LionelD

@GabrielM Thanks for the response, but I’m going to ask that Affinity consider the naming convention first proposed by @Aammppaa in one of the referenced threads. I use Symbols very extensively (DM for more info if you need it). I have some documents that have tens of instances of each of two Symbols, and it makes a lot of sense to link each instance to its source definition, but I think you also need to be able to name an instance for the role it plays in the overall design. @Aammppaa‘s proposal accomplishes that elegantly. Here’s some insight based on one group of documents. The basic building block in this case is an equilateral triangle; because I need to keep the content associated with a triangle synchronized, I define it to be a Symbol. I create 6 instances of that Symbol, and position them with their apexes at the same X,Y position, rotated 60 degrees with respect to each other. Take together, they form a regular hexagon; I think of this as my base hexagon. In the next step I make lots of copies of the base hexagon, and align them edge to edge and vertex to vertex so they tile a fairly large area. Now I start adding graphic content to one of the triangle Symbols; I’ll edit that content and add to it as necessary, working in the first hexagon I made. With the MacBook naming, the triangles that make up my base hexagon all have the same name. It’s sometimes more convenient or intuitive to add content to a particular triangle because it’s position and/or orientation make it easier or more natural. With the MacBook naming, I have to hunt and peck to find the most suitable triangle, or contrive another mechanism to facilitate my search. If they were named individually, I could choose by name. I’m going to be traveling for the next two weeks or so, so further responses from me are likely to be sporadic. Regards LionelD

@Lee D Thanks for your response, that’s very helpful. Regards

Cross-posted to for further action please. Regards

This topic refers to another at That topic describes behaviour on both iPad and MacBook and, as a comparatively new user, I’m a little reluctant to describe it as a “bug” because I’m still learning. Please move this topic to the correct part of the forum, as appropriate. Just to be clear: I’m using an iPad Pro and Pencil purchased this past April running the latest iOS and Designer (from the App Store). The MacBook is running the latest Mac OS X, and the current release of Designer (from the App Store). The referenced topic has sample files that illustrate the behaviour described. I’ll try to provide any additional information you need, just let me know. Regards Lionel

This issue continues to be a problem for me, so I’m really hoping for some help and/or feedback. I found a discussion at which appears to be related, in spite of the part of the forum where it’s posted (Windows, Designer Beta). I’ve attached sample files that illustrate the problem. Each file contains 6 instances of a single Symbol; the Symbol is private to its host file - I’m not trying to synchronize Symbols across files. This table summarizes the results. File iPad Macbook Symbol Naming - iPad - Instances Named Independently Symbol instances named independently in Layers Studio Symbol instances named independently in Layers Studio Symbol Naming - Mac - Rename Propogates Symbol instances named independently in Layers Studio Instance names in Layers Studio propagate on rename. The first file permits instances of a given Symbol to have different names in the Layers Studio on both iPad and Mac. This suggests the problem is not specific to iPad or Mac. The second file permits instances to have independent names on the iPad, but synchronizes instance names in the Layers Studio. To me, this suggests there’s a difference between the two files. Any thoughts, please? I appreciate the logic in @Aammppaa‘s suggestion in the referenced thread (Instance name should include a reference to the source Symbol) because that seems to deliver the best of both worlds. Regards Symbol Naming - iPad - Instances Named Independently.afdesign Symbol Naming - Mac - Rename Propogates.afdesign

@DM1 Thanks for your feedback. My experience is the same as yours, except I have not been successful re-establishing synchronization - probably finger trouble or ignorance on my part. I’ve made major changes to the graphical content in a Symbol numerous times, and that has behaved flawlessly. I seldom disable synchronization, so have limited experience with it. At the moment I believe the strange behaviour is mostly the renaming I described. The documents in question generally define one Symbol, and, at a guess, from 20 to perhaps 100 instances of the Symbol. I’m not certain yet, but I think I may have files that behave inconsistently; if I confirm that, it might indicate that there’s a setting somewhere that explains things. Regards

It’s becoming more and more weird. In a new document I have two instances of the same Symbol; when I select one in the Layers Studio, hide it, both go into hiding. Thankfully I can use the same method to bring them back out of hiding. This is all on iPad. I’d appreciate any help, please. Regards

I use Symbols intensively, and I’ve found it useful to name each instance differently so I know what role it plays. I found this very helpful in designs that have multiple instances of a given Symbol, each in a different orientation, because I find it easier to edit a Symbol (for example, adding a curve) in the vertical orientation than one that’s rotated, say 75.3 degrees. I know I can rotate the canvas, but that’s too much for my head at the moment. In the current version of Designer (both iPad and Mac), renaming any single instance of a Symbol in the Layers Studio renames all instances of that Symbol, making them all the same - at least, on my iPad and MacBook. So, if I have 6 instances of a given Symbol, I can’t identify the one that’s easiest to edit from it’s name in the Layers studio because those names all become the same. I have to count (assuming an orderly layout and listing), or I have to hunt and peck to find an easy target for the change. Note: I’m referring to the name by which an instance of a Symbol appears in the Layers Studio as distinct from the name attached to the definition of the Symbol in the Symbols studio. Older files (AD iPad 1.6), in which each instance of a Symbol has a different name, open with the original naming; renaming an instance of a Symbol in the Layers Studio renames all of them. In new files (current versions), you get the same renaming behaviour, and there’s no point in time at which instances of a given Symbol can have different names. Is this the intended behaviour? Is there a setting I can change? Regards

