Unsatisfied ex-customer

Thx for visuals.
 
Allright @Ben, how - using your new snapping - would you remember and recreate fx this particular corner again and again? To the pixel? With total precision? It is an easy workflow that is also easy to remember as a formula so the corner gemoetry can be recreated. Place node on grid intersection, place one handle two intersections below, the other handle four grid intersections above. Not a perfect match - but rather a formula.
 
Once I have a curve geometry that is red line in a particular design - icons, logos, corporate design guidelines even in illustrations - how do I recreate it again accurately?
 
I use handle snapping and the grid more than any other snapping types.   

Looks very handy indeed. Well done. 
 
But I am still waiting for these important features that never found their way into DrawPlus either - so I am still using Inkscape and clumsy clumsy Illustrator CC for designing logos and shapes:
handles snapping to especially grid and guides (just check out how Inkscape does) snap the node handle to a vertical / horizontal alignment and other angles (just check out how Inkscape does) I just read the book "Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork" by Von Glitschka. His techniques allow you to draw precise or symmetric shapes very very fast. When I read the book in 2011 I had just purchased DrawPlus and was surprised of the poor snapping features in DrawPlus - it made no sense. The tips in the book are hard and often impossible to follow. Well you can if you zoom in and make adjustments with your shaking hand and manual aligning. It just takes ages compared to automation. That is what we have software for, right? Then Affinity Designer surfaced and I was again surprised that these features were promised since 2014. You are SO close to being awesome. Please walk the last meters towards the goal! It is just the core of shape design that the software can assist your shaking hand and guarantee precision and symmetry.
 
I know this was requested and discussed in other threads - just making my voice heard here as well. And I hope the wait will be over once 1.7 arrives. Pleeease. Otherwise I enjoy the user interface and aesthetics of  Designer much more than the competition. Almost there Ben.
 
Merry xmas and happy new hear!

Looks very handy indeed. Well done. 
 
But I am still waiting for these important features that never found their way into DrawPlus either - so I am still using Inkscape and clumsy clumsy Illustrator CC for designing logos and shapes:
handles snapping to especially grid and guides (just check out how Inkscape does) snap the node handle to a vertical / horizontal alignment and other angles (just check out how Inkscape does) I just read the book "Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork" by Von Glitschka. His techniques allow you to draw precise or symmetric shapes very very fast. When I read the book in 2011 I had just purchased DrawPlus and was surprised of the poor snapping features in DrawPlus - it made no sense. The tips in the book are hard and often impossible to follow. Well you can if you zoom in and make adjustments with your shaking hand and manual aligning. It just takes ages compared to automation. That is what we have software for, right? Then Affinity Designer surfaced and I was again surprised that these features were promised since 2014. You are SO close to being awesome. Please walk the last meters towards the goal! It is just the core of shape design that the software can assist your shaking hand and guarantee precision and symmetry.
 
I know this was requested and discussed in other threads - just making my voice heard here as well. And I hope the wait will be over once 1.7 arrives. Pleeease. Otherwise I enjoy the user interface and aesthetics of  Designer much more than the competition. Almost there Ben.
 
Merry xmas and happy new hear!

Looks very handy indeed. Well done. 
 
But I am still waiting for these important features that never found their way into DrawPlus either - so I am still using Inkscape and clumsy clumsy Illustrator CC for designing logos and shapes:
handles snapping to especially grid and guides (just check out how Inkscape does) snap the node handle to a vertical / horizontal alignment and other angles (just check out how Inkscape does) I just read the book "Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork" by Von Glitschka. His techniques allow you to draw precise or symmetric shapes very very fast. When I read the book in 2011 I had just purchased DrawPlus and was surprised of the poor snapping features in DrawPlus - it made no sense. The tips in the book are hard and often impossible to follow. Well you can if you zoom in and make adjustments with your shaking hand and manual aligning. It just takes ages compared to automation. That is what we have software for, right? Then Affinity Designer surfaced and I was again surprised that these features were promised since 2014. You are SO close to being awesome. Please walk the last meters towards the goal! It is just the core of shape design that the software can assist your shaking hand and guarantee precision and symmetry.
 
