Uncle Mez

will there be an envelope tool / blend tool / warp tool / text warp options in the new version?
isometric (3d) seems like it'd be something to add after the features mentioned above....
 
thanks

That's also what i suggested as a solution but a resource manager to make the load much automated would be a better choice 

Well Yes, have read and seen that but still Procreate is dominant on his YouTube Channel,Go check And enjoy

FWIW, "Replicate/Blend" is mentioned on the Designer roadmap, so it is reasonable to assume they will "make it happen" ... someday.

i love the new ones and the way they look on my dock.
I see them more pro than previous ones !

Can we get rotate on plane in the Fx group?
Will be helpful after we have done some basic 3D, extrusion etc made on a text, a shape or a curve, it will enable us to rotate that subject in different perspective angles to see how it fits, plus it must come with a better control of lights and shadows when available.
Working with light and shadows from a menu is good but it would be better if we get a guide that appears on the work area which is linked 5o that precise subject, a multibranch guide each branch reflecting a variant of light color that we can simply click 5o change the loght color, drag and move in a certain degree to see if it fits our desire.
Go Affinity, Go !
Blessings.

You said it so well dear, the way you described the tool and the way @MattP is the beginning of what we want.
Something efficient with all that you said as possibilities, so make it happen guys !
Our Wacoms, XP-Pen and Hiuon are waiting 

Dear !
You are an already confirm genius which i am not yet (still finding my way) so ...  won't go your route i don't want to trow my laptop on the wall because i can't achieve this or that the way you do it, so i ask for tools that can make it okay for me.
One of my mentors said to me one day: Good workers uses good tools !
So i stick to that, the more the tool is okay is the more the results by which i'm judged get better.
A bit of story please:
Months ago a took a decision to learn more about the Adobe thing and hired a trainer at home (actually the most skilled guy i knew around my town) for 5 lessons.
Long time before he starts the course, i went and downloaded Adobe PS  + Ai 2018 in its early days on my Mac, then came the guys with all his knowledge and found it difficult to teach me the way he wanted because he was used to PS (not Ai) but 2016 version ... we ended up sharing and talking about tech and stuffs after 3 sessions, i then invited him to get my demo copies of Adobe products and give it a try for a week or two.
Since that day he grew and became even better than before, he bought couples of licenses (while i moved to Serif Affinity) and really improved, recently we talked and i told him about the 2019 version of the thing and he jumped and decided to go for it.
Not that i'm making marketing of Adobe products but its a story to tell you that even the most skilled one, when he get the most refined and equiped tool dedicated to his work, he simply becomes far more better and his brain and creativity gets released and thats what you can feel when you watch hand lettering from ian barnar done with Procreate 4.2.

I believe you are misunderstanding Matt's post. He is not asking about what a blend tool is or how it works. He's suggesting we usually use it as a (generic) mean to achieve something else (a particular effect/result) but that the result isn't usually good enough/close enough to what we really wanted and could eventually be better if it was accomplished through a dedicated tool with a set of specific options designed for that end. 
While there's some cases where the blend tool does exactly what we want (the clip @Uncle Mez posted above is a good example of this), there others where we may be using it just because there's no other tool able to get as closer to the result we want as what the Blend Tool provides currently - for example using it to create a gradient that follows an horizon outline - you may create several shapes, change their colours and (in certain programs) their feather values to get a smooth blend between the colours that compose the gradient (or for shading faces suing blended shapes to help distribute the shading along a face) while following the outline. It works, but a dedicated tool do deal with complex gradients/its deformations/colour blending with a set of dedicated controls/options would probably generate a better result/could be more efficient. Is that type of examples/uses that (i believe) Matt is asking about so he can develop tools specifically geared/designed toward those ends.

Suggest that this be enhanced to allow multiple selection.

Maybe it’s just me, but I got tired watching it because you speeded it up!

i love the new ones and the way they look on my dock.
I see them more pro than previous ones !

Yes, I've definitely seen this as the way a blend tool is used - but usually it's because you're trying to achieve a certain look. It's very unlikely that the arbitrarily-interpolated results are going to be exactly what you were after if you were intending to use each of them for some particular purpose, so a dedicated tool to perform that action, together with some way of specifying key points/joints and controlling their motion (potentially individually) over the blend would be more appropriate and produce actual results that were desirable. We're simply trying to understand what people are really trying to achieve, because the Blend Tool in most other programs is just a generic answer and doesn't really give the exact results to the problem people were trying to solve, I think?

I just didn't want to only give you the short answer and no explanation of why... 

I certainly could be wrong but I think by "Blend Tool" what is meant is one that can blend one shape into another shape through a series of intermediate  shapes, each one a bit more like the last one in the series than the previous one.

