Oval

As I saw on your screenshot, you reduced the horizontal scaling of the text to 25%, possibly to get a condensed style. That could be the reason for that strange result. You shouldn't do that, because you will only get a false style by this way with destroyed proportions of the letters. It is a typographic no go.
Hope I'm understandable. My english is not verry good.

This is why we wrote 4.5cm/c.
 
No need in Affinity because you just use an expression here.

There are three typographical variables to set the size of your text. Please look here. So type in 4.5cm/c.

Hi @abra100pro,
The issue with artboards on non-integer X,Y values was already fixed for the File > Export command so if you use it with one of the artboards (don't forget to set the Area dropdown to that artboard) it should export with the correct dimensions. I understand that's not applicable/practical with files with such a high numbers of artboards - I'm just informing you about it.The Export Persona however wasn't fixed yet, sorry, but this is logged with the developers.

Because free transform, perspective and warp tools are missing since the launch of AD.

@lenogre and anyone else tempted to do this
Please please please do not list bugs (that have already been reported) that are not fixed in beta announcement fix list. It achieves nothing except making those following the thread spend time reading it. We are not claiming all reported bugs are fixed, so it's only worth mentioning when you find a new bug or when something we claim is fixed turns out not to be

Serif wrote: “Accurate typography, artwork, placement and colour will shine out from every layout, every page, every magazine, book, and digital publication, every logo and brochure”. Someone who has only studied in the field for two semesters and looks at only one page of a WORKBOOK immediately sees that Serif is not even able to produce/set a few lines in a typographically professional manner. It is not a question of long documents.

For those that did not read the Help: L—Length. Replaces Shear (S) when a straight line is selected using the Move Tool. Allows you to precisely adjust the line's length. The Anchor point selector changes its appearance for straight lines.
And the workaround: You can measure curves in AD.

We are pleased to announce an update for the MacOS release of Affinity Designer, to version 1.9.0
Changes in this build
A highlights explanation can be found here: 5 things you should know about Affinity Designer 1.9
The detailed changes in Affinity Designer for MacOS 1.9.0 over the release build Affinity Designer for macOS 1.8.6 are as follows:
New Features:
Powerful contour tool to create abstract objects or increase the width of single open curves (learn more) Select Same to efficiently match attributes such as fill colour, stroke colour, stroke weight, transparency, blend mode or shape type (learn more) Select Object to select all objects of a certain type within your document to make editing even easier (learn more) Studio presets for the UI layout to save your favourite workspace setups for different tasks, explained here Studio panel combinations (also learn more) Linked images and Resource Manager (learn more) Added Divide layer blend mode  PDF passthrough to ensure perfect representation of original PDF when exporting, without the need to have embedded fonts installed Save As Package feature to collate your document alongside all used image and font resources into a folder (learn more) Configurable margin guide colours Placed scale for all placed files, which allows scaling to be reset to 100% (learn more) Added hierarchical antialiasing control - accessed from the Blend Ranges dialog in the Layers Panel Curves numeric field controls Blend modes for mask layers Create brushes from current pixel selection (learn more) Added export preview panel (for raster types) - updates live whenever you change an export dialog parameter Content sync of store purchases (requires Sierra or above and registration)
This feature is explained in more detail here Sync your Affinity Store resources with your Affinity 1.9 apps Fixes & Improvements:
Snap to pixel selection bounds Added option for Designer to be able to show/hide overflow text - particularly useful for text on a path Elliptical marquee automatically creates from centre Numerous drawing issues resolved Fix for paste-style leaving objects with misbehaving lines Double-clicking the View Tool's tool icon should zoom to fit Improved performance of OpenType features Added JPEG-XR 101010 import support (useful for screen captures from Xbox, etc.) Fix a number of potential symbol-related problems Text improvements - particularly relating to mid-word punctuation Snapping tweaks - you can now snap to column guides if they're hidden and you have 'Only snap to visible objects' disabled Fixed insertion target button failure! Fixed font combo not previewing changes in the document correctly Fix for PDF export on an M1 Mac causing issues PDF export improvements - particularly around filter effects PDF import improvement with mask images PDF Import improvements around tinted colours and unknown fonts New samples Fix for pixel layers inside symbols occasionally acting incorrectly (painting may not apply to all symbol instances, items may transform oddly, for example) Fixed sporadic crash with Pencil Tool and hopefully generally improved product stability Fix for artefacts occasionally noticed in the noise pattern while editing objects with noise on a linear fill Misc Big Sur fixes. Fix for rendering problems affecting cropped items with layer effects applied Added ability to rotate canvas if you have a scroll wheel mouse (or two-finger vertical drag on your touchpad) if you hold down Command. This will rotate around the mouse cursor location. Holding down Shift in addition to Command while scrolling will rotate around the centre of the view. This shortcut can also be disabled in Preferences > Tools Improved performance with large document Various stability improvements Help and Localisation improvements  
UPDATING TO THIS VERSION (Free for existing customers)
The software version can be seen on the splash screen and the About dialog (in application menu, Affinity Designer > About).
If you’ve purchased from the Mac App Store— updates are done automatically next time you run your software after it is available in the Mac App Store. If this does not happen for you, open the Mac App Store app and go to the Updates page and then Store > Reload page or press CMD+R. This should hopefully force the update to show. Apple sometimes phase roll outs around the world which can mean it may take up to 72 hours for your update to be available.
If you’ve purchased from the Affinity Store— each time you start the software it will check for updates and offer to download and install any available update, or in the application main menu there is an option Check for Updates. You can download the latest installer by logging into the affinity store here and find the order in your account and use the "Download" button in there. Alternatively, this new release (and previous versions of Affinity Designer for macOS) can be downloaded from this link (that installer is NOT for Mac App Store purchases and needs a product key).

