Staff MattP Posted November 6, 2020 Staff Share Posted November 6, 2020 Status: Beta Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer Mac App Store: Not submitted Download: Download Auto-update: Not available Hello, If this is your first time using a customer beta of an Affinity app, it’s worth noting that the beta will install as a separate app - alongside your store version. They will not interfere with each other at all and you can continue to use the store version for critical work without worry. This beta is significantly different from the 1.8.x version available for purchase - we strongly recommend that you do not use this beta for real work as data could be lost and the files you save are not guaranteed to open in previous / future versions of Affinity Designer. Thanks again for your continued support! Many thanks! Matt Apologies for the fact that we've got another beta after such a short time... The package feature and registration tweaks were important changes and thought we ought to get them into testing as soon as possible. Changes this time - Added 'Save as package' feature for easy delivery of a complete project - Improvements to application registration and content syncing Changes in 1.9.0.6 - Fix for pixel layers inside symbols occasionally acting incorrectly (painting may not apply to all symbol instances, items may transform oddly, for example) - Added Studio Presets with, hopefully, complete functionality - Tabbing between fields in the New Document dialog should no longer crash! (sigh) Changes Since 1.9.0 - Fixed sporadic crash with Pencil Tool (yay!) and hopefully generally improved product stability - Fix for artefacts occasionally noticed in the noise pattern while editing objects with noise on a linear fill - Fix for occasional disabling of some buttons - Added registration page to the app - allows users to login and auto-install brushes (so far) - Fix for Select Same and Select Object when they encounter text objects - Enable image placement options in Designer (you can now choose Linked or Embedded) and also Resource Manager (from the View menu) - Added option for Designer to be able to show/hide overflow text - particularly useful for text on a path - Application icon updated to fit the 'Big Sur' visual style, also document icons updated. Misc other Big Sur fixes. - Fix for terrible rendering problems - particularly affected cropped items with layer effects applied - Added ability to rotate canvas if you have a scroll wheel mouse (or two-finger vertical drag on your touchpad) if you hold down Command. This will rotate around the mouse cursor location. Holding down Shift in addition to Command while scrolling will rotate around the centre of the view. - Contour tool. - Select Same / Select Object functionality. I'm happy to consider requests for extra options, so if you have a favourite, just say... - Improved performance with large documents. I will aim to improve this further over time. - Added a new “Divide” blend mode. - Allowed snapping to the bounds of the pixel selection. To be notified about all future Mac beta updates, please follow this beta notification thread To be notified when this update comes out of beta and is fully released to all Affinity Designer customers, please follow this release notification thread Jhonatan S, Mithferion, 000 and 3 others 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsnaps12 Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 The last few beta updates have been pretty quick. Hopefully a few requested features from users will make an appearance in the next few. debraspicher 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Oehlschlager Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 Interesting to see the "Save as Package" function appear in Designer. I would normally associate such a feature with Publisher, but I suppose it also makes some sense for it to be included with Designer, as the entire suite of Affinity apps are virtually unified. Should we expect this function to roll out in updates to Publisher and Photo? wtrmlnjuc and Takudzwa Nyoni 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Patrick Connor Posted November 6, 2020 Staff Share Posted November 6, 2020 4 minutes ago, Mark Oehlschlager said: Should we expect this function to roll out in updates to Publisher and Photo? It is already in Affinity Publisher beta 1.9.0.829. I do not think it is as immediately useful in Photo work as it clearly is to Publisher and will be useful to Designer. You can argue a use case but it seems fairly niche. Mark Oehlschlager 1 Patrick Connor Serif Europe Ltd Latest V2 releases on each platform Help make our apps better by joining our beta program! "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self." W. L. Sheldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 Regarding the "Save as Package" feature, did I miss something or is there still no way to link rather than embed images, so 'packaging' linked images would only be useful if the images were linked in APub & then the file was opened in AD? EDIT: I guess by "images" I really mean file types like .afdesign or others that can be linked instead of embedded in APub. From what I can tell, in this AD beta it does not matter if I set "Image Placement Policy" in File > Document Setup to "Prefer Linked." Regular single-layer image file types like png or jpeg are always placed as embedded "(Image)" layers, & .afdesign, .afphoto, multi-layer PDF, etc. files are always placed as embedded documents. IOW, only APub (retail or beta) has a functional link document option; the AD beta does not even have the "Link Picture" option in the Replace Document dialog. Am I making any sense or do I have this all wrong? All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.5 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 All 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrettm30 Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 5 hours ago, MattP said: Apologies for the fact that we've got another beta after such a short time... My opinion: no need to apologize for sending new betas our way soon after the previous. The way many of us are eager for the next great thing (like packaging here), that is a bit like saying, "I'm sorry to give you this nice gift today after I gave you the last gift only yesterday." Honestly, these beta release posts are usually the ones I look forward to the most. MarekGFX, Frozen Death Knight and MattP 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrograde Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 Save as package is a welcomed addition and is going to come in handy! Likewise for presets. Cheers! SillyWalk 1 http://www.kevincreative.com https://www.behance.net/kevincreative https://dribbble.com/kevincreative https://www.instagram.com/kevincreative/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rui_mac Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 The Contour tool crashes consistently when I try to create a large contour on an hand drawn open path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Patrick Connor Posted November 7, 2020 Staff Share Posted November 7, 2020 Thanks @rui_mac. Please can you make a new beta forum thread and provide a file or request an upload link Patrick Connor Serif Europe Ltd Latest V2 releases on each platform Help make our apps better by joining our beta program! "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self." W. L. Sheldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rui_mac Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 58 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said: Thanks @rui_mac. Please can you make a new beta forum thread and provide a file or request an upload link Ok. I will create a new file where the error can be reproduced and create a new thread. Patrick Connor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SillyWalk Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Thank you guys for Save as package – very helpful for me! 👋 iMac: 3,6 GHz 10-Core Intel Core i9 / Graphic: AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT 8 GB / System: Sonoma 14.1 (23B74) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedee Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Are there the instructions on how to use the Contour tool (beta)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evtonic3 Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Does the mode "preferred linked" improve the workflow process in any way? I'm asking because this reminds me of working in Indesign, in that you didn't have to have full renders of links in the doc, only a fast view version of a linked file making saving a file faster. Or moving linked files on the canvas faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 3 minutes ago, evtonic3 said: Does the mode "preferred linked" improve the workflow process in any way? ... or rather: Do embedded resources have any advantage concerning app performance during work? (Besides their disadvantage of making copies of every resource by embedding & increasing the file size of the Affinity document.) macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fde101 Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 36 minutes ago, thomaso said: Do embedded resources have any advantage concerning app performance during work? With the resources being embedded in the document, I can imagine the software would be able to *find* them faster, though that would be a negligible performance advantage for the most part. The real advantages are more practical in nature: If access to the original file is lost, it doesn't break the document. If the document is to be transported to another user, the embedded resources are in effect "pre-packaged" into the document, so no need to "relink" them if a folder path changes, etc. No concern either over whether or not any resources were missed when transferring the document, as the ones which are needed are in the document itself. Resources can be embedded into the document from another source in which the resource as used was not saved into a file to begin with (via copy/paste), which is not possible as a linked resource unless it is first saved as an external file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 On 11/6/2020 at 11:38 PM, retrograde said: Save as package is a welcomed addition and is going to come in handy! So have you found a way to link documents using only Designer? Otherwise, it seems to me the only use for the AD package function is to package fonts into the saved folder unless you can link the documents in APub (because placed documents are always embedded in AD). IOW, at least for me, in this beta it does not matter if I set "Image Placement Policy" in File > Document Setup to "Prefer Linked." I get either an "(Image)" layer (for single layer file types like jpg or png) or an embedded document for multilayer file types (like for native Affinity files). So unless my AD document includes text, my saved package folder includes just an *.afpackage file & an empty "Images" folder. All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.5 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 All 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcarvalho84 Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 22 minutes ago, R C-R said: So have you found a way to link documents using only Designer? Otherwise, it seems to me the only use for the AD package function is to package fonts into the saved folder unless you can link the documents in APub (because placed documents are always embedded in AD). IOW, at least for me, in this beta it does not matter if I set "Image Placement Policy" in File > Document Setup to "Prefer Linked." I get either an "(Image)" layer (for single layer file types