CartoonMike

Well, based on this thread, I purchased and installed FF. It either crashes or does nothing in the latest beta of AP as of 28Dec16. Followed the Help file instructions as best as I could. Hopefully it'll be working with AP someday, regardless that some may have no problems with it, it doesn't work on my system. If a bit more detail was provided instead of the "I installed it and it works" vague summary in earlier posts, one may realized what went wrong. Well, at least I have the app version.

This is a WIP. thought some may find it interesting to see the outlines and the vector version of this drawing. Drew the basic design on paper with pencil. I then inked it with some Microns. Liked it, but then thought that maybe it would be interesting/better as a vector piece. I'll be using Franentoon's texturizer Pro to finish the rendering of it. As it stands, it's more of a proof of concept and therapy over the hellscape that some call 2016. Once I got into the groove, it was quite quick and pleasant. There's boo-boos galore, but that's part of the learning process as y'all know. I'm sure the next one will be smoother and better.

@Frankentoons: it's not your problem. It's something wrong with Sellfy. Maybe they don't like Safari, I don't know. their "support" was quick to reply, but kinda lagging in responding to my reply where I give them the info they asked for. While some may have no problem with Sellfy, I've had issues with them for about 1 1/2 years now and it's the same old issue with the password. But that's for them to fix and I'll say no more on that issue here. But I will say that I've taken the brushes out for a spin and really like the feel they give to stuff. (aside: have you thought about doing a set for Clip Studio Paint? I'd snap that up in a nano-second... )

Picked up my set as soon as I saw the notice on (iirc) my FB feed. They look sharp and I'll have some need to play around with them over the next few weekends (advantage to not having family within 1K miles :D). Wished I understood that the link on the right was Sellfy... thought that both were Gumroad. FWIW, it's not clear at all that there's 2 ways to pay for your brush set... If I had known one was Sellfy, I would've clicked on Gumroad. See, every time I try to use Sellfy, I have to reset my password. Every. Single. Time. Even if I go back to the site within the same day. I don't really like Sellfy. Their interface is awkward and just off putting to me. And resetting the password (click on the "forgot password" link, get the email, click on the link in the email, go to another Sellfy page, reset the password and then figure out what the hell I was doing to begin with...) is a hurdle that I'll do only for the best... Like anything from you.

Don't know if this has been posted yet, and an initial search brought up nothing... If you have a Symbol that contains many parts and in the process of working, one part or more may have gotten "detached" (either by disconnection or other means*) I've found a quick way to fix it is to select the object that's not connected (i.e. doesn't sync with the symbol), cut it and then paste it back. I had a series of text objects that weren't syncing and that cut&paste fixed them. *Other means could be that the original file was created in a Beta, then opened in a new version, worked on some more in yet another beta and then (FINALLY) in the latest version. Some were along the way, the instances of the symbol got locked on some art boards that had it, and not on others. I'm in the middle of several projects and can't research the "whys" as completely as I'd like, but just had to share this lil' tip. Hope it works for y'all like it worked for me!

I totally agree that some form of text wrap is important for AD to have. To insist that AD is "merely" for design is like saying that Word Processors are just good for writing advertising copy. If text wrap is added to AD toolbox, it doesn't mean that you can't just keep on using it to create illustrations. Just like with the additions of UI tools and such doesn't mean I have to use them for every project. Just like Clip Studio Paint can do comic lettering, I don't use it, I'd rather do lettering in AD (which it is much better than the "standard" app from the Red Brick Haus). However, if one would follow the logic of post #5, I shouldn't use AD for comic lettering. I should "make do" with an inferior result because that app is "meant" to do comic lettering. There's been a number of posters/fliers I had to use AD for and faking word-wrap to complete, as I don't have a desktop publisher app (yet -- waiting on Godot, I mean Affinity Publisher :D ). Adding Text Wrap would save the user a bit of time, allow for more flexibility and really, be a win-win for everybody. I'm not expecting AD to be a DTP app, but don't tell the 64 page comic I'm in the middle of working on, please. It's what I have now and it works, but could work better. And TBH, the method outlined in the OP works really well and is quite simple to do, I actually just create an shape with the pen tool instead of using the outline stroke, as I have a lot fewer nodes to contend with and can make changes easily. Besides, depending on the text alignment and shape of the text "frame" the border of the text "frame" need not be exact.

