MEB

Hello Carlos, Mireille G,
Sorry the delay replying.
To use a greyscale image as a mask, select the image, go to menu Layer ▹ Rasterise to Mask.
If necessary, I will write a small tutorial showing how to achieve a result similar to the example in the first post.
Let me know if you still have trouble.

@Andreas Larsen, @00Ghz,
We are already aware of the expand stroke issues. Matt will take care of it as soon as he can, but you have to be a little more patient too. Some issues like this one may require a complete rewrite/rethink of the function and may take a little time until we find a solution we are happy with. 

I've noted that too. There seems to be a bug with the brushes - only the brush width is working on that dialog. But i do know you can use a Wacom since there's other members using it successfully. At least it was working during the beta.

Hi Carlos,
Select your image (jpg), go to menu Layer ▹ Rasterize to Mask. You can then attach the mask to whatever object you want.

Hi omegaman,
No, it's not available yet, but it's coming. For more info on new features check the Feature Roadmap posted by TonyB.

You can continue working with the beta if you wish. Just remember that files created or saved with the Beta may not open in the current Mac App Store 1.2 (MAS) version, because it doesn't include the latest features introduced in the Beta. You must keep the MAS version installed to use the Beta without time restrictions.

Hi folks,
 
There is something I've to deal with quite some times:
--> Sliding a node to match an intersection (or for another reason), but keeping it along it's path so there is no risk to alter very precise drawings.

The fact intersection "snap" between two paths is not supported does not help at all. Else I could simply add a new node at the exact intersection and remove the old "A"
(This would be a —great great great— feature and it's a —huge huge huge— need :)
To workaround this lack, I've to zoom into my intersection (desired A position), and manually add a new node. Please note that at some point when zooming, adding a node is not possible anymore as the detection of the path fails.
 
Beside the need of fixing this issue (detection for adding a node when in high zoom) + the feature request for snapping at intersections, I would have the following one:
This is a screen record of Cinema 4D
Cinema4DSlide.mov
Applying this concept to 2D path editing would be simply terrific! I hope you'll agree.

Let me apologize for joining this thread, but I was not able to find a way to perform the node actions shown below in Designer … hmm, if these actions should not be possible indeed, I would consider adding the respective options very useful as well …  :)
Move.mov

If all what you are looking for is issues in the software, that's issues you will find. Most people have accepted that neither customisable shortcuts nor the pasteboard area are available yet - knowing they will be added soon -, have moved on and are actively using the software to create and find solutions to move their projects forward until those features become available.
 
If in your case, this is not enough for anything other than primitive vector design, there's nothing stopping you from going back to your previous software and try Affinity again a few months later when those features are probably available if you want. 
 
Trying to argue based on your assumptions of why things work the way they work in Affinity will not lead to anything productive. You're not aware neither the motivations nor the constraints the developers find/found during the development.
 
Meanwhile we are seeing illustration work being showcased, icons and websites being designed and even printed material/finished products being shown on the Share your work section despite the fact there's also still professional printing features missing. This is not just about software, it's also about people's attitudes.
 
Both customisable shortcuts, and the pasteboard area were acknowledged and added to the roadmap even before you have signed in here - because we also recognise their importance and the inconvenience they may cause when missing - but they are far from being "fundamental failures" and they didn't stop people who have embraced the software to create things and move forward.

If all what you are looking for is issues in the software, that's issues you will find. Most people have accepted that neither customisable shortcuts nor the pasteboard area are available yet - knowing they will be added soon -, have moved on and are actively using the software to create and find solutions to move their projects forward until those features become available.
 
If in your case, this is not enough for anything other than primitive vector design, there's nothing stopping you from going back to your previous software and try Affinity again a few months later when those features are probably available if you want. 
 
Trying to argue based on your assumptions of why things work the way they work in Affinity will not lead to anything productive. You're not aware neither the motivations nor the constraints the developers find/found during the development.
 
Meanwhile we are seeing illustration work being showcased, icons and websites being designed and even printed material/finished products being shown on the Share your work section despite the fact there's also still professional printing features missing. This is not just about software, it's also about people's attitudes.
 
Both customisable shortcuts, and the pasteboard area were acknowledged and added to the roadmap even before you have signed in here - because we also recognise their importance and the inconvenience they may cause when missing - but they are far from being "fundamental failures" and they didn't stop people who have embraced the software to create things and move forward.

