Designer 1.6 Beta – when?

[Bri-Toon]

Holy cow ! That Brush stabilization ! can't wait can't wait !!! Eeek ! will there also be a straight one or just for freehand shapes ?

 

The description of that same video on Affinity's YouTube channel says that it works with both raster and vector brush tools, so I imagine so! I'm pretty sure this will be my favorite feature. I'm absolutely pumped.

 

And I hope people haven't forgotten about a third revealed feature. Yoink!

[Alfred]

The description of that same video on Affinity's YouTube channel says that it works with both raster and vector brush tools, so I imagine so! I'm pretty sure this will be my favorite feature. I'm absolutely pumped.

 

And I hope people haven't forgotten about a third revealed feature. Yoink!

 

We should also be getting a glyph panel.

[Bri-Toon]

We should also be getting a glyph panel.

 

That sound good, but to be specific, Dave said that he hopes it will be added, so it's not yet 100% confirmed.

[Alfred]

 

We should also be getting a glyph panel.

 

That sounds good, but to be specific, Dave said that he hopes it will be added, so it's not yet 100% confirmed.

 

Yeah, that's why I thought it safer to say "should also be getting" rather than "will also be getting". ;)

[retrograde]

Slightly off topic but, any chance of getting a little tweak on the "show selections in layers panel" preference for the 1.6 roll out?

 

Just a suggestion and I do love and really appreciate you adding that pref but it would be great if as you click on a different element in your document, the previous element layer stack re-closes... otherwise you end up with a layer panel that is crazy long.

 

It's a workflow thing and again, just a suggestion. :-)

 

Come on easter!! ;-)

[Bri-Toon]

Slightly off topic but, any chance of getting a little tweak on the "show selections in layers panel" preference for the 1.6 roll out?

 

It's already there. Is the feature going to be updated perhaps?

[retrograde]

It's already there. Is the feature going to be updated perhaps? 

 

Yes the show selection layer feature is there now, but not the second part of the request or suggestion, which would be "close the previous layer before showing the current selected layer". Otherwise you end up with all or most of your layers expanded in the panel contributing to "index finger scrollitis" .... ;-)

 

[Bri-Toon]

In that case, I'm down with that.

 

 

 

 

Back when I used Illustrator CS6, all the layers with layers inside would always be open whenever I first opened a file. Aw stressful times.

 

 

 

[retrograde]

Unfortunately, I believe the main reason the request to have the selected elements layer show up upon selection of an element came about because in AD in order to lock or hide an element you need to be able to get to it's layer to tick/untick the visibility checkmark or  the lock. As opposed to illustrator where there are shortcuts for these things. Lock, unlock all, hide, unhide all. 

 

In illustrator I never open those sub layers and have the preference checked that keeps them closed.

 

If we eventually get the ability to do more of these workflow things with shortcuts in AD, a lot of this particular discussion will be moot and we'll not have to scroll around as much in the layers panel which would be very much welcomed by yours truly. ;-)

[Bri-Toon]

As opposed to illustrator where there are shortcuts for these things. Lock, unlock all, hide, unhide all.

 

Yes, I would use the shortcut for the lock icon often, since there was a lock icon on every layer. However, I think this issue is avoidable in Designer since the icon is not on each layer but on top of all the layers, so you wouldn't necessarily have to dig through the layers for this. Just select the object on the actual document, and click the lock icon. Unlocking all would still be an issue though, and I agree with the hide and unhide suggestion. Maybe have a flyout with extra options.

[jeff]

Another option, and my preference, would be to move/add a couple of commands (e.g., Find in Layers Panel and Hide Layer) to the top level Layer menu, which would then enable users to assign keyboard shortcuts. Then you can click on an object in the canvas and keyboard shortcut your way to its location in the Layers Panel, or just hide it immediately.

[retrograde]

Final thoughts on this for me.

 

Keyboard shortcuts I still think is the easiest solution and it doesn't really require more icons in the layer panel. I understand and respect the UI designers call for a less is more approach when it comes to adding UI elements or more icons... It could be added but frankly with a shortcut, I'd never use it.

 

And yes, locking/unlocking currently does work by the lock icon at the top of the panel, I agree, as long as you don't have a ton of elements in your document and you can easily find the element to unlock in the panel. I work with hundreds of layers/sublayers, many element/layers sitting directly on top of another. Sometimes I can't even readily see what I need to unlock... Looking for a locked element/layer in the layer stack to unlock is untenable for me. The current setup requires you to select the layer then the lock icon to unlock it, where a simple "unlock all" would suffice and save foraging through the layers panel or even going to the panel at all for that matter.

 

To be honest, this along with a hide, unhide all shortcut is one of the more important workflow aspects keeping me from fully adopting a Designer workflow for my illustration work currently.

 

Hopefully 1.6 will be the magic number. :-)

[Hokusai]

retrograde,

 

I'm completely agree with you 100%! For me, this is the "holy grail" of features that I've been looking and hoping for since I first used Designer. I don't want to waste my time looking for things in the Layers panel. With complex drawings it is a nightmare. There is a much easier and better solution out there (and it is using a Hide/Show All and a Lock/Unlock All shortcut command). It saves so much time. I hope that 1.6 is magic too! 

