Affinity Designer Customer Beta (1.6 - Beta 5)

[MattP]

Status: Beta Release

Purpose: New features, fixes

Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer

Mac App Store: Not Submitted

Download: Here

 

This beta version represents a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.6 may not open in 1.5 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.6 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.5 version.

 

To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.

 

Fixes/Improvements:

• Fix for crash when exporting
• Fixed incorrect colours when using Metal view option in Sierra with AMD GPUs
• Added support for macOS file system tags when saving
• Fix for crash changing between Asset categories with an active search term
• Fix for editing a colour in the system palettes
• Fix for SVG import of scaled content (found in certain CorelDRAW exported SVGs)
• Fix for some panels crashing in the Light UI scheme
• Performance increase for boolean operations performed on many objects at once
• Fix for 'Always show crosshair cursor' not being honoured for non-round pixel brushes
• Fix for exporting 'Selection with background' causing artefacts if the same area is included in the selection more than once
• Miscellaneous other tweaks

[Tekikou]

Quote

• Fix for crash when exporting

 

Thank you 

[AshTeriyaki]

Hello there,

 

The beta is shaping up nicely. Old news maybe, but since all of the "sticking to whole pixel" fixes that went in (HUGELY WELCOME BTW) I find that if you alt-drag copy objects they no longer respect whole pixels when you drag the duplicate away, is this an easy fix?

[abarkalo]

Thank you guys for this version!!!!!!!!!   

Doesn't seem to crash on export anymore but I will continue to use - I always save before exporting anyway. 

Also thank you for fixing Metal on Sierra.  Wow is this thing fast. Faster than Adobe by a mile.  

 

Happy Camper 

[MattP]

7 minutes ago, AshTeriyaki said:

Hello there,

 

The beta is shaping up nicely. Old news maybe, but since all of the "sticking to whole pixel" fixes that went in (HUGELY WELCOME BTW) I find that if you alt-drag copy objects they no longer respect whole pixels when you drag the duplicate away, is this an easy fix?

Hi Ash!

 

I think we generally use Alt ('Option') as meaning to override snapping, so Alt-drag will clone while explicitly avoiding snapping. Does it do what you want if you use Command-drag instead? I know that's not what your muscle-memory is telling you to do, but at least I'll know if that's what you're trying to achieve!

 

Thanks,

Matt

[MattP]

9 minutes ago, abarkalo said:

Thank you guys for this version!!!!!!!!!   

Doesn't seem to crash on export anymore but I will continue to use - I always save before exporting anyway. 

Also thank you for fixing Metal on Sierra.  Wow is this thing fast. Faster than Adobe by a mile.  

 

Happy Camper 

Thanks abarkalo!

 

Let me know on that other issue of yours (white line/bleed)

 

Thanks,

Matt

[AshTeriyaki]

1 minute ago, MattP said:

Hi Ash!

 

I think we generally use Alt ('Option') as meaning to override snapping, so Alt-drag will clone while explicitly avoiding snapping. Does it do what you want if you use Command-drag instead? I know that's not what your muscle-memory is telling you to do, but at least I'll know if that's what you're trying to achieve!

 

Thanks,

Matt

Ah ok, gotcha. It's something you can get used to. However yes, this is also true of cmd-dragging. You can still end up with half pixel positions, with snapping and move by whole pixels turned on.

[MattP]

10 minutes ago, abarkalo said:

Wow is this thing fast.

 

Ha! My MacBook Pro with AMD 460 GPU is comically fast - it'd achieve over 1200FPS (if there was any way to present it that fast!!!) with the Metal view enabled!

 

[abarkalo]

All good for today/week/month.   But as I wrote in other topics, please give us perspective warp sometime soon.  Really need that one.  That's the only thing I use Illustrator for.  

 

As for the white bleed it's not that bad but it's still there.  It is hardly noticeable now and so I can't expect someone to even notice it (unlike before) but let me blow 500% up and show you that it's still there.  I tried this on all PDF views.  

[abarkalo]

7 minutes ago, MattP said:

 

Ha! My MacBook Pro with AMD 460 GPU is comically fast - it'd achieve over 1200FPS (if there was any way to present it that fast!!!) with the Metal view enabled!

 

Have the same Macbook Pro with 460 4Gb GPU.  I think this is the first time ever that I see what Metal can do. 

[Ben]

Hi.

 

Currently, when cloning with either Alt or Cmd you will get a cloned object done through a Duplicate command at the start of the drag.  As you drag, Alt will then be cancelling snapping, so you can release Alt to allow snapping again.  The clone will still be there, as that command has already been done.

If you start the clone drag with Cmd, it won't affect snapping.

 

As far as snapping goes, whether you clone or not, snapping to pixels should work exactly the same as if you just dragged an object.  If there are other candidate objects on the page, it's possible that you have snapped to then (as a result of bounding box mid points, for example) that could result in half pixel positions.  Turn off all other snapping, and just leave snap to pixel on, to see if this is the case.

 

The only way it should be possible to end up with half pixel values is if there is other snapping occurring.

