DragonWhimsy

In Serif's original roadmap for the Affinity suite a Lightroom alternative was listed as something they wanted to do as the fourth program of the suite. That roadmap also mentions both Publisher and the IPad apps which at the time didn't yet exist. You can see this in the forward to the Affinity Designer workbook. 
My theory is that when developing Publisher and the IPad apps that both Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo took real hits to their development of new features. It's likely Serif felt that those programs had lost a lot of momentum that they originally had as they just weren't being developed fast enough for its user's needs and so they decided to refocus on their main three products for the time being until they are more feature complete. 
I have no doubt a lightroom alternative is coming eventually. But it does seem to have been delayed for the moment. 

I agree with DragonWhimsy. Many, many times in modifying images I make a selection to make an adjustment and have to keep going up to the View in the menu, then down to turn off "Show Picture Selection" then back up again to modify the selection. I doubt anybody likes to make modifications to an image with the "selection ants" showing, so a keyboard shortcut would be greatly appreciated. It would really be a time saver for sure. Something like a "Command-H"
Just a suggestion for consideration, overall this whole Affinity suite is really plain AWESOME! Thanks.

It'd be great if in Affinity Designer's Pixel Persona we could have the option to hide the pixel selection like we have in Affinity Photo. I know there are workarounds, but nonetheless it'd be very convenient to have this quality-of-life feature ported over. At one point years ago, there was a dev working on this (yes I have a very long memory) but it seems to have been forgotten about so I thought I'd post a little reminder and hopefully someone will pick it up again. 
Thanks for reading! 
 
 

In Serif's original roadmap for the Affinity suite a Lightroom alternative was listed as something they wanted to do as the fourth program of the suite. That roadmap also mentions both Publisher and the IPad apps which at the time didn't yet exist. You can see this in the forward to the Affinity Designer workbook. 
My theory is that when developing Publisher and the IPad apps that both Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo took real hits to their development of new features. It's likely Serif felt that those programs had lost a lot of momentum that they originally had as they just weren't being developed fast enough for its user's needs and so they decided to refocus on their main three products for the time being until they are more feature complete. 
I have no doubt a lightroom alternative is coming eventually. But it does seem to have been delayed for the moment. 

In Serif's original roadmap for the Affinity suite a Lightroom alternative was listed as something they wanted to do as the fourth program of the suite. That roadmap also mentions both Publisher and the IPad apps which at the time didn't yet exist. You can see this in the forward to the Affinity Designer workbook. 
My theory is that when developing Publisher and the IPad apps that both Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo took real hits to their development of new features. It's likely Serif felt that those programs had lost a lot of momentum that they originally had as they just weren't being developed fast enough for its user's needs and so they decided to refocus on their main three products for the time being until they are more feature complete. 
I have no doubt a lightroom alternative is coming eventually. But it does seem to have been delayed for the moment. 

I can't speak for the original poster but many digital painting workflows make use of photobashing which most art programs aren't very good at. It's Photoshop's main advantage over more dedicated art programs. For those people a better brush engine in the Affinity programs would free them from Adobe's high prices. 
I have no idea what Serif's future plans are, but I am encouraged by their recent improvements to the brush panel, the addition of the recent brushes history on a layer, the improvements to the brush creation panel, and improvements to the color mixing brush. Maybe it's an indication of more improvements to come?

Although setting the size of the brush is probably the most common, depending on the type of work (what the brush is used for) it is also necessary to change the Hardness of the brush and its Opacity (or Flow) often. In my opinion, a panel where all these "operating" parameters of the brush, not only its size, can be conveniently and quickly set would be useful. Something like here:

Of course, it would be optimal if the user could set the individual items and their number according to his needs and the type of work he does.
 
P.S. Unfortunately, I did not understand this - maybe a problem with the translation.
That this is "my own opinion" is probably obvious from the nature of the discussion forum, where own/personal opinions are always represented.
And that it is possible to replace the brush size enter panel with pre-prepared brush definitions, where other important parameters will be entered (which can be an advantage in many cases), is simply a "fact" - it is possible. Of course, it is up to each user whether he will wait a few years for the implementation of a specific panel, or whether he will use some solution to facilitate and speed up his work processes - that is also a fact 🙂

You are correct. That is indeed what I am suggesting. I should have provided an image I suppose. Sorry for any confusion. 

