pbass
-
Posts
96 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by pbass
-
-
Hi,
How do I rotate just a selected series of nodes in a curve? I.e., on a continuous section?
(Or in fact, do any transformation on only part of a curve or shape?)
thanks,
- pbass
-
Lovely videos, btw. Make me want to buy again and again.. :lol:
Serif: take note and allow folks like this to renew their vows – with their wallets! :^D
-
Was really struggling with this issue today – nodes & handles & other tool's nerdy stuff obscuring the movements I was trying to make.
I would love it if, once you've grabbed something, and are commencing manipulating it, the Spacebar makes the nodes and handles & stuff momentarily disappear from view.
But imho something similar to Illy's 'Hide Edges' [Ctrl-H, Com-H] is _really_ needful. Please consider this ASAP, devs.
- pbass
-
Thanks Dave.
- pbass
Also text and vector clips. Strokes include dash patterns. Shapes get converted to curves.
-
Thanks for the quick & useful response, Dave.
I don't personally deal with Illie, but wanted to know before recommending Designer to someone who does.
While I have your attention:
How much of a Designer-exported .pdf makes it into Illustrator? Basic layers with shapes/fills/strokes & placed bitmaps?
Thanks,
- pbass
pbass: Affinity apps now recognise the .ai file extension. For newer files we read the PDF stream. We don't currently support embedded fonts, or the more esoteric fills (eg mesh fills), and some Illustrator information isn't in the PDF at all such as all the layer names. If the .ai was saved without PDF then we can't open it.
Very old versions of Illustrator use EPS rather than PDF. The current beta will also open them, with even more caveats. In particular, text will be converted to curves.
In practice opening .ai files usually works pretty well. You could use the free Designer trial to check whether it handles the particular files you want to open.
-
Bump!
Did .ai import ever get sorted out? Any notable qualifications?
How about round trip – exporting back to Illustrator?
Thanks,
- pbass
-
Hi there,
[ 15 months later:]
What's the current state of .ai (Illustrator) import? [Oct 2015]
I want to recommend Designer to a friend, but they'll need to know if it can handle their .ai files.
Thanks,
- pbass
-
Thanks so much, MEB,
I'll have the time to try your suggestion over the weekend.
Cheers,
- pbass
Hi pbass,
Sorry the delay replying to you.
Here's the steps to achieve it (Affinity Designer/Photo):
- draw the shapes that will chop the photo as you want them (over the image so you can use it as a reference). Make sure they are closed shapes.
- draw a green (or any other color just for reference) rectangle with the same dimensions as the photo over it and convert it to curves (the green rectangle on my example)
- hide the image in the layers panel
- select all shapes, go to menu Layer ▸ Geometry ▸ Divide
The green rectangle is now composed by several shapes: the choped parts
- delete all shapes around the "green rectangle" (don't touch the ones inside)
- now select all shapes that compose the green rectangle, go to the Gradient tool, select Bitmap and pick the original image
The image will fill all shapes in the correct position: you can now move/rotate the shapes apart keeping the fill image intact
See attached afdesign file for reference.
-
Bump!
Recap:
Need a way to split a bitmap photo into pieces that can be moved separately.
Could be in Designer or Photo.
Would like to:
- define the shapes with vectors, then
- chop up the photo with them, then
- move the bitmap pieces around.
Thanks,
pbass
-
Thanks for the quick response, MEB!
I should have been more specific. It's not clipping I'm after.
I want to _divide_ the photo into multiple shapes, so I can drag the pieces of it around separately.
The effect I want is a fragmented photo — as if seen thru a shattered mirror, where the shards separated a bit.
Thanks,
- pbass
Hi pbass,
You can drag an image layer over a shape layer in the Layers panel to clip it.
If you want to use several shapes with the same photo/image, select all shapes, go to menu Layer ▸ Geometry ▸ Add to create a single shape from them all, then drag the photo over the resulting shape layer in the Layers panel.
-
Hi all,
I want to
- place a photo in a Designer doc;
- put a bunch of vector shapes on top;
- and use them to chop up the photo into those shapes.
Is there a tutorial that would show the use of shapes as cookie cutters like that?
Thanks in advance!
- pbass
-
Hi,
In Designer I'd love to see a key command to hide the geometry (nodes and Bézier curves/lines) of the selected object, and just show the printable art. Without deselecting.
I used this all the time with The Competition.
Pressing Spacebar is ok for a quick look, but when you're experimenting with effects or different brushes/strokes/gradients, the curves & nodes are just distracting.
Thanks!
- pbass
-
Picture?
Seems to be a white overexposed Picture with a white background .
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Don't be snarky; it's of a snowstorm on a brilliant sunny day. Without 5 stops of exposure compensation it would've looked all medium grey; like this it's an accurate depiction. ;^>
- Loonaclik and Mr. Doodlezz
-
2
-
Hm, thanks for this guys, I didn't know about this feature.
I guess I prefer Adobe's implementation: There's a visual cue on the Layers palette that tells you what you're seeing (the tick marks change to agree with your Option-clicking).
Hopefully full-editability will get sorted out.
-
Hi,
I seem to remember from my PhoSho days that Adobe had a command whereby you Option-Clicked a Layer, to make all other Layers go invisible – i.e., "Hidden". Like the way a musician "Solos" a mixer or sequencer track.
It saved a bunch of individual hidings clicks.
Is there an equivalent command for Af. Photo & Designer Layers?
