[Affinity Photo pdf manual for your enjoyment.]

My hat is off to you. Splendid work and great generosity!

[Why is Affinity Designer running a network server?]

Don't really know. From what I understand, the app isn't running a server. But perhaps its so Serif can tell when an out of date beta is running, and can offer an update.

[reinstalling rainbow style]

And after resetting the styles, learn to recreate the style. And then make your own. The gradient tool that is used for the rainbow style is marvelously versatile. 

[Affinity Pen Vs. Illustrator Pen]

The pen tool works a bit differently, but there are comparable results. Attached, a quick line I drew switching between the basic curve mode, constrained, and snapping turned off, w. 1 node tweaked on the fly by invoking the node tool control during the pen use.

 

[Please help. I can't edit layer with Wacom Tablet or Mouse.]

I don't have Photo, but in Designer, only  a selected layer responds. The image layer is not active, so you can't do anything there.  The other layer is active, but there are some operations that require a defined selection. Do you have a selection?

[Flood fill mystery]

Did you have an active pixel layer to work in? A selection may exist w/o an active pixel layer.

[[Feedback] A List of Annoyances From a New User]

Hello Reda,

 

Modifying studio panels is somewhat awkward. I agree, it would be better to just have a disappear button, instead of going to the studio menu, and deselecting various panels. But it does work. 

 

Keyboard shortcuts. Its like a language. Each app will have its own, and they may not be very similar. I know its a pain. Like "B" for bucket, or "F" for flood", or Photoshop "K". What? It is annoying. I doubt it will ever go away. 

 

I'm not sure what is happening when you report joining 2 lines increases their stroke. When I join pen or pencil strokes, their point size stays the same.

 

A single group of "artistic text" can just be cut or copied, and pasted into a text box. Or vice versa.

 

You can quickly assign a fill and stroke by defining a style.

 

etc.

 

AD does have limitations, just like Photoshop didn't have grids or guides for eight years. I worked thru that, btw. But many of the probs can be resolved by learning how a program does different things to achieve the same end.

 

FWIW, I tried Inscape back when it was Sodipodi. Nice that it was free, because it was also almost un-useable. Much better now, but still slow w. a less than an obvious layout.

[Picture to Pochoir - like drawing]

Note that in the vid, an experience Photoshop user takes 13 minutes to build the effect. Obviously, not something that can be done w. a single threshold adjustment.

 

I don't have AP (yet), and it has many more options than AD. I've been working w. AD since this topic came up a couple of weeks ago. I haven't found any 1 best method yet.

 

The results depend a lot on the quality of the original image. More colors and brightness levels at the beginning is very desirable.

 

Before doing a threshold, here are some other things to try. Load the original image, and make several duplicates of the pixel layer. Try different adjustments such as B&W or Shadows/Highlights before using thresholds. The variations those adjustments make can result in a different range of grays in the layers. Each layer can then have a different threshold for a black and white effect. Then each different layer can be blended w. different modes or levels of transparency. And different colors.

 

I'm including a screen cap of the layers panel for 1 image I've been worked on, as well as a few before and after pics.

 

 

 

[New character and recording creation history!]

For people who want to give it a go here arena few more tips.

• Turn on 'save history with file' before you start.
• Think about the background you want, you might not be able to change this later.
• Up the amount of history that is saved in preferences, otherwise the history at the start will be removed when you go over the limit.
• Use multiple versions of a file for different treatments. Sketch, blocking out, shading etc.
• When recording your screen/screen section stretch out the history tab to make it very wide, you'll get finer control over the playback.
• If performance is an issue minimise all other tabs/windows, so it's just the history - layers especially - they may try to update as you scrub.
• Scrub slowly when recording and then speed up the footage in a video editing tool.

 

 

Thanks for the pointers.

 

I've made a few wobbly 1st steps recording QT .movs, and editing them. This gives me a bit of a boost.

[1 Shape, two colors]

Quite a nice surprise! Had to try it out right away. 

[New character and recording creation history!]

Cool indeed. The black/white/grey scale is well done.

 

I've wondered about making an animation from history myself. Seems like it would be very useful.

[Removing gradient from text?]

I'm thinking its really simple. Select the text, click the fill widget, and replace the gradient w. something like a swatch color of 100% black.

[Budget Graphics Display Tablet or Wacom for AD & AP]

So your tablet is one of the lower cost Chinese "copies" of the Wacom tablets? I'm just worried about forking out cash for the wrong kit.

 

I have a Huion 1409. It cost about 1/4 of a comparable Wacom, but only has about 1/3 the pressure sensitivity. No major down sides. The drawing surface is a little slicker than I like. I'm not sure how long the wireless pen keeps its charge.

 

Small upside, the wireless transmitter, about a half inch long, has 8 G of memory, so makes a convenient place to duplicate my work

 

Before I bought it, I was able to find positive reviews of earlier models, no major negatives. I supported both Mac and Windows machines at my job, and on the Mac side, there were rarely few  device compatibility probs. Windows seems to have gotten better, but I would be sure to review any products that do not have well established reputations.

[Photo filters on AD]

AD has about 20 built in filters, called layer adjustments. Create a layer, select it, and then at the bottom of the layer panel, push the black and white circle button at the bottom center of the panel to get the pop-up selection.

