Thanks - Some of the most wanted Features after 1.8 launch (and 1.9... and V2)

[Mithferion]

Hi there!

This topic is a word of encouragement and gratitud. Since last year, I had a list somewhere around the forums, of things that people wanted to see in the Affinity Suite. After this launch, and considering some features that came in 1.7, I wanted the thank the whole team for the following (Blue is for things launched in 1.7, Green is for 1.8, and now, red is for 1.9, purple is for 2.x)

Designer

• Bleed area guides (now with the possibility to choose a color for it)
• Mesh Fill tool
• True vector Brush
• Mesh Warp/Distort tool
• Knife tool
• Scissors tool
• Calligraphic line styles
• Arrowhead line style
• Export slices with previews
• Export preview (not in Export Persona)
• Pages (like the ones in Fireworks) (Almost what we expected, but you never know if the allow to create more Pages directly in Designer)
• Multiple Effects/Fills/Strokes per shape (Not available for text, but it will come later)
• Replicate/Blend
• Convert Bitmaps to vectors (Auto tracing)
• Select same Color/Fill/Attribute (with some suggestion made by me, that I hope they can include them)
• Blob tool
• Spiral tool
• Width tool
• Paint Bucket tool
• Vector Eraser tool
• Vector Crop tool to do actual vector cropping (can be done with the Shape Builder Tool)
• Shape Builder tool
• Text Hinting support
• Prototyping capabilities
• Vector patterns
• Fixing the convert to curves problems at small sizes (improved to a great degree. Still needs improving in tiny cases)
• Fixing problems with Boolean operations
• "Universal Layers" using Artboards
• Contour Tool (hope it gets additional functionality in a future update)
• DXF/DWG Import
• DXF/DWG Export

Photo

• IPTC Support
• Smart Objects support (import only, and of course, not all possible Smart Objects)
• Better digital painting brushes (the double thing has proven to be very good)
• Tool Presets
• Crop to pixel selection
• Machine learning:
  • Object Selection Tool
  • Select Subject feature
• Text on a path

Publisher

• IDML Import support
• IDML Export
• Data merge
  • Now supports QR Code as a Field
• Global Layers / Layer tags
• ePub Export
• Color separation
• Multiple-Page Spreads 
• Footnotes / Endnotes
• Running Headers
• DXF/DWG Import

All Apps

• Saving custom workspaces
• DAM Application
• WebP Import/Export
• ICO Export
• BMP Export
• WMF Export in Mac
• TGA with alpha Channel Export
• CDR Import/Export
• PSD Export with editable text
• AI Import/Export
• Right-To-Left languages support
• Variable Font suport
• QR Code Tool
• Scripting/Extensibility
• User made Templates
• MS Windows Hardware acceleration

Hope to change the color of more items from the above listing soon!

Edited to add up to 2.6 new features.

Best regards!

[Cliff evans]

Despite asking over and over and over again, still no support for DXF or DWG.  Total waste of time!

[Mithferion]

5 minutes ago, Cliff evans said:

Despite asking over and over and over again, still no support for DXF or DWG.  Total waste of time!

For some, that’s the case. For some, it’s not.

Best regards!

[marcNOR]

First Day user today, checking out the basic functions

Glaring omission is a proper path offset tool with total precision - I cant work without this so at present AFdesigner is useless to me, but im very impressed with the program so far, Layer Effect Offset is nice but no substitute unless there is a way to convert it accurately into a real object

Also, even though my document is im mm, the layer outline works in px, which is no good, and I cant set negative values either

 

Now lets suppose I find a workaround using real strokes and the expand stroke tool - Now I am stuck because I just want a single solid outer stroke, which at present means I have to manually delete all the inner stroke nodes and paths. - Some kind of decompose curves tool is desperately needed.

