Mr. Doodlezz

Hey @NathanC,
we’re now on version 2.6.3 – over a year since this change – and I was wondering if there’s any chance the original functionality of that alignment feature will be restored soon. I really miss being able to select an object in the middle and automatically align other elements around it at a specified distance. Now I have to manually reposition the entire group after aligning, which is pretty frustrating. 😢
Thanks
Dennis

Hi @Mr. Doodlezz,
Due to the nature of the issue relating to the trackpad input, switching input methods (to a mouse) is the only known workaround we can recommend for the moment, but I recognise this isn't ideal. The issue is logged, and I've bumped it with your report, though I can't give a timeframe as it's not within the tech team's direct control.

I've been having this exact problem for months. Funny thing is, it only happens when I'm using Affinity on my MacBook Pro (M4). On the desktop, I don't run into the problem at all. Same version of Affinity, same OS (Sequoia). So probably is a trackpad thing, which is useful to learn, but I'm baffled as to why that would be. Not looking forward to having to use a mouse just to skew objects but I guess it's better than nothing. (A fix would be better though!)

Hi @WaveF,
Similar to Hangman, I'm unable to replicate this issue following the update to 2.6.3.
To confirm, are you using a Trackpad or a Magic Mouse? There is a known issue logged internally relating to transform modes easily 'slipping' between one another on left click, which intermittently can prevent the ability to shear/skew an object. This isn't anything new to 2.6.3, and is most likely to occur when using a trackpad. If possible, switch to a different mouse input and then confirm if this prevents the issue.

I just updated Affinity Designer to v2.6.3—can’t believe such a bug made it into the latest version. 😞
When the mouse moves to the edge of the bounding box, the skew cursor appears, but as soon as you click, it switches to the regular scale mode. That means skew transform doesn’t work in this version — which is one of the most commonly used features!
I doubt there will be a fix release right away, so how can I downgrade my Designer? 
I was about to create a design draft for a client, and this bug couldn’t have come at a worse time. It completely wrecked my schedule. Next time, I’m definitely not updating right away.
100% reproducible, attach video below:
iShot_2025-05-14_19.34.52.mp4

It isn’t about destroying the Internet, it’s about stealing artists’ intellectual property.

Hi @Mr. Doodlezz We have this logged with the developers as the Stabiliser sliders should be available when enabled using the Vector Brush.

Hm, well … I think this needs a bit more clarification:
The two machine learning-based features are optional and have to be explicitly installed by each user, so they are NOT installed/activated automatically. The two machine learning-based features are based on pre-trained models (here, however, I would be interested to know what material the models were trained on). Affinity states on the »What’s New«-page that at no time is your user data (i.e. your own image material) transferred over the internet, so no training is done with it. The features work only locally on your machine. The two machine learning-based features have nothing to do with image generation. They are tools designed to make it easier to select objects – nothing more or less. HOWEVER, one can now wonder what kind of underlying meaning this decision carries. Before and during the takeover of CANVA, it was repeatedly stated that there were no plans to integrate AI into the Affinity Suit. To me, this step represents a kind of break – albeit in a grey area – because the features have to be actively installed by each user.

Hm, well … I think this needs a bit more clarification:
The two machine learning-based features are optional and have to be explicitly installed by each user, so they are NOT installed/activated automatically. The two machine learning-based features are based on pre-trained models (here, however, I would be interested to know what material the models were trained on). Affinity states on the »What’s New«-page that at no time is your user data (i.e. your own image material) transferred over the internet, so no training is done with it. The features work only locally on your machine. The two machine learning-based features have nothing to do with image generation. They are tools designed to make it easier to select objects – nothing more or less. HOWEVER, one can now wonder what kind of underlying meaning this decision carries. Before and during the takeover of CANVA, it was repeatedly stated that there were no plans to integrate AI into the Affinity Suit. To me, this step represents a kind of break – albeit in a grey area – because the features have to be actively installed by each user.

