Affinity Designer Customer Beta (1.7.0.11)

[MattP]

Status: Beta

Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes

Requirements: Purchased Affinity Designer

Mac App Store: Not submitted

Download: Here

 

Hello,

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the beta of Affinity Designer 1.7 for macOS.

Designer 1.7 is a significant change to the currently shipping 1.6 version. Files edited in this version will not be backwards-compatible with the shipping 1.6 version. As such, we would not recommend using this 1.7 version for critical or production work at this stage. It is inevitable that there were will be a number of issues with 1.7 but we hope these will be minor and aim to resolve any issues very quickly, so please use it and explore the new features, but also do keep in mind that you may find snags and we would appreciate your help with finding and reporting these to us.

If this is your first time using a customer beta of an Affinity app, it’s worth noting that the beta will install as a separate app - alongside your store version. They will not interfere with each other at all and you can continue to use the store version for critical work without worry.

It’s also worth noting that we aren’t done yet - we are still working through reported bugs from previous releases and hope to fix as many as possible before the final release of 1.7. To be notified when there is a new beta please press follow on this announcment thread

With all that said, we hope that you will enjoy the new capabilities introduced in this initial release and we look forward to any and all feedback you give to us.

Many thanks,

Matt

 

Please refer to previous beta 1.7.0.4 post where there's a list of major changes since 1.6. This latest update builds on the 1.7.0.10 changes and also includes the following changes:

• Fix for issues saving after applying a 'none' arrowhead!
• Miscellaneous PDF import improvements.
• Artboard positions are now show relative to the whole spread, rather than showing as 0,0 at all times.
• Pen Tool now has an extra option to allow for the selection to be retained while adding new curves/extending existing ones. This is useful for allowing you to make use of snapping to other object geometry while creating/editing curves. It is on by default.
• 'Rotation centre' is now 'Transform origin' to better reflect what it does.
• Added a user-definable transform origin to the Node Tool's transform mode.
• Inserting a fill colour stop now correctly interpolates intensity (useful for 32bit documents).

[Matthias]

Great, thanks Matt!

One small suggestion: I think the Transform Origin crosshair should be visible by default, regardless whether you transform a bunch of nodes, an object or a group of objects. Wouldn’t distract from anything with the benefit of one less click.

When you chose one of the nine origin points in the Transform Panel it could even jump to the chosen point as a visual aid right in place. Thus you could even save the Transform Origin icon in the context bar as it would be visible all the time.

With several objects selected (which sometimes are hard to recognize as they don’t display their individual bounding boxes but just a faint blue line) an always-on-crosshair, indicating by default the centre of the selection, would have the added benefit of being an additional help to recognize which objects are actually selected.

Cheers

Matthias

[Uncle Mez]

Thank you @MattP

Giving it a download right in few minutes and will also give it a serious try today.
Download worked a charm.
installation went smooth, no error !
First Launch was a bit slow (no other software was launched but AfDesigner only): should be checked by AfDesigner Team.

9 hours ago, MattP said:

Pen Tool now has an extra option to allow for the selection to be retained while adding new curves/extending existing ones. This is useful for allowing you to make use of snapping to other object geometry while creating/editing curves. It is on by default.

I like it when your team and you, take to make the pen tool so much friendly better.

Blessings !

Edited May 4, 2019 by Uncle Mez
Update

[RNKLN]

It looks like, in .11 the Create artboard flag is On by default. Even if you deselect it, it will be On again the next time you create a new document. For me it means that doing a Cmd+N + Enter is no longer enough to create a new document (I now often have to close the new document and try again).

I've tried by creating a new Preset, but this doesn't solve anything (you have to first select Type = Presets and than the actual preset you just created).

I don't see this as in improvement. It would be if AD remembered the things you had checked/unchecked.

Or, am I missing something?

[dcarvalho84]

On 5/4/2019 at 7:24 PM, RNKLN said:

It looks like, in .11 the Create artboard flag is On by default. Even if you deselect it, it will be On again the next time you create a new document. For me it means that doing a Cmd+N + Enter is no longer enough to create a new document (I now often have to close the new document and try again).

I've tried by creating a new Preset, but this doesn't solve anything (you have to first select Type = Presets and than the actual preset you just created).

