GarryP

The Inpainting Brush Tool seems to be working fine for me when I apply it to a layer underneath a Black & White Adjustment. I notice that your Black & White adjustment seems to think that a brush has been used on it – maybe that’s part of the problem. If you gave us a full-screen screenshot, instead of a small limited screen-grab, then we would have more information to look at.

This sort of thing can already be done using the Shape Builder Tool (hold Alt while clicking on the superfluous line ends) but, currently, it won’t preserve the absolute brush widths along the curves, if the brush width varies.

I’ve attached a video showing how to create the vignette. Note: Sometimes the order in which things are done, or what is selected before something is done, or the place something is dragged to makes a difference. Be careful to watch what is happening. Note: I make the original rectangle larger than the image so that the effect of the Gaussian Blur doesn’t ‘bleed’ into the edges of the image. (By way of experimentation, try making the rectangle the same size as the image and see what happens.) Note: When I use the Geometry Subtract function I also hold the Alt key down which creates the Compound rather than simply subtracting the shapes. (You can simply subtract the shapes but that makes it more difficult to manipulate them later.) Note: If you are following exactly the same steps but you don’t get the same results then you might need to check your Settings / Assistant options. If there's a certain step which isn't working for you then tell me which and I should be able to put you back on track. 2023-08-02 09-55-09.mp4

Ah, I see, I think. I don’t think you will be able to do that easily, if at all, but I don’t use the Export Persona very often so maybe someone else has a good idea. Alternatively, you might be able to group your designs into differently-sized invisible rectangles (outer one the biggest and inner ones dropping in size) and create slices from those but you could be ‘fighting against’ working inside multiple layers, and I’ve not tried it so don’t know if it would even work. Basically, as I understand the issue, you’re trying to do something that the software wasn’t designed to do.

Vince42: You might like to look at a video I’ve just posted in the Tutorials section of the forum:

The attached video shows how you can (quite) quickly draw a simple paper scroll, in Designer only (because of the use of certain tools). The basic steps are: (Don’t try to follow these steps without watching the video as they won’t make much sense otherwise.) Make sure that you have all the Snapping options ON except for Grid and Baseline Grid (it helps); Pen Tool: Draw a ‘zig-zag’ with 45 degree angles (use the relevant modifier key to help you); Pen Tool: Draw a ‘fly-out line’ from each ‘bend’ in the ‘zig-zag’ at 45 degrees (just keep them short, you’ll be changing them later); Node Tool: Convert the ‘bend points' to Smart nodes and drag the handles so they are at 45 degrees (you should see the purple helpers); Node Tool: Drag the nodes/handles (keeping them at 45 degrees) until they look nice (use your own judgement); Move Tool: Duplicate the whole design at 45 degrees away from the original; Node Tool: Extend the ‘fly-out lines’ from the original to where they are on the duplicate; Delete the ‘fly-out lines’ from the duplicate; Point Transform Tool: Copy the ‘fly-out lines’ to the ends of the curves; Shape Builder Tool: Make the new shapes; Remove any extraneous shapes if there are any; Add Gradient Fills and a Stroke to taste (better than I did in the video). 2023-08-01 14-08-24.mp4

The Appearance Panel is only available in Designer. (You didn’t say which application(s) you had available or wanted to use.) Can you show us an example of what you actually want to create? It’s not really a question of ‘workarounds’; it’s more about learning to do some things differently as not all software works the same. I gave you a way to create all kinds of vignettes in your other thread about that issue: Once you understand the basics then you should be able to do this sort of thing very easily.

In addition to the advice above, the ‘shape’ you have is just a group of straight curves, not an actual shape. As such, you cannot add a fill colour to the ‘shape’ as there is nothing to fill; it’s just four disconnected two-dimensional lines which happen to look like a shape. Once you have answered the questions above, and told us which Affinity application(s) you have available, and told us whether you need a vector fill or raster fill, we can advise further.

Attached is an example which looks like your example (as far as I can tell) using the Appearance Panel of Designer,. To apply the same 'border' to other images just use copy and paste-style (or make a Style).

I just placed a 5594×3729 pixel image (20.8MP?) into a document and rotated it by 0.01 degrees about the centre. The measurement from the bottom-left corner of the original to the bottom-left corner of the rotated copy is approximately 0.5 pixels. It would be interesting to see how the export process would cope with that in a way which gave a meaningfully-different result. Note: Photo’s Crop functionality has a Straighten mode which might be useful.

Welcome to the forums @olwen The Affinity applications have their own jargon and a fairly steep learning curve, but that’s the same for pretty much any powerful piece of software. Even if you go to use other software you will probably find the same (or similar) jargon and a similar learning curve. If you still have time left before you can’t return the software then you can ask questions in the Questions part of these forums and we can probably help you through the basics at least – maybe you will start to like using it once things have been explained a bit more. However, if you really want to get your money back then see this page: https://store.serif.com/en-gb/help/#returns

Welcome to the forums @Kimali You are using Designer and that application does not have the Picture Frame Tool which Publisher has.

Sounds like you have “Select object when intersects with selection marquee” set to ON in Settings / Tools. (Since the marquee selection is within the boundary of the outer layer it also intersects it, and it is therefore selected.)

The colours in the second image are clearly (to me) ‘washed out’ compared to the first image, for example:

I’m not seeing any overlap in either the image (rotated triangles) or the document (just open curves) in your original post. What is it that I’m not looking at properly?

Can you give us some visual examples of the sort of things you want to be able to achieve?

You can achieve a simple ‘shaped vignette’ effect by using a Rectangle, an Ellipse (or rectangle, or any other shape) and Live Gaussian Blur Filter within a Compound – see attached video. 2023-07-30 12-38-25.mp4

Thanks for the extra information. If I have understood the requirements correctly, if you select the layers, then Geometry Add - or Merge Curves - then Separate Curves, the shapes should all have their rotations ‘reset’ – see attached video. (This might only work properly, in this case, if the shapes do not overlap, needs testing.) I don’t know how this might affect SVG/EPS output though so you might need to check that if it’s important. 2023-07-30 12-21-29.mp4

Can you explain what the problem is with the layers as they are before you do what you want to do, and also explain what you would gain by doing what you want to do?

Using Transform Objects Separately won’t work for this because each shape is being transformed separately whereas you would actually need them to be transformed at the same time and in relation to each other. By using Transform Objects Separately, in this case, you are creating lots of new shapes which won’t normally naturally fit together.

Ah, I think I might understand it a little better now. One thing you can do is to select all of the pieces and then apply an Outline Effect (aligned to the Inside) with a Negation Blend Mode. I don’t know if this will work in every case but it works when I tried it – see attached image.

It seems as though I have not understood your requirements. Can you give us a visual example of what you have and what you are trying to do with it.

Can you give us a full-screen screenshot, which includes the Layers Panel and Paragraph Panel, with the ‘problem layer’ selected?

If I have understood your requirements correctly, I’m not sure if a Stroke with an Erase Blend Mode will do what you want (if it works at all) so I would probably use the Contour Tool with a negative Radius as in my attached image.

This thread may be of some use: