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Congratulations for your software. It's very good and I use it for months. I would like to know what will be the difference between designer and photo because designer seems to have a lot of photoshop functionalities. I would like to know when will we have a beta for Affinity Publisher because for me, I think it's a very important software to have to replace indesign quickly and definitively leave the Adobe suite.

You're right BigBadD, i'm with you, publising it's more necessary than photo. As many people uses photoshop but not so many (i tryed) indesign...

I am another Xara user from the Corel days. Have had to keep Windows up and running as it was always the best solution for the work I needed to do and was way simpler and makes much more sense than Illustrator. Not sure how Adobe ended up with that paradigm. I like the similarities here with layers and the way the interface looks similar to the tools Adobe makes as I am very used to using Photoshop. One of my chief complaints about Xara was the limited raster capabilities of the software with regards to photo manipulation. I never really thought the Bitmap Tracer did a very good job either. Very happy to be learning to use Affinity and am sure it will begin to mature as a powerful vector / bitmap platform. I look forward to moving away from Xara and using Affinity exclusively soon!

I'm not sure this workaround fully addresses the issue. There is a difference between strokes and lines (to use AD's own parlance). A line is mathematical geometry -- I can convert (aka "Expand") it to a shape at any time. However, a stroke is just a visual effect that can't be expanded. So, while I can indeed adjust the alignment of a stroke effect in AD, I'd still like to be able to adjust caps, corners, *and* alignment -- all three -- with regard to outlines. Photoshop is the closest comparison, since it, too, has both stroke types (and they're both confusingly called "stroke"!), and the alignment can be adjusted for both kinds of stroke. It's important to be able to adjust the alignment of either type. Hope I explained that clearly. It makes sense in my head. ;)

Hi! I bougth Affinity Designer for its ability to export to PSD files, as I use them in Apple's Motion. Unfortunately when I export to PSD and import into Motion, layers are not preserved. I only get a flat image. Am I doing something wrong? If I import an original photoshop file to Motion layers are preserved.

Four years. How did Affinity team keep that under their hat, for so long? That couldn't have been easy. Mind you, the main question is this: How many people are going to leave Adobe's cloud? A few/a trickle/a shower/a downpour/a deluge/a torrent etc. That got me thinking... • ADOBE (noun) The noun ADOBE has 2 senses: 1. the clay from which adobe bricks are made 2. sun-dried brick; used in hot dry climates These bricks don't like heavy rain, do they? The other question is this: How many people are testing Adobe, not for creativity...but affordability. One thing is for sure though. By the time Affinity's photo software is beta released, Affinity's reputation will be growing and it won't be Photoshop that will feel threatened, there is Lightroom and Elements, that will also see some sort of exodus - as these two products are aimed at the mass market. Ooh, to be a fly on the wall in Adobe's board room next week. Can't wait: buzzzzzzzz! :ph34r: Matt, Tony and the rest of the team..GOOD LUCK NEXT WEEK!

I will be purchasing Affinity Designer straight away ... as soon as it is available. It has already replaced 75-90% of my Photoshop workflow and I suspect that it will only get better.

Thanks Matt, yeah the brackets method has been the defacto in many apps for years now. I never understood why. In a lot of photoshop tutorials I read it and think, there is a better way... ;)

Adobe starts imitating? hahaha.... It's true that "legend" about that Photoshop's core was written years ago but something happened and nobody can write on it? only making it up? :D it could explain why that program it's sooooo heavy.... By the way, let's be a bit less stressed about tutorials, ... i think it's important to implement all the tools and solve bugs before creating them :)

Need to be able to set paper size when printing. When trying to print a custom size on an HP7520 I keep getting an incorrect media size error. Ended up outputting a jpeg and printing from Photoshop!

The bracket keys method is cumbersome. Photoshop's control+option left to right to size adjust key short is the best I've seen, plus moving up or down adjusts hardness. Brilliant!