Hi Wafer,
Just want to say that I'm sorry we aren't making the right decisions for you, nor are we making them in the timeframe you feel is acceptable. I understand that and accept it. We're working as fast as we can with the resources we have. Whether you agree with our decisions or not, only we really know the factors which guide our business decisions and we're making products we're proud of and excited about. I know nothing about the inner workings of your business, I suspect you know a similar amount about mine - which is fine. Are your devs on your forums talking to customers about the decisions they make and how to improve your features? All of our new construction tools, Node Tool functionality, column guide and Isometric studio features are entirely as the result of talking things through with customers and engineering a solution for their needs, so to suggest we are not delivering for our customers is just not true.
How you may view our priorities is guided by what you can observe... but what you can't observe is that actually the person writing a lot of the things you've called out as your priorities is going to be me and I've been writing the iPad version of Designer for the last year, so I've missed almost an entire cycle. As I've explained earlier in this thread, the iPad version is now written so I can get back to adding features... You're now going to say to me that I shouldn't have been developing the iPad version and that I should focus on customer requested features as priorities - and I'm now going to refer you back to the beginning of this response where I do try to politely point out that you can't possibly know what is actually critical for our business to succeed and that we are talking to customers daily and trying our best with our resources to offer something we're proud of and excited about.
I have to say that if, as you alluded, you're used to developing large scale products with complicated interactions, then I'm genuinely shocked that you can predict with accuracy the timescales different items will take... We generally find that development of research projects to levels where they're ready for public consumption takes an extremely unpredictable amount of time - and always has. Sometimes things go better than you hope, sometimes they go much worse... but if you're under pressure to hit a timescale then you are forced to pursue a route which will lead to a poor solution
There's no doubt in my mind that we offer a genuinely great alternative to just about any other design/illustration application and we're working to improve it to the best of our abilities. We'll get there, but rushing will just wreck the whole thing and it's not what anybody actually wants to receive and not focusing on the things our business requires along the way will result in no products at all... The updates are free, they'll keep on coming and we're trying our hardest. The decisions we make aren't accidents or misguided if you understood our business (which nobody else could unless they worked here and were privy to all our meetings). There's nothing to be too down about, is there?
Thanks again,
Matt

Guys i'm just in love with the new very simple CMD+Drag to clone a subject (shape, curve etc...) it's nice to feel free of the old Shift+Alt thing !
Did someone noticed it yet ?

Hello. My name is Vitaly, I am UX/UI designer from Russia. In my free time I decided to redesign my beloved Affinity Designer. What I did can be viewed at the link below. What do you say, colleagues?
View on Behance
 

Can we get rotate on plane in the Fx group?
Will be helpful after we have done some basic 3D, extrusion etc made on a text, a shape or a curve, it will enable us to rotate that subject in different perspective angles to see how it fits, plus it must come with a better control of lights and shadows when available.
Working with light and shadows from a menu is good but it would be better if we get a guide that appears on the work area which is linked 5o that precise subject, a multibranch guide each branch reflecting a variant of light color that we can simply click 5o change the loght color, drag and move in a certain degree to see if it fits our desire.
Go Affinity, Go !
Blessings.

Hi @Sean P sorry for late reply, yes i was trying to export a single artboard and got that error.
Also, thank you Artboard naming is not buggy anymore with the nex version but also, artboard increments as i create them which is really helpful.
Blessings !

I was playing around with the Designer beta's Fill Tool, creating a Linear fill with several stops. When I deleted one of the end stops on the canvas, a dotted rectangle with control (??) handles appeared, but I am not exactly sure of its purpose. The image on the left shows the fill before deleting the upper stop; on the right is what I get after doing that.
 
AD beta fill oddity.afdesign (history included)

Dear staff, i've done a quick test on a photo to select subject including Hair selection but noticed there is no real improvement with that related tools.
Maybe it works with kind of things to select but when it comes with Hair it simply not that good.
OKay maybe i'm doing it wrong but i believe here you need to improve it at the level of introducing a fresh new way of subject/person selection with a much detailed menu that will help us to tweak things to get the best we can.
i often deal with photos like many here (while i'm not good at photo) so not having such kind of operation working optimal or even painless generate high frustration.
Please bring to light what you have hidden so we can test it and help you make it better before APhoto goes on sales.
I've attached the picture i tried with, just try on your side and if you are successful with it please share the method.
Blessings !

New one here.

Hi all,
 
I like to work with Affinity Designer. 

Status: Beta
Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Photo
Mac App Store: Not submitted
Download: Download
Hello,
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the second beta of Affinity Photo 1.7 for macOS.
Photo 1.7 is a (very) significant change to the currently shipping 1.6 version, so, as ever, I would strongly urge users to avoid the 1.7 beta for critical work. This is especially true as this is only the second of many beta builds we will release before 1.7 ships. Things will be broken in this build - please use it to explore the new features and not for real work.
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.
It’s also worth noting that we aren’t done yet - we are still working through reported bugs from previous releases and hope to fix as many as possible before the final release of 1.7.
With all that said, we hope that you will enjoy the new capabilities introduced in this release and we look forward to any and all feedback you give to us.
Many thanks (as always),
Affinity Photo Team  
 
Changes This Build

- Fixed hardware acceleration issues on certain iMac devices.
- Fixed a number of brush bugs.
- Fixed hang in HDR merge with GPU enabled.
- Fixed HSL adjustment UI crash,
- Fixed Procedural Texture UI issues when switching from dark to light UI.
- Fixed Curves adjustment clamping issue when GPU is enabled.
- Fixed 3DLUT adjustments when GPU is enabled.
- Fixed issues with sub-brush UI.
- Numerous other small fixes.
- Added pixabay.com to Stock panel.
- New welcome screen graphics.
- New persona icon graphics.
- New splash screen.

