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Since I'm trying to work with AP and AD nearly on a daily base I'd like to point out one of the (from my working experience) most anoying and down-slowing topics of AD and AP. It's the lacking ability to save hardly ANY (user defined) setting within the program! Mainly when it comes to content of dialogs, standard presets, program or document relateds setting ... hardly anything is saved and can be recalled in any way so one hast to start all over and over again entering the same values. What a constant waste of time you are requesting from your users! Setting the gaussian blur values for each photo again and again, changing from a bilinear sample method to bicubic, an unsharp mask filter that always and unchangeable starts with unsuitable initial values ... this list is nearly as long as the featurelist of the programs. And sadly enough the standard setting in many ways are completely useless! I'm very aware that there is quite some programming effort involved to change this ... settings can be document depending, session depending or a general setting. It may lead to changes in document format and program setting (what is obviously something developers try to avaoid). But please tell AP and AD users, that you are aware of this problem and you're trying to fix it! Cheers, Timo

Since Macros regrettfully can't be called by customized key-shortcuts (or did I miss out on an essential development step?) I need to have the workspace consuming Library panel open to work with my own Macros. I do have 5 categories within the library. Each of them contains quite some Macros (most of them provided by Serif). Since I don't need the first 4 Macro categories (with a multitude of entries) I close these categories to be able to access the few entires of my own categorie. Now each time I open up a new file all categories open up, forcing me each time to manually close all obsolete categories again and again for each document to be able to access my own macros. This drives my crazy! Even worse: when you switch to another document and switch back to your old document the categories in the library are automatically expanded again and I've got to start all over again .... this seems to be an job creation scheme on highest level Having added your new category and you're trying to overcome the above behaviour at least to a certain extend (it makes no sense to close categories since AP will open them instantly again) best idea is to move it up to the top of the list. But this expanding-category behaviour really stresses it to the very end: Each time after moving your (new and therefor last) category one step up .... the library panel expands all other categories again .... forcing you to either close all categories again or find your own categorie some where ... forcing you to repeat the procedure unltil you finally got it to first entry in the panel. Unless this is just an unlucky startup setting and it can be changed somewhere within the program (where I haven't found it yet): Please let the library panel save the customer selected settings of the panel automatically (this would be really helpful for many panels!). Please keep it saved for each document seperately. Don't expand any categories automatically! I know by know that many people here keep rolling their eyes when I start mentioning the word "workflow" since noone seems to care for such things or wants to improve in this area but I seriously hope this will change in future when more people will use AP on a daily and professional base .... Cheers, Timo

Hi there, are you considering to really support a mobile professional workflow? Coming from a job (e.g. wedding), I have thousands of raw images which I have to go through and select the best ones to be edited. Back home, I would like to store them on my NAS and synchronize a specific folder with my iPad. I could then do the culling on the roads, e.g. sitting in a train (offline). Back home, the ratings should again be synchronized to my NAS so I can start editing the best ones on my iMac. Edited photos should then be synchronized via NAS to my iPad, so I can show them to customers... I definitely want to sync via NAS, because I easily end up with more than 100GB of images after a wedding. There must not be any cloud storage involved because this slows down the entire process! Additionally, for travel photography it would be great to back up to my iPad first while traveling. I could then start rating the images with star ratings and synchronize the result as soon as I am back home. This means I neither have to carry a laptop to choose the best images, nor do I have to wait with the rating and selection of my images until I am at home... For my personal images it would be great if all edited photos could be synced to my photos roll on iMac, iPhone and iPad via NAS (with the time when my images were taken, not when they were edited...) looking forward to hearing from you chris

After having used the 32-bit modes almost exclusively now since we had them available I noticed some issues with OCIO configurations and maintaining them. What I'm suggesting is a more global config file. I've attached a YAML example. YAML because it's easy to read, duplicate and modify. It can be easily exchanged when working in groups. Download project config from Shotgun, merge with own config and use it right away. Affinity currently has a config switcher that doesn't switch configs. This way it would work and it would be easy for the user to manage. The ICC part is for Affinity to determine which profile is used for converting OCIO data to ICC data for delivery use to devices and services that don't use OCIO (print shops for example). ocio affinity.yaml

