Dazmondo77

Same here 😀

What about showing the thumbnail preview image from the PDF instead?
I'd rather have a lower resolution, than an incorrect display (that would mentally transport me back to QuarkXpress in 1996/7 where you couldn't properly display PDF and EPS files inside the layout, fun times, but I prefer to GWIS - Get What I See!).
Maybe do a quick poll here in the forum to find out what the majority of users prefer?

Maybe a low rez preview with passthrough watermark would enable the user to export with a bit more confidence - it would also be useful for a backup plan for when the inevitable deadline takes a dive, simply because of PDFs not passing through, so maybe a quick rasterise in place function???

PDF PASSTHROUGH YAAAAAAAY!
Unfortunately I can't get it to work, each pdf i've tested shows up as passthrough but theres still font issues

Did I mention that all frame operation shown in the video above can be done with any frame type? Besides vector this is pixel and text, and pixelframe used as char in a textframe:

additinally, you can liquify this textframe

but it is still editable (cursor down left below "image used")

I'd say this is quite nice. Especially, that the as char embedded pixel image is liquified, too, and can be accessed as an editable pixel frame within the liquified text frame.

All working now boss ---- great work Andy

Select same ----ACE------ potentially save hours - can't seem to find the contour tool?
BRILLIANT WORK!

This is what I expected when I read the announcement.

One final thought about the Studio Preset issue, and then I'm going to leave it in Andy's capable hands.
Every graphics program I've ever used that lets users save a Workspace pretty much does the same thing: get your workspace configured/laid out the way you want it, save that as a New Workspace, and give it a name - in that order. From that point forward, choosing that Workspace brings the layout back to the state it was in when it was saved as a discrete entity. There is no auto-updating. There is no "do you want this or do you want that?" kind of dialog. If you don't like the way it got saved, correct it and save another new workspace (and, optionally, delete the one you replaced).
Also, every other thing within Affinity Photo that we refer to as a "preset" works in that way. That is, if I choose a preset from the Adjustments panel, a layer is created that is precisely the way the adjustment preset was saved. There is no updating, and if I want to use the preset as a suggestion and go from there, well away I go...
The only other option that might be helpful is the choice to "Export Studio Preset" so that I can duplicate my studio on another machine (or create it in the Beta and then load it into the retail app).

All actions: new document, open existing document, open stock image, drag and drop - result in bombing 
Crashed Thread:        9  Dispatch queue: com.apple.root.utility-qos
Exception Type:        EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes:       KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000004358
Exception Note:        EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY
Termination Signal:    Segmentation fault: 11
Termination Reason:    Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0xb
Terminating Process:   exc handler [11151]
 
Full crash log attached:
Affinity photo beta 1.9 mac crash log.txt

Never done a self portrait before, but needed a profile pic so here ya go...

Seriously, this is the among the most ridiculous issues I have with designer as a replacement for any other (more or less major) vector based program on the market. A vector program with vector brushes, which are rendered as pixels? Serif, you really can't see the contradiction in this (yet continuing this path for years now)? But I bet, they'll just add some more fancy features for the next versions instead, which look great for showcasing all of their great tools and features.
I really want to switch over to Affinity software for almost all or my work. And it's working for far more than half of the jobs already. But sometimes one really has to question Serif's common sense or understanding of the (semi)professional market when it's about improving some their apps' features.
 
 

I agree with you. Affinity Designer is lacking vector features in a major way. Boolean operators are still not working properly. Vector brushes are not vector. They are bitmap brushes on vector paths. Designer is essentially "Affinity Art" for bitmap artists with some vector tools built in for control. Not output. No signs of anything else in the horizon. These shortcomings - to put it mildly - have been discussed for years in this forum and documented like WWII. Asking for more arguments or evidence is ludicrous. @Larryh wants answers or action. Not another futile exchange of letters in an Internet forum.
Aaand now to the usual suspects (the forum core) that will now begin their endless defense. Remember his first line "For any moderator or developer of Affinity Designer who read this".

Great app which I use just about everyday, also does halftone dot and line conversions, great for screen printing and just copy paste your new vectors into Affinity apps

As this is a much requested "feature" (taken for grated standard) is there any future plans to change the above Serif view? 

"selection sets" or "tagged layers" YES PLEASE!!!

