Sneak peeks for 1.7

[MEB]

Hi Rob123456789,
These features are already available in the latest Customer Betas:

• Affinity Designer Customer Beta (1.7.0.3) (Mac)
• Affinity Designer Customer Beta - 1.7.0.184 (Win)

 

[catlover]

@MEB : Thank you for that.

Where do I put my request to get the guides working as they were in the --one before last-- Publisher Beta update ?
e..g. Drag while using any tool, lock/unlock with button in toolbar .....

The way they are now is only a slight improvement, rather like 2 steps forward > one step back. A real pity !!

As for the rest : great job, wel done !!

[eggsoft]

need to export to .ai by .afdesgin?i think so

[Alfred]

18 minutes ago, eggsoft said:

need to export to .ai by .afdesgin?i think so

AI uses a closed, proprietary format. The Affinity apps can’t even read the AI format, depending instead on the PDF stream which is included in an AI file when saved as PDF-compatible.

[PixelPest]

On 11/21/2018 at 5:47 PM, Rob123456789 said:

Any update on these features? Also, the video links no longer work. 

Just in case; this was somehow achievable via Transform already:

But how is going about "Rotate on Plane"?

 

Cheers

[Bri-Toon]

On 11/21/2018 at 11:47 AM, Rob123456789 said:

Any update on these features? Also, the video links no longer work. 

They don't work, because the beta is already out with those features in them. You can now do everything @PixelPest shows but manually.

[PixelPest]

7 minutes ago, Bri-Toon said:

They don't work, because the beta is already out with those features in them. You can now do everything @PixelPest shows but manually.

How you go about "Rotate on Plane"?

 

Cheers

[Ben]

1 hour ago, Bri-Toon said:

They don't work, because the beta is already out with those features in them. You can now do everything @PixelPest shows but manually.

What doesn’t work...?

[Bri-Toon]

6 hours ago, PixelPest said:

How you go about "Rotate on Plane"?

That I don't know. The video seems to show different toolbar buttons than the one currently in beta.

5 hours ago, Ben said:

What doesn’t work...?

It looks like I was just taking Rob's word for it. I should've checked them for myself. The videos work fine on my end.

[PixelPest]

On 12/26/2018 at 4:24 PM, Ben said:

What doesn’t work...?

I´m missing "Rotate on plane" right now. Is it in the latest beta or not? Simple question I guess.

 

Cheers

[lepr]

.

[PixelPest]

Great! Thank you Sir. Found it. 

Happy New Year! to you.

Cheers.

[Rick G]

On 1/12/2018 at 10:40 AM, Ben said:

 

Steady on.  Not a great way to motivate us.

 

Priorities doesn't necessary just mean what we think is important, but also what things have to be done in a certain order, and whether those things collectively also are more important than other features which need attention. It is also a balance of how much work is actually involved in what might appear to be a small feature.

You are doing a great job and these features are impressive. 

When someone mentions the features though, it seems there is a faction that wants "toy"  added and they get listened to a lot quicker. Remember the copy and paste fiasco where paste went into the upper left? I mentioned that it did not belong in a "Photoshop replacement" and someone quickly pointed out that Photo was no such lhing (a statment that flies directly into the meat of Serif advertising) spirit if not wording  Now rasterizing no longer trims to the canvas invalidating several of your video tutorials.

While you say that the road map is precise and carefully built, there also seems to be a Geppetto faction that not only confuse Photoshop with the old Printshop and other neat fun software, but seem to get almost instant action on requests for fun items while leaving other requests languishing.

I am in no way trying to rain on anyones parade and do appreciate the efforts. Perhapes you guys need to open a Geppetto Forum  and get all those ideas out and in one place. Some of them might be great ideas and or already have better ways to do the same thing. Rather than copy and paste to the upper left corner and break a lof of workflows, womone COULD learn the trans form panel. Yes?

=1 for a Geppetto forum 

[AuthorAuthor]

Rick—

 

Unintentional gaffe in your post: "womone".

Someone, right?

Because I originally scanned it as woman, and the woman behind me became offended.

"It's so easy even a someone could use it!"

Happy New Year,

 

Gary

 

[Alfred]

3 minutes ago, AuthorAuthor said:

Unintentional gaffe in your post: "womone".

Something (womthing?) tells me Rick bashed out that sentence just a little too quickly!

Quote

Rather than copy and paste to the upper left corner and break a lof of workflows, womone COULD learn the trans form panel.

 

[AuthorAuthor]

I'll make this UberSuggestion once a year, okay?
Hoping it isn't too late in the cycle—the length of which is unknown, right?—to suggest...

