KipV

I don't have any problem with doing a paid update at this point either. 1.0 was missing a number of important features so all these free updates made sense but now that 1.5 is quite good I don't see why there needs to be another long line of free updates without putting a paid release in there somewhere. It's much more important to me that Serif can expand their staff and product line then for me to keep getting updates at no charge. Maybe just roll a couple of updates into one (like 1.6 and 1.7) and then call it 2 and make it paid. I know one of the staff since getting more employees is not a matter of where they are financially but I also got a newsletter saying just about the opposite of that. It said that they rely on the customers to advertise the product since all the money was getting put into developing it and there were not funds left to go into other areas.

On the other hand, you guys need to eat! ;)

Hey MEB and other Affinity Developers,
 
I'm a technical developer myself, for a video game company called Ubisoft. However I'm a huge fan and user of Affinity's products. I found myself wanting some additional shapes which currently don't exist in Affinity Photo and I was wondering if there was a way I could develop these and use them myself or even give them to you guys to implement into the application? I'd be more than glad to help out if possible. If at all possible, can I extend my local version with shapes I want?
 
Thanks
 

I found a way around this for the Mac version - go to Font Book - create a new collection and call it All (or whatever you like) than grab all your fonts and drop them on the new all collection - restart Designer / Photo - select text you want to change - go to Character pallet - click on All Fonts and scroll down to All (or whatever you called your new collection) then click back in the font name box to the right of your new collection now you should be able to just use the arrow keys to scroll up or down to the next font alphabetically from where you last left off - this would be really handy if the font list display could be hidden so you could focus on the live update when scrolling through fonts on the page

Just really, REALLY busy, that's all... ;)

+1 for this feature request. OS X's Auto Save and Versions are extremely useful for designers, especially those who take advantage of Time Machine to be as flexible as a client's mood swings and changes-of-heart. I hope you re-consider putting this into AD.

It seems like people are expecting absolute perfection from version 1.x software which is unreasonable. It should go without saying (but apparently has to be said) when a company throws out their entire graphics suite and starts over from scratch such a project will be a work in progress and miss most of the basic functions. Our focus should be on where the developer is going not where they are currently at. If you need these features today then you should be looking at using software from other companies. I am sure many people here own Serif software and Adobe software for that very reason.

Sometimes software companies have had bad or mediocre justifications for bringing misplaced features into certain apps. FreeHand had master pages probably because Macromedia didn't have a layout tool and they thought they could somewhat compete with layout tools by providing some of those features like master pages and text linking. Was this the best solution possible? No, the best solution would have been for Macromedia to make their own layout tool but it was probably the best option for them in the position that they were in at that time which was to keep their focus as a multimedia company rather then compete in print as well. Unlike Macromedia Serif has a layout tool in the pipeline so it is hard to justify too many (or any) advanced layout features getting brought over to the other programs.
 
The single file format is really a great opportunity to minimize bloat. What is so weird about Creative Cloud to me is that Adobe's big initial selling point was that they could get features out faster but in many cases they just seem to be rushing out bloat to me. Providing a suite where the individual apps are nimble but the suite as a whole is powerful is a much better selling point for the company. A large suite of nimble software would make Serif very competitive with Adobe particularly as some of their apps have been getting a little creaky.

If I was creating that document I would start and end the work in the layout software due to the lack of graphics. To me it seems like if you are creating graphics for a short document the space that the graphics take up and the brevity of the medium would reduce the need for having much text to link. I just did a book cover that had a lot of text on the back but didn't see a need to make more then one text block not to mention text linking between multiple text blocks. The back contained an excerpt about the book and a description on the author (the author part usually goes on the inside somewhere) and yet all I needed to split the two types of info on the back was a wider "paragraph after" number rather then a second text block. Now that I think about it there was a second text block or the author name and a third text block ISBN, price, etc. but none of that needed to be linked. 

I don't think price should determine whether features make it into Designer. I think the right question should be does it make sense for a short document? I am not sure if I have used text box linking in work like mailers and such. I would think the main use for that feature would be linking body text across columns or pages. If something is complex enough to require pages or columns I would probably rather work in an interface were that clears out most of the non-layout features so the interface doesn't get too cluttered. One of the problems with many Adobe apps is they have too much clutter by trying to do too many different things in a given app. To me the point of the single file format across apps is precisely to allow you to easily pass a file between the apps so that you don't end up with feature bloat (this is also an advantage of the persona feature.) Otherwise you will have to come up with a solution like Adobe's custom workspaces that wasn't the greatest solution. The best way to do this is to leave it out of the app in the first place.
 
