JoMal

Vegetation Raster Brushes (leaves) 
Zip file contains 30 brushes (3 pack x 10
PDF sample file added
Set 2 (30 raster Brushes) available here:
Vegetation brush Set 2
 

 
VB 1 Set 1 01-03.pdf
Vegetation S1 P01 - P03.zip

Hi,
 
We are pleased to announce the Windows release of Affinity Photo, version 1.6.4
The change-list is as follows:
 
- All new shadows / highlights algorithm for Develop.
- Develop clarity improvements.
- Improved input smoothing for all tools.
- Improved Perlin Noise filter.
- Transparent TGA import support.
- Many improvements to batch processing.
- PSD, PDF import / export improvements.
- Significant Photoshop plugin support improvements.
- Fixed inability to export transparent PNG, TIFF, etc.
- Fixed slow Lens Blur, Depth of Field blur issues.
- Fixed Depth of Field blur progress / slowness issues.
- Fixed sporadic hanging when opening many image files at once.
- Restored ability of marquee tools to snap.
- Fixed crashing bug when exporting certain large PSDs.
- Added special case PSD import code for “SketchClub” PSD files (they should fix this!).
- Fixed Text Styles panel to show the document defaults when no text is selected 
- Changed Layers panel to add more distinction between clipped and nested layers 
- Fixed document DPI showing a decimal place in some situations
- Fixed reset of user workspace when new panels have been added
- Fixed newly created Text Styles being applied twice to a text frame on creation
- Fixed vector export (including PDF) taking a long time due to large clip areas
- Fixed Fit/Shrink to printable does not fit to printer margins 
- Fixed 2nd Print has a zero size document in printer dialog 
- Fixed being unable to move the Greyness node in Layer Effects > Colour Overlay
- Fixed colour node appearing on the Colour panel 
- Fixed hit testing on floating window edges to make it easier to resize windows
- Fixed closing a floating window through the taskbar closing the application (a side-effect of this change is that Alt+F4 on a floating window will now just close that window, not the app)
- Fixed View Mode menu item incorrectly exposed in Affinity Photo Export Persona 
- Fixed double clicking View Tool is not consistent between Personas 
- Fixed crash when making a gradient document fill global 
- Improved performance when History and Layers panel are visible
- Fixed PDF Export for some documents
- Added bottom right resize grip corner to floating document windows
- Added Float, Float All, Dock and Dock All commands to Window menu
- Fixed Adjustment panels appearing at an invalid location if the panel was closed on a monitor which is then subsequently unplugged
- Fixed metadata not loading for unicode paths opened via drag and drop
- Fixed failure to close down due to waiting for invalid files to finish opening
- Fixed Text Styles panel to reflect the document defaults when no text is selected 
- Fixed Layers panel to add more distinction between clipped and nested layers 
- Fixed document DPI showing decimal places
- Fixed Workspaces getting reset when new panels are added in updates
- Fixed vector export of clips on rasterised items
- Fixed Fit/Shrink to printable not fitting to printer margins 
- Fixed second Print having a zero size document in printer dialog 
- Fixed fonts being rejected if they had a space in their Postscript name
- Fixed being unable to move the Greyness node in Layer Effects > Colour Overlay
- Fixed Spacebar not changing cursor to hand when in Develop
- Improved resizing of floating document windows
- Fixed closing a floating window through the taskbar closes the app
- Fixed Alignment Editor applying a second time when clicking away via a direct new selection
- Changed 'Arrange' button text to be 'Alignment'
- Fixed being unable to adjust custom wet edges spline 
- Fixed sporadic hanging when opening many image files at once 
- Fixed Pixelmator PSD text import
- Attempt to support fonts with truncated type 4 tables (e.g. Serpentine)
- Fixed text frame auto-resizing not working with a single character
- Added support for fonts that substitute spaces, eg Nyala
- Fixed Liquify Brush panel size slider limited to 1024px
- Fixed brush selection is not retained after duplicating brush
- Fixed changing brush tip is not always initially accepted 
- Fixed inability to export transparent PNG, TIFF, etc
- Fixed Fill Noise not applied when filling with Custom colour, Primary and Secondary colours etc  
- Fixed Colour Chooser not correctly switching to match the selected colour 
- Fixed tool shortcuts ignore modifier keys 
- Fixed Text Styles showing wrong units for Justification options 
- Fixed Tab Stop units not auto updating with document units 
- Fixed Text Style dialog missing the [No Change] behaviour for the Tab Stop table 
- Fixed drag and drop from IrfanView not accepting file items into the document as new layers
- Fixed exporting multiple documents
- Fixed when a colour is removed, the Opacity/Noise slider is not disabled 
- Fixed floating windows starting off-screen when monitor is disconnected
- Fixed layer folder icon not initially updating
- Fixed floating windows appearing on the incorrect taskbar
- Fixed text not being drawn after power duplicate
- Fixed rare instances of being unable to select text
- Fixed a couple of instances where the colour wheel wouldn't update properly
- Fixed unable to select a second swatch for bevel and emboss highlight and shadows 
- Use different icon for Arrange/Alignment
- Fixed unusable transparent area left after cropping with New View 
- Fixed parallel batch builds
- Fixed Live Dust and Scratches filter slider resetting to zero when dragging
- Fixed crash when moving live denoise filter in Layers panel
- Fixed popup closing when dragging an export token
- Extended Develop Clarity range (-100 to 100) 
- Fixed Depth of Field Blur Vibrance property only allowing values of 0% or 100%
- Improved loading of Canon EOS 6D Mark II files so they are less purple 
- Fixed creating an analogous colour chord does not add the correct swatches 
- Fixed Colour picker loupe not displaying on second monitor 
- Fixed Panel groups do not revert size when dragged in and out of other groups 
- Fixed Document Setup does not reflect or change current "Actual Size" Zoom for "Web" type documents 
- Numerous other fixes and stability improvements.
 
