Peregrin Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I've been using Affinity designer to make maps for a novel I'm working on. As one would imagine, it is quite time-consuming to draw a properly jagged coastline. What would make easier is if you could draw fractal lines, curves, and shapes like in ProFantasy's app Campaign Cartographer 3. I have attached a mock-up of some examples of what I have in mind for Affinity Designer's equivalent. Firstly, unlike CC3, AD's bézier handles and corner tool would make fractal curves and corners far more versatile. As with the corner tool, fractal lines could be "baked" for more precise node editing. The actual jaggedness of the fractal could be adjusted for softer or harsher coasts depending on the effect one is looking for, and the line could also be smooth but wavy, which would be useful for drawing rivers. I'm sure that there would be many uses for this feature outside of mapmaking, and it would certainly make my job quite a bit easier as CC3's export functionality leaves a great deal to be desired. If fractals were added to Affinity Designer's already astounding features, it would save a huge amount of time when trying to make jagged shapes. Peregrin and paolo.limoncelli 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singapored Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I can imagine that this would be Achievable using gaussian noise followed by levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrin Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 I can imagine that this would be Achievable using gaussian noise followed by levels. I tried what you suggested, and I wasn't able to make that effect. However, even if that technique were to produce the desired visual effect, I wouldn't be able to bake the fractals and fine-tune as vector lines. I really appreciate your suggestion, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrin Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 I believe what I'm thinking of is also called "midpoint displacement." I found a brief summary of how this concept works here just in case anyone reading this is a bit confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singapored Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I attach a link to an experiment. I managed to produce a coastline fractal thingy using Perlin noise then curves. Alternately use Hard Mix blend mode instead of curves. Both versions are shown. I then flattened and used Detect Edges, then inverted. This will give you a bitmap line. For a vector, just flatten and take to Illustrator and use Live Trace. This will give you paths. Or paste as a channel into PS and then convert to paths. http://opticalenquiry.com/files/COAST_LINE.afphoto.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrin Posted February 13, 2016 Author Share Posted February 13, 2016 I attach a link to an experiment. I managed to produce a coastline fractal thingy using Perlin noise then curves. Alternately use Hard Mix blend mode instead of curves. Both versions are shown. I then flattened and used Detect Edges, then inverted. This will give you a bitmap line. For a vector, just flatten and take to Illustrator and use Live Trace. This will give you paths. Or paste as a channel into PS and then convert to paths. Thanks again for your suggestion. However, I'm not looking for a workaround, though yours is interesting—I have one already. The problem is that any workaround that requires you to use a multitude of different applications for such a relatively simple purpose is very time-consuming and potentially expensive. Also, using vectors with midpoint displacement—like I'm suggesting—gives you complete control over the final coastline, whereas the perlin noise method is random. I'm not a programmer by any means, but from what I've read, midpoint displacement is quite a simple algorithm, and it sounds like it wouldn't be very difficult to implement—and the rewards would be great. This is why I'm putting this forth as a feature request. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singapored Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Thanks again for your suggestion. However, I'm not looking for a workaround, though yours is interesting—I have one already. The problem is that any workaround that requires you to use a multitude of different applications for such a relatively simple purpose is very time-consuming and potentially expensive. Also, using vectors with midpoint displacement—like I'm suggesting—gives you complete control over the final coastline, whereas the perlin noise method is random. I'm not a programmer by any means, but from what I've read, midpoint displacement is quite a simple algorithm, and it sounds like it wouldn't be very difficult to implement—and the rewards would be great. This is why I'm putting this forth as a feature request. Fair enough. I agree it would be a nice feature. I can image it being useful in many situations. I have seen something like it in high end compositing applications, but no where else. But these apps seem to be leading the field in image editing. Illustrator's Roughen effect does something like it, thought it does not look exactly like a fractal. Peregrin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrin Posted February 29, 2016 Author Share Posted February 29, 2016 Agreed. As you say, I think it would be very useful in many situations. I'll just upload a comparison visual I've made that I think highlights both the versatility and improved look using midpoint displacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrin Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 I just made this image illustrating how midpoint displacement could work with AD's corner tool: I think that even outside of mapmaking, the ability to make rough, jagged lines quickly would be really useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrhee Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 I know this thread is 4 years old, but I just stumbled across it in searching for a very similar need. Do you know if this or something similar ever made it into any later versions of Designer? (I certainly can't find it in 1.8, for what it's worth.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJRM Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 I was coming here to request the same feature. Being able to 'fractalise' a line, preferably with a slider and input box to specify how jagged it is between nodes, would make some drawing techniques possible that are just too tedious to do manually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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