Vector warp only affects an objects outline and not anything it contains such as gradients, images, texture, etc

[jellybeanFEIND]

Hey there! Running Ventura on an i9 Macbook Pro with freshly-installed Designer v2, as well as an iPad Pro 12.9" running new Designer v2 on iPadOS 16. I was so, so excited for this update because I use warp tools a lot in other programs, and a non-destructive warp/liquefy seemed too good to be true. And, at least for the time being, it is. : (  I realized I replied to a thread in the wrong OS's forum about this, but if you've got a shape with multiple gradients inside of it, the vector warp mesh has no effect on the gradient itself. I saw someone (unaffiliated with Serif) suggest that this was a feature and not a bug, which would be a huge bummer, and I'd be inclined to believe them if it weren't for the fact that flattening, rasterizing, and exporting said object *all* still do not allow you to warp its contents. In fact, loading in a random picture from my photo gallery, I couldn't even warp that. I mean, I could warp the borders, but not the image. It functions this way on the iPad as well. Either way I have already tried restarting my machine, reinstalling Designer, fiddling with hardware acceleration settings, scouring the manual, and reviewing the topics already posted, but I hadn't seen any responses yet.

To replicate the issue, open a new document and make a rectangle or any shape you'd like. Add a new fill and pop a gradient or two in there. Now, attempt to use the vector warp tool. The borders of the shape will move, but the gradient is fixed in place.

So...this is a bug and not a feature, right? : ( I was pumped to use the vector warp tool to be able to make abstract freeform gradients, but if it will only warp plain shapes, that's...kind of an enormous bummer. I haven't seen anyone actually representing the company comment on this yet, so I'm holding out on the chance of it being a bug and hopefully I'll actually have a way to make the art I'd like in the future.

First screenshot is a shape that hasn't been flattened, second one is a shape that has been rasterized, and the third one is a shape that has been exported as a .PNG and then re-imported as an image file.

[norbinw]

ATM you can only warp shapes. I've noticed it too. Was so happy for warp, and then I realized it's only shapes and not content nor images :))))))))))

All the videos I've seen were about shapes and text only. It's still at least a minor step forward.

If it would allow to warp content too, that would be cool AF, and we could create a workaround for mesh gradient. But it's just the aliexpress version of the warp tool.

[Patrick Connor]

@jellybeanFEIND

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums  

Thanks for your report. The warping of contents like gradient fills is not currently attempted by the Vector warp code, sorry.

1 hour ago, norbinw said:

Was so happy for warp, and then I realized it's only shapes and not content nor images

There are plans for Vector warp to be worked on more in the future, so I would expect this to change as the feature matures.

[D.E. Main]

I too was excited when I saw warp - especially when the HELP function showed the pattern/fill warped. (See below.)  Sadly these examples are misleading as the fill is never warped - this distorting of the fill is what I was waiting for.  I'm hoping and praying it will be in an update to 2.0 as a major project very much needs this.

[jellybeanFEIND]

On 12/8/2022 at 6:23 AM, Patrick Connor said:

@jellybeanFEIND

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums  

Thanks for your report. The warping of contents like gradient fills is not currently attempted by the Vector warp code, sorry.

There are plans for Vector warp to be worked on more in the future, so I would expect this to change as the feature matures.

Oh. that's...really disappointing. especially since all the promo images showed warped patterns. Do know if there is a timeline to this feature, or is it a "maybe V3" sort of thing and I just wasted $99

[NotMyFault]

On 12/8/2022 at 12:23 PM, Patrick Connor said:

@jellybeanFEIND

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums  

Thanks for your report. The warping of contents like gradient fills is not currently attempted by the Vector warp code, sorry.

There are plans for Vector warp to be worked on more in the future, so I would expect this to change as the feature matures.

Can you please give some insight on how the documents were created showing warped fills in the serif website advertising this feature?
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/whats-new/

the „Poster“ on the right with black/yellow fill
 

[NotMyFault]

Ok, Probably just power-duplicated rectangles.

 

 

[loukash]

@jellybeanFEIND, a workaround would be to rasterize a copy of your gradient, then adding a Live Mesh Warp filter via Photo, and adjust it to match the Designer's Vector Warp. Since pixels aren't affected by the latter, you should be able to clip the rasterized warped gradient with the vector shape.

All that in theory for now: I don't have access to my Affinity 2 installation at the moment to test it, but I have already posted a similar example yesterday: 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by loukash
see below

[loukash]

47 minutes ago, loukash said:

rasterize a copy of your gradient, then adding a Live Mesh Warp filter via Photo

Actually, you don't even have to rasterize it because that's what the bitmap based live filter does on the fly, even with vector objects!

