Is there a Resource Manager in Designer 1.7?

[Clanks]

On opening a file created over the many versions of the Designer beta process, I am now told that there are missing resources, and I am asked do I want to find them through the resource manager.  I can get the Resource Manager to open on opening a file.  However, I cannot find the Resource Manager anywhere in the menus, interface, etc., and no reference to it in help documentation.  Am I missing something?

[000]

The resource manager is part of PUBLISHER ... I guess, you are trying to open a file that you previously opened / edited in Publisher.
Best log it as a bug so that someone can sort out what happens when you open a Publisher file with linked images in Designer or Photo. :o)

[Clanks]

Thanks.  I guess there is a Resource Manager "hidden" in Designer, then.

[Urs Gerber]

I had the same situation today by open a File in DESIGNER. I was excited to see Affinity was implement a resource manager like I know from PUBLISHER :-) But... 

 

[Patrick Connor]

@Urs Gerber

Welcome to the Serif affinity forums  

@Clanks & @Urs Gerber

Affinity Designer can no longer make linked images, as it could earlier in the beta process. This is a Publisher only feature at the moment. Files made in the early Designer betas that have missing linked images do offer the (shared code) resource manager that is there but hidden. That dialog itself is meant to only appear in Affinity Publisher as only it can MAKE linked images (that could go missing). So yes you saw it, no it hasn't got menu entries, no you are not meant to access it, and yes it's a bit of an easter egg for those beta Designer files that bring it up.

[ronnyb]

2 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

@Urs Gerber

Welcome to the Serif affinity forums  

@Clanks & @Urs Gerber

Affinity Designer can no longer make linked images, as it could earlier in the beta process. This is a Publisher only feature at the moment. Files made in the early Designer betas that have missing linked images do offer the (shared code) resource manager that is there but hidden. That dialog itself is meant to only appear in Affinity Publisher as only it can MAKE linked images (that could go missing). So yes you saw it, no it hasn't got menu entries, no you are not meant to access it, and yes it's a bit of an easter egg for those beta Designer files that bring it up.

What happens if one opens a Publisher file with Linked resources on Designer on a machine without Publisher installed? Will one be able to access the Resource Manager in Designer?

[Patrick Connor]

Just now, ronnyb said:

What happens if one opens a Publisher file with Linked resources on Designer on a machine without Publisher installed? Will one be able to access the Resource Manager in Designer?

At the moment, yes. I'm not sure if this is going to be "fixed" or ignored...

[000]

Very strange situation ... I hope it gets sorted somehow.

[Patrick Connor]

1 hour ago, Jens Krebs said:

Very strange situation ... I hope it gets sorted somehow.

well beta documents are always potentially unsupported, as has been explained in every beta announcement, so the developers well suggest that there is technically nothing to sort

[000]

That's not about the beta documents, but about the file compatibility (after release) — what happens when a Publisher file with linked images is opened in Designer or Photo? 

[Patrick Connor]

4 minutes ago, Jens Krebs said:

what happens when a Publisher file with linked images is opened in Designer or Photo? 

A resource manager appears, which because someone has bought Publisher and made that file seems OK (ish). It has been reported to the developers because of this case and we don't know what they will decide, as I said above

[walt.farrell]

At some point we'll have the Photo and Designer Personas active in Publisher. That should reduce the need for opening .afpub documents in Photo or Designer, as the Publisher Personas will provide some of the Photo/Designer capabilities. The only question at this point is which of the stand-alone application functions will be supported in the Personas.

Also, as discussed in other topics, there are issues right now with opening multi-page Publisher files in Photo or Designer anyway, as both applications lack any mechanism for selecting which page to work on. I'm hopeful that the Publisher Personas will also help deal with that, when they're available. Note: A page selector is available if one Places a multi-page Publisher file into a Designer or Photo document; it's only Opening them that is a problem at the moment.

[Aammppaa]

On 6/4/2019 at 5:47 PM, Patrick Connor said:

Affinity Designer can no longer make linked images, as it could earlier in the beta process.