Does anyone have an example of a simple layout (mailer, poster, etc) that uses lots of columns? I don't work this way but maybe someone else does. There could be some workflow that I haven't considered.
 
EDIT: I misunderstood what Patrick said in his post. I thought he was saying for the price it should have a bunch of layout tools. I know understand what he was really saying was the software is priced so affordably it isn't too much to ask for Designer users to shell out another $40-$50 to buy text linking and other advanced layout features. I agree with this. 

To me it seems like the ideal time to release the software is once it can do several things that ID and Quark can not do. InDesign generally works ok so just rushing out a competitor doesn't make sense to me. I think what will entice most people to get the software is when it is able to do many of the features that ID users have been asking for over the years that Adobe hasn't delivered. The fact that some people don't want to pay a subscription for ID probably isn't enough reason to rush out the software.

Looking at the current date, that means “next week” … right?  ;)

Let me answer this with a common developer phrase: “When it’s done.”

A couple months ago I was asking for help from the community on technical issues around designing the book (thanks for that!) and since then the book was published and now available for purchase. I used both apps for designing the cover and back cover but used Lightroom for editing the black and white photos on the inside. Affinity probably would have done well on the inside was well. Generally quite pleased with the programs for layout and am looking forward to future versions!
 
https://www.amazon.com/Changed-Forever-Jimbo-Bailey-Story/dp/B01MS1D4A7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484346928&sr=8-1&keywords=jimbo+bailey

For complex projects having a search box in the layers panel is so helpful. Especially when you have layers nested inside of other layers. 

@Newbie 
I hate the subscription plan too which is one of the reasons I stick with CS6. What is more important to me then saving money on subscriptions though is worthwhile updates. If Adobe was able to justify software upgrades that were actually worth $600 a year (plus the cost of upgrading all your extensions) then I would spend $600+ a year. Unfortunately the value of their updates have taken a slide and it is not because of product maturity as some Adobe trolls like to portray it as.
 
@Fixx
I found PageMaker to be a horrible product. Even non layout programs like FreeHand did a better job at layout. There was on rare case where Adobe was justified in killing off a product where they usually made bad judgement in this area (LiveMotion, FreeHand, etc.)

Hi. I've just joined the Forum after buying Affinity Photo for the Mac. Love it a lot although I find the interface contrast needs to be better. Find it hard to see the tools quickly. Anyway I'm posting here to say I use Adobe Indesign but because of having to rent it (which I don't like) I am waiting for the release of Affinity Publisher. I find it amazing how many cranky and agressive requests for A Publisher there are here on the Forum. I think the company know they are on to a winner if they produce one and they said they will so let sit back and wait while they get the work done.
Now Affinity please fix the interface contrast or give us more control over it please.

Wow ....... daily updates! You guys are astonishing!
 
A beta a day keeps Adobe away .........  B)

Freehand 10 is still in use here on my windows10 x64, next to inkscape, cause of its workflow.
Adobe never used the great potential of freehand for his products  :)

One of weak side of Freehand it has lose .png export and primitive colour wheel. If only Macromedia has a time to make it right :)

Hi KipV
 
If the adjustments are mostly tonal, such as White balance, Colour balance, Curves etc. you can use the 3D LUTs feature, see this video for more information. A new feature of the 1.5 Photo beta are Macros, these can be used to record the changes and then apply them with a single click, see the built in Help for more information on Macros.
 
Hope this helps.
 
L

Sometimes software companies have had bad or mediocre justifications for bringing misplaced features into certain apps. FreeHand had master pages probably because Macromedia didn't have a layout tool and they thought they could somewhat compete with layout tools by providing some of those features like master pages and text linking. Was this the best solution possible? No, the best solution would have been for Macromedia to make their own layout tool but it was probably the best option for them in the position that they were in at that time which was to keep their focus as a multimedia company rather then compete in print as well. Unlike Macromedia Serif has a layout tool in the pipeline so it is hard to justify too many (or any) advanced layout features getting brought over to the other programs.
 
The single file format is really a great opportunity to minimize bloat. What is so weird about Creative Cloud to me is that Adobe's big initial selling point was that they could get features out faster but in many cases they just seem to be rushing out bloat to me. Providing a suite where the individual apps are nimble but the suite as a whole is powerful is a much better selling point for the company. A large suite of nimble software would make Serif very competitive with Adobe particularly as some of their apps have been getting a little creaky.