Not sure if this has been addressed: It it would significantly improve the AP app experience if users could create tailored workflows easily and then batch process multiple shots using AP and Workflow, together with other suppported photo apps, to automate the current tedious one-photo-at-a-time procedure. I would be happy to help with the development of this feature, as it would greatly benefit many photogs I know who are interested in making the switch from traditional PC laptops to the iPad Pro.

I'm sure you've given it thought but do you see changing the term "persona" or how AP/AD categorize these sections? Is this a "legal" get around? Only reason is that "Lightroom" for example has a similar thing in how they break up their workflow, but it's sort of laymen and it truly follows a workflow, oppose to Personas which feel random and honestly confusing. I would love to see this portion of the apps overhauled so it really becomes useful in a professional environment and follows a realistic workflow. Yes, it' different for everyone but at the end of the day, "1, 2, 3, 4 and 5" makes sense, not "3, 5, 1, 4 and 2". Love the product but just an observation that I hope will be addressed.

I wonder why it is still possible to apply a fliter to an adjustment layer? Are there any cases where this makes sense? A warning would be helpful or the filters just greyed out. There are other things that also make no sense (for me): - A brush (or a layer) with zero opacity - A white brush on a 100% white mask - Eraser on an empty mask

From the first day AP was released for Windows (even the beta) I was desperately trying to make AP work for me .... I wanted AP to be the THE (first real) alternative for PS (considering I couldn't find enough swear words for Adobe and their cloud policy). I was accepting and reporting all bugs you obviously had to expect from a sw that complex. I was trying to make the product better as quick as possible by generating test cases, videos to show bugs and even offering Serif my support in development and localisation. And seeing the sw that had great features, good customer support, a big crowd of (active) fans and users - what could go wrong to make AP the new PS in a long term? As you can see I'd do everything to make this baby mine. One can hardly approach a product more positively than I did with AP ... After all that time I see myself closing PS6 tonight working on a customer project and I'm asking myself: why do I still not(!) use AP? AP actually hast most (>95%) of the functions I frequently use in my daily work as a photographer. Even the plugins work in AP. Some functions are even more powerful than in PS6. Still I don't even think of AP when it comes to productive work for customers. And it's not because I'm used to PS ... not because it's a habit - there are very real reasons for it. Some of them I often mentioned before but serif keeps ignoring them up to the stage of not even bother to make any kind of comment. So I though I'd open this topic and bring my issues (again) to the attention of serif staff and other users ... maybe I'm not the only one. To find some good examples for my problems I decided to take a current project that requires stacking (where I feel AP is a lot easier with than PS). 7 RAW pictures that require alignment and focus stacking to adapt different areas of the picture. And what I'm describing now is not an exception ... things I describe are not necessarily reproduceable ... but it does not happen with ANY OTHER PROGRAM I use on my machine (just for those who already start blaming the state of my system as a scapegoat!). And whenever I start AP known and new things like that happen. I'm using lots of memory and disk space ... a still reasonably quick graphics card and processor on Win 7! After taking some time for reading the 7 big RAW files, aligning them and doing the focus stacking I get the processed picture. As well as a source list including all of my stacked single pics and the resulting pic. I add a levels filter and a curve filter to the file. Already after adding the curve filter the histogram is not displayed any more. I know this bug. It has been reported quite a while ago by me (and maybe other people) - apparently wasn't looked after. This does not always happen ... and is not clearly reproduceable, but since levels and curve setting are pretty useless unless you can see the histogram (except for those who do not know what they are doing) it is a bit of a bummer. Certainly knowing that it can only be solved by saving the picture and restarting AP. So I skipped this step and clicked on the first single stacked picture in the displayed list. First of all not even the focus did change to the newly selected picture I clicked on. 5 Seconds later AP completely disappeared and Lightroom was the active application (first I thought AP did crash, but it did not ... it just completely lost it's focus) ... so by clicking the task list I could get it back ... the behaviour interestingly was reproduceable. Now going to the develop