You're stating your own opinion as fact, when in fact, it is not. This is a standard panel that exists in other programs and it's a fantastic feature. Having different widths available to switch between makes experimenting on the fly much easier for trying to find the "perfect" width for an ink job. Having to create different brushes for different widths (for the same brush) is unneeded bloat to the Brush presets.

Anyway, +1 to OP's suggestion (if this is in fact what they are suggesting they would like?)

They're likely suggesting something like this. I use this panel a ton for inking jobs where I only stick to a few widths for consistency:

I know many might not think this is a very sexy feature, but I'd like to suggest adding a brush size panel to the interface in both Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. Yes, there are keyboard shortcuts, the width dropbox, and even the dial on my drawing tablet. But somehow, I just find the ability to get the exact size of brush I want with a single click much nicer than scrolling or scrubbing up and down each size increment. It feels faster and less intrusive.
I hope you'll consider this, thanks for reading!
 

I know many might not think this is a very sexy feature, but I'd like to suggest adding a brush size panel to the interface in both Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. Yes, there are keyboard shortcuts, the width dropbox, and even the dial on my drawing tablet. But somehow, I just find the ability to get the exact size of brush I want with a single click much nicer than scrolling or scrubbing up and down each size increment. It feels faster and less intrusive.
I hope you'll consider this, thanks for reading!
 

I just wanted to take a quick moment and say thank you to Serif for adding this feature in the upcoming 2.1 release. I started this thread two years ago and it seems only fitting to close it out with a big 'ol thank you! Showing the brush names as well as keeping the brush highlighted even after changing the size is going to make the whole brush experience feel so much smoother. 
It's greatly appreciated.

I'm really loving the Affinity Suite, they are fantastic products. But it's become frustrating that my biggest pain point with the desktop software is seemingly something so easy to fix. I'm talking about how you can only see the brush names in the brush panel by hovering your cursor over the brush. For someone who has bought a lot of brushes for the software this is really painful. This has really hampered my ability to find a brush, or even remember what brush I had used previously. It seems like a small thing, but it really isn't. Seeing the names in the panel helps greatly with memory retention and creates a much stronger user experience. Right now I either have to hover over the brush, taking an extra second to let the name pop up (getting me out of my artistic flow and annoying me, and that annoyance meaning I'm unlikely to bother), or I have to not register the name in my consciousness at all, leaving me to hopefully remember later which in a long line of squiggly shapes is the brush I used.
While I realize this isn't the most important feature in the world, it's also really low hanging fruit. And doesn't the ipad versions of the suite already have this (I don't have the ipad versions but I'd swear I saw in a video that they do)?
Is this a result of someone in UI wanting to make the panel look prettier and more streamlined and thinking it doesn't hamper our workflows? Because if so please, please put that strange notion aside. You are most definitely hampering my workflow. 
Please don't tell me we have to wait for 1.9 for this. It's such a small thing but so important. 
 

I agree, when changing the size of a brush it's still the same brush, at least for the user, no matter what the app is thinking. And every other design and art app out there presents it in the same way.
Speaking of changing brush sizes, another of those low hanging fruits would be a brush size panel. Sometimes that just seems faster than using the size adjuster already in the app or using the dial on my pen tablet. It's an easy feature and it's pretty standard in competing software. 
Also adding the brush name in the history panel. Instead of "Paint Brush Tool" it would be something like "Paint Brush Tool: Chalky Brush 1" or something. Clip Studio Paint has that feature and it's great for remembering what brush you just tested out 3 brushes ago and want to go back to.
Just those 4 really easy features to add would enhance my experience with the program so much. Displaying the brush names in the brush panel on desktop, keeping the selected brush highlighted even when changing sizes, a brush size panel with different brush sizes already all laid out, and the brush name in the history panel. Super easy to add, super standard in design and art programs. And such a huge improvement to the brush experience. All without even touching the underlying brush engine. They're quick additions that add a ton of value. 