Please do not post bugs or problems that you find when using this version of the software in this thread, instead make a new thread in the Bugs on Windows section

Hi,
 
We are pleased to announce the Windows release of Affinity Designer , version 1.6.4
The change-list is as follows:
 
- Improved brush smoothing. Any painting tools should now have better smoothing by default.
- Transparent TGA import support.
- Fix for failures when using compound objects inside groups with Constraints set on them.
- Fix for exporting JPEG automatically choosing to export clips as paths which is a poor default and causes confusion.
- Fix for text objects being created outside the hierarchy of the artboard they were supposed to be created in.
- Fix for rotated text bounding boxes being incorrect and for disappearing text following Power-Duplicate.
- Added special case PSD import code for “SketchClub” PSD files (they should fix this!).
- Fixed PSD export of Fill layers.
- Fixed Text Styles panel to show the document defaults when no text is selected 
- Changed Layers panel to add more distinction between clipped and nested layers 
- Fixed document DPI showing a decimal place in some situations
- Fixed reset of user workspace when new panels have been added
- Fixed newly created Text Styles being applied twice to a text frame on creation
- Fixed vector export (including PDF) taking a long time due to large clip areas
- Fixed Fit/Shrink to printable does not fit to printer margins 
- Fixed 2nd Print has a zero size document in printer dialog 
- Fixed adjustments being ignored when outside of an artboard even though they may have an effect on the document
- Fixed being unable to move the Greyness node in Layer Effects > Colour Overlay
- Fixed colour node appearing on the Colour panel 
- Fixed hit testing on floating window edges to make it easier to resize windows
- Fixed closing a floating window through the taskbar closing the application (a side-effect of this change is that Alt+F4 on a floating window will now just close that window, not the app)
- Fixed Pixelmator PSD text import
- Attempt to support fonts with truncated type 4 tables (e.g. Serpentine)
- Fixed text frame auto-resizing not working with a single character
- Added support for fonts that substitute spaces, eg Nyala
- Fixed brush selection is not retained after duplicating brush
- Fixed changing brush tip is not always initially accepted 
- Fixed Fill Noise not applied when filling with Custom colour, Primary and Secondary colours etc  
- Fixed Colour Chooser not correctly switching to match the selected colour 
- Fixed tool shortcuts ignore modifier keys 
- Fixed Text Styles showing wrong units for Justification options 
- Fixed Tab Stop units not auto updating with document units 
- Fixed Text Style dialog missing the [No Change] behaviour for the Tab Stop table 
- Fixed drag and drop from IrfanView not accepting file items into the document as new layers
- Fixed exporting multiple documents
- Fixed when a colour is removed, the Opacity/Noise slider is not disabled 
- Fixed floating windows starting off-screen when monitor is disconnected
- Fixed layer folder icon not initially updating
- Fixed document type incorrectly displayed when artboards added 
- Fixed text not being drawn after power duplicate
- Fixed rare instances of being unable to select text
- Fixed a couple of instances where the colour wheel wouldn't update properly
- Use different icon for Arrange/Alignment
- Fixed unusable transparent area left after cropping with New View 
- Fixed Surface Pro pen UI failures (requires Enable Pointer Support in User Interface Preferences)
- Fixed Vector export print and print preview differing from on-screen
- Fixed crash with multiple documents open when using pixel selections
- Fixed vector export so clipped-out transparencies will draw as transparent
- Fixed PDF export of embedded uncommon fonts
- Fixed OpenType MarkToLigature rendering incorrectly
- Fixed OpenType Contextual Alternatives displaying incorrectly with Levandria font
- Fixed crash in GlyphBrowser when fonts don't have a cmap table
- Fixed Type1 fonts being incorrectly embedded in PDFs
- Fixed failure to add symbols to some documents
- Fixed failure to load some .afpalette files
- Fixed alignment of some context bar items
- Fixed custom Export Presets not being remembered correctly
- Improved performance of Brush Editor dialog
- Fixed panels to allow expansion anywhere on the header, not just on the expansion arrow
- Fixed creating an analogous colour chord does not add the correct swatches 
- Fixed Colour picker loupe not displaying on second monitor 
- Fixed Panel groups do not revert size when dragged in and out of other groups 
- Fixed Document Setup does not reflect or change current "Actual Size" Zoom for "Web" type documents 
- Assorted PDF export improvements.
- Numerous other fixes and stability improvements.
 