persona and coming back to the photo persona the "source list" was reduced to one file called "untitled". Where did all the 8 files disappear to? OK, better don't ask. Now I want to compare the newly stacked picture with another similar picture I took. So I decide to undock the current window. Really a bad idea ... the new window does not resize but moves somewhere mostly outside the current working area. (Just as ONE example: when I do this in PS the new window resize to the layer size and displays with a certain distance at the top left corner of the workspace. PS comes with ready made presets for windows alignment. PS allowns a window to adapt to the picture size all the time. With AP it takes me ages to adjust this new window to the working area I'd like to have. And believe me I really tried hard to get it working or to adapt to this ridiculous user-hostile attitude - no chance. For those who did not get it yet: There is a good reason why the PS Window Menu has more than 25 additional commands for window adjustments - it's not because they had nothing else to do!) But many other things really set me up .... it's this lack of responsiveness of the UI (sometimes) ... you sometimes can drag sliders and they will not move ... or maybe with significant delay (seconds later). Sudden changes of focussed windows for reasons I don't understand (so you have to click in the window again you want to work in). Trying to confirm an action e.g. in a Windows UI manner (pressing Enter if you want to confirm a setting) and nothing will happen. Lacking "OK" and "Cancel" buttons so dialogs will remain open unless you find this tiny cross at the top. Settings I can't save (standard values in dialogs), paths AP will not remember (saving a picture where I loaded the original from). The export persona tries successfully to hide my user setting for standardised output format (bi-cubic,sRGB, JPG) as the last(!) entry in an extensive long list of useless "Standard" setting ... and it makes me search my standard setting for EACH picture I do export ... it seems to me like Serif is challenging my stamina and endurance in so many ways. I could go on and on on theses topics... my conclusion and answer to the question "why there's still no love" would be the following: Serif build an high performance Aston Martin Sports car ... but when you want to open the door you break your finger nails, the steering wheel is covered with nettles and the safety belt will come loose while driving. The gas pump nozzle is mounted in the middle of the roof, the bonnet occasionally opens while driving and it takes 15 switches 3 hooks and an armoured metal plate to get to the opener for the boot as well as many other obstructions. In a race against the Adobe Maserati it can easily keep up, is quicker in some curves sometimes even drives offroad ... But what car do you like to drive and will you choose to drive to work? Sadly Serif does not realise, understand nor care for these essentials at all! They can't stop celebrating AP won races (now on an iPad) ... and seem to forget that there a people around need to use the car on a daily base ... I'm not waiting for Affinity Publisher ... I'm waiting for AP to get a daily working horse! Cheers, Timo All descriptions refer to the latest final Version 1.5.2.69

Hear me out.. Why not let AD do the work for you.. So instead of the user having to find layers and groups by scrolling, it should just jump right to the selected object/group in the Layer PaneI. I mean AD highlights selected, but it could just as well jump to it. I would LOVE to see this added :wub:

Hey Affinity team, First and foremost, congrats on the great gig at the WWDC17!! Now, I have searched for this feature... ok only for like 20 min. however I couldn't find anything that would indicate that this already exists or is planed to be introduced. If it does, a hint would be great and I'll go back to my box ;-). I can also imagine that it will be all the way on the bottom of your list but here it goes, my first request or better wish :-). I would really like to be able to zoom to where the mouse is. This is available through ought the entire macOS workflow that you can, at least with the Magic Mouse, just double tap on an item and you zoom mouse centred. This is a fantastic feature when you zoom out to be going over your work and find something here and there you would like to adjust. So: Working close on a detail -> double tap -> zoomed out to some previous % -> go with the mouse on an item you identified to be edited further -> double tap -> zoomed in again. I understand that the zoom level might be to high or low but at least you are within the vicinity of where you want to go as of currently you just zoom in to the last selected spot or some random place of the canvas. This is at least my experience. Again if this exists in some way I am happy to learn :-). Cheers, JMS

Actions are an option. Is there a way to set a default stroke size?...it is 0.2 pts, but I am using primarily 1 pt. Any other tips will be helpful.

