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VectorWhiz

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Everything posted by VectorWhiz

  1. Affinity Designer is the program I use most from the Affinity suit and I haven't yet done a lot with Affinity Photo. So I thought it was time to do a little experimenting. I found an image of an occult statue on line, that intrigued me and used it to retouch it to my personal preference. I narrowed its wings and changed its face somewhat (among other things). I have to practice more with Affinity Photo, which I will do when I have more time. Being a vector drawing aficionado this type of work is a little out of my comfort zone, but looking outside of it probably is a good thing to do in this life, bearing in mind that many matters obviously are intentionally induced and imposed, which of course has a certain purpose that does not necessarily concur with my intuition. More info about this in my portfolio blog: https://communicats.blogspot.com/2022/12/occult-image-retouching-experiment.html
  2. I've always been attracted to Art Nouveau imagery, particularly that of the brilliant Alphonse Mucha, who is largely accredited for starting that appealing type of graphic art. I wanted to wrap my mind around the specific aspects of the craft of which this practice drawing is the first attempt. I plan to do more Art Nouveau all vector drawings in the future, unlike this image that contains both vector and bitmap embedded files. Technically this image is some sort of blend of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, the latter being the successor of the first art movement, I guess. More on Mucha and Art Nouveau in my portfolio blog: https://communicats.blogspot.com/2022/11/art-nouveau-practice-drawing-01.html
  3. It neither is a picture or photo, it is 100% manually drawn from scratch vector, which is shown in the vector outline image at the bottom. I didn't even use vector brushes, which aren't real vectors. The balancing of areas is a thing that can only be done in the final stages - colours, colour intensity and level of blur require an oversight of the complete image to carry out the balancing properly and I haven't yet reached that stage.
  4. Here's an interesting professional photographer's take on sharpness vs blurriness in realism: https://petapixel.com/2017/04/03/why-sharpness-is-overrated/
  5. I'm sorry, did you not notice the depth of field aspect of this drawing? Furthermore, there also is no global blur in the image, since each object was given its own blur ratio, which is a function of this type of software, that requires values of shape properties to be set in order to render them. This is quite easily verifiable in the .afdesign-file of course. So, I'm not sure what may have caused your irritation.
  6. @Michael S Harvey: Thank you for the most kind comment. Really looking forward to the new machine to arrive. It's a Minisforum HX90Gwith 64BG RAM and a dedicated GPU, so I think that should make a world of difference.
  7. This filter kind of opens up a shedload of possibilities. Great tip.
  8. The clipping function of AD perhaps is one of its best. I often use it, may times several layers deep. The clipped objects inherit the clipping object's level of blur and they can even be given higher levels of blur, but never less than that of the clipping object. This technique allows to create effects that are difficult to distinguish from bitmap editing.
  9. Great drawing skill in spite of little experience. The textured sound board looks much better; there hardly ever are plain colours in realistic images, always some sort of gradient al least. I guess being a photographer helped to see details that most artists would easily miss.
  10. Great drawing. Composition and textures are wonderful.
  11. "I use the Pencil with Sculpt on to get irregular edges" Thanks for the tip. That would have saved me a lot of time, if I had known. I should look more into the pencil tool, I guess; never used it before.
  12. First test of complex drawing in Affinity Designer 2. Crashed three times - first crash moderate data loss, the following second significant data loss. Image is not finished yet, but I ordered a new computer and will wait for the new rig to arrive before continuing to work on this 100% vector drawing. Rendered image on top, vector outline below. Progress sequence in my portfolio blog: https://communicats.blogspot.com/2022/11/continuing-jaguar-illustration-in.html Update November 22 2022: Felt the urge to continue the project in spite of the unpleasant crash experiences on my very old computer (2004). I drew some reflections in the water and detailed the hair in the ear areas with the pen tool as Stuart RC suggested. Update 24 November 2022: Started to draw the jag's fur texture in its face. The image below is downscaled and shows less accurate detail than the actual size. The old machine crashed only one time (....). Details and sequence images in my portfolio blog. Update November 26 2022: Worked on the tail, the left eye that I enlarged slightly and began experimenting with the overall fur texture. I don't want a single pixel in this drawing; it must remain 100% vector. This means no 'vector' brushes, symbols and patterns are included, since they do not contain real vectors. I temporarily used the Styles function in just one shape, but that is to observe the result. Later I will use a method that exclusively involves pure vector shapes and strokes in a specific way. I may probably have to wait until the more powerful computer, that I ordered, arrives to successfully draw the jag's fur texture. Below is the previous stage. Below is the vector outline view of one of the most recent stages.
  13. On paper theoretically the .msix-file installation should be an improvement over the traditional .exe-files installation. On paper theoretically Word can do (almost) the same as InDesign. The .msix pros and cons mentioned on the list isn't the first time Microsoft makes such claims that later appear to be hot air, as a result of which partners and clients are manoeuvred into trouble after gullably believing Microsoft's claims. In the start up screen I see something like 'checking the Microsoft store registration' flash by. So apart from being registered at Serif (which makes sense), users are now registered at Microsoft as well? Which makes less sense. What does that mean for the independence of Serif and its users?
  14. No, I did it as I explained in my blog. Before changing the permissions I could only open the programs when running them as admin from the WindowsApps directory. Running the programs from the Start menu didn't work until I changed the permissions. It was impossible to drop files on the programs' desktops to open them. After changing the permissions the programs worked properly.
  15. Hypnotizing the cat.

