[Crazy good online vectorization]

I just discovered this website that uses AI to trace images to vectors, and it is the best I have found so far. The quality, especially with low resolution images, is remarkable. It offers quite advanced options too. The upload has a max resolution, but this did not seem to affect the result in a negative way. The end result is very usable, with clean vectors.

I would love vector trace for Affinity, but with online tools as good as this, it makes me wonder if they should really put their resources into it. I still would prefer an offline option, even for a price, though...

Check it out: https://vectorizer.ai/

Here is a random image I scanned with the vectorized result:

[No symmetry option for pixel tool]

I wonder why the 2.0 version of Photo on iPad does not have a symmetry option for the pixel tool? I can not check the v2 dektop version yet, as I don't have a newer Mac. However on v1, I could have symmetry in the brush and the pixel tool, but in v2 on iPad, symmetry is only available for the brush? Is this a bug or is there reasoning behind this omission?

[Please add freehand path tool to APhoto]

I really enjoy Affinity products, and have been using them since the first betas of Designer. I am mostly a Designer and Publisher user, but for certain illustration projects I do, I am torn between using Designer and Photo, as they mix Vector and Raster elements. Both programs could do the job effectively, but I run into workflow issues with both. As I switch back and forth between creating vector shapes and using raster brushes, having to switch personas in Designer is a a bit annoying. I can see why the personas can be useful, but in this case, it's more of a limitation.

I therefore having switched more to photo to do this, as it has the shape tools and the pen tool, as well as all raster brushes in one place. There is one downside though, which is the lack of a freehand path tool like designer has. It is one of my most used tools in Designer and is really lacking in Photo. I do not see why this tool could not work well within Photo as well.

For instance, the freehand path tool could be very useful for creating selections that can still be edited/refined. The option for the pen tool to create a mask or a selection from a shape would work well with this too. I could use the freehand selection tool, but this is much more limiting, and does not allow editing after creation. It also does not provide stabilizer functions, so it can be hard to create smooth selections.

Please consider my request.

PS If this subject would be better in the Beta thread, please inform me.

[New keyboard shortcut options added to iPad]

Please expand the shortcuts functionality on the iPad to match those on Mac/Win completely. It is really quite a bummer missing those essential shortcuts from the desktop on the ipad. Plus, I see no reason why they could not be implemented?

[Vector Flood Fill]

This is nice addition! It seems to build up on the shapebuilder tool, but it adds enough extra functionality to separate it as a tool.

[New delete swipe button often triggers screenshot]

I have been able to disable the swipe gesture for screenshot. I will have to check if this improves things.

[New delete swipe button often triggers screenshot]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

What model of iPad do you have? Mine requires pressing two physical buttons to create a screenshot.

I have a 2nd gen iPad Pro 12 inch (with home button). I did not even know that I could do a screenshot this way, but if I swipe up from bottom (left?) it makes a screenshot. This is quite inconvenient if I want to delete an object!

[New delete swipe button often triggers screenshot]

Although I welcome the return of the delete button in a certain form, I am not sure it works with the swipe on the X button in the bottom left. I want to use it with my left thumb, but find myself often triggering the making of a screenshot instead. It would be better if it were just a dedicated button as it was before, either in the lower left, or in the context toolbar at the top when the Move tool is selected.

[Missing Trash Icon? Harder to delete objects.]

I agree that tapping would be preferable to swiping. When I compare Affinity Designer to its competitors like Vectornator and Amadine, they all have a single button to tap to delete an object. This is the easiest way and the best way. Even if you accidentally delete an object, it still is easier to undo once or twice, than to have to swipe up, swipe up swipe up etc. This was one of the quality of life features in V1 that should still be there unchanged.

I think the new quick menu is a great addition, but for something like deleting multiple objects, it is not ideal. I tend to use my bluetooth keyboard, just to delete a lot of things quickly, but would prefer for it to work without one.

[Missing AutoTrace? I use Serif DrawPlus X6]

31 minutes ago, NotMyFault said:

You have a message. 

I would love to know. I have tried various options, but not many were any good at all.

[Bitmap bug — selecting Bitmap from the dropdown menu doesn’t work — but there is a simple “workaround”]

I had the same problem

[Missing Trash Icon? Harder to delete objects.]

55 minutes ago, MEB said:

Hi @EducationPrinciples, everyone,
The "trash" icon should be available in the next build/patch (although with a different icon/double function: deselect (tap) and delete (swipe up).
Thank you all for your feedback.
 

That is great news!

[Feature Request: Mesh Warp - Add "Shift" to constraint handle drag]

I second this request!

[Missing Trash Icon? Harder to delete objects.]

I agree with the others here that the little trash icon on the left is very much missed. Please add a trash icon, at least in the contextual menu for the move tool, as this would save me a lot of extra steps.

