SGen

Trying to make a power symbol, which requires an unclosed circle. Was able to make the outline with Illustrator perfectly fine after finding a tutorial on it. Made it in less than a few seconds.
 
 
Struggling to the ends of the earth with being able to do the same thing in Affinity Designer. Searched for any tips, couldn't find any relevant ones, which includes selecting the Pie shape tutorial I found posted by a forum member, to create sections of a circle. Not exactly what I'm trying to accomplish after watching that video.
 
Any help please?
 
Shouldn't I be able to select the anchor point and simply delete it and have it be an unclosed circle like in Illustrator?
 
Why is Illustrator able to do that? AD needs an objects window with options to more fluidly manipulate objects because this is getting hard.
 
And also, AD has way more impressive layering effects so far than AI, and it does it faster too. But the object manipulation is ridiculous and not doing what I need it to do, fast and easy.

Couldn't download the reference photo of the lemniscate you drew with those colorful blocks, but doing the anchor manipulated horizontal dragged circle + duplicating --> flipping it. Let's hope it looks okay.
 
 
Just came back from a little twiddling.
 
Most efficient way is the tear drop method.

[M] key for Rectangle, Ellipse, Rounded Rectangle cycling is ridiculous. What does it stand for "Make"?
 
And it's nowhere near where the left hand hovers on a keyboard, meaning the eyes must go down to the keyboard to find it for the left hand, or eyes off screen AND the right hand must come off the mouse/trackpad/tablet to operate the M key.
 
And it needs cycling to get to anything other than rectangle.
 
So, here's a suggestion:
 
E = Ellipse
R = Rectangle
RR = Rounded Rectangle
S = Shapes, Triangle actually, but more on this in a moment
 
S also pops up a list of shapes directly adjacent the mouse for easy, rapid selection, no need to race over to the side menu and click, scroll down, click again.
 
Otherwise, these sequential keys enable a full pick of the shapes, via follow up presses, like so:
 
SD = Diamond
ST = Trapezoid
SG = polyGon   // starts at 6 sided. SGGG = 8 sided. [s, Shift + GG = 4 sided] etc.
SS = Star
SSS = Double SStar
SSQ = Star sQuared
SA = Arrow
SD = Donut // SDDD = 3 ringed Donut
SDS = Donut Sliced // Which the 'Pie' Tool actually is because it's got an inner radius
SES = Ellipse Segment // Come on... That's what it is. Segment is an ugly word
SEC = Ellipse Cresent // kind of like the obscuring they do.
SF = Fluffy cloud  // Fluffiness starts at 12. SFFF = 15 Fluffs. Any use of [shift+F] reduces fluffiness
SRT = Rectangle Callout
SRRT = Rectangle Rounded Callout
SET = Ellipse Callout
STD = Tear Drop // You and I both know they cause tears.
SH = Heart
 
Now, I know you want more:
 
So, for speed of use, and consistency, I suggest.
 
SC = Circle
SQ = sQuare
SQR = sQuare Rounded
SR = Rectangle
SRR = Rectangle Rounded
SW = Wave // Sine Wave, The more presses of WWWWW the more wave cycles in the line.
SAW = sAW // Again, more WWWWs = more cycles of the wave

@Sgen did you manage to draw it with those guides on where to put Nodes?
 
Sorry about the file, it was made with a beta version of Affinity Designer.
 
Just try setting up blocks the way I did so you can see halves, quarters and thirds so you can find interesting places to put the nodes and their handles.

There is a little shortcut on the Mac - if you press Option and 5 you should see ∞. Will that help?
 
edit: seems to work if you choose the symbol font with the Text tool in AD.

You are welcome!  :) Think out the box? What if I told you there isn't a box?
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAXtO5dMqEI
 

There's probably some magic relationship possible between handles and points, but I don't know what it is.
 
Try messing with the attached file "figure8.afdesign" and see what you can do.
 
 

figure8.afdesign

Here's hoping this is someways to being right.
 
There's probably other ways of doing this, much more accurate.
 
But see the blocks for the relationships I've used.
The gap between the node handles is not how I had it, I had them meeting in the middle, but then you couldn't see what I was doing with them, so I pulled them apart a little so you can see what's happening.
 
 

I'm absolutely new to this program after over twenty years of Illustrator and PS. I'm looking for an alternative because as much as anything I'm fed up with Adobe, and don't want to give them any more of my money!
The above tip was invaluable. This kind of information is crucial to people who know the principles, but want to swap to Affinity. Is there a definitive BIG pdf resource of all its operations and nooks and crannies? It's certaintly needed.
Great program, and FAST!!!

I share you love for Adobe.
 
There's a much better way to do this in AD.
 
There's a tool called the Pie Tool, in the drop down that comes from clicking on the triangle in the Tools Palette.
 
It's not really a Pie Tool. It's a Donut Slice Tool, that might put this into context.
 
// You can read more about my thoughts on tool shortcuts here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/5863-shortcuts-shape-creation-e-r-s-instead-of-m/
 
At any rate, using this tool you can create a sliced "donut" of any width and any opening you like. Then you can round the ends as you like with the new Rounding Tool. Much faster than any other way of doing this, and more flexible.
 
// I'd show you an image but I can't figure out how to upload images, anymore. Once could do it, I might have been restricted from such niceties, cause I'm a right prick of a bloke.

Okay. Nevermind. Just found out how to do it by playing around with it.
 
For anyone wanting to know how to do it,
 
1) basically create the circle with the shape tools offered in the tool bars, with no fill,
2) make the stroke with whatever color/gradient you want,
3) turn it into curves via layer window
4) Select Node tool and hold shift and select wherever on the circle you want to have 2 points break, select each point and as you select each point, it adds an anchor point/node to your object.
5) While having one Node selected one at a time on those points you want gone/broken, in that action panel just beneathe the help window where it says "Break Curve" once you hover over it, select that.
 
6) Once you hit that button, reselect that anchor point you want gone again, hit delete, then boom, it'll take that segment of the curve/circle out and leave you with a clean open space to do whatever you want.

Okay. Nevermind. Just found out how to do it by playing around with it.
 
For anyone wanting to know how to do it,
 
1) basically create the circle with the shape tools offered in the tool bars, with no fill,
2) make the stroke with whatever color/gradient you want,
3) turn it into curves via layer window
4) Select Node tool and hold shift and select wherever on the circle you want to have 2 points break, select each point and as you select each point, it adds an anchor point/node to your object.
5) While having one Node selected one at a time on those points you want gone/broken, in that action panel just beneathe the help window where it says "Break Curve" once you hover over it, select that.
 
6) Once you hit that button, reselect that anchor point you want gone again, hit delete, then boom, it'll take that segment of the curve/circle out and leave you with a clean open space to do whatever you want.