XLS for features and ideas - Megathread

Daniel

@VectorStyler: the solution is actually much simpler than Affinity has made it. Export Persona is a terrible idea especially because as they've discovered they can't replicate it in all of their products. Not even in Designer persona within Publisher.

The solution is to have simple exposed button like you've said. Actually, there's something even better you can do. "Export on Close". this would mean that every time I close, the file is exported automatically.

fde101

@Daniel said in XLS for features and ideas - Mega Thread:

they can't replicate it in all of their products. Not even in Designer persona within Publisher.

They have obviously made an intentional choice not to include it in Publisher. It is not that they cannot do so - they have left various things out on purpose to help differentiate the products.

The Export Persona is great for some use cases and not a bad idea at all, but it is definitely overkill for many purposes as well and is not a tool to be used in every situation. For example, sometimes the same slice/artboard needs to be exported at multiple resolutions and in multiple file formats - how would you currently do that in VectorStyler if you need to rerun the export periodically as you make changes? If you need to apply the same set of related exports to different documents which have the same slice arrangement, in Designer, you could set them all up in a template then have all of the exports ready to go, with multiple formats and resolutions per slice, simply adding the artwork for each one: again, how would you set something like that up in VectorStyler right now?

As an aside, Export Slices doesn't seem to be working for me at all in VectorStyler when I try to use it - I'm probably missing a step somewhere and will need to go back and look for documentation to see what I am doing wrong. It prompts to select which slices to export followed by where to put the files but never asks what format(s) to export in and after selecting a destination just stops without further prompting or any indication of why there are no files added to that folder.

Daniel

@fde101: I phrased that poorly. What I meant is what you said. They've made a choice. And it's a poor one. The whole pitch that Serif makes is that it's a seamless workflow. Correct?

Well, no.

Affinity Photo and Designer don't support curly quotes, the so called Smart Quotes. Only Publisher does. So, I'm forced to do most of my work in Publisher, but I can't slice for web within Publisher. Not even within the so called Designer persona of Publisher. For that, I need to leave the program completely. In that case, why have Designer at all?

So, it's hardly an overkill. Exporting is an essential feature. Slicing is too. You can slice in all three of the main Adobe alternatives. Illy, Photoshop, and InDesign. This is a consistent reproduction. You can add pages and artboards in all three programs.

I also cannot add multiple artboards within Photo. Again, I have to leave the program and go out completely JUST to add an artboard. That's a terrible, terrible, terrible workflow choice. I do most of my initial iteration of mock up work directly in PS before I transfer to Illy. And artboards are essential for that.

Likewise, Pixel Persona does not contain live filters. Which is a deeply fragmenting choice. Especially because affinity photo within Publisher has it. So serif's choices are as whole terrible.

Font Manger vs Find & Replace - I don't even want to start talking about it.

I can get even deeper, but I think the point is made.

I don't think it's a matter of differentiation. It's a matter of commercialization. They have to pretend they have three products. They don't.

fde101

OK, I need to make a correction: I found the Slices panel, and it is possible to specify multiple file formats and resolutions (scales) per slice. This looks good for that requirement.

The problem is that at least for me, I am getting inconsistent behaviors depending on how I ask it to Export Slices:

If I choose the "Export all slices of the current canvas" button at the bottom of the Slices window, it does just that - that option appears to work, as does the "Export the selected slices" button.
If I choose Export Slices from the File menu and check the Export All checkbox, no files are exported. This is with both Current Canvas and Member Canvases checked, as well as tested with neither of them checked (there is only one canvas in the document, and four slices).
If I choose Export All Slices of the Current Document button at the bottom of the Slices window, it comes up with no slices selected, and proceeding with the export produces no files; if I choose that button then check the Export All checkbox, it still exports no files. I believe one time I managed to export a single slice when using this button, but I cannot seem to reproduce that now.

Current version of VectorStyler (just ran the update), macOS 14.6.1, M1 Ultra Mac Studio.

debraspicher

@VectorStyler Personally, I don't think you should focus too much adding continuous export functionality just yet until the UI/UX is really nailed down and the need for that becomes clear. An Export Again option is fine I think in the toolbar, especially if it relates to currently selected Artboards.. then I think that could just be part of the Canvas/Artboard workflow? Does that make sense? For Affinity's workflow, it makes more sense to have Continuous because of the way personas is completely segregated from the rest of the interface.. anyway, I wanted to explain the use case where Continuous export benefits the process.