Just got my copy today, Ordered on a Sunday - received on a Tuesday. Not too bad. It's lovely. My wife looked at it and agrees. In fact the first words out of her mouth about the book is "It's gorgeous." She thumbed through it and pointed at a number of graphics she liked. When a computer-centric book can grab the attention of a someone who's extent of computer use is limited to web, email, and word processing, you're doing something very very right! IMHO, this is one of the best app-focused dead-tree books I've seen. And over the upcoming long weekend, I hope to read a bit of it.

It seems to me that while I was learning about the Vector persona, AD's Export persona got real complex and baffling to me. What I'm trying to do: Basic Page size is US Letter (8.5 by 11 inches) . I have a Live area (or "bounding box") that's 7 inches by 10.5 inches in the lower left of the Page. In the area around and outside that Live Area is information on the page I'm lettering (issue title, title of comic, etc and an section that has my info on it). The Live area is where I place imported art that I'm lettering from a script. So within that live area are text blocks and shapes for word balloons, captions, sound effects and titles. Some titles do extend beyond the Live Area so when the page is printed, they go to the edge of the printed page. Now, since I'm an writer/artist, I can afford the time to see how the lettered pages look on my pencils, so I can make changes to make a better balance between the text and art. All I want is to just export what's inside the Bounding Box, so the files will just contain what I need and not require any cropping in Clip Studio Paint. So I thought, this would be a great job for the export persona and slices. And this is when everything went pear-shaped. The "Bounding Box" which describes the Live area, is a shape that has no fill or stroke. It's placed exactly where the borders of my art is. There's no way to use the bounding box as a slice that I can figure out. Unless I can copy the shape and paste it into the Slice panel. I'm loathe to try that as I've had issues with copying and pasting (as in a topic in the Bugs section that has, so far, been read but not responded to). It seems that my only option was to write down the X,Y location of the Bound Box Object along with it's Width and Height. And then go to each page, one-by-one and create (or modify the existing slice) and input the location and dimensions. Should work, right? Nope. I can put in the dimensions just fine, but the location seems to be Global and no matter which page I try, the location data always moves the slice to the first page. My questions are: 1] is this just how art boards work? Do I have to go from Vector persona, grad the location on each page and then go back to the export persona and plug in the info? Except that the XY info is the same in every page, but the friggin' slice won't respect the page/artboard I'm working on and I have no idea how to do the location "maths" for my specific page. 2] Since the Bounding Box object is a symbol (as it's identical for all pages/artboards) is the XY location incorrect because of that? 3] Is there a way to just make it work? I'll have 2 different exports, one with the entire page (for sending to editors, etc --letter page size) and with just the Live Area (for sending to the printers -- comic book page size 7x10.5 inches) and to do this for every artboard in a 22+ page story is a great big sinkhole of time that I'd rather use for creating art, but if there's no other way, I can deal. Of course, this would probably be moot once Affinity Publisher is out (or not...) I'd like to be able to use slices and the export persona better, but I feel that since I'm not doing GUI stuff there's stuff that I'll have to ... ah... kludge together to work the way I want. If anything is unclear, let me know and I can remove the opacity of my words. Maybe include some screen caps if that'll help. Right now I'm very frustrated and need to just step away from this for a bit. Thanks for any and all assistance in this.