[Very very disappointed with Publisher 2]

I can't say I agree. I think Publisher is a very great app for DTP, but it is not neccesarily a replacement for indesign. indesign has been on the market for 20 years now, so expecting publisher to have the same depth of features is not realistic. Yes, Publisher has it's faults, and tables are not great, but the update did bring several very nice things, like the books feature and the style picker, which have been two features I dearly missed before.

I find it quite bothersome that users fill complete threads of these forums with only negativity. Constructive criticism and disappointment can and should be voiced, but these threads don't offer any of it. Why even bother writing in the forum how bad you think this program is. No one forces you to use it. If you don't like it, get InDesign or Quark or whatever else you hink suits your work better. It is also quite disrespectful to the devs, who did work very hard to create a good program. However not everything works for everybody, and Serif has no obligation to any user to just put in every feature any other program has for a single payment, with free updates, for a price that gets you 2 months of CC... This is just an absurd expectation.

I think the v2 updates are very good, and will be better. There will be bugs and there will be improvements. I am sure the Serif team is already working on them right now. I want to thank them for offering such a great suite of products for a very nice price. It has been a gamechanger for me, and undoubtedly for many others too.

[Designer - Free transform tool (perspective distort)]

How do I access these options on iPad??

 

edit: I found it, it's in the layer stack, middle button at the top. It's bloody well hidden though, I will say that.

[Bug: filler text does not work]

The option to fill a text frame with filler text does not seem to work right now? Nothing happens at all.

I use the new quick menu and select the option, but it does nothing. The only way I can get it to work, is when go into text editing mode and long press, which bring up the old style contextual options.

[Affinity V2.0]

5 minutes ago, myclay said:

my recommendation for organizing fonts, images and a ton of other files is Eagle from https://en.eagle.cool  It makes a system wide activation for fonts and is simply rad.

Edit; Eagle works on windows systems too.

I did not know this one, I will have a look, thanks!

 

[Affinity V2.0]

2 minutes ago, Floor said:

Auto Activation is included and works natively for the Affinity apps. Not sure about v2 of course, I don't have access to the super secret internal beta unfortunately... eagerly waiting for the 9th like all of us!

I will give it a go, but I will have to check how to avoid conflicts with my current font manager.

[Affinity V2.0]

1 hour ago, Floor said:

I'm the developer of Typeface app for Mac — would love to integrate with the Affinity suite to get better support for font collections. Currently it's possible to drag and drop from Typeface to Affinity, but it would be nice to have your custom tags/sets in the font picker as well. Fingers crossed for a plugin system in v2, that would be amazing 

Auto activation for Affinity would definately make me switch to your app. I now use Font Explorer, but it has been discontinued.

[Is AFFINITY dead?]

4 hours ago, Boldlinedesign said:

I've "forgotten" to mention the cost of vectorstyler because it's not a big cost at all. I'd pay several hundred for vectorstyler easily. $100 is not much money at all really. If anyone is so concerned about paying an extra 45 dollars,  enough to dismiss vectorstyler completely, they have bigger issues to deal with. 

Add in the fact that Vectorstyler offers thousands more features and tools than affinity and the cost difference is only 45 dollars is an amazing steal. 

I agree that VS offers a lot of hardcore vector features that I would love to see in Affinity. I have a license and use it, but only sporadically, which is mostly down to it being rather buggy and unstable for me (this could have to do with my older Mac too). Even if I like the feature richness of VS, it still has quite some way to go to become as nice to use as Affinity. The UI in VS is really messy and hard to understand, with a lot of options for everything. I have been working with these kinds of programs for over 20 yrs now, so I am hardly a novice, but the UI of VS must be one of the most convoluted and complicated to navigate. For VS to really become a serious workhorse for me, it really needs to work on this, right now I will only use a specific feature I need and then jump back to Affinity...

Affinity and VS are both at one extreme of the spectrum: feature packed but hard to use for VS, basic but very intuitive and fast for Affinity.

[Max Resolution of PNG for Vector Brushes in Designer?]

Brush maker Paolo Limoncelli of DAUB brushes gave me this reply:

Quote

there should be a limit of 1024px for stroke width with "live painting". Anyway you can use any pixel size you prefer. A 2048px height is more than enough for professional outputs. Width is up to you...

 

[Max Resolution of PNG for Vector Brushes in Designer?]

This is a good question, indeed. Responses here are slow sometimes, so I wrote a message on twitter to some professionals that make Affinity brushes. When I get an answer I will post it here.

[It is Friday the 13th. Do you know what happens to Affinity Styles today? :)]

Still here in 2022

[When will the next beta version be released?]

On 3/11/2022 at 9:46 PM, KipV said:

Many have pointed out that Apple is showing Affinity Publisher in it's ads for iPad Air 5. My guess is that this is where their attention is going at the moment. There is still one application in the lineup that hasn't been released even as a beta yet so it makes sense that this is their main focus.

That is very interesting! I am very much looking forward to puclisher on iPad to see how it would work for me.