How can I offset the path of an object?

[MEB]

Hi erikmh, deebz,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
This is currently being worked for an upcoming version (probably 1.8 i don't know for sure). Matt P. (one of the devs) already post a small teaser on Twitter (see here).

[mazarin]

On 8/23/2019 at 8:40 AM, Igull said:

LOL, I come back to the Designer forum every few months to see where this wonderful tool is that is to arrive 'one day soon' and here we are in late 2019 - 5 years later - and the 'contour tool' (AKA Offset Tool) is nowhere to be seen. Buying Designer for both platforms has literally been a waste of money for me for this very reason - I should have put the funds to good use and put them to a subscription to Illustrator for yet another year 

What's even more annoying is that there is no mention of it in any future release either (AFAICS ?) - real shame, I had really wanted to ditch the adobe connection forever, but never to be it seems 

I personally think that a lot of people bought Affinity Designer during the last 5 years, really wanting to replace Adobe Illustrator, but most people do not use it, simply because it lacks basic drawing features. 5 Years ago I thought it was a great and promising piece of software, and I still think it is, but I can't see why developers can't seat with experienced graphic designers and illustrators and see why they can't fully migrate from Adobe Illustrator to Affinity Designer: A big part of the answer is in the vector drawing basics. Something certainly easier to work on than many of the fancy features we got since version 1.

[Petar Petrenko]

11 hours ago, MEB said:

Hi erikmh, deebz,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
This is currently being worked for an upcoming version (probably 1.8 i don't know for sure). Matt P. (one of the devs) already post a small teaser on Twitter (see here).

Thanks, MEB. It's really great. But, as I can see from the clip, we should have to convert text to path first. Is it supposed to work on a live text, too?

[MEB]

Hi Petar,

I don't know for sure at this point. Probably it will work with live text as long as you don't need to edit the shapes of the letters which is what Matt did on the clip posted on twitter. In these cases you will have to convert the text to curves first to be able to edit/change/distort the letters. Will have to check that out.

[JonnyFartPants]

On 9/10/2015 at 1:59 PM, JB75 said:

I am new to this software, and was very surprised not to see an offset option.  This is key for anyone (like me) that is working on footwear and/or control drawings.  As many of you know Vector tools are heavily used in the apparel and footwear industries, offset is important for stitch-lines!  Please add this, as it shouldn't be a tremendously complex item.

Me too, I create stickers and t-shirts using a Roland versacam so I have now got to work out how to do an offset path but I also need a unite feature (pathfinder), so I can select all > unite > copy and paste on to new layer > minus offset path > Stroke with CutContour using a named spot colour. This was we can cut around our stickers or or perf cut right through them

[ivan.dedos]

On 2/3/2020 at 12:05 PM, MEB said:

Hi erikmh, deebz,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
This is currently being worked for an upcoming version (probably 1.8 i don't know for sure). Matt P. (one of the devs) already post a small teaser on Twitter (see here).

👍🏼

[ivan.dedos]

On 2/3/2020 at 12:05 PM, MEB said:

Hi erikmh, deebz,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
This is currently being worked for an upcoming version (probably 1.8 i don't know for sure). Matt P. (one of the devs) already post a small teaser on Twitter (see here).

when will it be ready? any idea?

Cheer up guys!

[MEB]

Hi ivan.dedos,
There's no eta for this, sorry. It will be implemented/available as soon as it's ready (hopefully for 1.8).

[Jowday]

On 10/12/2014 at 8:22 PM, MattP said:

We already have a contour tool in the back-end, and it's interactive - but it's just not finished properly at the moment... expect one to arrive one day soon!

Just for the expectations alignment

• From and including: Sunday, 12 October 2014
• To, but not including Thursday, 30 April 2020

Result: 2027 days

• It is 2027 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date.
• Or 5 years, 6 months, 18 days excluding the end date.
• Or 66 months, 18 days excluding the end date.

😀

[ivan.dedos]

8 minutes ago, Jowday said:

Just for the expectations alignment

• From and including: Sunday, 12 October 2014
• To, but not including Thursday, 30 April 2020

Result: 2027 days

• It is 2027 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date.
• Or 5 years, 6 months, 18 days excluding the end date.
• Or 66 months, 18 days excluding the end date.

