smallreflection

Hi, and thank you so much! I have finally grasped this! You are absolutely correct. You would also get the same result if you flattened (merged down) the image. Then everything is on the same level playing field. After being used to PS for so long I got used to destructive editing, whereby any layer resizing gets automatically rasterised. But I see that AF uses a much more intelligent non-destructive way of working whereby resizing still retains the original dpi data, so that continuous resizing can be done without any risk of quality loss on each successive resize. This is much better than PS!
 
Thanks again for your time looking into this

Hi.

+1 for symbol management. When creating game assets, with a lot of repeating elements, this gets tedious. Since I was a user of another big name software before, here is what I usually use/ need.
1. Allow smaller thumbnails for symbols.
2. Allow list view for symbols.
3. Allow to sort symbols by name. This way we can manage the symbols by only using the name prefix.

Cheers. 

Thanks for the reminder that we can reorder Assets using a modifier key - I had forgotten!
 
As for number of symbols used...
 
I use AD to prototype boardgames and use Symbols for every repeated element in the game. This allows me to change the icon on every card in a deck of 100+ cards with one action (for example).
 
It is not uncommon for me to have 30+ symbols in a document, and it would be useful to me to subcategorise them and manage them in the same way I can with assets.

+1000
 
I have CMD+R in muscle memory to quickly rename a layer in Sketch or Photoshop, but I can't find this option in AD.
 
Crucial to save time organising files.

Hi,

Well it's pretty clear from the title

Thanks.

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This beta version represents a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.6 may not open in 1.5 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.6 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.5 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Fix for 2 Layers panels showing when using 'Find in Layers Panel' Fix for Magic Mouse 'scrolling while dragging' issues Fix for poor visibility of marching ants in Metal view mode Fix for screen flicker when marching ants are visible in OpenGL view mode Fix for issues with commands (including Undo/Redo) failing on older operating systems (Mountain Lion and earlier) Fix for a couple of SVG import issues Miscellaneous other fixes and tweaks

Allow me to be obnoxious and throw in a suggestion based on another tool that has a jewel for its logo (*cough*), but one thing I would love to see added in Designer 1.5 is adding or allowing for a shortcut for renaming the current layer. I've found that to be a tremendous speed boost. Or am I missing a way to do this already?
 
Another borrowed idea (from Ps as well) that would add to a speedier workflow would be adding a layer search/sort option and perhaps auto-moving/expanding of layers while making selections (obviously requiring some kind of drill-down).

Congrats Matt! Rotating nodes is a welcomed addition!

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This Beta has been updated to fix a translation issue as of 2pm (BST), Thursday 24th August. Aside from the translations, the application remains the same so you only need to download it again if you had a problem. Sorry for the inconvenience.
 
This beta version represents a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.6 may not open in 1.5 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.6 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.5 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Fix for incorrect grid behaviour with isometric grid in Metal view mode, also Triangular grid misbehaviour Fix for incorrect document background area being drawn when zoomed in on an Artboard document in pixel view mode (fixed for Metal view only) Fix for text frame resize via double-clicking handle causing crash Fix for crash on EPS import Fixed some PDF import issues Added ability to rotate the selected nodes in the Node Tool - via the Transform panel Fix for studio panels not correctly restoring their hidden/visible state between application sessions Path text now allows baseline editing when text is multi-line Further tweaked Expand Stroke results to not be so aggressive Miscellaneous other fixes and tweaks

Hey Matt, 
Thanks for the improvement to the Expand Stroke. This is just a simple test but so far I am liking what I see...
 
 

 
That is just a simple line drawn with the pen tool and a pressure curve applied. If I had to guess it would seem like the Expand Stroke command in 1.5.5 created almost 200 points whereas in 1.6 Beta 6 it may have created 20 points? It would be nice to have an Info panel of how many points an object has when you select it, manually counting it isn't fun!

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: New features, fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: Here
 
This beta version represents a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.6 may not open in 1.5 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.6 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.5 version.
 
To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.
 
Fixes/Improvements:
Fix for text appearing blurry while typing. Fix for artistic text creation jumping between different sizes while you drag out a new object. Also added a tooltip next to the cursor to show the size of the text you are about to create. Fix for boolean operations of overlapping areas failing since Beta 5. Fix for fonts not updating correctly when told to reset. Hopefully reduced 'over-eager to serve' behaviour of hidden left and right studio panels. Reduced complexity of the results from 'Expand Stroke' so that they're hopefully more usable. I have not rewritten what it does, just made the result more usable. I will improve this to provide better results on thin strokes for the next beta... Fix for a few OpenType text style bugs. Fix Beta App icons appearing all kinds of crazy colours on macOS High Sierra! Fix for Metal View grid not matching the legacy view's grid when gutter is involved... Added 'Find in Layers Panel' menu item to the 'Layer' menu so that users can assign a shortcut to it for improved workflow. Miscellaneous other tweaks.

Realy, reall „slow“ updates: Just name a different software product, which is developed faster. Only one!
(I know one, but its – excuse me! – an Adobe product: Muse. But that’s it!)
Software engineering is not a pizza service: order – deliver – eat! (Or is it? If I consider Affinity’ pricing level, it may be the case …!)
 

Ooo— @MattP that sounds exciting. :) A Sketch importer would be terrific. Can't wait to see what's cooking!

I'll add Sketch import soon. I actually already had a .sketch importer that imported their old file format (back when it was using Mac-native file serialisation) but I didn't tell anyone outside the company about it as I figured until our support for multi-lines and fills was working then we couldn't render documents perfectly. Now that they've updated to a very easily parseable solution I'll just have to rewrite it a bit. Our back-end already supports multiple lines and fills, but our UI does not, so we just need to add that ability...
 
Our PSD, PDF and SVG import/export will always receive updates to improve functionality and compatibility - and our SVG import/export is currently being looked at...
 
I can't comment on future products and services, but I will suggest to you that you may not need a 'Sketch viewer' or export to Sketch format... and you may be very motivated to stay 'in-house' with Affinity...

I know to some this may seem to be going too deep, but one feature that would be tremendously helpful in Affinity Designer for UI work is the ability to rename multiple layers or find and replace in a selection of multiple layers. When creating a lot of different similar layers, it's great to make a selection and be able to add or change a folder prefix, for instance. Adding the ability to create a shortcut for renaming a current layer also helps make things just a bit faster in heavy workflows. I use these in plugin form elsewhere and it saves tons of time.

Hi MBd, sorry you see it that way - but as Steve has tried to suggest, it's more about the fact that we have hundreds of assets and custom controls in our application, and each one has been recreated to work properly on a light background - so it's not as simple as just exposing a colour choice... you must surely know from us by now that if something matters to our users and we can enable it quickly, we'll pop it in there - this has actually been a long process to get to where we are now, for both Steve and for our Creative team...
 
Edited to add: I think I've actually mentioned this a number of times before, but it's worth stating again... Sometimes, the things that you'd think are easy as an observer, are in fact very involved and slow to implement and sometimes the things that you might think are nightmarishly complicated are actually a few hours worth of work. Development is an unpredictable thing...

Hi steve_m,
 
wow … great to see these improvements! Your draft featuring the increased contrast is definitely better from a usability point of view. Would you mind sharing a non-Retina version of that screen shot? I would guess that a whole lot of people still have non-Retina screens on their desktops …  :)
 
But this is, once again, a proof that Serif is different from other software companies! You are listening to the users …   :)
 
Thanks, Alex

(Steve's in charge of writing the light UI - so he just changed the code a bit in response to the comments here) :)

It's not going to be turned on for 1.6 after all... we actually sat and used the finished thing and weren't 'wowed' by it so we have come up with a different plan - it'll be better for everyone but it won't happen in the timeframe of 1.6, I'm sorry to say :( 

Valid points, JGD …  :)
 
I have the impression that the user interface is currently still under heavy development, and that is no wonder, since there are more and more options added in each iteration of the application suite. Which is wonderful, of course. But from following the development of the application suite in the last year, I cannot help but get the impression that there is no decided enough strategy for the development of the user interface in parallel with the development of the technical framework. Let me expand on a single observation I already noted elsewhere today.
 