When you use “Place Image” in Designer for iPad, Designer seems to offer no information about the original size of raster images, and appears quite content to scale raster images beyond their original size. I just verified this; Designer was quite content to scale a 3600X3600px .PNG image to more than 10000X10000px - i.e., about 3X, no warnings, no complaints, just a silent accomplice. Is that the intended behaviour? It seems the only way to avoid doing this by mistake is to manually limit scaling to the original dimensions; is that correct? I’d like to understand more about how Designer handles imported raster images; for example, does it embed the full-size original, and create scaled copies on demand, so that repeated scaling does not degrade the quality of the scaled image/s? what happens to image quality if I inadvertently place an image so that its aspect ratio differs from the source, and then “fix” that using Transform? Regards

@Ulysses Interesting info about Affinity Photo, and thanks for reminding me that Bridge is free - I keep forgetting that. Regards

@cvrp I think a lot depends on the kind of photography you do. I’ve used Photoshop in various flavors since about 2007, and Photoshop CC these days, always on a MacBook Pro. Many of my photographic images are stitched with a dedicated app (definitely not Photoshop), and they’re large. I almost always have to use Photoshop to edit stitched images after they’re stitched because they include elements in motion like water (rivers, sea). Lightroom can’t handle these images, and is of very limited use to me for other reasons; PhotoMerge is a flop. I now have Affinity Designer on both Mac and iPad Pro (with Pencil). I haven’t traveled since getting the iPad, so not quite sure if I would take just iPad or iPad and MacBook. I definitely prefer to keep Photoshop CC on the MacBook, and it’s extremely unlikely I’ll ever put any part of it on my iPad. If my photography was all single-shot images (i.e., no stitching) I would probably rely on the iPad provided the compromise in functionality was tolerable. IPTC Image metadata is very important to me; I have no idea what Affinity Photo offers, so you’ll have to evaluate that for yourself (I rely on Bridge). If you’re not using iCloud you’ll have to figure out how you’re going to manage storage, especially if you’re a prolific shooter. When iPadOS gets here you might be able to use external storage directly from you iPad. I know there are several people on this forum who use third-party apps for this, but I have no experience with them. I know a number of accomplished photographers who have dumped Photoshop and their DSLR’s in favour of the iPad camera and Affinity Photo, so you won’t be the only photographer in that game. I’m not getting rid of my DSLR any time soon, but I have found some situations in which the iPad camera will get the shot that’s a challenge with a DSLR. Hope this helps, DM me if you want to know more. Regards

@Dan C: Firstly, thanks for the feedback. I have been unable to reproduce the behaviour for brushes that fail to move until today - in spite os making a number of attempts. But then it happened again just a few minutes ago, so I have attached a video clip (I have “Show Touches” turned on at the moment, hope that does not affect the usefulness of the video clip). By the way, Brush that doesn’t want to move is not the same as the one that gave rise to my original report. I had just “created” this one by duplicating one of AD standard “Basic” brushes so I could experiment with it freely. Let me know if you need more information. Regards PS: This is on the latest iPad Pro with Pencil (latest iOS), latest version of AD for iPad (so 1.7.XXX) PPS: I just checked, and the target category to which I was trying to move the duplicated brush does not have the copy - confirming that it did not get moved. EA4DF2D6-3649-48DE-B85B-2EFD74E19290.MP4

I try to avoid deleting my RAW files. Firstly, RAW processors and your skill using them improves over time. You learn things, and technology advances. I have RAW’s that I have re-processed many times, often improving the final result. I’m very pleased that I retained the RAW files. Disk capacity is cheap these days, so I expect you’ll find that managing lots of photos is a much bigger challenge than acquiring capacity. Regards

I still consider myself “new” to AD, and this related to AD on iPad (haven’t tried this on Mac yet). I’m having problems managing raster brushes - operations like moving brushes from one category to another. I believe I’m using the latest version of Designer (1.7.XXXX) 1. When the list of brush categories is too long for your display, there is no way to scroll to the target category when trying to move a brush from one category to another. I “solved” my immediate problem by deleting categories of brush until the list was small enough to fit on the display. At this point you’re stuck - there’s no “Cancel” option, so you can choose a brush category that’s visible, or avoid moving it to some other category by changing the tool you’re using or the studio you’re working in. 2. The operation of moving a brush from one category to another intermittently fails - the target brush stays in its current category. I go to the brush’s current category, select the brush, long press to get the context menu, and click “Move”; then I click on the target category. Brush stays in its current category. This (mis)behaviour appears to be intermittent - it works sometimes, but fails much more often than it succeeds. Anyone else have this? Any suggestions, please? It’s driving me crazy (I did have a head start, so things are looking shaky). If this belongs in one of the Bug forums, would a kind administrator please move it for me. Regards

My short experience with Affinity Designer (iPad and Mac), the only app of it’s type I’ve ever used, already has me longing for an automated way to identify which brush was used, as well as the brush settings that were used, especially for raster brushes. My interim solution is to name layers after the brush I used; there’s no realistic prospect I’ll remember, or guess correctly. Of course, that only works for vector layers, and it’s rather error-prone. Seems appropriate to acknowledge this is likely to be a non-trivial request. Regards