This isn't strictly true…

1. Place an image
2. Select placed image and chose Replace Document on context toolbar

Result…

The file dialog in step 1 has no extended options - the image will be embedded.

BUT in step 2 the option to link appears, which will successfully link the image.

Thoughts…

Since Symbols can't be saved as Assets and function across documents, linked documents are a necessity to keep reusable content synced across multiple document.

I hope the devs can either improve Symbols / Assets, and at least allow us to use linked documents in the mean time.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Aammppaa said:

BUT in step 2 the option to link appears, which will successfully link the image.

If I remember correctly, we have been told for awhile now that that is a bug that was going to be fixed. It also appeared in 1.6 under similar circumstances.

[Patrick Connor]

9 hours ago, Aammppaa said:

BUT in step 2 the option to link appears, which will successfully link the image.

Thoughts…

(AFAIK) This was reported and the developers haven't addressed this so sorry, I was wrong.

[CartoonMike]

One of the interesting things about modern comics, is that the creator(s) have to be mindful of multiple formats: from printing to e-book (PDF, epub and CBZ) to Webcomic presentation. Each requires their own format. Print is 300 DPI CYMK (or RGB if printing via a Print on Demand service), E-book DPI is around 144+ ppi (depending on its specific format) and Web requires 72+ ppi (depending on the venue it's being distributed on).

While publisher is great for Print, it's not geared up (yet?) for anything digital beyond PDF. In the interim, I've developed a workflow for Designer for the electronic side of comic publishing which came to rely on linked files. Basically, I draw my rough drawings, and then I place the image into a Designer doc and do the lettering from the script of the story. Then if I have too much text for the art, I can resize/redraw the art on the originals (on paper usually). Then, once the art is all lettered for the story/batch of strips, I finish the comic drawings with pencil and finally ink it and color it. Then I scan the finished page with the same file name as I did when the page was in rough form. And when I open up Designer with linked files, the files update. 

At least that was the workflow. See in my case, because I can't (or don't know how) to export from Publisher a page at a time and at a specific pixel size like I can in Designer (after a fashion, the export personas just always seemed to be overly complicated for something so simple, imho), I have to go back and "eyeball" things again and resort to tricks to fit text in a panel that just can't comfortably fit that much text.

By arbitrarily removing the ability to place linked files in Designer, I just had the legs of my chair knocked from under me. In a bigger sense, this could shake one's confidence in Affinity Apps beta testing. What good will beta testing be, in the long run, if features get added and removed for "reasons" after the Release Canidates but before the actual release? I realize that comics is a niche area, and I can figure out work arounds (like taking screen capures on my 27" iMac for web comic as an example), but between this issue, the non-opened docs issue and the question about iPad only brush sets, well, I've hit a rough patch here and only waiting will resolve things.

[walt.farrell]

10 hours ago, CartoonMike said:

By arbitrarily removing the ability to place files in Designer, I just had the legs of my chair knocked from under me.

I'm a bit confused by your workflow description, Mike.

No one has removed the ability to Place files in Designer. It is just that they are Embedded, not Linked. And as far as I know, a Placed file in Designer was always embedded, not linked, unless you were using the trick of using Replace Image to get them linked. Were you? You didn't mention that in your workflow description.

[CartoonMike]

8 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I'm a bit confused by your workflow description, Mike.

No one has removed the ability to Place files in Designer. It is just that they are Embedded, not Linked. And as far as I know, a Placed file in Designer was always embedded, not linked, unless you were using the trick of using Replace Image to get them linked. Were you? You didn't mention that in your workflow description.

The fact that the files are Embedded and not linked, forces me to repeat the Place command for each page. for a 32 page comic, that's a bit of effort that is caused by the arbitrary elimination of Linking to files. Linking allows the source file to be changed (or replaced if the exact same file name is used) and that change is propagated to the doc that is linked to the file.

