# Affinity Designer Cheatsheet

## Overview

Affinity Designer is a vector graphics editor developed by Serif. It is a professional-grade tool for creating graphics, illustrations, and designs. Some of its features include:

- A powerful pen tool for precise vector drawing
- A wide range of vector brushes for adding texture and depth
- Advanced layer management for organizing your work
- Support for importing and exporting a variety of file formats
- A pixel persona for creating and editing raster graphics
- Non-destructive editing with adjustment layers and live filters

## Basic Tools

### Move Tool
- Shortcut: V
- Used for moving, scaling, rotating, or shearing objects.

### Artboard Tool
- Shortcut: A
- Used for creating and manipulating artboards.

### Rectangle Tool
- Shortcut: M
- Used for drawing rectangles and squares.

### Ellipse Tool
- Shortcut: M
- Used for drawing circles and ellipses.

### Pen Tool
- Shortcut: P
- Used for creating precise vector paths.

### Node Tool
- Shortcut: A
- Used for manipulating vector nodes.

### Text Tool
- Shortcut: T
- Used for creating and editing text objects.

## Panels

### Layers Panel
- Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + L
- Used for organizing objects and applying effects to them.

### Swatches Panel
- Shortcut: Ctrl + 3
- Used for selecting colors and creating color palettes.

### Effects Panel
- Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + F
- Used for applying and modifying live effects.

### Stroke Panel
- Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + O
- Used for setting the stroke properties of objects.

### Appearance Panel
- Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + F
- Used for modifying the appearance of objects.

## Advanced Tools

### Vector Brush Tool
- Shortcut: B
- Used for creating textured and natural-looking vector strokes.

### Pencil Tool
- Shortcut: N
- Used for creating freehand vector drawings.

### Gradient Tool
- Shortcut: G
- Used for applying and editing gradients.

### Symbols
- Used for creating reusable vector objects.

## Shortcuts

- Ctrl + Shift + L: Show/hide Layers Panel
- Ctrl + Shift + O: Show/hide Stroke Panel
- Ctrl + Shift + F: Show/hide Effects Panel
- Ctrl + 3: Show/hide Swatches Panel
- Ctrl + Alt + C: Copy selected object(s) with style
- Ctrl + Alt + V: Paste object(s) with style

## Resources

- [Official Affinity Designer Tutorials](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/tutorials/designer/)
- [Affinity Designer Workbook](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/store/product/affinity-designer-workbook/)
- [Affinity Designer Forum](https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/5-affinity-designer-on-mac-and-windows/)