Hi I'm Peter Welsh, I come from a catering background, then I retrained at Newcastle college in 1994-6 as a Music Tech student (How to be a roadie). This lit my appetite for DTP and the awesome power of the Mac (I only used it for OCR scanning). Even though I never had any sketching abilities I knew then that one day I would want and own a Mac with Illustrator/Photoshop. A little while later after a trip to a newsagent (on the Isle of Wight) I came back with a magazine with a free CD cover disk: DrawPlus 2. This was that genesis moment. At this point, all I could do was follow the excellent step by step tutorial, which taught me about object, layers, palettes and the undo button. The work/stuff I have done was modest by the standards found here. But I am very proud of them. Such examples are opening hours for a pet food shop and a specials list for a chip shop in also Sandown. It felt really good replacing the marker pen/Sellotape/scrappy paper sign knocked up during somebody's coffee break. My fee for that job/showcase was a free portion of macaroni cheese. It was amazing knowing that I could match the colour, layout and font. Imagine what I could do if I could sketch...I still have these pieces somewhere - may I'll post them here. So after buying this Mac last May, it's been a huge learning curve to pick up Mac OSX. Bootcamp wasn't ideal with Windows 7. I ended up losing my MBR, but not my work (saved on a memory stick or two). I also managed to pick up Adobe CS4 DP for 50p at a car boot sale, in Peterborough. This was the Mac setup, it works...but it works me, for too much head scratching not very intuitive. Time spent learning this, is time not spent designing. So as you can Imagine I really do feel lost without DrawPlus: almost an addiction. Some might say that PagePlus is more me and they may be right, but you know what? Serif is for me! David, go get Goliath! Then run and never stop :D PS I have upgraded my step-daughter's laptop from Windows Vista to Pear Linux 5, (a beautiful Mac OS X clone). This Linux distro has been withdrawn forever...by an unknown firm. If it wasn't for Pear 5 I wouldn't be a Mac user. RIP Pear OS and thank you David Tavares. Message to the big boys... We're here! Peter.

Hi JCB Let's assume that you need to know the difference between pixels and vectors... Rasters are pictures and photographs made up of pixels/dots, lots of them. Common formats are JPGs, BMPs etc. These are just like Roman mosaics. Just like mosaics, so if you zoom in/get too close to the image then it becomes blocky and loses its identity. Vectors are pictures make up with curves and lines (and a lot of clever maths, just Google Bezier curves). Common formats are AIs, CDRs and DPPs etc. This is like drawing out a gingerbread man outline with string and pouring out the sand/fill with colour to add more detail.So once you have learnt this basic fact, you should know whether to start off from. If you know the final destination of your design, say a company logo - something that has to look good on business cards, letterheads and on the sign above the door; then the vector option is the best way to go. So in a nutshell find out where the image will end, then decide/identify your app/program of choice and decide whether or not the saved/final file should stay as layers/editable or as a flattened image/non-editable file. It is always a good idea to save in both states. Hope that helps. Keep on asking...keep on learning Did you know that if you can use something as powerful as Adobe Photoshop, then using Serif PhotoPlus should be fairly easier and cheaper. So why not visit Lynda.com and see how the key facts and skills can be transferred across the various programs. Never apologise for questions like this, that's what forums are for.

In Photoshop (yes, I know, AF it's another program) the shadow angle determine the position from where the "sun" iluminates the scene. In AF the angle determines the direction where the shadow it's dropped. Maybe it's just a decision already make by the designers or maybe it's a little bug/question to still think about. Just talking about coherence vs. (or and) usabillity. Another issue. When i have an element selected I can modify his "fx" (shadows, 3d, strokes...) and it's logical, but... when i have no one selected, the fx panel shows me still the fx of the last selected element... and it's quiet confusing, because if i want to modify those parameters one more time I first try to do it and nothing happends... but then I realise I have to select once again that element to those changes to be done. The thing it's that, when no element it's selected, the fx panel (tab) should show an empty fx panel (with no properties selected) because, in fact, you can't modify any fx's value of an element till that element it's selected.

