Please add pattern overlays to FX panel

[JohnG]

I think I am "almost" to the point where I can assign Photoshop to my personal ashcan of history… ALMOST. For several years, I have had a few stylized fonts that I use repeatedly, in different documents (book covers, business cards, posters, banners, social media posts, etc.).. These fonts make use of several FX features.

Until now, I have had a lot of difficulty in duplicating or even coming reasonably close to the fonts that I created in Photoshop. I have finally managed to get very close to the original fonts created in Photoshop. However, it's not nearly as easy a process as it was in Photoshop. In Photoshop, I would type and size the text, click on a style, and move on to the rest of my design. That does not appear to be possible for two reasons.

The first reason is that Affinity Photo does not have pattern overlays in the FX panel. The second is that applying a curves layer within the 3D panel applies only to the surface and there is no way to apply curves to the outline. So in Affinity, this is my process.

1) I type my text (or create some other object to be stylized). [image 1]

2) I apply my saved style from the styles panel. [image 2]

3) I have to copy or drag my pattern into my document, below the layer that I am operating on. [image 3]

4) I have to click on the layer I'm operation on and mask to below. [image 4]

5) Finally, I have to apply a curves adjustment layer to the object/text layer. (In order to make the font look exactly the same each time I use it, I have to open a file that contains that curves adjustment layer and copy the adjustment layer to my new document, thus insuring that the curve is exactly the same as I used in prior documents. [image 5]

The final result is in image 6.

Before anyone comments that I could put that curve in the FX style, using the 3D panel, let me point out that placing the curve in the 3D panel only affects the surface of the object/font and NOT the outline (which appears to be a bevel). The only way to make a curve adjustment to the entire object/font is to do it with an adjustment layer over the whole object/font layer. Compare image 6 (done with a curves adjustment layer) and image 7 (done with a 3D panel curve in FX).

You can see that the outline is not affected by the 3D technique.

The problem is that every time I create a new document with new text, I have to go through this whole process, where it should be able to be done with a single click of a style icon. I also do this with a shiny chrome or brushed chrome look and in each case, I should be able to just type the text, click on the style, and move on th the rest of the image. It also means that I cannot create styles that I can sell to others, as an add-on, as i have done with Photoshop styles, in the past.

Affinity Photo and Designer need to have a feature where a pattern overlay is part of the FX panel and there needs to be a way to have curves within FX can be applied to the outline or to the whole object – not just the surface of the object.

[Circulus]

Or make use of the assetspanel in combination with the fill/gradienttool.
See video: