lepr

Oh. I failed to read your mind.
 
I would tell you, but you'll already know it.

I agree. This is the 'Share your work' forum, not the 'Tutorials' forum, and the OP was merely showing their work and how they did it, rather than posing as a tutor.
I also agree with Ash, that there are many misleadingly overcomplicated tutorials on the Web, but the OP was not presenting a tutorial and so the comments about poor tutorials would have been less potentially offensive if made elsewhere.
 

I agree. This is the 'Share your work' forum, not the 'Tutorials' forum, and the OP was merely showing their work and how they did it, rather than posing as a tutor.
I also agree with Ash, that there are many misleadingly overcomplicated tutorials on the Web, but the OP was not presenting a tutorial and so the comments about poor tutorials would have been less potentially offensive if made elsewhere.
 

I agree. This is the 'Share your work' forum, not the 'Tutorials' forum, and the OP was merely showing their work and how they did it, rather than posing as a tutor.
I also agree with Ash, that there are many misleadingly overcomplicated tutorials on the Web, but the OP was not presenting a tutorial and so the comments about poor tutorials would have been less potentially offensive if made elsewhere.
 

I think what @Mr. Sam is getting at is as you start to draw the curve the cursor should highlight in yellow the snapping option and snap to that point and as you finish the curve the yellow snapping option should also highlight and snap to that curve. Having to do that manually is at best tedious. So imagine drawing a Japanese carp and drawing the scales, then having to go back and snap each node to the curve below it. 
losing the will to live springs to mind lol
https://www.istockphoto.com/en/vector/koi-carp-and-chrysanthemum-flowers-sketch-vector-illustration-tattoo-print-hand-gm1372358049-441484058?phrase=koi+carp+drawings&searchscope=image%2Cfilm

I agree. This is the 'Share your work' forum, not the 'Tutorials' forum, and the OP was merely showing their work and how they did it, rather than posing as a tutor.
I also agree with Ash, that there are many misleadingly overcomplicated tutorials on the Web, but the OP was not presenting a tutorial and so the comments about poor tutorials would have been less potentially offensive if made elsewhere.
 

Although Enea did say, in their first post, that they would record a tutorial showing how they drew the knot, I don’t think they intended the video which was posted to show the best/quickest/easiest method to draw the knot.
I see it as just another way to get the same result, where some of the techniques used may be also used in other situations.
(Also, as far as I can tell, the techniques used are available in V1 and not just V2, so that makes it accessible for people not using the latest version where the Shape Builder Tool is available.)
Not all videos need to be ‘speed runs’ getting the learner from A to B in the quickest possible way; sometimes it’s nice to learn different ways to make similar things as you almost never know which technique(s) will be ‘best’ for any particular new situation.
I’ve seen plenty of “tutorials” where the “tutor”:
has taken way more time in post production than they have in demonstrating the techniques; goes off on various tangents talking about stuff which isn’t relevant; has simply taken someone else’s work and made their own ‘fancier-looking’ version of it; etc. etc. … so I can understand your frustration but, in this case, I don’t think Enea intended any kind of ‘show of authority’ or ‘self aggrandisement’ as can often happen.
I saw the video as simply: “Here’s how I did this thing. You might want to try it for yourself, or not, it’s up to you.”

Indeed, quite easy and effective. Good job!

Nice use of a new tool @lepr

An alternative method using Spiral Tool and not requiring Point Transform Tool:

heptagram.mp4    

An alternative method using Spiral Tool and not requiring Point Transform Tool:

heptagram.mp4    

An alternative method using Spiral Tool and not requiring Point Transform Tool:

heptagram.mp4    

An alternative method using Spiral Tool and not requiring Point Transform Tool:

heptagram.mp4    

An alternative method using Spiral Tool and not requiring Point Transform Tool:

heptagram.mp4    

The bake distortions are a big problem, but a perspective Warp Group itself produces terrible results - circles should become ellipses but they become ovoids, and straight lines should remain straight but many become curved. Example below:

 

For the stroke of the spiral, use a 'vector brush' with texture that is a linear gradient. You might want to use a greyscale gradient and then apply a Gradient Map Adjustment to the spiral to colour it.

You were right @lepr. So, there is indeed a secret button... And it's actually quite small It wasn't so obvious. To retain grouping, Auto-select and Default options must be enabled. Thank you for the quick and accurate response, and thanks to everyone for the willingness to help. Regards.

I think what's happening is the objects are staying grouped, but you have enabled the option which makes the individual objects be directly selectable as if ungrouped.
In the Context Toolbar of Move Tool (and many other tools) is an Auto-select control; in its drop-down list, select "Default" instead of "Objects" to get the selection behaviour to which you are accustomed.

Not too sure of Mac vs Windows, this works on Mac. Why not use the Control Key and delete the segment to the left or right of the break. Hell, you don't even need to break the curve first.

I think what's happening is the objects are staying grouped, but you have enabled the option which makes the individual objects be directly selectable as if ungrouped.
In the Context Toolbar of Move Tool (and many other tools) is an Auto-select control; in its drop-down list, select "Default" instead of "Objects" to get the selection behaviour to which you are accustomed.

For the stroke of the spiral, use a 'vector brush' with texture that is a linear gradient. You might want to use a greyscale gradient and then apply a Gradient Map Adjustment to the spiral to colour it.

. . . just in time for the holiday season . . . finished version of the 2024 VW Beetle calendar . . . created with Affinity Designer 2.0

When you have at least 3 screenshots, a Live Stack Group with its mode set to Outlier should give the required result.

@80sTherapy Just seen this thread and couldn’t resist having a play with the idea!
In the attached APhoto file, much simple fun is to be had sliding the Black Hole Group around! (I’m easily entertained!)
I’ve also thrown in two 4 Point star refractions, one Pixel the other Vector that I made for someone else around here🤔 some time back.
Black Hole.afphoto

macOS 12.7.1