hey guys, Did my first project in affinity today. I really like it! Can't wait for the photo app to be developed too Just wanted to share a few user issues I came across while doing a real project. Hope it helps. This is relevant to mostly version 1.0.18771 and a little bit of 1.0.19046. Sorry for the mix. 1. ​[RESOLVED (see post 2)] I keep wanting to click on objects and find that I can’t select them. Is there a shortcut that would allow me to do a direct selection? Photoshop has this where you can press ctrl click and it selects the layer (or group, it depends on how you set it up). Currently I have to drill down my layers window until I find the exact layer which is a really slow process. 2. [RESOLVED (My faulty mouse)] I often find i’m having to click on a layer in the layers window multiple times as i find it opens and closes in one click? It seems too sensitive. Don’t know if anyone else is experiencing this. 3. [RESOLVED (software update)] Pasting into a file that is very long or very wide is a bit of a pain as it always pastes at the top and not at your current viewing screen position. It would be nice so that when i paste something I don’t have to scroll up and then drag it back down to where I was. 4. [RESOLVED (Use Shift and mousescroll)] Dragging items around to somewhere that is currently off the screen is a bit slow / sluggish/ clumsy. I found you could use the mouse wheel while holding the layer for vertical positioning but haven’t yet found anything for horizontal. 5. It would be nice to be able to copy and paste layer effects PLEASE PLEASE That would be very awesome. 6. [RESOLVED BUT (Still think it shouldn't zoom in though)] Sometimes I’m drilling through the layers and due to having to click multiple times (on the layer icon) I find the window will automatically change and zoom to the position of that object. This is great when you purposely intend to be editing that layer but it causes me to loose my orientation of where I am in the project especially if its a small object. I then have to zoom out every time which slows things down. Maybe this is just related to my issue with the very sensitive double clicking. maybe don't zoom to the object just change the viewers position. Perhaps if this was more animated and with a duration under a second that might help stop the loss in orientation. 7. [RESOLVED BUT (Personally think whole group should lock not just that layer)] If I lock a layer should I be able to move the contents inside it? This feels a bit strange. 8. [RESOLVED] If I press Z I get the zoom icon, if I press it again by accident or for any other reason it goes back to the pointer tool? In some situations the zoom icon doesn't appear even though it can zoom in and out? It would be nicer if it just stayed as the zoom icon after all that is what I’m pressing. 9. [RESOLVED] The "frame text tool" doesn't scale it just reflows. this is good when you want to reshape the bounding box but when you are scaling a whole project or the layer that its in it just doesn't want to scale. You end up having to do "Convert to curves" which is a destructive destructive process. 10. These are more requests than anything else: 1. In separated mode would it be possible to snap tool pallets to other tool pallets? 2. with strokes I can do inner stroke with an outer stroke but I can’t find a way to be able to do an inner stroke on its own? Hope this can provide as some useful user feed back. Love the work you’re doing! Go kick adobes ass See the attachment of my work to get perspective...

Hi Andy, So--just for my own clarification--If I import a RGB image into an AD document set for RGB, I can change the document color space to CMYK and the image's color space will automatically change to CMYK (and do the "within-gamut" saturation correction) with it based on the gamut that's chosen at the time the overall document's creation? That ROCKS! As you can see, my experiences with other packages has been that--when having to use the above workflow in a software package that does not inherently support CMYK--everything, especially embedded/linked images has to prepped a certain way wherein the image would have to have some correction (a la Photoshop to InDesign) BEFORE placing it into the document. Honestly, I wasn't sure about the limitations (or lack thereof) in AD for this intermittent workflow until PDF/X support is ready. SO glad to see that AD is a different vehicle. Thank you very much. Now excuse me while I shout the praises of Affinity Designer for the nearest mountaintop...or at least my Facebook page.

