Linking placed images

[ronnyb]

Does the latest AD beta support linked documents (vs. embedded documents) yet? I ask since APub beta does...

[Patrick Connor]

Affinity Designer is unlikely to allow for linked images, and it has no resource management

[Mark Oehlschlager]

@Patrick Connor

Why is it unlikely for Designer to manage both linked and embedded images?

[Matthias]

Publisher files can be opened in Designer. So I guess Designer should be able to deal with Publisher’s linked images, just like Designer is able to deal with text wrapping, a feature it does not have but Publisher does.

BTW, to me the Publisher linking feature is half-hearted at the moment. “Linked” documents are embedded anyway, blowing the Publisher file size up to levels that are impractical to deal with. If you need the same (huge) picture in multiple designs, say for a corporate design project, you end up with multiple identical (huge) pictures, each one embedded in its Publisher file. If you use it twice within your Publisher file it will even be embedded twice (unlike in Keynote where every external document is embedded but multiple instances of this embedded document point to the first embedded original).

I have several 5 to 10 page Publisher documents here with each one gobbeling up more than 500 megabytes, just because I use some high resolution pictures due to output size. SSD space is quickly runnig out this way as I also have to keep the original files. The current single advantage of document linking is that Publisher recognizes changes made to the original document and prompts you to change the embedded copy.

Designer should also allow to point to images instead of embedding them. The same situation applys here, too.

[Patrick Connor]

Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher will be able to open each others files, but clearly some features are only going to be made available in one and not the other. Otherwise we may as well only sell one application.

Documents with many large images will be best created in Publisher to keep the file size down, or modified in Affinity Publisher to change files from embedded to linked using the resource manager.

[Matthias]

Yes, featuritis, I see what you mean, Patrick.

Alas, the way linking is implemented in Publisher right now it does not keep the file size down. Or maybe in the meantime Serif has decided to do document linking by pointing to an external original (it was originally not clear if this was going to happen).

I think every software that potentially deals with big media files like Final Cut Pro, Motion, Logic X, InDesign, Tumult Hype, FreeHand (RIP), to name a few, should at least have this option — and this applies to Designer as well. I wouldn’t regard linking to external files as an overlapping and cannibalizing feature, just as an obvious necessity for this type of tool.

(And by the way: I love both, Designer and Publisher.)

[Mark Oehlschlager]

@Matthias

Agreed. The key use case differentiator for Publisher should be the need to layout books and long documents. For Designer, the need to produce charts, illustrations, and layout for simple print collateral (i.e., posters, stationery, etc.) and UI designs for apps and websites. 

But even as these specific use cases would differentiate Publisher from Designer, still there are features that both tools should share (e.g., threaded text frames, capability to manage linked and/or embedded images., etc.).

 

[LCamachoDesign]

10 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

Affinity Designer is unlikely to allow for linked images, and it has no resource management

I presume the same goes for Affinity Photo? No linked images?

[iaing]

See this in another thread:

 

[ronnyb]

Latest AD beta asked me if I wanted to Link a file since the embedded data was getting large. I would like to Link another file I placed previosuly, but I cannot. This is not intuitive nor a best practices method of creating files. Linked files are a MUST for Designer. Please bring it over from APub, even if it's in a less comprehensive / more limited manner than APub.

Thanks for all you do.

On 12/18/2018 at 2:12 AM, Patrick Connor said:

Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher will be able to open each others files, but clearly some features are only going to be made available in one and not the other. Otherwise we may as well only sell one application.

Documents with many large images will be best created in Publisher to keep the file size down, or modified in Affinity Publisher to change files from embedded to linked using the resource manager.

[Carlos NZ]

As a professional designer I believe Affinity Development team should consider including the image linking feature. This is a must have for any professional designer, it is a very basic feature widely used in the design community.