How to Open the Affinity Designer Brushes Panel. So, first of all, we need to open the Affinity. Users of Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher can now access over 1 million free to use images from Unsplash to use in their work, directly from the Stock Panel in the apps. Fuelled by a community of talented photographers who generously gift their own high-resolution photos for creators to use, Unsplash images are both royalty and copyright free. The Stockpanel provides access to stock photos directly from within Affinity Publisher. About the Stock panel The panel acts as an in-app image browser which connects to one of several photo providers. You can search the provider's images, browse image thumbnails and add stock images to the page.
Affinity Designer is a stripped-back, pro-end workhorse that will always get your job done. Vector or raster, you decide - with a single click, switch between full-featured vector and raster workspaces. Affinity Designer was created to thrive on the electric pace of the latest computing hardware. Live, responsive and incredibly fluid, it’s simply a joy to use. + Pan and zoom at 60fps + Live gradients, effects and adjustments + Real time blend mode previews + All.
We’ve just updated all Affinity apps across all platforms to version 1.8, and as you’ve come to expect from our version one updates, they are free to existing users on the platform(s) you have purchased a license for. If you are an existing user who needs help to update to 1.8, it’s worth checking out this handy guide—How to install Affinity updates.
So let’s take a look at what’s new in Affinity Designer 1.8…
1. Hugely improved vector engine
The Affinity Designer devs have spent a lot of their coffee-filled days since our 1.7 update overhauling and improving the vector engine for the app. These updates are particularly noticeable with a few of our most frequently used tools and features. Many of these improvements are speed and reliability focussed, so moving into the 1.8 update you can instantly feel the benefits.
Expand Stroke improvements
The Expand Stroke feature in 1.8 has now been radically improved. If you’re not familiar with the benefits of Expand Stroke, there are many ways you can use it to your advantage. The general idea is that once you’ve finished designing your vector shape or curve, you can then finalise or ‘Expand’ the shape to lock in its structure. This then allows you to make further changes to your new shape and also make changes you couldn’t make before, as now you essentially have a brand-new flattened vector shape to transform and work with. By expanding your strokes, you also enable the ability to utilise the Boolean operations to further transform your design.
Tip: As Expand Stroke is such a frequently used feature, you can save a huge amount of time by setting up a keyboard shortcut (such as COMMAND+E on a Mac or
CONTROL+E on a PC) via the ‘Designer Preferences’ window found in the top left corner of the app.Improved Boolean operations
Boolean and Geometry operations are very useful features you may come across in your design work. They allow you to combine, subtract, and even break apart overlapping vector shapes with ease.
You can also do this non-destructively in Affinity Designer by simply holding down the ALT key on your keyboard before making your Boolean selection, turning your combined shapes into Compound elements instead—allowing you to alter their characteristics non-destructively without requiring you to rebuild your design again.
You can even get a live preview of the different Boolean operations when you utilise the non destructive method too. Simply head over to the layers studio and click on the small icon to the right of your layer to be shown a drop down box with all the other options you could choose for your vector shapes. This is especially handy when you’re not totally sure which Boolean option is the one you need to go with.
2. New Document Panel with Presets and Templates
Designer now has a vast array of useful Presets ranging from traditional print formats such as 4-sheet billboards and 12” vinyl covers, to industry essentials like the Architectural A-E layouts and mobile device sizes too.
These are very handy when you’re working to a tight deadline and saves you from having to search for the relevant document sizes yourself. If you wanted to create your own Presets you can easily add your own selection of essential go-to document sizes or if you require other information and elements inside your new creation you now have the ability to save a selection of your own user Templates too.
Creating a new Template is quick and easy. Simply create your new document (or use a pre-existing one you’ve made before) then navigate to File > Export as Template. Now the next time you go to create a new document you’ll be able to select any one of these new templates, which again saves you a huge amount of time when you need to recall a particular layout you frequently use or if you need to send that template to someone else you’re working with.
3. New Stock Panel
A new feature in 1.8 is the inclusion of the Stock panel (previously seen in Affinity Photo and Publisher). This allows you to search within a huge database of royalty free stock imagery found on popular stock photo websites—Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay—all without having to leave your Designer document at all.
This is a great addition to Affinity Designer as there are many different ways you can use this new panel to your advantage.
Creating a digital collage based design is now quick and easy when using the keyword search bar at the top of the Stock panel. Simply searching for your ideal image by adding single or multiple keywords into the search bar will instantly show you a vast array of possible royalty free photos you can include in your design. Simply click and drag the chosen image onto your canvas or artboard and you’re good to go.
Tip: Although it isn’t required when using any of the images acquired from the Stock Studio, it’s always nice to give credit to the original image owner when you can. As soon as you’ve made your selection, a pop up window will appear highlighting the origin of the photo, location or name given to the image along with the dimensions too. For ease of use you can click on the ‘Open Stock URL’ button at the top of the context tool bar to be directed straight to the images location via your default web browser of choice.Another scenario where you can utilise the Stock panel is when finding an image as a reference for your design or illustration. It’s also useful if you need help building up your composition and layout very quickly since you can use stock images as placeholders for your eventual design.
4. Updated PANTONE© Library
If you work with the industry recognised Pantone colour referencing system we have now updated our PANTONE© Color Bridge and PANTONE© Formula Guide solid palettes to V4. This means you now have the most up-to-date colour representation you need when working with Pantone referencing products. These can be easily selected by going over to the Swatches panel and changing the drop-down settings box (situated just below your most recent swatch selection). Once you select one of the available Pantone swatches they are instantly placed into your current ‘Document’ swatches as Global colours too.
Tip: Don’t forget you can also search for a specific Pantone colour by entering the Pantone code in the search box at the bottom left of the Swatches panel. Extremely useful when you need to quickly grab a unique colour from the vast Pantone library.5. Many more fixes and Improvements
There are many other fixes and feature improvements jammed into the 1.8 update too. Here’s a quick run-down of some of the highlights we really need to let you know about!
- Updated vector and raster brushes
- Hugely useful keyboard brush setting modifiers now introduced
- Many Node/Pen Tool improvements including: Reverse Curve, Curve Orientation and more
- Improved functionality when making selections of a large number of objects
- Unified Toolbar for modern macOS versions
Watch more tutorials
Did you know that we have a fantastic range of video tutorials for Affinity Designer?
Find out more about our 1.8 updates:
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| Developer(s) | Serif Europe |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1 October 2014; 6 years ago |
| Stable release | 1.9.3 / 13 April 2021; 8 days ago[1] |
| Operating system | macOS, Microsoft Windows, iPadOS |
| Available in | 9 languages |
English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Russian | |
| Type | Vector graphics editor |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | affinity.serif.com/designer/ |
Affinity Designer is a vector graphics editor developed by Serif for macOS, iPadOS, and Microsoft Windows. It is part of the 'Affinity trinity' alongside Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher. Affinity Designer is available for purchase directly from the company website and in the Mac App Store, iOS App Store, and the Microsoft Store.
Functionality[edit]
Affinity Designer serves as a successor to Serif's own DrawPlus software, which the company discontinued in August 2017 in order to focus on the Affinity product range.[2] It has been described as an Adobe Illustrator alternative,[3][4][5] and is compatible with common graphics file formats, including Adobe Illustrator (AI), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Adobe Photoshop (PSD), Portable Document Format (PDF), and Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) formats.[6] The application can also import data from some Adobe FreeHand files (specifically versions 10 & MX).[7]
Affinity Designer's core functions include vector pen and shape-drawing tools, support for custom vector and raster brushes (including the ability to import Adobe Photoshop (ABR) brushes), dynamic symbols, stroke stabilization, text style management, and vector/pixel export options.[5][8][9]
Affinity Designer provides non-destructive editing features across unlimited layers, with pan and zoom at 60fps, and real-time views for effects and transformations.[10] It supports the RGB, RGB Hex, LAB, CMYK and Grayscale color models, along with PANTONE color swatches and an end-to-end CMYK workflow with ICC color management, and 16-bit per channel editing.[11][9]
Development[edit]
Affinity Designer began as a vector graphics editor solely for macOS. It was developed entirely from scratch for this operating system, allowing it to leverage core native technologies such as OpenGL, Grand Central Dispatch, and Core Graphics.[12]
The first version was released in October 2014, making it the first of the Affinity apps to be released by Serif (and their first macOS release).[13] At that time, Serif's vector graphics application for Windows was DrawPlus; however, following the release of Affinity Designer for Windows, this product has now been discontinued.[14]
Version 1.2, released in April 2015, introduced new tools and features, such as a corner tool and a pixel-alignment mode for GUI design tasks.[15] In December 2015, version 1.4 then introduced new features for managing artboards and printing.[16] With version 1.5 in October 2016, the application received multiple new features, including symbols, constraints, asset management and text styles.[17]
The application began branching out to other platforms in November 2016, when it first launched for Microsoft Windows.[18]
Version 1.6 was released in November 2017, introducing performance improvements and alternative GUI display mode.[19]
The first release of a separate iPad version of Affinity Designer took place in July 2018.[20]
Version 1.7 was released in June 2019 adding some key features such as HDR support, unlimited strokes and fills to a single shape, new point transform tool, new transform mode in Node tool, Lasso selection of nodes, new sculpt mode added to pencil, and also some big performance improvements.[21] Version 1.8, released in February 2020, added the ability for users to define their own document templates and keyboard shortcuts, and a built-in panel for adding stock images.[22]
Reception[edit]
Affinity Designer was selected as a runner-up in Apple's 'Best of 2014' list of Mac App Store and iTunes Store content in the macOS app category.[23][24][25] It also was one of the winners of the 2015 Apple Design Award.[26]
In 2018, the Windows version of Affinity Designer won 'Application Creator of the Year' at the Windows Developer Awards (part of Microsoft Build 2018).[27]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Affinity Designer for Windows - 1.9.0'. Affinity Forum. Retrieved 2021-02-04.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Ogunjobi, Anino (2017-08-10). 'Digital Craft: Serif discontinues its Pageplus, Drawplus and Photoplus designing software to focus on its(Serif) new Affinity range of Professional graphic design software'. ANINO. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^'Why I Use Affinity Designer Instead of Illustrator for Motion Design'. School of Motion. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'Affinity Designer vs Adobe Illustrator CC 2018 Comparison | FinancesOnline'. Financesonline.com. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^ ab'Affinity Designer vs. Adobe Illustrator: can Designer replace Illustrator? - 99designs'. 99designs. 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^Martin, Keith (November 27, 2014). 'Serif Affinity Designer'. Expert Reviews. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^'Import and export file formats - Affinity Designer Help'. affinity.help. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'Affinity - One Year Review'. Cargo Creative. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^ ab'Affinity Designer - Complete Feature List'. affinity.serif.com. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^'Illustrator rival launches on Windows'. Creative Bloq. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^'Graphic Design App 'Affinity Designer' Launches for iPad With Apple Pencil Support'. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^'Serif releases free alternative to Adobe Illustrator'. Creative Bloq. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'Affinity Designer is a new graphics design suite available for Mac'. iMore. 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'Digital Craft: Serif discontinues its Pageplus, Drawplus and Photoplus designing software to focus on its(Serif) new Affinity range of Professional graphic design software - ANINO'. ANINO. 2017-08-10. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
- ^'Affinity Designer gets first big update'. Creative Bloq. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'Top new features in Affinity Designer 1.4'. Creative Bloq. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'Affinity Designer 1.5 released | Webdesigner Depot'. Webdesigner Depot. 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'Affinity Spotlight - Photography, Design & Illustration'. Affinity Spotlight.
- ^'Affinity Photo 1.6 released: faster processing, new features, and free stuff'. DPReview. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'9to5'. Twitter. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
- ^'Affinity Designer and Photo for Mac updated to version 1.7 with multi-GPU and HDR display support'. 9 to 5 Mac.
- ^Benjamin, Jeff (2020-02-26). 'Affinity Photo, Publisher, and Designer updated to version 1.8'. 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
- ^Spencer, Graham (December 8, 2014). 'Apple Posts 'Best of 2014' App Store and iTunes Store Lists'. MacStories. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^May, Tom (December 10, 2014). 'Affinity Designer is number 2 Mac app of 2014'. Creative Bloq. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^Calimlim, Aldrin (December 8, 2014). 'Apple announces the App Store's Best of 2014 for iPhone, iPad and Mac'. AppAdvice. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^Panzarino, Matthew (June 8, 2015). 'Fantastical 2, Workflow, Robinhood Among Winners At Apple Design Awards'. TechCrunch. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
- ^'Windows Developer Awards - Build 2018 - Windows app development'. developer.microsoft.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-08-14.
Affinity Designer Stroke Width
Further reading[edit]
Affinity Designer Workbook. Nottingham: Serif Europe Ltd. 2016. ISBN9781909581036.
External links[edit]
Affinity Designer Full Free