Affinity Designer 2: Contour radius keeps resetting

[cubuspl42]

The contour radius of the object keeps resetting to 0.

Affinity Designer 2.6.0 (macOS)

Radius-resetting-bug1.afdesign

[GarryP]

The first time I opened your document in Designer 2.6.0 on Windows, selected the “Outer” layer and switched to the Contour Tool, the radius value was some massive number – see attached image – and when I tried to change it Designer hung (eventually needing to be ended manually).

The second time I opened it, the same thing didn’t happen again, but I can replicate the problem with the Radius value resetting to 0 no matter what the on screen contour looks like.

However, that “Outer” layer is a Group and I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen when using the Contour Tool on a Group.

If I select the Curve layer within the “Outer” Group then the Contour Tool looks to be working okay to me.

[cubuspl42]

I didn't notice it was a group; I thought it was the actual shape... Anyway, it's an obvious bug. Even if the expected behavior is to disallow using Contour Tool on groups, we shouldn't let the app enter such glitched states, in my opinion.

[GarryP]

17 hours ago, cubuspl42 said:

Anyway, it's an obvious bug.

There have been various issues reported concerning the Contour Tool.

This particular issue looks very similar to what was reported here back in 2021: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/154870-contour-tool-and-groups/

That thread has been given some official tags so following it might help you to get a notification if something changes regarding this.

[Iltirtar]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

That thread has been given some official tags

That thread is from 2021, and it is in «V1 bugs found on Windows». We are in v2, three years later, and that thread has not been updated since 2022. Is this bug fixed already?

[GarryP]

If a thread with an official tag has not been posted to by the Serif Info Bot then there’s a good chance that the problem raised in that thread has not been resolved.

However, since the OP posted yesterday with the same (or very similar) problem, I’m guessing that the problem has not been fixed in 2.6.0.

I have no interest in getting into a discussion about timescales for fixes or what should be done before what else, as there’s nothing that I can do about either the fixes, timescales or priorities.

[Iltirtar]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

I have no interest in getting into a discussion

I do have interest in getting into discussions (not with you personally, obviously), as I (we, I guess) paid for a product and having bugs unfixed for three years across different versions, is not acceptable.

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

I can do about either the fixes, timescales or priorities

Not true. The fact that not enough people is complaining about bad practices and, instead, keep paying for a flawed product is precisely what enables them to keep delivering a flawed product.

But everybody is free to do as they prefer, of course.

[cubuspl42]

Although the discussion is becoming slightly offtopic, I'll join the complaint and share my thoughts.

I used to recommend the Affinity suite to everyone whenever the topic of graphics-related software came up in any conversation. I'm a bit of a nerd, so yeah, I do talk about software with folks from time to time. But now, I'm not so enthusiastic anymore.

I also feel like small bugs aren't prioritized because the team is likely working on another AI feature I'll never use. I wish there was a crowdfunding Serif budget where I could pay some money with a guarantee that it'll actually sponsor a particular effort within the Affinity suite. I'd transfer $100 for improvements and bug fixes related to symbols.

[NathanC]

Apologies for the late response, I've moved this thread over to the bugs forum. I can confirm this is a known issue relating to grouped objects and the contour tool radius, I've bumped and updated this issue to reflect that it's still outstanding in 2.6.2