Adalbertus

Hi, it's unofficial rule here, that any files to download, especially files form affinity suite, we are uploading here directly on forum - many users consider this as more secure way to download these resources. Anyway - good job with designs.

Hello fellow Developers,
I trust everyone's having a productive coding day. I wanted to bring to light a topic that's incredibly relevant in the realm of Professional Print Production – the importance of Overprint Simulation and Color Separation, and why we need to integrate these features into the next version of Affinity Publisher and Designer.
The world of print production is complex, blending an intricate mix of color science, material properties, and digital-to-physical rendering. Overprint Simulation and color separation are two pivotal elements in this process, largely overlooked in many design software, including ours.
Overprint Simulation is the digital process of replicating the effect of printing one color on top of another. It's used to anticipate and prevent gaps or 'white halos' from appearing between colors due to misalignment - a common issue in print production. Overprint Simulation ensures clean, precise printing, particularly around intricate graphics and texts. It also facilitates unique color blending options that can be indispensable for graphic designers.
Color Separation, on the other hand, is the process of decomposing a graphic or image into the primary print colors – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black), collectively known as CMYK. This is fundamental in transforming digital designs into tangible print products. The precision and accuracy of color separation directly influence the quality of the final printed piece, making this an essential tool for professional designers and publishers.
Affinity Publisher and Designer, while powerfully equipped with many other advanced features, lack built-in overprint simulation and color separation functionalities. The absence of these features complicates the print production process and can negatively affect the print output. Our users currently have to depend on other software for these functions, which is far from ideal considering our goal to provide a complete and intuitive solution for professional design and publishing needs.
Implementing these features would significantly enhance the efficacy of Affinity Publisher and Designer for print production. Overprint Simulation controls would offer more control over how colors interact, reducing potential print issues and broadening the creative palette for designers. Robust color separation tools would ensure that designs are print-ready straight from our software, saving time, and reducing the risk of color discrepancies in the final product.
Not only would these features better serve our current user base, but they would also make Affinity Publisher and Designer more competitive in the professional design software market, potentially attracting new customers who primarily work in print.
In conclusion, I urge everyone to consider the significance of overprint simulation and color separation features in our future updates. These are not just bells and whistles – they're fundamental tools for print production. Let's help our users to transform their digital art into printed masterpieces with the accuracy and color fidelity they deserve.

Examples:
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/inks-separations-screen-frequency.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/overprinting.html
Best Regards

Hey, buddies!

This is an artwork inspired by artists who do miniature with resin and other craft artifacts.

I’ve done a while ago, using Affinity Designer 1.x.Hope you guys like the result ☺️

Oh, if you like this kind of work, please, consider follow my YouTube channel 🙏, soon I’ll upload more content.

Thanks Affinity ❤️
 

Kheyyy...
An attempt to face vector brushes...

 
... and wireframe preview:

Hey guys!
I'd like to share this design result done during my tutorial
This topic is:
✅ Tree House

 
In the community we are doing the Vector drawing, this is the best opportunity to learn and practice!
You can send your design for feedback, in my instagram @jhon.vectorize
See you soon!

The text and icons in all apps are often too small and there are no options to resize them except for the font size on Mac which is still pretty small. I realise it's been mentioned elsewhere many times and it's no simple task to make the interface scalable but it really makes Affinity software the most difficult to quickly navigate of all the software I use. This includes Solidworks CAD which is a lot older than Affinity products and has options for resizing the interface. Even the standarad text in Affinity is significantly smaller than the text in Solidworks. 
 
 

Sea of Clouds is another series of cities, bridges, mountains that immersed in the sea of clouds, It starts with Chongqing's Caijia Jialing River Bridge. Yes, I do love Chongqing. It is a very charming city, also known as the mountain city, fog capital, and bridge capital. I draw several illustations of Chongqing before.
I hope you will enjoy.
 
