163 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
163 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
# Affinity 3 `.af`: source audit and validation boundaries
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Audit date: 2026-10-09. This audit focuses on the unified `.af` document format,
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not on increasing the number of legacy `.afdesign`, `.afphoto` or `.afpub` files.
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The source expansion adds 28 original Affinity 3.2.3 saves and one derived
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regression input to the four existing current-version `.af` illustrations.
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Passing a reader test, retaining editable objects and matching a saved picture
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are separate claims. None demonstrates compatibility with every Affinity feature.
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## Clean-room evidence
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The inputs for this work are public documentation, fixture licensing/provenance
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notices and public document data. No Affinity executable, installation resources,
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private API or third-party Affinity parser implementation was read. No Adobe
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application was run or used as an oracle. Existing project restrictions still
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apply to Adobe-authored assets and software.
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The additional Patchy files below were fetched as individual document blobs.
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Only its fixture directory listing, MIT license and third-party notice were read;
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its importer, tests and authoring scripts were not consulted. These files provide
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independently authored input data, not an implementation to translate.
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The upstream notice attributes the ordinary `tiny-*.af` files to the Patchy team,
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using licensed Affinity 3.2.3 through its public JavaScript SDK, and describes the
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content as original, with no third-party content. It separately identifies
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`tiny-lazy-placed.af` as a deterministic byte-level derivation. That file is a
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regression/hostile-input case, not evidence that Affinity saved the derived layout.
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See the pinned [provenance notice](https://github.com/SethRobinson/Patchy/blob/de84eab550758b30fa062e479f5778cce7693b73/NOTICE-THIRD-PARTY.md)
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and [MIT license](https://github.com/SethRobinson/Patchy/blob/de84eab550758b30fa062e479f5778cce7693b73/LICENSE).
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An audit using this project's parser found absolute personal-path metadata in all
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33 current `.af` files, including the four existing CC0 illustrations. These
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values were not copied into reports or source, and are not imported into the
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engine document. Do not claim that the downloadable inputs contain no personal
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paths. Inspection of archive-entry names/signatures and stream byte/blob values
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found no TTF, OTF, TTC, WOFF or WOFF2 binaries; this signature check is not a
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complete font-file validation.
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## Public-source decisions
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| Source | Current `.af` evidence | Features or equivalent files advertised | Rights and decision |
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| [samuel-etver/vector-art](https://github.com/samuel-etver/vector-art/tree/255f8add3c8f0740196e22bd59502b811b532f0b/simple) | Four `.af` files already pinned by this project | Mexican character illustrations and playing cards; real vector art | CC0. Retain the current-version vector examples; no paired PSD identified. |
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| [SethRobinson/Patchy fixture data](https://github.com/SethRobinson/Patchy/tree/de84eab550758b30fa062e479f5778cce7693b73/test-fixtures/af) | 29 `.af` blobs at commit `de84eab550758b30fa062e479f5778cce7693b73`; author states Affinity 3.2.3, with one separately identified derived file | Artboards, text, placed images, groups, vectors, masks, shapes, transforms, raster depth, color spaces and unsupported-feature examples | MIT, copyright Seth A. Robinson, 2026; original fixture content per notice. Fetch pinned data only, SHA-256 verify, preserve attribution. No paired PSD identified in this directory. |
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| [AoStock manuscript-line material](https://booth.pm/ja/items/8639126) | Publisher explicitly identifies the `.af` as Affinity Studio; build unverified | Original line/grid art; `Allfile.zip` advertises `.af`, SVG and PNG together | Explicit CC0. The archive download redirects to Pixiv sign-in, so it was not fetched or validated. Useful future small vector/export oracle, not a complex font/artboard example. |
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| [N.C. A&T poster template](https://www.ncat.edu/caes/agricultural-communications/poster-guidelines-and-printing.php) | University explicitly marks its native template Affinity 3.x only | Large poster, layout and university branding; PowerPoint and Canva alternatives | No open redistribution license located. Do not add to the corpus. Public download is [caes-36x48-poster-affinity.af](https://www.ncat.edu/caes/agricultural-communications/files/caes-36x48-poster-affinity.af), but authoring version and contents were not parsed: an ordinary private download was blocked by this cloud’s restricted network policy. The page permits poster-template use, without granting corpus redistribution. |
