keiichi77

@Yosh From the  help files...
https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Layers/layerBlendModes.html

We're currently in contact with RetroSupply to get this resolved on the store to return the higher quality brush pack, for anyone else experiencing this issue who owns this particular pack, please contact us directly at affinitysupport@serif.com so we can assist you further.

In Affinity Designer, brushes use raster textures. Is there an indicator anywhere that shows the maximum brush size? To know above what size will the texture get blurry at the given dpi. Often what looks good on screen prints terribly, so it would be good to know beforehand. I assume it could be calculated based on the texture image's px size if nothing else. But I don't know where to find it and how to do the math. I hope this makes sense. I'm having trouble translating my thoughts into English. 😅

Is there any way to lock the brush size when changing brushes? There have been a few instances recently where I've created a drawing using curves, or imported an SVG from Blender, and then wanted to apply a brush to the curve(s) retrospectively. Selecting a new brush sets the stroke width to that set in the brush settings. Doing this with a group overrides any difference in the stroke widths within the group. This is especially frustrating when experimenting with different brush styles as each selection then requires and adjustment of the stroke width to something acceptable. Invariably all the brush sizes are too large for the designs I'm working on. Am I doing this wrong or is this just the way it works?

Thank you @Old Bruce. If you draw a curve you can then set/adjust the stroke width either via the tool or the curve properties. It is then an attribute of the tool or curve rather than that of the brush pattern. Therefore, it's not an unreasonable expectation (IMHO) that if you change the brush pattern it preserves the stroke width previously set on the brush tool or the curve. Maybe there's a good software reason for this but from a UI/UX perspective I feel that it's not very intuitive.
Thanks for confirming that this is just how it works. I will check out the beta and see if there is anything new there that helps.

@keiichi77
Unfortunately this is not something I can replicate, if you manage to get a screen recording that shows your keys active on screen then please send it over and we can try to look into it again.

Hi All,

Below is the list of all new feature and improvements which are included in the 2.2 beta.
To learn more about these features please click on the link to go to each feature's dedicated post. To give feedback or report bugs against any of these features please reply to that same post (also check out bug reporting and feedback tips).
Features and improvements affecting all platforms
OCIO v2 Support (new in build 1931)
Custom text variables (new in build 1903)
Additional keyboard shortcuts for brush tools (new in build 1903)
Alt-click new layer automatically adds selection to that new layer (new in build 1903)
Cross References added to Affinity Publisher
Greyscale and no-FX view mode options added
Change guide colour
Long press tool shortcuts
Custom date formats available in Publisher
All supported image files now available from File->Open in Publisher
Find and replace includes scope and result count
Go to previously viewed spread
Create symbol option added to Layer Menu
Additional options when creating indexes
Windows and macOS features and improvements
Object creation data entry (new in build 1931)
Move data entry (new in build 1931)
Data merge allows fields to set URLs, File locations, emails and anchors (anchors new in build 1931)
Delete node added to right click menu
"Select All on Current Layer" option now available
Grid presets and favourite fonts now sync between apps on device
iPad features and improvements
Decimal place accuracy preferences added to iPad
"Prefer to keep selection" preference added


Getting the 2.2 beta
If you have not enrolled into the beta program yet and would like to take part, you can do so here. This will immediately give you access to the latest 2.2 beta builds to try for yourself.
If you are already enrolled in the beta program you have two options:
If you still have the 2.1 beta installed, you can now run up those beta versions and you will be prompted to update them to the 2.2 beta. If you have uninstalled the 2.1 beta, you will need to go back to Your Account -> Downloads and product keys and find your previous order for the Affinity Beta Software Program, and you can download the 2.2 beta from there. Thanks,
Ash

Apps: All
Platforms: Windows, macOS and iPad
Holding onto any tool shortcut will now just put you in that tool temporarily until you release the shortcut key - at which point you will return to your previous tool. So for example when you are using the pen tool you could hold V to change to move tool to move your curve, and then on release be immediately back in pen tool. Another useful example would be when in Brush Tool, you could hold E to put you in Eraser and release to toggle back to Brush.

