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Affinity Designer Customer Beta (1.3.5.1)


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Hi there,

 

the kerning function behaves strangely on the new Character panel. Instead of changing the kerning between the two glyphs the cursor is set between, changing the value changes the whole word … kerning behaves like tracking, so to say …  :unsure:

 

Cheers, Alex

 

By the way, I have reached my upload limit for files. Is there an easy way to delete old videos?

 

EDIT Deleted movie due to upload limits.

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Printer Marks yet? Registration, color bars, bleed and crop marks, etc...?

Hi rchrdnsh, 

 

Here's an example of my work around. 

 

The original file is assembled in Affinity Designer (using the cat shape in the shape tools) & I created a document palette named Cat for the Pantone colours I wish to use. 

 

The exported vector eps file is then edited in an external editor of choice that supports spot colours, printers marks etc. (in my case the open source Scribus because it's 'free'). 

 

I've attached my original AD file, a spot colour PDF that's exported from Scribus as well as relevant screen shots. 

  

  

 

Paul. 

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I am loving the character and paragraph palettes!

 

But I have a few issues to point out…

 

the kerning function behaves strangely on the new Character panel. Instead of changing the kerning between the two glyphs the cursor is set between, changing the value changes the whole word … kerning behaves like tracking, so to say …  :unsure:

 

First up, I can absolutely reproduce this one. Interestingly, using the Opt+arrow shortcuts will adjust kerning correctly without affecting the adjacent characters…

 

Secondly: both palettes are a bit less compact than Adobe's, though I can certainly live with that. And I can appreciate how convenient and obvious the selectively collapsible subcategories are, compared with the random and unintuitive “two/three/n stages” method of revealing information by clicking on that cryptic, microscopic double-arrow tab button used by Adobe. It may not be the most space-saving layout, but it's certainly more elegant, so good call, I say! It kind of reminds me of Macromedia's palettes, actually. ;)

 

As for the “list” view, or list box for Tab Stops… Well, that may be a bit too much on the compact side. I will certainly miss Adobe's floating tab panel (though I always had to edit them manually anyway, as I didn't have much freedom when picking values by clicking the ruler). If you do keep this interface, there are two or three things you should definitely add, plus a bugfix:

 

A way to see which kind of tab each one is, directly from the list;

 

A way to fully edit each tab (instead of just allowing you to change its value)… Maybe by, upon double-clicking the tab on the list, allowing you to edit all parameters and change the “add new tab stop” button into a “commit changes” button?;

 

Some kind of visible feedback, right in the text frame itself by means of a “ghost guideline” (not unlike Adobe's apps already do), when adding/editing each tab (though having a full-fledged, dedicated tab panel would be the best choice anyway);

 

And, finally, a fix for a bug I found in this current tab list box. At present it isn't scrollable at all with mouse gestures (nope, I tried, and nothing happens, I don't even get a scroll bar). If you click and drag on the list items themselves you can actually scroll below/above the fold (and you also can, then, grab the corresponding scroll bar – which is, by default and just like all of its peers, invisible to multi-touch pointing device users until they trigger a scroll operation, as you know), but that is rather unintuitive.

 

Oh, and by the way, said listbox is not very visible. The only giveaway for me was OS X's default striped pattern for list backgrounds, but I'm not really sure if that is enough… Maybe there should be at least a line separating the list from the right side of the panel? Or maybe the striped pattern should have a bit more contrast?

 

Anyway, bring on multiple artboards, and I will be a much happier camper! I may soon start transitioning to AD as a first choice for most of my jobs, instead of just the off gradient stuff I've been using it for until now. :)

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Well, I would also say, that there are several weird things in connection with the “Shear” input field:

  • First off, I would call this “Slant” (or “Oblique”) and not “Shear” … I would say, the latter term is not used very frequently in typography.
  • Secondly, it seems strange, how differently the slant values are computed on the Character panel and on the Transform panel … see below: same glyphs, converted to curves one time …
  • Thirdly, what I find very counter-intuitive as well: negative values result in slanting the glyphs to the right. That’s very strange … compare Indesign’s behavior.

What do you think?  :unsure:

post-1198-0-81746200-1441531394_thumb.png

post-1198-0-17188900-1441531434_thumb.png

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Yeah Alex, I also reported that Baseline shift exhibits the same odd behavior where negative values raise the baseline shift for some reason...   :wacko:

 

I just chalked it up to the Affinity guys being wacky euros, something with being on the other side of the Atlantic...  :P

 

 

 

Well, I would also say, that there are several weird things in connection with the “Shear” input field:

  • First off, I would call this “Slant” (or “Oblique”) and not “Shear” … I would say, the latter term is not used very frequently in typography.
  • Secondly, it seems strange, how differently the slant values are computed on the Character panel and on the Transform panel … see below: same glyphs, converted to curves one time …
  • Thirdly, what I find very counter-intuitive as well: negative values result in slanting the glyphs to the right. That’s very strange … compare Indesign’s behavior.

