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The quickshapes seem to have been renamed tools. Well, alright.

But there are a lot fewer now.

Oh.

I find that amongst others the "three dimensional" quickshapes, the Quick Cube and the Quick Cylinder seem to have gone!

I was hoping that as well as those there would be some others, such as a Quick Cone.

Ah, Quickshapes, there are so many more possibilities that could be added.

William Overington

Thursday 27 December 2018

 

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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There never were "quickshapes" in the Affinity products.

This is not a continuation of PagePlus, it is a completely new product line, starting basically from scratch.

PagePlus was around for a long time to gain the features it had - don't expect parity any time soon.

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Yes, there are fewer to choose from, but most of the Shape Tools in the Affinity apps are more flexible than the corresponding QuickShapes in the old ‘Plus’ applications. Take a look, for example, at the variations possible with the Cog Tool, and compare the results with those of the old Quick Cog. There are also some nice snapping options for achieving right angles or symmetry in the Affinity shapes.

I’ve long regarded the new Shape Tools as being ‘QuickShapes on steroids’.

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There never were "quickshapes" in the Affinity products.

Well, in Microsoft PowerPoint in the late 1990s such items were called autoshapes.

Serif called them quickshapes in DrawPlus and PagePlus.

Then Serif referred to each individual quickshape as a Quick <name> so for example, Quick Rectangle, Quick Polygon.

So, alright, they are not called quickshapes in Affinity Publisher Public Beta.

Yet they are clearly the same sort of thing as quickshapes and referring to them as tools is far less descriptive as tools can cover all sorts of things whereas the word 'quickshape' is more specific as to the intended meaning.

This is not a continuation of PagePlus, it is a completely new product line, starting basically from scratch.

Yes, that is fine. I have already found two features that I felt were missing in PagePlus implemented in Affinity Publisher.

PagePlus was around for a long time to gain the features it had - don't expect parity any time soon.

Well, this is a public beta test, so mentioning that I would like more of these … tools … and naming two that were in PagePlus and suggesting one that was not will hopefully get those suggestions onto an agenda for consideration at a meeting. Whether they go forward or are rejected is a matter for  the meeting. At times when using PagePlus I have thought that it would be nice if some particular quickshape were available - I appreciate that it takes time and effort to produce a new … tool … and that some will be much easier to implement than others.

The reason that I would like a Quick Cone is that one can then have designs with shapes placed on a plane.

I am reminded of the layout in the ViOS program from the early 2000s. That was an amazing system and the first time I learned of its existence and saw an image exported from it I was amazed.

https://computer.howstuffworks.com/vios.htm

The title of the forum is "Discussions and Suggestions for Affinity Publisher Beta on Desktop" and I have made some suggestions.

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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22 minutes ago, William Overington said:

The reason that I would like a Quick Cone is that one can then have designs with shapes placed on a plane.

You’ve piqued my curiosity, William. Please elaborate!

24 minutes ago, William Overington said:

https://computer.howstuffworks.com/vios.htm

I wonder why that doesn’t appear as a clickable link in your post. :/

Anyway, here’s the URL again, but this time as a link: https://computer.howstuffworks.com/vios.htm

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7 minutes ago, William Overington said:

Thank you.

I presume you’re referring to my provision of a clickable link — for which you’re welcome — but when you replied I was busy editing my post to add a request. As I’ve hinted, I’m interested in learning more about your Quick Cone (or Cone Tool) suggestion.

Quote

Yet they are clearly the same sort of thing as quickshapes and referring to them as tools is far less descriptive as tools can cover all sorts of things whereas the word 'quickshape' is more specific as to the intended meaning.

They aren’t just ‘Tools’, they’re ‘Shape Tools’. ;)

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Hello Alfred

You’ve piqued my curiosity, William. Please elaborate!

Thank you.

Here is a link to the sort of thing I have in mind, as well as ViOS-style images.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocks_world

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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Whereas with the Polygon tool one has the ability to rotate through an angle, I suppose that with a Cube tool there could be controls for roll, pitch and yaw as was done with ImpactPlus.

I suppose that one could have Cylinder tool, Cone Tool, Pyramid Tool, Dodecahedron Tool and Cuboctahedron Tool as well, all with roll, pitch and yaw capability.

Then there could be Jewel Tool.

William

 

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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6 minutes ago, William Overington said:

Cuboctahedron Tool

What’s a cuboctahedron to the uninitiated? :/

Quote

Then there could be Jewel Tool.

They’d have to call it a Jool Tool, surely! :P

All the indications are that Serif has no plans to add any 3D ‘shapes’.

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What’s a cuboctahedron to the uninitiated?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuboctahedron

All the indications are that Serif has no plans to add any 3D ‘shapes’.

What are those indications please?

3D 'shapes' could be like the PagePlus Quick Cube and Quick Cylinder in that once the handles have been adjusted, the image is fixed in the document.

However, a further step may be possible.

