Where can I find the stroke tool in Affinity Photo?

[Mehal]

I am a newbie to Affinity Photo and am struggling to find some of the tools that I used in PS. For an example, when I am creating a photograph within a white bordered frame I like to add a 1 pixel width black stroke around my image, I get as far as hitting Control "A" to put a selection around the image, but the stroke tool that was found under the PS EDIT menu does not exist in Affinity Photo, so I guess it must either be in another as yet undiscovered location or does not exist as such, I would very much welcome any pointers as to where I can find this tool, look forward to your replies.

[firstdefence]

A simpler method would be to pull out a rectangle and use no fill and a stroke, this keeps it editable.

[R C-R]

If the photo is a placed or pasted object, it will be an "(Image)" layer. Image layers act sort of like vector objects in that they can have strokes added directly to them.

[Mehal]

Thank you both for your replies, but where do I locate the screenshot, I have the rectangle tool in the left toolbar, but am unsure where I find the drop down box shown in the screenshot.

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, Mehal said:

Thank you both for your replies, but where do I locate the screenshot, I have the rectangle tool in the left toolbar, but am unsure where I find the drop down box shown in the screenshot.

You may not have the context toolbar showing. Go to View > Show Context Toolbar and make sure it is checked.

[Mehal]

Just checked that and yes it is checked, any further suggestions would be gratefully received, I am certainly on a pretty difficult learning curve at present!

[Alfred]

11 minutes ago, Mehal said:

I have the rectangle tool in the left toolbar, but am unsure where I find the drop down box shown in the screenshot.

Having located the icon for the Rectangle Tool, you need to click on it to select it. The Context toolbar only displays controls which are relevant to the current context, so you won’t see the ones you want unless you’ve selected the relevant tool.

[kirkt]

@Mehal - You can also add a (non-destructive) layer effect to apply a stroke - see screenshot.  The layer effect is initiated with the "fx" button at the bottom of the Layers panel.

kirk

 

[Mehal]

Hi Kirk

         Thank you for the tip, however I will give you a breakdown of the method that I am attempting to adapt to produce what in PS seemed quite straight forward, but in Affinity seems not so.

[1] I first place my image on the screen.

[2] I resize it the image.

[3] using your method I create a thin black outline to my image.

[4] I then resize canvas to give an equal border all arounf the image of 0.25 inches.

[5] I then go back to resize canvas and add a further 0.75 inches to the bottom (This is where I place my text).

[6] Then in edit i go to Matte and suddenly I have lost the black outline that I created at step 3.

[7] My next step would have been to add the text.

I have also discovered another issue with Affinity, in attempting to creat an action (Macro) to speed up the process, I can only get as far as step [6] and I am not being allowed to add text as part of the Macro!

To offer an idea of what I am attempting not very successfully so far I am attaching an image that was created in Photoshop using an action (Macro). 

Obviously where the text is shown in the action the text just says Image details, and I delete and add the details that are appropriate.

I do hope that you can follow what I am attempting to do

 

[kirkt]

@Mehal - You can record a macro that will do the following:

1) add 1/4 in around the image.

2) add another 3/4 below the image.

3) matte the resulting image with white.

4) apply the black outline.

I do not think you can add text in a macro, but others may have a better solution for that aspect.

EDIT!  I found a way to add text - see step 7 below...

Here's how I did all of this....

 

1) Set the Document Size to the final size in inches, specifying the DPI correctly.  This establishes units in the image and permits you to use inches instead of pixels.

--> Document > Resize document...

2) Now add 1/4 inch around the entire image:

--> Document > Resize canvas ... - make sure that the center of the resizing operation is set to the center of the canvas and that the aspect ratio link is unchecked.  In the width and height box enter   +0.5"   to add half an inch (1/4" on each side) to the canvas.

3) Add an additional 3/4 inch to the bottom:

--> Document > Resize canvas ... - make sure to select the top, center as the center of the resizing operation and unlink the aspect ratio.  In the height field enter    +0.75"    to add 3/4 inch to the bottom.

