affinity designer Braun Nizo 136XL Super 8 Camera (AD)

[NoLongerHere]

This is the last drawing I’m going to do in AD, mainly as I’m so fed up of the layers panel, I’ve just had enough of it. Perhaps it’s only me but I must waste so many hours during a project because of it. I’ve a few in progress which I may possibly finish off sometime but will probably just start them again in something else. I’ll do some more styles and start on some brushes instead. Anyway…

This was a sort of a quickie. I was really more interested in drawing the Ektachrome box but really had to do the camera too, well sort of. I couldn’t find any decent quality references so normally would have given it a miss but decided to try anyway even though it was taken with Mr.blurry cam and only about 2k square. Of course I couldn’t find the fonts for the box so used the closest and edited them. The markings on the camera body are the regular Braun font, Akzidenz Grotesk. The digits and text around the lens are hand drawn guesses as it was just too blurry and so are fairly dreadful if you zoom in, so don’t!

 

[MattP]

That's awesome! But... tell me more about the layers panel.... (contacting you via direct message so we can chat...)

[NoLongerHere]

There are a couple of things but the one that drives me mad and wastes so much time is if, for example, you click on the background or delete on object it doesn't remember where you were so the new object gets put right at the top or sometimes at the bottom. If you are doing a simple drawing then I imagine it's just mildly annoying but when you have tons of them it's a pain putting them back in the right place. Sometimes it feels like I am doing that for each new object. Locking a layer that doesn't actually lock it is the other, to me you shouldn't be able to do anything to it so you can't accidentally mess it up, but that's no where near as bad. Like I said perhaps it's just me who doesn't get on with it but I never have.

[MattP]

Sounds very easy to fix - I'll take a look...  

[NoLongerHere]

 you are so good.

[MikeW]

Beautiful work.

[NoLongerHere]

Thank you. The camera isn't really that good (at all) but the overall look isn't too dreadful.

[Jowday]

54 minutes ago, VectorVonDoom said:

There are a couple of things but the one that drives me mad and wastes so much time is if, for example, you click on the background or delete on object it doesn't remember where you were so the new object gets put right at the top or sometimes at the bottom. If you are doing a simple drawing then I imagine it's just mildly annoying but when you have tons of them it's a pain putting them back in the right place. Sometimes it feels like I am doing that for each new object.

I forgot (because of current events) to make an improvement request to fix exactly that.

Drives me insane too.

UX!

[MikeW]

2 minutes ago, VectorVonDoom said:

Thank you. The camera isn't really that good (at all) but the overall look isn't too dreadful.

The box did it for me, but the camera is great, too. I can just about feel the texture on the grip and the cutout for minutes is superb--looks real.

[NoLongerHere]

Jowday I'm glad it's not just me, the way I do things.

[NoLongerHere]

Yeah the box was the real work, the more basic it is the more effort you have to put in as anything wrong is obvious. The grip was really simple, just a repeat and then a screen layer or 2 over it for some variation.

[Jowday]

30 minutes ago, VectorVonDoom said:

Jowday I'm glad it's not just me, the way I do things.

Besides that do you also miss other types of noise than the current single one? Like film grain in DxO Filmpack? More organic grain.

Especially like Ilford Pan 400 or Ilford Delta 400 film noise. Discrete levels of organic noise as textures works like a charm and makes surfaces very realistic. Especially if you could choose from a gallery of types and add variation to surfaces.

[NoLongerHere]

I always put the export through ColorEfex for film grain although you don't get to choose film type but it's fine for what I need. It can make a big difference, blending things together. Unsurprisingly I want it everywhere so don't miss it within the app and doubt I would use it if it were as you'd have to do that to pretty much everything which means more work rather than process the output in one step. I don't usually use noise at all in the actual drawing but did for the some of the body and background in this one. The only thing is even at max there isn't much of it, it looks like a lot on screen but not so much in the export.

[Jowday]

I use noise on certain surfaces - not much in total.

Yes. I made some prints - I almost couldn't see the noise. That is why I would like other types - more visible, more organic. 