Personally, I would make broad categories and then add as things progress into each category. This will help people find the subject they want and then narrow the selection. Like the Hero & Villain tuts should (imho) be within the Character Design category. And then you could add a devoted to Video Game character design tutorial that address specific needs and requirements of Video gaming characters. One could take the Video char tutorial and then progress to the Hero, Villain, Pin-Up tuts and be able to use them independently of the Video Char tutorial. This way you won't be recreating the wheel (like your OP kinda indicated). Or you can refer to the VideoChar Design tut in the body of the various char design tuts. And as AD evolves, updating the tuts "should" be easier. Regardless of how you do this thing, I'm onboard. :)

Wow. Worked up a sweat just reading the change log. Excellent work. Can't wait to take it for a spin.

I don't think this'll matter, but "just to be sure" : Does it make a difference if the workaround is installed prior to d/l the update, or will waiting 'till tomorrow be best? Asking because I've been using the beta, which still seems to be working. I'm in the middle of two jobs (both are comic related and has flexible deadlines, so one day or so won't really crunch my time at all).

Word of caution: once you perform the baby daughter update, you can't downgrade. At least for 18 years or so...

Thanks for the beta update and congrats on the Family upgrade.

Okay. But I still feel that this would be great for a preference Per-style and not an either-or choice.

I love the Styles and the logic of the Styles palette. Only there's one issue for me, see I'm lettering a comic and And there's a alien language that is being used. Eventually there's going to be several. Each style has a name that is referenced in the script so I know which one to use. Only thing is the Palette displays the name in the font that's used. And for these, that font is gibberish (see attached image --It's right below the "MechaVoice Orange" style). This may not just be a comic-lettering issue, for some designs, I've seen people use special decorative/glyph based fonts for corners, and such. So it would be a great feature if the font used for the name of the style could be either "Font Used" or "Menu Font" (which would be the font used for the Palettes and such. Thanks.

They're all Balloons, except for the caption box. Usually some of these special balloons would be described in the script inside parenthesis. From left to right/ top to bottom: Speech = Word balloon Thought = thought balloon Whisper = word balloon (whisper) Burst = word ballon (burst) Radio= word balloon (radio or electronic) Telepathic = word balloon (telepathic) Usually if speciality balloons are called for (like Radio, telepathic, etc) the writer includes a page that describes the balloon (sometimes with samples) and labels them. So in the second graphic the script could go like this: Peter: You'll never get away with this! This doesn't have any descriptors, as it's dialog and automatically gets a word balloon. Do note that bold words are bolded in the script and italics can be italics or underlined. It's concidered good form to only have the actual text that will appear in the balloon/caption and that any style be applied to the text. Some will use different colors to indicate a special style (some comic book fonts have regular, Bold, italic, light, light italics, etc so on) which is described in the "codex" page. In case of a thought balloon: Peter (thinking): You'll never get away this this! Jagged/burst: Peter (burst): You'll never get away with this Doing the Professor X thing: Peter (telepathic): To me, my Vectors! And the caption: Caption: To be continued, true believer! ---- Note that the dialog is on its own line, this is so that the letterer can just 3x-click it, copy it and paste w/o style in the lettering app, like Affinity Designer. :) In case there's 2 balloons that are to be connected it could look like this: Peter: You'll never get away with this! Peter (connected): Not if I can help it!! There's no "set" scripting format for comics, so every writer has their own way of doing things. Hope this helps and doesn't derail this wonderful thread... :D

Worth the wait! Page 3 is pretty darn awesome. The composition of the entire page is stunning and the last panel, if the bird's eye view and the stark white of the headlights wasn't enough there's -- "Ted, a word." Feels like a heel-turn's a-coming. Feels like I am reading a 50's horror comic. Well done, sir. Well done. Looking forward to more "spare-time/down-time" pages when your current assignment wraps.

