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I was trying to subtract two shapes from another and it gives an unexpected behaviour. Even if I this was a user error (which I don't think it is) this result does not match the expectation. So I'd consider this either a bug in code or in UX. This is with latest version from the MAS on 10.14.6

When I grab these individual fill pieces to merge them together with the boolean operation "Add", it turns them into an outline - . Most of the time this works just fine, but why in some cases might this result occur? thanks!

Hello everyone! (I am new here, so pardon me if I posted my issue in the wrong category.) I've been playing around with Affinity Designer on and off for the past year and a half. I really want to fully transition to Designer (coming from Illustrator), but I keep bumping into the same little annoying issues that would make my workflow painfully slow. One issue in particular has to do with the Boolean operations. I've seen this question raised a few times on the forum before, but no solution so far. Will there ever be? The problem It appears that the Boolean Divide action doesn't work well with shapes that have one or more overlapping edges. The result is a big mess. You either get the compound shape partially divided or not at all. Then you would also get those pesky thin "hair" lines coming out parts of the resulted group. Artifacts... artifacts everywhere! Anyone can replicate this issue in a matter of seconds with basic shapes. Create a square and a circle of the same size. Apply different fills. Align them to the center of the spread and make sure that the square is behind the circle in order to see the individual pieces better. Divide both shapes using the Boolean actions panel. Normally you should have the four corners of the square that are seen outside the circle cut into separate pieces. The result would be 5 shapes in total (including the ellipse in the center). However, Affinity Designer has something else in mind (see images below). I have given up hope that they will fix this bug. Therefore, can anyone suggest an alternative work-around method for this issue instead? Thanks in advance!

I'm just getting started with Designer and am excited about its potential. Excellent work by the Affinity team! I create logos and lettering primarily, and with my method of building shapes with the pen tool, I intersect my line segments in order to be able to edit anchor points and handles of one segment without altering the adjacent segment (see attachment). With Illustrator's Unite function in the Pathfinder palette, I am able to divide a single shape where the paths intersect and delete the unwanted areas outside my desired final shape, while the unwanted overlaps inside the shape are automatically removed by the same function. I've tried a workaround in Designer by placing another small shape inside my desired shape, which is then absorbed completely by the 'Add' operation, but the intersections of my original shape are unaffected. I'm sure this sounds confusing, but I'm not sure how to explain it in a better way. Hopefully the attachments will make it easier to follow. The attachments are from Illustrator's workspace to explain the desired functionality. Is there another way I can do this with Designer? Thanks, Jeff

I am trying to use the boolean tool but the operation leaves a thin unwanted line, kindly help.

Suggestions moved here It's a little much to split into different items and I also need my time to do my job, so I write them in one post. The list is definitely not all, but a lot of other things I posted on the forums already. It would be great if somebody would pick them up and fix em! Guess I'm hoping for a miracle. PROBLEMS IN SVG EXPORTS Bug: Fillcolor doesn't get exported to svg when opacity is set to 0: When an object has opacity set to 0 the svg exporter doesn't export the fill color, but fill: none. That's wrong. We didn't want to clear the fill, we set the opacity to 0. But we still need to be able to readout the fill-color by Javascript, as meant by the designer. Issue: GUI doesn't give any indication of values with decimals. That's especially a problem when using values like 0.0001. The editor just shows 0% and that's not right, it's above 0% This is not only misleading and giving the wrong information in the GUI (causing mistakes and confusion), everytime we need to check if a value is really 0% we have to click it and enter the value again, because there is no way to view the REAL value in the software, not even on a tooltip or something. We need to be able to enter values with decimals, because of another bug in Designer where the fillcolor doesn't get exported to svg when the opacity is set to 0%, so we have to fill in strange values here like 0.0001% just to have the fillcolor exported. Bug: Don't know when or why, but sometimes the transformpanel of a group is disabled. Bug: When exporting closed objects like a circle or a rectangle to svg the element got stroke-properties that are only relevant for rendering when a path is open Obviously a stroke-linejoin doesn't make any sense on a circle or a rectangle (and other svg shapes which are always closed). This is causing too much data in the output file, making the file loading longer in browsers which is important to us!! We do everything to keep our files as small as possible, and use software like svgo to compress svg, but these kind of things are impossible to filter out with tools like svgo. Bug: After rasterizing an image layer suddenly Affinity adds a clip-path to the svg-export which is completely unncecary, changes hyrarchie, makes the file overly complex and large and matters for performance When placing a raster image inside an Affinity file and don't rasterize the image layer, so export the image-layer as is, Affinity exports the image to svg using the <use> element with <defs> which is great and works as expected. But when we first rasterize the image-layer into being a pixel-layer, suddenly Affinity creates a completely different output structure in the svg file. Now, for no reason, Affinity adds a clip-path to the image which doesn't do anything, because it's set to the bounds of the image, so is completely useless and we don't want that clip-path. It makes the export file a mess, it influences performance, filesize, hierarchy and structure of the export causing all kind of problems and confusion when using the svg export programatically by Javascript and css. Which is totally unnececary; it should have the exact same export as when not rasterizing the layer. EXPORT PERSONA Bug: The 'Continues' watcher in the export persona (which is a great feature btw) doesn't refresh the files when the name of a layer is changed.Changing the name of a layer causes a new ID in the svg output, therefore it should update the outputfiles (at least when using files like svg), because when using the svg files together with Javascript and css those ID-values are needed and needs to be up to date. Now we have to manually save all svg's after changing a layer name. Bug: Sometimes the 'Continues' watchter of the export persona goes crazy and suddenly triggers tens to hundreds of updates directly after each other, eventhough there's no need to. Everytime this happens a webpack workflow here, with watchers watching if svgs are changed to compress them and copy them to a working folder are being triggerd tens to hundreds of times in a second too, which is obviously not what we want, 'cause it slows everything down and refreshes way to much so everytime this happens we have to wait for all those redundant refreshes to finish. It's almost like Affinity collected a bunch of changes and goes through them one by one in delay or something. Bug: Don't know why or when, but the 'Continues' watcher in the export persona sometimes goes out of sync. So it doesn't update the outputs anymore. But maybe this is the same bug as it not refreshing when a layername changes? Bug(?): When moving an artboard whith a slice connected to it, I would expect the slice to move with the artboard, but it's not Bug: A lot of times it's impossible to fit a slice to an artboard. Even if the artboard got integer values for width and height. BOOLEAN OPERATORS Bugs: Sometimes boolean operations don't work anymore since the last update (1.6.123) I don't know why and when this exactly happens, but before this update there weren't this much problems with the boolean tools. Since this update I already had a lot of times where the boolean operators just didn't work how they are supposed to. Things like not wrong results when merging paths, like suddenly paths aren't really merged, but contains holes like as if it's suddenly became a compound path, which doesn't make sense and worked before.

