MEB

Great to see people inspired and having fun with the program :) Looking forward for developments... Great start already!

No, not at this point. Those type of improvements may come later. For now there's a lot of fundamental features that take priority - text on a path, symbols, import/export improvements etc etc

Yes, you have to click on each checkmark individually. This is just the first release! Those refinements will come with time. There's a lot of improvements and new features coming as free updates. Just give developers some time :)

Agree, this is very useful and much more quicker to perform than the actual implementation. Good suggestion :)

SLV, That's the correct behaviour. White is converted in a transparent area and black in an opaque one. Greys should let pass more or less depending on their value. So a dark grey will "filter" almost all the information from the object below (you should see a faint representation of what's below the mask), whereas a light grey will let pass almost all information, showing you a slightly faded picture of what's below the mask. This is also now consistent with the way pixel masks work in AD.

1. When you select one object (i.e. the circle) you can change it's main properties (including changing the object through the controls of its bounding box) with the Move Tool or simply move the object. If you select more than one object the context toolbar changes to show you alignments and other useful options related to positioning or grouping of those objects (remember you have the Move Tool selected). To edit objects directly you should change to the Node Tool. Here the context toolbar changes to show you options related with direct object editing (like the fill and stroke you're looking for, type of nodes etc, even for multiple objects. And obviously you can also edit their nodes on the canvas with it. Overal use the Move Tool to position and manipulate the objects globally (by it's bounding boxes). And the Node Tool to edit the objects properties and edit them "locally" (by their nodes). 2. You aren't missing nothing here. Those are features that weren't implemented yet. The transform panel is acting globally over the selected objects.

Hi adamfarmer The masking feature was improved and is now possible to achieve what you were trying to create. You can get the latest beta (1.0.19815) here in case you want to try it. The updated MAS version will be available later.

Rasterize to Mask is much quicker now :)

Yes, i understood :) I was editing my reply to complete my answer but you beat me and replied first. Sorry about that.

Yes, a compound object acts like a single object, so you can't change the color of its components to different values.

You can identify each type by the grey description between parenthesis on the right of the name (if you gave it one). Layers are identified as (Layers), groups as (Groups) and objects are identified as (Curves) etc. Regarding the context menu in the layers panel, i believe it will be implemented later but only a dev can give you more details about this.

JBR Text on a path, distortion tools and a lot more is coming. It wasn't possible to include everything at once. We will get there...

Coconut42, A group is just a bunch of individual objects without any particular relation between them other than being in the same container (i.e. the group). You can delete or move them individually inside the group without affecting the others. A compound object is an object that results from a boolean operation between two or more objects. If you change (i.e. move or edit its nodes) one of them, it affects the resulting compound object. The advantage of compound objects is that you can perform non destructive boolean operations. So if you subtract a circle from a rectangle for example, you are still able to edit those two shapes and the resulting object will automatically reflect the changes you made. Try to expand a compound object in the Layers panel, select one of it's components and move it. The compound object will update in real time. It's the equivalent of Illustrator's compound shapes.

Coconut42, Yes, it's still to soon to talk about scripting. There's a long list of other features taking priority (check the Feature Roadmap for details).

Hi jasonteunissen, Welcome to Affinity Forums. In most applications that feature is called symbols. It's already on Affinity Designer Feature Roadmap in the Illustration section and should come later.

You're welcome. The Bucket Tool (Flood Fill Tool in AD) can only fill pixel based objects, selections and pixels layers. It doesn't fill vector objects. There isn't an AD equivalent to Live Paint Tool in Illustrator yet. You can however use clipping to "paint" inside a vector object in a Pixel layer. Here's how: 1. Draw a rectangle (it's created inside of a vector layer by default in new documents) 2. With the vector layer selected, create a Pixel layer inside it (second icon in the bottom of layers panel counting from right). 3. Drag the Pixel layer over the rectangle - make sure you let it go over the (Rectangle) letters area on the right and NOT over the rectangle thumbnail. 4. Now make sure the Pixel layer is selected and change to Pixel Persona. You can use any raster based tool to paint in this layer and it will limit anything you do to inside the rectangle. Here's a video tutorial that may help. It describes how to use raster brushes to shade vector objects.

Hi dlittlefair1 Welcome to Affinity Forums, You can use the Node Tool to break the curves where there's a node (check the first icon in the action section on the context toolbar - select the node and click on the button). The Flood Fill is a raster based tool and only works in Pixel layers. You can use it to fill a pixel based object (created with the tools in the Pixel Persona section - second icon on the top below traffic control lights), a marquee selection or a Pixel layer. To create a Pixel layer click on the second icon on the bottom of the layers panel counting from right. Currently there's no vector fill tool similar to Live Paint in Illustrator. A quicker way to create a cylinder in perspective in AD is drawing two ellipses and a rectangle and perform an Add boolean operation. You can enable snapping to help you align all objects.

CMDA, You can already open Freehand files in AD. Make sure they have extensions (.fh10 or .fh11). .fh9 files are also being improved to support text properly, so you should be able to work with them soon. Multiple pages are on Affinity Designer's roadmap and will eventually add multiple pages/artboards support to Freehand import.

Nice work el_diablo! Looking forward for more...

bbwebdiz, You can already do that: Pressing alt + click will select the objects below successively in the same layer (or group). If you want to select objects from all the layers press Edit All Layers button in the layers panel (bottom left icon on the layers panel). You will then be able to select all the objects below no matter what layer they are in.

Hi seltsam, The export formats in Affinity Designer are being continuously improved. The latest beta has fixed some of the problems. If you are still having trouble, it would help if you could post the problematic file here or send it to support@seriflabs.com so the problem can be fixed.

You're welcome. You can also use cmd+z shortcut to perform an undo action.

How to use bitmap fills: replied here.

Konspaul, 1. First enable snapping and adjust your snapping preferences if needed (in the Snapping Manager) 2. Make sure Show snapping candidates is checked. This will create a purple outline around the objects you will snap to. 3. Mouse over the object you want to align to for a few seconds. This will turn it in a snapping candidate to which you will be able to align your object. 4. Move your original object. It should now align to the object you defined as a snapping candidate.

Hi Sooz, Welcome to Affinity Forums, You can use a bitmap pattern going to Gradient Tool and selecting Bitmap from the Type drop down on the context toolbar at top. A dialog will then let you pick a bitmap to use as a pattern. The Extend drop down will let you define how to fill your shape (repeating, mirroring etc - although this is still a little buggy). Vector pattern fills aren't currently implemented.