(Edit)

• I found that you can set many dialogs to work in mm in the preferences (instead of px), with custom precision decimal places

• I created a negative offset path by setting the stroke on the inside

• I used the expand stroke menuitem to create an offset copy of the object

• and that I can select a single node on the inner/outer ring of the new object, CTRL+A to select all the connected nodes, and press delete

• thus allowing me a slighly convoluted workaround for creating a precise offset path as a seperate object.

Would still prefer a simple Create Outline tool for all this - but it is possible!

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by marcNOR
Discovered New Functionality!

[Mithferion]

10 hours ago, marcNOR said:

Would still prefer a simple Create Outline tool for all this - but it is possible!

It seems like you love working fast. And I am with you on that, being efficient is valuable for me, and I think it is for you.

Yes, there are missing things. Let's hope they figure out how to work more efficiently. To me, they already do so, but there is always room for improving.

Best regards!

[marcNOR]

6 hours ago, Mithferion said:

It seems like you love working fast. And I am with you on that, being efficient is valuable for me, and I think it is for you.

Yes, there are missing things. Let's hope they figure out how to work more efficiently. To me, they already do so, but there is always room for improving.

Best regards!

Well, I am a long time user of most other software out there, but I do not do subscribe to software, which means the horrible Illustrator is out the door, the ok CorelDraw is now out, and the fantastic and much loved Canvas X is now out, but sadly a simple offset is pretty bread and butter stuff in the other software ive owned. I can ofcourse still use my CorelDraw and CanvasX perpetual licences, but I liked Afphoto so much and the price is acceptable for messing around with, that I am happy to give Serif some more cash, and I see this suite has potential to be class leading if it develops a bit more.

 

Ofcourse, a workaround is ok on a single simple object, but what for example if I have to alpha mask a tree with an offset of 0.1mm on the inside...that would be hell using this method.

 

 

[Kuttyjoe]

5 hours ago, marcNOR said:

Well, I am a long time user of most other software out there, but I do not do subscribe to software, which means the horrible Illustrator is out the door, the ok CorelDraw is now out, and the fantastic and much loved Canvas X is now out, but sadly a simple offset is pretty bread and butter stuff in the other software ive owned. I can ofcourse still use my CorelDraw and CanvasX perpetual licences, but I liked Afphoto so much and the price is acceptable for messing around with, that I am happy to give Serif some more cash, and I see this suite has potential to be class leading if it develops a bit more.

 

Ofcourse, a workaround is ok on a single simple object, but what for example if I have to alpha mask a tree with an offset of 0.1mm on the inside...that would be hell using this method.

 

 

Oh Wow, Canvas X is also now subscription, and it costs as much as Illustrator.  Like Adobe and Corel, they have user bases that really need what they offer, and can not simply switch to another tool that doesn't have all of the same tools.  They are taking advantage of that.  Eventually, the cheap software will go the same route, as soon as they can figure out how to make it work.

[PepGold]

Data merge would be awesome!

[AndyQ]

On 2/28/2020 at 3:20 AM, Cliff evans said:

Despite asking over and over and over again, still no support for DXF or DWG.  Total waste of time!

I wouldn't be so harsh, and I prefer the interface had a thorough fix-up and testing first (with ability to save workspaces), but agree it'd be very handy for DXF/DWG import (then I'd have one less reason to keep CorelDraw)

[fde101]

On 2/28/2020 at 4:38 AM, marcNOR said:

the ok CorelDraw is now out,

FYI, CorelDRAW can still be purchased with a perpetual license.  They have added the option of purchasing with a subscription, but they still allow it both ways.

[Kuttyjoe]

11 minutes ago, fde101 said:

FYI, CorelDRAW can still be purchased with a perpetual license.  They have added the option of purchasing with a subscription, but they still allow it both ways.

Corel has been changing it's purchasing policies steadily ever since Adobe went subscription. They are quickly moving in the same direction.  First, they made the subscription merely optional.  Next, they changed the upgrade cycle from 2 years to 1 year for perpetual licensing.  That was a big change because at this point, the cost of subscribing was 1 dollar cheaper than perpetual licensing.  Next and critically, they have change the upgrade policy to where your software is only eligible for upgrade for 1 year.  If you miss 1 year/1 upgrade cycle, you will need to pay the full price for the software after that if you want to "upgrade".  So you can either subscribe and pay $200.00 a year, or upgrade every year and pay $200.00 a year.  This is how companies that criticized Adobe and used Adobe to create more sales of their own software are following in Adobe's footsteps.

[AndyQ]

On 3/3/2020 at 12:38 AM, Kuttyjoe said:

Corel has been changing it's purchasing policies steadily ever since Adobe went subscription. They are quickly moving in the same direction.  

Corel's attitude to customers has bothered me for a long time, and the move towards subscription was the final straw. I had a last chance to upgrade to the latest version at an affordable price but then you're on the train and committed to regular upgrades regardless of how useless (or buggy) they are.  I made the decision to drop CorelDraw, which wasn't easy as I've been using it since the first version, albeit very rarely. The old voluntary upgrade model that the software industry grew up on was  the best system for consumers, of that I have no doubt. If a company wanted to earn income they needed to offer an upgrade that people wanted to buy...that (and wide competition) is what drove decades of real innovation in software design. 

[S_Metzger]

Well, back again to do my less-and-less frequent check of Affinity Designer release updates to see if DXF in/out support has been added.   Nope.  

It's been 4-5 years that I have been requesting this.  Others have been at it longer.   So very disappointing.  There's such a large Maker community that would jump on board.   More importantly you would find your way into hardcore commercial engineering operations with that one feature.  

Some marketing person needs to stop thinking about the shape of the calligraphy brush and consider the opening of new markets for the SW tool entirely.  Tweaking the UI and adding new mask modes may delight existing users who are using the tool already, but it will not open up new applications and sales to you.  Step back and consider the big picture, people!

You guys have been great about providing updates free-of-charge, but since I do not use the tool in the first place because it lacks this feature (DXF in/out), it makes no matter,  nor do I recommend it for my business and others.

 

[Mithferion]

On 3/4/2020 at 2:08 PM, S_Metzger said:

You guys have been great about providing updates free-of-charge, but since I do not use the tool in the first place because it lacks this feature (DXF in/out), it makes no matter,  nor do I recommend it for my business and others.

Hope one day somebody writes a post like mine, thanking the ability to add Designer to his/her workflow because of this.

Best regards!

[Tourmaline]

On 3/3/2020 at 9:38 PM, AndyQ said:

Corel's attitude to customers has bothered me for a long time, and the move towards subscription was the final straw. I had a last chance to upgrade to the latest version at an affordable price but then you're on the train and committed to regular upgrades regardless of how useless (or buggy) they are.  I made the decision to drop CorelDraw, which wasn't easy as I've been using it since the first version, albeit very rarely. The old voluntary upgrade model that the software industry grew up on was  the best system for consumers, of that I have no doubt. If a company wanted to earn income they needed to offer an upgrade that people wanted to buy...that (and wide competition) is what drove decades of real innovation in software design. 

Problem now is that most software is mature and less and less usefull upgrades will be implemented. Best solution for companies is the subscription model.

[Hokusai]

1 hour ago, Tourmaline said:

Problem now is that most software is mature and less and less usefull upgrades will be implemented. Best solution for companies is the subscription model.

This is the whole reason I am against the subscription model. Sure it is great for companies but not for end users. Users end up paying more for software that is "mature" which equates to "no significant new features" or features that are added simply because they have to add something to continue charging them yearly (which leads to bloat). I can understand why companies like the subscription model, it generates a lot of cash for them with less work. What I can't understand is why so many people love it or put up with it. I like Affinity's view in regards to the perpetual model and I like the way they think in terms of how tools should work. I think they offer a very fresh and innovative solution for users who are willing to try something new. 

