Help needed with crop to shape alternative

[smallp]

Hi there

I used Page Plus's "crop to shape" often - usually to create large letters or numbers, which I then outlined with black.

I've been playing with layers in Affinity Publisher, Designer and Photo this morning trying to find an easy way to do this. I can do the "crop to shape" part by using masks. But I am absolutely stuck when it comes to outlining the result.

This was so easy to do in Page Plus so I am getting really frustrated. I suspect I am being stupid but I would really appreciate it if someone could help me with this!

Thanks!

Lindsay

The images step_1 and step_2 are what I have done in AP.

Image step_3 was done in Page Plus and what I would like to do in AP.

 

[Move Along People]

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[GarryP]

Or, another way would be to give the text a Stroke width and colour.
You get the same result in this case but you can also use the Appearance Panel to add multiple outlines.

[Move Along People]

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[Alfred]

1 minute ago, haakoo said:

Yes this would be done in publisher as photo has no stroke

Affinity Photo doesn’t have a Stroke panel, but if you choose the Pen Tool you can add a stroke and vary its width.

[Move Along People]

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[Move Along People]

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[Alfred]

18 minutes ago, haakoo said:

This baffles me as why not?

At a guess, it’s regarded as being primarily a drawing function rather than an image editing one.

[GarryP]

Lindsay, I think it might be worth noting here that the Outline Effect and Stroke techniques mentioned above can look different.
The Outline Effect always puts the line around the outside of the object but the Stroke can go in different places depending on the Align setting.
My attached file and image show the different things that can achieved.
Note how Outline Effect and Outline Stroke are the same but both are different to the Inside Stroke and Centre Stroke.
What you want to achieve may tell you which technique to choose.

different-outlines.afdesign

[lacerto]

I think this Publisher document would give you pretty much the same as Affinity Page Plus. Just place your image on the page, then place artistic text and drag and drop in the Layers panel the image layer into the text layer. Finally give the text the desired outline width by using the Stroke panel. You can continue to "edit" the character so you can use any character here.

croptoshape.afpub

[smallp]

Thank you so much for your help, everyone. So much appreciated! 

(I feel just a little bit silly for not working that all out on my own)

Lindsay

[JimmyJack]

4 hours ago, haakoo said:

Yes this would be done in publisher as photo has no stroke unless one converts to curves

 

4 hours ago, Alfred said:

Affinity Photo doesn’t have a Stroke panel, but if you choose the Pen Tool you can add a stroke and vary its width.

But there is a stroke panel for text in Photo .
For text characters it's in the, wait for it........... Characters panel .
(yes it would be nice to have it in the context toolbar as usual, but I guess they were/are trying to save space? I would've picked something else to bury .... or push off the side ">>")

[Alfred]

25 minutes ago, JimmyJack said:

But there is a stroke panel for text in Photo .
For text characters it's in the, wait for it........... Characters panel .

What I meant (as I suspect you’ve guessed!) is that Affinity Photo doesn’t have a Studio panel for controlling stroke attributes.