How to use shape as cutout mask of another shape

[rawalanche]

Hi,

I am using Affinity Photo 1.10 and I can't figure out the most simple task of masking out shape with another shape. I have this setup:

White circle, black cross. Both are live shapes that can be edited. I want to use the cross to cut a hole in the white circle, so the white circle is transparent where the black cross is. I can't figure out how to do that while keeping the both shapes live and editable. 

 

[David in Яuislip]

Select Star & Ellipse layers
<alt>Subtract

[rawalanche]

13 minutes ago, David in Яuislip said:

Select Star & Ellipse layers
<alt>Subtract

What do you mean <alt>Subtract? Like alt+minus key, or what?

[v_kyr]

6 minutes ago, rawalanche said:

What do you mean <alt>Subtract? Like alt+minus key, or what?

Probably, alternatively perform a geometrical subtract of a copy of both selected shapes.

[rawalanche]

10 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Probably, alternatively perform a geometrical subtract of a copy of both selected shapes.

This is what I want to avoid, that's why I explicitly wrote in my original post that I want both shapes to remain live so I can edit them. I know of geometry>subtract but that one collapses the live shapes into curves which can no longer be edited parametrically. Alt+minus key does nothing on my side. 

[v_kyr]

31 minutes ago, rawalanche said:

Alt+minus key does nothing on my side. 

Well David in Яuislip didn't said alt+minus key, that was just your guessing interpretation of what IMO wasn't meant here.

[NotMyFault]

Use compound shapes to get live / editable shapes.

https://affinity.help/photo2/en-US.lproj/pages/CurvesShapes/compound.html

[rawalanche]

I still can not find it:

[firstdefence]

Using the menu, this creates a curves layer, note the plural curves not curve, this means you can undo and separate the curves if you want or need to.

• Make sure the black X  is above the white circle in the layers panel
• Next, select both layers in the layer panel
• Use Layer > Geometry > Subtract 

Using keyboard shortcuts, this creates a compound.

• Make sure the black X  is above the white circle in the layers panel
• Next, select both layers in the layer panel
• On the top menu, Press and hold the ALT key on the keyboard and click on the subtract icon (see image below)

 

Result of the first method, creating a single curves layer.

Result of second method, notice the shapes are now nested in a special group called compound and the square star now has an attribute of subtract indicated by the blue square and minus sign in the layers panel.

 

[rawalanche]

12 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Using the menu, this creates a curves layer, note the plural curves not curve, this means you can undo and separate the curves if you want or need to.

• Make sure the black X  is above the white circle in the layers panel
• Next, select both layers in the layer panel
• Use Layer > Geometry > Subtract 

Using keyboard shortcuts, this creates a compound.

• Make sure the black X  is above the white circle in the layers panel
• Next, select both layers in the layer panel
• On the top menu, Press and hold the ALT key on the keyboard and click on the subtract icon (see image below)

This works, thanks! But:

Is this really only procedure to achieve this result? Surely there must be some other route to create compounds. I mean first of all, the geometry operations icon bar is not even displayed out of the box in fresh installation. One has to customize toolbar to add it. Secondly, there's no indication anywhere in the software (still using v 1.10) that compounds feature even exists, and there's nothing in the tooltips of the (by default hidden) geometry operations toolbar to imply it behaves differently with Alt key held down.

If this super hidden way is the only way to do it, then this is a disaster from the UX standpoint. 

[v_kyr]

5 minutes ago, rawalanche said:

Is this really only procedure to achieve this result? Surely there must be some other route to create compounds. ...

You're in APh v1 where these things are slightly hidden per se, thus it a little bit tricky there to get compounds. - In ADe v1 the whole is more obvious, as there's an explicite layers menu entry for creating compounds and the geometry icons are as default there etc. - So if you have ADe v1 too, then use that instead!

[carl123]

Won't just setting the blend mode of the square star from Normal to Erase do what you want?

 

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, carl123 said:

Won't just setting the blend mode of the square star from Normal to Erase do what you want?

But it will cause rasterization on Export, which may not be desirable.

[firstdefence]

 

11 hours ago, rawalanche said:

Is this really only procedure to achieve this result? Surely there must be some other route to create compounds.

I have set keyboard shortcuts, so to create a compound I use Control + C to release the compound I use Shift + Control + C, the only issue with this is it always defaults to a boolean of Geometry: Add and you have to change the boolean within the compound to the boolean of your choice, this is where the Alt key and click on the selected boolean option becomes a faster method.