Affinity Photo - how to create a Chinese text?

[MKJB]

Dear Affinities,

I try to make simple thumbnails for my videos posted on bilibili.com 😁

So far I have done things like this:

 

Unfortunately, I don't know Mandarin 😭 That's why I use a translator... This process is so crazy 😜
The problem is that when I copy and paste text into Affinity I can't change the fonts even though I have installed some new ones. Only some parameters change, and to a limited extent. I have installed a Chinese keyboard on my PC but I can't type 😔

Is there any simple method of using different fonts but only if I can copy text from the translator?

I would be very grateful for your help! Thank you! 👍

[Dan C]

Hi @MKJB,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums

6 hours ago, MKJB said:

The problem is that when I copy and paste text into Affinity I can't change the fonts even though I have installed some new ones. Only some parameters change, and to a limited extent. I have installed a Chinese keyboard on my PC but I can't type 😔

Can you please expand on this for me? What fonts are you using?

What do you mean by 'I can't change the fonts' - can you not select a font from the drop-down font list, or simply selecting a font does not change the display of the characters in your document?

Some fonts may not include the required glyphs for Chinese characters, so you will need to ensure the font you are attempting to use supports this language 

Many thanks in advance!

[Alfred]

6 hours ago, MKJB said:

The problem is that when I copy and paste text into Affinity I can't change the fonts even though I have installed some new ones.

If you can’t change the fonts, how did you manage to go from this

to this

? 

[MKJB]

Thank you for answers !

Ok, I have this text:

As you see it is "Microsoft JhengHei", OK!
 

The problem is when I copy that text and want to paste as "DFHeiUBold1B" but it doesn't work... It changed but in some different way...

Only a few fonts work well but others don't... Why? 🤔

These others fonts work when I type them from keyboard (when I switch to Chinese keyboard) but I can only paste text from translator... 😞

Edited September 20, 2021 by MKJB

[Alfred]

31 minutes ago, MKJB said:

The problem is when I copy that text and want to paste as "DFHeiUBold1B" but it doesn't work... It changed but in some different way...

The characters are correct in other respects but you’ve lost the metallic look and the red outline. You should be able to fix that by copying the original piece of text, selecting the new one and choosing ‘Paste FX’.

[MKJB]

Oh yes! Thank you for this tip. 👍

But... I still don't know how to change some fonts (in general, no matter of their FX).

 

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, MKJB said:

I still don't know how to change some fonts (in general, no matter of their FX).

What do you mean by "change"? What is it that you want to do?

[MKJB]

For example, I need my text (copied from translator) in "DFHeiUBold1B" font.

[walt.farrell]

17 minutes ago, MKJB said:

For example, I need my text (copied from translator) in "DFHeiUBold1B" font.

If it is truly text (not a pixel image of text), just select it with the appropriate text tool, and change the font specified in the Context Toolbar.

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, MKJB said:

For example, I need my text (copied from translator) in "DFHeiUBold1B" font.

I think you’re seeing a limitation of DFHeiUBold1B, not a limitation of the Affinity apps. If I paste

新技犬

into the ‘Custom text’ box on this page I get a blank preview.

It looks as though the app is using Arial as a fallback for characters that are missing from the font. The Pages app on my iPad does the same:

[MKJB]

Oh! It is very informative! Thank you for help!

All in all, I think I need to try other fonts.

Btw, a Chinese calligraphy / typography is an extremely beautiful blackmagic... 😍