Affinity Designer Customer Beta (1.6.1 - Beta 1)

[MattP]

Status: Customer Beta

Purpose: Improvements, fixes

Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer

Mac App Store: Not Submitted

Download: Here

 

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.

 

This beta is an iteration of the current App Store release and should be used in preference to the App Store release, if you are affected by any of the issues listed below.

 

Fixes/Improvements:

• Fixed sporadic hanging when opening many image files at once.
• Fixed crashing bug when exporting certain large PSDs.
• Fixed a number of UI memory leaks.
• Added special case PSD import code for “SketchClub” PSD files (they should fix this!).
• Fixed PSD export of Fill layers.
• Fixed UI labels on macOS versions prior to Mavericks.
• SVG import can now handle gradients with missing x1 or y1 values.
• Assorted PDF export improvements.
• Localisation improvements.
• Paste and file-drop of PDF format files will now honour the DPI, as per File->Place.
• Fix for marching ants not showing on a rotated canvas.
• Miscellaneous other fixes and tweaks.

[KipV]

Why would anyone be on a version of MacOS older then Mavericks? Or anything more then one version back? There are a lot of important improvements in the last few versions.

[Scungio]

KipV, I can answer that question. The reason why I am not on the latest version of Mac OS, High Sierra is because I have a Mac Pro 2008. Yes, Apple gives us free Mac OS updates but they also leave behind hardware with every new release of the OS. So, even though I have an 8 core 3.0 GHz Xeon, with 32 GB of RAM, a PCI-e SSD card and replaced the original graphics card with something way better, Apple says my system is not compatible with High Sierra.

 

Now, I didn't let that stop me with my older 2006 Mac Pro, I have hacked that to install Mac OS updates on it through the years, and I tried that with my 2008, but it just was not that stable and so I went back to El Capitan. It is stable and fast for me and I am able to run all of my software on it, Affinity, Toon Boom, etc.

 

I am not interested in buying a Mac Book Pro or an iMac, I want another Mac Pro, a refreshed Mac Pro, that is hopefully coming in 2018. I want and need options that a tower provides. With my Mac Pros I was able to replace the CPUs, the hard drives, install faster graphics cards, put in newer bluetooth cards, etc. When you think about it, it is amazing that I have been able to use these two older towers for the past 10 years, I guess I can understand why Apple is reluctant to give us new Mac Pros, better to not produce them and force people to buy laptops or iMacs more frequently.

[KipV]

I never said people had to be on High Sierra or a new Mac. My questions was why are people running a version that is five or more versions back? "Before Mavericks" means they are running 10.8 or older while the latest version is 10.13. Even you are running a MacOS that is substantially newer then that on your 2008 pro. High Sierra runs on some machines from 2009 and 2010. It is also not secure to be running versions that are that old.

[Oval]

On 10/12/2017 at 0:08 AM, KipV said:

My questions was why are people running a version that is five or more versions back?

 

which could have/has been asked in the questions section

[KipV]

Seems like it is taking time away from adding new features. Not a good trade off it appears.

[Oval]

On 10/12/2017 at 0:51 AM, KipV said:

Seems like it is taking time away from adding new features.

 

The decision of Serif. Your decision “taking time away” with the question “Why would anyone be on a version of MacOS older than/then Mavericks?” in this beta thread.

[abarkalo]

Hi Matt, a font or two keeps crashing Affinity Designer, this new beta as well as MAS 1.6 Mac.  Note that I don't have many fonts activated - being smart about that.  I restarted the app and this keeps crashing predictably - in the normal type text box, not the artistic type tool.  This time the culprit font is the new Albert Einstein font by Harald Geisler.  I tried this font in InDesign CC 2018 and I don't have that issue - so I guess until this gets figured out I will use that specific font in Indesign - such a shame as I like the live preview of all the stylistic sets, and this font has so many of these.  There are others that also crash Designer but this is the latest one and I really like it.  

[Hokusai]

MattP,

 

Thanks for all the hard work! I just wanted to tell you that I am so happy with the "Hide/Show All" and the "Lock/Unlock All" commands! It really helps me to be more efficient! I do have one request though and I think it is similar to or possibly the same as a request that Retrograde had made sometime before. Would it be possible to make the "Show All" only show all the objects that are hidden and not show the layers that are hidden? Right now when I do a "Show All", it shows all the hidden objects and hidden layers as well. What I'd like to be able to do is have those two commands separated so I can do a "Show All" which would show all objects but not layers. Then have a "Show All Layers" command that would turn on hidden layers. A "Show All" would turn on the visibility of the hidden objects that are on non-visible layers but we wouldn't see them until we turned on the visibility of those layers. Thanks to you and all the other developers for such amazing work!

 

Hokusai

[evtonic3]

I don't believe improvements to the apps should be considered beta. They should just go to the MAS and improve what's already released. Aren't betas supposed to be for implementing new tools and new functionality?

[abarkalo]

Also as much as I love these updates I was having issues with the character and paragraph buttons on the top of the menu - not with the MAS but only with beta 1.6.1.  Additionally the assets panel wouldn't close.  I reinstalled the beta and the same issues persisted, so I'm using the MAS version for now

[Chris B]

5 hours ago, evtonic3 said:

I don't believe improvements to the apps should be considered beta. They should just go to the MAS and improve what's already released. Aren't betas supposed to be for implementing new tools and new functionality?

Beta testing is just a pre-release test. Fixes and improvements should all be tested before being released to the masses, especially on the MAS. It is also an excellent way of getting feedback for improvements. What might be an improvement for one person, might not necessarily be an improvement for another.