[MikeW]

1 hour ago, Hokusai said:

Users end up paying more for software that is "mature" which equates to "no significant new features" or features that are added simply because they have to add something to continue charging them ... I like Affinity's view in regards to the perpetual model and I like the way they think in terms of how tools should work. I think they offer a very fresh and innovative solution for users who are willing to try something new. 

Perhaps one day Affinity products will be considered mature. Will Serif then fall into the same, or similar, problem of no significant new features or features that are added simply because they have to add something?

Of course, at that point Serif could always discontinue the Affinity line of applications and go on to making a whole new suite of products...Doh! Been there, done that.

I'm just playing a (slightly) ridiculous game of devil's advocate. What I'm not kidding about is in the future, Affinity products as we know them today will be mature products. There will be new-comers with a forum like this one and people will be saying the same about Serif's applications. As long as the products remain subscription-free and cost-effective, who cares if the rate of development tapers off one day? They, Serif Affinity applications, have a long way to go before that occurs and they (hopefully) will continue to improve in functionality and features. (Then maybe I'll be able to incorporate them...).

 

[Kuttyjoe]

3 hours ago, Hokusai said:

What I can't understand is why so many people love it or put up with it.

One good reaso to put up wit it is because the work you do relies on it and there aren't other viable options.

2 hours ago, MikeW said:

Affinity products as we know them today will be mature products.

I think they're already mature considering the cost.  And that last update is indicative of what should be expected in the future if we base our expectations on current and past reality.

[AndyQ]

3 hours ago, MikeW said:

Affinity products as we know them today will be mature products.

They've got a long way to go before they even catch-up to the capabilities of Adobe Suite products, CorelDraw etc., and iron out bugs and crashes which are way more common than the more mature Adobe products. They've then got the entire Adobe user base to convert to Affinity, which is a lot of customers and a lot of dosh. There needs to be a change in the way businesses behave. In the past they have grown and grown until the product they make becomes redundant or a competitor "beats" them, then they die. They need to adapt, and that might mean downsizing. If the product does everything users want then cut the development team. If the market is saturated cut the marketing team. You'll still make money - you need to provide upgrades solely to provide O/S compatibility, or to improve performance to take advantage of new hardware. And don't tell me you can't think of a better way to do anything... there's always room to improve. If you make useful upgrades charge for them, but perhaps charge less if they're smaller upgrades. Make upgrading a no-brainer - here's a notable performance improvement for $25.00. Here's proper vector paint brushes and a customisable UI  with the ability to save your workspace for $50.00.  Maybe modularise things - here's an optional "import pack" for CAD files for $20.00.  There's a million things you could add to any of these apps, and things like image processing technology are still making great strides (look at all this deep-fake facial replacement tech that's coming out)....this stuff can trickle down into graphics apps. Hell...someone needs to come up with a flawless way to isolate and etch hair please! Come up with something like that and you'll get people buying AP just for the one feature, like a piece of utility software. Cheers!

[tyu]

On 2/27/2020 at 5:44 AM, Mithferion said:

• Right-To-Left languages support

Please as soon as possible... Since this is not just a "feature" request, its a "blocker" for rtl users. Thanks.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

Thanks for this collection! 😀👍

On 2/27/2020 at 11:44 AM, Mithferion said:

• Data merge

I don't understand what is meant by this one.
Is it perhaps the feature of collecting resources that was introduced in 1.8?

That's at least something I was missing a lot. 😅

Greetings
MrDoodlezz

[Joachim_L]

 

[Tsvi]

On 2/27/2020 at 12:44 PM, Mithferion said:

Right-To-Left languages support

Hundreds of thousands of people do not buy AFFINITY software just because this feature is missing.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

On 2/27/2020 at 6:17 PM, marcNOR said:

path offset tool

Oh yes please!

[Patrick Connor]

@Tsvi

Welcome to the Serif affinity forums  

We are aware we are missing sales, if it was easy/quick to add this it would already be in version 1. I promise we are not avoiding it for any reason other than it will take some time to add.