You’re absolutely right – it’s frustrating and exhausting to think about creating art when it feels like it’s just going to be scraped or stolen. But there are a few tools that can help push back against this:
Glaze lets you »cloak« your artwork with subtle changes that confuse AI, making it harder for models to copy your style. Nightshade takes a more aggressive approach by poisoning datasets, so if your work gets scraped, it messes with the AI’s output. Yuify adds invisible ownership marks tied to blockchain (although it has a non-negligible energy-consuming impact on the environment) – not a fix for scraping, but it gives you proof of authorship if you need to fight back.
There are more similar and they’re all not perfect and won’t solve everything, but these tools are a way to protect your work while we keep pushing for better legal protections.
 
Don’t let them take your joy in creating!

You’re absolutely right – it’s frustrating and exhausting to think about creating art when it feels like it’s just going to be scraped or stolen. But there are a few tools that can help push back against this:
Glaze lets you »cloak« your artwork with subtle changes that confuse AI, making it harder for models to copy your style. Nightshade takes a more aggressive approach by poisoning datasets, so if your work gets scraped, it messes with the AI’s output. Yuify adds invisible ownership marks tied to blockchain (although it has a non-negligible energy-consuming impact on the environment) – not a fix for scraping, but it gives you proof of authorship if you need to fight back.
There are more similar and they’re all not perfect and won’t solve everything, but these tools are a way to protect your work while we keep pushing for better legal protections.
 
Don’t let them take your joy in creating!

AI can not take away a true creator's joy of creating, just their income from doing it

Hey everyone,
I've been wondering for a few years now why there are so few sorting options for the Swatches palette: Alphabetical and Hue – that's very limited when compared to the options offered in other software, especially one of my favourites, Aseprite. The options in Affinity are somehow very sparse, even though colours play such an important role in our line of work.
Aseprite:

Affinity:

More questions:
Can anyone confirm that Document Palettes/Swatches cannot be sorted at all? I’ve tried in all three apps (Mac), the expanded menu as above does not appear in any of the apps. I also think the option to generate gradients between to swatches would be a great addition, just like seen in the Aseprite menu. I also know there are tons of websites that offer these options, but if I had one wish, I'd like to see some of these features in one place without distractions – preferably directly integrated into the apps.
Cheers
Dennis

Hey all,
thanks for undeading the topic once more, @Yuriy_FontBase! 🧟‍♂️
And thanks @Leigh for replying!
@walt.farrell, unfortunately, it still doesn't work for me the way I expected or experienced it before Affinity:
Add Fonts to FontBase: Ensure the fonts you plan to use are added to your FontBase library. Activate Fonts as Needed: Manually activate the required fonts while working on your project. Deactivate After Use: After completing your work, manually deactivate the fonts. They remain in your FontBase library but are not active. Automatic Activation Upon Reopening: When you reopen the project, FontBase detects the missing fonts and automatically activates them, provided the auto-activation feature is enabled.

Hello everyone:)
Name's Yuriy, I'm a part of the development team behind FontBase and was authorised to speak on our behalf.
Just found this thread and first of all would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and support🙏

Hoping that this post will at some point be seen by someone from Serif, I'd like to confirm that yes, we were and still are interested in working on auto-activation plugins for Affinity products, as so many people around the world use them and rightly so - they are great:)
The only thing that's stopping us right now is the absence of an SDK or any guidelines from Serif we could follow, which we hope will become available at some point in the future, and we'd be glad to discuss the possibility of implementing font auto-activation to make the lives of those using Affinity products in conjunction with FontBase a bit easier and more pleasant:)

Thank you Serif for your good work and thank you Affinity users for voicing your opinions here to help make the products you use even better with each iteration🙏 

