Scott Prock Posted January 28 Posted January 28 I solved a major issue keeping me from removing Photoshop completely, only to have another come up regarding macros? When I saw a video by James Ritson showing the changes he has done in AP 2.6 beta and he showed the use of macros I thought that was the final nail .... except ... I can't figure out how to assign a shortcut to macros. A search on the forums suggests this is a feature that may not be a thing at all. I can't for the life of me understand why macros would even be a thing without the ability to assign a shortcut key to it. What am I missing?? You guys are making it increasingly difficult for me to make the case to my employer on switching our lab to Affinity products. (ugh!, I hate Adobe soooo much especially when watching the RAM increasing the longer I work on a file until it has sucked up all the ram and crashes, I WANT TO BE WORKING IN AFFINITY ) can't do it without shortcuts on the macros ... Scott Quote
Ldina Posted January 28 Posted January 28 13 minutes ago, Scott Prock said: I can't figure out how to assign a shortcut to macros. I may be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge you can't. Just keep the Macro "Library" open and single click on any macro in your library to run it. Fast and easy. You can also create a category with all your favorite and often used macros, if desired. You can drag the Library panel to an inconspicuous corner (e.g., lower left of your monitor screen) to get it out of the way temporarily and access it quickly. It would be a shame if that was the only reason you decided your couldn't use Affinity for your work, especially if it meets all your other needs. Quote 2024 MacBook Pro M4 Max, 48GB, 1TB SSD, Sequoia OS, Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher v1 & v2, Adobe CS6 Extended, LightRoom v6, Blender, InkScape, Dell 30" Monitor, Canon PRO-100 Printer, i1 Spectrophotometer, i1Publish, Wacom Intuos 4 PTK-640 graphics tablet
R C-R Posted January 28 Posted January 28 3 hours ago, Scott Prock said: I can't figure out how to assign a shortcut to macros. A search on the forums suggests this is a feature that may not be a thing at all. It isn't. Part of if not the main reason for that is could be 100 or more macros in the Libraries (there certainly are in mine!) so users would very quickly run out of available shortcuts, not to mention how complicated & tedious it would be to find those one wants to use in what could be a huge list of them in the Settings/Preferences panel. Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.7 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 All 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7
Andy05 Posted January 29 Posted January 29 11 hours ago, R C-R said: It isn't. Part of if not the main reason for that is could be 100 or more macros in the Libraries (there certainly are in mine!) so users would very quickly run out of available shortcuts, not to mention how complicated & tedious it would be to find those one wants to use in what could be a huge list of them in the Settings/Preferences panel. Hm. You don't add a shortcut to every macro in the library. But if you have a repeating workflow in your daily job that requires the use of 1-2 macros countless times per day, having quick access via shortcut would be much more convenient and faster than keeping the library window open all the time. It also won't occupy space on your desktop Quote »A designer's job is to improve the general quality of life. In fact, it's the only reason for our existence.«Paul Rand (1914-1996)
Scott Prock Posted Friday at 05:12 PM Author Posted Friday at 05:12 PM On 1/28/2025 at 11:25 AM, Ldina said: It would be a shame if that was the only reason you decided your couldn't use Affinity for your work, especially if it meets all your other needs. Me personally, I won't stop using Affinity. My struggle is convincing a retouching lab to switch. A lab that is still using Adobe CS5 in production. When mentioning Affinity, there are specific workflows that are entrenched with using CS5 for so many years. There are still parts of Affinity products that are proving deal killers if I want any real chance of presenting a viable roadmap to switch to Affinity. The ability to assign keys to a macro is an essential part of creating macros so it just doesn't make sense in my head regardless. For me, I can deal with the work around, as placing the library window next to the window of template assets I pull in to each file doesn't slow me down. However, I just came across the nail that will seal the fate of using Affinity at my job. You will NEVER get the company I'm working for to switch until you allow editable text on a PSD export. That one is a HUGE one, one that really made me look like an asshat, well to be fair I should have checked the text layers prior to submitting for final approval. I had hoped after all these years of Affinity, they would have crossed off all the reasons for Adobe users to avoid switching. Hopefully the recent merger with Canva will help bridge the remaining gaps. ... Scott Quote
Ldina Posted Friday at 05:27 PM Posted Friday at 05:27 PM Yup...entrenched habits, and workflows we are comfortable with, are hard to let go of. It took me a while to get acclimated to new ways of doing things using Affinity, many of which I prefer. Now, I find it downright awkward using Adobe...and that's after over 20 years using Adobe products on a regular basis. It is harder in a production environment, especially if people rely on proprietary file formats like PSD, AI, etc. You can count on Adobe erecting and maintaining roadblocks to protect their turf and to keep competition out. Lucky for me, I'm not constrained in the same way you are. Best of luck. PaulEC 1 Quote 2024 MacBook Pro M4 Max, 48GB, 1TB SSD, Sequoia OS, Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher v1 & v2, Adobe CS6 Extended, LightRoom v6, Blender, InkScape, Dell 30" Monitor, Canon PRO-100 Printer, i1 Spectrophotometer, i1Publish, Wacom Intuos 4 PTK-640 graphics tablet