Here's a list of some of the bugs which have been fixed in beta build 2.2.0. 1881 
Please reply in this forum only to comment on any fixes which are in this list (in particular to let us know if you notice that something we say is fixed isn't!) To report any new bugs please do that against the relevant new feature post, or if unrelated to new functionality in the Other bugs & issues forum.
Bugs affecting all platforms
With the Artistic Text Tool, status bar displays different text when point is over panel versus document view  End note formatting bleeds into note number and next end note. AFB-7551 PDF Export isn't exporting the stroke on some curves/fonts correctly AFB-6868 Frames saved from videos using the Windows photo app import with a DPI of zero  AFP-6228 Initial Words and Notes do not function as expected  AFB-7553 Clicking master page text with the Move tool switches to the Text tool  Multi word text selection is lost if you use Capitalisation options  Crash when doing Break on a curve node  Lens correction for Leica DG Nocticron 42.5 F1.2 not being applied automatically AFP-6170 User File - Nikon RAW Lens profile is applied, but does not correct as expected  Vector Flood Fill Crash  Using Artboard tool. Selecting an object on an unselected artboard. Selects just the object not the artboard on v2.  AFD-6175 Replacing a PDF with the attached one causes Designer to crash  User File - Crash when enabling document Baseline Grid due to Running Headers on Master Pages AFB-7762 Cross-References do not use Endnote number as Note Number value, instead shows 0  Cross Reference can show the wrong page as value AFB-7501 A cross-reference may unexpectedly become invalid when inserting another to the same target  Cross-references should have Display As > Anchor Name.  Crash editing a cross reference in a specific file  It is possible to apply kerning before the first letter of a frame, which then applies it after the letter AFB-7654 Newly placed content is immediately selected in the document view but not in Resource Manager  2 node Curve moves position when Transform >Length is changed on a multi-page document. AFB-7701 Bugs affecting Desktop (Windows and macOS)
Placing RAW file on Master A and opening in Develop crashes app, no crash on other Master pages AFB-7724 Objects move unexpectedly when grouped AFD-2602 On Paragraph panel, text that explains when there are no tab stops is truncated (macOS) or not shown (Windows)  Impossible to move a layer above a picture frame if the frame is at the top of the stack AFB-6974 Crash exporting to PDF when using a specific font  Filter by [No Style] currently filters by all styles  Page re-numbering using Books panel not working AFB-7758 Library Panel: Inconsistencies with Renaming, Deleting and Editing macros  German UI - Stroke flyout - text overlapping icons AFP-2551 When an anchor targeted by a cross-ref is renamed, the cross-ref's name on the Cross-References panel does not update  DOCX - numbering/bullets and list levels not matching word when placed  Crash inserting a page before Page 1 (maybe file specific) AFB-7524 Linked documents not rendering correctly AFB-7663 User File - Preflight from book panel crashes app  New Document dialog: Category title inconsistencies   Non-breaking hyphens no longer render compared to 2.0.4, though does not affect ALL fonts AFB-7739 Crash adding pages into a facing page document with flowing text AFB-7725 Multi Page PDFs with Bleed fail to display correctly when placed. AFD-6559 OK button remains greyed out after entering valid email address AFB-7771 PDF bleed differs when exporting using the Books panel   Changing the DPI of a document causes single pages to inherit size of selection in "Show Dimensions of:" Bugs affecting Windows
Device Independent Bitmap paste is empty if copied from Affinity AFP-6191 Table Stroke via the Context toolbar doesn't work first time AFB-7742 Vector Formats are zoomable in Export Preview using +/- or CTRL + 1-4  Export preview is zoomable using +/-   Dragging a swatch using the Vector Flood Fill tool fails to preview on Windows  "OK" isn't disabled if no valid cross reference exists in the Insert Cross Reference dialog  Large delay when editing a table formats stroke  Studiolink - MSI install - Non default folder  Index - Incorrect  out of date message and doesn't refresh correctly AFB-7577 Selecting a Studio Panel name also selects an option within the studio behind it, when the studio swap causes a change in height PD-705 Layers panel scrolls when dragging layer outside of panel.  