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Vectors with gradient fills in complex shape


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I was talking to some artists about our logo at a recent meetup and commented that I really want to animate it but the vector is a complex combination of vector shapes and a gradient mask over the top. A big part of the problem is that the different arcs of the logo intersect the gradient at different points. It was designed by a print designer initially in AI. I use Affinity Designer of course and have edited his original to clean it up after bringing it into AD.

The masking white envelope is yet another overlay on top. I edited the curves so they are all connected when they appear continuous. The original was a close copy of the Apple TouchID logo where the designer added bits to join curves visually and distorted them a bit (I was slightly horrified when I started editing it).

Is there any way to convert this so it doesn't rely on the gradient being a masked square but is a fill for each curve?

I suspect I can use fill gradients but would have to specify one very carefully with different start and end colors for each arc.

For animation purposes I can live without the overlaid envelope being implied by the white lines but I would prefer to have the gradient-filled fingerprint.

My fallback is to have several different animated creatures jump out as different mono shades, Or, try a pixel animation tool taking a render like the one below and just distorting.

thanks

Andy

touchgramLogo720_palettised.png

touchgram logo unframed joined.afdesign

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It's a fun challenge - every so often I dust it off and when I meet new art/graphics people ask them. The gradient running linearly and independent of the curve shapes and direction is the thing that stumps me.

I'm primarily a developer but have done some projects through the years where I've worked alongside real artists. I know my limitations but also have a sense sometimes I need to stop being precious about keeping things as vectors and just live with going into pixel land.

thanks for your interest

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What are your idea's for animation, how do you envision it moving?

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
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Instead of a Layer Effect use an object with a gradient for a fill and spin or move that.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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As always you give me ideas Garry. What about making the gradient a symbol so that it can be changed en masse and make the symbol a child of each fingerprint curve.

yI1XlO.gif

16 hours ago, AndyDent said:

Is there any way to convert this so it doesn't rely on the gradient being a masked square but is a fill for each curve?

The nature of a gradient is to be a mass of variable colour, all a rectangle or any shape does is contain it much like these curves all they do is mask the gradient to the fill area., You could just use the fill tool to fill each fingerprint curve with a gradient but it's no different to having a gradient in a rectangle, in fact a rectangle will make it easier to position a gradient in sync with every other gradient fill.

If you want to just fill each curve with this gradient and do away with the rectangles containing the gradient, first select the rectangle and go to the Styles panel and make a style from it by clicking on the burger bar menu icon and clicking on Style from selection, now you can delete the rectangle, now select all of the fingerprint curves and apply that style.

813558356_ScreenShot2020-02-02at21_49_09.png.fa3781c73a2d0ad81ada64faef2e59fd.png

It might be an idea to find a good animation app and export a bare bones SVG and add whatever colour scheme you want in the animation app.

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
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4 hours ago, firstdefence said:

What are your idea's for animation, how do you envision it moving?

multiple themes, starting with just cute little blinking eyes opening

- turn into a jellyfish and undulate away, bobbing slightly as if floating

unfold wings making it clear that some of the arcs are on wings, and fly off.

- dance off with plinking music, like a cute centipede, with all the bottoms of arcs working as legs

I loved the recurring story arc in the old BC comic Clams got legs and it's at the back of my mind constantly as I think of these animations.

 

BC-02-15-67_ClamsGotLegs_1024x1024.jpg

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On 2/3/2020 at 5:42 AM, firstdefence said:

It might be an idea to find a good animation app and export a bare bones SVG and add whatever colour scheme you want in the animation app.

Yeah. I suspect adding a continuous texture as shown here may be beyond them but that's kind of where I ended up. As I'm a solo founder,  a bit overwhelmed also doing 

  • app UI redesign/extension
  • coding the whole thing
  • marketing it, including writing articles
  • ramp-up connections for attending Social Media Marketing World in San Diego on the 1st Mar.

But, this really niggles at me so I want to have a go.

I'll keep updating this thread if I make any progress.

Looking at Lottie animation, it seems from this forum post that it may not be possible.

The most hopeful is the 2D engine in Rive, formerly Flare from 2Dimensions, as seen in this article.

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Liking the look of Rive, I exported an SVG for web and it imports like this including a gradient fill.
Screen-Shot-2020-02-04-at-13-04-21.png

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
B| (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum)

Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions

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