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Import Serif DrawPlus DPP files directly


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A question I have not seen raised yet concerns importing the vast number of DPP files I have made on Serif DrawPlus. Are there plans to enable users to import DPP files from SD without having to open Serif Draw and save the DPPs as SVG files first?

Better Than Nothing - Just

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We have no plans to import DrawPlus files. The Affinity file format is completely different to DrawPlus for very good reasons. You will be able to import PDF files soon so that should give even better results than SVG.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello Tony B,

 

Please, I'm not that technical, I'm not sure what the above means.

 

There is no way to directly import Drawplus files into Affinity, understood.

But,

Is there/will there be a way to import Drawplus files into Affinity through a not obvious route, like PDF or SVG, which can then be edited in Affinity?

If they cannot be edited in Affinity, for me there will be less use in trying to import them.

 

Thanks,

Petra.

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TonyB and MattP,

 

Thanks, and especially for the rapid response.

 

I have Adobe Acrobat {Full Acrobat, not just the reader} on both my Mac and Wintel machines for a specific reason, different from drawing. I use it for .pdf file creation to satisfy the requirements of a very picky recipient. I'll have to learn how it fits into this new developement of today.

 

Thanks again,

 

Petra.

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Petra you can also try publishing PDF files straight from DrawPlus without using Acrobat. (Let us know if you want some recommended output settings.) Then import that PDF into Affinity Designer. HTH.

Twitter: @Writer_Dale
Affinity apps run on: Ryzen 5 3600, 32GB RAM, GTX1650 Super

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Using v1.0.17644

 

How do I import a PDF? I have tried opening one from Affinity Open menu but PDF files are greyed out. I have tried selecting one in Finder and selecting Affinity as the program to open it with, but Affinity is greyed out. I have tried dragging a PDF into the page but the error message tells me this file type is not supported. I have looked in the help file for 'import pdf' but it just gives a list of file types for import/export but no hint as how to do it. And I have searched this forum for 'import pdf' but it drops the 'pdf' part and I get a load of results for 'import' and have not yet found the answer.

 

So, I am feeling really dumb and expect someone to tell me that there is a button the size of a football filed which says IMPORT PDF...

Better Than Nothing - Just

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi everyone! Does this mean that Pageplus files won't be supported either, as a direct import/place.

Shame really, as Serif is the only reason for having MS Windows on my Macbook Pro.

Will there be an app to preserve all the editable layers instead? I do hope so. Does anybody know if the PDF export option support separate layers, or does it flatten the whole image?

 

 

 

Peter.

 

Good luck to the Affinity team...It's been a long, long time. 

MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6

 

http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111

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Sorry Peter but no support for PagePlus files. PDF is going to be your best bet.

Thanks, TonyB, will I have to resurrect MS Windows/DrawPlus in order to convert/export my DPP files? Or can you suggest a different route?

MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6

 

http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 month later...

Now that I have got myself Affinity Designer(which is great, by the way) I am really shocked to learn that you cannot import Drawplus files, but have to perform some U-turn via SVG or PDF to do so. How can a company that on the one hand makes such beautiful products make such an incredible mistake. You can import all kinds of file types, except its own predecessor? Unbelievable!

The fact that the file structure of Designer is different may be so, but is of course totally irrelevant. Nobody needs an export to Drawplus. We only want to convert to Designer. If you can do it yourself via SVG, then Designer could do it directly too.

And what about the Designer files I am now going to make? Do I run the risk of losing them in -say- 10 years when Serif creates the successor to Designer?

(The same is valid for Affinity Photo and Photoplus files.)

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Hi Ardjay,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

I understand your points but it's not only about the different codebase. There also no feature parity between the two apps which means certain things cannot be translated to Affinity Designer/Photo. For example Designer doesn't support gradient meshes. What should we do with them? In the end it doesn't worth the effort because an importer/converter would end outputting a file similar to what you get when exporting as EPS or SVG (maybe slightly better but still).

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What should you do with gradient meshes? The answer is very simple. Designer should have supported it. Making a successor to an already great product and then not support everything that product had on board is yet another bad decision.

Don't get me wrong. I like Designer very much - can't wait until it arrives for the Ipad - but I do feel Serif has made some mistakes while designing Designer (and Photo).

Even a separate conversion tool for the xxxxPlus to Affinity applications, with a caveat that not all functionality converts properly would have been better than nothing.

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Making a successor to an already great product and then not support everything that product had on board is yet another bad decision.

 

Everything? Including, in this day and age, keyframe animation with export to SWF format?? I'd like to see mesh fills, mesh warping and a blend tool, among other things, but I understand that Affinity Designer was always intended to be an entirely new product rather than a direct successor to DrawPlus.

 

Even a separate conversion tool for the xxxxPlus to Affinity applications, with a caveat that not all functionality converts properly would have been better than nothing.

 

Publishing to PDF or exporting to SVG is, in effect, that conversion tool (but built in to DrawPlus instead of being separate).

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
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"I understand that Affinity Designer was always intended to be an entirely new product rather than a direct successor to Drawplus"

 

Well ... they are both vector based drawing programs. That means they cannot differ that much. As evidenced by the fact I felt readonably at home when moving to Designer.

And if Designer indeed is supposed to be a different beast altogether I assume that Drawplus then will be further developed too.

 

 

"Publishing to PDF or exporting to SVG is, in effect, that conversion tool (but built in to DrawPlus instead of being separate)."

 

Tried that ... SVG is not always properly converting, PDF - at least with me - worked better but lost the layer grouping.

 

I'm surprised it is accepted so easily. Apparently the number of Drawplus (or Photoplus, for that matter) projects in the world is not that big.

Think what would have happened if Microsoft - when moving from .xls to .xlsx - had said: "we won't support old .xls file anymore. Export in CSV format and import into the new Excel again. And rewrite your macros."

 

Anyway, it has not dampened my enthousiasm for Designer too much, so I'm still a happy bunny, despite this conversion issue.

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