I'm really loving the Affinity Suite, they are fantastic products. But it's become frustrating that my biggest pain point with the desktop software is seemingly something so easy to fix. I'm talking about how you can only see the brush names in the brush panel by hovering your cursor over the brush. For someone who has bought a lot of brushes for the software this is really painful. This has really hampered my ability to find a brush, or even remember what brush I had used previously. It seems like a small thing, but it really isn't. Seeing the names in the panel helps greatly with memory retention and creates a much stronger user experience. Right now I either have to hover over the brush, taking an extra second to let the name pop up (getting me out of my artistic flow and annoying me, and that annoyance meaning I'm unlikely to bother), or I have to not register the name in my consciousness at all, leaving me to hopefully remember later which in a long line of squiggly shapes is the brush I used.
While I realize this isn't the most important feature in the world, it's also really low hanging fruit. And doesn't the ipad versions of the suite already have this (I don't have the ipad versions but I'd swear I saw in a video that they do)?
Is this a result of someone in UI wanting to make the panel look prettier and more streamlined and thinking it doesn't hamper our workflows? Because if so please, please put that strange notion aside. You are most definitely hampering my workflow. 
Please don't tell me we have to wait for 1.9 for this. It's such a small thing but so important. 
 

I'm really loving the Affinity Suite, they are fantastic products. But it's become frustrating that my biggest pain point with the desktop software is seemingly something so easy to fix. I'm talking about how you can only see the brush names in the brush panel by hovering your cursor over the brush. For someone who has bought a lot of brushes for the software this is really painful. This has really hampered my ability to find a brush, or even remember what brush I had used previously. It seems like a small thing, but it really isn't. Seeing the names in the panel helps greatly with memory retention and creates a much stronger user experience. Right now I either have to hover over the brush, taking an extra second to let the name pop up (getting me out of my artistic flow and annoying me, and that annoyance meaning I'm unlikely to bother), or I have to not register the name in my consciousness at all, leaving me to hopefully remember later which in a long line of squiggly shapes is the brush I used.
While I realize this isn't the most important feature in the world, it's also really low hanging fruit. And doesn't the ipad versions of the suite already have this (I don't have the ipad versions but I'd swear I saw in a video that they do)?
Is this a result of someone in UI wanting to make the panel look prettier and more streamlined and thinking it doesn't hamper our workflows? Because if so please, please put that strange notion aside. You are most definitely hampering my workflow. 
Please don't tell me we have to wait for 1.9 for this. It's such a small thing but so important. 
 

I'd love to see Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo get a brush size panel. Yes, it's easy enough to use the width slider or to use the dial on my graphics tablet, but sometimes it's just faster to pick the exact brush size you want instantly from a full sized panel. I know it's not the sexiest feature ever, but sometimes it's the simple things that help keep you in your creative flow.

I'd love to see Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo get a brush size panel. Yes, it's easy enough to use the width slider or to use the dial on my graphics tablet, but sometimes it's just faster to pick the exact brush size you want instantly from a full sized panel. I know it's not the sexiest feature ever, but sometimes it's the simple things that help keep you in your creative flow.

I'm really loving the Affinity Suite, they are fantastic products. But it's become frustrating that my biggest pain point with the desktop software is seemingly something so easy to fix. I'm talking about how you can only see the brush names in the brush panel by hovering your cursor over the brush. For someone who has bought a lot of brushes for the software this is really painful. This has really hampered my ability to find a brush, or even remember what brush I had used previously. It seems like a small thing, but it really isn't. Seeing the names in the panel helps greatly with memory retention and creates a much stronger user experience. Right now I either have to hover over the brush, taking an extra second to let the name pop up (getting me out of my artistic flow and annoying me, and that annoyance meaning I'm unlikely to bother), or I have to not register the name in my consciousness at all, leaving me to hopefully remember later which in a long line of squiggly shapes is the brush I used.
While I realize this isn't the most important feature in the world, it's also really low hanging fruit. And doesn't the ipad versions of the suite already have this (I don't have the ipad versions but I'd swear I saw in a video that they do)?
Is this a result of someone in UI wanting to make the panel look prettier and more streamlined and thinking it doesn't hamper our workflows? Because if so please, please put that strange notion aside. You are most definitely hampering my workflow. 
Please don't tell me we have to wait for 1.9 for this. It's such a small thing but so important. 
 

