erickp

I believe "Global Layers" is a Publisher related feature and has nothing to do with API's for third party development. "Scripting" might fall into this category for users and developers. It's a big advantage Adobe has over Affinity, the ability to use third party plugins for different and specific workflows.

Fast forward to 2023, where does Affinity stand with API? I've contacted "Astute Graphics" and Michael of "Logo Package," which makes excellent plugins and would love to create them for Designer. Still, they have no access to develop them. I'm curious if there is a "technical" or "philosophical" issue with not opening it up. I would love to hear from the Affiity team.

I opened up a PSD in AP and single lines of text import correctly but multi-line text seems to have the values stripped and all the lines collapse on top of each other. Basically the "leading" is set to zero but even if I go in and change the leading value, nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong? Please advise. Thank you.

It's an odd behavior and not sure what the cause could be. Perhaps something to do with "line breaks" created within PS and not being interpreted correctly in AP. Curious to hear if they figure it out. Thank you.

Ok, I've uploaded a PSD to the Dropbox link provided. Thank you.

I can't share the file in its current state due to company policy. I will try and recreate it, then send over when I get a moment. Attached is an error message I get when I open the file initially. I should have included that in my original post. Another thing I should have mentioned is that this .PSD contains a "smart object". The text that isn't working properly is contain within that smart object. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Hello, I noticed that if I import a .PSD and a multi-line texts leading is set to "auto" from Photoshop, AP doesn't seem to know what to do with that value, so it assigns it no value. Because of this, a paragraph is squish. I would have to go into leading and give it a value in order for it so get back to normal. Is this an issue others are experiencing?

Adding to @v_kyr comment about "Well smart objects are layers, the image data of raster or vector images or even other linked objects." Yes, this is true but they can also be full-blown PSD when opened. Meaning I can import a multilayered PSD as a smart object and your current document seems to automatically assign it's own identifier so that the original isn't affected. Seems like it bakes in a copy. You'll notice when you double click that PSD smart object and it' opens up the file name shows the new identifier, which is usually a string of numbers.

Photoshops "smart objects" is huge. Having that ability in AP, and even better, the ability to open a PS document in AP, then have it retain those "smart object" layers in whatever form Affinity decides to implement it would be essential. I honestly can not commit entirely to AP until they make this happen. I have too many PS files with "smart objects" that completely switching to AP is not even a possibility. I know there is a lot more going on in the backend, but primarily when creating a new "smart object" and/or importing as a "smart object, they are embedding it in the current one and it is assigned a unique identifier. This way, the original isn't affected, but you get a real full copy when you double click on it. Hope you guys can make this happen. I would LOVE to switch for good.

Sometimes you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Some things should just be universal.

I totally get it. Just putting it out there. I'm so glad you all are working so hard on Publisher. True competition has been a long time coming. I was around during the QuarkXPress and InDesign wars and saw that tide turn when most thought it wasn't possible. Got a feeling we are seeing the same thing here and NOT just with Publisher.

In regard to Publisher: Should linking to a document just create a sort of XML? The whole point of linking is to NOT embed and produce a smaller file. Can't believe I helped hi-jack my own thread on Affinity Photo. LOL!

For Publisher that makes total sense, because this is how layout applications usually work. It wasn't clear for Photo, but it's good to know that when you import/embed another Photo document inside another it makes a copy. Keep up the great work! Love what you ladies and gents are doing over there.

Understood. If I do embed another Affinity document inside another, will the original embedded document become another copy? Meaning if I double-click on it and make a change, will it change the original? Photoshop "smart objects" literally create another document (.psb), so the original doc isn't affected.

Will you be implementing something similar to Photoshops "Smart Objects" in Affinity Photo? I know you have the smart filters but Smart Objects is huge and probably the biggest thing holding me back from investing significant time in AP. I guess my other question would be, if I open a PS document in AP, will "smart objects" translate? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.