 

AD doesn't have filters such as ripples, Pinch/Punch etc. AP does have them.

[Budget Graphics Display Tablet or Wacom for AD & AP]

Some free advi$e, worth every penny :)

 

Before I bought my regular tablet, I did some research, and most of the reports said that most modern tablets readily meet the same response and resolution as the top end, i.e. Wacom. So I bought one that was about 1/3 the cost of the Wacom. I suppose that the price was low in order to compete w. Wacom. One question yet to be answered is will the hardware and soft last for as long.

 

I have to suppose that a display tablet, which adds the display to the touch interface, might be more likely to suffer hardware failure.

 

I've used my regular tablet w. the graphics apps I have. It was usable in all of them. AD was fine. Perhaps a little slower using vector brushes. 

 

My guess is that the more economical options will not be a disaster, assuming there are no general reports about OS problems.

[Designer: stroke inside results in visible background outline]

I've noticed something similar in various files. I suspect it is a rendering artifact. When I zoom in repeatedly, the thin line is slightly pixelated, then smooths out. But no matter what level of magnification, it doesn't get any thicker on screen. Doesn't make any difference if the shape has been converted to curves, or not.

[Traditional drawing/sketch feel]

As @pixelrain mentioned, there are other apps that are more focused on emulating the look of traditional media. They also often have non-traditional digital effects.

 

Neither AP or AD have that focus, but the paint-like, sketch like tools are quite good. AP seems to have much the same set of features as Photoshop. I only have Photoshop elements, and have not used the full app for probably 6 years. But AP's current set of tools seems about the same.

 

AD is surprisingly good both in vector and pixel work. Doesn't have the liquify persona, or the live filters. But it does have all the blend modes and layer adjustments. I never used Illustrator for anything beyond line, fill and gradient work. Again, its been some years since I worked w. it. Present AD is much smoother and more versatile.

[Pen rejection with small, fast motions]

I've noticed something similar, more w. the vector tools than the pixel brush. My experience is that zooming in helps. If I'm at 0 zoom, perhaps every 1 in 10 small strokes gets missed, or mis-placed. When zoomed to 400%+, seems to work much better, even w. the vector pencil making strokes that are just a few points long.

[Graphics tablet workflow]

That's how it is on Windows with my hardware. The Huion 1409 has a much higher resolution +better report rate and those play a big part too.

 

I wondered if it was something of a hardware issue. Looking at the specs, the Huion report rate is about 70% higher. Still, I'm pretty surprised at how rough/jerky the Bamboo works w. AD. What's the drawing surface like on the Bamboo? 1 down side for me w. the Huion is that the surface is too slick. I recall my old Intuos 1 feeling a little more like paper, w a little drag.

[Graphics tablet workflow]

By smoothing i mean how the line is produced, Affinity outputs a more segmented stroke.

 

Just downloaded Krita. Managed to hang the app about 5 minutes in. Couldn't manage to use the bezier tool w. the tablet. What I was able to use seemed more pressure responsive than AD. But the AD smoothness seemed quite similar.

 

See example. The top portion was done in Pixel Persona, the ones lower down, Draw. I'm using a Huion 1409 wireless tablet. Haven't used it all that much, so haven't adjusted settings hardly at all.

 

[Graphics tablet workflow]

thanks for the quick reply. I'm actually new to drawing too - did my first 'drawing' on paper yesterday.

 

When you say that AD with tablet might not be as smooth as other software - you mean there might be a lag between drawing on the tablet and viewing it on the screen?

 

Manual drawing is a hard won skill. Even in youth, it can take hundreds, no, thousands of hours of practice. Don't be surprised if your early work is clumsy.

 

I had not used a pen/tablet for drawing for maybe 8 years before getting AD. It is at least an order of magnitude more responsive than my experience w. a Wacom Intuos and Corel Photo Paint back then. The next round of Affinity software is showing something called brush stabilization, already available in other programs. It dampens trembles, so that will be good.

[Color inside of multiple paths]

To expand on what R C-R wrote:

 

AD curve objects have 2 properties. The stroke and the fill. The fill is inside the area defined by the outermost nodes of the stroke line.

 

In the video, the curved lines get a fill because the line and the end nodes create a boundary that encloses and area. The vertical lines don't, because they enclose no area by themselves.

 

The easiest way to make that shape is as R C-R describes. Otherwise, 2 curve segments whose ends touch may be selected while in node tool, and joined. This must be repeated till all segments are joined. Then, the last operation is to close the curve.

[Big Game graphic]

Good work. It is at least a magnitude of 3 better than the original. Depth x shading x texturing. Next you would have to add aroma. Don't know if that works in 2d!

[Brush Stabilization]

Was just looking at the Affinity facebook page, and saw the teaser vid for brush stabilization. Yay! Big +. Delightful for those who do draw, even better for those who have trouble. I'm particularly wanting to see how the vector implementation goes. Line weight from pressure would be big ++.

[A suggestion on adding nodes between other nodes.]

I know there have been various requests for an automated feature to add nodes half way between adjacent nodes. But how 'bout even cooler. Just like the transform dialogue allows fractions, percents, and mathematical terms like pi, do the same for for distances between selected contiguous nodes.