I'm really loving the Affinity Suite, they are fantastic products. But it's become frustrating that my biggest pain point with the desktop software is seemingly something so easy to fix. I'm talking about how you can only see the brush names in the brush panel by hovering your cursor over the brush. For someone who has bought a lot of brushes for the software this is really painful. This has really hampered my ability to find a brush, or even remember what brush I had used previously. It seems like a small thing, but it really isn't. Seeing the names in the panel helps greatly with memory retention and creates a much stronger user experience. Right now I either have to hover over the brush, taking an extra second to let the name pop up (getting me out of my artistic flow and annoying me, and that annoyance meaning I'm unlikely to bother), or I have to not register the name in my consciousness at all, leaving me to hopefully remember later which in a long line of squiggly shapes is the brush I used.
While I realize this isn't the most important feature in the world, it's also really low hanging fruit. And doesn't the ipad versions of the suite already have this (I don't have the ipad versions but I'd swear I saw in a video that they do)?
Is this a result of someone in UI wanting to make the panel look prettier and more streamlined and thinking it doesn't hamper our workflows? Because if so please, please put that strange notion aside. You are most definitely hampering my workflow. 
Please don't tell me we have to wait for 1.9 for this. It's such a small thing but so important. 
 

I agree that the Affinity programs are a huge value for the money and anyone who says they haven't gotten their monies worth is just being hyperbolic. I do think the negativity is somewhat understandable though. I don't at all think that it has been made clear by Serif that a major upgrade is in the works for 2022. Where would I get that info? A random and still very vague and cryptic Twitter post? A blog I've never heard of before meant for publishers? I had no idea that 2.0 was happening until I read it on a post in this thread. To be made clear by Serif it would have to be on a sticky post in these forums if they only want the hardcore users to know, or on the Affinity Spotlight blog if they wanted it to be more commonly known. The last patch with new features was 1.9 and that was more than a year ago with no public beta available for the next one. The betas themselves often take a couple of months. So if you don't know that the next patch is a really big 2.0 patch, it seems like we're waiting a little long for a more standard 1.11 patch. 
I think part of the cause of this is that it has seemed that Affinity Designer and Photo have seemed to had their development slowed since they began working on Affinity Publisher. It does feel a bit like Serif is stretched to their limit and it's been unclear if they can develop 3 apps +3 Ipad versions of those apps at more than a glacial pace. 
I think there wouldn't be any negativity here if it had been made clear by Serif that 2.0 was coming this year. The problem is that wasn't made clear. And of course it's up to Serif when the best time to start marketing that is. But I think a quick "Hey this is happening" earlier would reassure the most dedicated users. I'd bet most users are aware that the 2.0 patch is a big deal and should take longer than the usual patches and are perfectly fine with that. 
What it really comes down to is that people don't really need this or that specific feature. They want reassurance that the Affinity Suite has a bright future and they are right to stick with it. Honestly when I found out yesterday that 2.0 is coming this year I felt a lot of reassurance. 
In any case I think you're probably right about the announcement next month and I'm guessing there will be a lot more positivity then. 
 

