Picture Frames

[Gill Brooks]

Is there any way to create a picture frame to work in the same way they used to in Craft Artist?  

Using PNG with transparency, in Publisher, it simply converts it to a square frame (tried both just converting to frame, and converting to curves,then convert to frame.

Attached is a screenshot of how it works in Craft Artist (yes I still have it installed and still use it !!

[v_kyr]

Don't know Craft Artist, but you can always create your own (or reuse some third-party one) frame style (as vectors or raster/bitmap graphics) and clip an image to that. - For different frame types etc. see for example this thread  ...

 

And for reusable storyboards & frames etc. take a look at/over ...

• The CoffeeShop Blog - Photo Storyboards & Frames

... you can reuse most of the stuff from there in Affinity apps too.

[thomaso]

3 hours ago, Gill Brooks said:

Using PNG with transparency, in Publisher, it simply converts it to a square frame

If your frame PNG is transparent in the center (coloured dog's area) you can use it as 'window' in APub, too, regardless of its frame shape or design.

[Gill Brooks]

Craft Artist 2 is a Serif programme which is why I wondered why the same couldn't be implemented into Affinity.   I'll have to carry on using CA2 to get the results that I want without the hassle and just export from there as PNG to bring into Affinity.....unless the team at Serif think it's a good idea to bring that function in 

[Gill Brooks]

13 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Don't know Craft Artist, but you can always create your own (or reuse some third-party one) frame style (as vectors or raster/bitmap graphics) and clip an image to that. - For different frame types etc. see for example this thread  ...

 

And for reusable storyboards & frames etc. take a look at/over ...

• The CoffeeShop Blog - Photo Storyboards & Frames

... you can reuse most of the stuff from there in Affinity apps too.

The screenshot is one of my own frames.  It just works differently in Craft Artist to Affinity

[walt.farrell]

45 minutes ago, Gill Brooks said:

It just works differently in Craft Artist to Affinity

Many of us probably have no idea how it works in Craft Artist.

Can you describe the problem you're having in Publisher, in detail? Perhaps provide a sample document and say what you'd like to be different?

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Gill Brooks said:

one of my own frames.  It just works differently in Craft Artist to Affinity

Can you upload this (or any of your used) PNG files to enable us to experience your Affinity experience?

I still can't imagine a problem with transparency, while your note "simply converts it to a square frame" is ambiguous: it may refer to the illustration content or to the Affinity layer type or simply to a selection bounding box (which always is rectangular in APub but fully independent of the content of an image or the layer type or the placed file type).

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

in Publisher

... and why in Publisher? It probably won't matter - the Affinity applications are functionally quite substitutable, but it seems to me that APhoto would be more suitable for editing and framing photos.

[walt.farrell]

21 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

... and why in Publisher? It probably won't matter - the Affinity applications are functionally quite substitutable, but it seems to me that APhoto would be more suitable for editing and framing photos.

Because only Publisher has "Picture Frames", as a concept/implementation.

[Gill Brooks]

In reply to some of the above, I am going to show 3 screenshots. 1st is using the frame tool in Serif Craft Artist 2 (now discontinued).  It creates the frame and the image is placed within it behind the image used to make the frame, the second screenshot is taking the same frame image into Publisher and converting it to a frame (duplicated so that you can see the original PNG with transparency, and how it's simply converted it to a rectangular frame, and the 3rd is showing the image placed in said frame.

To be honest, unless you are familiar with Serif Craft Artist, it really is pointless replying as what I'm looking for is the same ability in Publisher.  Yes, I can use Craft Artist to get the result that I want, but it means to-ing and fro-ing between programmes.  As we have the ability to create frames in Publisher, it would have been advantageous to have continued the feature.

[Oufti]

Frame seems not to have the same meaning in Craft Artist and Affinity… 

So you won't find what is in the left panel in CA, but you can achieve the same. E.g. as shown by @thomaso.

[Gill Brooks]

1 minute ago, Oufti said:

Frame seems not to have the same meaning in Craft Artist and Affinity… 

So you won't find what is in the left panel in CA, but you can achieve the same. E.g. as shown by @thomaso.

That is shown in my images #2 & 3.  Desont' work the same

[Pšenda]

56 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Because only Publisher has "Picture Frames"

Yes - but what is a Picture Frame necessary for? For some reason it doesn't suit the OP anyway, so what is its necessity for the purpose?

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Yes - but what is a Picture Frame necessary for? For some reason it doesn't suit the OP anyway, so what is its necessity for the purpose?

It may suit the OP, if we understand what the OP is asking for, or it may not. I don't understand, because I have no idea what Craft Artist does, and thus no idea what the OP is looking for.

But since the OP used the term Picture Frame, I have, too.

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Gill Brooks said:

the second screenshot is taking the same frame image into Publisher and converting it to a frame (duplicated so that you can see the original PNG with transparency, and how it's simply converted it to a rectangular frame

Something went wrong. How did you convert the image to a Picture Frame? Can you show a screenshot with this two objects in your APub layout together with the Layers Panel while you have the image selected with the Move Tool and the Picture Frame layer unfolded?