If you want to conquer the world with AD, the world is not limited to Adobe Illustrator. Two Windows drawing programs—MAGIX Xara Designer and CorelDRAW—have some features and tools worth investigating/adopting/stealing.

The foremost one I'd like to see implemented is a truly context-sensitive right-click pop up menu.

The fewer trips away from my cursor, the better—you work faster when your tools are close at hand, in the same way you get more meat at dinner when the serving plate is closer to your fork. </attempt at humorous analogy>

Play "what if" with me for just a moment? The Shape tool is new and a really terrific too for someone who began with vector art in 1991 and had a "Line tool, deal with it" tool. But what if all the shapes could be accessed by a right click menu when the shape tool is clicked on?

And "what if" there was one editing tool for lines and control points, whose purpose is determined by holding Alt/Opt, Cmd?Ctrl? I've always learned new curse words when working in Illustrator with lines. Direct Select, Change Curve, Add Point, ya-dah-dah. All those tools are covered in Xara with one tool, and the commands are repeated on the context menu bar, somewhat redundantly. Quality over quantity.

Again, just a suggestion.
I didn't get a pony for Christmas so I'm accustomed to disappointments.

 

Happy 2019.
Or Else.

—Gary

 

 

[Petar Petrenko]

29 minutes ago, AuthorAuthor said:

I'll make this UberSuggestion once a year, okay?
Hoping it isn't too late in the cycle—the length of which is unknown, right?—to suggest...

If you want to conquer the world with AD, the world is not limited to Adobe Illustrator. Two Windows drawing programs—MAGIX Xara Designer and CorelDRAW—have some features and tools worth investigating/adopting/stealing.

The foremost one I'd like to see implemented is a truly context-sensitive right-click pop up menu.

The fewer trips away from my cursor, the better—you work faster when your tools are close at hand, in the same way you get more meat at dinner when the serving plate is closer to your fork. </attempt at humorous analogy>

Play "what if" with me for just a moment? The Shape tool is new and a really terrific too for someone who began with vector art in 1991 and had a "Line tool, deal with it" tool. But what if all the shapes could be accessed by a right click menu when the shape tool is clicked on?

And "what if" there was one editing tool for lines and control points, whose purpose is determined by holding Alt/Opt, Cmd?Ctrl? I've always learned new curse words when working in Illustrator with lines. Direct Select, Change Curve, Add Point, ya-dah-dah. All those tools are covered in Xara with one tool, and the commands are repeated on the context menu bar, somewhat redundantly. Quality over quantity.

Again, just a suggestion.
I didn't get a pony for Christmas so I'm accustomed to disappointments.

 

Happy 2019.
Or Else.

—Gary

Yes, I agree.

I asked for this several times but without an answer. No one to pick up the phone.

Only one like in FreeHand instead of Pen Tool, Pencil Tool, Vector Brush Tool. In CorelDRAW you can delete control point with double click.

[Alfred]

47 minutes ago, AuthorAuthor said:

Play "what if" with me for just a moment? The Shape tool is new and a really terrific too for someone who began with vector art in 1991 and had a "Line tool, deal with it" tool. But what if all the shapes could be accessed by a right click menu when the shape tool is clicked on?

Isn’t the toolbar flyout quick enough for you, Gary? 

One of the features I particularly like in DrawPlus is the ability to select a QuickShape (a parametric shape like the ones created with the Shape Tools in the Affinity apps) and swap it with another one via the Context toolbar. For example, you might start out with a star but subsequently decide that you want the extra flexibility of a cog; in DP you can replace it in a couple of clicks, but in AD you have to draw a new shape, resize and position it appropriately, and delete the original.

[AuthorAuthor]

Thank you for a vote of confidence, Petar.

I will mull a suggestion around a lot of times before posting, because I need to keep in mind that the Windows version of Designer is almost two years younger than the version for Mac.

 

Use all three mouse buttons—I learned that the wheel can also be used as a button from other graphics programs.

Use the context menu for what it's been used for.

"Any process the takes the artist away from their work is an unnecessary distraction." —some Microsoft engineer

When I'm not laughing, I'm crying at some of the awkward stunts Adobe Systems has pulled over the years with graphical interface programs. WHY, in God's name, do you fold a brilliant little program, Adobe Dimensions, into Illustrator...and then run the whole thing from within a proxy box?! A proxy box. Why didn't they go full bore and make it a command line feature?

Seriously, and not to rant at all (this forum is fun!); designers eat, breathe, think and work visually. If there is a short(er) graphical way of doing something—short of being bizarre—you just do it.

