kaosartist

Any ideas on when Affinity Publisher is coming to iPad?

Yes, this is very frustrating, considering that Affinity Photo for iOS out strips Photoshop 10-fold. It’s a simple request but has fallen on ceaf ears. I have emailed about this. Obviously posted about this. And still no avail. It’s a pretty bummer thing. When I emailed Affinity they gave some fluff but hey, as an extra bonus told me that they were working on a bitmap to vector solution. That’s not here either. On the forums all we get is a rash of Affinity supporters with their creative work-a-rounds (which do work) but these solutions are a nightmare for any seasoned production artist or for a design project that has a lot of detail. What’s missing from the forum end is a huge “YES that’s right! How did Affinity miss this? Affinity please make this happen?”. The problem with not seeing that kind of response from other users is Affinity developers think; “well if 80% of the users are cool with not having this feature and it’s just one or two users bitching then we don’t need to spend effort or time into that”. It’s really tough. Affinity Photo is down right AWESOME!!!!!! Why are the developers of Designer not has highly motivated to put out an AWESOME Illustrator replacement as the Photo developers were in making their Photoshop replacement? Over the months of not seeing these basic features, I am amazed how much I have gotten done. Though I will tell you I absolutely dread any project that would require a complicated “True-Trim” function. I am now 100% desktop, laptop free now. Everything I do is on iPad Pro. For my design and vector needs Affinity Designer is the ONLY game in town. It be long before I keep pushing Affinity to not just do better, but to be AWESOME. We all know it can be done. There is no excuse.They Made Affinity Photo.

Thank you for your input. I just checked out the Xara site. The main are of where Affinity is KILLING the competition is that fact this is a pro design app available for iPad that is a complete match to its desktop version. While Designer fails dramatically in having proper pathfinder tools it is still the best Illustrator replacement. If some how Xara does create an iOS version that is 100% fully purchasable (NO subscription) I'd be happy to take a look at it. The main goal here is that developers need to let go of the desk and lap tops and focus more if not all their attention to the future; iPad. Affinity Photo has succeeded in freeing Photoshop artists from lap tops and computer systems...can't wait till Affinity does the same for Illustrator artists.

Thanks for the feedback Mithferion. I have to be honest in saying that asking what the trim feature is used for is really quite puzzling to me actually. I mean, I'm scratching my head trying to understand how this tool is so lost on you and the rest on this forum. It's like the easiest and most intuitive tool in any vector program ever made for PC or Apple. But okay, I'll try to explain it. In regular fun creative sense you can use shapes to cut out other shapes with ease and KNOW with CONFIDENCE that there is no other pieces of the object to mess with. It is a solid interaction unlike divide (which is in here BTW but sometimes works in wonky ways). When you hit divide you then have to pic out all of these other pieces which is not only a pain in the ass but is very time consuming. For production and pre-press in silk screen and vinyl cutting, trim is critical. For tshirts you use trim to make your screen separations and in some cases is very helpful for over print outlines. In vinyl work, where this is the most critical, you cant risk having all of these extra vector lines in your image because that is what the cutter will see and cut in your vinyl piece. So trim is very important in helping to make proper cuts in your piece when developing a a sign with 2 or more colors. In print there are just many techniques in getting many image results in your design using the trim function. Ultimately, to understand what I am talking about, go into your illustrator create a few shapes and use the trim tool to see for yourself how valuable this feature is. I hope this helps.

You obviously have not worked digital pre-press and production, but that's okay. Not everyone has. If you don't agree with the update recommendation then please don't bother commenting. One thing I never do is go on to someone else's feature request and try to explain how it's not necessary or niche or unrealistic. "Oh it's just a few extra steps"...really? I go on to other peoples feature requests and SUPPORT their recommendation. Customers should be doing more of that and less criticizing others posts. I post the way I do because I believe in Affinity design products and am willing to keep on their ass to continue to do better be superior, which they are on the road map to be. Don't mean to put you on blast but your response was really not supportive and of little help.