like jpg or png) or an embedded document for multilayer file types (like for native Affinity files). So unless my AD document includes text, my saved package folder includes just an *.afpackage file & an empty "Images" folder. If you use view > resource manager it doesn't help you make them linked/embedded? R C-R 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 4 minutes ago, dcarvalho84 said: If you use view > resource manager it doesn't help you make them linked/embedded? Thanks! I did not realize that the AD beta includes a Resource Manager like the one in APub, which indeed does let me change embedded documents & placed images to linked files. But I still am puzzled why setting the "Image Placement Policy" to "Prefer Linked" doesn't seem to work for me. Does it work for you? dcarvalho84 1 All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.5 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 All 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 19 minutes ago, R C-R said: But I still am puzzled why setting the "Image Placement Policy" to "Prefer Linked" doesn't seem to work for me. Does it work for you? I'm pretty sure it works for me on Windows, just as in Publisher. (But I can't check at the moment.) The only related function missing from Publisher, I think, is the application Preference to automatically update Linked files when they're changed externally. Takudzwa Nyoni 1 -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2, 16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.7, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrograde Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 1 hour ago, R C-R said: So have you found a way to link documents using only Designer? Otherwise, it seems to me the only use for the AD package function is to package fonts into the saved folder unless you can link the documents in APub (because placed documents are always embedded in AD). IOW, at least for me, in this beta it does not matter if I set "Image Placement Policy" in File > Document Setup to "Prefer Linked." I get either an "(Image)" layer (for single layer file types like jpg or png) or an embedded document for multilayer file types (like for native Affinity files). So unless my AD document includes text, my saved package folder includes just an *.afpackage file & an empty "Images" folder. This works for me. It saves the fonts and images as dcarvalho84 mentioned above, using the resources manager to link the images if they are embedded. http://www.kevincreative.com https://www.behance.net/kevincreative https://dribbble.com/kevincreative https://www.instagram.com/kevincreative/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrograde Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 6 minutes ago, walt.farrell said: I'm pretty sure it works for me on Windows, just as in Publisher. (But I can't check at the moment.) The only related function missing from Publisher, I think, is the application Preference to automatically update Linked files when they're changed externally. Yeah this would be a welcomed addition. Takudzwa Nyoni 1 http://www.kevincreative.com https://www.behance.net/kevincreative https://dribbble.com/kevincreative https://www.instagram.com/kevincreative/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 2 minutes ago, retrograde said: This works for me. It saves the fonts and images as dcarvalho84 mentioned above, using the resources manager to link the images if they are embedded. Are you saying that the Image Replacement Policy "Prefer Linked" setting works for you? If so, are you using the Mac beta? All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.5 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 All 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcarvalho84 Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 45 minutes ago, R C-R said: Thanks! I did not realize that the AD beta includes a Resource Manager like the one in APub, which indeed does let me change embedded documents & placed images to linked files. But I still am puzzled why setting the "Image Placement Policy" to "Prefer Linked" doesn't seem to work for me. Does it work for you? 11 minutes ago, R C-R said: Are you saying that the Image Replacement Policy "Prefer Linked" setting works for you? If so, are you using the Mac beta? They work for me. I've done a quick test, i've placed 2 images in a document with prefer linked setting and then i've closed the document and deleted one of the pictures. I've reopened the document and i have a warning tell me that one of the resources are missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrograde Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 19 minutes ago, R C-R said: Are you saying that the Image Replacement Policy "Prefer Linked" setting works for you? If so, are you using the Mac beta? No. I don't even know where that setting is located. What I'm saying is that if you have an embedded image, using the resource manager will allow you to change it to linked. Where is the "prefer linked" setting? I'm using the mac beta. Whoops just found it in the document setup dialogue. It should be an option as well when using the place image command... http://www.kevincreative.com https://www.behance.net/kevincreative https://dribbble.com/kevincreative https://www.instagram.com/kevincreative/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcarvalho84 Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 1 minute ago, retrograde said: No. I don't even know where that setting is located. What I'm saying is that if you have an embedded image, using the resource manager will allow you to change it to linked. Where is the "prefer linked" setting? I'm using the mac beta. When you create a new document you have the option right after the document sizes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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