 
 

I often do forget and also have a hard time to find again resources that others or I have contributed over time here in the forum. In former times I've often oriented on MEB's Affinity resources page, which sadly nowadays isn't up to date any longer (probably it's too much work and too time consuming to keep that up to date). - Here are some links to my own resources section contributions, so I have and keep myself sort of an overview for these.
Assets:
A few Paper Effect Assets AI chip logo icon assets Cat-Silhouette assets Common callout assets Hairstyle Assets Halloween I + II Assets Fall assets & styles set I'am Groot - Vector assets Numbering assets OS X El Capitan UI Kit assets Protractors back to school assets  new Ruler back to school assets Some BW arrow assets Some Easter Assets Some Firework assets Some Fruit Assets Some Nicholas/Santa Claus assets Some plain + vintage Badge Assets Some Snowmen vector assets Star Wars - Mandalorian assets Washi Tape assets Xmas cutout assets & sample Xmas silhouettes Xmas cookies/gingerbread Xmas trees vector assets Macros:
B&W play macros Matte Color Macro Rusty Boost Macro Styles:
Div Metal Styles Fabric styles Fall assets & styles set Fire Styles Fur styles 1+2 Knock on Wood Styles Rust Styles Some Metal Styles Valentine texture styles Wild animal texture styles Xmas texture styles 1+2 Tools:
A few Forum Helper Tools (various Python3 scripts) afthumbs - Extracting PNG Thumbnails from .afphoto and .afdesign files Affinity Designer Shortcut Mapper  Affinity OpenCL Disabler (Windows tool) A visual shortcuts explorer for Affinity Tools  Delineate - A Raster/Bitmap to SVG Converter Thinning multi architecture Affinity apps under MacOS via Python to reclaim disk space whatFileType - Detects file signatures and tells what sort of file it is Various:
2024 Months Calendar Template & Assets in EN new Calendar day as Affinity template/assets & a daily showup SVG file new Christmas Photo Storyboard Chalk brushes Daily Planner DE/EN localized - Letter (ANSI A) print template Daily Log DE/EN localized - Letter (ANSI A) print template Desk Calendar for 2019 Desk Calendar DE/EN/GR for 2022 Desk Calendar DE/EN/GR for 2023 Prism Desk Calendar 2024 DE/EN/GR new Fall Photo Storyboard Halloween Polaroid Photo Storyboard OS X El Capitan UI Kit Pocketcalendar 2019 Reusing filmstrips as photo borders updated Round Calendar Reminder Stickers Xmas Card & Envelope Xmas cutout assets & sample Xmas FB Cover Xmas mug mockup Xmas Trees And most importantly ...
Quick Tips: for finding Affinity content with Google Search
List of some third party calendar generator tools new
List of some third party vectorization & tracing tools

Hi,
I took all the pictures, edited them (not with Affinity Photo) and created a super simple catalog (with Affinity Publisher V1+2), which also got printed (for private purpose only, with additional pages like imprint, foreword, introduction etc). It was easy and a joy to use Publisher. Thank you, people from Serif.
Online version:
https://mount-sushi.com/netsuke/gallery/index.html
PS: I'm not a professional photographer, and these sculptures are really small ...

Affinity is not Photoshop and no clone. They must be an independent product, with intentional differences. 

I am trying to replicate various tutorials and see how far I can get them with Affinity. Here is a small interpretation finished today in Designer V2. I wish we had a full vector custom brushes. Spattering shapes for stars and clouds would have been so much easier. I don't want to mix anything rasterized in vector work. (Well, there is a tiny-winy paper texture layer used.)