I'm making a concerted effort to shift from LR/Photoshop CC to Affinity. Not only do I have the Affinity Photo desktop but now the iPad version too. One issue remains: how to handle my 80,000 images that are catalogued in LR? Once I cancel my Adobe CC subscription, I'll have 80,000 stray images? The Lyn app is okay, but not enough. Very much would appreciate other ideas. Thank you.

Now that Affinity Photo for iPad is out, and since Apple's iCloud, Photos, photo libraries, camera roll, etc., etc., confuse me a bit, (what's going where, and when?!?!) any chance that you might do a video on the interactions of AP for Mac and iPad and all those Apple functions? How can they be brought together into a nice workflow? If you've already posted such a tutorial, sorry. Thanks.

Hello, A functionality like InDesign's quick apply or Slack's channel switcher would be a great addition. Some things I imagine it could incorporate: swap between persona's access menu-items insert named assets and symbols apply object-, text- and paragraph-styles apply macro's apply layer effects select layers by typing its name jump to an artboard by typing its name apply a swatch by typing its name I'm looking forward to your feedback! Best regards, Bauke

Hey Guys, I would love some advice about workflow RE doing a Batch process in Affinity and then being able to fine tune each photo afterwards - to individually tweak the settings applied in the batch process. Any ideas? Thanks!

I wonder if there's any logical reason why very simple but essential settings in AP and AD can't be saved and made available again? When I call filters, functions and file pathes I want my last settings to be availbale next time again. This is even more ridiculous since many filters always start with completely useless settings (e.g. "Unsharp Mask" or "Gaussian Blur" with a radius setting of 0) and get resetted to these values again and again! I want MY settings available - not only in the same document but in the same session and even next time I open the programs. This is not hard to impelment but essential for even a basic workflow of someone who wants to use the program as a working horse on a daily and professional base. I wonder why so elementary topics are constantly ignored by the development?? Is the project only driven by feature nerds instead of serious users? Getting really upset and finding myself for my daily work still using PS CS6 because these kind of essential workflow topics (USABILITY!) are simply lacking or not working anyway near seamless.Just be sure, there is a reason why adobe does it this way! You are in the lucky situation to come up with new and different approaches than existing dinosaurs in the market - but be sensible enough to copy those properties that are the result of decades of handling and customer workflow experience! getting slightly grumpy over the time, Timo

With the amount of awesome brushes being created for the community, it is becoming clear that the need to organize and separate out favourite brushes is the logical next step. Not sure how best to do this, and maybe just concentrating on the brushes panel for now, as opposed to an "app wide" solution might be the way to go. A simple "save as favourite" system would be a good start, eventually with the ability to move, group and reorganize in one panel or even multiple panels or panel sub structure for various workflows - texturing, blocking, detailing, dots etc....?

It'd be great if the OCIO node would support the OCIO family attribute to organise spaces where they belong. That way we wouldn't have to scroll through the contract of San Venganza every time but could quickly pick the category and see all relevant spaces at a glance. Similar to how you support FontBook categories. Big plus would be to recognise the roles attribute as well.

Hello! I can't seem to find information on moving symbols from one project to another. I recently reached a wall in designing multiple UX screens for an app. I had so many artboards and objects in my project that it was slowing the application down to a crawl. I took half the artboards and moved them to a new project and the app ran beautifully again. I would like to copy the symbols I created to the new project. Is there a way to do this?