When you compare the trigger buttons on the symbols panel (Create, Detach) and the trigger buttons on the context toolbar of the text tools (Character, Paragraph), you will note that they are styled differently, though they perform the same type of function. Each of them triggers an action. And their context is also very similar. All of them are located on horizontal toolbars. However, when you are looking more closely, you will note that they are styled differently. The first ones seem to be standard medium-size macOS buttons ornamented with an icon, while the latter ones are custom-made. The first ones will receive the standard blue highlight when pressed, while the latter ones will receive a faint grey highlight. That will inevitably give the impression that there is no consistent enough strategy for the development of the UI, when new functions are introduced. 
 
Again, I hope these remarks are not misunderstood. I am in love with Designer and Photo, and I don’t mean to discourage the development team by voicing these observations. But I also believe these are valid points, even more so, when we think of the future. Suppose there will be more and more functions added. Then it is important to keep a consistent design strategy for the user interface, for otherwise the handling of the application will get impaired by too many different element styles.
 
Hope that makes sense …  :)

Yep, I second your comments, but I also have to add a few more thoughts on the title/toolbar gradient; it does indeed seem a bit weird when compared with the native “flat Aqua” style… Not only is it much more marked at all gamma levels, and only vaguely similar to the OS in the darkest setting (shouldn't the equivalent look to the native mac OS UI be maybe at the lighter end of the slider and the latter allow for a neutral, OS 8/9 Platinum / Windows 9x gray, just like Adobe CS6/CC?), but the tint itself is off.
 

 
Also, the selected, radio button-like dark background should apply also to the Persona buttons, don't you think? As it stands, it seems as if the other Personas are deactivated and non-selectable, and the selected Persona isn't distinctive enough at a glance. And I'm noticing this only now: the Preferences window and other modal dialogs (like the New Document window) look distinctively non-native, including but not limited to the anti-aliasing, the titlebar gradients and the fact that these don't even have an inactive state look consistent with the rest of the OS…
 
Up until now, when using the dark interface, those weren't very noticeable, but now that one can compare the interface directly with the native OS interface, the differences became jarring. Should the Preferences dialog really have a “Close” button (not to mention that the look is really weird, with the non-changing titlebar (something which is commonplace on Mac app preference dialogs) and lack of alternating line shading commonly found on list views? And why do the Back/Forward chevrons and the square grid on the toolbar buttons look that much different from the ones in System Preferences and Safari?
 

 
And… aren't the Cancel and OK buttons in the “New” dialog too tiny?
 

 
Aren't the search boxes super weird, as they are tiny and have a left-justified magnifying glass icon on a blank field instead of the HIG-mandated centred (until you select it, that is) magnifying glass icon+“Search” string?
 

 
I don't want to be too much of a nitpicker, seeing that the dark interface grew on me to the point that I switched to it also on CC and doesn't, like I said, look as jarring, but… You can either go the Adobe route (which I loathe, by the way, but I do respect that at least their interfaces are now turning a bit more consistent across apps as of late) and do completely non-native interfaces (and the dark interface kind of went in that direction and masked all the imperfections, sort of), or go the extra mile and make it completely consistent, because leaving it in this uncanny valley kind of makes it look a bit weird and unpolished (you can of course do the same for the dark interface mode and even for the Windows version – which I suspect may have some inconsistencies of its own with the OS itself especially if the Preferences dialog looks in any way like the one on the Mac version, but I can't really comment on that one because I haven't tested it lately). I'd go as far as saying that not even iTunes, of all apps, looks this out of place (to be fair, with the advent of the flat design trend, it has been refreshed to the point that it no longer looks like a Carbon app in a Cocoa world, though some non-native controls like the non-expanding scroll bars still give it away).
 