If all what you are looking for is issues in the software, that's issues you will find. Most people have accepted that neither customisable shortcuts nor the pasteboard area are available yet - knowing they will be added soon -, have moved on and are actively using the software to create and find solutions to move their projects forward until those features become available.
 
If in your case, this is not enough for anything other than primitive vector design, there's nothing stopping you from going back to your previous software and try Affinity again a few months later when those features are probably available if you want. 
 
Trying to argue based on your assumptions of why things work the way they work in Affinity will not lead to anything productive. You're not aware neither the motivations nor the constraints the developers find/found during the development.
 
Meanwhile we are seeing illustration work being showcased, icons and websites being designed and even printed material/finished products being shown on the Share your work section despite the fact there's also still professional printing features missing. This is not just about software, it's also about people's attitudes.
 
Both customisable shortcuts, and the pasteboard area were acknowledged and added to the roadmap even before you have signed in here - because we also recognise their importance and the inconvenience they may cause when missing - but they are far from being "fundamental failures" and they didn't stop people who have embraced the software to create things and move forward.

If all what you are looking for is issues in the software, that's issues you will find. Most people have accepted that neither customisable shortcuts nor the pasteboard area are available yet - knowing they will be added soon -, have moved on and are actively using the software to create and find solutions to move their projects forward until those features become available.
 
If in your case, this is not enough for anything other than primitive vector design, there's nothing stopping you from going back to your previous software and try Affinity again a few months later when those features are probably available if you want. 
 
Trying to argue based on your assumptions of why things work the way they work in Affinity will not lead to anything productive. You're not aware neither the motivations nor the constraints the developers find/found during the development.
 
Meanwhile we are seeing illustration work being showcased, icons and websites being designed and even printed material/finished products being shown on the Share your work section despite the fact there's also still professional printing features missing. This is not just about software, it's also about people's attitudes.
 
Both customisable shortcuts, and the pasteboard area were acknowledged and added to the roadmap even before you have signed in here - because we also recognise their importance and the inconvenience they may cause when missing - but they are far from being "fundamental failures" and they didn't stop people who have embraced the software to create things and move forward.

If all what you are looking for is issues in the software, that's issues you will find. Most people have accepted that neither customisable shortcuts nor the pasteboard area are available yet - knowing they will be added soon -, have moved on and are actively using the software to create and find solutions to move their projects forward until those features become available.
 
If in your case, this is not enough for anything other than primitive vector design, there's nothing stopping you from going back to your previous software and try Affinity again a few months later when those features are probably available if you want. 
 
Trying to argue based on your assumptions of why things work the way they work in Affinity will not lead to anything productive. You're not aware neither the motivations nor the constraints the developers find/found during the development.
 
Meanwhile we are seeing illustration work being showcased, icons and websites being designed and even printed material/finished products being shown on the Share your work section despite the fact there's also still professional printing features missing. This is not just about software, it's also about people's attitudes.
 
Both customisable shortcuts, and the pasteboard area were acknowledged and added to the roadmap even before you have signed in here - because we also recognise their importance and the inconvenience they may cause when missing - but they are far from being "fundamental failures" and they didn't stop people who have embraced the software to create things and move forward.

If all what you are looking for is issues in the software, that's issues you will find. Most people have accepted that neither customisable shortcuts nor the pasteboard area are available yet - knowing they will be added soon -, have moved on and are actively using the software to create and find solutions to move their projects forward until those features become available.
 
If in your case, this is not enough for anything other than primitive vector design, there's nothing stopping you from going back to your previous software and try Affinity again a few months later when those features are probably available if you want. 
 
Trying to argue based on your assumptions of why things work the way they work in Affinity will not lead to anything productive. You're not aware neither the motivations nor the constraints the developers find/found during the development.
 
Meanwhile we are seeing illustration work being showcased, icons and websites being designed and even printed material/finished products being shown on the Share your work section despite the fact there's also still professional printing features missing. This is not just about software, it's also about people's attitudes.
 
Both customisable shortcuts, and the pasteboard area were acknowledged and added to the roadmap even before you have signed in here - because we also recognise their importance and the inconvenience they may cause when missing - but they are far from being "fundamental failures" and they didn't stop people who have embraced the software to create things and move forward.

Hi Klaus,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Have you tried File ▹ Export ▹ Export Unmodified Original  within Apple Photo app?

Hi deeds,
 
I'll be the first to confess that I haven't read all of your posts, so please forgive me if the point I'm about to make is moot.
 
