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8BitCerberus

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Posts posted by 8BitCerberus

  1. 2 hours ago, Chills said:

    🙂

    Some of us work to higher standards where that sort of thing is normal.

    I see, I see... so your work standards are higher than Apple or Microsoft? Serif? Adobe? That's pretty amazing.

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    I don't think you want to listen, so I don't need to explain it. If you spend a few minutes searching you will find exactly Flatpaks are nothing like exes or Mac apps.

    The old "do your own research" approach. Cool.

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    It is VERY different. Week ago I had an Affinity update. Since then I have had a couple of MS updates including .NET.  Affinity updated their software with their release and asynchronously MS did updates. With FlatPack I would have had to do 3 or 4 Affinity-Flatpack updates. Well assuming Affinity had put the new OS updates in Flatpak, properly tested it  and released them the same day. Three times in the same week.  Or do you rely on some one else to update Flatpak Some one you don't know of unknown provenance.  Either way that is a lot more work for Affinity to do. Especially as you need to test the flatpak stuff you are including.

    Tell me you didn't read the article I linked without saying you didn't read the article I linked. From the article:

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    A valid point. Since the Flatpak developers were fully aware of this problem, they came up with an acceptable and easy solution: flatpak-external-data-checker (f-e-d-c). f-e-d-c is a tool that automatically checks for external sources, such as dependencies and binaries. When an update is found, flathubbot automatically submits a merge request. Here are some concrete examples: [1] [2].

     

  2. 14 minutes ago, LondonSquirrel said:

    Please stop stating this. It is not the same or essentially the same. The word "same" is an absolute. Something is either the same or it is different. If it is 99% the same, it is still different.

    Pedantic semantics. 😑

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    It's completely different. 

    Then explain it to me. Both you and Chills claim it's "completely different" but offer no explanation WHY or HOW.

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    As for your statement: "It’s literally impossible to have an issue-free/bug-free/security-hole free program."

    Not my statement, it's the statement of whoever wrote that article/response. But I will admit it's generally a statement I agree with, barring very niche cases such as a simple "hello world" program, or writing everything from scratch in assembly or binary, because just using a standard language comes with their own bugs and security holes that get patched up in later versions of those languages. External libraries being used, same issue. And if you ARE coding assembly or binary from scratch you are almost certainly even more likely to have bugs and security holes unless you are having all your code undergo thorough review with every change you make. We are often blind to our own mistakes.

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    That is incorrect. I have written several programs that have stood the test of time for 25 years without defects or security holes.

    That you know of. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it is highly improbable.

  3. 7 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

    It is not the equivalent. Windows exes and Mac apps typically DO NOT come with all the standard libraries that are required to run those exes/apps, because they can make certain valid assumptions about what is already installed on the OS. Flatpaks bundle the whole lot again, because on Linux there is still no such thing as a standard installation.

    This is why I said "essentially" because it's not "exactly" the same. But it is *essentially* the same. If you look a Mac app packages, often they DO contain libraries within them that may or may not already be installed on the OS. And similarly with Windows exe, if it's a standalone exe then yes it relies on the libraries it needs already being installed on the system or will require the user to install them if they're not already. But if it's an installer, often it includes those libraries that it needs, or at the very least automatically downloads and rolls their installations in with it's own. Or if it's a "portable" app, then it definitely includes any library that it needs, as well as keeping all it's settings and the user's preferences contained within it's own folder that can then be taken to any other computer and used with all the same settings applied.

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    For Linux, it is still the wild west and anyone can do anything at any time. Also, anyone can (and they do)  modify libraries and other things at any time.  This can be a big problem for licensed software.

    Which is what Flatpak and Appimage aims to alleviate, and to an extent Snaps as well. The particular dependencies that a program requires are included with the program, they are "fixed" at whatever version they need to be for the program to function as it was intended. When that program gets updated, if it needs a newer version of those dependencies, it will include those new dependencies with it's update.

    It doesn't matter if the dependencies are or are not installed on the OS directly, and even if they are installed it doesn't matter if they get updated/changed/removed/altered in any way that may break programs that depend on them.

    This is why Flatpack, et al, can run on effectively any Linux distribution. You keep saying they can't run on all of them "by a long shot"... what distributions can Flatpaks not be used on?