I remember that some years ago Adobe introduced support for 3d models within Adobe Reader. There was a free PDF document which was a demonstration. One could open the PDF document in the (free) Adobe Reader and within the text there was an illustration which was the 3d model and one could rotate it. It was good.

Years ago Serif produced ImpactPlus.

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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Is there anything else, what you are expecting from an initial(!) release of a publishing application? 3D models — why not. But what about cooking coffee? Or playing guitar? Ok. Playing guitar may be postponed to version 2, if the Affinity coders are THAT lazy. But cooking coffee … :) :)

I am sure, we‘ll find lots of other „must haves“ for our vendor‘s tray. :)

In other words: Why, oh why should a publishing application integrate and allow building all kinds of thinkable elements, when it is so easy to create them in a different, more specialised app and place it in „Publisher“?

The whole world in one app — nice idea, but who wants, needs and finally is willing to pay for such a dinosaur? 

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2 hours ago, William Overington said:

> All the indications are that Serif has no plans to add any 3D ‘shapes’.

What are those indications please?

There’s one in @Ben‘s answer to a question I asked 2½ years ago:

 

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mac_heibu wrote::

> Is there anything else, what you are expecting from an initial(!) release of a publishing application?

I am expecting nothing, but I have already been pleasantly surprised by what I have found. PDF/A capability would be nice if that is possible please.

> 3D models — why not.

Indeed.

> But what about cooking coffee?

No.

> Or playing guitar?

Whenever I read of a suggestion I like to think it through, just in case it is a serendipitous springboard for a novel train of thought that might lead to something interesting.

I tried to play guitar but I could never move my hands fast enough, even for strumming along. I see people strumming along, quickly moving their fingers from chord to chord, yet I never managed to do that.

So, thinking of what you wrote, I wondered if Affinity Publisher could have a facility with, say, six panels, each of which react to a mouseover. One panel, at the left, could be for start recording, and one panel, at the right, could be for stop recording, and another panel a bit further to the right could be for replay recording. Recording is to a .wav file, which can be exported within a PDF document direct from Affinity Publisher.

In the middle are three panels, labelled C, G and F if I remember correctly, such that if, while in recording mode, there is a mouseover event, an acoustic guitar strum in that key, an electronic feature built-in to Affinity Publisher, is copied into the .wav file, with a gentle decay that is only overridden by the next strum. So with just a mouseover an end user could 'play guitar'.

In PagePlus Serif included the facility to be able to insert an externally generated .wav file and produce a PDF document that contains the .wav file.

For example, I produced the following in 2014. It is deposited in the British Library.

www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/the_mobile_art_shop.pdf

In order to play the sound it may be necessary to download to local storage and then use Adobe Reader.

> Ok. Playing guitar may be postponed to version 2, if the Affinity coders are THAT lazy. But cooking coffee … :) :)

Well, I am sure that they are not lazy.

The suggestion for the Guitar Tool suggested above could possibly happen. For example, maybe there is a new programmer in the Affinity team and the person is to be given a learning project, something not needed as such, but done so that the person learns how to produce software of the required quality under the guidance of experienced staff. So if the person were given the Guitar Tool as a project then if he or she did get it to work well then maybe it could be included in Affinity Publisher.

> I am sure, we‘ll find lots of other „must haves“ for our vendor‘s tray. :)

Well, if we are all creative. The fact of the matter is that if you had not suggested playing guitar then I would not have mused on the idea of Affinity Publisher playing guitar and my idea of the Guitar Tool would not have happened and it would not have been published in this thread.

> In other words: Why, oh why should a publishing application integrate and allow building all kinds of thinkable elements, when it is so easy to create them in a different, more specialised app and place it in „Publisher“?

Because they can then be included in a PDF document that can be published and then deposited with the British Library.

> The whole world in one app — nice idea, but who wants, needs and finally is willing to pay for such a dinosaur? 

The idea of a Dinosaur Tool sounds good, like the polygon can have different numbers of sides there could be different types of dinosaurs all in outline. I remember that DrawPlus 7 years ago had some Quick Transport and some Quick Woodcuts.

Here are links to a couple of PDF documents that I produced years ago using some Quick Transport items.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/cars.PDF

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/electric.PDF

It would be good if it were possible to have a Tree Tool which produces a variety of outline trees like those in the architectural designs part of DrawPlus and have the ability to fill the trunk one colour and the foliage another colour.

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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6 minutes ago, William Overington said:

Interesting, but I would never cut a book myself.

Not even a faulty copy which has been returned to the publisher and would otherwise be pulped? :/

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40 minutes ago, Eℓƒяє∂ said:

Not even a faulty copy which has been returned to the publisher and would otherwise be pulped? :/ 

That has never arisen for me, but I would not do it. I have always respected books and handled them with care.

William

 

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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6 minutes ago, William Overington said:

That has never arisen for me, but I would not do it.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

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Ah, I have found it.

https://emojipedia.org/shrug/

I tried entering the into Google Translate and it detected Japanese and gave To as the translation.

Bing translate detected Japansese and gave Star as the translation.

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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