I know this was requested and discussed in other threads - just making my voice heard here as well. And I hope the wait will be over once 1.7 arrives. Pleeease. Otherwise I enjoy the user interface and aesthetics of  Designer much more than the competition. Almost there Ben.
 
Merry xmas and happy new hear!

Looks very handy indeed. Well done. 
 
But I am still waiting for these important features that never found their way into DrawPlus either - so I am still using Inkscape and clumsy clumsy Illustrator CC for designing logos and shapes:
handles snapping to especially grid and guides (just check out how Inkscape does) snap the node handle to a vertical / horizontal alignment and other angles (just check out how Inkscape does) I just read the book "Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork" by Von Glitschka. His techniques allow you to draw precise or symmetric shapes very very fast. When I read the book in 2011 I had just purchased DrawPlus and was surprised of the poor snapping features in DrawPlus - it made no sense. The tips in the book are hard and often impossible to follow. Well you can if you zoom in and make adjustments with your shaking hand and manual aligning. It just takes ages compared to automation. That is what we have software for, right? Then Affinity Designer surfaced and I was again surprised that these features were promised since 2014. You are SO close to being awesome. Please walk the last meters towards the goal! It is just the core of shape design that the software can assist your shaking hand and guarantee precision and symmetry.
 
I know this was requested and discussed in other threads - just making my voice heard here as well. And I hope the wait will be over once 1.7 arrives. Pleeease. Otherwise I enjoy the user interface and aesthetics of  Designer much more than the competition. Almost there Ben.
 
Merry xmas and happy new hear!

Looks very handy indeed. Well done. 
 
But I am still waiting for these important features that never found their way into DrawPlus either - so I am still using Inkscape and clumsy clumsy Illustrator CC for designing logos and shapes:
handles snapping to especially grid and guides (just check out how Inkscape does) snap the node handle to a vertical / horizontal alignment and other angles (just check out how Inkscape does) I just read the book "Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork" by Von Glitschka. His techniques allow you to draw precise or symmetric shapes very very fast. When I read the book in 2011 I had just purchased DrawPlus and was surprised of the poor snapping features in DrawPlus - it made no sense. The tips in the book are hard and often impossible to follow. Well you can if you zoom in and make adjustments with your shaking hand and manual aligning. It just takes ages compared to automation. That is what we have software for, right? Then Affinity Designer surfaced and I was again surprised that these features were promised since 2014. You are SO close to being awesome. Please walk the last meters towards the goal! It is just the core of shape design that the software can assist your shaking hand and guarantee precision and symmetry.
 
I know this was requested and discussed in other threads - just making my voice heard here as well. And I hope the wait will be over once 1.7 arrives. Pleeease. Otherwise I enjoy the user interface and aesthetics of  Designer much more than the competition. Almost there Ben.
 
Merry xmas and happy new hear!

Looks very handy indeed. Well done. 
 
But I am still waiting for these important features that never found their way into DrawPlus either - so I am still using Inkscape and clumsy clumsy Illustrator CC for designing logos and shapes:
handles snapping to especially grid and guides (just check out how Inkscape does) snap the node handle to a vertical / horizontal alignment and other angles (just check out how Inkscape does) I just read the book "Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork" by Von Glitschka. His techniques allow you to draw precise or symmetric shapes very very fast. When I read the book in 2011 I had just purchased DrawPlus and was surprised of the poor snapping features in DrawPlus - it made no sense. The tips in the book are hard and often impossible to follow. Well you can if you zoom in and make adjustments with your shaking hand and manual aligning. It just takes ages compared to automation. That is what we have software for, right? Then Affinity Designer surfaced and I was again surprised that these features were promised since 2014. You are SO close to being awesome. Please walk the last meters towards the goal! It is just the core of shape design that the software can assist your shaking hand and guarantee precision and symmetry.
 