Original art idea - Wolf by Marko Stupic
Deer photo by Hans from Pixabay

I've written a book about different mythical creatures from around the world:
https://mythical-monsters.co.uk/book
 
I am struggling to know where to print or publish. Does anyone have any advice?
 
thanks very much

By not providing a bug tracking system that license holders can login to, the Serif company may be perceived as lacking transparency and trust. Customers may feel that the company is not responsive to their issues and that their concerns are not being addressed in a timely manner. Furthermore, a bug tracking system also allows for better organization and prioritization of issues, enabling staff to quickly address and resolve the most critical problems. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as improved efficiency and collaboration within the company. Additionally, a bug tracking system can provide valuable data on the number and types of issues being reported, which can be used to make informed decisions about product development and improvements. Overall, the lack of a bug tracking system can lead to a negative customer experience and impede the company's ability to improve its products and services.

I've seen your current bug reporting forums and it's a total mess.  How in the world do you find any old bugs to fix them throughout all the people reporting them?  It's totally chaos.  No wonder you can't fix any reported bugs, the bug reporting forums is a complete mess.
Your company needs to build a bug tracking system similar to Github's issue tracker, where you can assign Assignees, Labels (like bug, duplicate, enhancement, question, won't fix), Milestones, Development Branch, etc.) , etc.
An effective tracking system, similar to the issue tracker feature on Github, would greatly enhance customer relations by providing a clear and efficient method for identifying and resolving issues.
Top 5 reasons for a issue tracker:
Improved customer satisfaction: With a comprehensive bug tracking system, customers can quickly and easily report issues, and track the progress of their resolution, leading to improved satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Increased efficiency: A bug tracking system allows for better organization and prioritization of issues, enabling staff to quickly address and resolve the most critical problems.
Increased transparency: A bug tracking system provides a clear and visible record of all reported issues and their status, allowing for greater transparency in the issue resolution process.
Improved collaboration: A bug tracking system allows for easy collaboration among staff and customers, enabling them to share information and work together to resolve issues more efficiently.
Better decision-making: A bug tracking system provides data on the number and types of issues being reported, which can be used to make informed decisions about product development and improvements.
 
I recommend you use something like MantisBT. https://www.mantisbt.org/index.php
Open source on Github: https://github.com/mantisbt/mantisbt
From their website: "MantisBT is a popular open source web-based bug tracking system. Built on PHP and supports Linux, Windows and macOS on the server side. Compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and IE 10+. Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). "
There, I saved you time and money!

Custom brushes + overlay

No. Long story short, I want some insight into what's about to happen imminently, such as: what are the plans for the 2.0.4 Betas? Some of this information is already in the forums, but hard to find. So I'm suggesting that they turn on the headlights so we can see a tiny bit of the road ahead, as opposed to a map of the road.
Plus it would also be interesting to learn something about the development process itself. 

Anything is better than silence as we know it.

Have you Serif folks considered having a Development blog?
Delving deep into the Affinity forums, it's clear that there's a lot of dissatisfaction right now. Compounding the frustration caused by bugs and questionable v2 design decisions is the opaqueness of what's being worked on behind the scenes (In terms of an Affinity layer, Opacity is set to 97%, IMO). While I have broader criticisms of the communication from Serif to its user base, in this case I'm just focused on very short-term plans.
It's so hard to know what's coming in the near future. The excellent forum Mods occasionally drop hints about certain things, but the info is scattered all over different topics.
Today's example: I am awaiting the first MSI release of v2, which (AFAIK) will first appear with the 2.0.4 Beta. Patrick gave a useful tidbit a few days ago, but how would a typical user (or prospective purchaser) find out about this without lucky forum searches?
I can appreciate that there are potential downsides to publishing extensive product roadmaps (although there are upsides, as well). But how is there any serious harm in giving us a tentative date for the next upcoming beta and release? Or informing us about what bug fixes or new features are targeted for the next release (with caveats that priorities can change depending on many factors)?  Uncertainty is stressful, and there's plenty of it with Affinity products. If it's possible to reduce that uncertainty without harming the company (and with benefitting customers), then it's a no-brainer.
The blog could also document things like the content of each new release. Yes, you can figure it out by going into the forums, but it's not straightforward (requires visiting the Beta forums) and necessitates browsing multiple web pages. The other day I was trying to recall the official release date for 2.0.3 and spent 10 minutes searching the forums without success. Would've been easy if it had been blogged.
Beyond shedding light on (at least) very-short-term development plans and priorities, there could be articles about interesting aspects of the product design process. The Affinity apps must be astoundingly complex, and it would be interesting to learn about challenges, algorithms, and other aspects of the development process.
Affinity Spotlight is great but seems predominantly oriented towards the artistic side of Affinity (e.g., how to create things; what can be done with the tools). While Affinity Spotlight also sports some recent articles that could have been on a theoretical Development Blog (such as the MSIX/MSI Installer troubleshooting/update), the Spotlight content isn't even close to providing the kinds of insights that would be helpful.
Thanks in advance for considering this. 🙂

