affinityfan

One aspect that I have come to really appreciate about the Affinity Suite as an artist is the ability to quickly create your own reference boards within your documents by dragging stuff directly from your web browser into the programs. With artboards in Designer this feature has been an absolute joy to work with because of the near infinite canvas available. However, with 1.9 this single feature no longer works as it should. Instead of importing the actual image when dragging it into Affinity it instead imports the URL link on a text layer.
If this change just happens to be intentional, I would highly appreciate it if you reverted the change by adding in an option to import the image as an image layer like it used to. To me this is a great quality of life feature by not having to browse online every time to look at specific references you want for a project, so I would be really sad to see it go.

Desktop 2021.02.19 - 02.49.54.01.mp4

I use Affinity Designer to lay out a lot of designs which I bring over to a laser cutter.  With contours now I can just do a couple test cuts, and then just select everything and adjust the whole multi-piece design to just make everything 0.015" bigger or whatever to account for the laser kerf!  This is amazing and now all my stuff will fit together better and the middles of the letters won't fall out of my stencil font text as readily.
I had a process for doing this before but it was awkward and destructive. This is much much better!
Thank you!

It would be awesome to implement the pattern layer in affinity designer because that would boom the market and you would be able to have a 100% nondestructive workflow I can tell you because you could cover a lot of thing like seamless and infinity vector textures that you can edit freely with curves and vectorial capabilities.

Hello all, I will be gradually adding 1.9 functionality videos to YouTube (they are all currently on our website's Learn section). I've just finished the astrophotography videos so you can now view them on YouTube:
Astrophotography stacking: SHO composition Astrophotography stacking: One shot colour workflow Astrophotography stacking: Monochrome colour mapping Astrophotography stacking: LRGB composition Astrophotography stacking: HaRGB composition Astrophotography stacking: Bi-colour composition Astrophotography: Removing background gradients Astrophotography: Equalising colours The initial post has been updated with these videos too!

Agree.
Currently Publisher can convert a pixel layer to an image layer(embedded image)
I assume Serif will expand this functionality to all layer type in future release.

It's actually the method of implementing Smart Object . Since now Affinity have implemented Embedded Document and Linked Document , as long as there is a convenient option to convert layers or groups into a embedded document, the Smart Object feature of PhotoShop can finally have replacement. 
This will be really convenient feature, please you add it! 

I concur. Right now it is simply not ready for an official release, but the potential for this feature is great. Just give it some more polish by addressing the feedback people have given on it and I think it will be a pretty amazing addition to Affinity.
Looking forward to the final 1.9 release!

Please add auto-weld (auto-join) option for curve editing.
It will be extremely useful for workflow.
1) Auto-weld automatically when drag one node on another
2) Auto-weld button with specified distance between nodes (example: select all nodes of curve, press auto-weld by distance).
Also please fix: nodes handles are changing their direction when two nodes join together.
 

Good question. Not new with the beta, though.
As a workaround: Preferences, User Interface, move the Background Gray slider to the right, lightening the background until it matches the border color.
 

This can't be a deliberate design choice - in preview mode I still see the distracting grey borders around pages.
So there is no way to view or preview a publication without this border? That is no good for presenting a publication at the desk or in a meeting room without exporting to PDF which is not an option if you try out changes with someone live. The amount of "What is that grey border?" questions alone... or "Please hide it" requests... brrr...

I also own all the Affinity apps since they came out, and I'm glad Affinity is making a gesture of help again, lowering prices. This is a great opportunity to recommend software and encourage you to try it out. Collaboration and work sharing is easier when there are more users of the same software  

Hi guys!
I tried the Contour Tool but unfortunately holding down the ALT-Button does not clone the object.
Cheers

This is probably an oversight and inconsistency.
The icons for Contour Tool are in the text version of Persona Designer on Mac, while in Affinity Designer and Persona Designer in Publisher for Windows they are in the icon version.
 

Text changing sizes when grouping multiple layers still in this latest version 1.9.0.920 (RC3)

This is most appreciated, thanks!  I had hoped for an improvement for brush organization, but hopefully next time!

