Search the Community

I purchased Affinity Photo months ago. Ever since then, I have been having a few issues with the software. The issues I'm having with the software are the layers are blurred or something like that for a few seconds when I use Effects. When I used the text or a specific type font or do anything with the text, like change the size of the text, duplicate the text, and move the text, the transparent canvas would show up (some of the transparent canvas would show up). Also, when I open up a file, the layers, adjustments, layer effects, and live filters become blurred for a few seconds, then go back to normal. Now, I'm going to tell Affinity support about the issues I'm having, but I just want to post it in this forum to see if anyone else is having the same issues, as I am. Also, if someone could help me solve these issues.

Hi, some years ago, I made already a video to this topic. Meanwhile the former method doesn't work with the updates/upgrades. But there is another method. 😊 And in this video, I show this. Ciao Jack

Hi all, our office switched from Adobe Illustrator to Affinity Designer recently. We have some questions about the layers and artboards function. 1. We struggle with the artboard function which is connected with layers. We need global layers with recurring elements (like logo, client, etc.) which we can switch on/off and lock easy on one layer and not individually on every single artboard. We suceeded in creating these global layers, but if you move the artboard these global layers are not moved with the artboard. Why??? 2. Every new element we create is automatically moved to the artboard on which the element is created instead of a defined global layer. So you have a lot of moving of elements afterwards... Is it possible to detach the artboard and layer function like in Illustrator??? Attached is a Screenshot with global layer (Ebenen) and the artboards. Thanks a lot and I hope someone can help!

My mouse was up here, I double click and a totally unrelated layer starts getting renamed??

Hello, When I open this PSD files layers doesn't show up as expected. Did someone have a solution ? (btw when opening in photopea everything works well) Thank you. 20220304_BDP_QUARTUS_RILLEUX_PC2.psd have receive a PSD file, but w

Hi All, Fairly basic question here. I was trying to figure out how to combine to selections on the same photo and couldn't find the modifier key to do it. So I created the selection across 2 layers with 2 masks. Now how do I combine the selections into one layer with a one layer mask? I know there is probably an easier way to do this, but I am not that good with affinity photo yet. Thanks Dan

Hello, First things first - I am a newbie to the Affinity software or any kind of photo editing/design software so I will explain as clearly as I can. I am using a MacBook air 2015 model. I am using affinity photo to make some greeting cards. I scanned my watercolour artwork into a new affinity project and made corrections using adjustments to get the art looking good. Then I saved the file into finder and then opened up a fresh affinity photo file. I set the page dimensions up correctly and then used the guide line manager to split the A4 document into 4 equal quadrants in portrait. I then imported my edited artwork as an affinity project file on the top right quadrant and then added text for the back of the card on the top left quadrant. I then grouped these layers and duplicated so I could move to the bottom two quadrants. This means that when I print the file, I save paper having 2 A6 cards from one document. However, even though the group was duplicated and simply shifted to the bottom quadrants, it appears lighter than the top two quadrants on the document? When I shift the group of layers on the bottom of the document to the top, it appears as identical to the top. This effect is carried onto the printing stage and artwork at the bottom is mildly lighter. Is this a bug or am I being completely stupid? Sorry for the extended post, trying to be as clear as possible. Happy to send screenshots or anything if it helps. P.S - If there are any decent affinity photo courses out there you recommend trying then let me know! Thank you in advance!

Hello, I am looking for a way to automate creating of a collage for product photography for several product items. I would have a set of images for each product and I would like to place and resize them into predefined slots of the final collage then export it as a single tiff/jpeg (a rough example is attached). Ideally, there would be a macro that would allow me to select the 5 files in specific order, resize, place in predefined slots on the canvas, apply some border effects and export. I played with the macro functionality, but there does not seem to be a way to open new files or copy/paste from already open files in specific order into the main "template" document. Any thoughts/help would be appreciated. Thanks Tomas

In Affinity Photo, if you hold alt+click and drag a layer, it should create a copy of the layer. In Photoshop it's a really quick way of creating copies of layers.

