tropduck Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Help! I am not a techno-type person, i have never done photo editing before, haven't got the foggiest what many of these terms mean- or for that matter, why i need them!!, ...but i have a son who is into photography and we homeschool..so I need to learn! ..is there an Affinity for Dummies??! :) ...maybe something written that i can look through, or something to go through each of the buttons and when/why/how to use? also keyboard shortcuts? i am feeling totally overwhelmed!! have watched quite a few videos, but just not sure where to start! any suggestions appreciated!! thanks! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted June 30, 2016 Staff Share Posted June 30, 2016 Hi tropduck, Welcome to Affinity Forums :) Here’s some resources that may help you get started: - In-house video tutorials for Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo - The Help file covers extensively all the features of the each program. It’s a great reference, don’t overlook it. - Affinity Review our ezine, also includes some in-depth written and video tutorials covering specific subjects. The PDF version doesn’t include video. - I’ve also compiled a list of other learning resources here, including Books, Training Courses and Third-party tutorials that may help. If you have any specific question, just go ahead and ask here in the forums. tropduck 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcguiney Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Hi, I bought from Udemy (around $25-$30) which has about 9 hours of video lessons. I found it to be most helpful. Don tropduck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acacia Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Two suggestions I can offer aside from tutorials: 1. Try every button and see what it does 2. Think of vector drawing like sketching pieces of a picture (trees, cats, fence, etc) that you can move around on your canvas; left, right, up, down, in front of each other, behind each other, etc As well each image has 'pull points' in case you want to perfect the image (ie; a dog's nose was quickly hand drawn too square so you access the points and push and pull until the nose has more of a curve) tropduck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tropduck Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 Thanks everyone for your feedback :) ...I will check those out and hope I can pick up a few things! ..today, i did figure out how to resize a photo and export it..so I have started!! LOL I think part of my problem is I just have no idea what I can do - yet. But even at a preliminary glance I was happy to choose it over other options, just want to get to use it now! :) ..thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugo bertrand Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Hey, One question. Never really understood what is the difference between the 1) export persona and 2)File->Export. Is there a difference??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted July 5, 2016 Staff Share Posted July 5, 2016 The File ▸ Export command lets you export the entire document or artboard with a few options for each format. The Export Persona lets you export slice based exports: you can create slices to export from single objects, layers, artboards or the whole document. It also lets you specify different multipliers/options for each slice. Say for example you are creating an icon set for an app. You can create a slice for each of the icons and specify which multipliers (1x, 2x, 3x or other parameters like width etc) you want to use to create multiple files with different pixel dimensions simultaneously from a single slice. It also provides you with a way to continuously update a folder of exported files every time you update one of the slices in Affinity. Those are just a few examples. There's more functions/functionality available that was introduced in the latest 1.5 Beta. There should be a few video tutorials soon covering all this. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugo bertrand Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Oh I see, It's exactly what I thought, just wanted to make sure!!!! But I find it funny that when you go to the file->export and you select JPG for instance, you see the approximate output size in KB or Mb or whatever. In the export Persona, when exporting in Jpg, you don't. How come? I think it would be cool to always have the approximate output size! Looking forward to the videos!! I need some training on pixel format, resampler, PSD for FCP, PSD for edibility , ICC profile etc! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted July 5, 2016 Staff Share Posted July 5, 2016 There's still a few things missing (not implemented yet) in the Export Persona like realtime previews (for compression) and the estimated output size. This should come later. smallreflection 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tropduck Posted July 6, 2016 Author Share Posted July 6, 2016 Thanks MEB, your input has been helpful, and i have had a look at the article in the second edition of the mag, that is good. one thing i found helpful there was simply the explanation of what is a layer! ..i had kinda figured that one out, but still it was helpful. so i am wondering, is it possible to have something where when you go over an icon, not only does it tell you the name but a little dialogue box comes up to tell you a bit about what it does? maybe this could be a feature you could turn on/ off. so that you could use it when you start but then turn it off. .or perhaps there could be a glossary of sorts (under the help menu) that tells you what different words mean, and what different things can do. i am not in the program at the moment i have to admit but dont remember finding that info simply. ...i think part of my issue too, is not realising exactly what i want to do with my photos. probably not realising what can be done with them, or coming from much more of a "realistic" photo background i dont really think about manipulating the image so much. will have to think a bit and get my creative mojo on! ;) thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted July 7, 2016 Staff Share Posted July 7, 2016 Hi tropduck, Currently the application shows a tooltip if you place your mouse cursor over an icon for a few moments. It helps to at least identify the name of the tool so you can search for it in the Help. James has just post new series of video tutorials for new users/beginners. Check them out here. You can also take a look at this site Cambridge in Colour (tutorials section) for some more basic info. It covers things like Levels, Curves, Histograms in a clear and concise way. Although they use Photoshop to demonstrate them the concepts still apply. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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