    Are there many that don't include support by default? Sure. But that doesn't mean they cannot be used. That would be like saying "oh, well, Firefox isn't installed by default on Windows or Mac so I guess it can't be used on them." The user can enable Flatpak typically with one command on effectively every Linux distribution, and often there's a 2nd, optional command to add a plugin to their distribution's package manager GUI, so they can then be searched and installed directly from that instead of the command line.

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    The bigger problem is, as mentioned in the links posted above, is that the developer using flatpak has to do a lot of maintenance to keep flatpak up to date.

    No more than they do for Windows or Mac versions of their software. If they develop using a newer version of a dependency, they just include that dependency in their release. If they continue using the same version of the dependency when they're developing new updates, then they just continue using the same dependency in their release. This is no different from using system APIs on Mac, DLLs on Windows, other dependencies like .NET or Visual Studio & Xcode versions. What "maintenance" are you talking about?

  4. 9 hours ago, Chills said:

    In addition, I can't see Flatpak covering all Linux distributions. In which case, you are better off selecting a mainstream Linux and only supporting that.

    However, for a fraction of the 4% of the desktop market, it is not worth it.

    Your fundamental misunderstanding of what Flatpak is is not a Flatpak problem, it's a *you* problem. I don't know how anyone can make it any clearer and you still aren't comprehending.

    Flatpak is essentially the equivalent of a Windows exe file, or a Mac app package. A single application package, that runs on any Linux distribution. Or at least any that support Flatpak, but that's effectively all of them anyway, so that's a moot point.

  5. 11 hours ago, Paul Chiswick said:

    hit the ok button and I get what looks like a large white area with a long rectangular box in the center with a blue outline. What the heck was that?

    The... uhh... artboard/page. Seems someone with allegedly 3 decades of experience and knows Quark and InDesign inside and out would, you know... know this. The blue line is the margin indicator, same way it's done in InDesign.

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    The bleed area was not showing. I made sure "guides" was turned on, but still couldn't see the bleed guides.

    Yeah it's a bit annoying but it's not showing by default, you have to go to View > Show Bleed. Not "Show Guides" they're two separate options.

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    There didn't seem to be any option to just click on the content and move it around so that parts were hidden outside the box borders- a standard task in professional design programs. Not good.

    Add a mask to the image.

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    To begin with, the leading is in the "paragraph" box, when it should be in the "character" box. I tried to reduce the leading because the lines were miles apart. I reduced it to 5, which is the lowest allowed, and the lines were still miles apart. What the heck is that all about?

    This one plagued me for awhile. And it certainly works very different from Adobe. But it's just a different way of thinking about it, make sure your leading is set in BOTH the character and paragraph panel.

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    Even trying to fill the background of a box with a Pantone CMYK color was really confusing. It took me a bit to find the Pantone option, and I finally got it done, but why is it so hard to find things in this program???

    Couldn't find the Pantone color palette in ... the color palette picker? Ok.I realize it's different from InDesign but come on, it's not that difficult. I don't remember if the Swatches panel is active by default, it's been a minute since I set my workspace up, but once it's active, I find it far easier/more intuitive to change palettes in Designer than in InDesign (it's been about 20 years since I've used Quark so I have no idea how it's done currently). Does this person, of allegedly 30 years of design experience... not change their default workspace in InDesign/Quark to better match their workflow and personal preferences? That's straight up bizarre to me, if they don't, I've never met anyone that does this professionally that doesn't in my 20+ years in the field.

  6. Adobe always does their own thing to break standard/open formats and make them only work with their programs. They do the same with svg and even tiff. It’s been a source of great frustration for me the past couple decades as a graphic designer and web designer working with them and trying to integrate standards compliant software/technology.

  7. I know the original post was from 2017 when this option wasn’t available, but if you want to avoid cloud services and using iTunes, now it’s possible with the Files app to connect to a local network share or NAS, and you can copy files that way. Affinity’s file browser currently doesn’t see them yet, hopefully in an update we’ll get the full Files app functionality, so you can’t directly save to a network share (nor open files from a network share). But as a workaround for the time being, you can save them to any location on you iPad, then switch over to the Files app and copy it to the network share you have mounted.

