TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) New to Affinity, so sorry if this is a dumb question. I want my lines to be smooth, but I keep ending up with horribly choppy lines. My canvas is 1920x1080p 300 dpi. I'm using the paint tool, and using shift to create straight, diagonal lines. I keep getting really jagged lines that look terrible. And then, when I try to use the paint bucket tool, it doesn't just fill in the desired space because it sees all the empty spaces in the lines caused by the jagged-ness. Is there a setting or something I should be changing? Edited February 1, 2021 by TheOtherNiki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Hi and welcome to the forums @TheOtherNiki, You are seeing the result of the Pixel grid. I would use the pen tool to draw the lines, they will be vectors then. However if you are exporting to a pixel format (JPEG PNG TIFF) you will still see the 'choppy lines' because it is due to the strict horizontal/vertical grid of pixels. Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 How do I get smooth diagonal lines though? I haven't exported yet. These are screen captures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 1 minute ago, TheOtherNiki said: How do I get smooth diagonal lines though? I haven't exported yet. These are screen captures. Use the Pen tool not the Paint tool. It looks like the nib of a fountain pen. (yes I am old enough to remember those. In Photo In Designer Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) I have no idea how to even begin using the pen tool. I created a bunch of lines, but then they disappear. Is there not an easier way to just draw lines? I'm trying to create an animation, and the pen tool is just WAY too complicated. I want to be able to just draw my characters and backgrounds. Edited February 1, 2021 by TheOtherNiki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, TheOtherNiki said: I created a bunch of lines, but then they disappear. They have no stroke applied. here are some videos https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/tutorials/designer/desktop/video/301802454/ https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/tutorials/designer/desktop/video/301804112/ An over view of the Node tool for Designer (applicable to Photo as well) https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/tutorials/designer/desktop/category/vector-tools/ TheOtherNiki 1 Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 It would appear the pencil tool is more of what I'm looking for if I actually want to draw (found it in that last link you posted). Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 You are welcome, good to hear that something I suggested worked for you. [smiley face emoticon] Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 While I have you. Can you also tell me why when I import an image and try to, say, cut out a piece of it, I can't seem to manipulate any part of the image? I usually right click and rasterize it in order to be able to do anything with it, but I'm guessing that's probably not the right approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Just now, TheOtherNiki said: While I have you. Can you also tell me why when I import an image and try to, say, cut out a piece of it, I can't seem to manipulate any part of the image? I usually right click and rasterize it in order to be able to do anything with it, but I'm guessing that's probably not the right approach. When you import an an image it is put into the Affinity Document as an Image (layer), What I do is duplicate that and then Rasterize the layer so it is a Pixel Layer then I hide (uncheck the box in the layers panel). I am using Designer here but the same is for Photo (Which application are you using?) Screen Recording 2021-02-01 at 8.18.36 AM.mov TheOtherNiki 1 Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 Ok, so I do need to rasterize images in order to edit them. I'm using Photo. Sorry, I'm coming over from Photoshop and things are so different. Even just picking colours with an eyedropper is confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Just now, TheOtherNiki said: Ok, so I do need to rasterize images in order to edit them. I'm using Photo. Sorry, I'm coming over from Photoshop and things are so different. Even just picking colours with an eyedropper is confusing. You only need to rasterize Image Layers which are made by Placing a file, if you want to you can Open any pixel based image (TIFF PNG JPEG) and just start editing it. Picking colours can be done when using a brush tool by holding down the Option key and dragging (I am on a Mac so Option = Alt on Windows). Confusing for sure, but as my sister and I like to say "Endeavour to persevere" (quote from Chief Dan George's character in The Outlaw Josey Wales) TheOtherNiki 1 Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 Thanks. That's really helpful. I've been using the eye dropper, then double clicking on the selected colour to get it to recognize that that's the colour I want to use. It was a bit tedious. I've got a lot to learn. Haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 Ugh, apparently pencil is in Designer. It's exactly what I need, but I've already paid for Photo. Is there something else that's like pencil? I read pixel was the same, but just tried it and I'm still getting those choppy, ugly lines. 😓 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 17 minutes ago, TheOtherNiki said: Ugh, apparently pencil is in Designer. It's exactly what I need, but I've already paid for Photo. If you purchased from the Affinity Store within the past 14 days you’re covered by a ‘no quibble’ money-back guarantee: https://store.serif.com/help/#returns Apple and Microsoft returns policies may not be so generous. Quote Alfred Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.5.1 (iPad 7th gen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Alfred said: If you purchased from the Affinity Store within the past 14 days you’re covered by a ‘no quibble’ money-back guarantee. I've had it for a while, but have only used it for photo manipulations up to this point, so it was fine for that. Super disappointed I can't actually draw with it though and wish I would have known that ahead of time. 😓 Edited February 1, 2021 by TheOtherNiki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 3 hours ago, TheOtherNiki said: My canvas is 1920x1080p 300 dpi. That is a rather small size, if you want finer lines try using a canvas size 3 or four times larger. Also get used to viewing at 100% to judge how sharp things are. I would suggest trying the Pen tool if you are wanting clean crisp lines with fills right to the edge and not having it spill out if the shape isn't closed. You can even use the remade shapes and convert them to curves and manipulate the shape of the the shape. Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NilsFinken Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 And all Affinity apps are 50% off just now... 😉 Quote Lenovo laptop with Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, Windows 10 Home. Former user of most Serif software from PagePlus 3.0 through PagePlus X9, now enjoying Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telemax Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 21 hours ago, TheOtherNiki said: I want my lines to be smooth, but I keep ending up with horribly choppy lines. Perhaps this is due to the Brush Spacing, which by default is 25%. Set it to 1% Quote Non-destructive Mask https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/150439-non-destructive-mask/Image layer & Pixel layer https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/146720-image-layer-and-pixel-layer/Brushes | Stars https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/135202-brushes-stars/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherNiki Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 On 2/2/2021 at 7:18 AM, telemax said: Perhaps this is due to the Brush Spacing, which by default is 25%. Set it to 1% Darn, I really wanted this to be an easy fix. My brush spacing was already at 4%. No difference with 1%. Still creating really choppy looking lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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