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

As of version 1.8.5.703 there is a window called "Transform" that will display the width and height of a selected object.
It also gives the X and Y position relative to the ruler, so you could drag the 0 point of the ruler to the side of object one, and select object two, the X or Y will give you the distance between these two objects.
It is limited in that a line drawn on an angle will not show it's true length nor show radius of a circle, but it's a start 😊

Designer beta .911
Resizing the Vector Brush tool using Ctrl-Alt Mouse button, the cursor disappears after moving the mouse. I have to click to make it reappear. Same behaviour in the release version.

Seems I need new glasses. Either that, or a new brain..
Sorry 'bout that.
Still, those buttons and their function wouldn't go amiss, and indeed, the ALT pressdown doesn't work as advertised.

Just add a button on the Contour Tool toolbar - keep the original and of course the button - scale with object.
The lower bar of the program interface shows that you can hold the ALT key while using the Contour Tool and the object will be cloned.
Unfortunately, on Windows and Mac it doesn't work.

Text changing sizes when grouping multiple layers still in this latest version

Status: Release Candidate
Purpose: Updates and Fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Publisher
Windows Store: Submitted
Download: Download
Auto-update: Not Available
---
We are pleased to announce that Affinity Publisher Customer Beta 1.9.0.911 is now available as a download from the link above.
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 significant update 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 or future versions of Affinity Publisher.
---
Fixes And Improvements
General cosmetic improvements Prevented manual insertion of objects into a Text Frame's list of pinned children via Layers, resulting in inconsistent document state. PDF Passthrough was getting rasterised if vector cropped Removed undesired maximums int Text Frame column gutter widths UI Embed / Link options in Replace Image dialog weren't honoured ---
Release Notes for 1.9.0.902
---
To be notified about all future Windows beta updates, please follow this notification thread 
To be notified when this Publisher update comes out of beta and is fully released to all Publisher customers, please follow this thread

Status: GM Seed
Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Photo
Mac App Store: Submitted
Download ZIP (Universal): Download
Auto-update: Available
 
Hello,
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the final 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 1.8.6
 
- Added a new “Astrophotography Stack” persona.
- Added “Live Liquify” layers.
- Added linked layers.
- Added pattern layers.
- Added studios presets.
- Added the “Resource Manager” functionality from Publisher for managing image placement.
- Added text-on-a-path support.
- Added “Export Timelapse”.
- Added ability to create brushes from the current pixel selection with one click.
- Added a new “Divide” blend mode.
- Added “Create from centre” for the elliptical marquee tool.
- Added a benchmarking tool to the help menu. It will only become available when no documents are open.
- Added an option to allow snapping to the bounds of the pixel selection.
- Added support for PDF passthrough.
- Added per-layer antialiasing controls in the advanced blending menu.
- Added curves adjustment to the tone mapping persona.
- 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 support for 12bit grayscale TIFF files.
- Added “Duplicate spare channel” to right click menu.
- Added native CR3 support to the Serif Labs RAW engine.
- Added support for Canon EOS R6.
- Added a registration page to the app - this allows users to login and download owned content from the Affinity store.
- Improved “Serif Labs” RAW engine.
- Blend modes now work on “alpha only” layers (masks, adjustments, live filters, etc.).
- Gradient map adjustments now support global colours.
- Filter effects now work properly with global colours.
- 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.
- Adjustments no longer auto apply when expending a section of the adjustments panel.
- More filters now work on masks / adjustments / spare channels (Add Noise, Perlin Noise, etc.).
- LUT adjustments can be exported directly from the adjustments panel, and batch imported from files.
- Having a large number of LUT presets will no longer make application startup slow.
- Assistant options are now available from preferences (so there is no need to open a document to access them).
 
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: GM Seed
Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Photo for iPad From App Store
App Store:  Submitted
Download link: Download
 
Hello,
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the final build of Affinity Photo 1.9.0 for iPad.
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 1.8.6 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 1.8.6
 
