mantramedia.ca Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 Hey folks! Migrating from Illustrator, and loving it so far! I have many lines in a project. Most of these lines need a label. I would love to make the labelling process as easy as I can. The photo attached shows two methods. I would love to figure out how to replicate the bottom result automatically. For it, I added an appropriately sized box and boolean subtracted that from the expanded stroke. The middle is just the two layers untouched. The top layer is what I am unable to get past. Thank you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 Interesting challenge! Designer might be even the less suitable tool here.Publisher gives you a few more typographical options because it has the Text Frame panel. (The combination of the "Affinity trinity" is the killer feature anyway.) Here's a possible solution in Publisher (v1) that gives you a single freely editable object: The trick here is to make the actual curve stroke visible via the Text Frame panel (not available in Designer), make it a dash stroke, with gaps and phase fine tuned so that it leaves the gap in the middle. Of course, if you change the text, you'll have to readjust the dash gap and phase. To edit the curve, select it with the Node tool. The confusing part here is that if you attempt to edit the stroke via the Stroke panel, it will affect the text stroke, i.e. the outline. The curve stroke is only editable in the Text Frame panel. ~~~ If you have a solid background fill anyway, then instead of using dash stroke, you can add character background fill that would match your background color. ~~~ More flexible, interactive, but also more complex constructions might maybe be possible in Designer with the help of partially synced Symbols. I'll try… Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 Alright, in Designer 2, you can put the text in a simple text frame, centered, add paragraph decorations on each side of the text to mimic the stroke, then use the Warp Group Horizontal Arc to distort it to your liking. The actual text frame remains fully editable, but again, the fake strokes need to be readjusted if you change the text. I'm not at my desktop installation of Designer v2 at the moment, but on iPad it looks like this: Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 1 hour ago, loukash said: to make the actual curve stroke visible Speaking of which, this is also possible in Designer without the Text Frame panel if you create your stroke first, then convert it to Text Path. But you can't adjust the stroke width afterwards without the Text Frame panel. Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantramedia.ca Posted December 30, 2022 Author Share Posted December 30, 2022 Amazing! Thanks so much for the expertise, and hope you enjoyed the interesting challenge . I'll have to give the publisher solution a go tomorrow, looks like exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again and happy holidays ! loukash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Komatös Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 @mantramedia.ca Maybe this video is another inspiration! mantramedia.ca 1 Quote AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.1742) Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.(latest) Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF Before you ask! No! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 4 hours ago, Komatös said: Maybe this video is another inspiration! Interesting as far as the new Compound Masks feature in Photo v2 is concerned (which I personally haven't even explored yet), but in the given context I don't think it's an appropriate solution. Since @mantramedia.ca wants to work with text and vector objects, there no need to even begin with pixel masking. Vector compound masking is already available, and as noted, has been even used in mantramedia.ca's example #3. Besides, masking adds complexity either way. Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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