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Draw a spring or wavy line; add arrow to middle of curve.


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Is there a tool for drawing wavy lines or springs; right now I have to use the pen tool to make one link and concatenate, but the results are a strong function of the ability of the person drawing the curve (mine aren't great).

 

If there is no foolproof way of drawing such curves accurately, can I request that you include such a tool? This motif comes up regularly while making scientific diagrams.

 

I read in another thread that the ability to add arrows to the beginning and end of a curve is on the future app development roadmap. Can I add a request for also including the ability to add an arrow to the middle of a curve?

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Hi idraw,

Here's a quick way to draw consistent wavy lines. The same technique can be applied for springs.

This isn't intended to devalue your request for a precise geometric tool for this kind of needs, which i agree it's quite useful.

It's just a way to help you solve the problem with the available tools/resources we have at the moment.

waves.mov

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That's great MEB. Never would have thought of that approach.

 

Still looking forward to warping or distort tools or panel effects, so we can interactively find that perfect curve, add curves, maybe tweak using a curve or profile...

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I remember using that method but instead of having to place the points of the curve in the grid, I started out with a straight line and used the "Create Points" command. It would "split" every segment of a curve in two, creating additional points. So, a curve with N points would become a curve with (N*2)-1 points.

Then I would select every other point, displace them and then turn all the handles to smooth.

 

If we had scripting in Affinity Designer it would be too easy to implement a wavy curve from a selected curve. We could even define how many waves and the amplitude. Hint, hint ;-)

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Hi idraw,

Here's a quick way to draw consistent wavy lines. The same technique can be applied for springs.

This isn't intended to devalue your request for a precise geometric tool for this kind of needs, which i agree it's quite useful.

It's just a way to help you solve the problem with the available tools/resources we have at the moment.

Nice demo MEB, what app did you use to record the screen shots?

MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6

 

http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111

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  • 6 months later...
  • 4 months later...

I have a questions which sort of tags on to this... 

 

I am trying to create a ribbon type effect that spirals upwards (Or downwards depending on which way you look at it  :P ). This ribbon will need to have varying width as it rises upwards and will also need to have breaks in it for me to insert another image in between the breaks. What would be the best way to create the ribbon ?

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  • 2 years later...
  • 3 months later...
Quote

All those tools will be coming for sure. They are fundamental in a vector app. Affinity Design would never be able to present itself as an alternative for professional illustration (read Illustrator) if it didn't have them.

I agree - but it's four years down the line and we're still waiting! 

Seems a long time for fundamental tools, which should have been there from the start.

I get the feeling they won't be added until version 2, when Serif can charge us for them!

 

Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz :  32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home
Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad

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On 10/10/2014 at 2:05 AM, MEB said:

Hi idraw,

Here's a quick way to draw consistent wavy lines. The same technique can be applied for springs.

This isn't intended to devalue your request for a precise geometric tool for this kind of needs, which i agree it's quite useful.

It's just a way to help you solve the problem with the available tools/resources we have at the moment.

waves.mov

 Hate to resurrect this thread. Apparently this tut is gone. Link does not work. Is there a new or easier way to draw a consistent curve? 

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1 hour ago, DutchDude said:

Where's the facepalm emoji when you need it.

It’s here: duh.gif

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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8 hours ago, MEB said:

Here's the video. It's a bit old (recorded with an older version of Designer) but the principle still applies:

With this procedure, the curvature of the two end nodes don't match the curvature of the others after the conversion to smooth nodes. For some uses, this isn't desirable, but a simple modification will fix that:

468124425_wavyduphack.jpg.7fe8a6b6c26434a5bf9841879164df36.jpg

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
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1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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