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[ADe] Is there any line smoothing? (implemented)


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I don't disagree about the confusing number of options, bleduc, but I haven't fiddled with them too much. It just works!

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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I would love to see some sort of slider in the upper contextual toolbar that would allow reducing or adding nodes on a selected bezier curve and still try to maintain the shape...

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Oh my God, Alfred. Lazy Nezumi helps so much! That weighted smoothing feature rocks. I'm glad you reminded me of this.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Since the very beginning, I have been asking for the smoothing tool. I think there are a lot of people who would like to have it's ability for this software program. I don't understand the resistance.

Gregg

OS X Version 10.14.6 iMac 27" 3.2 GHz i5- 32 GB  Huion Kamvas Pro 20

iPad Pro 12.9" IOS 13

AD = OS IOS, AP = OS IOS

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Oh God, yes! In 1.6 too, which I don't think is far off. I heard about this feature in another topic, but it wasn't confirmed if it would be a vector feature as well and when it was coming out. Now that I know, this will be a fantastic update for my workflow. My joy is screaming right now.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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NICE ! Almost missed that... Specially good if they allow enough customization of its behavior...

 

YAY. Will be in both apps, from what I read...!

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I would like to make sure that we don't just get smoothing, but "Fidelity". I like to work on maps and really want the ability to have many nodes so I can have a rough coastline for example. As Peregrine suggested, a "roughen" feature would be outstanding!

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Hey! Another map maker?  We have been having a thread about it ('Mouse', a new member). Yep, totally agreeing here. I make maps from time to time, and like in any illustration, all the love given to the brush is needed (right now, there are issues... :( ) and largely welcome, being very essential, the accuracy and smoothing. The several settings one can control in these matters in illustrator is great. In several forms of it you have it also in Mypaint (open source and cross platform, one of the most deep set of controls of these matters), Clip Studio (Manga Studio), Sai, Krita, Flash (now called Animate CC), Medibang ("Correction" setting) just to name a few. Is not only Illustrator..

 

Companies doing these have realized is a must for painting. So seems Serif has, very excited to test 1.6.  I'm all for any improvement in the brush department. As the main difference (the main advantage Affinity has) from all these painting apps and Affinity's is... well, the GREAT focus in affinity to cover all needs in image production, CC style. They are general professional solutions in the line of PS and AI, this is what makes them absolute winners in the contest, in my view. So, with just those things addressed, for pros, they'd have no serious competition (my 2c, at least). Companies making anything that's gonna be used to paint have realized that no hardware for painting is yet "there", and due to physic limitations, wont be for a quite long time... these devices are very far yet from the precision and accuracy of a human hand, (even the very steady hand artists would benefit from this ! They can draw whatever, but they'd do it a ton faster with this. )  So ,this is both a showstopper (not having it) and an incredible advantage (counting on it).  But IMO, and please, don't get me wrong, I believe the basic brush issues are more important (the largely reported delay issue, jitter when zoomed out, etc) . My hope is.. in 1.6 they might have addressed these things first, not built smoothing on top of it !   :o  (  I frankly have no idea ....)

 

I do can ink without any stabilizer. I am doing so right now in 5 simultaneous projects (gotta make it to the end of the month...), is possible with some practice. But the speed I'd earn (which = money, in every sense, that's why am so insisting, hehe ) with helpers in that is incredible. And is not "cheating" for an artist in any imaginable way, as I do have a steady line result when drawing and inking on paper ! So, sth is going on with the hardware (whichever the brand, Wacom included), maybe the low resolution grids of these magnetic tablets, maybe other matters, but my tested massive fact is that even after many years of professional work with many wacoms, I can ink a complex and detailed drawing in minutes in paper what takes me much a longer time with a wacom.

 

So, is mostly asking the -insert company name, in this case Serif- to put special care on the brush (fix its several issues, and then , add on top of it smoothing, fidelity...), as is the key obstacle, mostly to fight a limit in hardware . 

 

PD: In Illustrator, yep, I used to do my magical combination of fidelity and smoothing... (but AI has more helpers for inking, like ability to interactively redraw the line you are working on, etc) . IMO, first take care of the basics issues in the brush, so at least the base works, then adding more helpers is amazingly good, but I'd see this order of things the most sensible. A fixed brush with smoothing (and "fidelity") , that'd be a dream come true... And make it THE solution for image production, being branches of it illustration, comic, game art... When brush not involved, they are extremely capable already for any graphic need...

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Welcome to the forum, Kaelib.

 

You can always add more nodes by clicking the "Smooth Curve" button under the Node or Pen Tool, or you can add them manually by clicking spots on the line with the Node Tool. (I would think the "Smooth Curve" button would reduce nodes, but it does the opposite.)

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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yep, but that's different to what  he is needing... He actually wants -like I would- , I believe, to be able to draw small details which are also stabilized. Yes, with what you say you could draw a blobby coast line, then smooth it -or "subdivide" it if we use the analog 3D apps terms, more accurate- then you would have to handle each node to get your detailed coast line work. For working so, in matters of time gained, you are better off just using the mouse and controlling node by node. Not only no time gain, you loose more time so.  What he wants is the pen allowing him to draw a detailed contour, but having on as well some control over jitter (stabilizers, smoothing, whatever).

 

IMO, though, his coast line request is now very difficult to make with today's tool's implementation. if you get the delay at start of the brush stroke, this makes very hard small/fine detail in line art.  One of the many reasons why I believe it should be fix brush -> add smoothing sequence... 

 

I the meantime, this is my advice : Sketch with some "light pencil" brush setting and rough sketch with all the detail you want in the coast line...then just zoom a wild lot and be panning to go making your coast line's line art .  Not ideal by any means, but is an old trick to counter  this issue.  As you would have a perfectly sketch, detailed (but "hairy" if you know what I mean)  you wouldn't be making it wrong by loosing the global view, as that is why you made a detailed sketch with 100% viewing all canvas in the first place.

 

Is the only way I can see as practical, other than inking by hand in paper and scanning, or using -if it that works well, yet dunno- the interesting new Intuos Paper solution ... Well, or just tracing with the mouse with the node tool, old school, your sketch. Which is really freaking slow, of course.

 

Edit: Typos.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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I think I need to see an actual example since I am unable to see what you and Kaelib are talking about.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's now April 2017 and still no means to smooth/simplify paths as can easily be done in Illustrator.  If you have Illustrator, just draw a vector path using the Pen tool or Pencil or Paintbrush.  Then Object > Path > Simplify.  As you decrease Curve Precision your selected path becomes more rounded.  That's what I use it for and I, like everyone else here, want to see that important feature in Affinity Designer soon. 

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That smoothing (actually simplify, nodes number reduction) after painted is useful (and even key when you are handled by a customer an auto-traced silhouette by someone not very versed at it ! ), but I indeed would prefer (I think is what the OP is requesting) that the stroke is correctly smoothed as one draws (by stabilizers, averaging/smoothing...Which BTW, have been announced for 1.6 in both apps, if i am not wrong). Indeed, right now in AD it does a bit of smoothing, when you release the raster stroke, so, in the vector generation process, just nodes rotation get a bit crazy (jitter after released). About the date, being in April and etc, IMO, patience is the winner here (well, and in 99,9% of stuff in non digital life, too...). To other companies' apps suites it took way longer (PS doesn't have yet a extremely good solution for that, even after decades. I developed sort of a steady pulse with it, but is *way* slower in production, so) Very importantly: 1.6 vesions of both apps, I believe will have a start of this sort of solutions, but I suspect even so it will be an ongoing process through several versions (just my personal guessing, because painting with software today involves a lot of aspects, specially to compete with other solutions, and mostly to make it really productive and accurate... I mean: I don't want an app to have a feature because another has it... i want it to be fast and accurate in production, as that means money in the end... :) :) )  . I have a lot of hope in these apps.  :)  (otherwise I'd never lurk around here... :)  )

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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I indeed would prefer that the stroke is correctly smoothed as one draws ...

 

I would be pleased with that too, although it would not be a complete feature unless it also after smoothing for existing art.  Why?  Because sometimes you want to repurpose art.  Some vector art may be very jagged and you want to smooth it.  In Illustrator doing that is easy.  Not equally as easy in Affinity Designer, hence my previous posts on the subject.

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  • 1 month later...
  • Staff

Hi RanzQ,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

We have implemented line stabilisation in the latest 1.6 Beta which you can download from the pined thread in respective Beta section here in case you want to give them a try.

Select the brush (Pencil, Vector Brush and Paint Brush Tools in Designer and Paint Brush Tool in Photo) you want to use and look for the stabilisation controls in the context toolbar.

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We have implemented line stabilisation in the latest 1.6 Beta...

