Affinity-Inspiration

The interesting thing with this is with studio it is easy to do this in Publisher with the Photo persona with both artistic and plain text, but again not being in to the maths behind it will take some playing about to get different effects

If I may add to this thread, text on a path with photo is possible... just needs macro from Paul Mudditt.
 
 
IMG_0397.MP4

Not in designer, but if you also have Affinity Photo
1. Create some Artistic text
2. Filters > Distort > Equations
3. Enter formula shown below
4. Adjust the Slider A to vary the effect
This is the formula
y-(120*a)*sin(380*x/w)
 

Yes, it is an exif issue, and I explored it in depth earlier. The conversation on the Facebook Group is as follows. Sorry it looks garbled. Copied it directly from the "Affinity Photo and Designer for iPad" Facegroup run by Paul Muddit. Posted March 4th 14:17 original post.
It's basically to do with the Keyword Orientation & camera type.  
 
Anything with Orientation set to 1 is OK
A DSLR type camera seems to be ok. Usually set to 1.
A screen capture. Shows almost no data, and certainly no Orientation keyword. Shows ok.
Anything taken with any iPhone or iPad gets rotated.
Other images seem to be random. Some do some don't get rotated.
... So something is determining the orientation of the image at import, and arbitrarily deciding it needs rotation - or not. Why? Why not just leave it as the user has it? Or offer a choice?
 
anyway, it'd be nice if these two could be fixed in a coming release. I'm not sure just now if it also applies to Designer, and to the Desktop packages as well. Haven't checked yet.
 
thanks
Robert
Robert Chalmers
Visual storyteller · 4 March at 14:17 Q. When I place some images that are originally in portrait mode, why is it rotating the image 90 degrees?
I then have to fiddle about to rotate it again so it’s the right orientation.
    6 comments Like   Comments
  Paul Mudditt Hi Robert, fairly sure it’s to do with a bug in V1.8.0 where the EXIF data is not being read correctly which includes the camera orientation, It appears to be fixed in latest V1.8.2 beta which will likely be released soon. 1 Hide or report this Like  · Reply  · 2w Robert Chalmers Paul Mudditt Ah, thanks. I couldn’t figure that one out at all. Some images come in ok, others don’t. Let me experiment 🙂 1 Edit or delete this Like  · Reply  · 2w Robert Chalmers Paul Mudditt It seems some of the images I have have the Orientation metadata flag set, some don’t have it at all. Not even the Metadata tag.
Interesting 1 Edit or delete this Like  · Reply  · 2w Robert Chalmers Paul Mudditt Further to that. 
If Orientation is 1, it’s ok. Places right way up.
If Orientation doesn’t exist, it places right way up if it’s a screen capture type. No camera.
If it’s taken with an iPhone SE, and there is no Orientation meta tag, it rotates CCW 90’. If there is one, and it’s set to 6, it rotates CCW 90’.
... don’t ask me why the SE sometimes sets orientation and sometimes not. More experiments with iPhone and iPad to come.

Orientation 6 for a RAW photo taken with iPhone 11 rotates 270’ on Placement.
If it’s a photo of a paper drawing, Orientation 6, and CCW 90’
And finally, iPad mini returns Orientation 6, and standard jpg image, CCW 90’.  
So there we go... other cameras will have mixed results I’ve no doubt.

And out of interest, my Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G5 returns Orientation 1, and loads correctly. 1 Edit or delete this Like  · Reply  · 2w  · Edited Paul Mudditt Robert Chalmers wow you have been busy ! Same photo loaded in the two versions, the beta version seems to show the metadata ok. Hide or report this     1 Like  · Reply  · 2w Robert Chalmers Paul Mudditt Does it shows the word Orientation in the EXIF Data? Or anywhere else for that matter? Edit or delete this Like  · Reply  · 2w

@Chris B
Allow me to mention, that I already reported this or at least a similar issue regarding Images:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/104710-recognize-image-orientation/&tab=comments#comment-563621
and received this answer:


more "bumping" needed ?

kind regards
Fritz

I've logged this and we are looking into it, thanks for the report

I have been using Affinity Designer for a little over a year now, so I will teach my style to the people on the forum. There are of course many ways to draw, but this will cover a cartoon style. I will teach the style I used originally, and I will teach the style I use now. With the new brush stabilisers implemented in Designer 1.6, I decided to begin a brand new approach, but I will explain what I did for my original style first.
 
Original Style
 
For all of the line work, I used the Pen Tool, because curves created by the Pencil Tool and Brush Tool were too jagged and could not continue lines. However, the Pen Tool does not allow free control, so creating a character entirely from scratch is certainly a challenge. You will need to start smaller.
 

 
Above is a long but particulate example. You are probably aware that there are both vector and pixel tools in the program, so I decided to first start off with pixel tools. (In the Brushes tab in the Pixel Persona, I used "Size 2" under the "Assorted" category and with the "Force Pressure" button toggled on.) Before starting the actual character design, Angie, I wanted to have a pose thought out, because drawing a character from scratch in an particular pose may not always be accurate. Therefor, I started out with a figure, then I traced it with a rough sketch, then I used the Pen Tool for the line work but I had to figure how to close each path, and then finally I added coloring.
 
