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Affinity Designer 1.8 New features list?


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4 minutes ago, CLC said:

It is, indeed. Current layer system is basically an "object" system. I know the thread and posts in it are log, but it's worth reading and understanding.

If it is, why haven't I missed it so far? I mean I get that Affinity is object and box based but never missed it. Although I must say I am working also with Publisher for multipage layouts (not the same but somewhat similar).

Now that I see it I think it would be perfect to have it working like this.

Thanks!

Chris

 

PS: I am not sure I can go objectively  through all the comments as they are kind of verbose and also a bit emotional for reasons I cannot understand.

PS: If you like maps you might also have a look at this community!
PPS: Want to know more about me and my ways? Head over to an Affinity Spotlight article about me and my maps!
PPPS: Do you love public transit and transit maps too? Then have a look at my home-made collection of transit maps under www.instagram.com/transitdiagrams or www.twitter.com/transitdiagrams

PPPPS: Other works than transit maps can be found here www.behance.net/chrisneuherz 

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4 hours ago, CLC said:

Also, layers are currently working only for a single artboard (or page in Publisher) while they should be working globally. So you could be able to have say German and English text layers globally for the whole document and switch between language versions just by hiding irrelevant language layers. You can't do that currently without creating separate language layers in each artboard/page instead of showing/hiding a global layer across all the artboards/pages which is time consuming and error prone.

You can do it in Publisher by putting the language layers on a Master Page, and hiding/showing them there. But some users are objecting to some of the characterics required for editing them on the document pages.

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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21 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

You can do it in Publisher by putting the language layers on a Master Page, and hiding/showing them there. But some users are objecting to some of the characterics required for editing them on the document pages. 

 

It's not really applicable @walt.farrell - if you want to do the switch, you have to first double-click the master page, it changes the view, there you have to show/hide the layers, then in the Pages Studio you must switch back to the page/pages you wanted to work with.
Too many steps, don't you think? Imagine doing this 30 times per a page with a ~300 pages long document and you'll understand it's really not an option...

Also, what if each of the pages does have a bit different layout? This workaround then doesn't work at all.

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2 hours ago, CLC said:

It's not really applicable @walt.farrell - if you want to do the switch, you have to first double-click the master page, it changes the view, there you have to show/hide the layers, then in the Pages Studio you must switch back to the page/pages you wanted to work with.
Too many steps, don't you think? Imagine doing this 30 times per a page with a ~300 pages long document and you'll understand it's really not an option...

Also, what if each of the pages does have a bit different layout? This workaround then doesn't work at all. 

I would work on one language at a time, personally, which eliminates the back and forth, and I think it would work fine. But I will admit I haven't done it for a document that big, so you probably have more experience than I. :)

As for slightly different layout on each page, you can adjust the layout on a document page using Edit Detached. Which you would need to do wth a global layer in any case. And don't forget that if it helps you can put each language-specific layer on its own Master Page, if it helps.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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On 11/4/2019 at 11:21 AM, CLC said:

Also, layers are currently working only for a single artboard (or page in Publisher) while they should be working globally. So you could be able to have say German and English text layers globally for the whole document and switch between language versions just by hiding irrelevant language layers. You can't do that currently without creating separate language layers in each artboard/page instead of showing/hiding a global layer across all the artboards/pages which is time consuming and error prone. Having separate documents for each language variant and constantly applying changes in each of them would be irrational, you would certainly introduce errors and the work would be a bit too complicated.

I think you can use symbol for that. 

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On 11/3/2019 at 1:57 PM, ChrisSmere said:

... that's I want to know too...

 

Totally agree!

In Adobe apps, all layers are inherently “universal”. They are affected and contain objects document-wide, regardless of which page or artboard you're working on.

And artboards in Ai are just “glorified slices” which can drag objects along with them. It seems basic, but there's nothing inherently wrong with that.

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On 11/4/2019 at 7:38 AM, ChrisSmere said:

thanks! hmm, okay, now I think I have understood it and also what he wants. With all these long (emotional) comments I got lost over time why or where is the issue here. Thanks for pointing me at the source, @CLC!

