Annabella_K

+1

+1 for the text option for all 3 apps. I find these icons (plus all the redesigned tool icons) so frustrating I had to go back to using the V1 suite. They're too small, they're hard to recognize, and I just can't memorize them. Besides, it doesn't even show the icon for everything when objects are nested.

Hi @iconoclast, I've never noticed that Designer limits the size, so I tested what you said, but it's not the case for me. Only exception is when the Pencil tool is selected, then it doesn't let me set it bigger than 100px. But I think that's because the pencil tool can't be set to Texture Line Style by default, only afterwards. Then I can set the size to whatever I want. I'm on Windows 10.

Thanks @Pšenda, I've tried searching, but none of the topics I've found answered my question. Thanks @R C-R, yes, that's what I was trying to ask. Though that's actually the lenght of the brush not the width, but I think that can still help.

In Affinity Designer, brushes use raster textures. Is there an indicator anywhere that shows the maximum brush size? To know above what size will the texture get blurry at the given dpi. Often what looks good on screen prints terribly, so it would be good to know beforehand. I assume it could be calculated based on the texture image's px size if nothing else. But I don't know where to find it and how to do the math. I hope this makes sense. I'm having trouble translating my thoughts into English. 😅

+1 That feature would be so helpful! I have a workaround that can work in some cases, but it has serious limitations. But maybe it helps someone. - I create a new document with the same size artboard (so I can copy the elements in place) - I copy&paste all the instances I want to change to that other document (I like to keep the originals in case I need to go back, so I just hide them. See cons.) - Modify the symbol and rename it on the layers panel (This way all the instances get renamed.) - Copy them back to the original document. They become a new symbol on the Symbols panel. Cons: - It only works for one symbol. For example if you have Symbol A and Symbol B and you want to change some instances of both to Symbol C, you can't. Since they both become new symbols (e.g. C and D). - That's why, if you decide that you need to change some more instances, you need to redo the whole thing and do them all at once.

Yes, It's needed! Loukash's method works on PDF exports, but when I export JPGs, the metadata isn't added. Not even when I export the artboards from Photo. I have "Embed metadata" checked in the export settings.

+1 User variables need to be global. Or have a way to be set to global. The way it's designed now doesn't really make sense from a user's perspective. If I wanted to add something to only one export, I would only type it directly in the path and wouldn't set up a variable for it. That's an extra step. One would rightfully assume that the variables are global.

Thanks, I was using the search, but I've only found older threads. I was hoping maybe something has improved since then. 😞

I started to design repeat patterns. To use them as vector pattern tiles (and sell them on microstock sites), apparently, it isn't enough to add a clipping mask to clip the design to the artboard, but you need to actually trim it. I saw Illustrator videos explaining why. Basically, when you define the pattern tile there, the extending elements, despite being clipped with a mask, are added to the tile size. But since there are no visible elements there, a huge gap will appear in the pattern. Interestingly, Inkscape doesn't have this problem, but since Illustrator is the industry standard... 😒 I browsed the forum and it seems that there is no built-in way to do the trimming in Affinity Designer, not even a knife tool. Does anyone have a workaround? I was experimenting with the boolean tools but since these are complex designs and not just one shape, they don't give the expected result. Of course I could do a Substract one by one on every shape, but that is a lot. I'm hoping there is a more efficient way to do this. I have all three Affinity programs, in case it can be done in another one. Thanks in advance.

For certain cases you can use masters for these same-content-elements, since you can stack multiple masters and even move them around the page (selected on the layers panel). It's pretty handy. So most times, if there are things I want to handle separately, but on multiple layouts, I just 1. cut-paste the elements to another master and group them 2. apply that master to any master page I need those elements on 3. apply those masters to the spreads 4. switch the group on/off as needed. A drawback is, if you need to have on-spread elements to be between those groupped ones in the Z-order, then you need to arrange them on multiple masters which can be complicated to follow. 🙁 I can see how the global layers would make this easier. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how these global layers would work, I've never used a software that has them. I think I get the spread-wise use now (thanks for everyone who wrote explanations here), what I find confusing is how it can be used with masters. Can elements on a master be on separate global layers? Let's say I have a document with global layers named A, B, C, D from top to bottom. If on the master page I have elements on layer B and D, and on the spread my elements are on layer A and C, then how the layers panel would look? Is the master split into two to show the right layer order? Can I easily move the master in the z-order in this case? I mean inside the global layer of course. Because I like how you can move around masters in Affinity, not just in the Z-order, but also position-wise, it allows some creative uses. But sometimes, when I want to position something between master layers, it's a struggle, see above. So it would be nice if it could work this way, my only concern is, how you keep track of the "splits" of your master, if you used several global layers? Oh that rose another question: Could you group elements accross multiple global layers? That would be certainly handy sometimes, to move them together, but then again, how you keep track... Maybe there could be a little dot/icon that highlights all the global layers on the panel where there are elements of the group or master. 🤔

Yes, it should remember the last setting, it's so annoying.

