nice catch. This is also problem with the latest beta. Weird how hitting the D key (the default for the reset to Black and White) turns the Fill layer to transparent. It also seems to be Independent of tool choice, meaning it happens with whichever tool I have active.

Hey community!
The title actually says it all. I've been using this incredibly useful little feature ever since I learned it decades ago (when I was working with Adobe applications), and was very happy to find it right from Affinity’s first ever release (?) in the shortcuts menu: »Set Fill to Black and White«. It's particularly useful in Designer when you need to quickly reset the base colours of your shapes, but also in Photo, especially as all the apps in the suite work so seamlessly together.
However, using this shortcut in Photo with an active Fill Layer in the layers panel completely breaks it, like … irreversibly. Not even the »Revert defaults« button (if added in the toolbar) can revive its initial state! ☹️
Steps to Reproduce:
Set up a shortcut under Shortcuts → Miscellaneous → Set Fill to Black and White.
Note: There's no menu item for this option at all, it's only accessible via a keyboard shortcut, factory default is D. Create a Fill Layer. Select Fill Layer (if not already active) in the layers panel. Use the designated shortcut previously assigned to Set Fill to Black and White. Expected Behavior:
I’m actually not sure what I expected. 😅
Probably a reset to white? But I'm not sure about the stroke, since a fill layer is practically borderless. And I suppose that might be the reason why it breaks.
Current Behavior:
The Fill layer turns transparent and stops responding to any changes of color or other fill.
As mentioned, Set Fill to Black and White completely breaks the layer irreversible. You have to delete the layer and create a new one.
I'm having the same problem on MacOS and Windows, but as I'm sitting in front of a Mac at the moment (and since the forum is lacking a thread for bugs that affect the application regardless of OS), I'm going to post it here.
Can someone verify this?
Cheers
Dennis aka The Guy With All the Fill Layer Issues 🥲

You're not missing anything, this is a bug in the Windows version and AFAIK it hasn't been reported previously.
In both 2.0.4 and the 2.1 beta on macOS, it works the way you would expect. Choosing After Last Page shouldn't require you to enter a page number. The field is disabled on macOS. I can't tell from the screenshot whether it's disabled or not but regardless it shouldn't give you an error.

I'll never get tired of tinkering with this kind of style. For me it's a refreshing break from all the flat designs of the last two or three years. 😊
 

Here's another test, this time with a photo. It's a bit rough around the edges (jagged pixels), so a bit more tweaking would be needed to make it look a bit smoother.

Hi, does Serif have any plan for AI integration (E.g: stable diffusion, or Affinity built-in AI) in the near future?

Thanks, @dannyg9! 😊

I'll never get tired of tinkering with this kind of style. For me it's a refreshing break from all the flat designs of the last two or three years. 😊
 

But I wanted to say that there is a bit of clarity happening here (on the wet left coast) for me after a night's sleep.
Some thing weird is going on with the Fill Layer. The Alpha doesn't seem quite right. We could use an indicator that there is a mask there.

A glimpse of brilliance. Fantastic.

Here's another test, this time with a photo. It's a bit rough around the edges (jagged pixels), so a bit more tweaking would be needed to make it look a bit smoother.

For a few days now I've been playing around with layer effects and some procedural filters – it's super fun and I love the results it can generate!
This is the result this morning, based on my own logo and 100% pure Affinity Photo magic, and (except for the very last couple of steps) nondestructive.

Maybe I'll release a macro for this sometime, if I can manage to squeeze it into a clean sequence.
It'll work with almost any kind of base – images, texts, vector layers.
This is what the base result will look like after the macro is applied, everything else is layer effects (and a background texture):

 

For a few days now I've been playing around with layer effects and some procedural filters – it's super fun and I love the results it can generate!
This is the result this morning, based on my own logo and 100% pure Affinity Photo magic, and (except for the very last couple of steps) nondestructive.

Maybe I'll release a macro for this sometime, if I can manage to squeeze it into a clean sequence.
It'll work with almost any kind of base – images, texts, vector layers.
This is what the base result will look like after the macro is applied, everything else is layer effects (and a background texture):

 

Here's another test, this time with a photo. It's a bit rough around the edges (jagged pixels), so a bit more tweaking would be needed to make it look a bit smoother.

For a few days now I've been playing around with layer effects and some procedural filters – it's super fun and I love the results it can generate!
This is the result this morning, based on my own logo and 100% pure Affinity Photo magic, and (except for the very last couple of steps) nondestructive.

Maybe I'll release a macro for this sometime, if I can manage to squeeze it into a clean sequence.
It'll work with almost any kind of base – images, texts, vector layers.
This is what the base result will look like after the macro is applied, everything else is layer effects (and a background texture):