There's some neat EC comics-style fonts that look like they were done with the Leroy Lettering system that was used in those comics. Trivia: the stories were written and paneled out and lettered before the artist touched the bristol board! Here's one from Blambot that's free: http://www.blambot.com/font_manlymen.shtml Keep in mind that line breaks are important. The "shape" of the text block should resemble a diamond: the top and bottom lines are shorter than the middle line(s). It makes comics read a bit better and the balloon (not Bubble, fyi @peter) can have more of a rounded shape. It a bit of a struggle at first until you just find yourself doing it automagically. Widows and orphans are more than just a story troupe in comics, they are allowed in dialog text. As far as the font that shall not be named goes, one word: don't. Okay two words: don't ever. Mostly because of the way that it's viewed by the public as a childlike and "informal" (read: amateur) font used in garage sale and lemonade stand signage. It is beyond redemption. Kill it with fire! Oops, sorry, excuse me. Besides, imho, that font just didn't mesh well with your artwork, especially with the word balloon outlines. If you don't have a Tumblr, get one and you can publish your comic online. I really think it's deserving (thus far) of a wider audience. Now where's page 3?

Oh Peter, you're so quantum! :P

Great work. Good with the type and even better without; shows excellent design sense.

Really like this. Great job of setting the scene in the first page and escalation of events in the second. I gotta see what happens next. Only nit is the serif "I" in words, where the san serif "I" should be used. Visit www.blambot.com and download some of the free* fonts there and it'll improve the "look" of the lettering and mesh better with your word balloon style. (*free as in for personal and indie commercial projects). Check out this page, also from Blambot, for some good basic lettering info: http://www.blambot.com/articles_grammar.shtml

Great illustration! The composition is perfect and the level of detail is just awesome without being overwhelming. And the color palette used adds perfectly to the feel of it.

Oh, speaking of Splash Screens, the beta gave me an interesting experience this AM... First off, I have an 27" iMac and a 21" Yinova Graphics Dislpay Tablet. In System Prefs, I have the Yinova set up as my Primary display and the iMac's as secondary. In the arrange part of the display prefs, I have the iMac Screen above the Yinova Display. this way the displays area arranged like they are in the physical realm. When I started B12, the interface appeared on the Main display all ready for me to put stylus to glass -- but the Splash/start up window/whatev appeared on the iMac Screen. What happened next was that the menubar on the Main (Yinova) display was flickering and icons on the right (for 1 password, TGP, Alfred, et al) were highlighting and going dim as in a Marquee light thing. Only when I moved the Splash/Startup window to the main display did the menubar stabilize and I could (finally) click on the Close button to get to work. Haven't tried B12 to replicate this, yet. Have a busy day so prob won't get to it till late this PM (Pacific Time.) I'll try to do a screen cap of the festivities, if I can repeat it.

@DaveHarris -- Awesome! Thanks!

Thanks Matt! And I'm not giving up or not using AD because of this feature being missing or that option not existing. Truth be told, I kinda thrive on finding workarounds. Keeps me mentally nimble and on the lookout for features and such that are under the surface. About the file/crash, as part of lettering comics, the leading is adjusted a bit, to be equal to the font size or a bit smaller. Since comics are usually done in all upper-case, a smaller leading makes a block of text look better and reads easier than wide rivers between lines. And spacing between paragraphs are set to zero, because sometimes one has to have a hard return in order to make the word balloon work, that is, the text should have a kinda-sorta diamond shape as it looks better in an oval balloon. #the_more_you_know.... And if anyone's interested (and have downloaded my AD file) notice how the Balloons are actually 4 layers: The bottom is the main shape, with a stroke 2x as wide as I want it. (3.0 points) The next shape is the Tail (the thingie that points to the speaker's mouth) and it has a stroke equal to what I want it to be. In this case it's 1.5 points. And the 2nd from the top is a copy (cmd-j) of the main shape. The stroke has been set to "none" and it appears that the stroke around everything is a consistent 1.5 points. Although I could combine the two shapes (the main and the tail objects), I usually don't as this gives me a lot of flexibility to move the tail around, which sometimes is necessary due to art changes or feedback. Combining the 2 shapes into a single shape would make most changes to the tail impractical due to the time it would take. The top shape is the text, in this example all Text blocks are in their own sub-layer. This is a old illustrator/vector drawing app trick that I've used for years.