 

I just tried it.  I must say, that "pull-string" approach to drawing is rather intriguing.  However, it is no substitute for a tool or menu command that smooths/simplifies paths as can easily be done in Illustrator.  Why?  For reasons I've already stated.  Sometimes you want to REPURPOSE EXISTING ART.  Your new tool only helps when CREATING NEW ART.  I want the means to open an old file I created or a file somebody sent me or a file I downloaded from the net and then simply the paths, akin to what Illustrator can do.

 

I hope that's clear!

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Oh man I am loving that new feature. I've been using the Pencil Tool more than any other just because of the stabilisers, but I get that they can vary for each person. I think maybe the only thing, like in this case, is that there should be an option to adjust "Correction" separately. For example, after releasing the mouse, the line slightly corrects itself. In this case, it sounds like you want more correction. In other cases, sharp corners will turn rounded. So I think there should also be an option to toggle correction on or off and adjust it.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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  • Staff

Hi JDW,

I was just welcoming and addressing RanzQ comment/post regarding the ability to smooth lines "on the go" thus the suggestion to try the new Beta. I was not implying that line stabilization was the solution to this thread's subject/request. I'm aware that those are different things. Sorry if it sounded like so.

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I just tried it.  I must say, that "pull-string" approach to drawing is rather intriguing.  However, it is no substitute for a tool or menu command that smooths/simplifies paths as can easily be done in Illustrator.  Why?  For reasons I've already stated.  Sometimes you want to REPURPOSE EXISTING ART.  Your new tool only helps when CREATING NEW ART.  I want the means to open an old file I created or a file somebody sent me or a file I downloaded from the net and then simply the paths, akin to what Illustrator can do.

 

I hope that's clear!

 

Yes, it could be very useful. Really, a lot.

 

But a lot of us do constantly create new art , so, an stabilizer is a must. And that said by someone who already is able to ink fully a piece using no smoothing neither stabilization _at all_  , but it consumes a lot of time as, sadly, no wacom, or other tablet hardware(not really cintiqs, although is clearly an improve) that I have been lucky to access has developed the level of control, accuracy and non-jittery that the hands of someone drawing many decades has (using tablets since 1991, and still can ink any sketch in a breeze, where inking it by computer is way slower). While the new generation of the latest Wacom models are a light in the darkness, I am afraid is gonna be a while till the wacom pen behaves like a regular brush or tradicional pen /pencil /even toothpick + indian ink (I had to use that during a whole year to pass one of the main subjects in my career, and that having to draw a full human figure of a real model with no more allowed than 3 minutes. Even those allow more control.)  I have my wacom intuos4 (XL)  configured to crazy depth and use it professionally since many years, all freaking day hours. I do know  stabilization does save a lot of time, that's the thing. I don't paint for a hobby... is my main activity. So speed is beyond being just key, is the freaking main thing.. :)  Stabilization helps there were the hardware magnetic system (rate, tablet grid resolution, etc, etc) of even the best hardware (tablets-pens) can't do more.   

 

As I said before, yes, the smoothing of an already done drawing is very important. But for art creation, IMO, the other (which they are adding) is even more. I agree with someone saying before that the best systems are those (even if I am mixing here stabilization with other concepts, is all to get the best  experience, result, speed) allowing level of strength in the stabilization...how much it is simplifying the stroke, and several other settings (indeed, sth not yet in the best packages adding stabilization, is a key shortcut to change between several settings, or just ON/OFF).  Inskcape is, IMO, only its inking tool, is not implemented for the other tools, a great point to get to know some extremely clever and efficient (it just works as an illustrator/comic artist needs) approaches to the issues. The settings well configured simply work incredibly well, not only because I somehow expected less, but due to the almost absolute control once configuring the "mass" and other settings to your best performance. A pity that there are many reasons why professionally I wouldn't use it (inkscape) for large projects, same reason I'd definitely do so (I mean, that is usable for me in serious projects) with AD (and why I purchased it, besides because I firmly believe in Affinity(whole line) as the alternative). Illustrator does also some extremely convenient things if is seen combined the things you can set double clicking the brush toolbar icon, and when double clicking the whatever the brush of choice in the list of brushes.  But several very interesting settings in Inkscape inking tool are not present in Illustrator latest, sth to consider, too. Open source might not be yet good to fill every professional need/niche (Blender fully does it for me, tho), but counts on some features/approaches surprisingly well done.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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