[GarryP]

Amazing work.
The camera is great, but the box is incredible.
If I hadn’t seen your other work I would have guessed that it was a photo.
Some kind of time-lapse video showing the layers of this image coming together – or being made visible one-by-one – would make another great demonstration of the power of the Affinity software in the right hands.
Such a pity that it might be the last one we see from you.
If the developers can change things to help you then we may all benefit from those changes.

[NoLongerHere]

I was happy with the box, like a little kid at Christmas, liked that more than the main thing.

I might be in the minority but I generally give the time-lapse/speed drawing vids a miss,. Sort of interesting I guess if you are bored but you rarely learn anything from them. So for me the finished and, in the case of vector, the wireframe is enough. The interactive slider between wireframe and render (well it's between any 2 pics)  is a nice way of presenting that, I'm not sure if that's something that could be added to the forum sometime. I don't know if you can export the wireframe so the resolutions and probably sizes would be different which might be a problem.

We'll see what magic Matt comes up with, if my main annoyance goes I'll be fine.

[GarryP]

All I meant with the video was something like:
* turn the effects of each layer off;
* make all the adjustments invisible;
* make all the layers invisible;
* start recording;
* start turning layers/adjustments/effects back on one-by-one.
…so the image appears over time.

I don’t usually watch speed-work videos myself either. Watching someone draw hundreds of similar things, even speeded up, isn’t my cup of tea but it might be nice to see the illustration ‘come to life’. (I have no idea how many layers etc. you have so this might be a major chore in itself.)
I just thought it might be nice for people to see how illustrations like this can be built up from nothing.

Anyway, I hope the devs come up with something that makes things easier for us all.

[NoLongerHere]

Ah OK. It would be like watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy except everyone would doze off 😂 

[MikeW]

56 minutes ago, VectorVonDoom said:

Ah OK. It would be like watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy except everyone would doze off 😂 

I don't want to suggest needless work, but after reading your post, it makes me wonder whether you could open your AD file in APhoto and record a macro to step through turning layers on while recording your screen. 

[NoLongerHere]

I don't really use AP so I don't know what the macros are capable of. But if you can then yes that be easier and less boring than sitting there clicking forever. I might have a read later.  Thanks.

Edit: Macros seem to be the same as Adobe actions not scripting so not sure if it's possible with those.

[MattP]

@VectorVonDoom - I'm building a new 1.8.3 Beta at the moment - let me know if fixes your issues when I release it! (I'm assuming it'll be ready tomorrow)

Interestingly, the iPad version has always worked in the way you're describing, so hopefully adding this to the desktop product shouldn't produce any unexpected hiccups (hopefully!)

[NoLongerHere]

Thanks Matt. That's something to look forward to, I'll be having a play. I had stayed on 1.7 for now but installed the latest Mojave update this evening and it doesn't open (a certificate exception) so will move on to 1.8 especially with that change.

[Jowday]

On 3/20/2020 at 2:24 AM, Jowday said:

Yes. I made some prints - I almost couldn't see the noise. That is why I would like other types - more visible, more organic. 

Perhaps this is interesting:

http://libnoise.sourceforge.net/index.html

 

[Frozen Death Knight]

On 3/19/2020 at 10:37 PM, VectorVonDoom said:

There are a couple of things but the one that drives me mad and wastes so much time is if, for example, you click on the background or delete on object it doesn't remember where you were so the new object gets put right at the top or sometimes at the bottom. If you are doing a simple drawing then I imagine it's just mildly annoying but when you have tons of them it's a pain putting them back in the right place. Sometimes it feels like I am doing that for each new object. Locking a layer that doesn't actually lock it is the other, to me you shouldn't be able to do anything to it so you can't accidentally mess it up, but that's no where near as bad. Like I said perhaps it's just me who doesn't get on with it but I never have.

First off, really nice image!

Second, I fully agree on that part about locking layers. I have the exact same problem in Photo when I paint. The Lock Layer function doesn't actually lock your layer, just the transformation tools which isn't good enough. You can still paint on a locked layer by accident which is not what I would expect out of such a feature.

[NoLongerHere]

Thank you. I'm not sure about AP but AD has the "edit all layers" toggle at the bottom of the layers palette which helps in some respects but not all.