 
Please do not post bugs or problems that you find when using this version of the software in this thread, instead make a new thread in the Bugs on Windows section

Hello everyone. I hope the community has interest in building terrains,asking questions related to this topic or better yet posting their own creations and sharing them with all of us. Keep that sporting spirit going people and participate .

The screen shot shows a roughly created height map in Affinity Designer's Pixel Persona[] using the Paint Brush tool[] and using grey scale values[] and how it is used in generating a 3D Terrain in Blender by applying this height map Image as a 'Displace'[] modifier on a Grid []Mesh Surface. For smoothness, i have applied a 'Subdivision Surface'[] modifier. Modifiers in 3D Modelling tools help modify an object's geometry. They can be accessed in the Tabs on the right side[] and have a 'wrench icon'[] . Just click the 'Add Modifier'[] dropdown to add the modifiers mentioned above. Notice, if you apply these modifiers by clicking the 'apply' button it will apply the effect and remove the modifier from stack of modifiers applied. If you want fine tune control over these without removing them from the stack of modifiers,don't apply them.
[1] = Displace Modifier Added, [2] = Subdivision Surface Modifier Added
 
[ >>>> [Source Files]]
>  The Height Map file in Affinity Designer has also been attached[File Name = Terrain_Height_Map.afdesign]. 
 
>  The Blender Source File with the Height Map Applied has also been attached[File Name = Blender_File_with_Terrain_Created_Using_Height_map_from_Affinity_Designer.blend][Added on 27th February 2018]
 
[ >>>> [Video File]]
Here is a short video[around 3minutes and 26 seconds] that demonstrates the steps required:[Update: Added the Video on 26th February 2018]

 
Blender can be downloaded from the following link:
https://www.blender.org/
 
[ >>>> [Exercise]][Added on 27th February 2018]
As an Extra Exercise,apply these concepts by making use of Real Terrain Height Maps[that contain Real World Elevation Data] generated by the following website for your own country or city:
https://terrain.party/
Just search your city or country and press the Export Button[] to export a zip file that contains the height maps for the searched area. Extract the zip file and apply it to your own blender files. Notice how the grey scale values are used based on Real World Elevation data.
Here is a sample of a terrain i generated using the Height Maps generated by this website:

 
Happy Learning
 

I've recently started making tutorial videos for Affinity Photo, putting them up on YouTube. The channel is 'InAffinity'. There's already nine videos there.
The focus is mostly on short, specific 'how to's, including 'How to do X in N different ways'. Mostly because that's what I like. I'm an old engineer, photographer and educator, and have a tendency to seek detail and then share it. Once I get going, I'm usually pretty persistent. My 'other site' is ChangingMinds.org, which I've been writing for over 15 years.
For the technically curious, I'm using Camtasia as a recording/editing system, capturing at 1920 HD.

Quick Tips: for finding Affinity content with Google Search
Search engines: It’s easy to underestimate the power of a simple Google search (and it’s apparent many people on online forums who don’t know how to make use of it).  It can save you a lot of time, because someone, somewhere, at some point has undoubtedly had the same question you have—all you need to do is find out where they asked it and what answers and problem solutions they got in response!

With a few helpful Google search engine tricks, searching the Affinity Forum via Google can be made much more effective.

The Common Search
In general, you should string search terms with a space together to start the context search. Thus, the input "Affinity forum gradient" or "Affinity forum macro" in the search window shows all found link entries on the screen which contain those terms. Quoting ("...") helps to search after more closely related search text here.

