Affinity Designer 2

Affinity Designer 2

Rating
4.4
Reviews
96
Gradients
Pen Tool
Adjustments
Knife Tool
Vector Warp
Raster Brush
Slices
Split View
Contours
Shape Builder

App details

Release date

2022-07-14

Last update

2024-01-05

Product ID

9N2D0P16C80H

Categories

Multimedia design

About Affinity Designer 2

Available to purchase in-app for a one-off cost – no subscription.

The next generation of the award-winning vector graphics software, Affinity Designer 2 is setting the new industry standard in the world of design. Packed with tons of new features and hundreds of enhancements to optimize your workflow, you can now create high-quality concept art, illustrations, architectural renders, logos, icons, mock-ups, and other designs more seamlessly than ever before.

REFINED & REDESIGNED UI
• Fully redeveloped UI, tool, and button icons
• All new Layers Panel
• See recent raster brushes by layer
• View recent documents as thumbnail previews or list
• Pin documents for quick access
• New Document dialog redesign
• New monochromatic iconography via Preferences (User Interface)
• High-contrast UI settings
• Export dialog redesign offers “always on” export preview
• Scrolling Preferences

POWERFUL NEW TOOLS
• Apply a non-destructive vector warp over any vector artwork or text
• Shape Builder Tool for interactively adding and subtracting shapes and curve segments
• Knife Tool for cutting up shapes, curves, and text
• DXF/DWF import
• Measure Tool displays scaled distances between any two points in any direction
• Area Tool shows the area and perimeter length of objects
• Style Picker Tool offers a dropper-based transfer of object styles
• Drawing scale, including ability for different scales set per artboard
• Pencil Tool creates auto-closed or straight-line pencil strokes
• X-ray view mode to view overlapped objects better
• Multiple shadow, outline and overlay layer effects per object
• Drag/drop bitmap texture fills
• Force scale of stroke, effect and fills on object resize

REAL-TIME PERFORMANCE
• Pan and zoom at 60fps
• Live gradients, transforms, effects, and adjustments
• Optimized for documents of any complexity, zoom to over 1,000,000% for absolute precision
• Live pixel, retina, and wireframe view of vector artwork in and out of split screen mode
• Seamless switching between tools and editing modes for frustration-free design
• Incredibly accurate results with minimal nodes
• Windows hardware (GPU) acceleration (for users running Windows 10 (April 2020 update or later) with a Direct3D feature level 12.0 capable card)

PRECISE VECTOR TOOLS
• Rock solid vector tools that work just the way you want them to
• The best pen tool, node tool, curve editing and smart shape tools available
• Powerful contour tool to create abstract objects or increase the width of single open curves
• Pencil and brush stabilization for drawing super-smooth curves freehand
• Non-destructive Boolean operations
• Live effects, blend modes and image adjustments
• Incredibly smooth gradient and transparency controls

RASTER OR VECTOR, YOU DECIDE
• With a single click, switch between vector and raster workspaces
• Use the strengths of vector and raster behaviors for the best of both worlds
• High quality raster tools for texturing, masking, and finishing artwork – you can even create your own brushes
• True creative freedom not found in other apps

SOPHISTICATED TYPOGRAPHY
• Flexible text handling including comprehensive support for OpenType
• Artistic text and text frames
• Full control over character and paragraph styles
• Flow text along any drawn path

BUILT FOR YOUR WORKFLOW
• Unlimited artboards
• Savable history with alternate futures
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts
• PSD, AI, PDF, EPS, SVG, JPG, JPEG XL, TIFF, EXR, DXF and DWG file support
• Advanced grids, snapping and alignment
• Linked symbols and constraints
• Drag and drop layers between documents
• Save documents as template files to re-use time and time again
• Customize savable presets, including studio presets for the UI layout
• Quickly access royalty free images through the Stock panel
• Efficiently select multiple objects with matching attributes using the Select Same function
• Select all objects of a certain type within your document using the Select Object function
• Linked images and resource manager
• Flag PDFs for PDF passthrough to ensure perfect representation of original PDF when exporting, without the need to have embedded fonts installed
• Collate your document alongside all used image and font resources into a folder using the Package feature

PERFECT COLOR & OUTPUT
• Professional CMYK, LAB, RGB, PANTONE© and Greyscale color models
• Full 16-bit per channel editing
• End-to-end ICC color management
• Slice export for exporting multiple elements in a single click
• Live pixel preview to see exactly how your design will export

PLUS, A TON OF NEW FUNCTIONALITY:

New document dialog redesign
• More accessible presets
• Easier preset management and organization
• Flag and filter presets as favorites
• In-dialog access to new document presets, templates, samples, my account, and recent documents
• Recent documents (grid or list) are searchable and support pinning
• Preset preview (changes as you alter settings)
• “Always on” Document summary pane

All new Layers Panel
• Much clearer drop zones for masking, clipping, and reordering
• Parent bar to easily collapse parent items and drop layers above/below current parent group
• Identify layer types by icon (curves, shapes, text, pixel, mask, adjustment)
• Color tag or hide/show other layers via right-click on Visibility button
• Copy layer effects (FX) from one layer to another
• Hover-over lock icon toggle
• Drag-down Visibility icon to turn on/off multiple selected layers

Content synchronization (content link)
• All Affinity apps on a device can now share brushes, styles, assets, application palettes and more
• Avoids unnecessary exporting/importing of content between apps on the same device
• Easy migration of custom V1 content on upgrade
• Link custom content to share with other apps

Selections
• More Select Same/Select Object options with modifier support for multi-object selections
• Select Next/Previous/Top/Bottom/Parent via right-click menu
• Select by group or item within group with Move Tool

Redeveloped Boolean operations
• Much more accurate results in all commands
• Divide can use an open curve to slice a shape or split another open curve
• Divide will punch out holes using a fully overlapping object
• Subtract from a heavily outlined key object, designated using the ALT key

Curve drawing and editing
• Red line indicator on all curve selections shows winding direction
• Node Tool offers Split Curves, adding a new node in the midpoint of a curve segment

Placing content
• Repeating objects in a grid
• Autoflow of multiple images and multi-page PDFs
• Layer visibility override for placed files (PDF/DWG/DXF/PSD/Affinity)—turn off layers you don’t need
• Place linked web images using their URLs
• Dropbox API integration to retain placed resource linkage across multiple devices

Raster brush improvements
• Improved raster brush quality and accuracy
• Distance controller changes brush characteristics with stroke length
• Brush tip interpolation for improved tip quality
• Wet edge support for more brush-based tools
• Recent raster brushes by layer
• Paint Brush Tool now has its own B keyboard key shortcut
• Brushes panel can display brushes as nozzle thumbnails

Import/export/packaging
• AutoCAD DWG/DXF import, place, and edit (maintaining layer structure and scaling)
• HIF file import (HDR 10-bit PQ encoded) produced by newer Canon cameras
• Open stock images as new documents
• PDF export will export hidden Affinity vector layers that have child layers as invisible layers
• Save packaged document changes back to original folder

Some important extras…
• Align multiple objects to a nominated key object
• HSL Color Wheel has box wheel type and offers recent colors and hex code readout/input
• Convert artistic text to frame text, and vice versa
• Paste Style support for copied text selections
• Isolation (Solo) mode offers better group control
• Rasterize selected layers simultaneously
• Limit initial zoom to a maximum of 100% preference

Key features

  • Panning and zooming is always live at 60fps
  • Live gradients, transforms, effects, and adjustments
  • Optimized for documents of any complexity; zoom to over 1,000,000% for absolute precision
  • Live pixel and retina view of vector artwork, wireframe view, split screen mode
  • Seamless switching between tools and editing modes for frustration-free design
  • Professional CMYK, LAB, RGB, PANTONE© and Greyscale color models
  • End-to-end ICC color management
  • Advanced Lanczos 3 image resampling, plus Bicubic, Bilinear and Nearest Neighbor methods
  • Live effects, blend modes, image adjustments, and raster and vector masks for any part of your design
  • Use the strengths of vector and raster behaviors for the best of both worlds
  • The best pen tool, node tool, curve editing, geometry operations, and smart shape tools available, plus new contour tool
  • Flexible text handling including comprehensive support for OpenType
  • Optimized workspaces give focus to design disciplines including web graphics, UI/UX, print, and concept art
  • Stock panel for instant access to royalty free images
  • Select Same and Select Object functions allow you to efficiently match attributes or select all objects of a certain type
  • Slice any shape, curve, or text into component parts faster than ever with the Knife Tool
  • Add and subtract shapes and segments in a much easier, more interactive way with the Shape Builder Tool
  • Apply a non-destructive vector warp over any vector artwork or text
  • DXF/DWG import - import and edit AutoCAD and DXF files quickly and accurately, maintaining the layer structure and scale of the original file
  • Measure line lengths, segments, distances, and areas of any objects to scale with new Measure and Area tools