Affinity Designer Customer Beta (1.2.0.24498)

[MattP]

Purpose: Improvements, Features, Fixes

Status: Beta

Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer

Mac App Store: Not submitted

Download: https://s3.amazonaws...stomer Beta.dmg

 

To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.

 

Improvements, Features, Fixes

 

- If you do not use the new Grid options then your save documents will still load in Affinity Designer 1.2 (Mac App Store).

- Added user-definable per-object blend gamma. What does this mean? - Take a look below!

- Fix for JPEGs incorrectly appearing on corrupt backgrounds when exported from Export Persona.

- Added 'New from Clipboard' functionality.

- Fix for slices appearing at incorrect size when opened from an old document created in previous versions of Designer with the 'retina' checkbox enabled in the Document Setup.

- Default to opening RGB EPS documents.

- Fixes for miscellaneous issues with moving windows between Retina and non-Retina monitors.

- Keyboard shortcuts added for swapping line and fill (Shift+X) and setting No Fill ('/' key).

- PDF export improvements.

- Added context menu to right-click on objects in the Layers Panel.

- Added Cmd modifier to erase in Pixel tool.

- Miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements.

 

 

Blend Gamma Changes:

We spent years writing our own rendering engine, so we may as well add some fancy stuff just because we can... I've added the ability to choose the blend-space gamma of any object. This is available from the Blend Options panel which is the little cog shape button on the Layers panel. You now have the power to control the blend-space used for every object, so you could set the gamma to 1.0 for linear-RGB blending (for drawing realistic fire, for example), 2.2 for sRGB-blending, etc. PhotoShop has the ability to draw all text objects using a different blend gamma (which they default to 1.45) because it looks nicer. Unfortunately, in PhotoShop it's application-wide and is therefore potentially different for you versus the person you send the file to (if you or they have decided to change the option) - so we made it per-object so you can control how each item looks. Here's an example of setting different blend gammas and the effects it produces:

 

 

You can see that something as simple as black text on a white background looks 'nicer' at blend gamma around 1.45 so I've made it automatically set this blend gamma onto newly-created text objects. This default is editable from the Preferences -> Tools section so if you don't like it, it's easy to alter. You can also see how certain colour combinations and opacity show large differences (see the semi-transparent red on green areas and look how differently the colours appear between the different blend gammas).

 

We've added this simply because we want you to be in control of what you get and for you to have the ability to make great looking content. Details matter and this is something that not many other applications can provide because they aren't in control of their renderer.

 

At present it doesn't work for any object with Layer Effects, but we will fix this for next time. It's also only appropriate for RGB documents - we'll disable the control for other colour formats soon.

[Narlei Moreira]

- Added 'New from Clipboard' functionality.

 

Wonderful, Thank's!

[deeds]

 

 

- Added context menu to right-click on objects in the Layers Panel.

 

THANK YOU!!!

[deeds]

What does "blend gamma" actually change in the calculation process?

 

Starting with something super basic, like black text on a white background, how is anything above 1 even visibly different if the blend mode is "Normal"?

 

Surely black text on a white background can't' be more black... it's black, already.

[MattP]

What does "blend gamma" actually change in the calculation process?

 

Starting with something super basic, like black text on a white background, how is anything above 1 even visibly different if the blend mode is "Normal"?

 

Surely black text on a white background can't' be more black... it's black, already.

 

The black bits are definitely just still black - no change there... it's just all the other transparent bits (from the antialiased edges or if you've applied opacity to your object) that will look different by blending in a different blend space. 50% transparent black (RGB 0,0,0) blended onto white with a 2.2 gamma will be RGB(127,127,127) - but if you blended it using a different blend gamma then it would be lighter or darker depending on the gamma chosen.

[MEB]

It works great Matt. This coupled with an anti-aliasing gamma ramp will be amazing! 

I'm so happy with this beta  ^_^

[Achim63]

Very welcome additions, thank you! Especially important for me personally: backward compatibility and "new from clipboard".

The gamma adjustment seems quite effective as well, it will probably be used a lot by web "pixel pushers".

[hevonen]

Interestingly the use of linear gamma is quite a must for VFX artists so it might make AD useful for Nuke/Fusion folks too (there's a Mac version of Fusion in the making). And while AD doesn't do moving pictures many effects in games and animations are differently mutilated looping still images.

[Hokusai]

Glad to se the contextual menu (right + click or control + click) on the Layers Panel! Way to go guys, now only if you could add a "Hide/Show all" with a keystroke, I would be in heaven!

Thanks, keep up the good work!

Hokusai

[00Ghz]

I am curious why isn’t the forum thread available at the time the email is sent about the new version? When I try to visit it I always get you don’t have permission to view message.

[nravenlock]

@Matt

 

Thanks for the 'User-definable per-object blend gamma' explanation :).

[MattP]

I am curious why isn’t the forum thread available at the time the email is sent about the new version? When I try to visit it I always get you don’t have permission to view message.