I could have sworn this has been available since version 1.0 from 2014??!?!?! now I'm confused

This is a feature request. Perhaps there will be a new red button in future.

This is a feature request. Perhaps there will be a new red button in future.

This is a feature request. Perhaps there will be a new red button in future.

This is a feature request. Perhaps there will be a new red button in future.

Oooooh, I wonder if that's a patentable feature? lol

This is a feature request. Perhaps there will be a new red button in future.

Thanks Matt. I presumed it meant that but was just checking and that's good news. Although in this weather a toasty laptop isn't all that bad.

Status: Beta
Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Photo
Mac App Store: Not submitted
Download ZIP (Universal): Download
Auto-update: Available
 
Hello,
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the seventh build of Affinity Photo 1.9.0 for macOS.
If this is your first time using a customer beta of an Affinity app, it’s worth noting that the beta will install as a separate app - alongside your store version. They will not interfere with each other at all and you can continue to use the store version for critical work without worry.
This beta is significantly different from the 1.8 version available for purchase - we strongly recommend that you do not use this beta for real work as data could be lost and the files you save are not guaranteed to open in previous / future versions of Affinity Photo.
 
Thanks again for your continued support!
 
Affinity Photo Team  
 
Changes Since 1.9.0.206
 
- Added export preview panel (for raster types) - updates live whenever you change an export parameter.
- Added JPEG-XR 101010 import support (useful for screen captures from Xbox, etc.)
- Added per-layer antialiasing controls in the advanced blending menu (it’s also hierarchical, which is nice).
- Added new splash screen.
- Added a new filter to remove background light from astrophotography images (Filters -> Astrophotography -> Remove Background).
- Assorted improvements to astrophotography stacking (performance, robustness, quality).
- Live liquify improvements.
- The layer link editor is now a studio panel - further cleanup work is still planned on this panel.
- Reduced binary size.
- Content download service improvements.
- Numerous assorted fixes.
- Help improvements.
- Localisation improvements.
 
Cumulative Changes Since 1.8
 
- Linked Layers.
You can now select a layer and do Layer -> Duplicate Linked. Linked layers are denoted by a small link icon in the layers tab - clicking that icon will bring up a link editing panel (the UI here will change in subsequent beta builds - this is just so we can test the linking itself for now). You can “unlink” particular aspects of a layer using the buttons - for example, if you wanted a mask to share the same pixel content as another mask, but not the opacity settings, you can do that using this test UI.
For the brave, this panel also allows “relinking” - even between different layer types(!). Dragging a layer from the layer tab and dropping it onto one of the small target icons in the panel will link together that particular aspect of the two layers (again, the UI is all going to change). For example, you could make a mask layer which shares opacity settings with an adjustment layer somewhere else in the document, whilst also sharing blend mode with a circle shape layer somewhere else. 
It’s worth noting that this feature is quite raw at the moment - please feel free to experiment with it, but *do not* use it for any real work. There is a high chance any documents you make will stop working in a future beta.
- Default to black-to-white gradients in the gradient tool (more gradient tool improvements are coming for 1.9, at last).
- Content download service improvements.
- Assorted astrophotography stacking improvements.
- Allow placement policy for images to be changed using the menu.
- Added missing text baseline options to the menu.
- Added support for 12bit grayscale TIFF files.
- Added ability to create pattern layers from selections.
- Timelapse fixes and improvements, including ability to choose codec.
- Timelapse export performance improvements.
- Fixed incorrect attribute bits when writing 32bit TGA files.
- Fixed bugs when duplicating pattern layers.
- Fixed broken insertion target buttons on the toolbar.
- Fixed incorrect pattern sizes when committing the dialog without tabbing away from the height field.
- Fixed broken AANN sampling mode in pattern layers.
- Fixed filter effects on pattern layers.
- Fixed brush panel crashes.
- Fixed live filters initialising to RGB in (for example) CMYK documents.
- Fixed crazy behaviour when entering Liquify persona.
- Fixed issue whereby you would get more / different options depending where you right click on spare channels (!).
- Assorted other small bug fixes.
- Localisation improvements.
- Help improvements.
 