I know this was requested and discussed in other threads - just making my voice heard here as well. And I hope the wait will be over once 1.7 arrives. Pleeease. Otherwise I enjoy the user interface and aesthetics of  Designer much more than the competition. Almost there Ben.
 
Merry xmas and happy new hear!

One other thing users here might wish to be made aware of, is that the previous Serif PhotoPlus & Draw software, (the predecessors to Affinity Photo & Designer), had proprietary file formats and Serif didn't see fit to allow users to be able to import these files into the Affinity products. Would you wish to archive years of work in an editable format with Affinity Photo or Designer only to find out that when Serif sees fit to drop these products, or make something new - which may easily happen, what are you going to do with those .afphoto files then?
I doubt Adobe is going to disappear in the same way. Archiving for the future, please consider what format you choose. Presently Adobe say they have 12 Million subscribers to the Creative Cloud. Then there are those that own previous versions, which must be very large. Additionally, a huge amount of users have hacked versions. Adobe products are the standard and used by nearly all creatives across the world and have done since design was possible on PCs and Macs.
Who would you place your money on for the future? Especially in light that Serif can't even add basic features that have been requested for years. These things aren't even on the Road Map.
I know this post began with several other posts regarding basic feature suggestions from myself, such as this, "Save AS" vs "Export" feature, which by the way I've found out since I'm not the only one requesting this basic feature and the others too, there are other posts and topics on them.
This post has rambled onto Affinity products and Serif in general too in my frustration. Unless you're a halfwit, you'll know that it's unlikely any software company will take a users point of view on board, unless there is enough moans and complaints that effects profits/reputation, even then though, companies already have their own agendas and what they think users need more than you. When have "Suggestion Boxes" ever changed anything in life? They're there just to imply a company appears to care - it's just marketing hype - if you don't know that, then your a bit of a nitwit.
We're led to believe that Serif reads our posts, but is that just forum moderators, or people that actually can influence what happens? It would be nice if someone with the power to change things was transparent enough to inform us all realistically what Serif is attempting to do with the Affinity range.
Are they actually trying to compete with Adobe, or are they just cashing in on a part of the market when many users don't like the idea of Subscription Services with Adobe? But in doing so, they're never going to make one particular piece of great software, instead are they just going to use the same business model as they did previously and release one piece of unfinished software after another and not have the resources to manage them all?
How many updates have you got excited about, thinking that finally that feature you and other's requested months, if not years ago have finally made it to this version. To be immediately disappointed that the update has things you've never cared about and would probably never use? As a bonus you get some freebies of brushes, graphic templates or similar, stuff you'll again download, but still probably never use either.
We've spent our money on your products Serif, some have bought both Mac and Windows versions too like myself expecting so much more due to the advertising and hype. But several years on, users are curious and feeling let down, is anyone out there willing to comment?

You nailed it. That's exactly the situation.
Here are a few more thoughts.
 