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| [ALDC summer campaigning templates](https://www.aldc.org/latest-templates-summer-of-campaigning/) | Page says most current templates use Affinity 3; individual files unverified | A3/A4 leaflets, surveys and mailings, with paired PDF links and a handwriting font requirement | No permissive redistribution grant located; exclude. A useful example of why a downloadable template and a free font are not sufficient provenance. |
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| [JREAMI Instagram interface templates](https://shop.jreamidesign.com/products/instagram-interface-templates-6-canva-affinity) | Product explicitly advertises `.af` documents; build unverified | Six artboards with embedded images; Canva equivalents | Commercial product; no corpus redistribution grant located. Not purchased or downloaded. |
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| [Beauty-clinic flyer templates](https://www.etsy.com/listing/4435225062/aesthetic-beauty-clinic-flyer-template) | Seller advertises six `.af` files | Six matching PSD files, A4/US Letter variants, editable typography | Commercial product; no corpus redistribution grant located. The pairing is advertised, not inspected. Not purchased or downloaded. |
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| [Wrapping-paper mockup](https://creativemarket.com/SDMockup/292120862-Wrapping-Paper-with-Sticker-Mockup) | Seller advertises native `.af` | PSD and `.af` together; large photographic mockup | Commercial Creative Market asset; no corpus redistribution grant located. Not purchased or downloaded. |
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| [OpenGameArt VR controller diagrams](https://opengameart.org/content/vr-controller-diagrams) | Published 2021-11-22, before the unified format; the page's “.AF” wording does not establish Affinity 3 | Author advertises Affinity vector sources, PSD and PNG for controller diagrams | CC0 by psychicparrot. Exclude from the current-version corpus. ZIP retrieval returned HTTP 403 in this environment; filenames and PSD generator were not inspected. |
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Searches combined `.af`, Affinity 3, artboards, sample files, templates, CC0,
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Creative Commons and PSD on public web/GitHub listings. This is a documented
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sample of discovered sources, not a claim that every public file was found.
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No openly redistributable, inspected Affinity 3 `.af`/PSD pair covering complex
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typography and artboards was located in this audit.
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## Additional current-version fixture inventory
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The corpus names below map to upstream `test-fixtures/af/tiny-<suffix>.af`.
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For example, `patchy-artboards.af` comes from
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[tiny-artboards.af](https://github.com/SethRobinson/Patchy/blob/de84eab550758b30fa062e479f5778cce7693b73/test-fixtures/af/tiny-artboards.af).
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The source pin, filenames and SHA-256 digest manifest are the reproducibility
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boundary; never fetch a floating branch for CI.
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| Area | Corpus files | What the file selection can test |
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| Artboards and units | `patchy-artboards.af`, `patchy-dpi300.af` | Board identity, rectangles, content association, clipping and conversion from document resolution to points |
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| Editable typography | `patchy-text-artistic.af`, `patchy-text-frame.af`, `patchy-text-runs.af`, `patchy-text-rotated.af` | Native text retention, per-run styling, frame geometry and composed transforms |
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| Paragraph/character differences | `patchy-text-indent.af`, `patchy-text-para-spacing.af`, `patchy-text-caps.af` | Detect unsupported text layout and case features; a passing parse is insufficient evidence of layout fidelity |
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| Curves, shapes and masks | `patchy-vector.af`, `patchy-vector-mask.af`, `patchy-shapes.af`, `patchy-shapes-2.af` | Editable paths, mask attachment and known/fallback parametric shapes |
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| Structure and transforms | `patchy-group.af`, `patchy-transform.af` | Nested groups, names, stacking and transform composition |
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| Images and pixels | `patchy-embedded-jpeg.af`, `patchy-rgba8.af`, `patchy-rgba16.af`, `patchy-cmyk.af`, `patchy-lab.af` | Original image retention, tiled pixels, supported depths and explicit color-space limitations |
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| Effects/adjustments/blends | `patchy-fx.af`, `patchy-fx-blur.af`, `patchy-fx-gradient.af`, `patchy-adjust-curves.af`, `patchy-adjust-hsl.af`, `patchy-live-filter.af`, `patchy-blend-affinity.af` | Warnings and safe fallbacks for unsupported visual operations; not automatic feature support |
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| Saved revisions and derived input | `patchy-incremental-chain.af`, `patchy-lazy-placed.af` | Revision selection and bounded handling of a derived placement case |
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These are focused feature probes. They complement the larger vector illustrations
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but do not replace a large production document with many interacting features.
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Fixture filenames alone do not prove the imported model preserved those features;
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assert native model structure and imported engine behavior independently.
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## PSD compatibility oracle design
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Affinity's public [PSD-import guide](https://www.affinity.studio/blog/how-to-open-a-psd-file)
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documents import settings that change the result: smart objects can be rasterized
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or retained, and text can be imported as text or bitmap. It also describes artboard
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mapping and profile conversion. Therefore, a same-looking PSD is not inherently
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an equivalent editable document, and an export can lose features before our
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reader sees it.