Figure
 
Creating the figure is the same as just creating basic shapes for a simple guideline, but you still have to be accurate. You cannot make the head larger than the body or have arms rotated in a position that does not make sense. Even though you are just making basic shapes, you are still bound to mess up, so rather than create each shape in one stroke, do so in several sketchy strokes. To make a simple circle, for example, sketch lightly in a round motion. If you mess up, sketch a little darker right over the messed up region.
 
Rough Sketch
 
Now that there is a main figure, you can use it as a main guideline for drawing your character design. It is okay to draw out of figure's boundaries. Just don't make things too simplistic. While it is not necessarily the case here, a good character has different features on each part of the body. With female hair, for example, there can be the front bang, side bang, and upper hair. If you can figure out a way to divide these three features, then you are on the right track. Also, as you sketch over your figure, you may think to add a little more details than regular shapes. For the Angie's shirt, there are two lines below the breasts which crisscross to indicate a fold in the fabric. Rather than having the shirt in a regular square shape, it sticks out towards the bottom. Other lines were added to indicate the fold.
 
Line Work
 
Now we will trace the rough sketch exactly with the Pen Tool, but we have to do so in closed regions. This time, we cannot leave the boundaries. While you don't have to do it this way, I divided each body part in its own layer (from top to bottom: Glasses, Top Hair, Head, Shirt, Shorts, Arms, Legs, Back Hair). The reason I did it this way is in case I wanted to change something. Maybe I wasn't happy with the shirt design, and I wanted to replace another shirt on her. If she were wearing long sleeves originally and I wanted to give her short sleeves instead, then that would mean I would have to extend her arms since they would have originally ended at the palms of her hands.
 
Coloring
 
As long as the paths are closed, then coloring is very easy. Just select each path you want to add color to, and add color to the fill. There are also different shading features such as clipping other objects or pixel layers. For this, I used gradients and a 3D effect. If you do use gradients and if you divided each body part in separate layers, then just be careful. The "Top Hair" layer is not actually closed because there is an open region on the bottom with the "Back Hair" layer behind it. If you use the gradients, make sure they smooth out.
 
Working with basic shapes first and then getting into the character designs do really help.
 

 

 
It is also okay to go and change change your finished design. Such features here like the hair and legs have been slightly modified.
 
 
 
New Style
 
The above style, although is very particulate, does take a really long time, and that can delay production. With the new brush stabilisers, I feel very confident to draw with the Pencil Tool now. While it does not continue paths like with the Pen Tool, we can work around that. We will also never be expanding our line work for in case we need to make adjustments such as change the shape or size. We will also be drawing with more free control (open paths). If you feel you need to create a sketch figure before jumping into the vector tools, that is okay, but you will not need to create a rough sketch this time unless it helps you.
 

 

 
Vector Eraser Alternative
 
I did say that we won't be expanding our line work, so we cannot use the boolean operations. And it wouldn't make sense to use the Pixel eraser, so how the heck will we be able to erase our lines? The answer is, with the node operations. We have three powerful options when the Node Tool or Pen Tool is selected in the "Action" category, and those options are Break Curve, Close Curve, and Join Curves. These three things can really go toward our advantage, especially since joining curves will take the ends of the multiples curves and close the ends which are closest to each other. I forgot that when I used Illustrator, I never actually used the Eraser Tool on the line work because it always deformed the shape. If I could've, I would've.
 

 
Here is an example. King Dino's tomahawk has a squiggly line that needs to be removed, but it is part of a closed shaped. To do that, add a node where the squiggly line starts and click "Break Curve," then add another node where the squiggly line ends and click "Break Curve," again. The squiggly line is now its own shape, so you can go on and delete it. Now, you can select the remaining part of the object and select "Close Curve." Now let's say that the stick to the tomahawk was originally an open path. That means breaking the curve would convert it to two different shapes. So rather than closing it with the "Close Curve" button, you will use the "Join Paths" option. Do not forget just how important those node operations are.
 
Coloring
 
Since the new style was done in open paths, the coloring technique will have to be different than the way explained above. First organize your artwork in two separate layers, Line Work and Color. The Line Work layer must be above the Color layer. Now there are several ways to color in your artwork.
 
A) Pen Tool
This is probably the most common way to do it, but it may not always be the fastest way depending on the example. This means to draw a path around the closed region of your drawing to create a closed path.
 
B) Brush Tool
Depending on how small the close region is, use the Brush Tool to color in your artwork. It helps to brush around the edges first and then fill in the remaining area. After you fill in the region, select all of those brush strokes either on the canvas or in the Layers panel, and expand them in the "Layer" menu. Then click the first option in the boolean operations to add them as one object.
 
