Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Recommendations concerning notation and publishing software in a non-partisan environment.
User avatar
John Ruggero
Posts: 2453
Joined: 05 Oct 2015, 14:25
Location: Raleigh, NC USA

Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by John Ruggero »

Many have been waiting for Affinity Publisher as a replacement for InDesign, and a public beta has just been announced. I will wait for the finished product. However, I would be very interested in early impressions of Affinity Publisher from more courageous members of Notat.io, particularly as a tool in which to place PDFs of music engraved in Finale, Dorico, Sibelius, LilyPond, MuseScore etc. for publication.
Last edited by John Ruggero on 30 Aug 2018, 17:46, edited 3 times in total.
M1 Mac mini (OS 12.4), Dorico, Finale 25.5, GPO 4, Affinity Publisher 2, SmartScore 64 Pro, JW Plug-ins, TG Tools, Keyboard maestro

http://www.cantilenapress.com
User avatar
tisimst
Posts: 416
Joined: 08 Oct 2015, 17:57
Location: UT, USA
Contact:

Re: Affinity Designer Public Beta

Post by tisimst »

Designer is in public beta? I can only see Publisher in free public beta... Do you have a link?
Music Typeface Designer & Engraver - LilyPond | Sibelius | Finale | MuseScore | Dorico | SMuFL | Inkscape | FontForge
User avatar
John Ruggero
Posts: 2453
Joined: 05 Oct 2015, 14:25
Location: Raleigh, NC USA

Re: Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by John Ruggero »

Thanks for the correction, tisimst, which I made in the topic and OP. I just tried the link they sent and which worked previously, but now it doesn't. Maybe it will work later today...

https://serif.us8.list-manage.com/track ... 30b55edcc9
M1 Mac mini (OS 12.4), Dorico, Finale 25.5, GPO 4, Affinity Publisher 2, SmartScore 64 Pro, JW Plug-ins, TG Tools, Keyboard maestro

http://www.cantilenapress.com
User avatar
tisimst
Posts: 416
Joined: 08 Oct 2015, 17:57
Location: UT, USA
Contact:

Re: Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by tisimst »

No problem, John. Thanks for confirming. Here’s a more direct link:

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher
Music Typeface Designer & Engraver - LilyPond | Sibelius | Finale | MuseScore | Dorico | SMuFL | Inkscape | FontForge
DatOrganistTho
Posts: 192
Joined: 19 Jan 2016, 17:30

Re: Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by DatOrganistTho »

FWIW: I'm really excited about this program. Along with Affinity, Dorico and other similar product lines have been bringing publishing and layout into the 20th century. I really enjoy Designer, and I have heard wondrous things about Photo.

Here's to finally getting into the 21st Century with modern approaches to notation and publishing.
LilyPond Lover
Composer and Transcriber
Teacher and Performer
benwiggy
Posts: 835
Joined: 11 Apr 2016, 19:42

Re: Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by benwiggy »

John Ruggero wrote: 30 Aug 2018, 15:55 I will wait for the finished product.
Affinity Publisher is released today. They are currently offering discounts across the Affinity range, so a good time to buy. I've been running the beta for some time, and it's a fantastic tool for making title pages for scores.

It also imports PDFs as a collection of editable objects, much as Affinity Designer does. So you can import music PDFs and edit the notation!

See here, where I've shortened the staff lines and created a box with an arrow.
Attachments
Screenshot 7.png
Screenshot 7.png (106.6 KiB) Viewed 8926 times
benwiggy
Posts: 835
Joined: 11 Apr 2016, 19:42

Re: Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by benwiggy »

Actually, there are some issues with importing PDFs. It can't cope with the complex glyphs in Figurato at all, and some elements like lyric hyphens and staff brackets are moved around a bit. (The same is true in Affinity Designer, as it's the exact same engine.)

However, the dev team are responsive to feedback, so I'm quietly confident that with sufficient reports, they'll be able to fix these things. In the meantime, Publisher is still excellent for front matter, and the entire Affinity suite is very capable.
User avatar
John Ruggero
Posts: 2453
Joined: 05 Oct 2015, 14:25
Location: Raleigh, NC USA

Re: Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by John Ruggero »

Thanks for the report, benwiggy. I'm happy that it is out now, since, like so many users, I need it to replace InDesign. I would be placing PDFs of Finale files within Affinity files, adding footnote numbers and footnotes below. Sounds like I might need to wait just a little longer until you report that the PDF issues are fixed.
M1 Mac mini (OS 12.4), Dorico, Finale 25.5, GPO 4, Affinity Publisher 2, SmartScore 64 Pro, JW Plug-ins, TG Tools, Keyboard maestro

http://www.cantilenapress.com
User avatar
tisimst
Posts: 416
Joined: 08 Oct 2015, 17:57
Location: UT, USA
Contact:

Re: Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by tisimst »

benwiggy wrote: 20 Jun 2019, 17:43 Actually, there are some issues with importing PDFs. It can't cope with the complex glyphs in Figurato at all, and some elements like lyric hyphens and staff brackets are moved around a bit. (The same is true in Affinity Designer, as it's the exact same engine.)
That's quite surprising since it boasts some of the most comprehensive OpenType support around.
Music Typeface Designer & Engraver - LilyPond | Sibelius | Finale | MuseScore | Dorico | SMuFL | Inkscape | FontForge
benwiggy
Posts: 835
Joined: 11 Apr 2016, 19:42

Re: Affinity Publisher Public Beta

Post by benwiggy »

Yes, it's support for OpenType is lovely -- and its live-preview of font styles is marvellous: but importing PDFs as either an image or 'wholesale' is less good.

However: if I outline the font data in the PDF, then all is well.
Post Reply