All the best,
Yuriy
FontBase Dev Team

Yeah, I know – it’s the whole FontBase package in general in comparison to other apps.
More OS compatibility compared to RightFont. Affordable one time purchase compared to most other managers while still being able to sync over multiple devices via Dropbox Search options like x-height … However, automatic font activation alone would be the last missing piece to make me switch. 😉

The lack of official response or reaction (public/forum/anywhere as far as I can tell) on this subject over the past few years somehow suggests to me that this is not going to happen any time soon, more likely never. Unfortunately. 😔
But I'd go »Awesome« in a heartbeat aswell if Affinity compatibility were ever to be achieved – it's the last thing stopping me from upgrading/switching from my outdated Suitcase version to FontBase. 🤩

Well, not to the community. (So as not to raise hopes, I suppose).
However, according to FontBase, they themselves tried to contact Serif, but didn't get a reply. I thought from one company to another there might be some mutual interests/benefits – but I guess not.

You are referring to the thread I came across. It's a thread about V1, which is most likely no longer in active development now that V2 is out.
Therefore the thread is in the »Feedback & Suggestions Feedback for the Affinity V1 products [ARCHIVE]« section.

It's archived in the sense that it's not closed, but because of the above I assume it's no longer active or moderated either.
I'm not sure if this is also a pointer, but there is no moderator monitoring this thread, at least openly visible.
I'm not a fan of duplicate threads, but I think it can't hurt to bring this topic back to the forefront and revive it for V2, as it hasn't been resolved yet (not that I know of).
There was no response from staff then (unless I missed something?), so perhaps someone can give us an update this time.

Are there any updates on automatic font activation for font manager applications, both Mac and Windows?
There were at least two threads in the past that I could find, now archived, but there was never a real answer from Serif/Affinity as to if and when this feature would finally be integrated.
The latest news is that FontBase has tried to contact Serif on several occasions (according to a thread in their forum), but has not received any response.
I would love to be able to use this super handy feature of Fontbase, or by now almost any other font manager out there, together with Affinity Suite, but nothing seems to have happened in this area for years.

@loukash referred to this thread in my last post regarding the Corner Tool.
@Ash, I would very, very much appreciate this to be toggleable somewhere in the preferences! 👏
Especially when I'm working with the Corner Tool and need precision because I want/need to try different radii, it is very irritating for me and stops me in my tracks because I have to actively work against the automatic tool selection. I have become so used to the way it worked in previous versions that I currently see no advantage in automatically switching to the Node Tool. Maybe the option to exclude this mechanic from certain tools would be a solution?
Cheers!

Are there any updates on automatic font activation for font manager applications, both Mac and Windows?
There were at least two threads in the past that I could find, now archived, but there was never a real answer from Serif/Affinity as to if and when this feature would finally be integrated.
The latest news is that FontBase has tried to contact Serif on several occasions (according to a thread in their forum), but has not received any response.
I would love to be able to use this super handy feature of Fontbase, or by now almost any other font manager out there, together with Affinity Suite, but nothing seems to have happened in this area for years.

I am attaching a macro category called “Reticulated Gradient Map” which can be used for color grading or for creating an artistic rendition of a photograph. The look was inspired by a recently viewed YouTube video on the Texturelabs channel in which an image was posterized and gradient mapped, but with a specific type of grain applied to the borders of the colors. The original video can be found here.
The effect relied on a filter found in Photoshop’s Filter Gallery called “Reticulation”. Although the Reticulation filter is not available in Affinity Photo, this macro duplicates the effect fairly reliably.
Here is a before and after image, along with the User Dialog settings used during the image’s creation.

The macro creates a number of adjustments and other layers inside a Group called Reticulated Color Grade. Because the effect is entirely contained inside the group, the effect can be turned on and off by showing/hiding the enclosing group. Also, the effect is entirely non-destructive (with one exception, discussed below) and will respond immediately to any additional edits made to the original image.

