fill and colour-group merge?

[globso]

hi, im trying to colour a project. it now consists of about a milion lines and circles. i would like to make the house one layer, fill that with a colour, the different circles a different colour and then make them a colour. are there an easy way of doing this? like a merge tool that works? when i try changeing colour on the "group" layer it only colours in the weird way of picture 2. 
 i have tried to use the "add" tool to merge layer by layer but that does not work. 
 i cant come up with an other idea then to export the project and then colour it in an other pixel software? but that kind of looses the reason to make it a vector project. 

[thomaso]

1. Don't apply "Fill" if "Stroke" is wanted.

2. Use "Merge" (via menu only). For non-closed curves "Add" does not work.

[globso]

where do i find "merge" in menu?  is there an actual Merge tool in designer? 

[globso]

as to be clear, i want to join all those hundreds of lines that makes the house, i want it to be one single lined layer. so that i can fill colour it...no i know that affinity does not have a fill tool, so i might just take my project to incskape witch has. but i rather stay with affinity since i like it here better over all. 

 

[Old Bruce]

Which application are you using Publisher, Photo or Designer?

I find it quite easy to use the colour with the stroke and fill areas on Designer's Colour Panel. I select the group then choose the colour I want for the stroke. No merging necessary.

 

 

[globso]

yes everything seems to work fine when you draw simpler things, but when it start to get coplicated groups and layers it all just falls apart. 
 in this picture, i drew half of the house, (since affinity designer does not have a bloody mirror tool!!) then i copied that, mirrored the copy, put them together and made them a group. now i want to put some colour to the house. i can mark one layer at the time and change the outline colour. but i cant off course get colour int to the model, since its two open halves. now i would like to close them and put some colour in. but since there is no merge tool it is impossible to make them merge together. 

and when i have tried to fill the group with colour it now fills a random layer pitch black, this is new behaviour. picture 2

[thomaso]

7 hours ago, globso said:

where do i find "merge" in menu?  is there an actual Merge tool in designer? 

Feel free to read the text in my screenshot above.

6 hours ago, globso said:

i know that affinity does not have a fill tool

There are various tools / workflows in the Affinity apps to assign a Fill colour. So I wonder what you mean by "i know".

There are also various resources to get informed about basics like "Fill", for instance in the Help for each app (off- & online) or in the large range of video tutorials, not to mention the listed links in this forum's Guide to Learning Affinity Software.

5 hours ago, globso said:

(since affinity designer does not have a bloody mirror tool!!)

There is one in the Toolbar. Also AD's existing "Symbol" feature can be desired for symmetric / copied drawings. Not to forget the symmetry drawing option for AD's Paint Brush Tool.

[Old Bruce]

We would need to see what the house is made from. Are they exclusively curve layers? Is it White for the fill and Black for the stroke? Are there any blend opacity settings other than 100% Normal being applied? 

Area there any pixel layers or Effects being added? Are there groups within the group?

And finally, I am still having to guess/assume that this was all done in Designer as you haven't answer "Which application did you use to make this?"

Edit: I see that you are in fact using Designer. Thanks for pointing that out thomaso.

[thomaso]

24 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I am still having to guess/assume that this was all done in Designer as you haven't answer "Which application did you use to make this?"

… "in designer"

[Old Bruce]

4 minutes ago, thomaso said:

… "in designer"

Ah, I stand corrected, though I have to say I stopped reading after I came across " "merge" in menu?" as I was taking a different tack to solving the problem.

[thomaso]

11 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

stopped reading

appears slightly symptomatic in this thread 😉

 

[pbasdf]

Hi @globso,

2 hours ago, globso said:

but since there is no merge tool it is impossible to make them merge together. 

I think what you are looking for is "joining" curves, not "merging": you need to join curves together to define the boundary of the area you wish to fill.  As you've found, if you just group them and then apply a fill, Affinity will apply the fill to each curve independently.

Joining curves is achieved using the node tool: select the two curves, then select the two end nodes (which might be on top of each other), and use the "Join curves" tool in the context toolbar.

You can only join the ends of curves; you can't join the end of one to the middle of another - which from the look of your picture, you will need to do.  The only option is to break curves into segments where necessary, and you might also need to duplicate curves: one for the fill on each side.  

For your image, that's going to be a long and complicated business.  I'd be tempted to take a different approach: use rectangles and triangles (and others of Affinity's basic shapes) to apply colour (ie. with a fill but no stroke).  Place those behind your existing curves.  If necessary, convert those shapes to curves and then use the node tool to adjust the lines to match (or at least be hidden behind) your curves.  Something like this:

(Note that I have given the shapes a stroke, just because I don't have your existing curves).  I've done this fairly quickly, so it doesn't match exactly (and isn't symmetric!).

PS Sorry for the insanely large images; can't figure how to shrink them. 

 

 

[globso]

Amazing effort to help out! i see, then i will just reedo the house your way (and maby the other stuff asweell, it usually gets better on the second or third try anyway) . i was just hoping for a quick "connect the two sides so that they meet up, then tell the software to merge everything to one line/layer" but i guess we are not there yet:) and as you say, if i have to connect the two sides by hand, then i will have to connect every stroke i have made, that will take time !. i guess the best way is to remake it. but now when i have seen your picture of this i understand much better how to do it.  making this again the correct way dont look that hard.

and sorry you all, this is affinity designer if that was unclear.