  16. When looking at the properties of the Affinity directories in the WindowsApp directory I got a message (in bold red type) that the Permission file was corrupted. After resetting the permissions to full control for myself I was able to open the files without using the As an Administrator option. The programs now open from the Start menu and from the icons in the Taskbar, which they didn't do previously. Before figuring this out I was unable to drop files from the Filemanager into the Publisher and Designer Desktops - they would not open, but after resetting the permissions this was possible again. This makes me guess that in some cases the msix files somehow interfere with user permissions of the directories. Later downloaded and installed Photo, applying the same workaround as described above and the program works properly. I wrote a short blog on the work around on how to get the version 2 programs to work properly here: https://communicats.blogspot.com/2022/11/serif-released-version-2-of-affinity.html, which could be useful for those who ran into trouble in attempts to get them installed until an official solution will be presented. By the way - kudos to the devs for the functionality increase of the version 2 programs.
  17. Serif should make sure that the apps work for all users that bought the app and not ignore those that are having trouble with it or offer workarounds that don't work. After downloading Publisher and Designer from the Microsoft store, I can only open them from the WindowsApps directory in Windows filemanager and I must run them as Administrator to open the programs. Then I am presented two dialogue windows if I am sure I want to do that and after that the apps open. They do not open from the start menu or when I pin them to the taskbar. Above is the message I get when trying to open them with the Open command from the WindowsApps in Windows filemanager while not using As administrator option. And by the way my Windows 10 system is up to date and the suggested Powershell commands while the msix files were in the User Download directory did not work as well. These things should have been tested before release, in my opinion, to avoid users running in to such problems. When users new to Affinity run into such weirdness, they'll be tempted to stay away from the suit and never return to it again. The msix files are presented as modern and secure, but in view of the problems occurring, they apparently are not.
  18. msix files downloaded from the forum give a message: 'Error parsing' for all apps in the suite. This is bad. Users should not be confronted with this.
  19. The update policy and numbering syntax is confusing. When a new version is released, users get a message when opening Designer that a new version is available, which I downloaded and installed, but you say I should not be using it?
  20. Beta as far as I know, is the most recent development available, which is the only reason I run it. And by the way, relieved to see that I am not the only one having this problem, although apparently there are ways to work around it.
  21. The problem with uploading images (Error 200), seems to occur only with png-files that were exported from Designer version 1.105.1342 (Beta). I tried with a grey background and transparent, neither of them would upload. When saving the image again (without changing anything to the image) in FastStone image viewer, there seems to be no problem with images with a transparent background or a solid background. Perhaps take a look at the export engine code.
  22. 100% vector portrait of Vin Diesel, created from scratch in Affinity Designer. On top is the rendered image, below it is the vector outline view. Progress sequence of various stages in my portfolio blog: https://communicats.blogspot.com/2020/11/vin-diesel-vector-portrait-drawn-in.html
  23. @ NPM: the Dali image you uploaded has no transparent background. I have no problem uploading png-files that do not have have a transparent background.
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