AFP-5710 Colour input method from the Context Toolbar well is not retained after restarting the app PD-674 Crash double-clicking colour swatch with custom Windows scaling AFP-5811 Customise Tools discrepancy (macOS vs Windows) AFP-5870 Unable to rename layer by clicking away  Unable to set Matte to white using sliders for formats that don't support transparency  Changing the Opacity of an object via the Colour panel dropdown fails to visually update the object on the canvas  PNG with Selection Only shows white background after toggling Embed ICC profiles  Resource Manager: Show in Explorer is untranslated or blank AFB-7805 Unable to resize Arrowheads with the mouse wheel AFP-6243 Shift modifier to synchronise colour sliders stops functioning when sliders reach '100%' Using the Transparent Swatch as a Matte option causes the next Matte colour selection to fail to apply, but subsequent changes work   Bugs affecting macOS
Crash after deleting a template file AFB-7747 Text Selection when scrolling across multiple pages AFB-7614 Data Merge sources stored on a Cloud drive won't update if the cloud file isn't downloaded  Preflight panel may not display page number containing a placed PDF that has issues and inappropriately show Fix button  An Above Below cross reference to a pinned object always says 'below'  Application (running) doesn't maximize when we click the icon on the dock AFP-4836 After deselecting a cross-reference on the Cross-References panel, it's auto-selected next time the panel is opened  App occasionally crashes when you press Return within Insert Cross-Reference dialog's Filter text field  Cross-References panel and fields do not indicate a cross-reference is invalid if its target has been deleted  Cross references displayed as paragraph numbers may unexpectedly display zero   Buttons on Cross-References panel remain unexpectedly available after deselecting a cross-reference  Context Toolbar value boxes loose focus after the first arrow key press  "Gray" instead of "Grey" in the Levels adjustment dialog.  Alignment dropdown is not aligned correctly  Vector Flood - "Add bitmap from file" button looks different on MacOS  UI menu inconsistencies for Edit in Photo/Designer/Publisher options AFB-6217 CTRL run-up > Clear user data pop-up > Deactivate button > Text has low contrast  Add Master Menu - Entering a Name and then switching between spread/page clears the name field  AFB-7169 Acknowledging the duplicate style name warning dismisses the edit style menu AFB-7170 Multiple languages, UI (Font UI size Large): Keyboard Shortcuts panel issues (overlapping buttons) AFP-4510 On Text Frame panel, tooltips on various stroke-related controls are incorrect or inconsistent  Font UI Size: Large clipped in RAM/Disk usage fields  Layers Opacity % is clipped using Large Font UI Size  Export conflicts dialog in Export Persona is clipped when using Font UI Size: Large AFP-5360 Channel Mixer dialog labels are cut off using Large Font UI Size. AFP-2867 Dragging RGB Hex label causes app hang with Lock Colourspace is disabled AFD-6556 Portuguese - Large Font Issues- Preferences  and Stroke Panel    Localisation - Strokes Panel - Mac AFD-3547 Rename Layer/artboard dialogs not fully translated  Collapsed topics on the Index panel automatically expand when you add a new topic  Stroke join type renders randomly on M1 devices AFB-7760 App lock when closing file AFB-7821 On the Edit Table Format dialog, the Escape key is bound to Reset rather than Cancel 
on iOS Bugs affecting iPad
Guide marks are much harder to see on iPad ruler  On Transform panel's Alignment Options, pop-up menu for alignment scope is disabled  Spelling > Learn spelling learns the next word in the list and not the current selection  Place panel cannot be re-invoked if dismissed  In Settings, the tail of the 'g' in the heading is cut off  Rulers can be re-enabled with preview mode still enabled  Ruler Marks get incorrectly scaled with document zoom  Selecting Preview Mode from menu doesn’t update toolbar button’s state  Tapping the question mark in the bottom right corner does not add labels / tooltips  to items in the context toolbar  Tab Stop Advance studio is missing a couple of labels  When applying a master to specified pages, the on-screen keyboard obscures the field in which you're typing page numbers  Alignment options do not respect the document measurement units and always show px as default.  Styles dropdown is offset slightly  Version number shown in settings is only the last 4 digits of the build number  Picture Frame Context Toolbar doesn't show Anchor tooltip/label when using the help button  Stroke width cannot exceed 100 in any unit in Stroke Panel AFD-6589 On Text panel's Bullets and Numbering section, 'Tab stop' option's label is overset in French and Portuguese App crash when opening section manager - File Specific AFB-7788

