Development Status - Where is Affinity 1.5 Beta?

[Clayton]

Thanks for the update, Matt. I really appreciate the point about people using the betas for production work and how that makes it tricky to test any architectural changes with customers. Who'd have thought there could be such a thing as releasing betas that are too high quality? :)

 

I wonder if perhaps there's a way to approach these architectural tests that would avoid the pitfalls you described. Maybe a different kind of release ("alpha", "technology preview") where it's clear that core functionality is subject to change? These could have anything from a red banner in the title bar saying "Not for production work - file format may change" to outright disabling save (or only saving as ".afbeta" files). I'm reminded of how Mozilla used to release nightly versions of their email client not under the Thunderbird name but as "Shredder" to remove any doubt of what might happen if something went wrong!

 

In any case, I don't really mind the slow pace of 1.5 news. I work in software too, and I know big changes take time.

[Dave Harris]

Clayton, those are some interesting ideas. I don't think disabling Save is viable, because in order to fully test the program you need to use it as you would normally, and that includes working on big projects over many days, stopping them and coming back to them etc, which needs Save. Changing the file extension might be feasible, though.

 

One point I don't think Matt mentioned is that files saved by 1.5 beta will not load into 1.4.x. This means that if you did use the beta, saved over your original file, then hit a serious bug, you wouldn't be able to just go back to the production app and continue. You'd be stuffed until we could release a fix.

 

It's those two things - the amount of effort our testers put into test projects, and the possibility of that effort being lost - that makes us wary of releasing 1.5 beta prematurely. I do think we've got ourselves into a bad place with the current schedule. I find it frustrating that work I did to fix bugs back in February still hasn't seen the light of day. Previously we've been able to have a new beta just a few weeks after the Mac App Store was updated, and as a result it had relatively few changes and was relatively trust-worthy, and then we could continue keeping it up to date frequently so it never got too bad. This time, however, It is taking us ages to get 1.4.x final, and in that period 1.5 has progressed so much that we can't be sure it is better than 1.4.2. I am hoping that this is temporary, and that once the 1.5 beta is released we can revert to a more frequent cadence.

[CartoonMike]

Dave & the rest of the Affinity crew, Damn. I do feel for you re: that update/beta thing. Personally, I think the best thing we users could do is just show some patience and consideration. Affinity has been very open (more than any software company I can remember!). It's so nice that we're given real reasons why things are delayed other than "the update is coming soon." 

 

In the meantime, I'll just continue to use the current versions of AD & AP and get to know them much better. Sure I can't wait for 1.x, but it'll come. In time. But right now the current version is enough.

[Seneca]

Hello CartoonMike,

I think the community has given a lot of a lot of consideration and patience over the last 4-5 months.

[CartoonMike]

Hi Seneca,

 

Then maybe a bit more wouldn't hurt. It's not like the Dev team is lounging around eating chocolates and binge watching Netflix. :P 

 

The new update may be one-way as far as files go and since it's a Beta, the team probably (according to what they've conveyed) wants to make sure that there's no show-stoppers. That will take time, esp. with how Affinity products share the same file format (if I understand that correctly). And since many may use the Beta for work, this is crucial (even though "Beta" apps should, as a rule, never be used for important work). And then there's the Symbol feature (what ever it may end up being called) is a bit problematic, iirc. This update promises to be massive and worth the wait, I feel.

 

In other words, the update will come when it comes. It is just, imho, poor form to constantly ask "are we there yet, are we there yet" when all that does is ignoring what the Staff here has said, many times, and distract the Devs from their work. It doesn't matter how much "consideration and patience" the user base has extended -- software development is not an exact science in many ways. There are factors that we just don't need to know. Affinity has earned my trust and no matter how antsy I am to get that update --  I'm willing to extend to them all the patience in the world. 

[00Ghz]

Hi Seneca,

 

Then maybe a bit more wouldn't hurt. It's not like the Dev team is lounging around eating chocolates and binge watching Netflix. :P

 

According to the scientific principle you will need to bring proof to support your theory ;)

 

 

... So are we there yet? :D 

[krollian]

So the actual state is that version 1.5 beta is so advanced in unleashing a lot of big things that the time between the release of 1.4.2 and 1.5 will be very short.

 

Keep on the good work, guys!

 

BTW, I do not like a lot of versions containing little changes and new features. I think is best to release 4 incremental versions or so along the year. Or maybe not exactly that way. Maybe if a very good feature is ready and that means a version 1.6.8 becomes a 1.7 version in a time of just a week between the old and the new version it will be OK.

 

:D

[evtonic3]

My only guess because they are taking a long time to release a beta, add in that they needed to hire an experienced, excellent PR person, Serif is gearing up for an earth shattering news release! My guess is its going to go to all the big graphic and photo communications newsletters. This takes money and time and not to mention a whole new set of new features video. Let's cross our fingers its coming soon!

[lenogre]

The rubber strap has been done in AD but the tool for the structure exists only in AI.

[rui_mac]

I almost wore off my refresh button ;)
When? Oooohhh!!! When?!?!?

[00Ghz]

Is is time? :D

[rui_mac]

I just punched a hole in the Refresh icon ;)

So... any news?

[MEB]

Seems it have worked Rui: Affinity Designer Customer Beta (1.4.2 - RC1) has just been released.

Maybe if you continue punching holes in the refresh icon, version 1.5 will come out too :)

[MattP]

we can actually detect the refresh button punching and it makes us work even harder :)

 

(well, that may not actually be true, but wouldn't it be great?)

[anon1]

I'm actually concerned about getting accused of executing a DDOS attac on your (Amazon) servers :)

 

question remains, where is the 1.4.2 AP RC? 1.5 AP? 

Edited May 26, 2016 by MBd

[lenogre]

Please add noise texture. Very useful to get more realistic results. Noise in color is not enough.

(screen shot of cinema4d)

[paolo.limoncelli]

A procedural noise generator will be very useful for textures in brush panels too...

Or maybe the Perlin Noise as Live Filter...

[lenogre]

Saving setups (recolor, curves, etc) as Photoshop.

 

A new shortcut for a new command : copy color/stroke without effects. cmd+alt+maj+C

(We have already copy color/stroke and effects : cmd+alt+C)

[00Ghz]

I would want to see 1.5 beta at last before demanding other stuff ;)

[AshTeriyaki]

Yeah, not sure this is the thread for adding feature requests

[andyajon]

Any approximate time 1.5 beta will be released?

[MEB]

Hi andyajon,

It should be out by the end of this month if everything goes well.

[00Ghz]

Looks like they want to sync OSX and win beta releases.

[anon1]

Or they want to get the 1.5 beta out for 1 year anniversary of AP in one month.

And the 1.5 MAS release might go along with two year old AD in 4 months.

 

btw, wasn´t it said that the program comes with two years feature upgrades?

[CorkyO]

Feature parity between platforms is pretty much required for any good marketing strategy.

 

Certainly wouldn't be surprising if they are timing it that way (whether originally intended or not). The reality is there are far more Windows users in the world currently and fielding questions about why one platform version is behind another wouldn't be a very good start from a marketing perspective. Better to offer both platforms an app that has the same features and abilities. IIRC - someone said the files would be cross-platform compatible in one of the threads. That would certainly be of interest to anyone trying to actually test the programs in real world scenarios. ;)