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The OP is having some problems deciding which version of the software they need to install, which could be an underlying issue here. See: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/231749-personal-document-dimensions-presets-gone-after-update/ It might be worth waiting until they have installed the version they need before seeing if further advice is necessary.

Threads in these forums don’t generally get ‘closed’. (Some do get closed when Serif think the discussion has ‘ran its course’.) They are normally left open for other people to and add extra information to if necessary, or to ask further questions if they have a similar problem. This allows each thread to becomes a more useful repository of related information.

I would recommend that you use the MSIX x64 version - it's the 'easy' option. If your requirements change later, for instance if you need to integrate the Affinity software with other software, then you might need to swap to using the MSI/EXE x64 version instead. Make sure that you install the same version of all of the Affinity applications which you have a licence for.

Welcome to the forums @FL-3CL Which “installation guide” are you referring to? (If you can give us a link to it then that would help us to know what you are looking at.) For most users, installation of the software is quite straight forward and uses standard techniques, on all three operating systems, so I don’t understand why you would need a guide to tell you how to do it. And the only choice you have to make for the Windows version is which installer you might need to use. Can you tell us more about what information you were looking for?

Welcome to the forums @MJ Newbie If you search the web for draw map airbrush hills you will find lots of techniques to try and advice on things like shading and layering. I’m guessing that not many of them are tutorials specifically for the Affinity applications but you can try some of them and then, if you get stuck, you can ask us about the specific thing that you need help with. Alternatively, if you don’t need the terrain to be particular to your requirements, you could try somewhere like https://www.shadedrelief.com/ and modify/combine something you find there. (Why draw it if it already exists?)

What type of “object” are you selecting, how are you selecting it, and what do you do to “colour it”?

Do you have your snapping Candidates set to Candidate List – see attached image? If so, change it.

In addition to the advice above, are you sure that it’s just the application which is ‘freezing’ and not the operating system? My whole machine ‘freezes’ whenever some particular so-called ‘background’ processes are happening – with a few seconds every now and again where I temporarily regain control – but that affects the whole machine, not just the Affinity applications. This can go on for hours at a time but it always goes back to normal eventually. When the application ‘freezes’, open the Task Manager and check the total Disk usage in the Processes tab. If that’s 100% (or 50% if you have two drives, or 33% for three drives, etc.) then it’s likely that it’s a background process which is running (OS update, virus check, search index update, malicious code removal check, etc.) which is causing the problem.

Welcome to the forums @Adrian Gatti The grey/white checker-board is the transparent background of the document – it shows you where the transparency for the document is. Rotating an image will not rotate the document background, which is what I think you are seeing there. Do you want to rotate the image in the document, or do you want to rotate your view of the document? Note: Full-screen (whole application UI) screenshots are better for problem diagnosis than limited-area screen-grabs.

I think it’s worth mentioning that the beta programme is not just for testing the ‘new stuff’, but it’s also for testing that the ‘old stuff’ hasn’t been broken. Finding that things still work as expected is just as important as, and sometimes more important than, finding something that is wrong, especially if the thing being tested is something that a lot of people use often. And it’s better to find a problem with the ‘old stuff’ in the beta than it is for that problem to be carried over to the next commercial release. So the answer to the question: “What should I be testing?” is, in my opinion, basically: “Whatever you can, and as much as you can.”

You're welcome.

Generally, if a Photoshop plug-in requires user input – for instance, if it uses a dialog to control settings – then it probably won’t work in Photo because those plug-ins need to access the Photoshop API which isn’t available in Photo. Serif cannot use the Adobe code libraries so there’re not much that can be done in those cases. Also, sometimes a Photoshop plug-in will work in Photo only up-to a certain plug-in version but not after that version. Serif usually has no control over this because they have no agency in how anyone else writes their plug-ins. If the manufacturer of the plug-in doesn’t say that it’s compatible with Photo then it’s usually not compatible, but you can try it if you want to. (After all, it’s in the plug-in manufacturer’s interest to code for extended compatibility to get better sales.) I thought that someone was maintaining a list of compatible plug-ins in the Resources section of these forums but I can’t find it (I might have imagined it).