Hey! I just switched to AD from Inkscape and I'm having a pretty good time so far. I'm having some trouble with merging though. As you can see in the video the nodes themselves aren't merging whenever I use the add boolean operation. Any help would be great. 2018-11-24 20-27-23.mp4

Hi, When you join two shapes that are the result of the division of two curved overlapping shapes, a lot of nodes are left behind. You can reproduce this issue by following these steps: 1. Create two shapes and make them overlap. Select both and choose the Divide boolean operation. 2. Select one of the shapes together with the overlapping shape that resulted from the division and apply the boolean Add operation. 3. This results in a lot of extra nodes that shouldn't be there. This happens with any curved shape, not with straight lines. You can work around this issue by copying one of the shapes and subtracting it from the other shape, but a fix would be nice :) Kind regards, Karel

I miss this Illustrator-function. Input: Overlapping shapes with different colors and blend modes. Output: Cut out shapes for each intersected part affected by colors below, color equivalent in normal blend mode. (No rasterizing, no pixels.)

Hi on the desktop version you have the option of non destructive boolean. great. now, please make it on the ipad too. if i open a document that is done on the desktop in my ipad the option is gone. thanks

I am testing the possibility to do comic book lettering in Publisher Beta. There is couple of methods how to create balloons and one of them is to combine 2 shapes (ellipse and tail) into 1 shape or rather create the non-destructive compound shape for future modifications. It works perfectly in Designer but I cannot find how to combine shapes (destructively or non-destructively) in Publisher. Are those functionalities dedicated to Designer only? I assume when the commercial version of Publisher is out and all three apps in suite are communicating it won't be a problem.

As it seems at this point there is no geometry tools (boolean) in publisher. Is this a possibility in future versions? I find it very useful for modeling image containers, shapes , etc… and is a tool I use a lot on InDesign. I hope this could be easy to implement, as the tool already exist on Designer and shouldn't be very different on Publisher (happy hope)

Installed AD week ago, everything worked as a charm until today. Started crashing when trying to combine several simple shapes with boolean tools. Reinstalled. Reset settings. Cleared default. Nothing worked. Starting to feel a dissapointment and regret... AD is latest possible version - 1.6.5.123. Not tryout but bought.

I'm not sure if this subject has been addressed before or not but I did a quick search and didn't find anything. is there a way for me to separate the boolean operations and the arrange tools from the toolbar and combine them into a floating window along with the transform window? it's just part of the workflow that that I'm used to using from AI.

While editing an old eps file I had imported into Affinity Designer, I tried to use a Boolean Subtract to convert 3 curve layers to a single Curves layer with 2 transparent holes in it. I have done this a zillion times without problems but for these 3 curves what I got instead was no transparency, something like this: It took me much too long to figure out why, but the reason is simple: by default, shapes are assigned the Alternate (Even-Odd) fill mode. For whatever reason, the shapes in the old eps file all used the Winding (Non-Zero) fill mode, which for subtractions like this one fill everything.