    Edit: Another option that again wasn’t available in 2017, is to use a USB stick or HDD/SSD. And again, the Affinity file browser doesn’t see these when mounted, so you’ll have to use the same workaround above, just copying to the mounted drive instead of a network share.

  8. It’s doing that because you used the gradient overlay, instead of using the gradient tool to fill the color as a gradient. I’m not sure why, specifically, they would be treated differently, but I just tested with both and when I use the gradient tool it works as you are expecting, but using the gradient overlay fx it works as you are currently experiencing.

  9. On 1/14/2020 at 7:17 AM, MdmMTL said:

    It seems I cannot use the pen tool for a curved text unless I also purchase Designer, so I end up paying as much as I am paying with Photoshop and Illustrator.

    You’re comparing one month of Adobe CC to a one-time purchase that has been good for the last ~5 years for Affinity.

    Using USD, In 5 years you’d spend $3000 for Adobe CC vs. $50, $100 or $150 for Affinity (depending on if you want one, two or all three Affinity programs). Even in the very worst possible scenario, if Serif were putting out full version upgrades every year (1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0, etc.), you’d be looking at $50 - $150 / year vs. $240 or $600 / year for Adobe CC ($240 if you only need one Adobe program, or $600 if you need more than one).

    No matter how you look at it the Affinity programs are not anywhere close to what you’d be paying for Photoshop and Illustrator. Now, they’re also not as full-featured, and there are some different workflows you will have to adapt to (such as text on path being in Designer but not Photo), and there are some outright missing features that will need workarounds, and some of those features will eventually come, either in a point update (free) or a full version update (paid.) In general, the Affinity programs will be more than enough for 99% of people. There will always be that 1% who absolutely need every single niche feature of the Adobe programs, and unfortunately for them there is no alternative.

  10. Indeed! I was really looking forward to integrating the iPad apps into my daily workflow, but until these things are resolved it’s looking like I’m only going to be able to use them in a much more limited capacity. I guess one somewhat positive thing from this is it gives me time to start embedding images in my most recent documents, instead of linking them like I have been. I’m not thrilled with the increase in file size that’s going to come of this, but I’d really hate having to re-link images every time I change from iPad to computer and vice versa. I did a few years going back and forth between a PC desktop and Mac laptop with the Adobe suite, and that first week or so constantly re-linking was a nightmare. Now that I’ve been all PC desktop and laptop the last several years I’ve gone back to linking images. Oof!

  11. ON1 should be releasing their mobile app this year, and it would be worth checking out when they do. I think it’s slated for Q1. I’ve been checking on it every few days and no joy yet. If it’s anything like their desktop version, which has finally replaced Lightroom 6 for me (I refuse to subscribe to CC and it pisses me off that they moved LR to CC even after saying they weren’t going to) it will be a great photo manager/organizer and alternative to LR, even if not a full DAM (something like Bridge is a DAM, LR is not a DAM)

    They’re also going to have a sync between desktop and mobile, that is currently working in beta and works well between my laptop and desktop. I don’t know if it’s going to be a paid service though when it’s fully released, I would hope they allow LAN/WiFi syncing for free and only charge for a paid service if you sync through their cloud or have some cloud storage like CC... I wouldn’t pay for that service, personally, like I won’t pay for CC, but if they keep LAN/WiFi free I’m happy to continue with that.

  12. Having both the iPad and Desktop versions, sometimes it would be nice to have consistency between them, but so far I haven’t had much trouble finding my way around the iPad versions. 

    However this just blew my mind:

    Quote

    And menus I have zero interest in, like the Assets and Symbols, cannot be dragged off and closed like on the desktop.

    O.o How do you not? Do you start from scratch for everything, with each new piece? Do you not have recurring clients that have things like logos and common graphics like social media icons or UI elements you need to use over and over in other designs and mockups? Do you just keep cluttered files of common symbols to copy and paste from?

    As a working designer, the symbols and assets are a godsend. I’ve been using them since they were first introduced into Illustrator so many years ago, and they’ve become a sort of bare minimum requirement for my consideration of alternate programs. I used to keep those cluttered files of symbols and logos, UI elements, social media icons, etc. It’s so much better having them built in and available right from the program, even if just to save the hassle of having to navigate through my file system to open them.