- Added “Live Liquify” layers.
- Added linked layers.
- Added pattern layers.
- Added text-on-a-path support.
- Added the “Serif Labs” RAW engine to iPad.
- Added “Export Timelapse”.
- Added ability to create brushes from the current pixel selection with one click.
- Added a new “Divide” blend mode.
- Added noise reduction and tone mapping options into the HDR merge dialog.
- Added external display support for iPad (in the navigator panel, once the external display is connected).
- Added “Create from centre” for the elliptical marquee tool.
- Added a benchmarking option in preferences.
- Added an option to allow snapping to the bounds of the pixel selection.
- Added per-layer antialiasing controls in the advanced blending menu.
- Added curves adjustment to the tone mapping persona.
- 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 support for 12bit grayscale TIFF files.
- Added “Duplicate spare channel” to right click menu.
- Added native CR3 support to the Serif Labs RAW engine.
- Added support for Canon EOS R6.
- Added a registration page to the app - this allows users to login and download owned content from the Affinity store.
- Blend modes now work on “alpha only” layers (masks, adjustments, live filters, etc.).
- Gradient map adjustments now support global colours.
- Filter effects now work properly with global colours.
- 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.
- Adjustments no longer auto apply when expending a section of the adjustments panel.
- More filters now work on masks / adjustments / spare channels (Add Noise, Perlin Noise, etc.).
- LUT adjustments can be exported directly from the adjustments panel, and batch imported from files.
- Having a large number of LUT presets will no longer make application startup slow.
- Assistant options are now available from preferences (so there is no need to open a document to access them).

Status: Release Candidate
Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Photo for iPad From App Store
App Store:  Not submitted
Download link: Download
 
Hello,
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the sixth build of Affinity Photo 1.9.0 for iPad.
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 1.8.4 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 1.9.0.211
 
- LUT adjustments can now be exported directly from the adjustments panel, and batch imported from files.
- Having a large number of LUT presets will no longer make application startup slow.
- Gradient map adjustments now support global colours.
- Added pattern layer sampling and mirroring controls to the layer options panel.
- Added ability to duplicate a spare channel.
- Added optional UI in the layer panel (from the menu at the top) to edit layer linkage (including drag & drop to link support).
- Added native CR3 support to the Serif Labs RAW engine.
- Export timelapse tweaks.
- Fixed "Geometry > Add" crash with no layer selected.
- Fixed numerous longstanding TIFF import issues.
- Fixed Serif Labs RAW engine.
- Fixed Tone Mapping crashes.
- Fixed crash when loading Apple ProRAW.
- Assorted other bug fixes.
- Help improvements.
- Localisation improvements.
 
Changes Since 1.8
 
- Added support for live liquify filter layers.
- Fixed issue with high pass live filter compositing.
- Fixed assorted compositor alpha issues.
- Fixed assorted compositor crashes.
- Added a preferences option to disable external displays.
- Added support for snapping to the pixel selection bounds.
- Fixed layout issues for the convert document controls on small iPads.
- Fixed crazy transform page bugs.
- Help improvements.
 
- Added export preview button (for raster types).
- Added Linked Layers - the ability to duplicate a layer and keep the contents of the layers linked. At present, only layer duplication is supported - UI to unlink and relink attributes of the layer will be made available in a subsequent beta.
- 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.
- 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 per-layer antialiasing controls in the layer options window (it’s also hierarchical, which is nice).
- Added a registration page to the app - this allows users to login and auto-install content.
- Added support for 12bit grayscale TIFF files.
- Added JPEG-XR 101010 import support (useful for screen captures from Xbox, etc.)
- Added new splash screen.
- Improved appearance of popup dialogs.
- Reduced binary size.
- Default to black-to-white gradients in the gradient tool (more gradient tool improvements are coming for 1.9, at last).
- Filter effects now work properly with global colours.
- Added noise reduction and tone mapping options into the HDR merge dialog.
- Added curves adjustment to the tone mapping persona.
- Added “Duplicate spare channel” to right click menu.
- Merged assorted iOS14 fixes from 1.8.6.
- Fixed numerous bugs with brushes, introduced in the 1.9.0 betas.
- Fixed “Infer LUT”.
- Fixed assorted other GPU acceleration issues introduced in the 1.9.0 betas.
- Text on a path is now available in Photo.
- Assistant options are now available from preferences (so there is no need to open a document to access them).
- More filters now work on masks / adjustments / spare channels (Add Noise, Perlin Noise, etc.).
- 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.
- Fixed issues when attempting to add layers to a spare channel (!).
- The “Serif Labs” RAW engine is now available on iPad.
- Added external display support for iPad (in the navigator panel, once the external display is connected).
- You can now single tap a spare channel in the Channels panel to edit it like a layer.
- A benchmarking tool has been added in the preferences dialog.
- 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.