Slider for font size, much like in photoshop where you can click and drag to increase/decrease size. Font box, to start typing font name and font name starts to auto complete. Click & slide (left/right) to zoom in/out of the canvas. Loving the app!

Adobe need Photoshop to continue to work with hundreds of applications and services so I doubt they will break it on purpose. It doesn't mean the process of being compatible will be easy in the next few years but Affinity will receive regular free updates to cover things like this.

Hi, Is it possible this feature stop working in future after Adobe release an update for photoshop? I was talking with a support executive with one of the lead softwares in these category. I asked him why his software is not supporting PSD. He replied its core feature and Adobe's monopoly. So if any other software supports this, it will not remain last long. Your views please. Thanks, Nimit

Hi all! I've been meaning to ask: do you have plans to make all the interface elements dockable (to screen edges, that is) *even* in separated mode like in CS? It's not a big deal having AD (and, I'm thinking, APub as well) in a single, consolidated window, but what about Affinity Photo, when it finally comes? Much like in Photoshop, I'm hoping you can drag and drop layers from one document to another and, as such, a unified, tabbed interface suddenly stops making much sense. However, not being able to maximize/zoom a window without it going behind the palettes, tools and toolbars (like in CS apps), could become a bit of a bummer. I am aware that many of the UI issues suffered by CS apps (ID CS6, I'm looking at ya!) come from badly implemented dockable palettes and its interactions with subsequent OS X versions and their functions (namely, Spaces), but… Are you taking that risk and thinking about it? It's just that I can't seem to find any specific mention to palettes and Separated Mode minutia in your roadmap. Oh, by the way… I know this is becoming a running theme, but… As much I enjoy at least being able to “window-shade” floating palettes into an horizontal strip, that is a bit '90s-ish. Adobe really nailed it with the iconized palettes in vertical, collapsed strips. That, alone, and the ability to dock them left *and* right (as you can see on the enclosed screenshots from Ai and ID), is a massive space saver. Are you planning anything along those lines?

Hi, I’m Paul. I mostly design websites, but I also do other design work. I’m looking for some definite Photoshop/Illustrator replacements, and from what I’ve heard and seen about Affinity Design, I’m pretty impressed so far. I also tinker with stereo photography, and will be wanting to use Affinity to edit and create stereo cards. So lots to look at and think about.

For me it's too a confunsing thing, as I use to combine AF with Photoshop.... and both programs do differently on this task... I would like AF to revert that controls (although looks logical this behaviour) ....in the way you wrote. (because I don't think Adobe would do it....) In this case I prefer usability before coherence, I mean, I prefer do things as quick as possible, without having to think on which program I am now.

That's basically Photoshop's Lens Blur Filter that varies the amount of blurring based on an alpha map. Like 0 % selected = 0 px blurring, 100 % selected = 50 px blurring (or whatever amount you defined). Great thing.

So comming from an intensive photoshop and illustator background can be a handicap. Downloading affinitys shortcuts really helped. The program is more Mac like which means intutive. Here is a fun scribble where I focused on what the tools could do.

Hi Rik, There's two different modes related to drawing/painting (called Personas in Affinity) you can use in Affinity Designer. One is Draw Persona, and it allows you to work with vector tools, like Xara does. The other is Pixel Persona where all tools work with pixels like in Photoshop (bitmap based tools). There's no equivalent of this mode in Xara. You can change between those two modes with the first two icons below the window controls on the top left corner. And you can mix vector layers with raster layers from both modes. Additionally you can make Affinity render your document (no matter if there's vector layers there or not) as pixels. You can activate this going to View -> View Mode -> Pixels With this view mode enabled you can draw with all vector tools while the document is rendered in pixels (similar to what Adobe Fireworks does). Basically it allows you to draw with pixels using vector tools to control your shapes/paths.