First free beta of Affinity for windows expected before the end of June 2016

[handrawn]

designer pro 365 is out as we speak - see kates thread of 30mins or so ago [no time to link]

[iamtheblues]

Well, it's now over a month since release, I was wondering how people were getting on with Affinity Designer.
I have to say that I'm enjoying the ease of use and especially the open type font handling.
The attached uses Slim Tony font and I've figured out how to use a combination of font, stroke and outline along with the Add function,
to replicate what I do quite often in XDP.
If I could work out the clipping, I'd be a very happy bunny.
Bob.

[Albacore]

I have used it quite a lot as well Bob. Can't make my mind up about it yet as it has too many tools missing. One thing that I don't like and I miss is an easy way to scale objects by a percentage. I don't like how you have to use a mathematical expression in the transform palette to scale I miss Xara way, even Illy's method is better.

It took me a few tries in "Help" to find out how to clip objects. Here's what they state how to do it:

"To clip objects: 1.On the page, position the object to be clipped so it overlaps the object which will perform the clipping.
2.In the Layers panel, drag the object to be clipped on top of the object which is to perform the clipping.

The clipped object is nested within the clipping object in the Layers panel. The clipped object has become a child of the clipping object.
Expand/Collapse To select clipped objects: 1.In the Layers panel, expand the clipping object's contents (if needed) by clicking the layer's arrow.
2.Click to select the clipped object.

The clipped object can now be moved and edited as needed."

Also it has a "clip to canvas" and if you haven't customised the toolbar it's on by default. To switch on or off use keyboard shortcut "\"

In your example Bob did you not wish for Xara's Contour Tool there? as that is another thing that I have missed. At least you have the opportunity to have the stroke behind the fill that would have worked in your case

[iamtheblues]

Well, Peter I sussed out the clipping, it was staring me in the face on the top right corner of the toolbar "Insert Inside Selection"!!
I miss the transparency types-overlay, &etc. It's far less intuitive than XDP, but often more intuitive than Illustrator.
I don't think it will replace XDP, or for that matter, Illustrator, but it's a very useful set of tools to work with alongside them.
Bob.

[pauland]

I think you guys are exhibiting a bit of what we see with new users of Xara software - a focus on what's missing from their previous program, and feeling that something is unintuitive because the work pattern has changed from their previous software.

I now do most of my graphics work using a software that does a fraction of what Xara does, but does it very, very well. Consequently I use that reduced-feature software as my main graphics software because it fits my niche.

Focusing on what's missing isn't the best way to evaluate software (unless it's a complete deal-killer).

I have a small array of graphics tools now that cost less collectively than I would have paid for Xara upgrades.

[angelize]

I have given Affinity Designer a try and there are some good features there that Xara doesn't have. I'm still deciding whether or not I'm going to add AD to my toolbox but currently for what I need Xara will remain my main go to tool.

I do think that TPTB at Magix need to loosen the purse strings and focus some serious development on the vector side of things.

[mwenz]

I do not think that Xara has much to be concerned about for a couple years if features, functionality/usability mean anything to the customer for a couple years. However, the pricing is still going to move people to Affinity Designer. The work-flow (usability) is kind of funky. There are truly a couple missing features for a basic print work-flow. Some features simply do not work as intended (but I suspect will by release). The three applications share the file format (very smart planning) and so are truly interchangeable and can make appropriate changes in one application that are then available in the originating application.

As a test over this past weekend I rebuilt a dozen client pieces in AD. It takes considerably more time to do so in AD than XDP. Part of that is due to familiarity with XDP versus AD. But these dozen designs are also not the first test projects, and I have done many little runs with the application. In looking at my time records with XDP version 6, which was my first version, I could not approach those records in time spent versus my test over the weekend with AD. This was the most fair test between the two I did I believe.

I will be able to buy all three Affinity products when available for not much more than my upgrade for XDP. After that initial purchase, the Affinity line will be less to upgrade than upgrading XDP yearly. That is what should concern Xara. I have long held that XDP's pricing is out of line with its capabilities, and now more so if one considers the competition.