4) Matte the image to replace the new, transparent areas with white:

--> Edit > Matte and fill with primary color (by default, is white).

5) This step is IMPORTANT!  Select the background layer and choose:

--> Layer > Rasterize and Trim ...

This will make sure any pixels outside of the document preview are are trimmed away.  When I tested all of this, for some reason there were extraneous pixels outside of the canvas area.  I think the Matte operation may have introduced some jankiness into the canvas, and this operation makes sure that the extent of the canvas is properly defined.

6) Now apply your layer effect to get the outline - you can specify the outline width in inches as well, instead of pixels - for example, enter  0.125"  to get a 1/8" border around the image.  Make sure you select "Inside" as the location of the stroke.

7) To add text in your macro, type placeholder text ("Enter Text Here...") into a text editor, etc., and copy it to the clipboard.  While you are recording the macro, paste the text into the document, resize the resulting text box, format the text alignment, font, etc. and place the text box in the position you want it - apparently AP can record all of this, so you will end up with placeholder text in the document at the end of the macro - you can then edit it accordingly.

 

I made a Macro out of this and it worked.  As long as you are always adding the same amount of canvas (1/4 and then 3/4 inches) it should work for all images.

You can also experiment with entering "%" in the resize fields too, as in add 50% of the image width to the canvas.  AP does the math for you on the fly.  This is different than PS, where you have to set the document units in the Preferences in order to record actions with those units, including percent.

 

Have fun!

kirk

 

[Mehal]

Hi Kirk

         Well using your step by step guide I managed to get as far as step 5, selected the background layer, then chose Layer > Rasterize & Trim.

I next clicked on FX in the layers pallette clicked on outline and made the radius 5 px, but nothing happened at all, I really am at a loss as to what makes such a simple task in PS so difficult in Affinity Photo, I still have 89 days left of my free trial to resolve all my issues!

I look with trepidation upon my next task of bringing raw negative scans in to AP and converting them to positives that are of good quality. But that will have to wait for another day, mu first priority is to sort out my framing issue for uploading to my website.

Thanks again for you incredible patience with me and also the time you have given to helping me, it really is appreciated, kind regards.

[kirkt]

Make sure that the Alignment of the outline is set to INSIDE, otherwise the stroke (outline) will be outside the bounds of the canvas and it will appear as if nothing has been applied.  Also, set the size to something big while you are testing the procedure to make sure you can see the result.

kirk

 

[lepr]

1 hour ago, Mehal said:

I still have 89 days left of my free trial to resolve all my issues!

In the current Affinity software, a macro stores the result of an arithmetic expression rather than the expression, and Affinity's internal unit of measure is the pixel, therefore a Resize Canvas step of a macro specifies a particular quantity of pixels in width and height for the canvas to become instead of an amount by which to expand/reduce a canvas.

[R C-R]

28 minutes ago, kirkt said:

Make sure that the Alignment of the outline is set to INSIDE, otherwise the stroke (outline) will be outside the bounds of the canvas and it will appear as if nothing has been applied.

The same thing applies if you use a rectangle to create the black outline: set its stroke alignment to inside (middle icon in the "Align:" area of the context stroke dropdown) so you can see it. If the photo itself does not have a white border, you can fill the rectangle with white & move it to the bottom of the layer stack. Then place & (re)size your photo however you want it.

Note that this is totally non-destructive -- you can change the thickness or color of the black outline or the border color to whatever you want at any time.

[Mehal]

Hi Kirk

         Well I have at last managed to create my template as I want it, and the macro that I have created to reproduce my template each time seems to be working fine, I have experimented with a number of images and so far so good, thank you again for the time you have taken and also the detailed step by step guides, I have for insurance copied and pasted them into a document for future reference, just in case anything should go wrong! Best regards

[kirkt]

Yay!  No problem. Have fun!

kirk