tobys-brain

Whoa, really? I will have to look into this! Thank you!

This might be a bit challenging to explain what I'm doing, but I'll try. I want to know if there's a way to link specific artwork to appear on the pages in a given section without using master pages? Some background: I'm am using Affinity Publisher for the first time and loving it. I am putting together an art book that is roughly broken down into sections by the year the art was created. It is going to be an illuminated manuscript-style book, so there are some repeating visual elements that are consistent throughout each section. The basic layout is the left hand page will have some calligraphy and text, along with the embellishments that need to appear on every left hand page of the section, and the right hand page has the artwork. I know this could be done with master pages, however, I have created 3 custom old, yellowed paper textures that I rotate through the whole book that I have set up as master pages. If I were to use the master page route to add those repeating art elements, one for each of the 3 sections, I would have 9 different master pages for the main pages of my book (there are a few others for the preface, etc.). Is there a way to accomplish this via sections? Creating an image frame or something that is connected to the section and not a master page? Hopefully I explained that adequately, thank you for your time. Toby

I seem to be having at least a very similar problem. I have had it occur both when trying to combine two shapes as well as trying to subtract one shape from another. In each case, all the nodes combine onto one layer, but instead of either creating one larger shape (in the “add” instance), one of the shapes is filled in, the other is empty, or (in the “subtract” instance), the smaller shape that should be the “hole” in the larger shape fills in and the larger shape is empty (again, all the nodes still there). I attempted to use the reverse function in the context tool bar, but got the same results. One thing I did notice, though, after trying to add two shapes, based on some comments in this thread, I started inspecting to see if I had any overlapping nodes that would cause that “math” issue someone brought up. I found that every node on the filled in shape was doubled now. I could select each node one by one and move it around and there was still the original node in its original place. After moving the duplicate node around, the space between them would fill the way it should be. I could go around one by one deleting the duplicate nodes, but that’s not efficient. I’m not sure if this is a bug or if I’m screwing something up. Sometimes the functions work, sometimes this happens. The fact that every node on the infilled portion is doubled should be an indication of something, I just don’t know what. To me, a non-technically minded artist with a history of not getting along with the digital world (seriously, technology just seems to have something against me. My wife works in IT, and whenever I have a technical problem and get her into my studio to help me out, things just seem to work for her and she doesn’t see my problem), it would appear that somewhere in the process of trying to combine or subtract shapes, one of the shapes is being duplicated resulting in an empty fill. No idea what to do about that. Toby

That wasn’t supposed to post like that. What I was trying to say is that after trying to add two shapes, based on some comments in that other thread, I started inspecting to see if I had any overlapping nodes. I found that every node on the infilled shaped was doubled now. I could select each node one by one and move it around and there was still the original node in its original place. After moving the duplicate node around, the space between them would fill the way it should be. I could go around one by one deleting the duplicate nodes, but that’s not efficient. I’m not sure if this is a bug or if I’m screwing something up. Sometimes the functions work, sometimes this happens. The fact that every node on the infilled portion is doubled should be an indication of something, I just don’t know what. Thanks, Toby.

Thanks. It appears very similar. Bugs Toby

So, my problem seems to be occurring during both adding and subtracting Boolean functions. I will attempt to explain. In one instance, I created a shape that overlapped another shape and attempted to combine them using “add” (I’ve tried this both with winding and unwinding checked). All of the nodes combine into a single layer, but only one of the shapes will fill in with color. Similarly, when trying to subtract a smaller shape from a larger shape using “subtract”, again trying with both winding and then unwinding checked, I’ve had all the nodes from both shapes still be present on one layer (so they successfully combined) but the smaller shape is the one filled in, rather than the larger (I’m trying to punch a hole in the larger shape). What am I doing wrong? Thank you, Toby

I’ve been using Affinity Designer on my iPad (I don’t have the desktop version) for several months now. Being able to create digital art from anywhere has been a real boon to my productivity (I’m a stay at home dad, so my studio time is always sporadic and interruptable). In general, I’m new to working in vectors, but I’m loving what I can do with AD. Like many, I’m used to using Photoshop on my desktop to create my digital art, and there are very few times I miss it when I’m working in AD. However, there are a few features I normally take advantage of that don’t seem to be present like mesh transformations and filters. I know Affinity Photo has those functions, so I bit the bullet and bought the app this morning. I was under the impression there is a quick way to swap between the two apps to take advantage of the different tools and functions, but I’m having trouble figuring it out. My searches haven’t turned up any answers (to be fair, though, I’m well-known in my household to be terrible at google searches. My wife works in IT, and whenever I need an answer she will find it within seconds whereas I’ll spend hours and still come up short. She has mystical technology powers...but I digress). I guess that’s a long winded way to ask: how (or can) do I swap a file between AD and AP to take advantage of the different capabilities? Thank you, Toby

Haven't tried to export again, yet, nor have I tried rebooting. I'll give that a shot. I was trying to export as a PSD. Toby

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the export process in AD. It seems powerful, but it's fairly different from what I'm used to. I think I'm following the correct steps, as I was successfully able to export my files to my Affinity folder on my iPad as well as to iCloud. However, when I do the same process and select a folder in Creative Cloud, it says that it exports...but the files don't show up in CC. I had no troubles IMPORTING my files from CC into AD. Not sure if it's a bug, my device, my connection, or me. Anyone else have an issue exporting to CC? Thanks Toby

So, I did come up with a solution, if anyone had a similar problem. I opened the layered file as it's own document, copied it, then returned to my artboard document and pasted it onto an artboard. I started having some glitchy, freezing issues, but I assume that's because I have a tendency to go crazy with layers and effects and file sizes. Not sure if there's an easier way to accomplish this, but this appears to work. Toby

Thanks! The file is a PSD I created in Photoshop. I’ve had no problem importing and opening layered PSDs that I’ve created in Photoshop as their own documents, but I haven’t been able to add them to an existing art board. Toby

Greetings, all. I'm loving Affinity Designer on my iPad. I don't have any experience with Illustrator, but have watched tutorials and thought about looking at it more seriously. Then AD came out and I pounced right away. I'm relatively new to working in vectors outside of some basic stuff with the pen tool in Photoshop, and the whole artboards thing is very new to me. SO! On to my actual question: is there a way to import a layered file into a pre-existing artboard? I have created an artboard to muck around with some business card ideas to promote myself as an artist. I can import an image just fine. Basically, I want to use the logo I created for my website for one side of the card, but I want to have access to the layers to move certain elements around or make adjustments for clarity as it is in a reduced size. I've already been able to download the layered file from the cloud and open it as it's own document in AD just fine. I'm just wondering if there's a means for me to add it in it's layered format onto my business card artboard. Thanks for any forthcoming enlightenment or revelations that what I'm trying to do can't be done! Toby