I have also created a PDF (also attached to this post) with specific instructions for using this macro. However, in brief, invoking the macro will set up the Layers stack (as above) and present a dialog to the user for some initial settings. You will be asked to set the following:
1) Adjust Reticular Noise Size (destructive)
The “Reticulation Noise” layer is a pixel layer in which a reticulated pattern of noise is applied. The macro invokes an “Equations” filter to increase or decrease the size of the noise. The default value is 0.8, and the slider will accept values between 0 and 1 (although anything above 0.8 is capped at that value, since the math falls apart above that value). In general, the default setting results in the largest reticular noise available, but the noise can be decreased in size by setting the slider to smaller values.
2) Adjust Reticular Noise Opacity
This slider affects the opacity of the “Reticulation Noise” layer. The overall effect is that, at lower values, the graininess of the reticulation is held closer and closer to the borders between colors. The default value is 20% and the slider will accept values between 0% and 100%. In general, keeping the value to smaller numbers is usually going to be more visually pleasing.
3) Distribute Tones
This slider affects the Gamma slider in a Levels adjustment. Because the Levels adjustment is applied prior to the Gradient Map, shifting the slider to the left or the right will shift the colors toward the lighter or darker tones respectively. Play with this a bit, watching for the appearance or disappearance of colors mapped to whites and blacks.
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The first setting, in which the “size” of the noise is adjusted, is a destructive change. It cannot be edited once the macro has been finalized. This particular slider should be set carefully. However, other values can be edited afterward. I would suggest the following edits after the macro has been allowed to complete.
1) Open the Distribute Tones layer. This is a Levels adjustment, and sits inside of the “Monochrome Group.” I have found it to be helpful to move the Black Level and White Level sliders inward so as to meet the left and right borders of the histogram. Also, you can adjust the Gamma slider so as to shift the gradient mapped colors toward the lighter and darker values.

2) Select the Reticulation Noise layer and fine tune the Opacity of that layer. You will find that adjusting the opacity of the layer will shift how much the graininess of the reticulation involves the individual colors. In general, keeping the Opacity low will keep the reticulation noise closer to the borders between the individual colors.

3) The macro uses a Gradient Map that uses purple and orange colors for its default. Obviously, you can change this (and you probably will want to!) Open the Gradient Map Adjustment layer and change the colors as you’d like. Using an adjustment preset will make this easier, but those presets are up to you. Be aware that the macro sets the Posterize adjustment to 5 levels, and the Gradient Map has stops at 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%. This means that the end result will give 5 posterized colors, as represented by the colors chosen for those stops.
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The attached macro category should be imported into the Library panel, using the “hamburger menu” at the top right corner of the panel. The macro was created in Affinity Photo 2, and will not be compatible with version 1. Also, once the macro category is imported, you can drag the macro to any other category you already have set up. (I have placed the macro inside a Category that I created called “Color Grading” but you can set up your categories as you would like.)
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
As with all of the macros that I have submitted please remember that I am one person working with one computer. I have tested the macro in a fairly limited fashion, and it works well for me. I believe that the macro functions as stated, but of course I cannot make any guarantees.
On the other hand, if you like the macro you should keep it and enjoy it. It is free to use for personal and/or commercial work, and you do not need to credit me in any way. My only requests are these: (i) please post a response in this Forum topic to let me know that you are using the macro and (hopefully) enjoying it; and (ii) please remember to “pay it forward” by contributing to the forum in any way you can. It is by sharing your experience and your expertise that we all improve our skills and our enjoyment.
Reticulated Gradient Map.afmacros Using the Reticulated Gradient Map Macro.pdf

Hey guys,
just a quick and clean Designer file: a round sticker mock-up for your … mock-upping needs.

You can change almost everything and layers are named accordingly to their purpose: rotation, colour, outline.

Also let me know if you need a rectangular version, so I’ll add one with the same style. 
Edit: Rectangular sticker added.

Sticker.afdesign
Cheers and have fun!
MrDoodlezz