Mark Oehlschlager

@JimmyJack So you have to drop the Curves Adjustment as a mask to the Mask Layer (though visually there is not an indentation in the Layers Panel to show this relationship). I can see that it works, but it's crazy and very unintuitive.

In a multi-layer document, with several image layers and their own respective layer masks, how do you then target just one layer mask if not with the help of an isolating Group? It is not possible to make a Curves Adjustment Layer a child of a Mask Layer.

Not in my experience. The grouping of the image layer and its mask layer seem to be a prerequisite. Curves adjustment then gets applied to the Group.

@JimmyJack I guess you have to first group the Image and its mask layer in order to apply the Alpha Curve to the group. There's no way I know of to apply a curve directly to a Mask Layer.

I realize that it is possible to edit Layer Masks directly with a Paint brush, or by applying Filters, but Is it possible to apply a Curves or Levels adjustment to a raster Mask?

@jmwellborn Thanks. The Mac Studio that I would consider would cost $2,000, plus the Studio Display at $1,600, for a total bill of $3,600 + tax. Compare that to my 24" iMac config at $1,900 + tax. As you say, it comes down to money, and I'd like to spend just what I must, not more. Certainly the Mac Studio machines with the M1 Ultra chips would be overkill, right?

It's time for me to replace my Late 2012 iMac with a new M1 machine. But I could use some guidance on the minimum specs if I want to happily run the Affinity Suite and it's updates over the next three to five years. Assume pushing the Affinity Suite apps as hard as possible. Would a 24" M1 iMac (8-core CPU, 8-core GPU) with 16 GB of RAM offer enough of a performance ceiling for 3-5 years, or should I think instead about an entry level spec Mac Studio (10-core CPU, 24-core GPU) with 32 GB of RAM?

Feels like we're due for a big 2.0 release, and a Mesh Warp Live Filter would be most welcome.

@Ginhuardy After selecting the Smudge tool, select a soft round brush from the basics set, adjust its size according to your need, and then set the spacing of the brush to 1% (that is the lowest possible value). That should enable you to generate a smooth blur with the Smudge tool. I have no idea why the default spacing for the basic round brushes is set to 25%.

@Eddie Aguirre Is there a solution for converting Affinity Publisher documents to IDML and/or INDD?

@Old Bruce I understand the utility of setting up and naming text frame layers for each language on the master pages, but what is the utility of setting up multiple image frames for each language?

@notna, unfortunately the cold hard truth of the world is this: Adobe tools are entrenched as the industry standard despite grumblings over their subscription policy. Unless one works alone, one must continue to use the Adobe products. It would take a massive shift in cultural and technological trends to unseat Adobe from their current position. The best that Serif can do is to match Adobe tools, feature for feature, offer more attractive pricing, survive with a niche market of solo users, and wait for some cultural or technological shift that would give them an opening to challenge Adobe for leadership.

@Old Bruce You could be right, and deleting a line segment directly is useful, but I really thought there was a way to directly split a curve at a node or point. My memory could be faulty, but if anyone recalls such a modifier key for the node tool, I'd appreciate being reminded of which key or keys that would be.

I thought that Serif recently introduced a keyboard modifier key for the Node tool that would allow one to split a curve directly at a node point. And yet I can't remember what the modifier key is. Nor can I find any documentation of this. Was this option removed? Am I overlooking a tooltip or other helpful documentation?

It's not simply a matter of an extra feature in Publisher that doesn't exist in other page layout applications. It's that it a) subverts the established UI standards of character and paragraph panels seen in other major page layout applications, repurposing the standard leading attribute to become a leading override attribute without calling attention to it's new function, causing confusion; and b) departs from logic of a typesetter thinking in terms of paragraph attributes – face, weight, point size and leading – and not only sets a trap by redefining the leading field in the character panel to become a leading override field, but introduces workflow inefficiencies by forcing the typesetter to flip back and forth between panels to set the basic attributes of a paragraph. Working quickly to build paragraph styles one is accustomed to setting these properties up in a single panel. Any way, I realize that Affinity have much bigger fish to fry – including a total rethink of the Color Swatch panel, which is a clunky mess. This will likely not change. It seems baked in at this point.