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For a future paired oracle, record the original author, license for all embedded
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art, Affinity version, platform, import settings, profile, resolution, fonts,
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export preset and each expected semantic loss. Keep an original `.af`, a native
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Affinity-rendered PNG per board at full resolution, an Affinity-exported PSD and
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a human-readable object/layout inventory. Do not run Photoshop or another Adobe
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application to generate or validate the comparison. A PSD written by VectorCraft
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after import tests our writer/round trip; it is not an independent Affinity oracle.
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Compare board dimensions and names, object counts/ordering/visibility, text and
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run boundaries, placed-image transforms, mask geometry and transparency, then
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render each board with the documented background. Document which PSD objects
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are rasterized, approximated or absent. A flat full-document thumbnail can hide
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lost boards, editable text or misplaced children. Require native-import success
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where native support is claimed; preview fallback must never satisfy that test.
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## Typography and complex-document coverage still required
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Affinity publicly documents [variable fonts, OpenType features, path text,
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artistic/frame text and precision spacing](https://www.affinity.studio/typography-software).
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The discovered real-file set does not establish faithful support for all of them.
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| Required independent fixture | Evidence needed before claiming support |
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| Variable fonts and named instances | Font family plus axes/instance settings preserved; exact pinned font version; non-default weight/width/optical-size rendering |
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| OpenType feature combinations | Ligatures, discretionary ligatures, stylistic sets, alternate glyphs, small caps, numeric forms and kerning controls; compare both text content and glyph output |
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| Mixed scripts and direction | Arabic joining/RTL, Hebrew, Devanagari conjuncts, Thai combining marks, CJK line breaks, bidi mixed numbers, combining accents and supplementary-plane characters |
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| Mixed runs and font fallback | Multiple families, sizes, colors and baseline shifts within one paragraph; missing font and missing glyph outcomes reported without silently changing text |
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| Advanced frames and flow | Columns, insets, linked frames, overflow, tabs/indents, paragraph spacing, justified text, wrapping around objects and text on a transformed path |
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| Font representations | TrueType, CFF/OpenType, collection faces, variable outlines and color glyph formats; avoid treating family-name retention as outline support |
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| Large interacting document | Multiple unequal/overlapping boards, off-board artwork, nested clips/masks, rotations/skews, repeated placed/embedded documents, symbols, images and text at non-72 dpi |
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| Pixel/vector interaction | Raster depths/color spaces, blend/opacity combinations, effects, live adjustments, brushes and pressure profiles with explicit warnings for unsupported cases |
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Acquire these as original contributor documents with explicit redistribution
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rights, or add independently published originals with complete provenance.
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Fonts belong in [storytold/craft-fonts](https://github.com/storytold/craft-fonts),
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not this repository; a fixture's font names do not grant redistribution rights
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to font binaries. Synthetic containers remain useful for parser limits and
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precise regression tests, but cannot establish real Affinity saves or rendering
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semantics for an unobserved feature.
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Tests must distinguish supported behavior, approximated behavior with warnings,
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rejected input and unvalidated behavior. Keep the unmet rows above visible when
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reporting results: there is no evidence for universal `.af` compatibility.
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## Checks added in this change
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The pinned corpus contains 51 documents, including 33 current `.af` files with
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34 artboards. Native model signatures freeze retained geometry, paints, masks,
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images, text runs, fonts, bounds and warnings. Every current board is saved and
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reloaded in `.vectorcraft`, then exported through SVG, PDF and PSD. SVG/PDF
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dimensions and reimport are checked; a test-only decoder written from the public
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PSD specification compares merged pixels and alpha with VectorCraft's PNG output.
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These export checks establish internal consistency, not independent Affinity fidelity.
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A headless VectorCraft MCP session also opens the real two-board `.af`, saves
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and reopens `.vectorcraft` with the complete saved model unchanged, exports both
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boards as SVG/PSD, then reopens and exports the two-page PDF again with embedded
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editing data disabled, exercising the PDF reader rather than native restoration. The normal
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save command adds creation/modification metadata for the new native file.
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Saved-thumbnail comparisons cover 36 board crops across 31 documents. Both boards
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in the Affinity 3 artboard probe match exactly; the embedded JPEG probe has a mean
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difference of 0.50/255. Per-file ceilings preserve measured regression limits;
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unsupported text layout and effects are tested structurally and through warnings.
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The cloud runs Linux with no Affinity installation, exposed Affinity MCP, graphical
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display or GPU/VM device. [Current Affinity supports Windows and macOS](https://www.affinity.studio/download);
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ordinary prerequisite installation also failed because this sandbox has no root
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access or sudo. A supported desktop with ordinary Canva activation is needed for
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the independent Affinity reopen procedure above. No Affinity reference reopen or
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`.af` export is claimed by this change.
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