Just a few Ideas for the Affinity Designer.

[PTAss1240]

Since I have Serif Drawplus  I Noticed some features that Drawplus has that affinity does not.  These two tools I really enjoyed in Drawplus and thought it could be very useful in the AD.  They are the Blend Tool  and the Shadow tool.  the blend too is really cool for blending different objects together to make some nice affects.  The drop shadow tool is so easy to use.  This makes applying shadows much easier; however, I know there are other ways to apply shadow.   I did not see any way to apply the blends, though and I don't know a work around for that.  Something else I was looking for was a replicate option.  Did not see this when I looked in designer.

 

I regards to the gradient tool.  I think it would be good to have it be able to follow a curve,   Such as in the case of an S, where currently the Gradient is limited to certain options like Linear, radial, etc.   This leaves an S   with  only  the top and bottom of the S getting part of the gradient and the other side the opposite instead of the entire right getting the darker and the entire left getting the liker or ice versa.   In the image,  If you can see it,  I have a line down the center of the S design in which there is bleed over from one side to the other.  I feel that if the gradient could follow this line it would solve this issue.  I'm sure there are professional that can work around this issue, but I am not a pro.  I am a home tinkerer.  This program appeals to me as has the other Serif products I have purchased because they are affordable to the lay person.

 

I also like the transparency tool, but I don't know if it is possible, but the transparency is applied directly  to the layer the transparency is applied to.  I think it should have at least a sublayer or it's own adjustment layer clipped to the layer the effect is being appied to.

 

Just some thoughts to consider.

Thank you guys for this wonderful program.

You are great.

 

Billy

[Chris_K]

Hi Billy

 

You are correct in stating there are tools that Designer does not have. Some of this is intentional. We decided to focus on key tools that the professional market use often and try and make them as as slick as possible. This also helps the app feel a lot less bloated and more ergonomic which is something that Plus range apps do suffer from. For this pre-release beta our main focus is to bring the features of the Windows version into line with the already available Mac version. Once these two are paired, we will then start at implementing new features for both sides. A list of future features can be found in our Feature Request section on this Forum.

 

Your gradient idea sounds pretty neat, but this is extremely complex if at all possible. I don't know of any vector app that applies gradients in a similar manner to us that can do this.

 

The transparency is applied directly to the object but it can be edited at any time. If you prefer to have control in a separate layer, you can use a mask with varying black/white gradients to apply the transparency to the object instead

 

Cheers. 

[Alfred]

Something else I was looking for was a replicate option.  Did not see this when I looked in designer.

 

You can use the 'Power Duplicate' feature to replicate an object (or to transform multiple copies of it).

[MikeW]

...

 

Your gradient idea sounds pretty neat, but this is extremely complex if at all possible. I don't know of any vector app that applies gradients in a similar manner to us that can do this.

 

...

 

I don't know if I am reading the request correctly, but Chris, you do know that Illustrator can apply gradients both along and across a stroke?

 

Mike

[Chris_K]

Not being a massive Illustrator user I do not. I stand corrected then

[MikeW]

Hah, I am also not a massive Illy user--it's just that to maintain compatibility with client files (both incoming and outgoing) I have to use it.

 

While it is available, due to the type of design work I do (read, Boring) it is not a feature I use often. Among my more creative design friends, however, it is something they use frequently.

 

Mike

[PTAss1240]

Thanks for the feedback guys