Affinity Publisher Equation Maker?

[Lurien]

I've used Affinity Designer to make lab reports for a couple years now, but always had two main issues (equation writing and having to import screenshots of tables). While you can imagine my joy at Publisher fixing the latter problem, I still think having an equation maker would be a huge step forward and a massive leg up over InDesign. Think of all the boring-looking papers being cranked out right now that could be so much better if only they were made in AP. Hell, maybe it can even tempt the LaTeX faithful...?

[Jowday]

My gut feeling is that it wont happen. At least not for several years. Also - the lack of a plug-in architecture in Affinity apps makes it virtually impossible for third part vendors to add value to the Affinity line with plugins - like the suggestions here - so it has to come from Serif:

Fortunately LaTeX is a fine free, deeply specialized platform independent companion for any program that can import PDF/EPS figures. If you can figure out how to layout your figures. Or am I wrong? 

[Lurien]

@Wafer  I can import an equation to AP as a non-editable vector, but there's no wrap setting for doing this without manually adjusting line separation:

 

texttexttexttexttexttexttexttexttext

texttexttexttexttexttexttexttexttext

                    [EQUA]

texttexttext [TION] texttexttexttext

texttexttexttexttexttexttexttexttext

 

Besides, whenever I do try any wrap of an imported equation the entire program crashes. I'll make a post about it on the bug forum.

[dominik]

48 minutes ago, Lurien said:

@Wafer  I can import an equation to AP as a non-editable vector, but there's no wrap setting for doing this without manually adjusting line separation:

 

texttexttexttexttexttexttexttexttext

texttexttexttexttexttexttexttexttext

                    [EQUA]

texttexttext [TION] texttexttexttext

texttexttexttexttexttexttexttexttext

 

Besides, whenever I do try any wrap of an imported equation the entire program crashes. I'll make a post about it on the bug forum.

I am not @Wafer,

but I hope I can help to point you to the wrap settings:
Look for 'page over lines' icon in the toolbar when the imported file is selected (see screenshot).

 

There are different options. 'Jump' should work for you.

d.

[Lurien]

@dominik  Hello! Jump does not allow the picture and text to exist on the same line, and in this case I only want one line to be sharing the horizontal space with the image (so square/tight/whatever doesn't work either). See attached for what I'd like as a wrap mode.

[dominik]

4 minutes ago, Lurien said:

@dominik  Hello! Jump does not allow the picture and text to exist on the same line, and in this case I only want one line to be sharing the horizontal space with the image (so square/tight/whatever doesn't work either). See attached for what I'd like as a wrap mode.

Hi @Lurien,

now I understand. Yes, you are right, this is not possible at the moment. I think anchored images will bring this functionality.

d.

[Lurien]

@dominik  We can only hope for inline anchoring...

[dominik]

9 hours ago, Lurien said:

@dominik  We can only hope for inline anchoring...

Hi @Lurien,

I do more than hope, I am confident that is coming. It is just not clear when 

d.

[Mensch Mesch]

Hey @Lurien,

I have the same problem since I work with Affinity Designer/ Publisher. An embedded equation maker would be great and may be a unique selling point. 

Until then I will use this workaround:

I use this LaTex equation editor (https://www.codecogs.com/latex/eqneditor.php) and export the equations as SVG files. You can then simply import the equation as a vector object.

[sfriedberg]

I'd like to add a voice to the request for equation support, as almost every technical document I prepare has at least a few equations, and some documents are very heavy in equations.

I'd be willing to live without an interactive equation builder if AffPub allowed me to place MathML files in a frame, with proper formatting of the MathML content, of course, not just dumping the raw text into the frame.  MathML is a mature open format, and there are lots of tools to work with it (which is why it's not essential to have equation builder support inside AffPub).  MathML 3 support would be nice, but MathML 2 would be sufficient for what I work on.

There should be the same sort of link/embed/refresh options for placing MathML as for placing text or images.

It would be nice to have equations and text flow "inline" within a single frame (or sequence of linked frames), but I could get my work done with separate equation and text frames, especially if the equation frames (like image frames) offered the standard text wrap settings when placed over a text frame. [Added in edit] And, of course, it should be possible to pin an equation frame to a text location so that it will follow the text flow, just as image frames can.

Edited March 6, 2020 by sfriedberg
Added comment

[Lurien]

@Mensch Mesch @sfriedberg I use LaTeXiT and copy as PDF with outlined fonts. Once it’s pasted into affinity, I group all that stuff together and move it where it needs to go. This way, there’s no need to manage downloads. It’s simply copy and paste.

[sfriedberg]

What I am currently doing is exporting SVG from external equation builders and dropping the SVG into AffPub.  By linking rather than embedding, it's not too painful to update AffPub if changes are made externally.

[Simm]

Apple has informed me that they are dropping support for iBook Author soon and advising authors to switch to pages. Both iBook Author and pages have a small LATex type drop down editor available which I use extensively (option-command-E). Something along those lines would be greatly appreciated in Affinity Design and Publisher.

[v_kyr]

I use typora for quick math turnarounds here on Mac/Win ...

 

[ruzsakrisztian]

It's been two years since Lurien wrote the first post. Do you know about any change? Is the "equation maker" a priority for Serif?

[FJFranklin]

Just adding my voice to choir. I would dearly love to be able to edit equations. I've taken to saving the LaTeX source in offscreen text boxes in case I need to edit & regenerate, but it is a hassle.

[toniclife]

Oh yes, a proper equation editor would allow me to leave MS Word and MathType behind. It would really be great to have on in AffPub and/or AffDes!