I second the request and must absolutely disagree with opinion of the affinity team.
A lot of it has been mentioned above so I try to summarize my critics.

Use Cases
-> folders: asymmetric 2-folds, 3-folds, many-folds, altar folds, step folds, …
-> large format productions: roll-ups and banners side by side with continuing background (with or w/o spacing)
-> magazines and brochures: fold outs, center folds (with and w/o need for continuos page numbering) fold out glossaries and TOCs

-> poster series: as we all work on widescreen monitors, designing posters side by side rather than one after each other gives you a better impression of the look of the series
@Affinity: sorry, your big-spread-with-many-manual-pages-with-cropmarks idea is not acceptable for professional users.

Design-Theoretical Thoughts
Why should you care?
You must have spent a fortune to develop Affinity Publisher. So you probably may have some believe in the future of print. But what do you expect your users are heading to? From my point, the pressure to be innovative is growing for every print designer. If we sell print projects, we have to compete with the low-cost wide-range fast-delivery advantages of digital media. With new production techniques, exclusive papers, fancy colors, spot + 4c, coatings and finishing, embossing, special foldings, cut-outs, laser-cut contours, metallic colors, hot-foiles and many other things we add something to print digital can't compete with. And one of the easiest and cheapest things from a production perspective is a irregular folding scheme of a printed product.

Technical Considerations
- Professional PDF files for print require precise PDF/X boxes for automated processing in preprint. By telling the user to create a big spread and place several pages with manual crop marks on it, this won't work. Creating the crop marks by hand and fixing PDF boxes in Acrobat or PitStop takes ages and is error-prone. We might have done this two decades before, but since PDF/X and the PSO are the industry standards we work with, this fumbling has thankfully come to an end.
- Some of us even use extra tools like PageControl to extend the functionality of InDesign’s page manager with features like vertical spreads, multiple page sizes, editable page alignments etc. This makes designing complex multi-fold flyers much easier – you consequently design across multiple, precisely positioned art boards while still having the functionality of a DTP application (baseline grid, extended typography features, automation, XML…) rather than a illustration application. Have a look here: http://www.dtptools.com/product.asp?id=pcid
- If you can't deliver highly flexible multi-page spreads, you won't make it to the top and into our toolchain.

So much this.. This is basic functionality.
Like taking the windshield wipers off a car.
I mean, I could do without I guess. I mean, if it's dry weather I suppose I don't need them and I think I could manage to find a way to drive without'm when it's not raining a huge lot but it'd be a LOT slower and VERY annoying, but I think I could manage.. But, they just belong there, why are they missing?

because someone took the windshield wipers off

The lack of warp and transform and mesh tools is one of the biggest reasons I can't fully move to Affinity designer as my go-to vector application and have to still hang on to an outdated OS to run my copy of Adobe CS6. I design t-shirts for a living and daily use the warping and transform functions to accomplish text effects. I agree that these features seem basic to any vector design app - but then again, so does a blob tool, a smooth tool, pure 100% vector brushes, select-same-as, and boolean operations that when merging objects, does not leave behind thousands of useless nodes, or make selections disappear, or freeze the app.
I love Affinity, but the years of waiting has been a real struggle with no explanations why

I think this causes the biggest frustration..

I'm guessing it's one of the 'clinch' features that will get us to do the paid upgrade to version 2.00 as the next beta will be 1.9 (which will prob be bug fixes and the odd tweak here and there), as vector warping/distortion has got to be the most requested feature over the past five years, it's something Illustrator / Freehand (and the others which I've not used) users have taken for grated for years.

I'm getting it on Mojave - I first noticed it locking in the down position when a Designer document was using most of my system memory and went into beachball, so thought it was a one off, but I've just had a look in Pub, and as above, when zooming in and out it has the bug and sometimes locks in the lower position - no big deal
Screen_Recording_2020-08-11_at_19_20_25.mov

I noticed in your screen grab, you have snapping turned on, If you have lots of vector points in your doc, I'd suggest switching off snapping which usually speeds things up for me -
Worth a shot! 

I't worked great before, quick and snappy, now seems like a huge back-step with delay and uncertainty wether the goal is achieved DAMN! I have the mac App Store version so can't go back to 1.8.3 - well still works better than Illustrator CS5