Blend tool in Designer

[Frozen Death Knight]

21 hours ago, tzvi20 said:

@Patrick Connor  out of plain curiosity, are there any updates on one?

Didn't he explicitly tell you not to tag staff?

[Patrick Connor]

10 hours ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

Didn't he explicitly tell you not to tag staff?

I did, sort of. I effectively asked them not to tag staff who are not currently interacting in the thread. Clearly sometimes it helps in order to indicate who you're replying to. 

As head of the testing team I often know about unreleased features, but as head of the testing team it's not my job to say what features are planned or how they are progressing so I'll not be changing that approach here

[MKallas]

Just wanted to say Happy 2024. Another year passing. No blend tool.

[fde101]

No gorilla tool either.

Sad.

[Bit Disappointed]

5 hours ago, fde101 said:

No gorilla tool either.

 Wrong. The Gorilla Tool is the primary tool we did have in Designer since v1! 😄 

[baoyu]

On 12/15/2023 at 5:52 PM, baoyu said:

I have an idea that solves all those similiar feature requests like "blend tool", but it will be hard to implement: make a node based tool just like "geometry nodes in blender".

It allows users to pack, save and share self-made presets which can be seen as "features" or "plugins".

What's more, affinity official could pack some presets along with the app itself. Also if it's possible, we could have a market for users to share/sell their own presets.

and in case you staff missed my suggestion, shamelessly pinnnnnnn @Patrick Connor   

BTW, merry Xmas!

[Patrick Connor]

Do you think I have nothing better to do than be here on Boxing day 😅

[Affinityconfusesme]

Hi @Patrick Connor looking forward to 2.4 and enjoy your time off. I am enjoying my time off from college.😀

[MKallas]

It is all messed up to this day lol big changes...

[meh]

On 10/30/2023 at 2:20 PM, krsdcbl said:

I'm sitting here, cash in hand, happy to pay you twice or thrice the current asking price, not once but yearly. More than worth it.

Just popping in here for my yearly check on if I can ditch Illustrator already. Apparently not yet.

You raise a good point here- AD's affordability is surely one of it's big selling points. It was for me. Probably wouldn't have gotten it if it was more expensive. But there are big-league designers who make a lot of profit on the tool, and for them it could cost way, WAY more and still be worth it. I wish there was some way to meet those. Like hey, pay more and get the shiny new stuff like a 6 months before it rolls out to the rest of us, so it remains equal and not too fragmented, but those who would like to can contribute to development as long as they get assurances that certain features are being worked on. Everyone benefits. Idk, just thinking out loud. I really don't like the idea of splitting into elements-vs-full-version kind of thing, in part because I selfishly want to have the shiny stuff, but I think also because you want folks learning on all the features, and then if they make it big, they can decide to pitch in to help drive development faster. More communal, sort of? anyway, end of rant.

Edited December 26, 2023 by meh

[debraspicher]

49 minutes ago, meh said:

Just popping in here for my yearly check on if I can ditch Illustrator already. Apparently not yet.

You raise a good point here- AD's affordability is surely one of it's big selling points. It was for me. Probably wouldn't have gotten it if it was more expensive. But there are big-league designers who make a lot of profit on the tool, and for them it could cost way, WAY more and still be worth it. I wish there was some way to meet those. Like hey, pay more and get the shiny new stuff like a 6 months before it rolls out to the rest of us, so it remains equal and not too fragmented, but those who would like to can contribute to development as long as they get assurances that certain features are being worked on. Everyone benefits. Idk, just thinking out loud. I really don't like the idea of splitting into elements-vs-full-version kind of thing, in part because I selfishly want to have the shiny stuff, but I think also because you want folks learning on all the features, and then if they make it big, they can decide to pitch in to help drive development faster. More communal, sort of? anyway, end of rant.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way. Someone who can afford to pay higher to get more features will just go to Adobe where they have many more options across programs. There's a number of enthusiasts here I suspect, but not all have the ability to pay beyond what they've paid, maybe because they still have to maintain an Adobe sub for other reasons (Lightroom, video, etc) or have purchased other software, etc. In that way, Serif has to act competitively by keeping the price lower until they can build up the feature set to break more away... (I think they understand their market well enough)...

I'd happily pay more to have a more polished suite. I have been testing some things in Adobe software and for me, it's aged very poorly. Some things are missed, but much of it feels like a dinosaur, especially the way AI<->PS work together... Affinity has its flaws, but for some of us, it's liberated us from what was a clunky setup for our workflows... but can appreciate many can't (and shouldn't) switch until there's enough feature parity for their use case to make the switch.

But if you do continue to trial the release(s), please do come here and keep posting your thoughts in the very least...

Anyway, it appears Blend Tool is closer than it's ever been, at least with the addition of Move Data Entry... I do very much miss Blend...

[meh]

1 hour ago, debraspicher said:

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way. Someone who can afford to pay higher to get more features will just go to Adobe where they have many more options across programs. There's a number of enthusiasts here I suspect, but not all have the ability to pay beyond what they've paid, maybe because they still have to maintain an Adobe sub for other reasons (Lightroom, video, etc) or have purchased other software, etc. In that way, Serif has to act competitively by keeping the price lower until they can build up the feature set to break more away... (I think they understand their market well enough)...

yeah, valid point, and I do not regret buying it at all even though I've not used it much, in large parts because it was in my budget and because I'm happy to fund an adobe competitor out of spite. While I'm not able to stretch my budget as much as the true pros on here, but I'd pay about 3x the price (with expectation that it'd be updated for a few years, low-key supported for another few years like bug fixes, compatibility with OS updates and the like).

