Really like all the new features in 1.2 but one thing about the pixel alignment button. Whenever you do this, it doesn't snap to the sides or middle and I find that very inconvenient. Really would appreciate that in the next version! I've already complained about no pixel alignment before, love that its implemented but if you can get this to work, that would be awesome.
I am currently in a middle of a transition from Sketch to Affinity Design. As much as I like Sketch, AD is quite superior and feels like a real proffesional tool. I mostly design apps and websites therefore my needs comes from UI design. Still there are some things I lack in Affinity Design and prevents me from using it as a main design tool.
1) Instant measuring distances - in Sketch I can always select any object, hold ALT and hover over any object and I instantly get distances from those objects in pixels. It also works for distances between layers, guides and borders. It works like magic and I really have trouble designing without it as it’s very addictive once you start using it. I know I can draw rectangles but it’s annoing compared to that. Please consider it.
2) duplicating objects with options - there is no easy way to rotate copies of an object in Affinity Designer. Say I have to put 50 copies of a rectangle with rounded edgest around a circle to create a tyre. Or a custom cog I can’t create with the shape preset. Or just simple "create 50 copies of this within selected area".
3) Snapping to full pixels - Snapping to half pixels is usually useless for me in UI design (it results in blurry icons on mobile devices), I need to force snapping to full pixels.
4) Mirrored direction handles – couldn’t find any way to move the direction handles of a nod in a mirrored way. Maybe I am missing something or is this option missing?
5) Eyedropper tool behavior - Whn using eyedropper tool first I have to drag it and once I am done I have to tap the small circle with the selected color to apply it. Why this unnecessary step? In Sketch I can instantly use the color when releasing the cursor. This behavior only slows me down.
6) Object style presets and smart objects - self-explainetory, it makes designing a UI with repeating elements a breeze. Any plans for that?
7) App for previews – you probably need to implement artboards first but it would be nice to preview designs instantly on iOS and/or Android devices. At least you can integrate Skala preview? Sketch app is killer for that.
Thank you for considering all this. Besides that AD is perfect app for design and looking forward to use it more. Sketch has so many bugs, limitations and it’s very slow compared to Affinity Designer.
This has been added to the current customer beta, as an option on the Preferences UI page. It will be included in the next App Store version when that gets updated.
I spoke to Ben about snapping and he confirmed that it is working as designed - pixels will always end up taking preference until you zoom in past the point where the snapping tolerance allows you to snap to the page edges. Perhaps we can look at this in the future to try to prioritise the page edges :)
I must confess I don't really know what's going on there - I do know that pixels are 'different' for some things on purpose... I think it's best if I have a chat with Ben (who wrote snapping) tomorrow and try to get back to you with a real answer :)
Try the beta version - there's a new 'force pixel alignment' mode that sorts out all the awkward pixel-aligning things.
Sketch is good at some things, Designer is good at others - depends where you feel most comfortable really :) Designer is a stable, fast product that is being expanded rapidly - at some point this will include a specific focus on UI design.
aubble got a reaction from rsim in Force pixel alignment in 1.2