  13. Another option is to use an app like iFont, it’s a bit of a clunky workaround to just being able to install fonts at a system level like you would on a computer, but it does work. Also the Creative Cloud app, even if you don’t have a CC subscription (I don’t) has a pretty decent selection of free fonts available that you can install.

    Both of these make the fonts available system wide, not limited to just the one app. If you use more than one Affinity app, or even more than one creative app in your workflow, it’d be more convenient to have the fonts system wide.

    Edit: Hmm, just double checked and apparently the Adobe fonts aren’t showing up in Affinity, but the iFont installed ones are. Yet another iPadOS update that apparently didn’t make it into Affinity’s iPadOS compatibility update ¬¬

  14. Another option is to use an app like iFont, it’s a bit of a clunky workaround to just being able to install fonts at a system level like you would on a computer, but it does work. Also the Creative Cloud app, even if you don’t have a CC subscription (I don’t) has a pretty decent selection of free fonts available that you can install. 

    Edit: Hmm, just double checked and apparently the Adobe fonts aren’t showing up in Affinity, but the iFont installed ones are. Yet another iPadOS update that apparently didn’t make it into Affinity’s iPadOS compatibility update ¬¬

  15. I have been using the Affinity suite on PC for a few years now, but I just got an iPad Pro and wanted to jump in to on-the-go editing, however when I try to open any one of my files using “Open From Cloud”, or even “Import From Cloud”, the Files interface (seems to be built into the Affinity apps, and not accessing the native Files app) sees all my cloud storage services and download folders, but it does not see my connected network share that I have already attached in the native Files app, and it also doesn’t see any HDDs or USB sticks I connect, either. This is happening in both Photo and Designer. If it’s a bug, I’d like to know where to properly report it. If it’s a limitation of the API that prevents them from being able to fully access the native Files app features... well, damn. Why, Apple? However, if it’s intentionally limited... why, Serif?

    Ultimately I’d like to use a HDD to pass work back and forth since I won’t always be on the same network, but I was hoping to also be able to use network shares periodically as well. The native Files app can browse the network share and HDDs/USBs, and I can copy Affinity documents from them to let’s say OneDrive, for example, and I can then open it in Affinity from OneDrive, but that’s impractical for daily work. My current, less than ideal, option is to relocate my entire work folder into OneDrive since I have 1TB space from Office365, but I do not relish the thought of uploading several hundred gigabytes of data.

    Edit: I’m attaching a couple screenshots to illustrate the issue. The dark mode one is the native Files app, and the one not using dark mode (which my iPad is set to), is from Affinity Designer (and it’s the same with Photo).

    Open folder 02 February.png

    Screenshot 2020-01-18 at 7.39.57 PM.png

  16. Any update on this issue? I'm on 1.7.1.404 and still have the issue of anything inside the bleed area is invisible. It renders when exporting, just doesn't show in Designer. I was just happy to finally get a visible bleed line and assumed it was working as intended, even though I'd prefer to see things in the bleed area as I'm used to with Illustrator/InDesign/etc. I didn't realize it was a bug until I started using Publisher and it's rendering the bleed area just fine.

    Clip to canvas does nothing, and hiding/showing the bleed also doesn't fix it (as it was for OP during beta). I can change to outline view and see the outline of the objects within the bleed area, but nothing in vector view or the pixel views either. They can't even be selected from the bleed area in vector view, but can be in outline view (this is less of an issue as I'm generally not needing to select something in the bleed area, just an observation.)

  17. Storing the images uncomressed isn't necessarily the problem, even Illustrator does the same thing (or maybe CC doesn't anymore, but I refuse to move off CS6). But not having the ability to choose whether to link or embed the image is where the real issue lies, in my opinion. I love AD but the one thing keeping me from using it professionally is not being able to link images instead of embedding them. If I'm working on a print ad for a client I may go through 4-5 revisions before final approval, and I save revisions as separate files so if there's ever a need to go back to an earlier revision it's no big deal, but when each file can easliy balloon to 500MB-1.5GB, that's just ridiculous, while with Illustrator each file is around 5-10MB.

    I've been linking images with Illustrator for as long as it's been an option. Even back on a crappy MacBook (non-Pro) from 2008 there has never been an issue with performance vs. embedded images, so that explanation doesn't really hold any relevance to me. And it certainly was not an issue on my MacPro, nor on my later i7 or current Ryzen PCs.

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