PROdult Posted Monday at 02:30 AM Posted Monday at 02:30 AM (edited) It’s not about being entrenched but about being efficient and flawless. You’re not entrenched when you protest having to cycle down to the post office to buy a stamp, stick it on an envelope, and cycle back home in the rain - when you could have just called the recipient or sent an email. Software should move forward and upward, especially when it was released most recently. No shortcuts for macros is simply a dealbreaker. Arguing against it is like arguing against all shortcuts. Workflows in a professional environment move fast and smoothly - shortcuts are key. My F7 macro in Photoshop is built into my biology and executes like lightning, whereas having to move a mouse to the corner of a screen and click the right macro on a 4K screen multiple times a day, from where the pointer was, is an unserious alternative that also contributes to cluttering the screen with even more panels. Having to move my mouse up to a macro panel every time makes me feel like I’m attending a senior citizen workshop. Edited Monday at 02:35 AM by PROdult lepr and loukash 2 Quote
loukash Posted Monday at 02:19 PM Posted Monday at 02:19 PM On Mac, you can partially work around this annoying omission by targeting the Macros Library panel via AppleScript/System Events: Then you can make the mouse pointer click in certain locations relative to the targeted area bounds. This works best by using an advanced 3rd party macro utility like Keyboard Maestro, but it's also possible via built-in tools like Automator or Shortcuts. I'm using these kinds of tricks regularly in other applications, but I've also made some experimental examples for Affinity before: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q=keyboard maestro&quick=1&author=loukash&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy As for macros, I'm using regularly only those few visible in my screenshot so I'm alright just clicking on them when needed. But I have regular Affinity shortcuts for both show/hide left studio and show/hide macro library. PROdult 1 Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2
PROdult Posted Monday at 04:16 PM Posted Monday at 04:16 PM Interesting. Thanks for the tip, I’ll see if it can do something for me in other types of programs. Here at the company, we’re probably about two hours of Millennium Falcon flight at lightspeed away from replacing Photoshop with the old-fashioned and outdated Photo, but definitely a strong nudge to Serif that when scripting takes off, assignable shortcuts will be an essential feature that can’t be left out. loukash 1 Quote
Granddaddy Posted Monday at 07:13 PM Posted Monday at 07:13 PM I sympathize with those trying to introduce Affinity into companies with a long commitment to Adobe products. No matter how enthusiastic and passionate you are about making a change, you are doomed to failure until you (or external circumstances) provide a compelling reason for management and your coworkers to make the change. Since I've previously written about Granddaddy's Principles of the Compelling Reason, I'll just provide links to those posts: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/201403-canva/page/3/#comment-1192784 https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/206072-affinity-does-not-provide-quality-it-is-time-to-part-with-serif/page/2/#comment-1238379 Management lessons I learned during thirty years of software/hardware wars at a large state university: Show your colleagues a compelling reason to make a change and they will follow you anywhere with enthusiasm. Fail to present a compelling reason and your colleagues will brand you a quack or fanatic and tune you out. Force a change on them and they will resist and rebel. loukash 1 Quote Affinity Photo 2.5.5 (MSI) and 1.10.6; Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 (MSI) and 1.10.6. Windows 10 Home x64 version 22H2. Dell XPS 8940, 64 GB Ram, Intel Core i7-11700K @ 3.60 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
PROdult Posted Monday at 09:58 PM Posted Monday at 09:58 PM Then there’s also the quality and productivity factor: When one product isn’t as good as the other, you might as well keep the other one. It’ss nothing new to us that enthusiastic men try to persuade us to replace something reliable, delivering quality, with something new or supposedly better. But quite often, when put to an actual test, it fails to reach the level of the existing solution - let alone fit into workflows, regardless of type. This isn’t resistance to change. It’s resistance to deterioration and loss of profit. No matter how many banners, talking points, and economic arguments one brings along, both the person and the product must genuinely be able to deliver. We do replace software and technologies here and are curious about new developments, but we never climb down the ladder, and we don’t make things harder for ourselves than they were before. Designer gives us new possibilities for easily and enjoyably creating illustrations in a way that isn’t as seamless and flexible in other programs, making it an easy sell to the designers. It’s a well-loved tool here. Photo, on the other hand, simply doesn’t deliver on a level comparable to Photoshop, at all. At this rate, it’s falling another year behind with every passing quarter, so I can confidently predict that we will never - as in never - use Photo. This has nothing to do with resistance to change or how it’s being pitched to designers and photographers. It simply can’t compete or be considered on the same level, and that’s the end of that discussion. Affinity has some more attractive core ideas here and there, but they need to move from a slow jog to a full sprint if they want to bring their products up to a level where they become an easy sell for businesses. Let’s see if Canva means business!? Quote
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