Affinity Scripting/Automation

[Sebastian Konczak]

Hi guys,

 

I think Affinity is the future of design software. The one thing keeping me from switching from Adobe to Affinity is the scripting/automation feature. I have a bunch of scripts running in Photoshop and Illustrator and can't think about switching to Affinity and doing things manually again. You probably got this request earlier, but I'm just signaling the importance of automation/scripting in design software

 

I hope this feature will appear soon

All the best from Poland,

 

Sebastian from Keyshorts

[dominik]

6 hours ago, Sebastian Konczak said:

I have a bunch of scripts running in Photoshop and Illustrator and can't think about switching to Affinity and doing things manually again.

 

Hello @Sebastian Konczak,

 

welcome to the forum.

 

I know that the developers are very interested in real user scenarios.

Can you perhaps describe in more detail those scripts that you are using in Photoshop and Illustrator that you can't replicate in Affinity software?

 

Thanks in advance 

d.

[saivan]

I'll describe one, I frequently have to make a grid. Say I want to make a grid with 10 x 10 rows, and then I want to label all of the gridlines so that I get 1, 2, 3, 4, ... I can make the grid pretty easily right now with the transform repeating duplicate feature you have, but I have to manually enter the number... So my current solution is to just open up illustrator and do it there. I want to cut illustrator out of my workflow entirely, because affinity does almost everything else.

 

Let me list a few:

- Auto incrementing on copy (eg, designing a calendar, designing a grid as I mentioned)

- Drawing complex shapes, I could use the pen tool by hand, but what if I wanted to draw a space filling curve like: (http://www.creativeai.net/posts/pm8peiv5Q4j7A6C3P/hilbert-space-filling-curve-abstract-geometric-art) or (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-filling_curve), I don't see myself doing that by hand , my current solution is to write code to make an svg and import it into designer, but I shouldn't need to go to an external tool for that.

- Importing data. I've frequently had to make charts from data, it would be so nice to design a nice data point as a layer in designer, and just automatically duplicate the layer and move it to the correct place, creating a complex data plot - again, I'd prefer to use designer to an off the shelf graphing tool because I can make better looking graphics that I can control visually and then let the program take over at the right time.

- Generating fractals. I know this one is quite cliche, but it would be pretty cool to take a layer; make a symbol from it and automatically use it to populate a fractal.

 

I have a tendency to make mathematical artworks. But most of all, I could package up any code I write and offer it as a plugin for the application. Allowing for a host of extended functionality.

[MikeSalisbury]

Mostly what I want from scripting is to be able to treat Designer as a rendering library to build beautiful illustrations. For instance, I use Designer to build a leaderboard for a game league. The leaderboard looks great, but it requires a good bit of work to update week to week. It would be so nice to be able to move elements around and fill ratings in via a data-powered script rather than by hand. 

I'm imagining something along the lines of Google's Apps Script where the apps expose an object model that represents the document and the components within it, but development of a cross-platform scripting system seems a bit heavyweight. I'd personally be more than happy with a platform-specific interface (e.g. Apple's Scripting Support), since I don't need my scripts to work on Windows.

[Peter Flint]

I'm a mediocre scripter at best, but have had some success with model builders in other software, specifically QGIS and Vectorworks, which allow users to model and then automate repetitive workflows. This has been really helpful for interfacing with more experienced scripters, and my understanding from talking to the developers is that often then user-generated content leads to new plug-in workflows for each application. 

I'm currently trying to illustrate various root systems for different plant species, whose geometry follows fractal rules, and am finding the process tedious enough in Designer that I switched to doing it by hand and just roll with an edited version in Photo. In this application, I'm wondering if brushes could also follow scripting rules, ie for a given length the line weight decreases by a certain ratio (in the case of roots 11/16). I can do this by creating a symbol and using power duplicate workflows, but it loses the randomness found in a natural situation. 

Anyway, adding my support to the request.

PWF

[Verdon Vaillancourt]

I use (js )scripts in Illustrator to generate calendar grids, generate arrows, etc. I'm REALLY going to miss the calendar script!

[Ad Morris]

Just weighing in here to say that this is badly needed. Scripting and automation are super important in getting things done fast and staying competitive in today's marketplace. The Affinity apps are far more stable and user-friendly than PS and AI, but like other people have mentioned I'm forced to keep them installed for use cases when I need to use scripts. I'd much rather just have a Javascript or Python API for your tools to be able to write and run scripts for. Please consider making this a reality team Serif.