Crispe

Yeh fair enough. A man can dream! It's one of the big things keeping me from fully moving to Designer as I do a lot of After Effects work with loads of vector layers and unfortunately it's just too fiddly now with Designer export limitations. If I did strictly static work I'd have probably switched over by now.

Hah, yeh I get it. It's expensive as all hell but it's been in the app like 15 years before it went subscription. Maxon also seem like a stingy company and I doubt many people use the export AI function at all, so I wonder if they actually pay for it or Adobe just doesn't consider a 3D program to be a competitor to Adobe Illustrator so they get a pass.

Maybe a little off-topic, but I've always hoped to get a better layered vector file out of Affinity Designer that behaves with After Effects but have had the reply that Affinity can't export an AI format because it is proprietary to Adobe. However, I also use Cinema 4D which exports layered AI files and has done so for many many years. Does that mean Maxon are paying Adobe to export that format? It's been in Cinema 4D for almost 20 years and pre-dates Maxon's closer relationship with Adobe afaik. ie there's no hope of getting that ability still in Affinity 2.0?

Agreed. I don't need any new programs just improvements on what they've already got. I still haven't transitioned away from Adobe to Affinity despite attempting to numerous times. I think the Affinity programs are great but they're missing a few too many things that I need. Probably an unpopular opinion but if they need to increase prices to have enough resources to make Affinity a real threat to Adobe then I am ok with that. If they had subscription there'd be an uproar but if they have an option for perpetual licensing as well then I think that'd be ok. I'd like to see things in Designer taken from Illustrator like - a knife tool, the 'edit colours' functionality, a better stroke smoothing algorithm as their pencil tool creates too many points and an iPad app that is a little more intuitive for touch use. The Illustrator iPad app runs terribly but there are a few UX/UI treatments in there that keep you from diving through too many menus like the Designer iPad app. I also have trouble getting designs out of Designer into Adobe After Effects but I'm not sure that'll ever improve without access to the AI format. Very keen to see what 2.0 is all about. It's on my bday, so maybe it'll be a good present.

Absolutely. Its pretty annoying how it works now. And +1 to limiting Select Same to unlocked layers only. I was excited about this finally being added but the way it works now is severely limiting for my purposes.

There is a blue line/tab next to each layer in the Layers studio indicating its colour for object controls/handles, but I can't for the life of me work out how to change the colour from blue to something else. I'm working on a predominantly blue illustration, so it's difficult to see the bezier handles etc. Thanks.

This is also a major deal breaker for me. There’s a few threads about it already. Personally, for my needs, being able to apply/flatten a HSL adjustment layer into the vector artwork to replace the colours would suffice, as that’s how I usually recolour in Illustrator. Right now I feel like adjustment layers are only helpful at the very end of a project rather than reconsidering colour usage as you go. I think I will be holding off with Affinity til version 2.0 which I have to imagine is going to have some of these long sought after features to entice people to pay to upgrade. For the record I think Affinity Designer is great in so many areas and fantastic value but as much as I want it to replace my Illustrator usage (which is a bug ridden pain in the arse now) it just lacks too many of my critical requirements.

I use this function all the time in Adobe Illustrator. I see in Designer that I can add an adjustment layer and use an HSL adjustment to edit the colours but there seems to be no way that I can see to flatten/apply the adjustment to the object colours themselves unless they're pixel layers, which is no good for me. If there was just some sort of function to apply an adjustment layer to the artwork then this system would be great. Am I missing something?

One of the reasons that I've not fully moved from Illustrator to Designer is getting assets from Designer into After Effects which requires jumping through too many hoops. Currently setting each layer to a slice to export individual vector files (EPS for After Effects compatability) crops the slice to the size of the layer/asset meaning importing into After Effects requires manually rearranging everything in the scene again. If we could have a button which says something along the lines of 'Set Slice to Canvas Size' then the individual vector files could be loaded into an After Effects composition and be in their correct relative positions. Right now my workaround is to put a 0% fill box the size of the canvas on every single layer and then auto slice. On a complex scene with hundreds of layers, this is obviously not feasible. Thanks!

Oh ok that's disappointing. Thanks for the heads up

Good morning. Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere. Search didn't clear it up completely. Was the Export Time-lapse functionality not included in the launch of 1.9 retail? I see it's in the beta notes for 1.9 but I can't find it anywhere in the live app. Thanks for your help.

I've been beta testing the Illustrator app for a while and I think both Designer and Illustrator have their good and bad points and neither can currently replace my desktop workflow. Illustrator's UI is much more intuitive for a touch platform with the context sensitive bar that comes up underneath your selections. I find Designer on iPad is too close to the desktop version and without a keyboard too much stuff is buried in menus, everything takes a few too many taps to do imo. As more features are added to Illustrator it will become a much better app, right now its finesse and features are lacking. But Designer has a huge advantage over the Illustrator app in that it allows canvas rotation. Considering the reason I usually start work on the iPad is because of the vector drawing, the lack of rotation on Illustrator is supremely disappointing. I don't expect it will be added either as it's interoperable with the desktop version, which also lacks canvas rotation. Bummer.

In previous versions of Designer, when selecting more than one node on a path, I would use to node tool and with 1 finger touching I would tap each node with the pencil to add it the the selection. In 1.7 when I do that, instead of adding each node to the selection it converts the point to a sharp angle (no bezier handles) and doesn't add the selected point at all. The only way I can select more than one point on a path is with rectangular selection. Is this new functionality or a bug? Thanks, Chris

It doesn't. Well, not since I last used it and I don't think its been added to the 1.7 beta either. Lack of a magic wand tool is one of the main reasons that I can't replace Illustrator with Affinity. I use the magic wand tool to select and change colours frequently but also to select and change strokes of the same width or colour. Its an amazing tool and such a core part of my process that I can't go without it.

Yeh I've had this since day one as well. Not so much the placing of the point, but moving points has a noticeable delay.