AFFINITY DESIGNER TUTORIALS

[Bob_Sloan]

I am an ABSOLUTE BEGINNER!

Notice that I have not the slightest idea what (in this context) the word <Tag> denotes !

There are 66 tutorial videos, The LEADING ITEM is <Quick Export> Why would an absolute beginner want to start by EXPORTING-[WHAT]? 

So...I really would appreciate some help in plotting a course through the MAZE of tutorial videos to give me a better chance to find my way into the LABYRINTH of the UI (one term I do understand) and OUT AGAIN with something to show for my travels !!!

[carl123]

See this thread...

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/89386-official-affinity-designer-desktop-tutorials/

Don't follow the link to the tutorials on the Serif website. 

Use the YouTube video links (within the thread) starting with this one...

Basic Operations

• UI overview

Going through each video in the Basic Operations section should give you a basic overview of the app

The other sections are not (in my opinion) necessarily in the order you need to follow them.  Just pick a section that you are interested in and go through each video in that section.

Once you have gone through and understood each video in each section you will become an Affinity Master.  At least until new features are added, then there will undoubtedly be more videos you will need to conquer.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, carl123 said:

Use the YouTube video links (within the thread) starting with this one...

Basic Operations

• UI overview

FWIW, the same tutorial is available from affinity.serif.com at https://affinity.serif.com/tutorials/designer/desktop/video/301603665.

I'm not sure why the Quick Export tutorial is included if "UI" is entered in the search field on the main tutorial page -- it has a lot of tags but "UI" is not one of them.

[Bob_Sloan]

I am still having difficulty with the <Basic Operations> tutorials - at least as far down the list as <Open and Import> .

However, before I go on, I must sincerely apologise for the tone of my previous posting, over which I was very properly rebuked by Mark(?) Oehlsclager, an Advanced User.who pointed out very reasonably, that a Wiki search would have given me the full specifications of a 5K Preset. He very thougtfully went on to paste these details to demonstate his point.So now I know what a 5K Peset is, but stll have absolutely no idea of why I would want to open and work with such a document. That was what I meant to criticise. My feeling was that I was having (figuratively) to drink from a high-pressure fire hose as information gushed from the exposition largely without explanation of purpose or usage of tools and settings most of which came with 'Bells and Whistles' many of the whistes having bells and vice versa ! Rather like a detailed listing and description of all the major (and a good many minor) parts of a bicycle and concluding "OK now you can ride a bike" !

So, I went on to <Open and Import>. I followed the <File><Open> instructions (several times) to the letter. I attach a screenshot from my Windows 10 Laptop.(MY_FILE OPEN.jpg)

Tutor's screen looks very different (TUTOR OPEN.jpg) (I refered to the young man as 'Little Jack Horner [of Nursery Rhyme preset] as he sits down there in his corner pulling plumbs of information out of the AFDesigner 'Pie' - no offence intended.)

Next comes a '...more intuitive method. (INTUITIVE.jpg)

Finally comes something he drags from somewhere calling it <Explorer> (EXPLORER.jpg)  [????]

Is my software properly installed? Have I missed something?  

I am familiar with both Photoshop (earlier versions) and Paint.Net. I think that Affinity Photo seems to work something like Adobe Lightroom (which I have never used) and was hoping to combine the two appliations before using Affinity Publisher. I have purchased all three programmes, but am feeling a tad lost. For example exactly what is, or is the purpose of the required <Tag> on entering the forum?

Edited November 2, 2019 by Bob_Sloan
TYPOS

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Bob_Sloan said:

Tutor's screen looks very different (TUTOR OPEN.jpg)

That's because James Ritson is using a Mac & you are using a PC.

2 hours ago, Bob_Sloan said:

Finally comes something he drags from somewhere calling it <Explorer> (EXPLORER.jpg)  [????]

He is talking about using the Windows File Explorer to locate a file to open via drag & drop instead of the Mac Finder.

[Ron P.]

3 hours ago, Bob_Sloan said:

I am familiar with both Photoshop (earlier versions) and Paint.Net. I think that Affinity Photo seems to work something like Adobe Lightroom (which I have never used)

Quite the contrary, Affinity Photo is much like Photoshop, not Lightroom, which I do use. If you are familiar with PhotoShop, Affinity Photo is not that much different.

 

On 10/30/2019 at 12:43 AM, Bob_Sloan said:

Notice that I have not the slightest idea what (in this context) the word <Tag> denotes !

Tags are used as "keywords", words assigned or associated to aid in finding or narrowing down searches for information and/or data.

[Bob_Sloan]

Thanks for your reply.

It seens I shall have to begin every posting in this Forum by apologising for being a complete newbie, aged nearly 80 and thus having missed the bensfit(s) of Multiple Choce education ! (Mea Maxima Culpa ?)

When I purchased Affinity Designer, I did notice that there were different versions for Mac and PC users. However, when opening the Basic Operations <Open and Import> tutorial I did not notice (or perhaps simply missed?) anything telling me that the tutor was usig a Mac and/or that I shouldn't worry when I found my PC behaved otherwise !  I dare say this is due to my lamentable lack of Intuition ?

So...Given that I must use Windows Explorer to find the multiplicity of file formats revealed on the Mac screen using Mac explore...How do I get to where the tutorial ended???

I have browsed around the forum and seen lots of what I assume to be <Tag>s  I still can't see how your advice, while welcome, would have helped much for my very first posting ! 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Bob_Sloan
Syntax correction

[Bob_Sloan]

On 11/2/2019 at 9:18 AM, R C-R said:

That's because James Ritson is using a Mac & you are using a PC.

He is talking about using the Windows File Explorer to locate a file to open via drag & drop instead of the Mac Finder.

Hi ! OK,...James Ritson uses Mac Finder to bring a whole bunch of files on to his Affinity Designer screen.  Understood.   But not very enlightening!  Because, as you point out, I must use Windows File Explorer to find those files and my Windows File Explorer does not find those Affinity Designer files that James' Mac Finder finds ! Has Jasmes previously downloaded his files from anothe Affinity store? If so, where should I look as the tutorial ends with one of the files or formats availble to Mac users.

[CliveH]

Bob, 

Affinity is working very similarly to other applications (eg Word).   If you go to File - Open, it will bring up a Windows box for you to find the relevant document - in this you would navigate to the folder where the document is and then click on the document to open it.

I'm not aware that the files used in the instruction videos are available for general use, so you probably won't see that particular file - however there are some sample files you can download from the Welcome screen (go to Help - Welcome if it doesn't show automatically on start up) - these would open into Designer, you can then Save them to a folder on your PC and then open them later (using File - Open).

Other ways to get files would be to create them yourself (start with File - New) or download files that others have created from the internet (some can be found on these Forums in the Resources section). 

Finally, if you want to follow instructions to make changes on a demonstration file then perhaps getting the Designer Workbook would be a good idea?  This gives you a number of projects to work through, and has links at the start of each section to download the files used.  You can then work through the instructions on the same file.