Hello, We're a startup and we currently use Sketch. Our processes look like this. Sketch > Upload to Zeplin > Add Zeplin notes > Developers. I'm a non-designer, but I participate in all phases, but I do not work on a Mac. So it's a hassle to change Sketch texts, titles, or copy, and I think it would be better going forward to if we worked on a system that was compatible with Windows. I'm wondering if anyone can describe to me some great Affinity workflows for developing applications, as well as the tools you use to share/store/deliver/comment the designs? Thanks everyone! Robert

Hello. I’m considering Affinity Designer as replacement for my current Illustrator / Photoshop + Sketch ui design setup but could Affinity beat Sketch, actually, especially considering upcoming Sketch v43 with a new file format: https://medium.com/sketch-app-sources/sketch-43-is-coming-to-town-with-a-new-game-an-open-file-format-ae62e7e7c223#.581t0fpg5 ? Correct me if I’m wrong (haven’t practically tried AD yet, so don’t throw stones, please :) ) but I see Affinity mainly as “advanced” Sketch currently, something as transition between Sketch to Illustrator with web designing mode of Photoshop, so switching to AD partly depends on what could offer Sketch and what could answer Affinity and partly on advantages over Adobe CC. Speaking about about Adobe CC, main advantage is pricing, of course, but how does AD practically compare to Adobe CC + Sketch workflow in terms of efficiency, including integration with other tools, from your personal experience? Thank you.

I'm really enjoying Affinity Photo, but I'm struggling to manage my workflow, going back and forth between AP and other tools. This has me wondering: Do I lose anything if I go from one tool to another working with a layered PSD and never use the AP proprietary format? And if so, is what I lose minor enough to be worth the sacrifice? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

I have just received news of the latest Adobe CC price hike, and I do not like it - it's a price rise too far. I have Affinity and played with it a bit and I like it a lot, but there are issues with it and my current workflow that have prevented me from taking it up as a mainstream editor. My current workflow is in Lightroom/Photoshop with plug-ins from Topaz and other independent providers. I use Lightroom to import and organise my work into virtual folders using keywords and presets. I use an iMac. My issues with Affinity are with photo organisation and plug-ins. Is there an independent, cheap or free photo organiser similar to Lightroom that uses keywords similarly to assemble virtual folders and import and organise workflow, and is compatible with Affinity? Why does Affinity not support all plug-ins from Topaz and when will it? I'd love to hear what users here use to get around these shortfalls?

I spend weeks without opening Photoshop, it's amazing! There are very, very few things I miss. I found most of them on the forum already, but nothing about how PS handles keyboard shortcuts, which is in my opinion better. Pressing a shortcut, say G, selects the Paint Bucket. If you want to select the Gradient, you have to go Shit+G, and now the shortcut cycles between Paint Bucket, Gradient... But G will always select the last tool used in that family. I have a feeling not everyone will agree, so please give us this as an option (use Shift to cycle tools of the same family) in Photo and Designer. ​Countless times I pressed B to make sure I had the Brush, and because of that switched tool! ​Thank you!

Hi everyone! I recently posted about my lack of knowledge concerning workflow but the kind guys who left a post there assumed that I DID have some sort of knowhow, and- the sad thing is that I (and I presume also many many others who had their socks blown off by this beautiful piece of software) have no idea whatsoever how to wade in... I have been taking photos for many years and have a big collection of raws, but up to now, have mainly limited myself to Picasa for JPEGs, and Lightzone and Adobes Lightroom for the past few months. And now- gorgeous Affinity... Where do I start? Yep- I know that there are great videos and I have gone through quite a few but they go over a specific setup, and I need even more basic than that- e.g: Do I play with white/black point before or after exposure? Why are there color controls in a b&w mix? Do I have to use all the controls? what is a live layer and do I have to use it? etc. etc. etc..... In other words- A course called "basic photo editing 101" Any ideas? Maybe there are a few videos out there for guys like me with low confidence issues? And if we're talking about videos (the guy who talks you through them is a real pro- kudos!) why arent they numbered in order of complexity?