As I have encountered a situation to need such a functionality I wasn't aware of this (obviously).

Is it really a function that is so desperately needed?

Chris

Edit:
Can't you achieve what is discussed with Slices in the Export Persona? Just wondering...

I tried. It's utter crap.

New slices don't snap neatly to my pseudo-artboards, and you can't have automatic bleeds+printers' marks with those (only the printers' marks without the bleeds; if you want both, you'll have to do them manually, which is especially damning if your document has spot colours on it).

As for adding artboards after the fact, it's even crappier because, guess what, when doing so the entire document will be cropped, so to export a multi-page document I'll have to create an artboard, export, undo, create another one, export with a different name, rinse and repeat.

As I've said, both the default working model and the workarounds are so shambolic and cumbersome that I'd rather deal with Adobe instead.

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On 11/4/2019 at 8:52 AM, ChrisSmere said:

If it is, why haven't I missed it so far? I mean I get that Affinity is object and box based but never missed it. Although I must say I am working also with Publisher for multipage layouts (not the same but somewhat similar).

Now that I see it I think it would be perfect to have it working like this.

Thanks!

Chris

 

PS: I am not sure I can go objectively  through all the comments as they are kind of verbose and also a bit emotional for reasons I cannot understand.

I guess I was a bit too emotional back then, just… because, I guess. Let's just say “for personal reasons” and leave it at that.

Now, I'm still emotional because I'm even more fed up, even though I'm in a much happier place overall right now. My relationship with Serif is a bit like “OK boomer”; they want to keep their model that way? Ok, sure, but count me out, and wake me up when it's fixed.

It's utterly frustrating having students to recommend this thing to, and… just not being able to bring myself up to do it, as that would be a professional liability (I will mention AD, but just in case someone is using it already, not as an endorsement; in fact, I now actively add caveats if someone answers affirmatively). That's how inadequate I think AD is for real-life graphic design work (not digital illustration; plain vanilla design) right now.

What I said before, about my position on this, wasn't an empty threat but a statement of fact, but for those who didn't read it, I'll recap it here. I have, first and foremost, the best interests of my students (and, it should go without saying, my own and my career) at heart, not Serif's. I will never, ever spread false information, and I do want them to succeed, but I don't think it will be in my rather large niche (or at least not yet) and, accordingly, I'm not risking my credibility.

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14 hours ago, JGD said:

I guess I was a bit too emotional back then, just… because, I guess. Let's just say “for personal reasons” and leave it at that.

I see. That's somehow understandable. It's human.

 

14 hours ago, JGD said:

Now, I'm still emotional because I'm even more fed up, even though I'm in a much happier place overall right now. My relationship with Serif is a bit like “OK boomer”; they want to keep their model that way? Ok, sure, but count me out, and wake me up when it's fixed.

Hmmm, that's what I don't get really... Are you disappointed that the software isn't what you want it to be? Are you disappointed that it is still not working as you want it to work? Both? hmmm...

 

14 hours ago, JGD said:

It's utterly frustrating having students to recommend this thing to, and… just not being able to bring myself up to do it, as that would be a professional liability (I will mention AD, but just in case someone is using it already, not as an endorsement; in fact, I now actively add caveats if someone answers affirmatively). That's how inadequate I think AD for real-life graphic design work (not digital illustration; plain vanilla design) is right now.

I guess nobody "has" to recommend any software to anybody. Just telling people what apps are out there in an unbiased way should be enough. People should make their own mind up for themselves. And if they ask you about your opinion on it just give it in an objective manner. :-) That's the way it should be, in my opinion. Maybe I am too less emotional about this...

Interestingly it sounds as you want to use Affinity Designer - hence, you would like it to succeed. That might explain the big frustration and disappoitment (as it is not yet what you want it to be) I am feeling in your comments.

Personally, I don't think it as dramatic as you put it ("inadequate"). It is still evolving and being developed. For many applications and people it does work perfectly fine. If it is not working as expected for some people then I am sure they go on and fine something is better suited for their process.