That's another great illustration of the problem.

I would prefer some sort of easy to see visual indication that the color is not 100% opaque but I don't think 'fade to white' is a good way to do that. Instead, maybe a checkerboard pattern overlay, one that appeared any time the opacity was less than 100%, would be a little better?

Sorry, although I understand where you're coming from, I have a different opinion like described above. When mixing colors I want to see the result of the COLOR output. Not the opacity, nor the noice. Because we are not mixing opacity and neither are we mixing noice. And it could also never show you a preview of a blending mode, because it the color is not always bound to a single object. Which could also have a high effect on the result.
Also your suggested color behaviour previews are not as supposed to be; when you have half-transparent/half-opacity red, it's not pink. Only in your preview it becoms pink, because of the white background that's affecting it. But the underlying layer could as well have a much different color, like green. And than you don't mix pink with green, but still red with green. Again; opacity has nothing to do with the color channels (at least it shouldn't!!).
If we would like to see transparency we should have a better opacity slider in the UI, as discussed in the other thread. If we would like to preview both opacity and noice than add a new preview view somewhere in the interface, but please don't change the colormix output preview to something else than what it's supposed to do: preview the mixed COLOR. Opacity has nothing at all to do with the color channels. At least it shouldn't.

When we set our colors to, like, full red in the color panel, the color preview displays full red as expected.
But when we than change the opacity, the color in the preview-circle gets lighter.
That's not what we might expect and it's actually wrong, because this color preview doesn't (and can't!!) take in account what lies underneath this color (and in what blend mode an object using this color uses is in), which would affect the mix of colors.
The color-preview circle should always display the color as a direct result of the sliders. The opacity slider should never affect this preview!
In fact, nothing else apart from the color sliders/wheel/boxes should ever change this preview, because this preview should show the result of the COLOR channels we picked!
 
No opacity:

With opacity;

That is true, though I haven't had issues with that. However, to your point, a dedicated Lasso tool would eliminate the possibility of inadvertently manipulating nodes/paths.
A separate Lasso tool is needed and would seem to be easy to implement since the functionality already exists.
Hopefully the dev team will get this added soon.

I'm getting a lot of errors when using both Designer/Photo. The app stops refreshing the canvas with the latest actions. Usually zooming in or out will trigger the refresh action. These are the steps:
Create an empty document Switch to Pixel Persona Activate Freehand selection tool and draw a selection Move the selection by clicking inside and dragging Add a selection area by clicking outside while pressing CTRL+ALT (or removing a section pressing just ALT). In my case this and later actions don't show up in the screen. Repeat step 4 or zoom in/out. Then all the actions after step 4 are drawn in the screen. This is happening almost 100% of the times. Having refreshing problems with other tools like Vector Brush, Warp tool etc. but these are more random.
Freehand.mp4

I am, admittedly, somewhat confused about this. For context: Designer 2.11 / Windows 11 / Desktop / Ergo Mouse
What I See
There is a fully-functional lasso/marquee node selection tool, though it is hidden as part of the Node Tool (A) It works across multiple groups and layers I can drag to marquee select and deselect nodes It's hard to learn about it using the Help docs Usage
Select the Node Tool (A) Select the path(s) to work with. (If filled, shift-clicking the fill allows multiple selections. If no fill, shift-click on part of the path(s).) ALT-drag to marquee select node(s) ALT-shift-drag to marquee select additional node(s) ALT-Control-drag to marquee deselect nodes (Seemingly a bug: ALT-shift immediately shows a + by the cursor; ALT-control does not show a – beside the cursor until dragging begins.) Thoughts
It Works
Once I understood the use, I was able to select or deselect nodes regardless of complexity, layers, groups, etc. Separate Tool Needed
I find this to be far less intuitive than a dedicated Node Lasso tool. The functionality is already there, why not just add a separate tool for it? Again, there is an established, de facto standard for this type of tool.
  Help ... Please!
The Help docs often are of very limited—how shall I say it—help. In this case, there is a page that begins to document this function, but it is far from complete. Frustratingly, searching for lasso returns no results, even though the page actually includes the word lasso. Searching for marquee shows results for the Marquee tool, although that pertains only to the Pixel persona, and that fact isn't directly mentioned. Also, because the Help docs use frames, the URL never changes—though it could—making sharing a direct link to a specific page much more difficult than it need be. The Help docs may be using off-the-shelf software, but the use of frames is, IMHO, a really bad choice. (Empathy: Having written a fair bit of software documentation, I know this is a challenging, time-consuming and often-underestimated part of the software as a whole. However, I feel strongly that Serif/Affinity is at a place where the Help docs really should be world class, and that is certainly not the case yet.)