What do you think?  :unsure:

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Ventura 13.6

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17

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Pantone colours & spot colours in Affinity. 

 

I have used 2 apps (Color Palette Importer & ColorBook Converter) from the MAS to convert & save to the Library/Colors folder, my existing colour books & swatches for use in Affinity. 

 

 

They are, of course, in CMYK only but are named in their original style & can be used to create a colour chart with your PDF so that whoever performs the pre-press for output can easily convert the swatches back to spot colours if necessary. 

 

 

This is my workaround until full spot colour support is implemented. 

 

 

Paul. 

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Paul, could you be more specific about what these two apps do with your color palettes? Are you saying that the Pantone colors are converted to CMYK but retain the Pantone name in the list? Is this achieved with ColorBook Importer and then Color Palette Importer makes them useable in Affinity?

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Hi, thank you for the warm welcome :-) So the feature roadmap is only for features that are not too far away then? Artboards and text styles were next on my list, so it's nice to see them on yours :-)

 

And thank you everybody for the workarounds. I will give them a try...

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Hi jmac,

The palettes are converted to .clr files & placed in the Colors folder in the Home/Library folder.

Affinity can see these as System Palettes.

Whether .clr files are solid spot, I doubt.

It's just a way to assign Pantone named colours to fills and/or strokes.

You would still need to provide a document swatch chart, with your named colours, to help a pre-press company identify what colours must be converted to solid spot.

The swatches are always CMYK, when used in Affinity.

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Paul, could you be more specific about what these two apps do with your color palettes? Are you saying that the Pantone colors are converted to CMYK but retain the Pantone name in the list? Is this achieved with ColorBook Importer and then Color Palette Importer makes them useable in Affinity?

I forgot to add, both apps are necessary for converting two different swatch formats. ColorBook can't handle .ase swatches, the other app can. Neither can handle .ai swatches.
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Thanks Paul. I've never had a good understanding of the need for either Pantone or spot colors, when they should, or should not be used, which is probably good since the client I do 99% of my work for requires CMYK only.

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Thanks Paul. I've never had a good understanding of the need for either Pantone or spot colors, when they should, or should not be used, which is probably good since the client I do 99% of my work for requires CMYK only.

The best way to understand the Pantone Matching System, is to see a Color Bridge book of swatches. It shows the solid Pantone colour beside it's CMYK equivalent & helps to illustrate the difficulty in getting an accurate match when using CMYK exclusively – sometimes, only a solid Pantone ink will do the job!
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Hi Matt, 

 

as you said elsewhere

 

(https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/12922-bnoolean-operation/?p=56596),

 

you were curious about experiences with the rewritten Boolean code … well, I don’t know if this is relevant or if I have wrong expectations, but I am wondering if the Divide operation is correct, when a shape lies completely within another shape. That was discussed in another thread in the past (unfortunately I cannot find it). If you don’t mind, I would like to share an .afdesign file below, created in the latest Beta.

 

Cheers, Alex  :)

Divide.afdesign

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Hi Matt, 

 

as you said elsewhere

 

(https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/12922-bnoolean-operation/?p=56596),

 

you were curious about experiences with the rewritten Boolean code … well, I don’t know if this is relevant or if I have wrong expectations, but I am wondering if the Divide operation is correct, when a shape lies completely within another shape. That was discussed in another thread in the past (unfortunately I cannot find it). If you don’t mind, I would like to share an .afdesign file below, created in the latest Beta.

 

Cheers, Alex  :)

Thank you, Alex! :D

 

The 'behaviour' of divide is questionable in that instance, that's definitely up for debate - at least it works the same as it used to and the operations themselves succeed and generate the correct curves, so there's no regressions here (thank heavens). Any further geometry operation-testing is greatly appreciated! :)

 

Thanks,

Matt

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Hi again, I found this other thread I was talking about:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/12417-modify-a-target-object-by-destructively-clipping-with-a-second-object/

Well, I must confess I am not entirely clear about the logic of the current implementation of the Divide operation. Let’s say we take bisquit cutters to cut out some circle shapes from a rolled-out pastry. Then one might distinguish the following cases:

  • Areas disjunct. We end up with two cookies (shapes), just like in A.
  • Areas not disjunct, borders intersecting. We end up with three cookies (shapes), just like in B.
  • Areas not disjunct, borders not intersecting. We end up with two cookies (shapes), just like in C.

Currently the Divide operation acts like the cookie cuts in cases A and B, but behaves differently in case C. I am not sure, but I would like to think, it should act like in the cookie example there as well. I believe that the forum member in the other thread held this opinion too …  :)

Alex

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