Changing brushes in Affinity Photo following Digital Epigraphy standards

[Cassio Duarte]

Hello,

I'm new to the Affinity world and I need help changing brushes in Affinity Photo following the Digital Epigraphy method from the University of Chicago (which are for Photoshop): https://www.digital-epigraphy.com/tutorials/tidbits-of-the-digital-chicago-method-part-7-introducing-the-surveys-new-sun-shadow-brushes . I tried in the brush settings to make the line wide at the beginning and thin at the end, but I only managed to make it thin at both ends. Could someone please help me? 

 

 

On the 2'02" of the video tutorial on the same page (below) also shows a method using vector lines and enlarging them after in Photoshop. Is this also possible in Affinity Photo or Designer ???  If so, how could I do it?

Many thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

[thomaso]

Hi @Cassio Duarte, welcome to the Affinity forums!

Pressing the Option key when moving a basic node in the pressure curve editor enables you to move nodes individually. Clicking on the curve between existing nodes lets you add a new node.

[Cassio Duarte]

Thank you very much thomaso for your help! Following your guidance, I have now managed to make this adjustment with respect to the vector lines in Designer. However, I would like to know if it is also possible to do this in Affinity Photo/Designer with the raster brushes... I want the line to start out wide and get narrower towards the end. Is there any way to control this line?

With regard to Designer, is it possible to move the points of the line path so as to "fatten" the contours at specific points, as shown in the video I mentioned? I don't want something pre-set but a feature that I can use to sculpt the line at certain points.

 

Thanks very much once again!

[thomaso]

19 minutes ago, Cassio Duarte said:

with the raster brushes... I want the line to start out wide and get narrower towards the end. Is there any way to control this line?

You can set this property for a pixel brush, too, but of course only before drawing a line, not to edit its pressure curve after drawing.

Regarding your video I must admit I don't understand what is going on at your mentioned around time 2:02 min. The result looks like a copy of the initial curve with some nodes moved slightly. If that's the workflow you can do it easily in Affinity, too. The name "sun shadow" might imply that a shadow effect is involved. Though Affinity offers shadow effect, too, the workaround is quite different and might require an additional mask if it should get created for parts of a layer only.

[Old Bruce]

28 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Regarding your video I must admit I don't understand what is going on at your mentioned around time 2:02 min. The result looks like a copy of the initial curve with some nodes moved slightly.

I think what is happening is one of the edges is being dragged out so as to thicken the stroke there. Similar result to editing the Pressure Curve in the Stroke panel except he can thicken as well as thin the stroke along the length. Finer control as well, no guessing as to where the resulting change will take place.

But I too find it difficult to understand what he is actually trying to achieve and why.

[Cassio Duarte]

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

You can set this property for a pixel brush, too, but of course only before drawing a line, not to edit its pressure curve after drawing.

 

👍 Thanks!

 

[Cassio Duarte]

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

Regarding your video I must admit I don't understand what is going on at your mentioned around time 2:02 min. The result looks like a copy of the initial curve with some nodes moved slightly. If that's the workflow you can do it easily in Affinity, too. The name "sun shadow" might imply that a shadow effect is involved. Though Affinity offers shadow effect, too, the workaround is quite different and might require an additional mask if it should get created for parts of a layer only.

The name "Sun Shadow" is just a technical appeal for the illustration of reliefs where the thicker line indicates the direction of the light. The illustrations follow a pattern that was standardized by Chicago House when representing Egyptian reliefs for a two-dimensional projection.

[Cassio Duarte]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

I think what is happening is one of the edges is being dragged out so as to thicken the stroke there. Similar result to editing the Pressure Curve in the Stroke panel except he can thicken as well as thin the stroke along the length. Finer control as well, no guessing as to where the resulting change will take place.

But I too find it difficult to understand what he is actually trying to achieve and why.

As I'm only just getting used to digital illustration and have never dealt with the Adobe package, I don't know if this is a feature that Affinity Designer doesn't have... To me it looked like some kind of displacement of the nodes, but perhaps, as @thomaso said, it's actually a copy of the line that has been moved and added to the previous one.

[thomaso]

3 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

one of the edges is being dragged

At about 2:02 min I don't see any "edges", just a single, open curve with a black stroke. – But possible "edge" is what the OP is looking for (without saying or knowing it?), for instance "Expand Stroke" + editing with "Transform Mode"… ?

1 hour ago, Cassio Duarte said:

the thicker line indicates the direction of the light. The illustrations follow a pattern that was standardized by Chicago House when representing Egyptian reliefs for a two-dimensional projection.

If that's the case then this workflow of slightly moving individual nodes appears rather cumbersome than appealing.

1 hour ago, Cassio Duarte said:

As I'm only just getting used to digital illustration and have never dealt with the Adobe package, I don't know if this is a feature that Affinity Designer doesn't have

It may be more useful and efficient to ask in the forum for directions to a specific design/look/appearance you want to achieve – rather than asking if a few workflow steps can be done while the goal of that workflow is unclear.

[Cassio Duarte]

19 hours ago, thomaso said:

At about 2:02 min I don't see any "edges", just a single, open curve with a black stroke. – But possible "edge" is what the OP is looking for (without saying or knowing it?), for instance "Expand Stroke" + editing with "Transform Mode"… ?

If that's the case then this workflow of slightly moving individual nodes appears rather cumbersome than appealing.

It may be more useful and efficient to ask in the forum for directions to a specific design/look/appearance you want to achieve – rather than asking if a few workflow steps can be done while the goal of that workflow is unclear.

Dear @thomaso

Perfect! Thank you!