 

Imagine if we just uploaded a new version to the MAS that had a regression in it which caused file corruption or a crash doing a certain action. At least with a beta test the majority of users are aware of the potential dangers and make copies of their files before opening them. If the beta is broken, the issue can be identified and fixed without much upset.

[A_B_C]

 I was having issues with the character and paragraph buttons on the top of the menu.

 

Hmm, I don’t have any issues. The only thing I see is a tiny UI-related bug. The Paragraph (resp. Character) panel will get to the foreground, when the Paragraph (resp. Character) button is clicked, but the tab of the panel will not expand and show the full title of the panel. See my video. 

 

Char-Par-Tab--Expand.mov

 

[A_B_C]

Oh, and before I forget it, there is a minor localisation-related issue that is not present in the MAS version. The assets are erroneously presented in the system language (German), rather the selected application language (English). 

 

 

[befehr]

I've created some custom brushes of lines with arrowhead. Any thought as to why the ends are distorted? The one on top should be a perfect circle.

I have noticed with in the current version as well as beta. 

 

[Reggie1958]

Thanks Matt for the Designer Beta, I have since the early days of Affinity photo being using and testing the photo app Betas; I have only recently decided to purchase the Designer app. So far I'm having great fun with Designer and obviously there has been a huge amount of work done; so well done for the team's  efforts. Unlike the photo app I'm a raw beginner on Designer so I have a lot of learning to do; to which I look forward :-) 

[Reggie1958]

On 12/12/2017 at 4:09 AM, evtonic3 said:

I don't believe improvements to the apps should be considered beta. They should just go to the MAS and improve what's already released. Aren't betas supposed to be for implementing new tools and new functionality?

Hi Evtonic, No a Beta is not just for new stuff, a Beta is simply a phase of testing to identify issues in the user domain, people who agree to taking a Beta are essentially user domain testers, rather than internal formal software unit, integration, regression etc testing.  In a candidate software build internally, there would be at the start of the project, identified issues (bugs), or new features to which the team has been committed. The beta is a useful tool in the testing phase and we as contributors are Beta testers and on the way we may pick up  not previously identified issues. When we report these issues to the team we are helping not only to improve the products but also give a confidence level to the quality, robustness and reliability of the product. It is only of any use of course if report the issues.

[Bri-Toon]

On 12/18/2017 at 11:49 AM, befehr said:

I've created some custom brushes of lines with arrowhead. Any thought as to why the ends are distorted? The one on top should be a perfect circle.

I have noticed with in the current version as well as beta. 

 

I don't think that's a bug. Creating vector brushes can be tricky because both ends of the lines must match height. So imagine both ends connecting to create a smooth line. In a case like in your example, both ends are balls. And technically, yes, since they are symmetrical, the very edges would be the same in height, but can't smoothly connect. If the balls were in the middle of the line, you most likely would not have this issue.

 

To my knowledge, you cannot currently create arrow heads.

[befehr]

8 hours ago, Bri-Toon said:

To my knowledge, you cannot currently create arrow heads.

Well, you can but you have to create the individual arrowhead (and save as a symbol if you want) or create a brush. I chose the latter by using Adobe Illustrator and creating png images of lines with each arrowhead type that I would need.

But yes, AD does not offer arrowheads. 

The brush solution isn't perfect but it will have to do.

[retrograde]

On 2017-12-11 at 2:56 PM, Hokusai said:

MattP,

 

Thanks for all the hard work! I just wanted to tell you that I am so happy with the "Hide/Show All" and the "Lock/Unlock All" commands! It really helps me to be more efficient! I do have one request though and I think it is similar to or possibly the same as a request that Retrograde had made sometime before. Would it be possible to make the "Show All" only show all the objects that are hidden and not show the layers that are hidden? Right now when I do a "Show All", it shows all the hidden objects and hidden layers as well. What I'd like to be able to do is have those two commands separated so I can do a "Show All" which would show all objects but not layers. Then have a "Show All Layers" command that would turn on hidden layers. A "Show All" would turn on the visibility of the hidden objects that are on non-visible layers but we wouldn't see them until we turned on the visibility of those layers. Thanks to you and all the other developers for such amazing work!

 

Hokusai

 

Plus 1 Hokusai!  -- Sort of related, how do we remove an affinity coded shortcut. When there is a caution or exclamation mark on a key short, how do we override it? Can we?

[Brendon Carr]

Still no joy on the Korean input method bug, I see. Alas.

[lenogre]

befehr : brushes for accurate things are not good. With AI, I was using diamant as a brush but in AD, they are oval when you scale the path, distribution is not optimized, a real nightmare.

So, for this work, I do it with Cinema4D and Mograph Cloner …

 

The arrow tool in AD needs more attention. It's so easy with AI, a rare thing which is still better !

[Bri-Toon]

Hi Matt,

I am taking previous drawn files, and I am trying to join paths of open shapes to close them up, but it seems that the stroke size increases a little when I do that, or in other cases, gets huge. I have to keep resetting the stroke to the proper outline size. Now this doesn't happen all the time oddly. If I create a new file and start from scratch, everything works fine (mostly). The problem happens more in older drawings. I even tried copying and pasting parts of my previous drawing and pasting them in a new document, but joining paths still result to an increase of stroke size.

 

Here is an example. I purposely had the ends of the girl's sleeves open and with no color applied yet. See what happens when you try joining them. It increases by 0.3 pt. Now those other open paths to the right of her, try joining those. The stroke increases to 26.5 pt.

 

Problem.afdesign