The cost. I was trapped in the same logic when I started using Affinity. I couldn't get why people were complaining about a piece of software that costs the equivalent of a dinner. I was profoundly, utterly wrong. When I first saw the price and what they were promising I thought "How they can sell such a powerful software for that ridiculous price?" Then of course, given the price, I bought it as "worst case scenario I wouldn't waste a fortune".
Well, here's how actually works. Someone decides to pack a car with all the best optional and sell it for little money. It's a market, and if the seller is willing to market a product at a cheap price, is his decision, period. How he gets there, what he needs to do in order to fulfill the promise and maintain the costs, is his problem. No one is forcing the seller to market the product at such a low price. In fact, they said on more than one occasion on this very forum, that money is not an issue. I would expect everyone would understand this point, it's pretty basic. So, rather than going with the mantra "what do you expect for 50 bucks?" I say "I expect what they promised" (there's another good one, "if you are not happy what are you still doing here?" If you still don't guess why am I wasting my time...).
Now, if the seller promises the product with all the bell and whistles, he has to deliver. I don't care I spent 50 bucks, I didn't ask for such a price, is the seller that went that route. But here's the surprise: I bought the car and I find out that despite the body looks great, it has an awesome painting, great tires, I can only drive it for a mile, then the car stops. "Sorry, we are not there yet". Fine, but you should have told me upfront what was the deal. It's a promise that the seller didn't keep. And is not that I want my money back, that's not the point. I feel frustrated because I believed in this product. Do you people get this? Because every time someone raises a critique it really seems it's like an elementary school here, bad guys vs good guys.
But then there's another fun part. Let's give the seller the benefit of the doubt, they didn't think the whole thing through. I'm fine with that, only when those customers who wanted to make long rides (and not only take the car to the grocery shop as all you happy users do) they then come back here and tell the seller "Look, it's OK, the car can't go past the block where I live, just give me a sign you are doing your best to keep your promises", then the seller ignores these customers because the seller has his own agenda and he doesn't care.
In all honesty, if this car struggles it's also because of those users who are happy with it as is. They are actually contributing to slowing it down. Well, after all, I'm sure from Serif's standpoint, they are the real target, so perhaps it all makes sense. It's important to understand, though, that even if people are able to create nice works with Affinity products, that's again not the point. The whole point is a product marketed for a professional environment, and I'm aware of the fact that this detail requires a whole another post itself, so I'll skip it (this post is getting already too long and I myself don't like long posts).
A few of the broken/missing things: 32bit editing, broken. Selective Color, broken. Multiple layer selections, missing. Performance, struggling. Lens Blur, incomplete, etcetera. It is not a matter of finding workarounds, which I already did in many occasions, it's a matter of an incomplete product compared to what was promised, and is not ready for a professional work environment.
So, to JayH's point, yes: Affinity products are what they are and we (the customers who want to make long rides) won't get what we expect because that's the way they market their products. It's understandable that some users feel annoyed by these posts because for them and for their expectations, what they got is more than enough. But those users need to understand that they are only a part of the bucket and the reasons that moved them to buy Affinity are not the same as ours.
 

+1 for 'verysame's' comment.

Looks very handy indeed. Well done. 
 
But I am still waiting for these important features that never found their way into DrawPlus either - so I am still using Inkscape and clumsy clumsy Illustrator CC for designing logos and shapes:
handles snapping to especially grid and guides (just check out how Inkscape does) snap the node handle to a vertical / horizontal alignment and other angles (just check out how Inkscape does) I just read the book "Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork" by Von Glitschka. His techniques allow you to draw precise or symmetric shapes very very fast. When I read the book in 2011 I had just purchased DrawPlus and was surprised of the poor snapping features in DrawPlus - it made no sense. The tips in the book are hard and often impossible to follow. Well you can if you zoom in and make adjustments with your shaking hand and manual aligning. It just takes ages compared to automation. That is what we have software for, right? Then Affinity Designer surfaced and I was again surprised that these features were promised since 2014. You are SO close to being awesome. Please walk the last meters towards the goal! It is just the core of shape design that the software can assist your shaking hand and guarantee precision and symmetry.
 
I know this was requested and discussed in other threads - just making my voice heard here as well. And I hope the wait will be over once 1.7 arrives. Pleeease. Otherwise I enjoy the user interface and aesthetics of  Designer much more than the competition. Almost there Ben.
 
Merry xmas and happy new hear!

Looks very handy indeed. Well done. 
 
But I am still waiting for these important features that never found their way into DrawPlus either - so I am still using Inkscape and clumsy clumsy Illustrator CC for designing logos and shapes:
handles snapping to especially grid and guides (just check out how Inkscape does) snap the node handle to a vertical / horizontal alignment and other angles (just check out how Inkscape does) I just read the book "Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork" by Von Glitschka. His techniques allow you to draw precise or symmetric shapes very very fast. When I read the book in 2011 I had just purchased DrawPlus and was surprised of the poor snapping features in DrawPlus - it made no sense. The tips in the book are hard and often impossible to follow. Well you can if you zoom in and make adjustments with your shaking hand and manual aligning. It just takes ages compared to automation. That is what we have software for, right? Then Affinity Designer surfaced and I was again surprised that these features were promised since 2014. You are SO close to being awesome. Please walk the last meters towards the goal! It is just the core of shape design that the software can assist your shaking hand and guarantee precision and symmetry.
 
I know this was requested and discussed in other threads - just making my voice heard here as well. And I hope the wait will be over once 1.7 arrives. Pleeease. Otherwise I enjoy the user interface and aesthetics of  Designer much more than the competition. Almost there Ben.
 
Merry xmas and happy new hear!

I hope there's a fix or improvement in the pipeline for this, because doing it the way that's being described is not working for me at all. Illustrator does this job easily and quickly. Why try to reinvent the wheel?

Designer should tell me which part will be rasterized. I almost always choose "rasterize not supported areas" but I just want to have more information than just saying "some areas will be rasterized". I often come in a situation where it is just not clear why rasterization happens and giving more information will help tracking down those areas which will get rasterized for whatever reason. 
 
Just a little "show more" button which leads to the appropriate information in the export menu directly under "some areas will get rasterized" would help.

Really glad more users are showing how important this feature is to them and I hope that affinity team adds this to the roadmap soon. 
 
Currently I work between both illustrator and designer because of this feature at times. (Doing lines in illustrator and colouring in designer) (the other reason is for using astute graphics plugins - eraser tool in particular- if affinity added a tool like that as well as this request for anchor handle snapping, I’d be sorted!)
 
Im very meticulous when I design and I love to have anchor points snapping to grid (not always, but when it’s needed). 
 
It is a feature that needs to be a toggle on/off option in the snapping menu. It’s not always required but when it is, it’s fantastic and quick for when I want to be precise.
 

After thinking about this, now I count myself among the people that ask for this feature and I do so believing that it will benefit both sides: users and Serif.
Best regards!

I've just gotten back from holidays and have been checking out all the commentary on this topic. I don't have Affinity Designer, as my evaluation period expired. I didn't buy a copy simply because of this one lacking feature, the snapping of handles to grid (or grid-lines/intersections). I'm not sure how you could argue against having this ability. I can understand usage cases where you might not want handles snapping to grid, but I feel this is easily dealt with by having a simple checkbox somewhere on the interface for "snap handles enabled/disabled". In almost all cases in my work I do want the precision of snapping. This is the default behaviour in CorelDraw and Illustrator, so I'm surely not alone in this opinion.
 
The key reason is that you can create specific curvatures that can be easily replicated, especially useful for type, logo or pattern design, diagrams/flowcharts and other non-freestyle drawing applications. By using measurements rather than doing things by eye you can draw the same matching curve shapes much faster, without the need to constantly zoom in to adjust "by eye" (especially important on small laptop screens). You can calculate how to create the same curvatures at different scales because you're just scaling up the relative distances. You can also draw inverse shapes that exactly match the perimeter of another shape. You can confidently create many separate drawing files (e.g. for a family of icons or diagram elements) knowing that curvature shapes will match even though you're not seeing them at the same time.
 
Surely the advantage of using a computer for drawing is the ability to create with total mathematical precision, replicate elements, define exact ratios, fit things perfectly, work faster? I understand that many people are just doing the equivalent of freehand illustration, but that's no reason not to cater to users with a more technical drawing requirements. 

I understand what you say, Mark. And I really appreciate your effort and I engourage you to keep the good work.
Now, about this feature, the talk we had with Ben left me thinking about some things:
It's something that covers several use cases and it's used by a lot of people (I've read on the Internetz). It's not just that it's used, it's an important part of technical drawing and design workflows; even to the point that that single feature will prevent someone from adopting Designer. Maybe Ben or some of us don't use nor understand the full impact this has, but I can tell you that I remember scenarios where I would have loved to count with this. So, I encourage the Team to consider this little thing and what it represents. After that, I hope you integrate this in your internal roadmap and see it in a future release.
Best regards!
P. S.: I ignore if Photoshop has this, but I also hope seeing this one in Photo.

