I'm a bit lost in Affinity Designer Beta 4 Windows

[Bernyh]

Hi fellow testers,

First of all thanks to Serif to allow me to test the beta version of Afinity D. I tried today the 1.5.0.9 release.

I have to specify I'm a 20 years user of A. Illustrator on both Mac and Win, and a 3 years user of Draw+ since the 5 version.

 

So many tools and commands miss me as far as I could try to found them using menus and tool bars !

 

My first questions:

 

Why it is not possible to settle the stroke width after it has been drawn as we do in DP ?

Why cannot we select shapes with the black arrow select tool, only by including it partly in a rectangle ?

Most of all the missing function is to align node points on x or y or both ( as in A Illustrator ) , because this function is one I use the most in Illustrator?

Why is the active tool not crealy visible on the tool bar by changing it aspect, but only in writing its name on the context tool bar ?

Why no 3d extrusion as in Illustrator or in Draw Plus ?

Why not include this very smart device ( of Draw +) of moving the shapes in depth on the vector shapes stack ?

 

Where is the so clever dynamic pathfinder addition or substraction function (seen in the demo vdo), those I tried are not dynamic !

 

Please answer me, for I not find clearly the superiority of Afinity D versus the other programs

 

Beside that I admire the smartness of the corner tool, and the progressive historical steps.

 

Regards

 

Bernard

 

 

[Alfred]

First of all thanks to Serif to allow me to test the beta version of Afinity D. I tried today the 1.5.0.9 release.

 

Your AD 1.5.0.9 installation will expire in a few days' time. The current version is 1.5.0.14.

 

I have to specify I'm a 20 years user of A. Illustrator on both Mac and Win, and a 3 years user of Draw+ since the 5 version.

 

If you've been using it for only three years, I presume you mean DrawPlus X5 rather than the very much older DrawPlus 5 (without the 'X').

 

Why it is not possible to settle the stroke width after it has been drawn as we do in DP ?

Why cannot we select shapes with the black arrow select tool, only by including it partly in a rectangle ?

Most of all the missing function is to align node points on x or y or both ( as in A Illustrator ) , because this function is one I use the most in Illustrator?

Why is the active tool not crealy visible on the tool bar by changing it aspect, but only in writing its name on the context tool bar ?

Why no 3d extrusion as in Illustrator or in Draw Plus ?

Why not include this very smart device ( of Draw +) of moving the shapes in depth on the vector shapes stack ?

 

Where is the so clever dynamic pathfinder addition or substraction function (seen in the demo vdo), those I tried are not dynamic !

 

Affinity Designer is quite new, so I expect that many of the currently missing features will be added gradually as new versions are released. We can already change the stroke width at any time; I'm not sure that I fully understand your other questions.

 

Beside that I admire the smartness of the corner tool, and the progressive historical steps.

 

I like both of those features too! :)

[Bri-Toon]

Hi Bernyh,

As for your first two questions:

 

 

 

Why it is not possible to settle the stroke width after it has been drawn as we do in DP ?

 

You can. Select the path with that black arrow tool, and change the weight in the "Line" tab.

 

 

 

Why cannot we select shapes with the black arrow select tool, only by including it partly in a rectangle ?

 

It's a bit different than Illustrator. DrawPlus and Inkscape does the same thing, as some people like that way better. I prefer having the selection bounding box only partly over the objects myself.

[dominik]

 

Why cannot we select shapes with the black arrow select tool, only by including it partly in a rectangle ?

 

 

You can do this. Go to "Edit > Preferences > Tools" and then tick the option "Select object when intersects with selection marquee".

 

d.

[Dave Harris]

Where is the so clever dynamic pathfinder addition or substraction function (seen in the demo vdo), those I tried are not dynamic !

 

Hold down Alt as you click the button.

[Mark Ingram]

Moving to the Questions forum.

[Bernyh]

Hi fellow advanced members, thanks for your answers.

First I downloaded and installed today la last version : 1.5..14. Some stuffs difers like the active tool clearly visible ! And for me living in France,

the multi lingual version including mine. I settled AD in french but maybe it would be smarter to let it in english so I can share with you more conveniently.

 

Alfred, I think you didn't understand me, I meant I began 3 years ago with Draw Plus X5 and since purchased and practised the 6 then 8 versions.

 

Bleduc I agree with you for changing stock width, it didn't work on one curve on the previous version, but now it's ok. Thanks Doninic, I have to settle many usefull details in the preferences tab.

 

Another great missing feature I have forgotten to quote :

Tracing curbes from an imported image as in Draw Plus (the smartest tool in my opinion) and Illustrator (not very convenient).
By the way Bleduc I had a quick look on Inkscape but it seems very professionnal. Il it possible to vectorise a picture in it ?

 

Thanks to all of you.

Bernard

[Bri-Toon]

 

By the way Bleduc I had a quick look on Inkscape but it seems very professionnal. Il it possible to vectorise a picture in it ?

 

Apparently, there is. http://goinkscape.com/how-to-vectorize-in-inkscape/

 

Truthfully though, I wouldn't recommend Inkscape. I only brought it up because it has the same selection feature Designer and DrawPlus has. You might still like it since many people do, but I feel it lacks a lot of professional features that make up vector software. The reason I don't like it:

 

 

 

 

1. No nested layers

Each path is not accessible in the Layers panel.

 

2. Weak pen tool

The advanced pen mode is not accessible. You will need to switch from Curve mode to Straight mode.

 

3. Weak eraser tool

The eraser tool will automatically close any open path, or it will delete the path all together, depending on the mode selected.

 

4. Difficult stroke handling

The curves of the pencil tool go from jaggedy to being too smooth.

 

5. Bad interface

The interface just doesn't feel friendly enough for me

 

 

 

 

There is also Xara which looks very similar to Inkscape, but it's pretty pricey and not too user friendly. Just throwing it out there, I think that program has the best freehand drawing function. Alternatively to drawing with the pen, the pencil gives off super smooth linework.