Designer crashing iPad Pro 2gen?

[Fr0stbite]

Hi been using affinity for a while and this problem has sort of been there since I got the app however now after since iOS 13 it’s been crashing randomly and the work done from the time I loaded into the project til the time it crashes is lost... can we maybe implement some sort of auto layer save in case of an incident.

[Blende21]

The only way would be to autosave while you work, not on the incident. 

When the app closes due to a crash it is too late to react.

What I am not sure about is how to do this on an iPad. iOS runs apps in sandboxes, what means that they can’t simply access „the rest“ of the iPads resources from within of the App. This is a central design principle of iOS, and one reason for the high security Level of iOS.

As a workaround you can only remember yourself to save from time to time. This is user action, so it does not interfere with the sandbox.

[Alfred]

26 minutes ago, Blende21 said:

As a workaround you can only remember yourself to save from time to time.

Go to the Document menu, select the ‘Save a Copy’ option and choose a suitable location. When you return to the home screen, the file you see there will be the original (sandboxed) copy that you no longer need, so you can close it via the ‘hamburger’ menu. Now open the non-sandboxed copy and continue to work on it: subsequent saves will be to your chosen location, not to the sandbox, so if the app crashes you’ll still have the last saved version of the file.

[AllAppsUser]

I know you ( @Fr0stbite ) say this problem has a history with you. Therefore I don't know how much troubleshooting you've done. Forgive me if you've already covered these ideas:

1. In the app Preferences > General. Toggle the "Cache screen updates (uses more memory)."
2. Same place. Switch off (if it's on) "Automatically update help". Network traffic might be playing a role, the app trying to do too many things at once. Unlikely one, not sure they update help that often, but app might be checking to see if they have...
3. Still on same screen. If you're currently saving the files over a network to DropBox or iCloud or whereever. Switch the "Default Save Location" to "On My iPad".. this will I beleive save your stuff to the Files App.
4. Finally on same screen. Also, ponder the "Autosave Interval". Mine's set to 300 (as it was when I downloaded the app). I don't know if 300 is seconds or minutes. Assuming it's seconds, that's every 5 minutes. Consider how much work you're currently loosing and ponder adjusting it - (longer! Absolutely NOT shorter if you're experiencing issues). My ipad doesn't seem to struggle with 300 (though my files in Designer are pretty much all vector, so.. small in megabyte terms.). If you've more complexity generally (lot's of layers / super large artwork, etc.,), it might help.
5. The next thing is to look at how you're creating your work. The number of layers, number of nodes to paths, compound shapes, lots of images pasted inside for example. If it's really high generally, think about your execution and simpler ways of working... it's a good discipline for print work anyway (if you do print work).

Sorry if you've already tried all of those, you've not said what you've tried.

Important: don't do all of those at once, otherwise you won't know which one has sorted/improved it - if any do. Forgive me if you already know that. Others reading this seeking help might not.

Crafting artwork

I started out on the original(?) MacOS before they moved it to the Unix based one. Mac's had a reputation at the time for crashing if someone breathed heavily around them. I...

1. Became disciplined at keeping files tidy and minimising complexity to only what was needed as a way of working (had the added benefit of less problems with print jobs).
2. Developed a habit of manually saving work that's never left me (my fingers on Desktop press Command + S almost on their own now!). It's been a discpline that's been a god send so often, I can tell you.

I know you might feel that's not very helpful. But, how about setting up an app to beep you, perhaps, to prompt a manual save so you can 'get the habit'...

A fundamental to understand

I suspect a lot of people won't realise Designer is not saving work to anywhere robust.

@Alfred calls it a Sandbox. That means it's an isolated space - in this case, isolated within the App (I may not be strictly correct there).

It means your artwork isn't saved anywhere particularly (that's the way I suggest you think of it) so it's very vulnurable. If the App struggles, then the artwork it owns is vulnurable to it collapsing.

Home screen, three bars (hamburger) at the bottom right of the images includes 'save'. This saves the work out of the Sandbox to somwhere remote from the app.

I've got it to save the files to the Files App on my iPad (See 3 above, top list). I do this every time I leave the artwork and go to the Home screen.

Again @Fr0stbite, forgive me if you know this stuff and some of it doesn't apply to your App's behaviour, I mean no offence. Just trying to help by covering all possibilities.

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, ProDesigner said:

Home screen, three bars (hamburger) at the bottom right of the images includes 'save'. This saves the work out of the Sandbox to somwhere remote from the app.

I've got it to save the files to the Files App on my iPad (See 3 above, top list). I do this every time I leave the artwork and go to the Home screen.

If you ‘Save a Copy’ as I described, you don’t have to keep saving explicitly from the home screen to another location:

12 hours ago, Alfred said:

subsequent saves will be to your chosen location, not to the sandbox

 

[AllAppsUser]

Thanks @Alfred for the clarifcation. Just to be really pendantic... is that the auto saves too? The saves the app is doing in the background, just to be really clear.

I assumed the auto saves were still going into the sandbox version... I assumed the saves the user actively triggers would be different in some way to the background saving (auto save). Almost a "Save" vs "Save As" logic, if you follow.

I'm perfectly happy being wrong.. it's learning and that's gold.

Edit: I've got a bit confused. So the images you see in the Home screen.. can be two different types. Either:

a) One's that if you close them.. they're gone, because they're in the Sandbox

or B) Files that aren't in the sandbox anymore, but are stored elsewhere.

[Alfred]

14 minutes ago, ProDesigner said:

I assumed the auto saves were still going into the sandbox version... I assumed the saves the user actively triggers would be different in some way to the background saving (auto save). Almost a "Save" vs "Save As" logic, if you follow.

I suspect you’re right. I don’t like relying on auto saves, for precisely the reason you mentioned earlier: they’re too vulnerable.

[AllAppsUser]

5 minutes ago, Alfred said:

I suspect you’re right. I don’t like relying on auto saves, for precisely the reason you mentioned earlier: they’re too vulnerable.

Yup @Alfred. With you completely, I'm the same.

Programmatically, it would make sense that auto saving goes into the sandbox.

I think a lot of people do (rely on auto save) though, because it's hard to understand. Plus there's no visual indication on the home screen that the files are different in this way... if they are.