Another thought, a way to create Export Groups. I know there is the ability to create Canvases, etc (features I've really not intuitively grasped yet), it may be helpful to compartmentalize our designs some way so that they also create these Export Groups automatically? I guess independent canvases creates this already? But as exporting an entire canvas works, as far as I understand it, it tends export sort of like a sprite sheet? I'm not sure if that idea fits at all within the current framework, because I've encountered a few bugs with Canvas, so I'm reluctant to use it too much (I think those you fixed..). So it's just a thought, thus not a suggestion.

Daniel

Responding to an earlier question about dropping symbols at mouse cursor point.

@VectorStyler: What this involves is:

Select symbols in the symbols panel...
Drag them onto the canvas, without letting the mouse button off
With the mouse button held down, press "+" , the symbols are dropped in the exact order they were selected.
When all the selected symbols are dropped, the sequence starts over.
If there's only one symbol, that symbol is repeatedly stamped.

This can equally work when I am just moving a simple object. As long as the object is selected and held down, pressing + should drop a copy at the location I choose.

VectorStyler

@Daniel said in XLS for features and ideas - Mega Thread:

As long as the object is selected and held down,

Understood.

Subpath

@VectorStyler, @Daniel

This can equally work when I am just moving a simple object. As long as the object is selected and held down, pressing + should drop a copy at the location I choose.

Pressing the + key does have a certain logic.

However, I wanted to suggest using the "Spacebar" for this,
as it's much easier to reach.

In Corel, you can copy objects using the spacebar. Select one or more
objects, hold down the left mouse button, and drag them across
the canvas. Then simply press the spacebar once at the desired
location.

Here's a video

VectorStyler

@Subpath said in XLS for features and ideas - Mega Thread:

you can copy objects using the spacebar

This looks interesting and probably easy to implement.

Daniel

@Subpath both inkscape and corel copied it from xdp.

Subpath

@Daniel

what does "xdp" mean ?

Daniel

@Subpath: Xara Designer Pro.

Daniel

@VectorStyler 17 Crystallographic groups for tesselation and pattern work. At the moment, you can create these pattern groups by manipulating square, triangular and rhombus patterns, but they should be available straightforwardly. Illustrator does this through a plugin. Inkscape does it directly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallpaper_group - Here are the wallpaper groups and their mathematics.

Subpath

@Daniel said in XLS for features and ideas - Mega Thread:

@Subpath: Xara Designer Pro.

autsch, i should know that

yes, inkscape can also copy via spacebar

my copy of Xara Designer not
( is not a Pro Version )

Daniel

Feedback in continuation of the thread started on FX customisation and speed of rendering, found in the general discussions category.

@VectorStyler: Found this useful summary of how XDP manages remarkable rendering speed. I can't fully understand the technical aspect of it. But I get the user experience side of it. However, thought you might be able to make sense of it better than me. Here it is:

Optimization Techniques

Xara employs several optimization strategies:

Just-in-time rendering - Only visible portions of the document are fully rendered, saving processing power.
Object-level display lists - Rather than regenerating the entire screen, Xara tracks which objects need redrawing.
Hierarchical spatial indexing - Advanced data structures that quickly determine which objects are in the visible area.
Incremental updating - When changes are made, only affected areas are recalculated rather than the entire document.
Direct rendering - Can display complex document elements without conversion steps.
Multi-threaded processing - Utilizes multiple CPU cores effectively for parallel processing.

Memory Management

Intelligent caching - Frequently accessed elements are stored in memory for quick retrieval.
Memory-mapped file access - Allows direct access to file data without requiring full loading into RAM.
Efficient memory allocation - Custom memory management reduces fragmentation and overhead.

Daniel

@Subpath: You can use + numpad key to stamp copies in XD.

VectorStyler

@Daniel said in XLS for features and ideas - Mega Thread:

XDP manages remarkable rendering speed

Interesting, but almost all these are also done in VS, of course details matter.
I suspect they also have some low-level trick, since moving that amount of pixels (including composition) has its limits.

Daniel

@VectorStyler: Xara developers are very tight lipped about their techniques. So I can't get more information than that. My question is how Xara is able to apply complex 16-bit FX, often piling them on top of one another, and yet maintain the fluidity and speed it is known for. It's one of the few software that actually manages to balance speed, performance and quality. I'll see if I can get more intel for you.

What do you mean by low-level tricks? You mean tricks at the level of assembly code? or something else?

Subpath

@Daniel said in XLS for features and ideas - Mega Thread:

@Subpath: You can use + numpad key to stamp copies in XD.

Indeed, this work with my copy too

Daniel

All the feature and ideas are now captured in XLS.