😀

Wow! the numbers do not lie, and they are very realistic, although sometimes they seem cruel. there are many, many, many days ...

[motulist]

When is offset coming to the ipad version of designer? The offset tool is a crucial part of my workflow and i can't switch to affinity without it. 

[MEB]

Hi motulist,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
The live contour tool is still being worked/tested. It wasn't ready for 1.8 release, sorry. It will appear in the Customer Betas as soon as it's ready (no eta).
 

[ivan.dedos]

13 hours ago, MEB said:

Hi motulist,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
The live contour tool is still being worked/tested. It wasn't ready for 1.8 release, sorry. It will appear in the Customer Betas as soon as it's ready (no eta).
 

This is good news, thanks for replying.

[lepr]

Same old story. At least another five years to wait, I reckon. Please prove me wrong, Serif.

[ashf]

13 hours ago, MEB said:

Hi motulist,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
The live contour tool is still being worked/tested. It wasn't ready for 1.8 release, sorry. It will appear in the Customer Betas as soon as it's ready (no eta).
 

Wow, which beta you mean? 1.8.x beta or 1.9 beta?

[lepr]

Just now, ashf said:

Wow, which beta you mean? 1.8.x beta or 1.9 beta?

 3.9 beta if we're lucky.

[ashf]

Just now, anon2 said:

 3.9 beta if we're lucky.

lol. like Affinity CC 2049?

[waveman777]

6 years later.... still no "Offset Path" option.... not nice...

When I invested in AD years ago, I was hoping for the best, as at that time AD was really evolving fast. Still no chance to have a decent workflow in AD because it's lacking the most basic and crucial tools. 

😞

[ivan.dedos]

I do not want to lose hope, but time wants me snatch.

[amphioxus]

Any news on this feature?  For me, the lack of an easy path offset tool has become the single-most annoyance about Affinity Designer.

I'm currently planning a design that needs many offset paths, and the workaround using stroke thickness is just too cumbersome. Guess I'll have to start the basic drawing in Inkscape on my Linux machine, which does have this capability. (Or go back to Illustrator for a few months. I'd rather not, though.) 

Other than that, I really love using Designer on my Mac. And the iPad version is pretty nifty too! But I've been coming back to this old thread way too many times... and it's a bit cruel to get our hopes up with that awesome demo of just such a tool on twitter a while back

[ivan.dedos]

23 minutes ago, amphioxus said:

and it's a bit cruel to get our hopes up with that awesome demo of just such a tool on twitter a while back

X2 

It's funny, or ridiculous of me, but I want to confess that I have gone to that twitter thread sometimes too, just to see that function. 🤣...😀...😣.......😭

[Alfred]

6 minutes ago, BofG said:

.. of course it's not a fixed date,  just 'soon' once again.

It clearly isn’t going to be that soon if it’s “checked in to the codebase for 1.9” and we’re currently at 1.8.x with ongoing customer betas.

[ra.skill]

+1 for this feature
I assume I'll be able to enter a specific measurement for "offset path" video didn't show this.
Look forward to this feature

[firstdefence]

In the Mac version of Affinity Designer beta 1.9.0.2 there is a contour tool, it’s a bit odd to use but you can get offset paths, but this requires the dividing of the shape which seems an unnecessary step. There is an option to press the Alt key to clone the object and apply the contour but it doesn’t appear to work and doesn’t do anything when you press the alt key and adjust the radius, maybe I’m not doing it correctly but with no information about this tool just guesswork as to how it functions/should function it a play with it and see what happens affair.

Maybe a brief explanation about how the tool works from the dev would help?

Contour tool Fill: Auto closed (Left Icon)

 

Radius controls distance.

 

After using Fill: Force Open (Middle Icon) and then Geometry: Divide

[ra.skill]

2 hours ago, firstdefence said:

In the Mac version of Affinity Designer beta 1.9.0.2 there is a contour tool, it’s a bit odd to use but you can get offset paths, but this requires the dividing of the shape which seems an unnecessary step. There is an option to press the Alt key to clone the object and apply the contour but it doesn’t appear to work and doesn’t do anything when you press the alt key and adjust the radius, maybe I’m not doing it correctly but with no information about this tool just guesswork as to how it functions/should function it a play with it and see what happens affair.

Great news,

Look forward to trying his.