- Pattern improvements - brushes now wrap around the edges of the pattern.
- Timelapse improvements - progress bar, abortable, crossfade.
- Improved colours for Canon EOS R5 camera RAW.
- Filter effects now work properly with global colours.
- Fixed white balance issues.
- Added a new “Astrophotography Stack” persona which allows you to combine dark frames, light frames, bias frames, flat frames and dark flat frames then stack them. FITS images are also supported. Lots of photographers have been experimenting with astro during lockdown - hopefully these new tools will help users to get better results. I'm sure James Ritson will be providing some tutorial guidance in short order 
- Added “Pattern Layers” - a fixed size bitmap layer which repeats across the entire document. You can paint on pattern layers and use all filters to manipulate them and see the resulting pattern in real time. They can be transformed non-destructively. After a pattern is added and a tool selected, a faint grey box indicates the "real" area of the pattern which can be edited.
- Added “Export Timelapse” - the ability to export a document which has undo steps as a video. Numerous options exist to control how the video is generated (and more will come later!).
- Added “Live Liquify” layers - as the name suggests, they allow you to have non-destructive liquify layers in your stack which can be edited and masked just like all other live filter layers. At the moment, a hard limit of 512 pixels offset in either X or Y is enforced - we hope to eventually lift this restriction.
- Reworked “Studio Presets” from the earlier 1.9 betas. They now work in a more predictable way and store tool / toolbar configuration. A manager dialog is also now provided.
- Added a new “Combined” result to the benchmark - to test performance contexts where vector and raster content is used together. The benchmark version is still 1900 - so existing vector and raster scores from previous builds are still valid and comparable.
- Added a registration page to the app - this allows users to login and auto-install brushes (so far).
- Added the “Resource Manager” functionality from Publisher for managing image placement.
- Added ability to open package files from Designer and Publisher.
- Photo is now a universal binary, supporting both Intel and Apple silicon processors.
- Path text improvements.

- Added “Duplicate spare channel” to right click menu.
- Added missing “Convert to Path Text” menu item.
- Small improvements to the benchmark UI.
- Update app icon for Big Sur.
- Fixed numerous bugs with brushes, introduced in the 1.9.0 betas.
- Fixed issues when opening multiple RAW files at once.
- Fixed significant memory leak introduced in 1.9.0 betas.
- Fixed UI issues with Big Sur.
- Fixed assorted other GPU acceleration issues introduced in the 1.9.0 betas.
 
- Text on a path is now available in Photo.
- More filters now work on masks / adjustments / spare channels (Add Noise, Perlin Noise, etc.).
- Improved Metal rendering performance (over 195).
- Improved experience when editing a spare channel (view artefacts, histogram and navigator).
- Setting a blend mode on a sub-brush will now work properly - paving the way for import of PSD dual-brushes in a future build.
- Attempted to fix startup crash on machines with no compatible Metal GPU.
- Fixed localisation issues affecting non-UK users.
- Fixed issues when attempting to add layers to a spare channel (!).

- Improved “Serif Labs” RAW engine.
- You can now single click a spare channel in the Channels panel to edit it like a layer.
- The Curves adjustment now has numeric field controls for precise positioning.
- Studio presets are now available.
- A benchmarking tool has been added in the help menu. It will only become available when no documents are open.
- Blend modes now work on “alpha only” layers (masks, adjustments, live filters, etc.).
- Added a new “Divide” blend mode.
- Added “Create from centre” for the elliptical marquee tool.
- Allowed snapping to the bounds of the pixel selection.
- Added ability to create brushes from the current pixel selection with one click.
 