I am starting to see a few posts asking Serif why Publisher hasn't been released yet. After just completing my first BASIC layout project with Designer and Photo it makes sense to me for at least some of the reasons why Publisher hasn't been released. The two currently available apps are still missing some very basic layout tools so Serif needs to get the basics put in those two apps before moving on to the more complex layout software. I wrote a lengthy piece about this in another thread but it was buried one hundred posts down. I just wanted people to be aware of these points so I am starting a new thread so that they can get more exposure.
 
Original post:
After doing my first layout project on Affinity I can understand why Serif isn't rushing Publisher out (even though I enjoyed using it for layouts.) There are still a number of basic layout features that need to be added to Designer and Photo to even work well as a basic one page layout software. Why rush out complex layout software before you even have the basics working right? This is the list I have come up with that Affinity should complete before moving to a layout program.
 
- Visible bleeds in the program, not just after exporting the file. There was too much work trying to set up bleeds at a half an inch when I could see an object after it was dragged out into the bleed area. I basically had to draw a half inch box and then drag the object to the size of the box and then delete the box after I no longer needed it.
 
- Adding and editing artboards needs to be done in Photo. If Photo let me edit artboards I could have done my entire book cover layout in Photo (I think) and not had to jump back to Designer each time I needed to make a slight revision. For an example the publisher I was working with said that my book spine needed to be .58" rather then what I previously had it set to which was .5". Such a small adjustment should not require me to go to another app.
 
- I consider text wrap to be a basic tool so this needs to be done without having to rely on a workaround. There is also a feature from InDesign where the text follows along the side an object that I find to be very useful but I can't remember what it is called off the top of my head.
 
- I should be able to select a shape that I want to import an object into. I know there is masking from the layers panel but with InDesign I have gotten used to selecting a shape, selecting place and then having an object get imported in. This object could then show up in the layers panel as a masked item.
 
-The first version of Publisher should include some of the features that InDesign users have been clamoring for over the past several years and never get. The goal is not to just make a clone of InDesign but provide functionality it can't do or can't do well.
 
I think Affinity got off to a good start as a basic layout tool but I really believe that all of these basics need to be done before Publisher comes out. Ideally Publisher should be a solid app right from the first version since so much polishing would have been done to layout tools in Designer and Photo already. This way the focus for Publisher can be placed entirely on things like long document features and ebooks rather then adding layout tools that have been available for decades now (those features should already be in Photo and Designer by release.) Another advantage of placing the focus on Designer and Photo is that people will get comfortable using those programs as solid basic editing apps so when Publisher comes out the transition to the more powerful long document tools will feel more natural since it will be so similar to the programs they already use.
 
PS. I noticed as I was typing this that there is a shortcut for adjusting leading. That is a useful idea. Is anyone else getting this to work? It doesn't work for me. That seems like a much better idea then having to type numbers into a leading box.

I am starting to see a few posts asking Serif why Publisher hasn't been released yet. After just completing my first BASIC layout project with Designer and Photo it makes sense to me for at least some of the reasons why Publisher hasn't been released. The two currently available apps are still missing some very basic layout tools so Serif needs to get the basics put in those two apps before moving on to the more complex layout software. I wrote a lengthy piece about this in another thread but it was buried one hundred posts down. I just wanted people to be aware of these points so I am starting a new thread so that they can get more exposure.
 
Original post:
After doing my first layout project on Affinity I can understand why Serif isn't rushing Publisher out (even though I enjoyed using it for layouts.) There are still a number of basic layout features that need to be added to Designer and Photo to even work well as a basic one page layout software. Why rush out complex layout software before you even have the basics working right? This is the list I have come up with that Affinity should complete before moving to a layout program.
 
- Visible bleeds in the program, not just after exporting the file. There was too much work trying to set up bleeds at a half an inch when I could see an object after it was dragged out into the bleed area. I basically had to draw a half inch box and then drag the object to the size of the box and then delete the box after I no longer needed it.
 
- Adding and editing artboards needs to be done in Photo. If Photo let me edit artboards I could have done my entire book cover layout in Photo (I think) and not had to jump back to Designer each time I needed to make a slight revision. For an example the publisher I was working with said that my book spine needed to be .58" rather then what I previously had it set to which was .5". Such a small adjustment should not require me to go to another app.
 
- I consider text wrap to be a basic tool so this needs to be done without having to rely on a workaround. There is also a feature from InDesign where the text follows along the side an object that I find to be very useful but I can't remember what it is called off the top of my head.
 
