postmadesign

I don't agree with this assesment. I think it is very nice vector program that is fast and intuitive, but lacks some of more advanced features Illustrator has. With regards to vector brushes you are correct, and I do wish Serif would add more options in this regard into v2. I have worked with with Illustrator for several years, but always found it very cumbersome to work with. It has great features, but I never likes the basic path manipulation. I like this a lot better in AD. I guess it all comes down to personal preference, but I personally think Designer is the most original program of the three, as it is something between Illustrator and Photoshop. I find it very nice to work on designs, create iterations on multiple artboards, look reference images in one big space. Though Illustrator could potentially do this, it is just too sluggish for me. Publisher is great to have because I want to have an alternative to indesign as I need it for my job, but it is more like a light and quick version of indesign in many regards. As for Photo: I never really use Photo that much for my job, as I do hardly any photo work, and for the more lightweight tasks, I just use Designer... PS I am happy about some discussion, but can we get back to the original topic, this whole thread is starting is gone quite off rails. Thanks.

This really is a workflow issue. I believe that illustration or graphics are a very different thing than layout and graphic design. I think Publisher really took an interesting approach with their personas, so that you can actually access the corner tool or the vector brush by going to the Designer persona. However I do not use this functionality as much as i could, and often prefer working on graphics, logos etc in designer only and doing the layouts in Publisher. Perhaps that is because I am so used to working this way coming from Adobe. Fusing Publisher and Designer completely would not be a good thing in my opinion. It would make the program much more complicated and bloated. As I said I just need some elements to be present in all apps for consistency.

Did not know about this, at least thats something. Thanks!

Not sure I agree. I never really use Photo, Designer and Publisher I use all the time. Designing vector illustrations and Assets is much easier with artboards than Pages, and certainly believe a full blown vector program should be part of the trilogy. What I find hard to work with sometimes, is that only for one specific feature you would need to switch to the other app, like a vector pencil tool that is missing in Photo, or the perspective and mesh transform tools that are in Photo but not Designer. The borders between the apps are sometimes arbitrary and might not be useful for all workflows. A more flexible system where I could pick and choose which modules and functions I really need to use together would really be my dream, just give me the toolbox with all the tools (when I have bought all the apps) and let me combine them in a modular way... I can dream, right?? Anyway, I think it would be useful to have some parts in all 3 programs, like resource and font management. Seems like a rather simple thing to implement as the code is there.

I saw that you added a resource manager to the latest beta, which makes a lot of sense to me. It would be very useful too if you could add a font manager like Publisher has too, though. It is hard to assess which fonts are missing from a designer document and know which ones I have to activate. I only get a small pop-up message when I open the document, but this not always complete if I use a lot of fonts, and I can not get it back when it disappears. I hope you could consider this?!

That might be the cause. I tested some regular paint brushes, and these seem to behave normally.

No, both are set up very much the same...

This still is an issue in Beta 1.9.0.4 The brushes look OK in the panel, but don't work as they should when painting. brush_bug1.mov

The brushes render correctly in the panel, but don't behave as they do in the MAs version. It reacts completely different to pressure in some of the brushes, not creating a gradual buildup with more pressure, but rather an on/off thing. I know this is not a place for bugs, but I created a thread about this two betas ago, and although things have changed, the brushes still don't work like they should. See attached to know what I mean. brush_bug1.mov

I am glad to say that Vector brushes work as they should! Thanks! However, tha problems with raster brushes are still present...

Yeah, that would be great, other programs SPACE to pan with and SPACE+SHIFT to rotate with the pen on the tablet.

I see some weird bugs with the layers panel and vector brushes (reported) but it's nice to see the resource manager in Designer. Perhaps you could consider adding the font manager from publisher too, as it just makes sense for a design program. Finding and replacing fonts can be tricky in more complicated documents in Designer. I like the new canvas rotation. I use it with an Intuos 5 with touch, and it works well by just pressing CMD and scrolling with two fingers up or down. Certainly much better than trying to rotate with two fingers using gestures on the Intuos, which never properly works.

I have seen this too. I use an iMac 2011 with High Sierra

I don't know if this is the same problem or related, but all vector brush presets are exactly the same basic line, the preinstalled ones and the ones I installed myself. This is quite a bad bug, as i makes the program practically useless for illustration right now and I will have to stick to the MAS version for now.

I see the same issue on the latest Betas, as well as still some weird behaviour in the pixel brushes, as described in a thread in the Designer Beta forums. It is different in this Photo Beta, but it is not as it is in the retail version.

I uploaded the brushes and the file. Will try the propcol file, but cannot guarantee it will go through. EDIT: all files are now uploaded

I tried uploading, but as it is a rather large file, I always get network trouble. I will try again shortly, or upload the things in seperate attempts.

Here is the screenshot of my performance settings. I use a 2011 iMac with High Sierra

In the latest beta I have seen problems with vector lines with brushes applied, but also on some objects with a basic color fill, that they appear and disappear, especially when zooming in and out. This especially happens with selected paths. I attached a video where you see the effect with a stroked object. redraw_issues.mov

I uploaded the brushes now.

I am uploading the brush packs now. I hope you can fix this! EDIT: upload does not seem to work right now. I will try again in the morning.

I have stumbled into a rather nasty problem with the pixel brushes in the latest betas for both Designer and Photo. When I use exactly the same brush in both the beta and the App Store versions, I get a very different result. It is hard to describe, so have a look at the video. It seems to have something to do with the opacity or flow dynamics, but I am not sure. The first brush one from the Crayon set by Frankentoon. It is a brush with custom wet edges, but not a double brush. The second brush shown is from Eleni Debos brushset (from the Affinity store) which I use with the pixel tool, so no wet edges. No double brush either. It affects other brushes as well, not just these too. I hope you can fix this soon, as it is quite unusable atm. FWIW I am using both Programs on a 2011 iMac (non-metal compatible) running High Sierra. Brush_problems_in_Beta.mov

Any chance you could get the Auto Selection / Magic Wand in Designer's pixel persona? It seems to be a glaring omission, and curiously it is in the ipad version but not the desktop....

That is pretty cool, would be great if PS double brushes could be imported into Affinity, as it would make the number of available brushes much higher than now

Perhaps it could be possible to select the same brush properties for vector objects, and/or the same appearance (all strokes and fills)? Select all locked layers, or have the ability to exclude locked layers from the selection. Perhaps add an ability to select only within a layer or group?