 

If you have an example document that shows snapping going wrong, I can look into it further.

 

[Ben]

The drag-clone is going to be overhauled in 1.7.

 

The new approach will allow you to start a drag-clone with Alt, then release Alt to allow snapping - the clone will remain.

 

You will also be able to use Cmd - the new method will allow you to toggle the Cmd key at any time to add or remove the clone while dragging.  So you could start a drag, then make it a clone later by pressing Cmd, or remove the clone by releasing Cmd.  This will work independently of Alt to affect snapping.  So, the better approach will be to use Cmd instead of Alt to control cloning while dragging.

 

Really the Alt method was only there for people who couldn't reach that little further to use the Cmd key (or those who could only cope with the "Mac way" of using Alt to make a copy).  Something I've never been too happy with, but we've accommodated users that insisted it had to be Alt to the detriment of our standard convention that Alt only ever affects snapping.

 

[abarkalo]

Guys found a new bug but I have a workaround on my end.

 

If you open a file in beta 5, it opens normally and you can export, and I see no crashes anymore.  However if you close the file, but don't close AD and try to open the file again either from Finder or from the Open Recent menu in AD, then there is an error message  - see images here.  I don't open the recovery file, then close AD and open up the file again and all is fine.  It's when you leave AD open and close the file.

[abarkalo]

This problem seems only to happen with files that have multiple artboards.  I first thought there was file corruption from the previous beta or perhaps my file permissions got affected (last beta was giving me permissions issues - and I had to reboot to fix).  So I rebooted and I also created two files - one with a group of objects that I placed in, and another in which I created two artboards (and pasted and placed groups of objects).   With the single group file and no objects there were no issues, but with the new artboards file I have replicated the issue.  I will test tomorrow on the other computer to see if I'm getting the same issue but I think my laptop here is error free.  

[Tekikou]

Artboards name are really difficult to read on a legacy display:

[Bri-Toon]

Already on Beta 5. These are coming along fast.

[dcarvalho84]

Guys, especially @MattP what do you use or recommend to use in a mac mini late 2012 with 16GB of RAM, Metal or OpenGL?

[Bri-Toon]

Crash on undoing a pixel mask.

 

I was following MEB's instructions from this topic, but I think there might be a bug that is either triggered by undoing pixel selections or using the Transparency Tool. I converted an image layer to a pixel layer, and then I applied a mask. Then with that layer selected, I used the Transparency Tool. Nothing happened. When I undid the changes, the program crashed.

 

 

20170801092808.mov

[BatteriesInc]

I'm not having that much time to tinker right now, but is there a way I clone all the presently installed resources of the production version (brushes, styles, whatever) and install it in the beta as if it was an upgrade, or do I have to manually install it all?

 

Cheers!

[ronnyb]

22 minutes ago, BatteriesInc said:

I'm not having that much time to tinker right now, but is there a way I clone all the presently installed resources of the production version (brushes, styles, whatever) and install it in the beta as if it was an upgrade, or do I have to manually install it all?

 

Cheers!

 

 

I've been asking for this feature since version 1! It's the main reason I don't test the betas as much as before... it's REALY a PITA to do this for AP and AD for each beta. I hope the awesome Devs have a chance to code a shared folder structure repository for Affinity assets (brushes, styles, keyboard equivalents, etc) across all their apps. 

[MEB]

1 hour ago, Bri-Toon said:

Crash on undoing a pixel mask.

 

I was following MEB's instructions from this topic, but I think there might be a bug that is either triggered by undoing pixel selections or using the Transparency Tool. I converted an image layer to a pixel layer, and then I applied a mask. Then with that layer selected, I used the Transparency Tool. Nothing happened. When I undid the changes, the program crashed.

 

 

20170801092808.mov

As i explained in that thread, masks are just a different method of controlling the transparency of other objects. The "masks" method has nothing to do with the Transparency Tool itself.

[anon1]

43 minutes ago, ronnyb said:

 

 

I've been asking for this feature since version 1! It's the main reason I don't test the betas as much as before... it's REALY a PITA to do this for AP and AD for each beta. I hope the awesome Devs have a chance to code a shared folder structure repository for Affinity assets (brushes, styles, keyboard equivalents, etc) across all their apps. 

That's a good idea MBd. 

(was not my idea in first place but anyhow)

 

so please make this folder relocatable or symlinkable so that we can sync it between multiple Macs (and ideally iPad but if that is too much effort Macs)

[Bri-Toon]

23 minutes ago, MEB said:

As i explained in that thread, masks are just a different method of controlling the transparency of other objects. The "masks" method has nothing to do with the Transparency Tool itself.

 

It is understood now, but from my video, there does seem to be a crash that was triggered from trying to achieve that result and then undo it (before I knew the task can't be done).

[MEB]

Hi Bri-Toon,
I've reproduced the crash here. Issue logged to be looked at.
Thanks for reporting it

[Aammppaa]

6 hours ago, Ben said:

The drag-clone is going to be overhauled in 1.7

Any chance that you will implement right click drag as another method for drag-cloning?

 

So nice and quick, without the need for modifier keys.