Vector brushes vs Pixel Brushes

[hummboxx]

Good morning all. I absolutely love using the Affinity software line and have purchased all of them when they became available. I've read many of the threads posted here from time to time and always find interesting and new facts about the apps. I mainly design and print vehicle wraps here at my home shop and have started migrating to using Affinity for most of the newer designs. It took a little while getting used to setting up layers and setting up contour cut lines that would read in my rip software but it panned out and has become easier. Maybe this topic has already come up in previous threads but here is my take on brush packs.

 When I purchase brush packs, whether through Affinity or through 3rd part sites, I try to purchase only vector brushes that I can convert into curves when the design is finished. Problem is, many of the brush packs that claim they are vector are really only pixels that follow a curve and are unable to expand into actual curves and fail to mention this. To me, if a brush pack says it's vector, then no matter how it is used, it should have the ability to expand into curves that can either be turned into contour cut lines or have clean edges when printed out at large sizes for wraps. If a vector brush can't do that, then it shouldn't be considered a vector brush at all and should only be labeled as a pixel brush pack and, also not installed into the designer persona brush sets but rather only in the pixel persona sets. A lot of my personal friends have also bought affinity products and echo the same sentiment. I've learned to look closely at the designs I create to make sure I can expands any brushes that I use and when it's not a possibility I go back to the other vector program and design there, but a lot of my friends are still learning and only find out after the fact and I can understand their frustrations. Thanks for all you guys do, both in this forum and with these amazing apps! Hope you all have wonderful weekends!

Edited April 8, 2022 by hummboxx
spelling/punctuation

[fde101]

There are numerous threads on this already.  None of the Affinity products currently support "true" custom vector brushes.

[hummboxx]

Then it's simple, don't label them as vector.

[walt.farrell]

Earlier you said:

2 hours ago, hummboxx said:

Problem is, many of the brush packs that claim they are vector are really only pixels that follow a curve and are unable to expand into actual curves and fail to mention this.

That's not a problem of the brush pack. They are supplying vector brushes for Designer, in the form and with the capabilities that Designer allows. If you need true vector brushes with texture, you will need to choose a different application.

[Alfred]

17 minutes ago, hummboxx said:

Then it's simple, don't label them as vector.

They need to be labelled in a way that reflects the fact that the brush strokes they produce include an editable vector path (which raster brushes don’t).

[walt.farrell]

Just now, Alfred said:

They need to be labelled in a way that reflects the fact that the brush strokes they produce include an editable vector path (which pixel brushes don’t).

And labeling them "raster images stretched along a vector path brushes" would be cumbersome.

If Designer ever does support true vector brushes some renaming of terms will be needed. Perhaps Hybrid Vector and True Vector?

For now, though, except for a couple of brushes at the top of the default Pens category, all the vector brushes are "hybrid".

[hummboxx]

Then just a simple "Raster Brush" rather than "Vector Brush" label would suffice and cause a lot less confusion for beginners. Like I stated in my original post, I know what to look for myself, only after buying several packs, but newcomers do not.

[walt.farrell]

26 minutes ago, hummboxx said:

Then just a simple "Raster Brush" rather than "Vector Brush" label would suffice and cause a lot less confusion for beginners. Like I stated in my original post, I know what to look for myself, only after buying several packs, but newcomers do not.

No, because the Pixel Persona has Raster Brushes, which are different from the Vector Brushes.

[hummboxx]

I appreciate your responses, but, explain to me how, in Design Persona, using a "vector" brush that was purchased, but in reality only paints a pixel along a vector path and can not be converted into a true vector, can be considered a vector brush? Just because I can select a point in that path and manipulate that path, doesn't necessarily make the effect a vector and in my opinion, it should only be available in Pixel persona and not in the other. Otherwise, what's the point of having the different personas? And I get it, pixel persona is meant to add textures and shading to created vector objects to add dimension and style to the creators ideas and concepts, but I really don't see why you insist that this is an incorrect logic in the matter of designing and of purchasing creative packs using this amazing software. Like I said, I love this software and would never want it to emulate other software packages in the same genre. It should remain its own distinct self, but it should also, again in my own opinion, label content in correct terms. 

[Old Bruce]

33 minutes ago, hummboxx said:

I appreciate your responses, but, explain to me how, in Design Persona, using a "vector" brush that was purchased, but in reality only paints a pixel along a vector path and can not be converted into a true vector, can be considered a vector brush?

It is a really poor choice of name, I would have gone with Brushes for (use with/on) Vectors. Still vague but it is less misleading.

[hummboxx]

@iuli This is my exact point. It's unfortunate that there are several taboo subjects here, but I call it like I see it. I've been doing this for a very long time and to me, vector means vector. Clean edges and fully expandable.

[Old Bruce]

4 minutes ago, hummboxx said:

vector means vector

I agree.

I am still upset that the SVG format will allow the use of various Pixel formats, as this causes major problems down the line.

[Alfred]

47 minutes ago, hummboxx said:

I appreciate your responses, but, explain to me how, in Design Persona, using a "vector" brush that was purchased, but in reality only paints a pixel along a vector path and can not be converted into a true vector, can be considered a vector brush?

It’s vector in the sense (and only in the sense) that it has an editable path that a raster brush doesn’t have.

49 minutes ago, hummboxx said:

Just because I can select a point in that path and manipulate that path, doesn't necessarily make the effect a vector and in my opinion, it should only be available in Pixel persona and not in the other. Otherwise, what's the point of having the different personas?

It isn’t the effect that makes a ‘vector’ brush a vector, it’s the existence of a path that makes it so: the (raster) effect is repeated or stretched along that vector path. Raster brushes are available in the Pixel persona (and only the Pixel persona) because they add collections of pixels to a raster layer.

[Alfred]

4 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I am still upset that the SVG format will allow the use of various Pixel formats, as this causes major problems down the line.

I haven’t noticed anyone clamouring to have ‘Scalable Vector Graphics’ renamed as ‘Scalable Vector and Sometimes Not-so-scalable Raster Graphics’.

[Colin uk]

The brushes are raster brushes on a vector path, (it took me a month to get this).

Within the Affinity Suite these can just be redrawn again with different sizes,

though I feel that is not what I appreciated that Designer was doing for me, that is allowing me to use vector files across different software.

Something fully in paths eg a 'Vector Pattern' brush has been requested for a while, I hope that is is provided in Affinity allowing users to export editable vector files

[Colin uk]

One vector brush

I have now discovered that there is actually one true vector brush that is usable in Affinity Designer (I have 1.10.5)

It is the 'Solid Pen with Pressure' brush found under the 'Pens' section of the stock brushes.

I selected vector brushes on the left, I double clicked the brush options (double clicking the brush) and selected 'Velocity' instead of 'None'

and in the Vector Brush toolbar selected 'Contoller -> Velocity'

The resulting icon I drew with varying width and it could be turned into a vector shape by selecting 'Layer -> Expand Stroke'