[Humbucker]

Noob here.

So will the warp tool work on images or no?

Affinity Photo1 has a killer feature I use all the time for warping images. I can't imagine the designers not building this in to AD2.

The warp tool on Affinity Designer 2 for images, not shapes was the reason I bought the upgrade.

 

[NotMyFault]

Designer: warp vector objects, keep them as vector and editable (or bake in)

Photo: warp anything with live filter, or use destructive version on pixel layers. 

You can „steal“ a live filter from an existing Document made in Photo and use it in Designer for new documents. But they may be some restrictions or issues using this approach.

[loukash]

6 hours ago, Humbucker said:

I can't imagine the designers not building this in to AD2.

Serif staff have mentioned elsewhere in the forum that the Warp Group feature is a work in progress. More functionality is apparently to be added in subsequent updates. First minor enhancements already made it into v2.0.3.

6 hours ago, Humbucker said:

The warp tool on Affinity Designer 2 for images, not shapes was the reason I bought the upgrade.

If only there was something like a trial version where one could check out if the software actually does what one would like it to do before shelling out those big bucks, huh…? 

[MEB]

Hi @Humbucker,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
The Warp Tool in Affinity Photo simply picks whatever object/layer (or objects/layers if applied to a group) and treat them as if they were a single image distorting everything. The destructive version of the filter (menu Filters >Distort > Mesh Warp) converts the the result to a pixel layer, whereas the live version of the filter (menu Layer > New Live Filter Layer > Distort > Mesh Warp or using the Live Filters button on the bottom of the Layers panel) keeps the output editable through the Mesh Warp filter layer.

The Warp Group in Designer only works with vector objects keeping whatever is inside the warp group selectable and editable (the original vector object's geometry not the distorted version which cannot be editable directly). If you do need to edit the distorted version of these objects you have to convert them to curves (clicking the respective button in the context toolbar) when the mesh warp group layer/Node Tool is selected. We hope to improve it to also include raster data/other vector objects attributes.

If you own Affinity Photo, and are working in Designer go to menu File > Edit in Photo... To switch the document temporarily to Photo add the Live Mesh Warp filter there, then use the command File > Edit in Designer... to get back to Designer. You can still edit the Live Mesh Warp filter in Designer as if you were in Photo.

[Humbucker]

On 1/18/2023 at 2:07 AM, loukash said:

If only there was something like a trial version where one could check out if the software actually does what one would like it to do before shelling out those big bucks, huh…? 

Thanks for the insight on the work in progress.

On the second part: Or maybe use precise language in marketing with a few words like "only with vector files."🤪

[loukash]

1 minute ago, Humbucker said:

Or maybe use precise language in marketing with a few words like "only with vector files."🤪

Hm… perhaps it's just me, but having worked as a designer for a few ad agencies in late 1980s and early 1990s (until I figured that I definitely don't want to be part of that con), nowadays I'm pretty immune to anything that vaguely smells like marketing hype.  
An old Public Enemy song comes to mind.

[Humbucker]

@MEB Wow! Thanks for the tip on working between AD and PD! This simplifies my workflow, and is probably the most straight forward work around. Thank you. 😊

[Humbucker]

21 minutes ago, loukash said:

Hm… perhaps it's just me, but having worked as a designer for a few ad agencies in late 1980s and early 1990s (until I figured that I definitely don't want to be part of that con), nowadays I'm pretty immune to anything that vaguely smells like marketing hype.  
An old Public Enemy song comes to mind.

Ahh, I'm being overly dramatic insinuating this was the only reason I upgraded to AD2.

I need to upgrade anyway. I'd be behind the curve in 3 months if I didn't get a head start on AD2. Serves me right for not listening to PE. lol 

 

[dcadint]

I just noticed the same issue with Designer 2.0.  Was trying to perspective warp a banana that had multiple gradients to give it shadows and highlights but when perspective  warped to the isometric grid the gradients stayed where they were at.  Using the gradient tool shows an outline of where the object used to be and the unmoved gradient handles.  If I create a vector pattern clip it to the object then that will skew, stretch and warp with the object but not the gradient fills.  This is quite the limitation.
AppearanceAndWarping.afdesign

[NotMyFault]

It has been announced that warp and perspective filter will be added to Designer in V2.1 (or later)

 

[LionelD]

@jellybeanFEIND Thanks, this cleared up a mystery for me.  I spent considerable effort trying to make this work and reading the Help, to no avail.  I feel as though you restored my sanity.

Regards