I see this as a good thing because if you have multiple overlapping objects and want to reshape only a few of them it makes it easier to avoid selecting the control points of objects you don't want to manipulate.  I can see benefit to the behavior you are suggesting as well though, so perhaps a button could be added to the context toolbar to toggle between these two behaviors?
 
Shapes in the Affinity products are special - they are not normal bézier paths the way they are in Illustrator and the like, but rather a completely different type of object.  You can already use the node tool and reshape them to the extent that they can be reshaped while still keeping them as their own special type of object; to go beyond that you need to first use "Convert to Curves" to make them into path objects.  Then you can distort them as you seem to want.
There is benefit to keeping them as shape objects however, as there are additional control points you can use to manipulate them (such as adding points to a star or controlling its inside radius; you can turn a gear into a flower, etc.) and this flexibility is lost when the shape is converted to a curve, which is why that does not happen automatically, and should not happen automatically in the Affinity products.  I strongly disagree with what you are asking for on this point.
 
Text boxes are generally built on the shape objects (or on a closed path object), and the node tool allows you to modify the underlying shape/path in roughly the same manner as if they were not acting as text boxes.  I'm not sure offhand if there is a way to "convert to curves" the shape behind a text box without impacting the text in that box, and I don't have it in front of me right now to play with it and figure that out...  if you haven't created the text box yet, you can create it as a path then convert that into a text box, so that you can reshape it later the way you are suggesting.

I'm having some issues working with object properties on Designer.
 
I want the default vector properties to be the same as a previous made object. On illustrator that was very easy, select and object and the next one you draw will have exactly the same properties. (Current object sets the defeault properties)
 
On Designer im struggling to set the current properties. I know that i cant select and copy and object and paste properties only, but that doesn't modifies the current default properties (And doesn't preserve all properties, like gradient lines). Also i must paste style on all new objects as pasting style does not change the default properties.
 
Question is. Does Designer have a way to change current properties based on and object as illustrator does? Is the one thing that makes me work slower than on illustrator at this moment.
 
 
 
 

I have to agree! - I need to use an ergonomic mouse, thanks to a slight problem with the middle finger of my right hand, and I find juggling the left and right mouse buttons almost impossible!

either way using right click and left click at the same time is unreasonable and way to uncomfortable in itself when I use pen as input device

either way using right click and left click at the same time is unreasonable and way to uncomfortable in itself when I use pen as input device

Hi,

When I use Designer V2 - it works fine for sometime (may be an hour or so - can't be exact on this) but then it starts slowing down and everything becomes really laggy. For example, the selection of any object, selection of a new tool from the toolbar by click or by keyboard shortcut, selection of a context menu button takes 3-5 sec or more!

The files I am working on are not that heavy, in fact most of them are under 1MB (it uses many gradients and vector brush) but still it lags severely. It seems like the lag is slowly creeping in before becoming noticeable. I reminds me of some earlier version of Designer V1 that had similar lag (which version resolved it I don't remember now) . 

I am using Designer V2 on Windows 10 V 21H2. (19044.2251) and face no such issue with Designer V1.
I have turned off hardware acceleration / Open CL after seeing some other threads on similar (but not exactly same) lag issue - however it hasn't helped. 

Please let me know if there's a solution that I can try or if it's a known bug when it would be fixed. 

Thank you. 



 

@Old Bruce is using a Mac, not a Windows PC, so the keyboard modifier options are more flexible.
 

Fantastic, thanks Lee!
 
Until then I've discovered I can use the [X] key to switch between Fill and Stroke contexts. Just discovered this shortcut in the Preferences for Affinity Designer, and it really speeds things up on its own! Can't believe I didn't find it sooner.

Yes, but that doesn't easily let you select objects within a group. You can't Ctrl+Alt drag select. If you do, you'll window select. Right mouse dragging to deselect is counter-intuitive. All software I use and have used 12+ use LMB + modifier deselect. You cannot force to add to a selection and toggle selection (deselect if selected, select if deselected) You need multiple modifier keys this way, whereas a stand-alone tool could do with Ctrl = add, Shift = toggle, Alt = deselect. The software often times doesn't note the hotkeys, you need to have at least something selected for them to show. Pretty important, since it has these (to me) weird key combinations.