Hello! For the past few hours I have been searching for a solution to the problem of importing an affinity designer SVG file into blender. I can import the file but it doesn't process the right way in blender. All the layers are mixed up, curves that are pasted inside other curves protrude. I have looked through the forums and have watched YouTube videos but none of the fixes seem to address this issue. I very much appreciate any suggestions on how to solve this.

Description: When moving complex layer objects (groups, children and added FX/Adjustments) Affinity Photo will regularly softlock. Details: Repro: Create new document: Create a complex layer group (nested groups, children, fx and adjustments) Select a group and hold shift to move it: Notice: this works fine Now change the size of the image (use more memory) Move the layers around some more - this might not soft lock, if it doesn't, increase the document further (10000 dpi) Keep moving individual layers and groups around When I made a selection and then moved a group, the application soft locked.

Please don't allow changes to hidden layers. Too often I've found myself painting on a hidden layer and not realizing it. Photoshop gives you a warning if you try and do so and makes you reveal the layer before any changes or marks are made. I would very much like to see this behavior replicated in Photo. Thanks for your consideration.

When I load an original map image (JPG) into AFFPhoto, I create a duplicate of the untouched image as a new layer below the original. My intent is to preserve the duplicated layer as a backup in case I go down a rabbit hole and I can't find Alice. On MAC, it seems that edits to the original image file such as cropping, rotating, etc. are "synced" to the duplicate layer below and now both layers are identical. How do I crop & rotate and edit the original image without carrying over the edits to the duplicated image in the layer below the original image layer?

One workflow improvement is direct node selection with the Node tool. Currently, you need to hold down Ctrl to do this, or have the object selected. However, holding down Ctrl is redundant in this case, because you already switched between the Node and Move tool. This is the way it works in Illustrator: holding Ctrl toggles the Node tool to become the Move tool. In Designer, both the Move tool and Node tool gain access to Node selection while holding Ctrl and have object selection enabled by default. By differentiating between the move and node tool, the node tool would get immediate access to node level editing, which is what the name of the tool suggests. Node tool select across groups.mp4

I just ran into a bug using Photo (latest version) on the iPad. I had a locked layer selected and began drawing and instead of preventing me from drawing and telling me the layer was locked Photo just went right ahead and let me edit the layer regardless. I really, really want to make Affinity apps part of my core toolset, but it's countless maddening little issues like this that really kill any and all confidence I have with these apps. I've attached a video to demonstrate the behaviour. RPReplay_Final1641662336.mp4

In the layers panel, when you disable (not remove) some effects on a certain object it might be worth keeping the "fx" icon in the panel but maybe with a red "X" through it so you know there are some effects applied to it but are just disabled. That way with a click on that "fx" with a red "X" you can toggle the effects on and off right from the layers panel. Currently when I disable the effects, the icon disappears and I don't know which objects I have tried some effects on... This way, at a glance you are reminded which elements have effects applied but are turned off.

Hi I have a simple form that I'm creating consisting of vertical and horizontal lines and some text. I locked some of the background lines so I could work on the ones that are in the foreground but can't seem to unlock them. I have no idea what I have done. I'm a pretty new user of Affinity Designer so my I'll apologise in advance if this is something stupidly simple. The document has been included as an attachment. Cheers Peter Time management.afdesign

Hey everyone, I'm new to Afiinity Publisher and I'm trying to edit a pdf. I've uploaded a PDF that has an old logo that is existent in over 200+ pages. Instead of deleting each old logo in each layer piece by piece I thought I would add a white square over the old logo and then apply the new logo over it. However, each time I apply this to all the other pages with the Master Page, the new layer does not cover up the old image underneath. How can it so that I can apply a layer and make sure it's at the TOP of all the other layers. Thank you!

Hi, do you know how to make the pencil tool occupy a single layer in affinity designer? since I make a new stroke it generates a new layer and the sculpt tool only works when the stroke is continuous

I'm really happy to see that effects aren't in a floating dialog by default. Thank you! I hope that comes to the Window's variant of Designer. I haven't used DrawPlus in awhile..so it's possible it already has. One thing I always wished to see was multiple layer effects on a shape layer. So I could have 3 inner shadows layered on top of each other to create a specific visual effect.

