Prune Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Hello fellow forumers, Is there a user guide or manual for Affinity at the moment? Whilst I understand that: It's important you explore on your own, that way any bugs have a slightly higher chance of being found, and; This is in Beta, and may not be fully complete/functions can change/the project could be scrapped (although I hope not); I would absolutely love some kind of link to a reference guide. I mostly work in a convenience store, and like reading up on things during my breaks to then come home to actually try them. I am most able to maximise my time in this way. I have looked & looked but couldn't find anything of the sort. Is there such a thing at this point in time? Or will this become a feature before the program gets its launch? I remain, iPrune HCSchuhSiva and Phil Darby 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRScott Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Prune, at the moment, there is no tutorial for Affinity. Only the Affinity Designer Help under the Help menu. Here is a short thread on it: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/256-are-we-here-yet/ Quote Gregg OS X Version 10.14.6 iMac 27" 3.2 GHz i5- 32 GB Huion Kamvas Pro 20 iPad Pro 12.9" IOS 13 AD = OS IOS, AP = OS IOS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPWatkins Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Affinity Photo and Designer are no longer Beta software, and I love em a lot. But I have to say a manual like thing is needed. Maybe just a statement of the model of interaction would be a good first step. Tutorials are good, but I've been using Designer and Photo for about a year now, as needed, and I cannot say I have internalized a "model of interaction" for them. In order for this software to have been developed, the writers, by necessity, must have a shared idea of an exact model of interaction for the software. Every time I need to use a mask, I have to try 10 or more things before I find the right way to do what I want. Every time I want to adjust type I struggle a to find the control I want, or I find it and it has no effect (until I find another one that overrides it.) WTF is a pixel layer and when and why might I need it. Placed items do not seem to have a linking function. Is there a linking function and if not why place an item rather than just cut and paste? etc. In short, it seems like the model of interaction is inconsistent or obscure. I'd love to be wrong on this. I'm sure part of my difficulty has to do with the complexity and flexibility of the software. Obviously Designer isn't just a vector program and Photo isn't just bitmap one. But I have experience with software like the the Adobe suite, Painter, various CAD and solid modeling packages etc. But many of these are easy to pick up because the model of interaction is either well explained, or very apparent (the others are hard to use.) The Affinity SW seems to largely follow the Illustrator / Photoshop model, but seems to regularly stray from it in unexpected ways. I'm sure there's a reason. Please share. :-) *** Is there a resource somewhere that lays out a model of interaction that the creators of the software try to adhere to? That indicates major and/or philosophical differences between Photo and Designer and Affinity and Adobe's approaches? Something that would generally serve as a guide to approaching what should be done in what way and how? *** Thanks. Paul L. O. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted September 8, 2016 Staff Share Posted September 8, 2016 Hi JPWatkins, All the features of the program are covered in detail in the Help file. You will find explanations and step by step instructions for all tools and processes there. If you check it regularly while you are using the tools you should have no issues understanding how things work. If you find something that's not clear or missing information please let us know so we can fix it. We are also preparing a handbook to complement the Help file and video tutorials. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPWatkins Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 If you check it regularly while you are using the tools you should have no issues understanding how things work. Oh, that must be why Google says there are 146,000 pages in the Affinity support forum—Everybody must be like me and has never even thought of even trying to read the Affinity help files. The help files are great and comprehensive it's the users who are F'ed up. That resolves that issue. Thanks, MEB ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudyp16 Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Affinity Photo and Designer are no longer Beta software, and I love em a lot. But I have to say a manual like thing is needed. Maybe just a statement of the model of interaction would be a good first step. Tutorials are good, but I've been using Designer and Photo for about a year now, as needed, and I cannot say I have internalized a "model of interaction" for them. In order for this software to have been developed, the writers, by necessity, must have a shared idea of an exact model of interaction for the software. Every time I need to use a mask, I have to try 10 or more things before I find the right way to do what I want. Every time I want to adjust type I struggle a to find the control I want, or I find it and it has no effect (until I find another one that overrides it.) WTF is a pixel layer and when and why might I need it. Placed items do not seem to have a linking function. Is there a linking function and if not why place an item rather than just cut and paste? etc. In short, it seems like the model of interaction is inconsistent or obscure. I'd love to be wrong on this. I'm sure part of my difficulty has to do with the complexity and flexibility of the software. Obviously Designer isn't just a vector program and Photo isn't just bitmap one. But I have experience with software like the the Adobe suite, Painter, various CAD and solid modeling packages etc. But many of these are easy to pick up because the model of interaction is either well explained, or very apparent (the others are hard to use.) The Affinity SW seems to largely follow the Illustrator / Photoshop model, but seems to regularly stray from it in unexpected ways. I'm sure there's a reason. Please share. :-) *** Is there a resource somewhere that lays out a model of interaction that the creators of the software try to adhere to? That indicates major and/or philosophical differences between Photo and Designer and Affinity and Adobe's approaches? Something that would generally serve as a guide to approaching what should be done in what way and how? *** Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudyp16 Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Send me your email address and I'll supply you with a PDF or Word file for Affinity Photo. It's the complete help file 664 pages. rudy.pataky16@gmail.com is mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villain Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Is the help file of Photo and Draw available online? (I would check Photo's help even when I don't have it installed. And I would like to check Draw to know what pdf's it can import.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 I have asked for this a few times in the past but so far as I know there are no online versions available. Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 Affinity Photo 1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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