Changes Since 1.6 Release

Performance
- The core processing engine in Affinity Photo has been rewritten to take advantage of the powerful discrete AMD GPUs in modern Mac hardware. It will now automatically use any compatible discrete GPU, alongside the Intel GPU support present in 1.6. Typically this improves compositing / editing performance by at least 1000%. Performance when using integrated Intel GPUs has also been massively improved.
- External GPUs (eGPU) are also supported - including hot-plug-and-unplug support.
- Multiple GPUs are supported - if you have more than 1 GPU (ie. Intel + AMD in MacBook Pro, or Intel + eGPU in other Macs) Photo will use them all, at the same time, to improve performance. There is no limit to the number of GPUs which can be used.

Brushes
- Photo 1.7 introduces a new “sub-brush” mechanism, developed in conjunction with Paolo Limoncelli (DAUB® Brushes). This exciting feature allows any brush to have a list of other brushes attached which will draw at the same time. Each sub-brush has a fully separate and customisable set of dynamics. You can control when the sub-brushes are drawn and how they blend with the main brush.
- The brush engine in Photo has been rewritten to use the new GPU architecture described above. With GPU support, even huge brushes with 1% spacing will perform well. All brushes / brush tools are accelerated.
- Symmetry (up to 32-way) is now supported - including on-canvas controls and optional mirroring. We have more symmetry features on the way - so stay tuned during the beta process.
- Wet edges and accumulation are now available on colour brushes and brushes with HSL variance.
- Brushes with multiple nozzle textures have always chosen the nozzle at random. In 1.7, the nozzle choice has a dynamic controller and ramp for greater control.
- All brush tools now support left and right arrow keys for rotation - a common feature request 

RAW
- The RAW processing engine in Photo has been rewritten - producing better results and improved performance. It also takes advantage of the GPU architecture changes described above.
- RAW files now load much more quickly - especially if you have a compatible GPU.
- Reimplemented support for XTrans sensors.
- The denoise algorithm has been rewritten. It produces better results and takes advantage of the new GPU architecture.
- Hot pixel removal is now automatically performed by the Serif Labs engine.
- Profiled lens correction are more stable, apply more quickly, and can be toggled in the Develop UI.
- The histogram in the Develop persona is now presented in the output colour space - as opposed to always being linear.

Filters
- New “Procedural Texture” filter with advanced presets support.
- New “Voronoi” filter.
- Denoise, Clarity and Shadows / Highlights filters have been rewritten (using technology from the Develop Persona).
- More filters are now available as Live Filters - including the new Procedural Texture filter.
- Live filters have been rewritten to improve performance - especially when multiple filters are used in a document.
- Improved Polar to Rectangular and Rectangular to Polar filters.

Adjustments
- The HSL adjustment layer has been rewritten. It now supports custom hue ranges, a new algorithm, new UI and picker controls.
- The Levels adjustment layer now supports output levels - a common feature request.
- The White Balance adjustment layer has been rewritten.
- The Selective Colour adjustment layer has been rewritten.
- PSD import / export of adjustments has been improved.
- The Vibrance adjustment layer has been rewritten.
- The Recolour adjustment layer has gained a lightness slider.

Tools
- The Crop tool has been rewritten - it now supports resolution changes, absolute pixel size and has a much improved preset mechanism.
- The Sponge Brush tool now gives more correct / pleasant results.
- A general tools overhaul has been performed - providing editing of grids, guides, page origin, across multiple tools (not just in the Move tool)

General
- “Alternate futures” for document history have been added. Traditionally, if you roll back the undo history then do something else all your changes after that point are lost. Photo will now display a small branch icon in the history tab when you do this. Pressing that button will cycle between all the different “futures” after that history entry - meaning you will never lose work you have done.
- HEIF images can now be loaded directly into Photo. If they contain a depth map, this will also be loaded as a second layer. Because depth maps are typically lower resolution than the main image, optional “smart” upsampling will be performed.
- A large number of new cameras are supported for RAW development (we will provide a list of the new supported cameras as soon as possible!).
- The batch process dialog now fully supports expressions for height and width - available constants are “w”, “h” and “dpi”.
- Photo now supports custom document presets - a popular feature request.
- A new blend mode - Linear Burn - has been added.
- New “Move inside / outside” commands have been added - useful for quick operations on clipping masks etc.
- The Hard Mix blend mode has been improved.
- New provider options have been added to the stock panel - support for Unsplash and Pexels. Both of these providers offer full-resolution stock imagery which is free to use.
- Metadata is now dynamically synchronised with your document - so if you resize then export, the values will be correct.
- Numerous text improvements have been made - including new features.
- Significant PDF import / export improvements and fixes.
- Numerous other bug fixes - too many to list!