(I already know you can select contiguous Layers and then hide them with one click, but that requires first selecting them and then exluding the layer you want to stay visible)
Thanks in advance,
- Peter
-
Yes (as the guy who wrote snapping) - that is coming at a later time.
Fantastically useful feature! All speed, and thanks.
-
Improvements to snapping in the Node/Pen tool are coming soon. We will address snapping existing handles onto fixed angles.
We are not ignoring you - there was a raft of improvements we were making, the first half has been done (custom grids, etc). The second half are coming soon.
...
It's awesome to get your acknowledgement of requests – it confirms that the lines of communication are working full circle, and that our user needs/wishes have value. You wouldn't believe how much this strengthens user allegiance.
All hail the Affinity devs! :^)
-
...
I'm honestly surprised this hasn't been brought up more often. It's a pretty fundamental technique when drawing with bezier curves to use 45 and 90 degree angles.
I'd agree with this.
And it surely wouldn't be a big deal to code this.
The problem is getting the devs to put the task near the front of the queue. – Which starts with getting their attention.
-
Definition of impossible: Pleasing everyone on esthetic matters!
Most of us use these great apps because we're really interested in the visual arts. So we all have strong ideas of what we like.
I sure offered some of my opinions early on.
Whether you love the new icons or not, seen in the Dock, they are pretty good at showing you unambiguously where to click for the Affinity apps!
Kudos to the Serif folks for both 1) listening to your customers, and 2) steadfastly pursuing your own icon goals.
- MattP and smallreflection
-
2
-
Some of the below logos have perfectly fine shapes; but some way overdo the 'sheen', which (for me at least) evoke the first decade of this millennia.
You missed Ableton Live, who were doing flat, simple esthetics _way_ ahead of the curve!Their logo (since around the turn of this century):
Their interface (little changed in 15 years):Hm.
Audio guys do it differently then.
Cubase
ProTools:
Nuendo:
reaper:
Presonus Studio One:
Sonar:
iZotopeRX:
Cycling 74 Max7:
Not all of the above are good icons though.
IMO Cubase, reaper and Max stand out.
Also, Evernote for example?
I think a strong logo outline can be powerful, more than suggestive icon.
Frankly, apple doesn't need strong app logos. They have the apple. None of their apps really need competition - you get them for free with your computer.
-
I way over-generalized in my earlier email, saying gradients irredeemably date an icon. The use of varied brightness in Plokhi's versions here are subtle and effective – just enough to suggest light. These are starting to look closer to 2015.
The only thing I still don't care for is all the sharp corners. My unfortunate association with these shapes is with the cover of a 1990's math textbook. :^/
What about softening the contours with that jiffy new corner tool?
I think that gradients are "over-designing" the thing.
Perhaps you could achieve the emphasis with a subtle transparency instead?
and perhaps just a subtle highlight over.
edit:
the highlight i had in mind:
edit2: also, the lighter parts are transparent. You can try it yourself, its a transparent PNG, just copy/paste over something
- bpedit and smallreflection
-
2
-
Hi,
I hate being critical of someone's hard work and intense thought; but I can't resist weighing in.
By retaining the exact same contour as the original icons, the new ones do not – to my eye – subtly suggest the 3d form of the previous ones. They simply look like an odd, _semi-random_ blocky flat shape. My suggestion would be: if you want to have an up-to-date, flat graphic, then drop the remnant contours of the old icons' depth.
The other thing is: Gradients just date an icon. Instantly, and beyond redemption. :^(
(Imho, even Apple-esque shiny-highlight gradients have seen their day.)
So sorry for my bluntness; I do, absolutely, appreciate the care and skill you put into the new designs.
The intentions are good; I think the old icons _could_ be updated and simplified.
- Robert Petras, A_B_C and dazzyweb
-
3
-
That is slick. The shirt collar, in particular, kills.
I think you've got the basic idea of vectors now. :^D
-
No news for the plugins support? :(
Oh dear, after the incredible load of work and care the devs have put into it, that's your first response to them? For a beta?? For which none of us have paid a penny?
Vertical versus Horizontal Workspace – Flip!
in Older Feedback & Suggestion Posts
Posted
Ever notice that your workspace/interface needs are quite different when you're working in
1) Portrait orientation
versus
2) Landscape orientation?
It's already quite constraining that computer screens are landscape-shaped – who ever told Steve Jobs and Bill Gates that computers should prioritize left-right over up-down??
Blame the fact that CRT displays evolved from Television tubes. :^( But damn them for making LCD screens even more h-o-r-i-z-o-n-t-a-l!
But if you're designing a vertical layout or (lord have mercy on you!) an actual vertical portrait, you're reduced to cursing the gods of prevailing horizontality.
We portraitists have to make the best of it, and get every vertical obstruction off to the side of the screen.
Affinity, you can HELP!
Please give us the option of switching the Toolbar into a vertical bar! (I know you'd have to figure something out for the doc tabs & parameter readouts, but you'll sort it out in your usual clever way.)
A gift from heaven would be a toggle/switch command to flip from your usual interface layout, to one customized for portrait/vertical documents – with a vertical Toolbar.
(I'm aware of Separated Mode and Toggle Full Screen – very helpful. But I need the toolbar and the info read-out, and don't want to be constantly Tab-Toggling interface On & Off, or Tool Bar Opt-Cmd-T.)
Thanks for your serious consideration!
- pbass