I agree that the Affinity programs are a huge value for the money and anyone who says they haven't gotten their monies worth is just being hyperbolic. I do think the negativity is somewhat understandable though. I don't at all think that it has been made clear by Serif that a major upgrade is in the works for 2022. Where would I get that info? A random and still very vague and cryptic Twitter post? A blog I've never heard of before meant for publishers? I had no idea that 2.0 was happening until I read it on a post in this thread. To be made clear by Serif it would have to be on a sticky post in these forums if they only want the hardcore users to know, or on the Affinity Spotlight blog if they wanted it to be more commonly known. The last patch with new features was 1.9 and that was more than a year ago with no public beta available for the next one. The betas themselves often take a couple of months. So if you don't know that the next patch is a really big 2.0 patch, it seems like we're waiting a little long for a more standard 1.11 patch. 
I think part of the cause of this is that it has seemed that Affinity Designer and Photo have seemed to had their development slowed since they began working on Affinity Publisher. It does feel a bit like Serif is stretched to their limit and it's been unclear if they can develop 3 apps +3 Ipad versions of those apps at more than a glacial pace. 
I think there wouldn't be any negativity here if it had been made clear by Serif that 2.0 was coming this year. The problem is that wasn't made clear. And of course it's up to Serif when the best time to start marketing that is. But I think a quick "Hey this is happening" earlier would reassure the most dedicated users. I'd bet most users are aware that the 2.0 patch is a big deal and should take longer than the usual patches and are perfectly fine with that. 
What it really comes down to is that people don't really need this or that specific feature. They want reassurance that the Affinity Suite has a bright future and they are right to stick with it. Honestly when I found out yesterday that 2.0 is coming this year I felt a lot of reassurance. 
In any case I think you're probably right about the announcement next month and I'm guessing there will be a lot more positivity then. 
 

I agree that the Affinity programs are a huge value for the money and anyone who says they haven't gotten their monies worth is just being hyperbolic. I do think the negativity is somewhat understandable though. I don't at all think that it has been made clear by Serif that a major upgrade is in the works for 2022. Where would I get that info? A random and still very vague and cryptic Twitter post? A blog I've never heard of before meant for publishers? I had no idea that 2.0 was happening until I read it on a post in this thread. To be made clear by Serif it would have to be on a sticky post in these forums if they only want the hardcore users to know, or on the Affinity Spotlight blog if they wanted it to be more commonly known. The last patch with new features was 1.9 and that was more than a year ago with no public beta available for the next one. The betas themselves often take a couple of months. So if you don't know that the next patch is a really big 2.0 patch, it seems like we're waiting a little long for a more standard 1.11 patch. 
I think part of the cause of this is that it has seemed that Affinity Designer and Photo have seemed to had their development slowed since they began working on Affinity Publisher. It does feel a bit like Serif is stretched to their limit and it's been unclear if they can develop 3 apps +3 Ipad versions of those apps at more than a glacial pace. 
I think there wouldn't be any negativity here if it had been made clear by Serif that 2.0 was coming this year. The problem is that wasn't made clear. And of course it's up to Serif when the best time to start marketing that is. But I think a quick "Hey this is happening" earlier would reassure the most dedicated users. I'd bet most users are aware that the 2.0 patch is a big deal and should take longer than the usual patches and are perfectly fine with that. 
What it really comes down to is that people don't really need this or that specific feature. They want reassurance that the Affinity Suite has a bright future and they are right to stick with it. Honestly when I found out yesterday that 2.0 is coming this year I felt a lot of reassurance. 
In any case I think you're probably right about the announcement next month and I'm guessing there will be a lot more positivity then. 
 

I agree, when changing the size of a brush it's still the same brush, at least for the user, no matter what the app is thinking. And every other design and art app out there presents it in the same way.
Speaking of changing brush sizes, another of those low hanging fruits would be a brush size panel. Sometimes that just seems faster than using the size adjuster already in the app or using the dial on my pen tablet. It's an easy feature and it's pretty standard in competing software. 
Also adding the brush name in the history panel. Instead of "Paint Brush Tool" it would be something like "Paint Brush Tool: Chalky Brush 1" or something. Clip Studio Paint has that feature and it's great for remembering what brush you just tested out 3 brushes ago and want to go back to.
Just those 4 really easy features to add would enhance my experience with the program so much. Displaying the brush names in the brush panel on desktop, keeping the selected brush highlighted even when changing sizes, a brush size panel with different brush sizes already all laid out, and the brush name in the history panel. Super easy to add, super standard in design and art programs. And such a huge improvement to the brush experience. All without even touching the underlying brush engine. They're quick additions that add a ton of value.