jmac

It sounds like the image file is a jpeg which does not support transparency and will have a white background. You may be able to remove the white background. How difficult that is will depend on the complexity of the image. I am not familiar with pixelmator. Perhaps someone else can advise how to go about it.

Since you are using the text as a texture could you create what ever amount of text you need, convert it to curves and enclose it in a clipping mask? That way when you change the size of the clipping mask, more or less "text" will be revealed and none will show outside the mask.

The issue of compatibility and reasonable work arounds between Affinity and the current industry standards is a concern to me BUT, I get PDF files from clients all the time that I open in Illustrator. No the layers aren't named and sometimes the font formatting gets chopped up. Sometimes drop shadows get rasterized but I have never had a situation where "Much work gets lost". I may have to spend a little time putting things back together but the file is editable and the information is there to work with. Missing fonts...that is a whole other issue.

I find it ironic to hear Windows users feeling the same frustration Mac users have known for years...discovering a great piece of software only to find it is Windows only. I would be surprised if Serif did not release a Windows version simply because of the potential profit. But I do hope it is after Photo, Designer and Publisher have been matured and polished for awhile.

Thanks for the explanation. Works perfectly! Good luck with the brushes!

Paolo your brushes look great but could someone tell me what DAUB stands for?

I really like what you have done here and I appreciate you including the step by step you used to get there.

A_B_C, Thanks for your post. This has always been a confusing topic for me and you provided some clarity with you explanation and video.

Mike, I have Affinity Photo 1.3.5. I opened an image and called Topaz B&W Effects. Other than requiring me to enter my serial number again it worked. After applying an adjustment I returned to AP and called Topaz Simplify. It also wanted the serial number again but it also worked, I applied an effect and returned to AP without problem. It seems that those that were working are still working. Same for those that weren't working.

My best suggestion would be a YouTube search for "using layers and masks in Photoshop" only because you will get a lot more results. Look for beginner tutorials that would offer the explanations you're looking for. It's not the same software as Affinity Photo so the exact tools and steps may be different but the general concepts will be the same.

Dutch, No problem. Glad the files worked. Paul, Thanks for the tip on the file conversion site. That might come in handy now and then.

A5_TT Converted.aiA5_TY Converted.aiA5_YY Converted.aiDutch, Affinity Designer can't open Illustrator files that don't have a PDF stream. I downloaded your files, saved them with a newer version of Illustrator that embeds the PDF stream and uploaded here. I hope they work for you.

I hope this is not true. It's called Affinity "Designer". Why would you not have complete control over alignment of text in a design software???

Nicely done!

I could be completely wrong but I thought I read somewhere that OnOne's new Perfect Photo Suite 10 coming in October will no longer be automation and will show up under filters in photoshop.

Thank you Jeff for the update!

No apology necessary. Just wondered if there was an easy fix. I appreciate what you did.

Matt, It sounds like you were using photoshop to do some things a design software like Affinity Designer was made to do. But you also need the photo editing capabilities photoshop and Affinity Photo are best at. If buying both Designer and Photo is an option for you, as MEB and LilleG said, that would be your best bet. If you have to choose just one, Photo might feel more like what you have been using though it does do some things a little differently than photoshop. Something to keep in mind though, based on the type of work you described, is that Designer will give you much greater flexibility and artistic choices when it comes to text for things like album art and posters. You cannot put text on a curved path in Photo like you can in Designer for example. Also in Designer you can create work using vectors which can be scaled to any size without worrying about resolution, which could be very useful for banners.

Thank you jeffkovitz for sharing this. The contents do link as you say but for me the contents ends at "merging" under "Layer Operations" which is less than a third of the contents listed in the initial non-linking table. Do you know if there is a way to show the entire table of contents?

ivykok, If you look at your first attachment showing the brush you made you will see a small menu button to the right of the "Basic" brush palette. Click that to bring up the brush editing panel. There are quite a few adjustments you can make there to get your brush to behave the way you want. It looks like A_B_C has his brush spacing and other adjustments set up differently than yours.

I have to say this mind set seems oddly rigid and unsupported by the nature of the 2 applications. While they each do have "features that the other doesn't have" they clearly share many, many others, some of which you would not expect. Like being able to "create a feature in one app and then edit it in the other." This does not set them apart from each other. It sets them apart from Adobe. This feature compatibility between the two apps and the pixel persona in Designer specifically, is much more advantageous to designers who often work with photos and vectors than it is to photographers who I image rarely need the design capabilities of a vector app. There is clearly a need, even if only now and then, by photographers, and I would imagine digital painters as well, to make attractive text within their images. This is a feature that makes sense to include in Affinity Photo. If you not going to allow text on a path because "Photo and Designer are different apps" then why include text in Photo at all? I really don't understand the logic here and forcing photographers to buy (even at a very reasonable cost) an additional application to access this one feature doesn't seem reasonable.

I also asked this several weeks ago in regard to Astute Graphics Illustrator plugins and never got a response. See...https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/11773-plugin-support-in-affinity-designer/

Peter I have looked a couple of times now and can't find anything but photoshop brushes at the site you mentioned. Where are you seeing brushes for Affinity?

Very nice work joshman87.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'm wondering if this was posed as a serious question or more of a dig at those looking for a legitimate alternative to PS. As in If someone "really" knew how to use Photoshop they wouldn't be interested in Affinity. If my cynicism is misplaced I apologize to coconut2015.