That sort of thing is available now via Anchors and Hyperlinks. Just search for those words in the application Help for more information. As for the reason why ePub publishing is not yet available, my guess is that the code Affinity code would have to change considerably to also accommodate relative/variable layer sizing and formatting (etc.), rather than just the absolute sizing and formatting (etc.) which it uses at the moment. When searching the forums you can add keywords that pertain to your specific requirements to reduce the number of search results. If you don’t know what your requirements are then it could be difficult for anyone else to be able to give you specific answers. That’s correct.

I don’t think you can change the Margins for multiple Artboards at the same time, via either Document Setup or the Guides Manager. However, there is a possible ‘work-around’ mentioned here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/200755-affinity-design-2-ability-to-change-the-margin-and-grid-settings-for-multiple-artboards-simultaneously/ I found that thread by searching the forums for artboard margin and scrolling down a bit.

One of the problems that can occur when trying to follow a Photoshop tutorial while using Photo is that there often isn’t a functionality in Photo which is comparable with a functionality if Photoshop. In these cases it’s not just a matter of finding a differently-named tool or menu selection. You might have to do various things differently, sometimes having to undo something already done, in order to get the desired result. If you stick with Photo tutorials then you’re more likely to be able to get things done but it’s worth remembering that the software might have changed since the tutorial was created and some things might have different names, or things might have moved in the UI, or a technique in a tutorial might not be needed because of new functionalities, etc. There are various Affinity courses that are popular and useful so I would recommend using those, e.g. Udemy, Affinity Revolution. And don’t forget about the official stuff: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/learn/ If you get stuck on anything in particular then you can always ask about it in the forums.

You're welcome. Same to you.

Thanks for the extra information. When you use the Perspective Tool on the Tools Panel to warp a layer, the resultant layer is a Pixel Layer – this is a ‘destructive’ tool and the colour is now ‘baked into’ the pixels. You can change the colour of the pixels but it might be easier to simply re-create the rectangle and warp it a different way. If, instead, you use the Live Perspective Filter (a ‘non-destructive’ process) you can alter the original rectangle as you want.

Can you give us two full-screen (whole application UI) screenshots? One just before you create the Artboard, and one just after. Make sure that we can see the Layers Panel in each screenshot.

The account you created for these forums is not the same as the account which you use to purchase licences for the software, and the accounts are not linked. If you contact Serif as suggested by StevenS above they should be able to help you further.

The Affinity applications cannot export to any ePub formats. If you search these forums for epub you should find various suggestions for ways to do what you want via external software/services.

Welcome to the forums @Edvin2345 Can you give us a full-screen screenshot (whole application UI) so we can see what you can see? Please make sure that the Layers Panel can be seen and that the layer you are talking about is selected. Also, can you tell us how you created the rectangle and which perspective tool you used?

The pasteboard can have a different shade depending on whether you have Artboards or not. You can change these via Settings / User Interface / Background Grey Level or Artboard Background Grey Level.

Welcome to the forums @Gizmalley Some very basic tutorials for Photoshop might use similar functionalities to those available in Photo but you might find yourself getting lost when things start to get more complicated. And some functionalities have many differences between the two applications. And some functionalities in Photoshop simply do not exist in Photo, and vice versa. I would recommend finding some Photo-specific tutorials. There are plenty of official and unofficial ones that can be found on the main Affinity website and the web in various places – just search for affinity tutorial . Try looking in the Tutorials and Resources sections of these forums for all kinds of learning materials. If you can tell us what you are trying to learn then someone might have some specific examples you can look at.

Welcome to the forums @JPeterK The first thing to try is to press the Tab key which Toggles the UI.

There has been confusion between layers and objects since, as far as I know, the applications were first launched. There is also confusion between layers and Layers (note that one has a capital “L”, and it’s important), which are sometimes called Vector Layers, which are also objects. Layers are also layers, but layers are not Layers (or Vector Layers, even if they only contain vectors), and all layers are objects but not all objects are layers (I think, I can’t remember, I'm going for a lie down). These problems have been mentioned to Serif, many times.