Drawing something by rotating is OK as long as nothing is overlapping. I tried a daisy (Daisy.afdesign) and cannot manage that the last leave at 5 o’clock comes on top of the start-leave = 6 o’clock AND remain below the leave at 4 o’clock. It should work using boolean function but what ever I’ve tried … only the wrong portions got cut off. Is there a way to have TWO boolean relations do the trick? The other optien I could only think of would be to apply boolean (DaisyBoolean.afdesign) and cover the not wanted green line at 5:30 via a hand-drawn orange layer. DaisyBoolean.afdesign Daisy.afdesign

A chamfer-like tool for live booleans / compound shapes would be awesome. It means I could have my shapes stay live longer before having to bake them down. Right now you have the Corner Tool to define corners. Obviously that's moot when you have compounds as there are no nodes at the intersections. A per-shape setting (or group of shapes selected and their interaction defined) could allow for "soft" compound shapes that get a flowing transition where they intersect. A bit like meta blobs, just with the options of the Corner Tool, to be consistent.

I've created a vector mask, for a vector, to make the image look degraded. How do I then combine this mask/aged look effect, so I get one complete vector layer, so I can scale and resize with no loss? Am I missing something obvious? Edit: 'Distressed Look' Chapter in Affinity Workbook p.324 should help. Any more pointers though, do let me know.

The boolean result doesn't match the elements used in the operation. Engine: Metal OS: High Sierra 10.13.2 Zoom level: 82532.6% Colour Depth: 8-Bit

I try to make my shapes clean. But get in to the trouble, it creates a small seams with visible background in pixel view. Is it possible to get rid of this seam (white border between shapes) when 2 shapes are connected to each other? Thank you.

Hello Affinity team! I've had some problems with merging curves layers and in the result I asked this wonderful community for help. At first I thought I must be missing some tools and someone here will guide me to the light, but seems like it's the software that misses pretty important tool. Please, get familiar with the thread I started: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/46069-designer-simplifying-closing-single-curve/& Issues: - dividing curves when hitting "Add" - no easy solution to merging curve that overlaps itself 2 ideas emerged: - breaking curves in innocuous places and then hitting add, - creating rectangles in divided areas and then removing some of the nodes. It's something and working for now, but it's pretty time consuming, and for someone facing deadlines on the daily basis can be a deal breaker. Suggestion: - getting "Add" tool to merge singe curve that overlaps itself, - or creating another tool that will do so.

I create and use SVG icon systems (with the <use /> method) a lot on the web, which means I often only 1 want completely combined path that includes having "holes punched out of it". But, unless I'm missing something stupidly obvious, I don't appear to be able to do that in Affinity Designer. If I draw a rectangle and then Subtract a circle out of it, the hole gets punched visually, and it renders fine if opened as a normal SVG, but, if I were to use it in an SVG icon system (or open it in Illustrator), the whole is not actually punched out of it, resulting in a solid image. I only started using Affinity as Fireworks for some reason stopped being able to open SVGs, but it looks like I can't really use Affinity to do one of the primary things I need it for. If I export the Affinity file as an EPS, open that in Fireworks, punch the shape and export from there it works, but that's quite a long and clunky workaround, when I would prefer just to be using Affinity now as it has a lot of other nice features - and isn't badly broken on Mac, like Fireworks. So what am I missing? I've attached an example Affinity file for demo purposes, and I've created a demo on CodePen showing the difference between Subtracting/Punching in Designer and Fireworks, which you can see here http://codepen.io/stowball/pen/VmqvpP and in the attached screenshot. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks affinity-punch-test.afdesign

Really Awful crash while using Booleans. Is this a known issue ?

Hi, I'm facing a quite strange behaviour. I've recorded a short screencast showing it: the forum doesn't allow me to attach a mp4 file, so please see it here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23243188/Affinity.mp4 in words, it goes as follows: I've created a live (non-destructive) boolean, subtracting two rounded corner rectangles. In the video, the "Highlight" Compound Group: it has a lighter gray fill, and it's a part of a slightly more complex group with constraints – a button for an interface I'm building. As soon as I duplicate the button group, the boolean is not visible anymore. It's there, in the layers palette, but it is impossible to successfully apply a fill – it has no effect whatsoever. I've several different groups with subtract non-destructive booleans, and they all behave the same. Please note that storing the group in the Assets palette and then dragging it back on the canvas has the same effect (boolean becomes transparent). Thank you, Davide Barranca

Hi gang, I'm running into something that was confusing at first, and now--an hour later--is frustrating. I'd like to draw an outline around an object in a picture so I can remove it from the image. The object is squarish, so I made a rectangle around it, used the nodes to adjust it just right, and finished "outlining" the thing. I tried subtracting the outline from the image, and the image from the outline, and sliding the layers of each onto each other in the layers panel. They seem to disappear, which I've seen that others have noticed, too. I've made the outline shape empty (uncolored), and then colored it white (like all the demos show), but no luck. I can accomplish the same thing with the other shapes (ellipse, heart, etc.) but not my custom one. What am I doing wrong? -R