Please don't pretend you don't understand what I mean.
My point is that is not my job to find/apply workarounds every times something goes wrong, in order to use my Affinity products.
For exemple, is it my job to set CPU threads limit every time I want to use photo because photo crashes with 16 threads ? Or uninstall windows updates ?
I did what I could to help, and i'm not the only one with this issue, so now that the problem has been identified (like many others). How long do we need to wait for a patch ?
When was the last time Affinity products were patched?  
Why a company like Serif, that is not as convoluted as adobe I guess/hope, is not able to provide regular patches and updates for their products ?

Hi Thank you. I really hope that this is just a temporary fix as I believe this menu is a shortcut menu to features that are available through the normal menu of the application. You are also limited to 6 options there so you have to replace something to add it.

However invert selection is only available through this hidden menu.

It should be placed in the selection menu as photo v2 is. I think that would be better for the user experience across affinity app suite to have consistency, user learning and familiarity.

I was referring to the member's comical and unrealistic claim a month ago that there was a possible orchestrated attack against this forum following your release initiated by a major player or similar. It couldn't be due to genuine dissatisfaction, apparently... sigh.
I know it was a lot of feedback from your customers, which of course coincided with the timing of a major release, and the sales figures you mention, and which had to do with Serif Software's business decisions and design choices, and customers' reactions to them. There is an incredible contrast between Serif's willingness for this dissatisfaction to be communicated here by customers (Which is very civilized, thank you for that), and then a small number of members' adamant response to these dissatisfied customers. Bots get more sleep.
So there was a bit of sourness about turning one's back on reality. There are things Affinity doesn't do to people's satisfaction (yet?) and conversely things Affinity does to people's satisfaction. I think people should be aware of their options and make their own experiences and choices without everything turning into red vs blue.

Many users scratch their heads about the effect of layer pixel aligment, and resulting blurriness when looking at the rendering of images in Photo, or in exported (bitmap / raster) files.
In Photo, you can move layers to non-integer positions, using fractional digits - those digits after the decimal point (or comma for German locale). It is important to set-up Affinity accordingly to be able to inspect positions. First, use Preferences->User Interface Options and set Decimal Places for Unit Types to a high number, e.g. 6.
Decimal Places for Unit Types—controls the number of decimal places allowable for each document measurement unit and degree readouts.
Next, you should always make the transform panel visible, and check the position and size of layers.

What is the impact of layers using fractional pixel positions?
If you have documents with very detailed structures, this can lead to loss of contrast and blurriness. I use a checkered board as example to make this visible.
Affinity used special algorithms to map any pixel or vector objects from the open document to the pixels of the canvas or display.
View Quality / resample method
For rendering, as default "Bilinear" is used, often leading to perceived blurriness. Alternatively, you can choose "Nearest Neighbour" in Preferences->Performance->View Quality which gives a sharper / crisper rendering.
Test file
Here is a test file, showing a checkered rectangle of 256x16px, copied 9 times, and placed as rows from top to bottom.
Each row is shifted by 0,1px in x-axis. The screenshots show the result when viewed at 800% (ctrl-4 / cmd-4)
With View Quality Bilinear (default of Affinity) yo can see that the checkered board becomes more blurry, with maximum at 0.5 position shift where you get a 50% grey row - the black and white pixels become indistinguishable.

