Affinity Designer / Seamless Tiles - Suggestion / Alternative

[fjunk]

Affinity Designer could do better:

Adobe Illustrator (2 months ago (Recent)):

 

 

Not sure how Procreate does it or how it’s better than or just as good as Affinity Designer (for the iPad).

 

What Adobe Illustrator shows is that it could be much better.

 

I realize fully that it’s not the tool that makes the difference, it’s the user.  And, I’m not much of a user. That being said, better tools make for better use regardless of the user. Flint and wood shavings worked just fine before matches and matches before lighters.

 

A better tool might not make ineffective users that much better overnight. It would make the process a lot easier.  And, that would make good users, great users, and users like me, would make their lives easier in the process.  Adobe Illustrator demonstrates what could be.  And if they’re doing it, that means copycats could do it as well.  Probably not the same way, copyright and all that, but, better, their own way.  In the meantime, there’s what currently works with Affinity Designer.  But, if they could do shape builder, they can do better seamless tiles.

 

And better seamless tiles would improve process and quality.  

 

A good thing, yes?

[fjunk]

Ok, I've looked at Procreate's process:

https://catcoq.com/blog/how-to-make-a-seamless-pattern-in-procreate

it's comparably labor intensive.

[2ddpainter]

I'm not quite sure what you are looking for?
A way how to create a seamless pattern ?

Apart from using adobe illustrator ?

Its possible with Symbols in Affinity Designer
to create seamless patterns.

But the problem is, as far as I know, you can only
create Bitmap Pattern Fills in Affinity Designer.
In Procreate as well.
.
.
You mentioned the iPad, i think the option are a bit sparse
on the ipad. you can look at "iOrnament Pro" and "Amaziograph"
Also worth a look is "Nception - Distortion Effects" its a kind of
live mirroring via the ipad/iphone camera with could result in
interesting pattern.
Also only Bitmaps.
.
.
But to create true Vector based Pattern Fills PC/Mac is the only option
i guess. VectorStyler (PC/Mac) offers true Vector based pattern fills
and has many Tools to develope Patterns. There are some Examples
in the Tutorials section at the VS Forum.

[fjunk]

The process in both Procreate as well as Affinity is Labor Intensive compared to Adobe Illustrator.  And changing from one means Brick to Hexagon (for example) to another is much simpler.  There are more options available at a click.
 

Trying to get to the same points in Affinity Designer OR Procreate is just a far more labor intensive process.  For AI, for that matter, this process goes back to 2012, CS6.  Which means they've had it for awhile.  Affinity Designer, to be fair, hasn't been out that long by comparison - 2018 vs 2012 (for the AI Seamless Pattern process currently in use).

 

It can be done using Affinity Designer or Procreate, but, with AI, it's so much simpler, flexible.  If you watch the video, it's readily apparent.

It's not that it can't be done.  It's that it can be done better.  Just as with Shape Builder.  Adding it to Affinity Designer made doing the same things that used to be done without it so much easier, simpler.  Right now, it's a bit of a kludge.  There's room for improvement.
 

[fjunk]

This is from CS6, back as far as 2012.  

With Affinity it's more a procedural process.  By comparison, Adobe Illustrator has programmed it and created a menu for the process.

Less heavy lifting, easier to implement, easier to change.
 

 

[2ddpainter]

Forgot one App, as you mentioned "Procreate" (iPad).
I would take  "Paintstorm Studio" ( iPad /  PC / Mac / Linux)
instead for Pattern making.

Again only Bitmap Patterns are possible, because it
is a Painting App like Procreate.

But it has a seamless Mode for creating seamless Pattern.
A Symmetry and a nice Kaleidoscope Tool, so you got some
Tools to play with, for creating patterns.

And for 20.- Bucks on PC/Mac/LInux) and 13.- on iPad
there is nothing to complain.

Here theire Website
https://paintstormstudio.com/index.html

[Dazmondo77]

On 7/12/2021 at 8:48 AM, Dazmondo77 said:

Have you tried the Data Merge Vector Pattern workaround in publisher? it's helped me out a few times and is pretty useful although not available through Designer alone (I always use Designer via Publisher StudioLink for 95% --- game changer) see screen grab in practice

[fjunk]

Ok, I've looked at everything except Publisher.  Even as Publisher's explained, that I can tell, the patterns are within a square.  PaintStorm Studio and Procreate work predominantly with bitmaps and leave little room for designing outside the "box".

VectorStyler comes closest to Illustrator, has many creation and customization options.  I tried playing around with dynamic changes and that didn't work so well for me.  Affinity Designer has videos, as does Illustrator and Procreate.  VectorStyler could benefit greatly from more Youtube videos.  A thousand words really doesn't compare to a show'n'tell video.  Haven't looked in the VectorStyler Forum yet.

I don't think, maybe I'm wrong, would like to be, that Affinity Designer for that matter can create Styles or Presets, in Designer's case, I guess, swatches for Seamless Patterns.  Vector Styler can.

Seems VectorStyler ($ 99 when I bought it.  Even that compared against an Illustrator subscription is cheap.) and Designer would make a complementary team, but, VectorStyler is not as friendly as Designer.  Nor does it have the long history, tutorials, videos, and user base that Inkscape does.  I like tinkering with it for it's filters, blends - comparable to Illustrator, and Seamless Patterns - also comparable to Illustrator.

Could prove useful for laying down a pattern, exporting it into Designer and playing around with it there as well.

VectorStyler Patterns documentation:

https://www.vectorstyler.com/documentation/patterns/

Symbols, Styles and Presets:

https://www.vectorstyler.com/documentation/symbols/

Blends:

https://www.vectorstyler.com/documentation/blending/

and

Effects:

https://www.vectorstyler.com/documentation/shapeeffects/

VectorStyler has a Shape Builder Tool as well, but, I think Affinity Designer's is better.

Programmatic vs Procedural, when done right, and Illustrator certainly seems to have a corner on that market, can be a real productivity boost that doesn't get in the way of creation.  Vector Styler and Inkscape both do well in that regard.  The G'Mic tool for Gimp is another step in that direction for bitmaps.  I haven't been able to get it to work on my Mac, but Krita has it built in (and working) on a Mac.

Just some other possibilities.