To be notified about all future macOS beta updates, please follow this notification thread 
To be notified when this Photo update comes out of beta and is fully released to all Affinity Photo on macOS customers, please follow this thread

Status: Beta
Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer
Mac App Store: Not submitted
Download: Download
 
Auto-update: Not available
 
Hello,
If this is your first time using a customer beta of an Affinity app, it’s worth noting that the beta will install as a separate app - alongside your store version. They will not interfere with each other at all and you can continue to use the store version for critical work without worry.
This beta is significantly different from the 1.8.x version available for purchase - we strongly recommend that you do not use this beta for real work as data could be lost and the files you save are not guaranteed to open in previous / future versions of Affinity Designer.
Thanks again for your continued support!
Many thanks!
Matt
 
Changes this time
- Added export preview panel (for raster types) - updates live whenever you change an export parameter
- Added JPEG-XR 101010 import support (useful for screen captures from Xbox, etc.)
- Added new splash screen
- Content download service improvements
- Numerous assorted fixes
- Help improvements
- Localisation improvements
 
Changes Since 1.8.x
- Export Time-lapse should now draw without pixellation when showing zoomed in areas
- PDF export improvements - particularly around filter effects
- Added 'Select Same Name' and 'Select Same Colour Tag' options
- Updated Help
- A few Big Sur UI-related tweaks
- Fix for printing of passthrough PDFs
- Fix a number of potential symbol-related problems
- Text improvements - particularly relating to mid-word punctuation
- Snapping tweaks - you can now snap to column guides if they're hidden and you have 'snap to hidden objects' turned on
- Added hierarchical antialiasing control - accessed from the Blend Options dialog on the layers panel
- Added 'Export Time-lapse' feature from Photo
- Fixed insertion target button failure!
- Fixed font combo not previewing changes in the document correctly
- New cat shape (accessible on Friday 13th or if you know the magic trick!)
- Misc PDF export tweaks
- Fix for Column Guides not updating correctly
- PDF Import improvements (particularly around tinted colours and unknown fonts)
- Fix for a UI issue in Big Sur (the vertical positioning of some checkboxes)
- New samples! 
- Added Preferences item to allow auto-updating of linked images in the document when the images are edited externally
- Fix for 'Embed'/'Link' image placement preference working incorrectly from some dialogs...
- Added 'Save as package' feature for easy delivery of a complete project
- Improvements to application registration and content syncing
- Fix for pixel layers inside symbols occasionally acting incorrectly (painting may not apply to all symbol instances, items may transform oddly, for example)
- Added Studio Presets with, hopefully, complete functionality 
- Tabbing between fields in the New Document dialog should no longer crash! (sigh)
- Fixed sporadic crash with Pencil Tool (yay!) and hopefully generally improved product stability
- Fix for artefacts occasionally noticed in the noise pattern while editing objects with noise on a linear fill
- Fix for occasional disabling of some buttons
- Added registration page to the app - allows users to login and auto-install brushes (so far)
- Fix for Select Same and Select Object when they encounter text objects
- Enable image placement options in Designer (you can now choose Linked or Embedded) and also Resource Manager (from the View menu)
- Added option for Designer to be able to show/hide overflow text - particularly useful for text on a path
- Application icon updated to fit the 'Big Sur' visual style, also document icons updated. Misc other Big Sur fixes.
- Fix for terrible rendering problems - particularly affected cropped items with layer effects applied
- Added ability to rotate canvas if you have a scroll wheel mouse (or two-finger vertical drag on your touchpad) if you hold down Command. This will rotate around the mouse cursor location. Holding down Shift in addition to Command while scrolling will rotate around the centre of the view.
- Contour tool.
- Select Same / Select Object functionality. I'm happy to consider requests for extra options, so if you have a favourite, just say...
- Improved performance with large documents. I will aim to improve this further over time.
- Added a new “Divide” blend mode.
- Allowed snapping to the bounds of the pixel selection.
 
To be notified about all future Mac beta updates, please follow this beta notification thread 
To be notified when this update comes out of beta and is fully released to all Affinity Designer customers, please follow this release notification thread

I knew I had said something somewhere, I could not remember where.... sigh oh well. However, nobody could have completely foreseen 2020 I think you will agree

To anyone following this topic, you will find your post and any subsequent discussion here instead
 

Maybe you should advise the devs how to compile their code correctly.

If Serif don’t know more than you do, what could you possibly gain by their publishing the spec for the file format? 

try to delete the download file first

The staff have made it clear in several different topics that they will no longer provide ETA’s for any new features … but a mesh warp/distort tool is on the old Affinity Designer feature roadmap.