In this specific example, it would be possible to regain contrast (except for the 0.5px row) by adding a levels or curves adjustment. In more real world or more complex cases, you could try a high pass filter with blend mode overlay, or unsharp mask filter. All methods have their limits, and cannot fully regain lost details, and often introduce other artefacts.
With View Quality "Nearest Neighbour", the same file looks sharper:

This looks sharp, despite the image is actually blurry by resampling. Starting with 0,6px misalignment, you see that the squares are shifted by 1px to the right, so you swap blurriness by a different rendering issue. It is physically impossible to get a sharp image if it's misaligned (using pixel based display technology with fixed DPI), and rasterised. 
On the other hand, this resample methods often introduces unwanted artefacts, so use with caution (see next post).
Exporting these images in same pixel size and with matching resample-settings normally will create the exact same image visible in Photo - but there are some exceptions, covered in my other posts.
 
More complex scenarios
My checkered board example shipped in x-axis is one of the simplest possible. There are countless other forms to create blurriness, all even harder to correct:
resizing layers (DPI mismatch) rotating layers Shearing or skewing layers using embedded / linked files color artefacts Moving masks (by accident) relative to parent layer Creating unwanted extra pixel during export   
 
checkered 256x256 misaligned.afphoto29.24 kB · 3 downloads

AP offers a perspective transform, but does not offer perspective guides (1,2,3 point, isometric, etc).
Many competitors offer guides with snapping options built in that makes creating, aligning, and/or adjusting perspective much easier.
 
This has been a requested feature for many years (see below) in V1 and does not yet seem to be anywhere in Designer or Photo for V2....
 
 

If others here need VECTOR mesh gradients for professional reasons or document-technical needs, and are looking for an affordable vector tool, Vectorstyler supports mesh gradients and many, many other vector features not available in Affinity today and probably not in 5 or even 10 years. It is a program for working with vector graphics on a serious and comprehensive level, and the algorithms are of very high quality. There is not much raster junk involved.
How others in here feel about this program or Illustrator or other etc. is irrelevant and ends up in endless weirdly unfocused discussions that shroud the few amounts of knowledge in the forum in a useless cloud of smoke.
Try the program for the trial period and see for yourself if it is a tool for your own hobby or business needs and personal preferences. And when it is examined and clarified, it doesn't matter at all what others think.

I commented on page one of this thread and only now came back. In the meantime, I was out there doing real work, some of which involved teaching Affinity products. In the interim I updated to version 2, despite the fact Publisher is lagging quite severely behind the other components. 
I have just read several posts saying that Publisher works just fine and is "missing nothing" from Adobe's products. Such comments are simply the product of ignorance. Perhaps it's worth repeating the missing features, so that people joining the thread more recently can learn.
No spreads of 3+ pages. This is a problem I encounter on day two of teaching first year design. Day two. It's not an advanced feature at all, but rather a requirement for covers with spines, flyers, and many other types of publications.  No informal spreads, which allow temporary reorganisation for side-to-side comparison. No scripting, which strictly limits automation, making Publisher unsuitable for complex documents.  No conditional text or objects. Ditto. No regular expression search/replace. Ditto. No global layers. The current layer implementation works on a page-by-page basis which is unsuitable for many use cases.  No Markdown import, IDML export, ePub export, etc. which seriously limits inter-operability in professional workflows.  No cross-references for story text, only indices. No vertical text or RTL (right-to-left) text. No typeface sets, which helps organise resources across project pools. On the plus side, we did get these features:
Footnote / endnote support. Ability to compile documents as a Book. Not all of these features are equally important, but this list should at least demonstrate the gap between Affinity Publisher and the competition. There's far more room for improvement in this application than the rest of the suite. But I suppose that DTP is less glamorous and has a smaller user base. So perhaps we will never have a competitor for Adobe?