I was wrong 😟

Nice job @Marco Dude, you're welcome 😊

Hehe, I wouldn't even think of trying this with num lock off, without that those keys are not numbers, but the home, page up... plus the arrows. This never made sense to me, why repeat those keys, but that's what is printed on my keyboard. So maybe that's why it doesn't work, Affinity simply sees them as those keys. It's interesting, that LibreOffice handles it differently, good to know. 😃 I agree, it would make sense to add it to the Insert Character menu.

When I had that black line around pixel elements, that black border printed, even though zooming in all the way it disappeared as loukash said. So you better try printing it before you hand out the finish project. I figured it is because of anti-aliasing, so adding a white background can work, because then it's white the anti-aliasing tries to blend the colours with instead of transparent, which is kinda interpreted as grey it seems. That's why jpg worked I guess, but as loukash said, it comes with artifacts. But a white background is not always an option, so yeah, it's best to keep things as vectors if you can. Then the elements will be vector in the pdf too, and won't have that black line around them.

Hello @static. If you only want to arrange them like a grid, you can place one, select it, press CTRL+J to duplicate it, and then move it into place. When you press CTRL+J again (without deselecting it or clicking anything else), it will automatically move it by the same distance. And then you just press CTRL+J again and again until you reach the edge of the layout. Then you can select the whole row and do the same thing vertically. Unfortunatelly, there is no vector pattern feature in Affinity, so this is the quickest method I've found so far. (Though if it doesn't have to be vector, you can make a bitmap pattern out of it.) This power duplicate feature can also repeat rotation and scaling the object. But if you want a randomly scattered layout, I'm not sure you can do it with this method, I have no idea how to do that.

I miss that too. It would be nice to know if they are already working on something or plan to do it, even if they don't know when it will be ready. I also get that things often don't go as planned (especially with technology) and there can be delays. Not knowing is just frustrating. And no communication says they don't care about what people need even if that's not what they mean. I really enjoy Gumroad's approach, they keep people excited about their development. 😁

@Sean P I have this rescaling problem with a inked Designer file placed in Publisher 1.9.1.979 on win10. I tested your suggestion, and I think in my case it does have to do with resizing the artboard plus the trim box as @oishii_33 said. It seems like the trim box maintains the document size that was originally set up in Designer. So after resizing the artboard, to a different ratio even, I had to switch the Page Box to minimum content so it doesn't get cut off. But after updating the linked file, it switches back to trim box and rescales it so the trim box fills either the width or the height of the modified artboard size. I don't know what it depends on which way it resizes, it was different in my test from my original problematic file. My example: original artboard size is A5 portrait. Artboard 2 (which is placed in the Publisher document) is resized to a landscape Letter size. Image 1: the placed file is set to 100% and Minimum Content to fit the Letter sized page. Image 2: the placed file is updated, it switches back to a portrait A5 ratio, and resizes to 103% so the A5 height equals to the height of the Letter size = new artboard size (I know it's the same as the page size right now, but I tried with different page and artboard sizes, and it tries to match to the artboard size) - the page border is the grey line, the slection is the placed document. Right now it shows the rest of the image, but if I zoom or try to move it, it has that strange effect as if I was painting with a brush. When I change it to Minimum Content that glitch disappears.

My brain knows that has to be the case but that doesn't help about feeling that way. 😅

Hi @walt.farrell It's just that a lot of topics has the answer that "you can do that in Publisher with X persona", so I kinda have that impression. 😊 To me, it looks like that compared to Adobe they blurred the lines a bit between the programs, which is convenient on one hand, but it also confused a lot of people (me included), who now only need 1-2 tools from another app, and it leaves us feeling "BUT WHY????". Because those tools would completely make sense in the application for our work, they are an integral part of the workflow. I wonder what kind of professions they target with each software, or how they decide what goes into one but not into the other. Or maybe this is just the drawback of using such a young software suit and everything will fall into place eventually.

Okay, I needed to check, because I've always got the error message that you cannot add artboards to documents that are multipage or have master pages. The missing step was that you can turn off using master pages when you create the document, I haven't noticed that before. Or just didn't understand that checkbox. Thanks @walt.farrell 👍 But if you're suppose to do everything in Publisher, then what's the point of all the rest? They could just create one master program with 6 or so personas... I really don't get it. Anyways, I'll probably end up buying Photo too (while it's on sale), now that it has actually TWO features I may need. This is crazy 😂

This was fixed quickly, thanks for the team 👍

I don't know if it's marketing or they just assume that everyone buys the whole suit, but even if you have all the programs, I agree that Designer needs it's own macros. When you need an artboard vector document, which is Designer created for, then nor Photo, nor Publisher is the right choice. So switching back and forth just for macros is not acceptable.

Hi @GarryP thanks for confirming. I'm on Windows 10 too. These all worked fine in the previous commecial release.