I know that you use a very specific set of tools and are maintaining and greatly expanding a cross-platform suite of apps, but if you're still aiming for Adobe's turf (and everything seems to point that way), you really need to address all these issues. I mean, many of your current and future clients are the same who created and contributed to blogs like Adobe Gripes, we are nitpickers at heart. ;)
 
Anyway, kudos for finally getting the 1.6 betas out of the door… I'm still holding out for Publisher and advanced OpenType support (more on that later, on a different thread) to make a complete and clean switch but, so far, I'm impressed with Affinity.

Not a biggie in the grand scheme of things but... still having this issue with the transparency tool I brought up a while back. 
 
Designer on the left, illustrator on the right. Designer transparency tool is not properly fading out the darker inner shadow on this shape to transparent as the illustrator opacity mask solution at right is. Designer seems to be stretching the inner shadow along the gradient of the transparency tool...
 
The expected result when using the transparency tool for a shape with an effect applied to it should be to fade out consistently.

Oh, and you asked for the blurry and low contrast icons I had mentioned, Matt. 
  I fear this is an entirely different matter, and I don’t think it can be regarded, for the most part, as belonging to the “bugs” category. Let me say, I *really* love the new light interface, but after playing around with the new version for some time, I hope there will be improvements to the user interface in upcoming versions. I am actually not sure, if it would make sense to mention my concerns at this early stage, but let me share just a few observations. Most importantly, I wonder if we could get a little more contrast on the UI. To my eyes, the selected tool highlight should definitely be darker. The contrast is just too low to see at a glance which tool is selected. By the bare numbers, the contrast is even lower than in the dark version (light version 86 : 83, dark version 61 : 39), though I am aware that the numbers alone are not very telling in this case. The main toolbar buttons are confusing to me. I cannot figure out at first glance which buttons are engaged and which are not engaged, which are interactive and which are “greyed out.” Again, the contrast seems too low. The grey level that is used for the active (“pressed”) state is very close to the grey level that standardly indicates a disabled state in macOS (“greyed out”). That is really confusing. In the dark version, you get at least the impression to press down a button by the background color change, but in the light version, you somehow get the impression that you are disabling a button by pressing it. Just compare the standard buttons of the OS to see what I mean by increased contrast.  In addition, the main toolbar buttons on non-Retina displays do not have very sharp and actually somewhat inconsistent borders (stray dark dots in the corners, divider color). And the same goes for other buttons and button combos, such as Cap, Join, Align on the Stroke panel etc. Finally, there are quite a few cosmetic issues. Do we really need to have such a marked gradient on the main toolbar? In that particular case, I would say the contrast is too high. In the dark version, the main toolbar is visually flat, though in the light version it has a very marked bevel (or how you may call the effect suggested by the gradient). And frankly, there are a lot of inconsistencies and alignment issues throughout the user interface that should be ironed out. Clearing up these inconsistencies will make, in sum, a huge impact on the appearance and the usability of the application. But anyway, I hope this post won’t be received badly. Again, I like the new interface, but in my opinion there are still some issues that have to be resolved in order to make the user experience better. And maybe it makes sense to voice these concerns as early as possible …   Thank you again for all your hard work … :) Alex

For a start, I think having a scripting API for plugins for Affinity Designer would be a huge boost—but built-in functionality for inputing data like this would also be really impressive and would potentially draw a lot of Sketch fans.

I know to some this may seem to be going too deep, but one feature that would be tremendously helpful in Affinity Designer for UI work is the ability to rename multiple layers or find and replace in a selection of multiple layers. When creating a lot of different similar layers, it's great to make a selection and be able to add or change a folder prefix, for instance. Adding the ability to create a shortcut for renaming a current layer also helps make things just a bit faster in heavy workflows. I use these in plugin form elsewhere and it saves tons of time.