 

Thanks mightily!

 

—gare

 

[Petar Petrenko]

There is, again, a little suggestion for the Designer's Tool bar: It can be used for other two apps, too.

There are second level tools (like Node Tool, Corner Tool, Fill Tool, Transparency Tool, Vector Crop Tool, Color Picker Tool) which you can't use directly to create an object but after that. So, their place is on the Context toolbar assigned to an appropriate tool.

[AuthorAuthor]

4 minutes ago, Eℓƒяє∂ said:

Isn’t the toolbar flyout quick enough for you, Gary? 

One of the features I particularly like in DrawPlus is the ability to select a QuickShape (a parametric shape like the ones created with the Shape Tools in the Affinity apps) and swap it with another one via the Context toolbar. For example, you might start out with a star but subsequently decide that you want the extra flexibility of a cog; in DP you can replace it in a couple of clicks, but in AD you have to draw a new shape, resize and position it appropriately, and delete the original.

No, Eℓƒяє∂, the toolbar flyout actually isn't a fast enough method to create a fast basic shape. At least not for someone who nursed their way up to compound paths on CorelDRAW. Again, I believe it's incumbent upon the brilliant designers who engineered an award-winning program to check the competition, and more often than not challenge themselves to a "What's the quickest way?" mental contest. 

Metaphorically here, to borrow from advertising slang, the Rectangle tool, or the Line tool (generic terms here) are parity tools, every program has one. And if you can't improve on the way they work, improve upon how quickly they can be accessed and executed.

 

I'd offer the palette treatment for shapes, as Corel has had since the 1990s. Not to be critical of a hard-workng company, but Corel Corp. has too many redundant features. It's great to be able to do something three different ways, but entirely unnecessary if two of the ways are cumbersome and just plain dumb.

And I realize I've been underwhelming in these discussions and I'll still use AD if they don't change a single thing.

My spouse Barbara tells me that's what true love is.

 

 

 

[Petar Petrenko]

CorlDRAW has a briliant way of creating pies and arcs from Elipse Tool.

[AuthorAuthor]

5 minutes ago, Petar Petrenko said:

There is, again, a little suggestion for the Designer's Tool bar: It can be used for other two apps, too.

There are second level tools (like Node Tool, Corner Tool, Fill Tool, Transparency Tool, Vector Crop Tool, Color Picker Tool) which you can't use directly to create an object but after that. So, their place is on the Context toolbar assigned to an appropriate tool.

Yes, yes, and yes! One investment in time, three uses for the finished idea!

"Second-level" tools, modifiers for appropriate shapes (shapes with control points in this example) can be executed from a Context menu entry—also from a tool that changes behaviour by holding modifiers keys (Zoom tool +Alt/Opt=Zoom out), and also, also by double-clicking, right-clicking and so on.

Let's call the tool that changes node function a Node tool, okay? When you double-click a smooth node, it becomes a cusp node in Xara Designer. I realize you have a function that converts a node property when you Alt/Opt+hold on a node control handle to toggle between smooth and cusp, but to get picky here, that's one more step in the process the artist needs to perform to reach their goal.

 

Little things add up.

At least they do in politics.

—g

[Rick G]

2 hours ago, Eℓƒяє∂ said:

Something (womthing?) tells me Rick bashed out that sentence just a little too quickly!

 

No Rick's eyesight is having serious issues and even the lines under the spell check is getting hard to read. Apparently that is a sign of a lack of intelligence of education

Sorry if I offended anyone. As soon as I post this I am off to fight with insurance companies 

[Petar Petrenko]

12 minutes ago, AuthorAuthor said:

Yes, yes, and yes! One investment in time, three uses for the finished idea!

"Second-level" tools, modifiers for appropriate shapes (shapes with control points in this example) can be executed from a Context menu entry—also from a tool that changes behaviour by holding modifiers keys (Zoom tool +Alt/Opt=Zoom out), and also, also by double-clicking, right-clicking and so on.

Let's call the tool that changes node function a Node tool, okay? When you double-click a smooth node, it becomes a cusp node in Xara Designer. I realize you have a function that converts a node property when you Alt/Opt+hold on a node control handle to toggle between smooth and cusp, but to get picky here, that's one more step in the process the artist needs to perform to reach their goal.

 

Little things add up.

At least they do in politics.

—g

Changing the node types could be done by modifier keys CTRL, ALT and SHIFT.

Double click on a line segment creates a node, double click on a node, deletes it.

Drawing a line with mouse dragging creates a curve, when CTRL is pressed it starts a line from that point -> FreeHand.