Below a sample how it can be done in APub: Once the frame image became nested correctly inside the Picture Frame Layer the second image may get placed below as second child layer of the Picture Frame. Like so:

To avoid any "flickering" in the uneven, not rectangular outer edge of your 'frame'-image you might need an additional step (e.g. if the second image is too large). Then for instance you can crop the second image with a separate, nested object, (e.g. with a rectangle via Vector Crop Tool, or any other shape), like so:

However, if you need or prefer an identical workflow as in Craft Artist you might rather stay with the known app – whereas I don't know Craft Artist and its explicit steps and options. Does it like APub offer the special interface of a Picture Frame to scale or move content? If yes, with the workflow shown above this APub feature might feel limited in its function because it works only for the main child (your 'frame' image, the one with the square icon in its thumbnail corner) while the second image would ge scaled or moved as usual with the Move Tool.

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Gill Brooks said:

It creates the frame and the image is placed within it behind the image used to make the frame,

By the way & just in case: You don't need to use the APub object type "Picture Frame". (since it is unclear how you use the term "picture frame": Is it the visual impression of a stylish boundary – or is it rather the technical term of APub's layer type?)

Especially if your second image matches with the 'window' in your 'frame'-image then it is sufficient to position the two images in the layout correctly and have the layer hierarchy accordingly. ('photo' layer below 'frame-image' layer). This example is shown in my first screenshot.

[Gill Brooks]

34 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Yes - but what is a Picture Frame necessary for? For some reason it doesn't suit the OP anyway, so what is its necessity for the purpose?

Similar to the original image posted in this thread, and the later one, again done in CA2 - I WANT this kind of frame for the work that I am doing.

[Gill Brooks]

31 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Something went wrong. How did you convert the image to a Picture Frame? Can you show a screenshot with this two objects in your APub layout together with the Layers Panel while you have the image selected with the Move Tool and the Picture Frame layer unfolded?

Below a sample how it can be done in APub: Once the frame image became nested correctly inside the Picture Frame Layer the second image may get placed below as second child layer of the Picture Frame. Like so:

To avoid any "flickering" in the uneven, not rectangular outer edge of your 'frame'-image you might need an additional step (e.g. if the second image is too large). Then for instance you can crop the second image with a separate, nested object, (e.g. with a rectangle via Vector Crop Tool, or any other shape), like so:

However, if you need or prefer an identical workflow as in Craft Artist you might rather stay with the known app – whereas I don't know Craft Artist and its explicit steps and options. Does it like APub offer the special interface of a Picture Frame to scale or move content? If yes, with the workflow shown above this APub feature might feel limited in its function because it works only for the main child (your 'frame' image, the one with the square icon in its thumbnail corner) while the second image would ge scaled or moved as usual with the Move Tool.

Yes, that worked at treat.  

Obviously, unless they bring this freature in then I shall have to switch between programmes. 

[thomaso]

18 hours ago, Gill Brooks said:

Is there any way to create a picture frame to work in the same way

What do you mean or want: ANY way or SAME way?

36 minutes ago, Gill Brooks said:

Desont' work the same

Just now, Gill Brooks said:

I WANT this kind of frame

Wow. To me your request gets more and more confusing. While you still don't tell what exactly "this" kind of "frame" is like, and what element exactly is the "frame" in this case and workflow.

In case you need it to be the same way then this thread appears useless – because if APub would offer the same way you would have experienced it accordingly. So I am not sure for what goal you created this thread / what answer you expect.

[Pšenda]

37 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

But since the OP used the term Picture Frame, I have, too.

Sorry, but I didn't ask about the availability of the Picture Frame function, but why APublisher is necessary for the given task - i.e. adding a frame to a photo.

 

7 minutes ago, Gill Brooks said:

I WANT this kind of frame for the work that I am doing.

Although I am not familiar with the mentioned application, I understand that you want a tool for adding frames to photos. Personally, however, I would expect APhoto, i.e. a photo editor, to be supplemented with a similar function rather than APublisher.

I think you have confused the meaning of Picture Frame a bit. The word "Frame" does not mean that the picture will be supplemented with a frame (and in my opinion it should not be expected), because it is a frame in which the photo/picture is inserted.

[Gill Brooks]

12 minutes ago, thomaso said:

What do you mean or want: ANY way or SAME way?

Wow. To me your request gets more and more confusing. While you still don't tell what exactly "this" kind of "frame" is like, and what element exactly is the "frame" in this case and workflow.

In case you need it to be the same way then this thread appears useless – because if APub would offer the same way you would have experienced it accordingly. So I am not sure for what goal you created this thread / what answer you expect.

I don't want the exact picture frame per se, I want the workflow of doing it in that way as it was done in CA2.  If you are unfamiliar with this concept, then I suggest you watch this - 

 

Yes, I have found a way of getting a similar result in Publisher by creating my own frames using curves in Designer and converting it to a frame, then placing both images in the frame, but when I have deadlines to meet, this is very time consuming. 

And to be frank, some of your replies and questioning my requirements are a little rude.

 

[Oufti]

Outside of your "scratchy black frame", it must be opaque, not transparent. 

Color that part of your "frame" image, leaving only the inside rectangle transparent. 

[Pšenda]

12 minutes ago, Oufti said:

Outside of your "scratchy black frame", it must be opaque, not transparent. 

... or draw rectangle into frame, and image clipped into rectangle.

[Gill Brooks]

16 minutes ago, Oufti said:

Outside of your "scratchy black frame", it must be opaque, not transparent. 

Color that part of your "frame" image, leaving only the inside rectangle transparent. 

Thanks   In theory, I thought that would work, but it just gave the same results as previously.

[Gill Brooks]

3 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

... or draw rectangle into frame, and image clipped into rectangle.

That's basically what I did, but rather than a rectangle, I used curves, as not all of the frames that I have made are rectangular.  Many are very odd shapes.  Same principle though.  Thanks