There's a demand there, and people willing to pay, and idk, I know this stuff is complex, but that potential is being left on the table. To take the blend tool as an example, if they put a crowdfund goal on the site and anyone who wanted could contribute to make that feature a priority, I bet it'd get funded. And everyone would get the feature and benefit, because people aren't paying in order to be the only ones to have access to it, they just want it to get developed, so it'd also drive purchases at the regular price. I see a real potential for an actually symbiotic relationship where the software users actually like the company, as opposed to adobe which at this point feels like living with a toxic ex because you have nowhere else to go and they know it. /rant

edit: that said, the CC shortcuts are so native to me at this point that it's a bit of a hurdle, le sigh, so i can't say if I'd fall off the learning curve..

 

[Boldlinedesign]

4 hours ago, meh said:

Just popping in here for my yearly check on if I can ditch Illustrator already. Apparently not yet.

You raise a good point here- AD's affordability is surely one of it's big selling points. It was for me. Probably wouldn't have gotten it if it was more expensive. But there are big-league designers who make a lot of profit on the tool, and for them it could cost way, WAY more and still be worth it. I wish there was some way to meet those. Like hey, pay more and get the shiny new stuff like a 6 months before it rolls out to the rest of us, so it remains equal and not too fragmented, but those who would like to can contribute to development as long as they get assurances that certain features are being worked on. Everyone benefits. Idk, just thinking out loud. I really don't like the idea of splitting into elements-vs-full-version kind of thing, in part because I selfishly want to have the shiny stuff, but I think also because you want folks learning on all the features, and then if they make it big, they can decide to pitch in to help drive development faster. More communal, sort of? anyway, end of rant.

@meh If you pick up a copy of Vectorstyler, it will more than fill in all the missing gaps in Affinity Designer and allow you a full program that does not require dual use with Adobe. 

[meh]

17 minutes ago, Boldlinedesign said:

@meh If you pick up a copy of Vectorstyler, it will more than fill in all the missing gaps in Affinity Designer and allow you a full program that does not require dual use with Adobe. 

thanks for the rec! shall look into it. The issue is the up front cost- not monetary, but cost of losing access to all .ai's (properly anyway, I know AD can open them but some things dont' carry over), cost of time to learn a new workflow, find all these workarounds- I don't doubt that it's possible, you're right, but it is more appealing when one alternative can offer an interface and features that are similar enough (or better!) to make it not such a hassle.

[JET_Affinity]

On 10/30/2023 at 9:20 AM, krsdcbl said:

I'm sitting here, cash in hand, happy to pay you twice or thrice the current asking price, not once but yearly.

Well, I, for one, am not.

No one applauds what Serif is doing more than I. But I will never pay extorsive subscription fees for mission-critical software, effectively surrendering my own work as hostage to the vendor.

It's not a matter of 'being able to afford it'. It's a matter of principle. I maintained my (not cheap) perpetual license to Adobe's Master Collection from its initial release until the day Adobe foisted its Captive Creator licensing scheme upon its decades-long users. That very day was full-stop. I immediately initiated my own methodical plan for eliminating dependence upon Adobe, which has not received one red cent from me since.

Indeed, the very marketing myth 'promise' of subscription-based software fees is that it's 'more affordable' to 'starving artists' than the lump sum payment of a perpetual license. It's the same age-old scam of saying renting a roof over your head is 'cheaper' than owning it.

I'm sure Serif is profitable and knows quite well what it's doing. A large part of what Serif is doing is the long-overdue embodiment of competition: providing dramatically higher price/function value in a market segment that has been artificially overpriced for ages.

2D bezier based drawing is not rocket science anymore. Adobe and its ilk still cling desperately to the antiquated price structure of long-gone days when a 3-color letter-size inkjet printer cost ten times what far more capable machines go for now, even despite decades of inflation.

Serif is developing its products at its methodical rate, with a much-appreciated eye toward innovation; not just implementing tit-for-tat, copycat, me, too, same-old features.

Learn to exploit what it provides. Workaround what is not yet implemented. Provide at least marginal originality in feedback.

JET

[Affinityconfusesme]

We are now almost in February 2024 still no blend tool...☹️

[earl_grey]

8 minutes ago, tzvi20 said:

We are now almost in February 2024 still no blend tool...☹️

maybe in 2.5.... or 3.0 

[JariH]

My only interest for V2.5 is "Will it blend?"

 

[Affinityconfusesme]

Only 2 things for 2.5 blending and DOCX export.

[fde101]

On 1/27/2024 at 6:58 PM, tzvi20 said:

We are now almost in February 2024 still no blend tool...☹️

Still no giraffe tool.

[Ana Mendes]

Will they put the blend tool 

 

...on Canva

[CZWRK]

We neeeeeeed blend tool in 2.5

[Komatös]

On 4/1/2024 at 1:18 PM, Ana Mendes said:

Will they put the blend tool 

 

...on Canva

Of course, as soon as it works stably in Affinity Designer.

But in Canva you will only be able to set 5 iterations, if you need more you will need a subscription...