Cobalt7 Imaging

@Oufti and @lacerto - thank you both very much! This is what I needed. I was missing the Transform panel for some reason, I knew there should be a way to specify dimensions! So thanks to both of you, this is very helpful and should get me headed down the right path. Appreciate you both!

I design shirt graphics. My workflow today is I create a new document (not an artboard) that is 4500x5400. I create the design, then export this document as a transparent PNG. But what I *really* want is to have the 4500x5400 document on the screen, with a smaller 2500x2500 artboard to the side of my screen where I can place a reference drawing or graphic while I work in the larger document. The issue with using artboards is I can't 1) figure out how to properly set their sizes (I don't see any way to set them to say, 3000x3000 without trying to drag them around to the size I want - basically guessing) 2) how would I export an artboard as a transparent PNG? I didn't see a way to do this. I had to copy the design to a new 4500x5400 document, then export it as a transparent PNG. I guess ideally I would have an artboard to one side, and a main document to do my work in. Is this simply a limitation of artboards, or am I just an idiot (likely....). It seems like they're great for mockups and ideas, etc, but for final production work, they seem limiting.

Perfect, that's what I needed to do. I appreciate the quick response! I have a semi-related question, but I will post it in a new thread. Thanks!

Say there - I have been reviewing FAQ's and the forum and can't seem to find an answer to this probably simply question - I want to start Affinity Designer, click on New and select a preset that would open a new document with two artboards. See attached. Is this possible? Thanks!

Interesting, thanks to @v_kyr and @Old Bruce - both posts were very helpful. I'm not an Affinity guru, but I am pretty comfortable with it after using it a couple of years now. I would've never thought to look at Fill Mode, especially considering I don't know what it even is. 🤔 I plan on upgrading next month, so hopefully I won't have that issue anymore, but nice to know what to do if it comes up again. Thanks!

Howdy folks - I'm having a hard time figuring out why this scenario happens to me. Two curves, and I want to subtract the red circle from the black shape. The first image shows the two curves and me selecting 'Subtract. The second image shows what happens (rather than "punching" a hole out, it just turns black). The third image is a simulation of what I expect. I'm about 99% sure it's something silly, but for the life of me, I can't remember why it does this. Where am I going wrong? I added the sample file as well. Frank curve_subtraction.afdesign

I have been fighting this 'feature' all day. It is driving me NUTS. PLEASE give us a way to disable this, or remap it, or something. It gets triggered all the time with a magic mouse. Personally, I can't recall the last time I *intentionally* rotated the canvas. It's just not how I work. Ugh

Ahh yes, the expand stroke routine. I had seen that once and forgotten about it. I think this is what I'm after. Thanks to both of you for your time. Seems like it'd be helpful to have a tool that did just what I mentioned - allow me to select multiple nodes and create an object out of it without any trickery. I'm sure it's a combination of difficult coding and me not fully understanding vectors/curves, but one can dream. Best

Interesting, thank you. I will try this out.

Howdy folks - I seem to run into this enough to warrant asking how I should do it. I want to fill in the top and bottom segments of this object with a solid color (indicated by the squiggly lines). I changed the outside curve to red to indicate the way this was created. Is it possible to select those top four corner points and create a single object? Or do I simply have to draw the shape manually?

@G13RL - Thanks! I had not seen that technique before, I tried it and it worked perfectly. Not very intuitive, so glad I asked. @R C-R - and thank you, I remembered that technique after I posted. Thank for taking the time to detail for myself and others who may be searching too! As a relative new comer, seems like a great 'feature' that could be added as a one step function. Not that either technique is real time consuming, but seems like something that needs to be more accessible. Tsk. Back to the grind! Thanks again.

As I continue learning, one thing I encounter and struggle with is trying to divide a shape with an irregular curve, so I can shade just one half. See attached screenshot for a rudimentary example. It's an ellipse, and a curve. I've got straight lines and ellipses figured out, but what do you do when it's an odd shape like this? For this example, I'd like one side of the ellipse to be red, the other blue. I've tried breaking the curve of the ellipse and joining the curve to the new broken points, and also tried just joining the curve to the edge of the ellipse, but it's not getting me where I want to go, since the wavy line is not connecting. It's gotta be easy, but I'm tired of searching. I can't find the answer, so I turn to the experts.

Duh, yeah, that's what I needed, it just wasn't registering in my feeble old brain. Thanks, @firstdefence!

Thanks @firstdefence - I considered that, and in hindsight would be the easiest way. I got obsessed with slicing it, though, so now I'm curious if that's possible. I keep reading about a knife tool, but it's been talked about for months/years it seems.

Newbie, learning learning learning, but this seemingly easy operation has me stumped. I want to take a trapezoid and divide it into two pieces so I can fill one section with a different color. Sounds so simple, I'm embarrassed to ask, but I've been searching all morning and can't figure it out. Here's a quick example, I want to take the main shape, divide the top off as shown, and then fill it green or whatever. Help!