My quick review of Publisher Beta .128 on MacOS

[Uncle Mez]

Coming back to Publisher beta .128 now !
@AdamW the installation was fluid and without issues at all (like previous beta version for mac) but was a bit faster than beta .58
Software start is even faster.
Yeah ! the convert to frame picture is working very well; i'm happy to be able to create smart tool of any form and simply change it to picture frame and clip a picture to it and obtain an artistic thing. and still be able to tweak by adding more points, radius, and even curve edges; this is simply very good move.

Here something very pleasing is the availability of preset and preset manager for smart tools... it's simply nice and time saving but i have a question for this: what file extension is recognized as a preset that can be imported as smart tool preset in APub ?

Also i'm now able to easily place geometry section in my toolbar (couldn't do that with .58 at all); yet Another question: could it be possible to also have Geometry and Transform & Rotate as group ? this should be like you did with the alignment group which is now offering much more options that saves lives; i believe making it possible for the geometry section of tool to also become a group will make it better ... also please make it possible to have live preview on each of the geometry function (placing my mouse over subtract should show me how the it will look like without me clicking) this will help people making up their mind and figuring it out before applying cuts or adds using the geometry section.

Yeah Export now includes bleeds as you promised, big thanks !
The Export persona is still ... and need to be improved to fit with what APub is becoming.

The same file/project created with .58 loads much faster with .128, this is a good move.

What file is recognized to be a table format that can be imported in APub ?

This is my quick review of Affinity Publisher Beta .128 on MacOS, maybe i will give the windows version a try in coming days.

Blessings !

[Patrick Connor]

@Arnaud Mez

Thank you for your input, but please can we keep the announcement threads to download and installation issues to make sure that genuine reports are not overlooked. I have split your post into it's own thread, and you may prefer to make your suggestions in the suggestions forum.

6 hours ago, Arnaud Mez said:

What file is recognized to be a table format that can be imported in APub ?

None that I am aware of yet.

[MEB]

6 hours ago, Arnaud Mez said:

Here something very pleasing is the availability of preset and preset manager for smart tools... it's simply nice and time saving but i have a question for this: what file extension is recognized as a preset that can be imported as smart tool preset in APub ?

The file extension is .aftoolpresets

[Uncle Mez]

7 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

@Arnaud Mez

Thank you for your input, but please can we keep the announcement threads to download and installation issues to make sure that genuine reports are not overlooked. I have split your post into it's own thread, and you may prefer to make your suggestions in the suggestions forum.

None that I am aware of yet.

My mistake, sorry @Patrick Connor and thank you for splitting this to another thread; i believe @Bri-Toon also have interresting things that he would had here that will help a lot !

[Uncle Mez]

7 hours ago, MEB said:

The file extension is .aftoolpresets

Thank you so much @MEB for this update.

1- where can we find it ?
2- will Serif make it possible for us to create things like that using stuffs from over the internet ? importing or creating from selection like it is the case for styles etc.
3- can i save a precise form i've created using the smart tools as an .aftoolpresets ?
4- i've noticed copy paste from other softwares (like logoist 3 3.1.1) to APub  doesn't seems to work even if i insist selecting Paste from clipboard will this get updated?
5- Will you add curve functionality to the node tool on APub ? it's a nightmare at this stage to manage rounded corners with the node tool in APub
6- Will the live link and interaction be maintained and improved when compatible version of ADesigner and APhoto will be released ? i mean this is a must to have things live edited
7- Will Serif make it possible for use Luminar and Aurora HDR as fully working plugins for APub (and APhoto) ?

Thank you for your lovely move and actions to make things clear for us.

Blessings !

[Bri-Toon]

On 9/18/2018 at 1:10 PM, Arnaud Mez said:

i believe @Bri-Toon also have interresting things that he would had here that will help a lot !

Like the fact that you can edit embedded Designer or Photo files right in Publisher by double clicking them. It's probably old news now, but it's still a lifesaver.

[Uncle Mez]

Well i don't know hot change the topic title so  just had it here.
Beta 133 is sooooooo nice i love it the way the place tool react, now there is more ways to deal with pictures/photos linked or embedded.
On the other hand, text tool are much fluid now, the switch between tools using shortcuts now is working without issue (it was simply buggy on previous versions).

there is something i don't understand, the transparency tool is not working as it used to (with beta 128) it's really bizarre, now to get a good transparency level on picture placed using the picture frame tool i need to apply transparency on the picture layer then also on the top layer which is the frame itself; otherwise, only applying transparency to one (frame tool) result in darkish thing and to the other one (picture itself) result in blurry thing.
Please can this be fixed to become usable again like it was under beta 128 ? if it's a new concept of transparency please explain so we can take note and adjust way of working.

Well color management is better (when printing the project) than what it was with previous Beta.
Still, the node tool of publisher is not yet managing nodes curved with the curve tool on Affinity Designer and due to the fact we cannot "edit with..." yet it makes it a bit tricky to process, not impossible at all but time and effort consuming.

... I see the rotate anti clockwise thing ... what it is for ?
... Here my smile goes to the new create preset menu, it's life and time saving and ... you have started to make the dream comes true.
... PDF, PNG and TIFF (file extension i use the most for export) are now less blurry than previous version, please tweak it again for better.
... SVG (created on other vector softwares) import is working better and there is no more that darkish shadow that appeared on beta .58 (like it was the case on old ADesigner and APhoto). now need to see if other softwares can open sag created with Publisher without any issue.
... Node tool is better and i really enjoy those pink snapping line that appears, they are very helpful even for hand drawing exercices, please don't remove them but make them better and bring them into ADesigner as well (with more...).
... Also there is new Snap icon that appears on the top bar, it displays the very same functions as the old we make use of ... what is the plan for and with this ?

In waiting for more light from you guys, i wish you Stay Blessed.