I don't see this as in improvement. It would be if AD remembered the things you had checked/unchecked.

Or, am I missing something?

I've noticed that too. If you open and choose a preset document the Create artboard is checked off, but if you want to make exactly the same document and go to create new, the create artboard is on...

[clamnuts]

Thanks for this! The new node transformation tools are amazing.

[Bri-Toon]

I like this update. I see that the new functionalities are kind of like collaborating with each other. The selection of additional curves for the Pen Tool works in the benefit of the Node Tool's Transform mode. I see what you did there.

[postmadesign]

On 5/4/2019 at 12:04 PM, MattP said:

Pen Tool now has an extra option to allow for the selection to be retained while adding new curves/extending existing ones. This is useful for allowing you to make use of snapping to other object geometry while creating/editing curves. It is on by default.

This is a typical example of not knowing you needed something, and now you know you really do. Great work!

[pruus]

It’s getting better and better! Great work guys! Thanks

 

[Bonev]

The issue with overusing the GPU persists when Metal is used. That does not happen with OpenGL.

[Sean P]

On 5/4/2019 at 7:24 PM, RNKLN said:

It looks like, in .11 the Create artboard flag is On by default. Even if you deselect it, it will be On again the next time you create a new document. For me it means that doing a Cmd+N + Enter is no longer enough to create a new document (I now often have to close the new document and try again).

I've tried by creating a new Preset, but this doesn't solve anything (you have to first select Type = Presets and than the actual preset you just created).

I don't see this as in improvement. It would be if AD remembered the things you had checked/unchecked.

Or, am I missing something?

Thanks for that - I've passed it on to development.

[R C-R]

On 5/4/2019 at 1:24 PM, RNKLN said:

It looks like, in .11 the Create artboard flag is On by default. Even if you deselect it, it will be On again the next time you create a new document. For me it means that doing a Cmd+N + Enter is no longer enough to create a new document (I now often have to close the new document and try again).

I've tried by creating a new Preset, but this doesn't solve anything (you have to first select Type = Presets and than the actual preset you just created).

I have noticed that the settings of the last used custom preset are 'sticky' for new documents, even after quitting & restarting the beta, but while the "Type:" popup says "Preset" as expected, the "Page Preset:" below it just says "<Custom>" instead of the name of the preset, so there is no indication that this is a custom preset (or at least identical to it).

I think that if the settings are 'sticky,' the preset name should be as well. Does that make sense?

Also possibly related somehow to this, if I am in the new document window while a custom preset is selected, if I then change the page width or height (or possibly other fields) but don't move the text cursor to some other field before creating a new preset, the results are erratic. Sometimes the height value from the selected preset replaces the value I have just entered when I create the preset. Other times, no new preset is created. I haven't worked out all the possibilities, but the key step to see this behavior is to leave the text cursor in a field that has just been edited.

[RNKLN]

4 hours ago, R C-R said:

I have noticed that the settings of the last used custom preset are 'sticky' for new documents, even after quitting & restarting the beta, but while the "Type:" popup says "Preset" as expected, the "Page Preset:" below it just says "<Custom>" instead of the name of the preset, so there is no indication that this is a custom preset (or at least identical to it).

I think that if the settings are 'sticky,' the preset name should be as well. Does that make sense?

I see the same happening indeed. The only thing is that, even in that situation, the Create artboard flag choice is not sticky.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, RNKLN said:

I see the same happening indeed. The only thing is that, even in that situation, the Create artboard flag choice is not sticky.

For me, at least for my custom presets, the Create Artboard flag is sticky, even when Page Preset just says "Custom" & the settings are identical to my last used custom preset.

[Zaxonov]

Hello, I think the icons for Curved and Barbed arrows has been switched with the last two Triangle arrows options. I think it was also the case in beta 1.7.0.10, but I'm not sure  

I don't have a retina display so sorry for the « low » resolution screenshot

 

 

[Sean P]

Hi Zaxonov,

Thanks for letting us know - I'll get this passed on to development!

[Helmar]

REMOVED. 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Helmar

[HYR]

I just switched to another tab and then came back and the screen was black. When i scrolled up and down the black went away. Not sure what's going on. (1.7.0.11)