In essence, just embedding the file is costing me anywhere between 2-3 hours of work per 32pg comic. I didn't know the replace image was a trick, so I didn't mention it.  To be fair, All affinity apps have had so many changes, my head is spinning and I don't know how to work around this embbeding thing. So this is me throwing up my hands and I'm just going to work through this and maybe  by July, I'll have figured out how to use AD/APub for comics  or just revert to using Comic Life (which is a good app), which can export a ePub, PDF and raster formats (JPG, PNG and/or TIFF).

[valdemarlamego]

On 6/4/2019 at 5:47 PM, Patrick Connor said:

@Urs Gerber

Welcome to the Serif affinity forums  

@Clanks & @Urs Gerber

Affinity Designer can no longer make linked images, as it could earlier in the beta process. This is a Publisher only feature at the moment. Files made in the early Designer betas that have missing linked images do offer the (shared code) resource manager that is there but hidden. That dialog itself is meant to only appear in Affinity Publisher as only it can MAKE linked images (that could go missing). So yes you saw it, no it hasn't got menu entries, no you are not meant to access it, and yes it's a bit of an easter egg for those beta Designer files that bring it up.

This is a thing i don't understand, and i don't like, in affinity,... things like the resource manager, that is very handy, or the baseline grid,... that were available in previous versions of affinity designer and now they aren't. And now files i made in previous versions,... still have baseline grids, and i can't find an image that is giving an error. 

[Patrick Connor]

Resource manager and baseline grid were only temporarily available in beta builds. All beta builds state that you should not use them for real work and you should work on copies of important documents. The application of a baseline grid into a beta designer document is a good example of exactly why that warning exists. 

These features have not appeared in release builds, do your documents made in release builds should not be affected.

If you want I can remove the beta elements from your documents as a one off process. Attach them here

[pruus]

I did like the linking in the beta,  because this is the way to get smaller files and one library of images/work. But it should be good. I have Expierencedcthat changed te location of Sourcefiles, and yes, it does not changed in de AD file. So a problem. An resource manager should be good, or not included.

[focusp]

If I edit an embedded Designer document in a new main Designer document and then close and open the main Designer document I get a Linked Resource Changed message as shown in the attached screenshot. But the document is not linked it is embedded and also has not been modified outside the application as the message says it has. This is clearly a bug in Designer 1.7.3.481

[walt.farrell]

19 minutes ago, focusp said:

If I edit an embedded Designer document in a new main Designer document and then close and open the main Designer document I get a Linked Resource Changed message as shown in the attached screenshot. But the document is not linked it is embedded and also has not been modified outside the application as the message says it has. This is clearly a bug in Designer 1.7.3.481

It may be a bug, but perhaps not the bug you think.

It is known that Designer can, in some situations, Link files rather than Embedding them. We would probably need to see your main document in order to be sure, but here are two known ways that Linking can happen:

1. If your main document was created using the Print (Press Ready) preset, then files you Place into it will be linked rather than embedded.
2. If you use the Replace Image button, and choose the Linked option in the file dialog, they will be linked. That option should not be present.

[focusp]

The new document was created as Type: Print  not Press Ready. The image was clearly labelled as embedded in the layers pallet. I didn't use the replace image button.

It is repeatable: 

1. Create new doc as Print and size A4
2. Place a another designer doc inside it and not it says embedded document next to the name in the layers pallet
3. Click Edit Document and do a change to the other designer doc
4. Close the Edit Document window
5. Close and save the main document
6. Open the main document and the Linked Resource Changed dialogue box appears briefly.

I have attached the main document.

Testing main.afdesign

[walt.farrell]

Thanks for the recipe and file.

Publisher confirms that the embedded file is really embedded.

If I follow your steps in Designer (on Windows, either with 1.7 or the 1.8 beta) it all works as you say, except that there is no "linked resource changed" popup. I'm not sure why you're seeing one, but if it's consistent I think you should repost as a new topic in the appropriate Bugs forum (or beta forum, if you're using the beta).