Crop a shape

[garry rigby]

Hi, anyone know who to crop a shape? 

I am trying to crop the image on the right (along the blue lines) to replicate the 'a' on the left.

I have tried everything and am going mad

[MikeTO]

Hi Garry, use Designer or the Designer person and choose the Knife tool. Then draw where you want to cut and delete the cut portion of the shape.

Cheers

[garry rigby]

Hi Mike, yeah I tried that and it did not work

[MikeTO]

It didn't work because those are strokes and not shapes so you'll need to convert them to shapes first. Select them and choose Layer > Expand Stroke to convert them to shapes and then you'll be able to cut off pieces to delete with the Knife tool.

Cheers

[Bit Disappointed]

Yes, @garry rigby, as MikeTO says, this object is of a type (stroke) that you need to turn into a regular object first. If you're new to the vector world, it takes some getting used to.

Generally, you create shapes either with a pen or, as you do, by composing a shape with different fragments. Before knife tools came to vector programs, it was even more clumsy. But now that you have a knife tool, you still have to go through a few manoeuvres first.

If I were you, I would

• first select the red line and select Layer ->  Expand stroke
• if you made the O from one of the Affinity shapes then select O shape and select  Layer -> Convert to curves (strictly speaking, you don't need to do this, but it's good to be aware that it may also be necessary for some objects, please ask)
  • or if it also a stroke select Layer ->  Expand stroke on this layer as well
• then select the two objects and Layer -> Geometry -> Add

NOW you have assembled ONE single object that looks like your desired letter and now you can use the knife tool as expected to finalize it.

But in general, you have to get used to the fact that vector programs are a Game of LEGO and that Affinity Designer is not elegant at giving feedback when you do something that can't be done. But once you get used to it, it becomes second nature and you don't think about it so much anymore.

[thomaso]

Alternatively – and without the need to Expand Stroke – you can draw an extra shape to use this as parent clipping layer for the relevant shapes, like so:

[garry rigby]

Thank you everyone for your help. Happy New Year