 

Hi Vlad,

 

Have you asked the forum to email you notifications when things are added to the Affinity Designer Beta section? If so, I can understand what's going on... When I'm preparing the forum post I add it, but hidden - it's obviously emailing people who are subscribed about the release I'm not ready to tell anyone about yet!

 

*sigh*

[AshTeriyaki]

Yeah, I get the same thing.

[00Ghz]

Hi Vlad,

 

Have you asked the forum to email you notifications when things are added to the Affinity Designer Beta section? If so, I can understand what's going on... When I'm preparing the forum post I add it, but hidden - it's obviously emailing people who are subscribed about the release I'm not ready to tell anyone about yet!

 

*sigh*

 

Hi Matt,

 

Yes I did. Maybe using Pages to write the post and then publishing it would help with such issues? :)

 

Any news about the Eyedropper?

[A_B_C]

Hi Matt,

 

first of all: thanks for the update … it’s simply a pleasure to see how the app develops.  :) 

 

Unfortunately it seems that the latest update has killed the layer effects, at least on OS X Lion … And the usual resets have no effect … I really hope that someone can reproduce this. But rest assured, I am sorry to report this. Feels like putting another stone on the bumpy road to perfection, so to say …  :( 

 

Cheers,

Alex  :)

[Gear maker]

Bummer!  FYI it seems to be okay on Yosemite.

[Paekke]

THANKS A BUNCH for the ⇧+ X and /key shortcuts  :)  :)  :)

[ronnyb]

Congrats again, Matt! Looking forward to trying out the new updates!

[Andy Somerfield]

Alex,

 

The FX are broken for me too (OS X 10.9 Mavericks) - we'll look into it now and maybe push another beta tomorrow - sorry!

 

Andy.

[A_B_C]

Oh thanks, Andy, it’s not just me … by the way, the blend gamma options are *fantastic* … cheers!  :)

[ronnyb]

God bless your soul...

 

 

- Keyboard shortcuts added for swapping line and fill (Shift+X) and setting No Fill ('/' key).

 

And per object, user-defined gamma is BADASS!!

 

A few things I noticed right off the bat:

 

1. The odd behavior with stroke weight = 0 and color attribute persisting (not changing to None ) persists....

 

2. When I'm in the Layer Effects (full panel), I cannot use the Tab key to get to the Effect specific controls part of the panel; it only works to navigate around the Effect List sidebar, and the "lower thirds" part of the panel, where the Fill Opacity % and Scale with Object controls are.

 

3. Blend modes inside the Layer Effects full panel are not live still... Don't be holding back on the real-time goodness, now...

 

4. Zoom out by pressing Cmd + Space Bar + Option (in that order) and dragging a rectangle does not zoom out, but zooms in. I imagine the correct behavior would be for AD to divide the window width or height (whichever is greater) by the zoom rectangle's width or height (which the user drew) and zoom out by that amount (or its inverse if I got the maths wrong).

 

5. Matt, I'm gonna sneak this in here. You know what would be baddass? A draggable handle for paths not unlike the corner rounding handles in the newly upgraded/integrated rectangle tool — which can get toggled on or off as part of UI overlay controls — for specifying stroke weight on screen. This seems like a simple way to boost productivity. I HATE having to go drag a slider away from the work to make adjustments. Perhaps it's a temporary hotkey that makes the handle visible and draggable under the current cursor position.

 

Heck, you could also do the same for color...

 

Great work as always, Matt! I'll keep poking at it and working with it and report on any odd behavior, bugs and ideas... I'm anxiously awaiting Artboard and Multipage capability :)

[Andy Somerfield]

ronnyb,

 

Those things sound to me like vector bizniss - so I'll let Matt deal with that :) We did once have some sort of draggable line width tool a while back - can't remember where it went!

 

We've got more gamma-goodness on the way though - per-document default-gamma blending, custom AA ramps etc. :)

 

Thanks,

 

Andy.

[Andy Somerfield]

"3. Blend modes inside the Layer Effects full panel are not live still... Don't be holding back on the real-time goodness, now..."

 

Oh go on then ;) In for a penny, and all that..

 

Andy.

[retrograde]

Hey guys and gals, lovely to see another beta!   My observations/comments.

 

- same issue as stated above with missing items in the Layer Effects panel, on Mavericks...

 

- couldn't get the command eraser thing to work, is there a trick? Pressing command while painting didn't change anything...

 

- love the shift X and no fill / key shorts... and the context menu click on the layer addition... I echo ronny B on wishing for a key short for some of these also a way to "lock all but selected" and "unlock all" not a show stopper but would be nice for workflow to have the option...

 

- looks like some of that "divide" funkiness from the last beta's been resolved big cheers for that!

 

Keep up the great work!

[Hokusai]

I'm also loving the key shortcut for fill (shift + x), I'm not sure if I'm just dense or what but I can't seem to find the shortcut for "no fill". Could someone enlighten me? Thanks!