 

Hokusai

[Bri-Toon]

I admit I can still do fine without them, but Hide/Show All and Lock/Unlock All would still be quite convenient. In any way, I am pumped for 1.6.

[retrograde]

retrograde,

 

I'm completely agree with you 100%! For me, this is the "holy grail" of features that I've been looking and hoping for since I first used Designer. I don't want to waste my time looking for things in the Layers panel. With complex drawings it is a nightmare. There is a much easier and better solution out there (and it is using a Hide/Show All and a Lock/Unlock All shortcut command). It saves so much time. I hope that 1.6 is magic too! 

 

Hokusai

I use the "lock everything but what's selected" feature in Ai a ton too. So simple and fast.

[matt]

I also miss hide/show/lock/unlock all.

 

My preferred way of activating it is clicking the layer checkbox with a modifier key held down.

[Sullyman]

If this is already in the road map or else where, then please ignore.

 

I would like to suggest a few features/behaviors added to type management.

 

When searching for font I can only get the menu to skip the the first letter. When you have hundreds, maybe evens thousands of fonts this can be daunting task to overtake. I would enjoy being able to type in the font directly or have the skipping feature continue to skip progressively as new characters are typed in. [A] brings up "A" lettered font names, [R] brings up "Ar", bring up "Ari", etc.

 

I would also suggest the font selection drop down to start from the last font that was chosen.

 

Looking forward to 1.6! :)

[Bri-Toon]

I would also suggest the font selection drop down to start from the last font that was chosen.

 

That was my issue just tonight.

It was a tough fight.

But I don't bite.

I'm alright.

 

No seriously, I agree.

[Oval]

I would enjoy being able to type in the font directly

 

I would like to suggest a few features

 

Perhaps you are using an old version. Until we get a search field [already in Feature Requests]: It is easy to get the list of ten needed fonts. Just type the name/the first needed characters and ENTER. Done in seconds if not typed slowly.

 

HTH

 

Feature requests can be added in Feature Requests.

[Oval]

@ Serif

 

Daniele Salvatore stated “colour of the icon will have a great difference when they are activated (now there is not a substantial difference and this make very-very difficult to understand their status)”.

 

Seems that will not be improved in the first Beta, right?

 

 

Even worse …?!  :angry:

 

 

Haven’t you heard the users?  :(

 

Please, why?

[Alfred]

 

Even worse …?!   :angry:

 

 

That isn't "even worse" for me: I can see a clear boundary around the selected Paint Brush Tool icon. On my laptop with the current dark UI, it's far from obvious which tool is selected unless I'm looking at the screen from a very narrow range of angles.

 

It would be better, however, if a different colour were used (e.g. blue or orange) instead of depending solely on a small amount of contrast.

[Bri-Toon]

Perhaps you are using an old version. Until we get a search field [already in Feature Requests]: It is easy to get the list of ten needed fonts. Just type the name/the first needed characters and ENTER. Done in seconds if not typed slowly.

 

I noticed that this can be a bit funky as well. Typing the first letter will jump to the font of that letter, but then typing the next letter will jump to the font of that one. Typing fast will avoid this, but it's still a pain. And I agree 100% that the list should show the section of the last used font instead of starting from the top each time.

 

It would be better, however, if a different colour were used (e.g. blue or orange) instead of depending solely on a small amount of contrast.

 

I think blue would match nice, though I don't mind the lack of contrast that much. My only complaint about the current approach is that the selector doesn't show up well on other devices. I have another monitor on my tablet that shows different picture quality than my laptop, and the contrast and saturation are far off.

[Oval]

That isn't "even worse" for me

 

But for most people the left selection is visible faster:

 

[Alfred]

 

Perhaps you are using an old version. Until we get a search field [already in Feature Requests]: It is easy to get the list of ten needed fonts. Just type the name/the first needed characters and ENTER. Done in seconds if not typed slowly.

 

I noticed that this can be a bit funky as well. Typing the first letter will jump to the font of that letter, but then typing the next letter will jump to the font of that one. Typing fast will avoid this, but it's still a pain.

 

Typing fast only works up to a point. If I want to choose MT Symbol, typing M, T and a space takes me to MT Extra, and it stops dead in its tracks. It doesn't matter how fast I type S after the space, so if I type M, T, space, S and press <Enter> I don't get the font I wanted.

 

I think blue would match nice, though I don't mind the lack of contrast that much. My only complaint about the current approach is that the selector doesn't show up well on other devices. I have another monitor on my tablet that shows different picture quality than my laptop, and the contrast and saturation are far off.

 

That's precisely the problem. It needs to show up well on all devices, but it doesn't.

 

But for most people the left selection is visible faster:

 

 

Well, maybe I'm not a typical example of "most people", but unless the highlighted icons in that screenshot are at or below eye level I can only see the selection on the right, not the one on the left.

[Oval]

Typing fast only works up to a point.

 

Typing fast always works if you don’t forget to use the arrow keys.

 

Well, maybe I'm not a typical example of "most people", but unless the highlighted icons in that screenshot are at or below eye level I can only see the selection on the right, not the one on the left.

 

Don’t wear your sunglasses.  ;)  Joking aside. The new areas have much less contrast to the background than the old dark ones.