- I should be able to select a shape that I want to import an object into. I know there is masking from the layers panel but with InDesign I have gotten used to selecting a shape, selecting place and then having an object get imported in. This object could then show up in the layers panel as a masked item.
 
-The first version of Publisher should include some of the features that InDesign users have been clamoring for over the past several years and never get. The goal is not to just make a clone of InDesign but provide functionality it can't do or can't do well.
 
I think Affinity got off to a good start as a basic layout tool but I really believe that all of these basics need to be done before Publisher comes out. Ideally Publisher should be a solid app right from the first version since so much polishing would have been done to layout tools in Designer and Photo already. This way the focus for Publisher can be placed entirely on things like long document features and ebooks rather then adding layout tools that have been available for decades now (those features should already be in Photo and Designer by release.) Another advantage of placing the focus on Designer and Photo is that people will get comfortable using those programs as solid basic editing apps so when Publisher comes out the transition to the more powerful long document tools will feel more natural since it will be so similar to the programs they already use.
 
PS. I noticed as I was typing this that there is a shortcut for adjusting leading. That is a useful idea. Is anyone else getting this to work? It doesn't work for me. That seems like a much better idea then having to type numbers into a leading box.

Status: Beta Release
Purpose: Fixes, improvements
Requirements: Purchased Affinity Photo
Mac App Store: Not Submitted
Download: 1.5 Beta 11 Here

This is a beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity in which you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity Photo 1.5 cannot be opened in Photo 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.

To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.

It's also worth noting that this beta is completely file-format compatible with the recently released Affinity Designer 1.5.3 in the Mac App Store - although the above disclaimer still applies!

Improvements & Fixes

- New preferences options (under Colour) for handling of OpenEXR (separate alpha, post-divide alpha, perturb zero alpha).
- Layered OpenEXR files were coming in upside down (layer-wise). Fixed.
- OpenEXR import should default to a transparent background.
- Fixed big problems when trying to use any brush-based tool on more than one layer at once.
- Fixed clone tool hiding the source marker under while dragging.
- Information panel now shows alpha values.
- Fixed issues when importing TIFF with malformed DPI tag.
- Improved X3F focus-pixel removal for more modern cameras.
- General Tone Mapping stability improvements.
- Respect tone curve preference when doing HDR Merge, Focus Merge.
- Develop now properly respects user-chosen profile defaults.
- Focus and HDR merge now respects user-chosen profile defaults.
- Fixed further crash issues with the Font dropdown.
- Improvements to numerous filter which use Gaussian samplers.
- Fixed more issues with badly formed TIFF being loaded as RAW (sigh).
- Fixed importing of PSD gradient map adjustments.
- Alt-Click on the “Add mask” button in the layers panel to add an empty mask.
- Disabled buttons in Macro panel when no document is loaded.
- Fixed LZW decompression bugs when importing PDF.
- Fixed Lighting filter in CMYK.
- Fixed spurious history items when using freehand selection tool.
- Fixed magnetic selection bugs.
- Fixed redraw issues with freehand selection tool.
- Fixed weird 32bit bounding issues with Gaussian samplers.
- Improved panorama alignment.
- Numerous PSD import / export improvements.
- Gradient tool now works on 32bit masks.
- Show bad equations in red when using Equations filter (incomplete).
- Avoid crashes when “Resize Pixel Art Document” is used on massive documents.
- Improved macro panel icons.
- Ctrl-Alt drag in brush tools should be limited to 4096, not 1024.
- Fixed issues where Live Filter panel would not reflect opacity, blend mode correctly.
- The “red button” should never auto-commit filters.
- Fixed more white scroll bar bugs in macOS Sierra.
- OpenEXR can now be exported from non-32bit documents.
- Fixed terrible “Save with History” problems when user has deleted from a layer using a pixel selection (sorry!).
- Fixed crash in Apply Image when using equations in LAB format.
- Macro recorder can now record “Resize Document”.
- Numerous minor cosmetic improvements.
- Numerous other small stability improvements.

- Improved localisations.
- Improved help.

Unfortunately, the “Link Layers” feature has missed the cut - as has the “Pause Macro” feature. Apologies for this - we will try to get them into a beta as soon as possible after Photo 1.5 has shipped.

Photo will go to RC at the start of next week. We are still working on a number of bugs / improvements until then.



Thanks again for taking the time to use this beta!

Affinity Photo Team :ph34r: