MmmMaarten

Like @Old Bruce I wouldn't be for it. Here that behaviour would cause a lot of issues and extra work to correct it, so I am not for it (at least not without being able to turn this behaviour off). This is an assumption that's definitely not working for everybody I'm afraid.

@Karlito Completely agree with your first point. Everything I create is for browsers too and like you I also very much like the HSL mode, but have to switch to another mode, just to see and copy or paste a hex value for that color. I always wondered why Serif didn't just show that hex-input box on each mode so we can reach it from whatever mode we're in.

Having to correct 'semi-values' for positions and sizes is a pain. This is taking way too much time, while upfront I know I want to work with only integer values most of the time. The force pixel alignment toggle is not sufficiant for this as it's not correcting for once. Especially Artboards here always need to be on integer values because they cause issues when exporting to output files when not set to integer values, like graphics that are 1 pixel too high or wide. It would be really helpful if Serif could add this: - Prevent artboard locations to be affected by other artboards (to me this is unnecesarely causing issues and confusion, but also makes the system of artboards feel unreliable, because values are changed that don't need to be changed)!! - Add a setting to preferences to only use integer (pixel-)values for artboard sizes and locations - Add a feature to convert all existing node-position-values (x/y) to integer - Show a clear indication (like a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark) next to textvalue inputboxes to indicate a value is NOT integer!! (a lot of times Affinity doesn't show any decimal, while in fact there are. This can be very frustrating as it's often causing issues when using the outputted SVG's for interactive use, like I do, when needing to rely on thes values. For instance if paths need to 100% start at the position another path ended) My 2 cts 😉

Isn't Designer already doing that by itself 'intelligently'? Select the object you wish to align to, than select the object you wish to align with it and it automatically shows alignment lines. It also has pretty great configurable snap features. Or am I missing your 'point'? (no pun intented 😉)

You are too nice. Thanks!

Thanks for this nice compliments. This really is 100% created by me as my company. Of course I sometimes use some specialistic tools here and there, which can be very helpful, but in the end 99% of what you see (and don't see!) here is all programming and code. There's just no shortcut and never will be. Flash is away for a long time indeed, but AFAIK the creation tool still exists, but it got rebranded by Adobe to Animate CC long time ago. It's generating some web code now. If you only want to create an animation and add some click interactivity and don't care about standards and real world applications etc. that might be nice for you. If you want more and are serious about it really the only way tho is to learn programming and I'd advise to start with Html, Css and Javascript if you didn't already. There's no WYSIWYG/editor tool for stuff like this and there will never, ever, be. Listing the many reasons why is tempting for me, but would be too long for this reaction, I want to prevent discussions on this thread and you'd probably be happy with using Animate CC! Haha 😉 So hopefully this helps you on your way. Have a nice day!

Thanks!

I'm starting to feel like a real magician! To you great honored public; Keep guessing 🤣 😉 It's posted on the Affinity Designer forum tho and I wrote about it in the opening post. Another map I've done in the past was in fact built in 3d tho [find the differences]: I'm missing something here I guess. I'm not a gamer. No clue what you mean by this. 🤨

Hard to say what it would take now, because even though I already have lots of modules and tools built for other maps, this was a lot of pioneering on new technics as I'm always trying to reach higher goals in terms of animations, graphics, performance and load optimizations, deployment and features in relation to user interface etc. And to create my own tools to build things faster. Besides animating 66 animals now and programming, designing, illustrating and animating the application itself. All maps are different, it's fully custom made. This one took me about a few months (including illustrating and animating). Haha, I try my hardest to also rest, haha 😀 Thanks a lot for the nice words guys! Have a nice weekend!

Thanks for the kind words!

Thanks for the likes. Pure magic! That's the magician's ✨ secret! 🤫 😉

Some other impressions; Hike Safari routeplanner with running hiker 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️ (my personal favourite route planner on the map! 😀) route-planner-hike-safari-1080p-59.94fps.mp4 Boat 🛥️ safari, flowing water 🌊 and sharp graphics while zooming in route-planner-boat-safari-and-zoom-1080p-59.94fps.mp4 Search 🔎: search-and-car-safari-button-1080p-59.94fps.mp4 Markers 📍, Legend and filterable Markergroups with clustering: legend-and-markers-1080p-59.94fps.mp4

Getting information on animals by clicking on them: animal-information-1080p-59.94fps.mp4

Hi guys! After being busy animating 66 different animals 🐵🐘 (around 80 on the map, happily moving in real-time) and doing a lot of designing, illustrating and programming for the map itself I'm happy to share the final result of the new Interactive Safari Park Map! 😀 Next to everything being illustrated and animated and having some nice features to make using it fun, it also has animated flowing water, stays sharp when zooming in and has a 2-clicks (!) route planner for each safari! Map graphics, icons and all animals on it are happily drawn with Affinity Designer! 😀 Love its speed and can't stress enough how much time using the export tab alone saves each time! Having a fast workflow just makes everything way much more fun and let us concentrate and use time on what is really important! Hope you like it! route-planner-car-safari-1080p-59.94fps.mp4

Why aren't these on your website? Or do you put them somewhere else besides here? They are very nice! 😀

Thanks! It's not the finish of the project tho... actually the animated animals on the map are 'just a part' of the full map! 😀

Yeuh! The last one! 🎉 😀 🥳 The Zebra Mongoose is doing some stretching! 😀

Thanks! Because there are 66 real time animating animals on the map I need to optimize and limit movements as everything needs to run smoothly at the same time. But some animals I like to give a little more expression/livelyness. Also to have some dynamics. Not every animal is great for lots of animation. Some animals are just more 'easy going'. Only 1 animal left to animate at this point! 😀 -- Red Panda. This animal is so beautiful and has such a great color in real life! Sloth Bear 🧸

Okapi (family of the Giraffe 🦒) Hamadryas Baboon Red River Hog Spotted Hyena Blue Wildebeest Bali Cattle Indian Antelope

@Alfred @Hens @walt.farrell Yes!! Here it's working too now! I finally found the issue!, well it wasn't really an issue, but a new feature. I accidentally bumped into the solution actually; there is a new settings panel especially for the cat tool and in there the tool seemed to be set to 'Southern Cheetah' here. Obviously Serif mad it possible to select a custom cat/feline now. Which is actually great to have and very useful! I'll definitely use it for future projects, but for now I'm glad I found the reason! So guess this one is solved now! Here you'll find the settings in case yours is checked to custom cat too (or you'd like to select a different feline): Edit --> Preferences --> Felines There for some reason in my setup the checkbox 'Use custom feline' was checked after installation and 'Southern Cheetah' was currently selected in the custom cats list. That's why I didn't draw the 'normal' cat, but saw a Cheetah instead. I've now unchecked the checkbox and I got the cute cat again in the latest version of Designer! Cool 😀 Thanks for the help guys! Glad that this one is solved now! Have a nice weekend!

Thanks, I just downloded them so I don't need to downgrade Designer. I think it's pretty weird of Serif to expect from its users that the function of the Cat Tool may change depending on the date. That 'suddenly' a tool changes its function for whatever reason. What's next? Rectangles drawing Santa's on Christmas? Hope not. So still hope they can change this. IMO Affinity Designer should work the same every day of the year and independent of date, country, religion, whatever. Thank god I'm not having a deadline today! [edit] I just did a test by changing the system date in Windows and restarted Designer and even the PC, but that didn't help 😭 Glad that I now have the original shape downloaded! Nice workaround for now!

Yesterday I upgraded Affinity Designer to 1.10.5, but to my surprise since version 1.10.5 the Cat Tool isn't working as before. I'm not sure if this is intentional, but it's not drawing a cat anymore. I clearly understand not everybody is using the cat-tool and I know the tool started as a gimmick by Serif, but I find this tool quite useful to use in projects as kind of a Lorem Ipsum image in new (prototype-)designs I sent to clients to give them an impression. The cute cat was perfect for that and had the perfect aspect ratio! But for some reason it's not that cute cat anymore and it now has a much wider aspect ratio than before too. Also the cat it is drawing now isn't as nice. It's more like some preditor animal now while it was such a cute kitty before I was happy to send to clients in prototype designs. I'm sure that influences the whole feel of a design. Because of this change in the tool I now need to either replace all existing cute cats in designs I was already working on in the previous version of Affinity Designer, or I have to re-install the previous version of Designer. Both are not ideal. Well, I could also copy the cat from the designs as a workaround, which is fine, but that's not ideal and doesn't solve the issue long term. Please Serif, could the cat tool please be restored to the same image as before? I include the Affinity file as an attachment, just in case you might want to use it to investigate. Thanks in advance! cat-tool-issue.mp4 testfile.afdesign

Thanks for the info! I didn't know about the cleverness and passing the mirror test by the Eurasian Magpie. I see them a lot around here in the streets and find them beautiful tho! Will look at them differently now. Thanks for the nice words! Lots of coffee, illustrating/animating/programming, a little bit of magic, but above all loving what you do and endurance! 😉 PS, wait 'till you see the full map with all 66 animals! It's pretty fun to see them all doing their thing I think! 😀 Have a nice weekend!

Interesting. I am also surprised to see how some animals names are directly taken over from Dutch into English, like 'Springbok'. I'd never heard of that story before so don't know the story, but searching on Google that looks like a great illustrated book with a nice style. Personally, I quite like these ones I've created today: L'hoest's Monkey And the Laptop-til... uh... Leptoptilos 😁 (pay close attention to his 'ball' 🤣 )

Yeah! 55 animals illustrated, animated and completely optimized. Only 10 animals left to do! 😀 Black Crested Mangabey 🐒 Dromedary 🐪 African Lion 🦁