Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Starburst lines (for shading)


Recommended Posts

This was very difficult to do, and the results are not quite satisfactory. I wanted to draw a starburst of individual lines for a shading effect - you sometimes see this in cartoons. After several attempts, I used the Star Tool, set the number of points to 60, inner circle radius to 0%, outer circle to 55%. Then I superimposed a Circle (Ellipse Tool), selected all, and used Divide to break it up. But all the radiating lines were joined at the ends! Finally I found the center point of the circle and marked it; deleted all but two sections, eliminated the attaching lines at the ends of one section, grouped those two lines, dragged their center point to the center mark, duplicated the group, rotated it to match the other remaining section, duplicated that with transformation to fill out a semicircle, and finally deleted the unneeded section from before. That is a LOT of work, and the starburst isn't all that satisfactory.

 

Is there an easier way to do something like this?

 

 

Half Starburst.afdesign

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure of the exact effect you want but if you are using a star shape as the starting point & you do not want the lines to be joined at their inner ends after doing the Divide, you should set the star's inner radius to something larger than 0% but smaller than the circle's size. That way, the Divide operation will create a set of shapes inside the circle's size & another set outside of it. Use the Move tool to select the inner ones & delete them & you should be left with a set of unconnected, closed shapes outside the circle's size.

 

The deletions will be easier to do if you check the "Select object when intersects with selection marquee" box in the Tools preferences. That way you can draw a marquee with the Move tool starting from an empty spot on the inside set & select several of them at once to delete.

 

This will create closed shapes instead of lines but that may be desirable since you can set their strokes to none & (for example) use fx like Gaussian blur or Outer Glow to get different looks.

 

Another way to do this which works particularly well if you just want strokes (lines) instead of closed shapes is to use the pen tool to create one vertical line with two nodes (using the polygon or line mode of that tool). Move its center point to a location somewhere directly below the lower node & press cmd + J to duplicate it. Using the Move tool's rotate handle, carefully rotate the second line by the angle you want between the lines -- for example 6° for 60 lines for a full starburst or for 30 lines for a ½ starburst. Now keep tapping cmd+J to power duplicate the line 30, 60, or whatever times.

 

There is a simpler way to do the same thing using power duplicate that works for even numbers of radiating lines (or shapes) that involves duplicating the first line, offsetting it & flipping or rotating it as necessary to make a mirror image, & selecting both shapes. This automatically places the center point for rotation equidistant between them, so you can then duplicate the selected pair & use the Shift key to snap the duplicated pair's rotation to some 15° increment & power duplicate from there to complete the starburst.

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
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately, the Divide operation seems to be still somewhat buggy …  :(

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/16941-divide-tool-issue-in-ad/

 

But I must say, I would not use the Star Tool, but the Cog Tool for your purpose. That gives you much more control about the shape, and there is no need to superimpose other shapes and delete lines afterwards, since the single rays will be perfect little rectangles. Furthermore, division will work like a charm. Please have a look at my examples below.

 

Hope that makes sense …  :)

Alex

Cog_Tool.afdesign

Cog_Tool_Divided.afdesign

post-1198-0-11033100-1459155072_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel I agree with RCR that using a line from the pen tool with power rotation is my preferred method for getting the result you described.  I like using the opposite lines as the most flexible.  The example I did was of a single line, using a circle as a guide for the inner point of the line and the rotation point.  Of course the caveat is that there is no right nor wrong method.  Experiment and see which one you prefer.

sun_rays.afdesign

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still prefer the power duplicate method as the most flexible of those mentioned here. For one thing, while the Cog tool method is fine if you want the rays to be closed rectangular shapes, if you want them either to be unfilled curved or straight lines, or to be composed of some other closed shape, it is a no go.

 

Using power duplicate with opposing lines or shapes is fine if you want an even number of rays; otherwise it may require using an offset center point, a bit of simple math, & careful rotation of the first duplicate to get the desired result, something like this:

post-3524-0-80939300-1459162841_thumb.png

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
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, everybody. I think the Power Duplicate method is most likely to get me the result I want. ABC, thanks for the note about the Cog Tool. It might work better for me than the Star Tool. 

 

I don't want closed shapes at this point. If I want some really unusual shapes in the mix, then I might try using closed shapes. Right now I'm after separate lines.

 

Thanks again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, this is the closest I have gotten so far. Star tool set to 60 points, inner radius 0. Mask with Ellipse tool set to Donut; duplicate layer, rotate slightly, adjust Donut Mask. It doesn't let me customize the strokes, which I would like to do; but it's much better than my earliest attempt.

Sunburst.afdesign

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi cadobir,

 

if you want to style the single strokes, I would also suggest the Power Duplicate method. Unfortunately, the main problem with this method seems to be that we cannot input numeric rotation values as soon as we move the rotation centre. But to circumvent this, you can simply create two aligned paths of equal length, symmetric around the intended rotation centre, select both, and duplicate and rotate the whole selection by entering numeric values on the Transform Panel. Afterwards you can select all your paths and apply a pressure profile or whatever styling you like.

 

Cheers,

Alex  :)

post-1198-0-05418600-1459197882_thumb.png

post-1198-0-26184700-1459197887_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.