 

14 hours ago, JGD said:

I have, first and foremost, the best interests of my students (and, it should go without saying, my own and my career) at heart, not Serif's.  

Obviously. Every good teacher wants the best for his or her students.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

But for now I don't want to drift away any further: The technical question was the reason for these comments and I really like the idea of universal layers. As said before, it'd be nice to see that implemented in the future. :-)

PS: If you like maps you might also have a look at this community!
PPS: Want to know more about me and my ways? Head over to an Affinity Spotlight article about me and my maps!
PPPS: Do you love public transit and transit maps too? Then have a look at my home-made collection of transit maps under www.instagram.com/transitdiagrams or www.twitter.com/transitdiagrams

PPPPS: Other works than transit maps can be found here www.behance.net/chrisneuherz 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/21/2019 at 1:33 AM, jgarza said:

https://www.xara.com/us/photo-graphic-designer/ 

Xara contains all my vector work arounds. I guess Xara wants the $$$. The vector warp, distort, mesh is a basic must have.

Ah, yes. People who want features of a 300$ software to be 'a basic must have' in 50$ software. Stay classy. And stay on Xara. Just stop shilling for it on a forum that's about a different program.

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On 11/22/2019 at 8:51 AM, pozdn9k said:

Ah, yes. People who want features of a 300$ software to be 'a basic must have' in 50$ software. Stay classy. And stay on Xara. Just stop shilling for it on a forum that's about a different program.

Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is listed at $99, usually it can be bought at $79, but is currently $49.

It is Xara Designer Pro, which is unneeded, that lists at $299, but is currently $159. There are a couple things that XDP has that would be nice for print work that XP&GD doesn't have, but again, they are pretty much unneeded.

These applications do have their warts, but I still use a current version of XP&GD (or an older copy of XDP) every day.

That all said, AD is perfectly usable and the few times a year I need to warp something (of which meshes are not present in any version of Xara products either) I could just use Inkscape or whatever to do those things and bring into AD.

I have yet to encounter a single application, or a "suite" of applications, which always fits my needs for a given job. I'm not opposed to using whatever application in conjunction with other applications in order to do my illustrations.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Serif working on a new AD version is always good news. At the risk of repeating myself for many years (sorry guys), however, I wonder if this time at last they will address those pesky old bugs and obvious omissions. I'm talking about buggy constraints / symbols, bloated embedded images, unselectable objects, slow text editing, missing visual tab adjustments, no distort / perspective, and many, many more. At least as of build 1.8.0 these problems are not yet being addressed. :(

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14 minutes ago, rubs said:

missing visual tab adjustments

Could you explain what you mean by that, please?

2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4.

iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4

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6 hours ago, Seneca said:

Could you explain what you mean by that, please?

Sorry, not clear. I mean a visual ruler for adjusting indentations and tab sizes.

image.png.dacafec0fef3b008faf421e271c16755.png

image.png.e1d013283d56d9662505f96060a401fd.png

The examples above are from vector drawing programs, and of course any text processor (even MS WordPad) has it. For my screen mockups in AD, I avoid using tabs altogether since they are so difficult to work with. I don't know about APub, though.

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Publisher has Text Rulers that allow adjustment of tab stops. I don't know whether Designer has them, or will have them.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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4 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Publisher has Text Rulers that allow adjustment of tab stops. I don't know whether Designer has them, or will have them.

Good to know that APub has it, so probably it would be easy for the devs to add it to AD too. I hope they will. Does anybody have the answer?

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1 hour ago, rubs said:

Goo to know that AP has it, so probably it would be easy for the devs to add it to AD too. I hope they will. Does anybody have the answer?

I can confirm that Designer does not yet have Text Rulers. Whether it would be easy for Serif to add them to Designer is not really the issue. The issue is whether they want to add it, or whether they want that feature to remain exclusive to Publisher. Only Serif staff would know, and usually they do not disclose future product plans.

(By the way, AP stands for Affinity Photo, as you will see if you hover your mouse over that term in this post or yours. APu and APub are accepted abbreviations for Affinity Publisher in the forums.)

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

Only Serif staff would know, and usually they do not disclose future product plans.

Yep. This is a huge problem. No plans, no dates, no  answers. I completely fail to imagine how this kind of policy may benefit the company these days.

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13 minutes ago, rubs said:

This is a huge problem.

No, it isn't ... buy the software with the features it currently has, if you need them, otherwise don't.

Adobe and Quark are as quiet about this as Serif and only tell people what's new when the release date is nearing and they are sure what they can include.

In the past, Serif has been more open about this, and even kept public roadmaps for Designer and Photo. They were removed when Publisher came out. As I understand, people started moaning about ,their' feature not being developed first and complaining about some things staying on the roadmap for six or more months whereas other things got done quicker than expected and even got their panties in knotts when a feature was released that hadn't been on the roadmap, because they thought this had held up work in areas they considered more important ... I guess there simply is no pleasing everyone and as not talking about unreleased features takes less effort and creates less ruckus amongst users, they decided to take this road and keep their mouths shut until there is something to talk about.

I am sure that you -- and everyone else -- get's the news as soon as there's something to see, and unless the beta process is changed drastically, you'll even get to try stuff out and give your input before release. :o)

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16 minutes ago, rubs said:

I completely fail to imagine how this kind of policy may benefit the company these days.

The only way to put this feature on the map, as it were, is to ask for it. So, I would encourage you to post officially request for it in the appropriate Designer forum.

2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4.

iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4

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Just now, Seneca said:

The only way to put this feature on the map, as it were, is to ask for it. So, I would encourage you to post officially request for it in the appropriate Designer forum.

Oh, I've done it many times already. Same thing for those bugs which are there for ages. To be fair, some of the bugs I've reported were fixed and suggestions I've made were implemented in the past, but Serif is way too slow.

@Jens, if you read carefully above you'll see that my main issues are broken features like constraints and incredibly bad implentations (exclusive to AD!), like non-visual tab settings and no image compressing. I agree with you on "distort / perspective", though :D

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Some of what I read here remind me somehow that client I just had.
Since I moved completely to Affinity I am mostly using PDFs now. Client called me and said
- I need it in AI format
- But you can import PDF perfectly well to illustrator..
- No, I need it in AI format, I have a pipeline I use for years now! Please deliver AI!
So I just renamed PDF extension to AI and resent the same file (yup, it does work).
- You see what I mean? - client replied - now it works perfectly! You dont change proven, professional pipeline for no good reason!

Yeah man, I can see that alright... Slightest change of what people used to and drama starts. Something isnt named the same, shortcut is different, format - whatever. People start to freak out, totally unable to change even trivial things. And if some option they used to is not there? Uffff Forget it - looking for workaround is completely out of question. Even if sometimes - many times - it is a non-issue and you can keep on working happily after showing tiny bit of flexibility.
Most common thing:
"In Adobe it is certain way and here it is different!"
Yeah, so?
There is more than one way skin a cat. Affinity is not a Photoshop. It can replace it but its not a Photoshop or Illustrator reskinned with different name and priced differently. It has its own strengths. I wouldn't bloody use it if it was simply cheaper but I could not work professionally on it. Thats what I do for living, I cant afford not being able to do the job.
But I am and I am loving the Affinity way. Yeah you heard me - and I was using Photoshop professionally since version 4. Thats 23 years already. OK, minus last 3 because I have switched to Affinity immediately when it became available on Windows.
"ow, so you are Affinity fanboy then!"
I guess I am. I am loving it. Thats why I am here on Affinity forum. Meeting some Adobe fanboys.

Listen sweetheart, your new girlfriend is not your ex, ok? It will never be the same. I know you miss Jenny. Maybe you should go back to her? Yeah, she was with you just for your money, but if you are happy with that... Maybe you should never try to have a new girlfriend? Because telling Lucy constantly about how good you had it with Jenny will not make things any better...
 

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