
And then there is the array of slicing options to consider the features here should keep web and app designers happy. In addition, Affinity is fully compatible with Illustrator and Photoshop files, along with other industry-standard file types, such as SVG. I actually believe that this ability, in particular, is a real breakthrough for visual design apps. This level of bitmap integration also allows for effects, such as masks, to work with both scalable and non-scalable objects. In fact, you can instantly switch between these two toolkits with a click of a toggle switch. It’s happy to work in CYMK, for instance, and Affinity blends bitmap and vector visuals seamlessly. In terms of functionality, Serif’s new app mostly just keeps pace with Illustrator, but there are areas where it pulls ahead. That even holds when you zoom in to ten million per cent, as well. I mean, you can drag around hundreds of shapes, complete with various fill styles, and there’s virtually no lag whatsoever. A similarly dark interface holds comparable features, but there is one instantly noticeable difference between the two apps - Affinity is properly speedy. Such as outline/vector view and pixel view at one time, inside one window.In fact, so determined is Serif (Affinity’s developer) to match Adobe, that it seems to have made a near-clone of Illustrator. Mode mirroring allows you to view two states at the same time.
#Affinity designer vector manual#
Though I’m not familiar with older versions, the current version seems to have very solid support for SVG – though some manual optimization of files destined for the web is probably still in order. I’ve read reviews from 2014 that mention that Affinity Designer’s SVG support was a little flaky.

Of course, when we talk about vectors and the web it’s hard to not mention SVG. This way you can still work with a team of designers who are not using Affinity Designer. PSD support is a great feature since the industry standard nowadays is Adobe Photoshop. When you have a mobile app design in Affinity Designer but need to work on it on Photoshop, you can export it very easily. For example, if you have designed a mobile app in Photoshop and now you want to continue working on it on Affinity Designer, you can do that with no problem and the whole design will be intact. It is a very useful tool when it comes to working on projects that have a lot of detail and large canvas dimensions.Īnother huge upside is the ability to import and export projects from Photoshop. The export settings, the slices panel and the layers tab that gives you options to selectively choose what to export and configure the many export variables presented in the settings panel.Īffinity Designer features a 1,000,000% zoom – Which means that it can handle working on very large documents without losing speed. When the export persona is active the right bar changes with three new tabbed panels. In the right sidebar, you can interact with layers, brushes, swatches, colors, effects, styles etc. The right sidebar is composed of many useful tabbed panels. It saves a huge amount of time by providing tips and shortcuts based on the functionalities, tools or options you have hovered your mouse over, or selected. The hint bar is located at the bottom of the page. The dynamic UI makes it very intuitive to find what you are looking for without going in too deep in menus and submenus as you might traditionally expect. In the context toolbar, the different options change based on the currently active tool or functionality you have chosen. Object controls for ordering (bringing forward or backward etc.).Such as: *Buttons – that allow you to switch between standard or retina viewing modes.

The default toolbar keeps the most common tools. Every time you access a persona the left toolbar changes, offering other functionalities and tools based on the currently active one. Personas make it very easy to find the tools you need. The export persona is used to output entire layers, groups, objects or regions as graphics in your chosen format. Tools such as brushes, retouching tools, and pixel selection tools will be available to you.

Pixel persona allows you to edit your vector drawing based on pixels. It changes the UI so it serves useful tools to work on creating or modifying vector graphics. There are three personas at the time of this writing: Personas are used to easily and quickly switch between sets of tools and functions, based on what your objectives are. The persona toolbar is a key concept and a feature that distinguishes Affinity Designer from other apps out there. The top bar in itself is divided into three main sections: It sports a top toolbar, two side toolbars, the working canvas and a thin hint bar at the bottom of the page. The UI of the app is very similar to what we see in the Adobe package or Sketch App.