You nailed it! This is exactly the problem of NOT having a proper trim tool. When you are forced to go through so many steps to do something so simple yet, is so damn critical, when you are working with very tight tolerances, this type of work around is a terrible idea. There are too many ways to mess up your work. Yeah, I'm harsh but let's get real here. This is a feature that is not propitiatory to Illustrator. You have this same ability in Corel Draw and in Aldos Freehand, yeah, back in 1998! This is the year 2018 and a developer can't implement a simple piece of code that similar software has had for over 20 years? Seriously? Affinity Photo on the other hand is a match for match point to point Photoshop replacement for iPad that as of, September 2018, now has newer features Adobe has never thought of yet. When Affinity Photo first came out it was easily equal to Photoshop 6-7 before the CS series. It had the basic functionalities of masking and channels that for a pro-user, is everything you could ever need. Not having this pathfinder set/trim tool is sorta like releasing Affinity Photo with no masking layers and channel masking capability at all. BTW some idiot release an Affinity Photo challenger that did just that, NO MASKING! Anyhow, It's nice that they have Affinity Publisher they are working on. But really, they need to go back, and finish Designer till it is at least a proper match for match, point for point Illustrator replacement for iOS that Affinity Photo has been for Photoshop. I'm not even asking for the complete masking, welding and pathfinder tools. I need just the one tool; TRIM. Please, just, add that!

Well first off Trim is NOT a niche request. It is a standard in EVERY top rated vector app that we have been using in the past 20+ years; Freehand, Corel Draw, Illustrator..ect. Pathfinder tools are must in production work in Illustrator. If you have never used it in Illustrator please try it out, you would be amazed how much this little "niche" tool makes your life SOOOOOOO much easier. I posted a better video on the subject: see OP. Now, that being said. I am open to new techniques. If you can show me a video where you can get the same "TRIM' results, as the one I posted, in Affinity Designer for iPad I am all ears and eyes! Personally I can't imagine how a designer of 17 years has never ran into a situation where this tool was necessary. Like you said everyone's experience is different. But I do stand by the one fact that TRIM is NOT a NICHE tool. Regarding my composure in my OP, I hope my edit is a little more nicer to you all. I probably should have started with what I feel about Affinity Photo. Here is a portion of an email to Affinity regarding Affinity Photo: "Affinity Photo succeeded at being the Pro Photoshop replacement iPad artists and designers could ever hope for, and that was already established BEFORE it's most recent update. Affinity Photo already had everything that was needed to match the current version of Adobe Photoshop. Since the last Affinity Photo update Affinity Photo as literally surpassed Photoshop with features and capabilities that out strip Photoshop in it's current version. Unbelievable!!! Going back to Photoshop from Affinity Photo is like going back to a dinosaur. Affinity Photo, especially for iPad, has made Photoshop obsolete thanks to the most recent update. " Because Affinity Photo for iPad was so damn good coming out of the gate (bought it when it first came out), I was expecting the same level of commitment from Affinity to give us an Illustrator competitor with as much dedication and detail to giving us designers, with so many work flow styles, the same experience as what we got with Affinity Photo. The only thing I expected Affinity to omit from the Illustrator experience was a proper bitmap to vector conversion, (which BTW Affinity told me is coming out). By comparison Affinity designer needs more work. I have looked at the amazing list of requests on here and ALL of them are not just reasonable but literally, if implemented, would make Affinity Designer the same Platinum standard as Affinity Photo. If the developers would roll out a new update which included each and every request every two weeks or so, that would make Affinity Designer the same quality product as Affinity Photo. IMHO this software is far from completion and needs a ton of updates. I hope this helps you understand where I am coming from.

Holy crap! The dude deleted the video. Oh well. I found a better one. Updated in my OP and here it is for you:

YES!!!! Please add Geometry Merge in next Update Please!!!!

YES< Plus 100 for Nudge Arrows. Thankfully I can pull out my Bluetooth keyboard and the arrow keys will do the job. But half the time I don't want to bring my keyboard. So yeah, we need an option to turn those little arrows on. Next Update please!!!!!

Yes, a proper vector Eraser and vector cutting tools are severely needed. So surprised it's not here. Even graphic has vector eraser...com'on, let's raise you game here, developers. Really there needs to be a new update every week!

[Updated with better link example and nicer language] The number one reason I have given Affinity Designer a 1 star rating is for not having a complete set of ALL the path finder tools that you would have in Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. It's unimaginably disappointing. Of all of the path finder tools from Illustrator I, and every other designer, uses the most is "TRIM". And, NO, divide is not "TRIM". Divide is not a proper or reasonable replacement for "TRIM". I beg of you and your developers to watch this youtube link and copy EXACTLY this "TRIM" feature: I was working on a critical design project that needed "TRIM" to happen and no work-a-round could alleviate the problem. Please fix this, please make this happen on the very next update.