In your opinion we have missed a trick - and one that we could so obviously have not missed if we'd just asked someone. Okay. In reality, great things come down to people and their passion... I like to draw things with vectors, I always have - right from being little I've been writing vector drawing programs so I'm sorry to say that it's just in my blood to write a program that I want to use - and for me, it's illustration where my passion is. So, when you start from scratch and you build the program up you're going to end up with something that reflects the passion of the person pouring their heart into it. Without a purpose we would've lost focus. Affinity is at its strongest for vector illustration right now - but the key point here is that that is the situation right now... If I'd had to split my time onto other areas like UI design, web design, print design then Designer would have been diluted and that means it actually would've just either been released as a damp squib or just not released at all - potentially ever. So I think it's a fantastic thing that we chose to do one thing and do it really well and also lay the foundations for the future. We called it Designer deliberately, not Illustrator because illustration is just the start - we are adding everything modern Designers need and the package that they bought will turn into something that can genuinely be used as a stable, solid alternative to any other design tool out there - and it's not that far away. You have to start somewhere and a good place to start is by making it work well and fluidly for people who throw down hundreds of thousands of shapes with different effects - it exercises our renderer's tech, our Document Object Model and command architecture and puts us in an extremely strong and stable position for adding the other features. What I'm trying to say is that we did what we did because it actually makes sense from a development perspective and a personal perspective.
 
The 'M' Rectangle tool shortcut is good example of exactly what you think we did, that we actually didn't... No, we didn't slavishly copy Illustrator's more ridiculous nuances - we actually had it as 'R' for Rectangle because that makes sense but early in beta we had so many people saying 'if you don't copy the shortcut for something as simple as a rectangle, then how do you expect my years of muscle memory to cope with using your application professionally?' that we were actually forced to swallow our pride and accept that some things are the way they are because it's what the customer wants - and they're the ones we're trying to attract! Why do we appear to do snapping wrong in your opinion? - well, it's actually because we deliberately don't look at what other people are doing and slavishly copy it. Ben has great plans for snapping and I'm looking forward to him having the time to get there and show that his method is actually better.
 
I know that probably won't make any difference to the fact that you think we're being stale and adhering to the past - but actually it's just a start and if you don't do the basics at the start then you never get them right! Wouldn't it be great to add everything fancy straight away - sure would, but then we probably still wouldn't have released anything at all - and the fact that people are doing such amazing work in Designer is testament to the fact that what it does fundamentally offer is a solid base set of tools from which to develop.
 
Thanks,
Matt

You can continue working with the beta if you wish. Just remember that files created or saved with the Beta may not open in the current Mac App Store 1.2 (MAS) version, because it doesn't include the latest features introduced in the Beta. You must keep the MAS version installed to use the Beta without time restrictions.

It's incredible how so few shapes can tell the whole story. The force is strong with this one!
Thanks for sharing Yannik.

Hello Yannik, Monstrocriativo
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
 
@Yannik
Great pack. Thanks for sharing!

Another one in progress...
 
 

Hi RKTodd,
 
Another way to do it is to create three overlapping rectangles with the colors and offset you need and put them behind the image in the same layer, then export the layer slice containing all the elements.
 
There will be a Macro Persona (not enabled yet in the interface) that will allow you to record and apply actions/macros, but i´m not sure we have considered something similar to Photoshop's droplets yet. I think there's still other higher priority features to implement before we consider it, but it's a good suggestion.
 
Glad to know you're enjoying Affinity Photo.

It's working fine here (cutting text from a shape).
 
@Big-Belly-Dsign,
Are you using the Mac App Store version (1.2)?
This is a known bug in the Mac App Store (MAS) version.
But it's working fine on the latest beta. If you are using the MAS, convert the text to curves (Layer ▹ Convert to Curves) and then perform the subtract boolean operation.

Where's the juice?! Can't see anything... :huh:

Hi Herux,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :) 
Go to menu File ▹ Export... and select the desired format.

Thanks for the prompt reply. Yes, making the brush white works. I should have thought of this, as I remember this was the way it worked (in photoshop?) years back - you had to change from a white to a black brush to subtract and add to masks.
 
I have just bought AD and like it very much. I have always disliked AI, to learn it needs a career commitment, and as most of my work is web design and photography, I never felt I could justify it. I use Sketch at the moment to create design layout for web pages as it has excellent export options, but I can see that AD is going to be my app of choice when you have got a little further along your road map. I think you have got the balance between AI complexity and features on the one hand and Mac UI cleanness and simplicity on the other just about right.