Extended or Exclusive Search
To make Google search more effective, you should use so-called operators. Here are some of them.
A tilde (~) before a search term makes the term synonymous. So "Affinity ~forum" brings both the Affinity forum as well as hints for possible other related forums. With a minus sign (-) you can specifically exclude terms from the search. For example, the minus designer in "Affinity layer masks -designer" calls up a list of Affinity layer masks related entries without designer in the context. With a plus sign (+) you can instead specifically include terms to the search criterias.
Search in and for Websites
To specifically search a particular website/page, prefix your search term with a "site:URL" - where the URL is the web address of the site/page on which you read the info recently. For example, "site:affinity.forum.com macro recording" searches and calls for a list of threads which deal with macro recording on the Affinity forum.
A minus sign in the "-site:URL" input behind the actual search terms excludes results from the named URL. So "Affinity video -site:youtube.com" will exclude all Youtube videos from the search. With "site:de" it will only search German websites with the extension .de; Of course, other endings like .org or .com etc. can also be used here. With "related:URL" you can find out if other websites have similar content. In order to browse only publications from a specific period, you must connect the adjacent years with three points: here "2014...2018" only lists publications between 2014 and 2018 in the results list. For example in order to find at affinity.forum.com current practical contributions to macro recording you would use "site:affinity.forum.com macro recording 2016...2018".
  Some helpful browser shortcuts
To speed up the search in general, there are a few shortcuts available. For example, "Ctrl + F" will bring up a small search window at the bottom of the page that will help you to search the current page for terms. Ctrl + or - enlarges the view, zooms in or out. Ctrl + L moves the cursor back to the address bar so you can enter a new website or search term.
 
Calculations, units of measurement and currencies
The Google search engine can also calculate and convert. For those of you who struggle with mental arithmetic, just type the math questions directly into the Google search window using the +, -, * / symbols. This calls at the same time the calculator for further input of even more complicated tasks.
If you want to convert units of measure or currencies, you can also type these directly into the search window. Thus, the input "inches in millimeters" picks up a unit calculator, with "pounds in euros" you get the current price displayed as well as references to various currency converters.

In this tutorial you will learn how to work with clipping masks in Affinity Designer. It's a simple and enjoyable process, once you know the basic rules.
Here is the link to the tutorial - watch
If you find the video useful, please it. Thanks!

This short video is about how to create offset paths in Affinity Designer.  Offset paths are a powerful tool that designers use to create exact duplicates of a vector object shape and then use these duplicate as individual vector objects.  With the ability to create an exact size for your offset, you've have a powerful tool to create fantastic eye catching layers in you digital art. Creating offset paths in Affinity Designer is quick and it's easy. I show you how to setup the keyboard shortcut and with one click you are ready to create offsets for any object, shape, text, or line.  Offset paths are one of the secrets that designers use to create stunning computer graphics.  Create your own website graphics, digital art, blog posts illustrations, instagram images, and go ahead and brag on twitter!  Happy Creating :-) Jen
 

Hi -
I've been a member of this forum for quite a wile and I always find worthwhile content, and open sharing of ideas, and everyone helping each find solutions to issues.  I started my YouTube channel "Jenco Designs" about a year ago and have posted 10 beginner tutorials for Affinity Designer.  I love working with AD and have a blast making these videos! 
If there is something you'd like a video about, leave a comment and I'll do my best to address it. I appreciate your comments and suggestions. My goal is to help everyone have as much fun as I have working with the Affinity programs.  :-)  Jen
Here's my latest video.
 

In this short tutorial I'll show you how to draw simple polygon spirals in Affinity Designer 1.6.0.
We will use the rotation origin, transformation panel and the duplicate function. 
 

Link to the video on YouTube
 
Enjoy the video and have fun to draw your own polygon spirals. It's simple but interesting!
 
Norbert

And, here a video showing the new rotate-on-plane feature of the Move tool.  A new shape is created into a grid, using the "Edit In Grid Plane" mode.  Then, with the mode on, any rotations maintain the grid plane perspective.
 
RotateOnPlane.mov
 

Thought I'd give you a glimpse of some of the features that will be coming in 1.7.
 
Please note - this thread is only for discussing the features detailed here.  Postings related to other feature requests should be posted on their own thread (else they will get deleted from this thread).
 
We have spent considerable time overhauling the internals of some of our main tools.  It's been a labour of love, but it's going to open up greater possibilities for our core tool set.
 
The core tools are:
- Move tool
- Pen tool
- Node tool
- Shape creation tools
- Text tools
- Fill and Transparency tools
- Place Image tool
- Vector Crop tool
 
So, what improvements can be expected?
 
- Advanced grid editing on spread (move the grid origin and edit it's axis with a handy new widget, with full snapping of course)
- Guides can be created and moved in all the core tools, plus a toggle to turn guide editing off
- Move the artboard ruler origin (with editing toggle)
- Create objects and shapes into an arbitrary grid
- Rotate and flip objects in grid planes (great for people working in isometric), plus an option to rotate shapes in plane using the Move tool
- The Move tool will now allow you to cycle though selection boxes, including regular boxes and grid plane aligned boxes
- Snapping performance improvements
 

And, here is a video glimpse of some of the improvements coming to the Node tool.
 
NodeTool.mov