@Ben From other threads I see that you are looking at node snapping at present, so will you be able to look at…
 
1. Inserting nodes at pre-snapped positions?
2. Symmetrically opposite movement of node control handles?
 
At present it is tedious to adjust one control handle (holding Shift to Constrain) and then go back to move the other side to match. I don't think that Ctrl modifier is used at present when moving control handles, so could this be the key to symmetrical movement?
 
Thanks

Thanks David for the info.  Yes, they are printing onto vinyl.  
 
So what you are saying is that all modern vector editors can share vector shapes (i.e. eps, svg, pdf) but the effects that you can add to them are not sharable between applications without first being rasterized, correct?  (There is NO STANDARD to vector effects they are all proprietary)
 
If you created a graphic on a 12" x 22" artboard and you want to send that graphic to a print shop to be printed on a 12 foot by 22 foot mural, you only have a few options.
 
1. Design the graphic in the same software as the print shop so that the image can be easily scaled without it being rasterized (This option would necessitate the need to purchase an Adobe CC subscription).  Almost ALL print shops use Windows computers because their printers software is ONLY available on Windows.  And since they use Windows, they use Adobe Illustrator and will probably never use a Mac or Affinity Designer unless a version is made for Windows. (And even if there was a Windows version, how many professional print shops would ditch the ever popular Adobe format?)
 
2. Scale the image to the desired output size and then save the image to their preferred file format (this option would rasterize all special effects).  If your image is going to be scaled and rasterized, why would the print shop even need the file in a vector format?  You may as well send them a png of the graphic.
 
3. Not use any effects at all when using Affinity Designer. (This is not likely to happen)
 
The issue that I have is that when I send a file to the print shop to be printed, I now have to have first hand knowledge of each of the printers that they use.  Some of the Eco-solvent printers on the market can print anywhere from 800 dpi up to 1440 dpi.  The Latex printers can print up to 1200 dpi (maybe more).  Without knowing the make and model of the printers, I would never know exactly what I should be setting my rasterization dpi setting to.  Why wouldn't I want to utilize the maximum dpi that the printer supports?  This is precisely why they want the graphic file in vector format in the first place.  They can scale it and print it at the highest dpi that their current printers support. 
 
So, the next time my print shop wants me to send them a vector of my image, what dpi setting should I choose to get the best quality? (Yes, I need to know how to convert Chicken McNuggets into a soft drink)  Even if I choose the industry standard of pdf which is supposed to be a file format used to "present and exchange documents reliably, independent of software, hardware or operation system", vector shapes can be saved and be scaled within a pdf file, but any effects that you give those shapes will always be rasterized and will not scale without being "pixelated".
 
Long winded I know but this thread certainly leaves more questions than answers.

I know, but the way I see it, Ben was worried about something: does this feature allow you to create the curve exactly how you want it to be or you just take the options it allows?
That's why I believe, having both options is great. Also, as Pathfinder said: maybe you want to repeat this exactly.
Best regards!

In some cases this limit is practical. Let's say I want to have this simple line. I know I have a 10 px increment on the grid lines, I can easily reproduce this in the future without having to estimate. I don;t always use a sketch to design something and the grid is a great reference. If not, why use any kind of snapping if it's limiting?
 
 

So, I would say, @Ben:
Even if it ends up being limiting, as you suspected, people still want to work with the limited options this feature has to offer.
Best regards!
P. D.: Having both would be nice too, what you already made and this.

I agree with both options being available.
 
Exactly how I want is sometimes dictated by the grid not a sketch.

Thx for visuals.
 
Allright @Ben, how - using your new snapping - would you remember and recreate fx this particular corner again and again? To the pixel? With total precision? It is an easy workflow that is also easy to remember as a formula so the corner gemoetry can be recreated. Place node on grid intersection, place one handle two intersections below, the other handle four grid intersections above. Not a perfect match - but rather a formula.
 
Once I have a curve geometry that is red line in a particular design - icons, logos, corporate design guidelines even in illustrations - how do I recreate it again accurately?
 
I use handle snapping and the grid more than any other snapping types.