Please somebody help me on this issue. How can I lock a layer which I am treating as a BG in both designer and photo.

is topic is all about keyboard shortcuts and the ability to use the software through custom keyboard shortcut functionality. With these suggestions I aim to reduce mouse movement and leverage the keyboard to alleviate muscle tension. Custom Shortcut to delete objects (for vectors), layers (including content and pixel layers. Perhaps, some may prefer there being separate options to delete vector objects, layers and pixel layers, though this proposal this particularly concerns deleting whatever is highlighted in the layers panel. Shortcuts to navigate through the layers panel by selecting the layer or object above or below. Illustration of 1, 2 using Krita, notice that I didn't need to move the mouse for this: F2 to rename layers/ objects (this is as though you clicked to rename the layer). Delete pixel layer content Illustration of 3 & 4 using Krita, notice I first deleted the layer, then undid this to show that you can delete the contents of the layer while keeping its location within the layers panel intact, as well as its name, the clear pixel layer content function circumvents the multi-step procedure of ctrl+a > delete > ctrl+d by enabling this operation with a single button press (e.g. delete, whereas backspace deletes the layer, but this should be user configurable). Delete pixel layer content and rename layer.mp4 Add new layer with a rename dialog pop-up (this is the default ctrl+shift+n command in Photoshop), which resolves the two step process of creating a layer and renaming it. Currently, you can configure shortcuts to switch between studio presets, however, I think it is just as valuable to be able to toggle between two different studio presets using a single keyboard shortcut. I use a one or two column setup and it would be nice if I could toggle between the presets I desire (e.g. to switch between studio preset 1 and 2 and back to 1, just like tab toggles hiding the interface) with a single shortcut. Ideally, you should be able to assign a given studio preset to either end of the toggle in the presets. Additionally, the name of the preset should be represented in the keyboard shortcuts section. So, basically, the name of the first studio preset in the list becomes the new name for "Studio Preset 1" in the keyboard shortcuts section and the second becomes the name for "Studio Preset 2". In other words, a list of studio presets with 1. Lineart, 2. Logo design, is listed similarly in the keyboard shortcuts as opposed to the current generic naming scheme. A change brush size shortcut (as replacement for Ctrl+Alt+LMB drag, pressing down two modifiers is quite demanding, Krita and Blender allow for assigning a alphanumerical key for this reason instead of a modifier key. It works as follows: press and release the shortcut key, then drag to the new settings (position) to confirm or, hover and click to confirm. The latter reduces muscle tension by quite a lot. In this case, it could still be multi-axis (left-right for strength, up-down for hardness or opacity). Also note, showing that showing the previous brush radius helps to indicate whether the new size is appropriate or not. Brush widget.mp4 Krita has a pop-up for the colour selector, which negates the need to the mouse/ pen to a studio panel, it is invoked with a hotkey. Krita also has a colour history pop-up, which shows the colours that were last used and is invoked with a hotkey. Though this could very well be paired with the colour selector pop-up. These two pop-ups are illustrated below: Colour selector and colour history pop-up.mp4 A shortcuts to activate the brush stabiliser (which should remember the last mode and length setting per mode), but perhaps people would also like direct control for either mode through keyboard shortcuts. Similarly, there's no shortcut to activate symmetry shortcut for brush strokes. The numeric shortcuts to set opacity to 10, 20, 30 ... 100% opacity interfere with my ability to set shortcuts to the numeric keys, therefore, these should be listed in the Keyboard shortcuts section so they can be disabled at will in favour for other shortcuts (i.e. changing personas with 1, 2, 3, etc. (also taking Affinity Photo into account where you have more personas). Instead, there could be an option to change settings for opacity and hardness by pressing a shortcut key, after which the cursor moves to the value box for the associated option (much like the F2 rename proposal). See discussion here: A configurable mouse & keyboard shortcut to rotate the canvas non-incrementally. This is different from the alt+mousewheel functionality, since pen tablets don't have access to this. Instead, this funtionality should be a combination of mouse/ pen input and a shortcut or modifier keys (not excluding