C) Node Operations
Depending on how large the drawing is, some times both the Pen Tool and Brush Tool will not work well for coloring. Select each curve that makes up a closed region (holding shift to select multiple curves), and copy them to your Color layer. Hide the Line Work layer. For the torn up cape in the second drawing of King Dino, imagine what the closed fill would have to look like and what nodes would need to be added and removed. Again, use the "Break Curve, Add Curve, and Join Curves" options. At the end, be sure to remove your stroke and just keep the fill. For the torn holes in the cape, you will need to copy and paste those curves separately, break, add, and join paths as appropriately, and then subtract them from the main cape object.
 
I hope this tutorial has been helpful for you.
 
NEW: Fast Shading
There are multiple ways to add shading such as clipping vectors, adding gradients, and using pixel brushes. However, these techniques require you to add shading to each object individually. If you would rather add shading to multiple objects all at once, a new technique is to use a mask. This video will show an example.
 
 

Hi HarryMcGovern,
I can see you have also posted regarding this in the bugs section. That is the ideal place for this issue however I will leave this post here incase anyone else runs into this problem and would like more information.
A member of our QA team should reply to your bugs post soon.
Thanks
C

To have a image brush that is round rather than square you will have to make the image circular then export it with a transparent background, a quick way to do this is to place an ellipse on top of your image then  use the Mask Below tool

I’m on iPad mini 5. No problems with RAW here.

Thank you, to be honest it was a pretty tedious process and all done on the iPad using Readdle Scanner Pro to scan and convert the screen captures to text (amazingly accurate conversion, great app), then Pages to create the doc. I would love to have Publisher on the iPad though, that might be the incentive I need to make Photo and Publisher versions in my spare time, as it’s a great way for me to learn about the apps many features.

Try moving the brush from "on my ipad" to iCloud. That should fix it. 

You are probably right Cecil. And it’s a good point actually. Actually in the case of text of text flow on a curve it can be achieved with the macro because the underlying engine is the same across all three apps.
And Photo is fundamentally a ‘photo modifying’ app.
Designer a ... Design app and so on.
otherwise we would have just one app, very expensive, very big, and useless. Instead what we have are three streamline apps that talk to each other very smoothly. You can even open one apps files in the others. How cool is that.
Colour me a happy Affinity user.

Please, include a Story Editing option in Publisher.
thanks

Please, include a Story Editing option in Publisher.
thanks

Please, include a Story Editing option in Publisher.
thanks

evroc a no txet  ... It sounds like R2D2 spoke that line...

Hi, I had to face that when sending to print, text with images.
 
AD have the nice feature to convert text to lines before export. This also will assure you that the print is exactly the same as you see, as long as the text is exported as vectors and no more text+font, without all the issues about how a font is rendered on different systems.
 
You will want to keep text in the original project, instead.

Paul, this is a brilliant idea. It could also be applied to ‘text on a curve’ something sadly lacking in Photo it seems.
Thanks for the heads up. Now to attempt the macro. Which I’ve never done!
 
-Robert

Regardless, both options on, one on one off, one off one on, it simply doesn’t behave as it should.
If I set a line to a width in px, it should show that setting in the display.
if I set a line to a width in pt, it should show that setting in the display.
The gearwheel setting of the on/off options appears to affect only the document size settings. It also affects the line size display.
It also affects the size display of text sizes.
The thing is, if I set a pen line width to be 5px I expect to see that displayed in the interface as 5px, not 1pt, or what ever it is. And vice versa.
In short, there is something wrong with this paradigm.
I’m not complaining, I understand where 1st release software comes from. I hope it’s not a ‘feature’ though.
So hopefully it’s something that will be looked at. It’s pointless allowing the user to set any measurement type from the list of options, when once accepted it simply displays what it wants.
 
 

Lulu, the book publishing people, and a very positive blog post from their lead writer.
https://blog.lulu.com/2019/04/05/affinity-publisher-an-indesign-alternative/
Very interesting, and very useful links.
 

Sorry, it appears to have fixed itself. I’ve no idea what was happening, but I had some text on another with some fx turned on.
so I un-check all the options in that, which crashed the app entirely, and opened it up again. Created a new layer, and it seemed to be working ok. 
Very strange.
thanks for the reply, I’ll see what happens. 
Can I actually attach a file here, or just the image?

There is one on Affinity Revolution. It’s the only one I can find. It’s not too expensive and runs fine on Apple Books. Probably others.
Odd sales model, but whatever. I bought it and it looks ok.
https://courses.affinityrevolution.com/p/ebook-affinity-photo-ipad-for-beginners

After adjusting the colour and painting on the mask, select the main image in layer studio before applying another Recolour.
You can also get good results using gradient maps. Just select suitable shadow, mid tone and highlight colours for hair, skin, clothing etc, invert gradient layer and use black and white brushes on gradient mask to hide or show the colours. This method takes into account highlights a shadows. Change the blend mode on layer option to colour or any blend that gives the desired result, and adjust opacity for realistic tones. 

Wow, that’s a real trap. Glad you spotted it.