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Building and filling free forms in Affinity Designer


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Hello, 

 

I'm pretty new to AD and to designing itself. These days I made my first experiences with the bezier curves. 

 

I wanted to create puzzle pieces. I created line by line with the pen tool. Then I combined them to a group and tried to fill the whole form. But it only fills each curve one by one. I tried several ways to combine them in another way to one form, worked with layers and tried several menu entries but nothing leads to my goal. I really miss a detailed manual. Is there a way to combine the curves or create a new form from that what can be filled in the way I like? 

 

Example

 

I have to create a few puzzle pieces, each different. Is there a simple way to copy the design - i.e. 3D effect, drop shadow and more - from one piece to another?

 

Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance. 

 

Kind regards, 

 

hp

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Hi hape13,

 

and welcome here …  :)

 

If you want to create your puzzle pieces using the Pen Tool, make sure you create a closed path. Then you can apply a fill or even use the created shape for layer clipping … as seen in my example (just a quick sketch). You can connect your curves to a closed path by using the method outlined here:

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/8425-how-to-make-2-different-paths-become-one-path/?p=34571

 

Furthermore, you can read about layer clipping and vector masking here:

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/4069-layer-clipping-vs-layer-masking/?p=16825

 

Last but not least, you can transfer the style of one vector element to another by copying the source element (Cmd+C), selecting the target element, and choosing Edit > Paste Style … (Shift+Cmd+C). Alternatively you can create an object style by right clicking on the source element and selecting Create Style from the context menu. Styles can be accessed from the style panel then.

 

Hope that helps a bit. Cheers, Alex  :)

post-1198-0-99866200-1436216818_thumb.png

Puzzle Piece.afdesign

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Hi Alex, 

 

If you want to create your puzzle pieces using the Pen Tool, make sure you create a closed path. Then you can apply a fill or even use the created shape for layer clipping … as seen in my example (just a quick sketch). You can connect your curves to a closed path by using the method outlined here:

 

thanks a lot for your kind reply and your welcome.  :)

 

I feared that it must  be a closed path. But: since I spent  a lot of time for a bunch of pieces by drawing line by line: There is no way to close a path after drawing a few lines or a command to build a closed path? So - if I would like to have my (48) pieces filled - I have to draw them as closed paths again?  :( If so, that would be a feature request from my sight. I think it is pretty much easier to draw lines one by one than drawing a whole form and tweaking it to the final shape. 

 

Thanks again, 

 

hp

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Yes, there is a command … but I am not sure, if it will give you always the desired results. To join two curves (or paths), use the Node Tool. Simply Shift + Click to select the paths you want to join, and hit the Join Curves button on the context tool bar. But as far as I can see, this command will join the paths always at the points which are nearest to each other, so this may sometimes lead to undesired results …  :unsure:

 

And nonetheless you will have to close the entire shape …

Join_Curves.mov

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You’re welcome, hp …  :)

 

Here’s another idea. Perhaps you should start with a mesh-like structure (to introduce some of these typical irregularities to be found in puzzle pieces) and apply the technique outlined in post #5. Please have a look at the video below. I am well aware that this method does not always result in beautiful curves, but you might give it a try … sorry for showing all the repetitive tasks in the video. (And perhaps some of the triangles should be flipped …) 

 

Cheers, Alex  :)

Puzzle_B.mov

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You’re welcome, hp …  :)

 

Here’s another idea. Perhaps you should start with a mesh-like structure (to introduce some of these typical irregularities to be found in puzzle pieces) and apply the technique outlined in post #5. Please have a look at the video below. I am well aware that this method does not always result in beautiful curves, but you might give it a try … sorry for showing all the repetitive tasks in the video.

 

Cheers, Alex  :)

 

Thanks again, Alex. Very good ideas. My problem was that I began the wrong way by mistake and spent lots of time painting single curves to match an existing pattern. This was also a good way practicing with bezier curves. So I don't wanted to start from zero.  ;) In this case your idea joining curves was my best choice and helped really a lot.

 

Here is a small preview, just for demo purposes. 

 

Next time I'll start with pretty much better knowledge. Thanks for your time and the videos. 

 

Have a nice evening, 

 

best ...

 

hp

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Hi Alex, 

 

today I tried to fill a few of my puzzle pieces with a pattern/image like your example shown in your thumbnail (flowers). 

 

 

Furthermore, you can read about layer clipping and vector masking here:

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/4069-layer-clipping-vs-layer-masking/?p=16825

 

Last but not least, you can transfer the style of one vector element to another by copying the source element (Cmd+C), selecting the target element, and choosing Edit > Paste Style … (Shift+Cmd+C). Alternatively you can create an object style by right clicking on the source element and selecting Create Style from the context menu. Styles can be accessed from the style panel then.

 

 

I tried several ways, like placing an image, boolean operations and creating styles. I didn't find a way to create a style using an image or a group of filled curves from which I created the picture. 

 

http://hape13.de/Files/Pics/Snagit/2015-07-08_11-20-56.png

 

Thanks for your help, 

 

kind regards 

 

hp

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Hi hp,

 

I would either create a vector mask or use the layer clipping method outlined in post #2 to fill your shape with the image. Then select the item and apply an effect. Now right click on the item and choose Create style from the context menu. Now you can fill another puzzle piece and apply your style. Please have a look at my video … it shows the vector mask method (different from my example document above) … but it should be pretty self-explaining …  :)

 

Cheers, Alex

 

P.S. Sorry for the edit of my post … wanted to make things a little clearer … feel free to ask if you experience further problems …

Style.mov

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Hi Alex, 

 

Hi hp,

 

I would either create a vector mask or use the layer clipping method outlined in post #2 to fill your shape with the image. Then select the item and apply an effect. Now right click on the item and choose Create style from the context menu. Now you can fill another puzzle piece and apply your style. Please have a look at my video … it shows the vector mask method (different from my example document above) … but it should be pretty self-explaining …  :)

 

Cheers, Alex

 

P.S. Sorry for the edit of my post … wanted to make things a little clearer … feel free to ask if you experience further problems …

 

this is really amazing. I didn't think about the layer clipping possibilities. It's so easy and looks great. 

 

So thanks again for your kind and really quick answer and help. 

 

All the best, 

 

hp

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