spacebar) to invoke the command. For instance, spacebar + mmb drag is one of the combinations that comes to mind (or shift/ alt + mmb drag). Illustrator has shortcuts , . / for fill, gradient fill and no fill (or stroke depending on the context), from these I miss the gradient and regular fill shortcut. For cloning objects, I don't understand the reason for using both Ctrl and Alt, I am aware that control enables snapping and alt disables it, but for me personally, I would prefer to use Alt and toggle snapping manually (using a custom shortcut assignment), the reason for this is explained in 16. For the sake of muscle memory and working with various software packages, it would be great if the selection keys could be assigned manually. Currently, Shift is used to toggle selection, while Ctrl cannot be used. Instead, by using just Alt for cloning, Ctrl could be used to add to selections, meaning that if I hover over multiple nodes, the ones that are already selected won't be deselected. Similarly, instead of toggling selection, Shift could be used to remove from selections. The combination of these two creates a very consistent selection workflow. Though some software switch the Ctrl and Shift behaviour around, so therefore it is best to let the user decide which one does what (and maybe they prefer Ctrl constrained cloning in conjunction with Shift toggle, but that's currently not a decision that can be made. See 3. below. For scaling objects, Adobe uses alt to constrain the transform to both directions and shift + alt to scale from the centre. This should also be an option in Affinity to aid muscle memory. There is no scale tool, as in, there is no shortcut to open a pop-up to get to a bunch of value boxes where scale values can be typed and committed to with enter. As it stands, I seem to need to open the transform panel, hover the mouse to the width and height dimensions and type in the size followed by a percentage sign, which could be reduced with a dedicated scale dialog pop-up. Increase potential for keyboard shortcuts Differentiate between numeric keys and the numpad for additional keyboard shortcut options Modifier keys should be allowed to activate a tool Customise keyboard + mouse behaviour as you can other software like Blender and Krita. This would allow for specifying a combination of keypresses and mousekeys (click/ click drag) to invoke a command. Similar to the default fluent zooming with ctrl+spacebar, users should be able to specify the way they want to zoom, access GUIs and rotate the canvas. For canvas rotation, this could entail setting hotkeys of preference from any 3D package to navigate in 3D (e.g. alt+MMB, shift + MMB) to rotate the canvas fluently (non-incrementally).See: Adding multiple keyboard shortcuts to commands would also be welcome (as in having a plus icon to add a second keystring to invoke a command). For instance, ctrl+] moves an object forward and ctrl+shift+] moves it to the front. However, some keyboards have dedicated PgUp, PgDown, Home, End of a numeric portion to which these functions could be assigned. This allows for retaining 'industry standard' shortcuts, while enabling single button shortcuts as well. This is vital for companies where everyone uses the same keyboard shortcut scheme, so everyone can work on every PC or enable collegues to not freak out from different keyboard shortcuts, while it also creates room for certain customisability. This is what I mean, illustrated in PureRef, where you can click on the + sign to add additional entries (once they are there, you can hit the - sign to remove them). Also, feel free to add other missing ones in this thread, so they can be consolidated here.

Hello, I need to export my afdesign file to a layered PDF (for a cutting machine ) I have tried all PDF export settings. And no layers shows in Acrobat reader ! I test all affinty app design, photo and publish all give the same result ! no layer... enseigne_decoupe_3D_125x38.afdesign

Hello, I'm trying out Affinity Photo to see if I'm going to switch from Adobe Photoshop. I was going to try to make some mockups to start with, but I ran into a problem. In photoshop, I could open a layer in a separate tab to edit it there and then go back to the original file with the new changes. I looked around and googled some, but I couldn't find the option for it. Is it only mee who can't find it, or does it not exist in Affinity Photo?

Hello! I'm currently designing a logo for my friend using AD for iPad but I'm still quite new to the program. Basically, I'm trying to merge the curves together but when I select "merge curves", it merges the curves in such a weird manner. Can anyone please advise me on this? How should I merge it such that it doesn't create those weird fills within the curves? (Please take a look at the video I've attached) FullSizeRender.mov