Nikkwong Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 The curvature tool has been talked about in many prior posts, but the Affinity team has never commented on it, and the community has no way to know whether it's on the roadmap or not. There are many illustrator users who will not jump ship to Affinity Designer until some version of the curvature tool is in place; as it's impossible to achieve perfect curvature for path segments with current tools alone. I'm curious as to whether anyone on the forum has any information or workarounds that they've found. I'd like to enjoy Designer's suite of tools but need this functionality to work properly first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 6 hours ago, Nikkwong said: There are many illustrator users who will not jump ship Define "many". Only verifiable facts, please. Nothing anecdotal. 6 hours ago, Nikkwong said: until some version of the curvature tool is in place Is there anything wrong with the Smart Mode? Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyanepsion Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Hello Nikkwong and welcome to the forum! For those who aren’t familiar with the tool we’re talking about, here’s a video demonstrating how to use the curvature tool in Adobe Illustrator. I recommend watching this video to understand how it works and what it can do [Subtitles are available in several languages]. Don’t hesitate to share your experiences or questions about this tool or its equivalent in other graphic design software such as Affinity Designer. Bit Disappointed 1 Quote 6 cœurs, 12 processus - Windows 11 pro - 4K - DirectX 12 - Suite universelle Affinity (Affinity Publisher, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo). ███ Mais je vous le demande, peut-on imaginer une police sans sérifs ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fde101 Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 1 hour ago, Pyanepsion said: Subtitles are available in several languages Looks to me like they are available in any language you want as long as it is French. 3 hours ago, loukash said: Is there anything wrong with the Smart Mode? Agreed, smart mode of the pen tool seems to do the same thing. The key differences seem to be that in Illustrator you double-click for a straight line while you control+click (Mac version) in the Affinity products, and in the Affinity products you hold down the command key (Mac) to move a node. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bit Disappointed Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Hi @Nikkwong Affinity has the interesting and actually quite useful smart nodes. The difference between them and the curvature tool in Illustrator is probably that the Adobe algorithm tries to draw very simple yet beautiful curves, and that you preview them as you draw, where smart nodes give a slightly less aesthetic result if you are bezier savvy, but still good. Unfortunately, I find that I have to correct a number of them afterwards and don't always save time and achieve what I want. So for this kind of thing, a curvature tool would probably suit me just fine. I'm so experienced that I prefer to draw curves myself when using Affinity. But try it yourself with smart nodes in Affinity - better than the traditional never ending debates in here. Configure the pen tool like this: And try on this: Pyanepsion 1 Quote I simply no longer believe that there are any professional graphic designers here. Everything follows suit. Just everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JET_Affinity Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 15 minutes ago, Bit Arts said: Affinity has…smart nodes.… where smart nodes…But try it yourself with smart nodes… The difference between them…is probably…that you preview them as you draw… Smart Mode, not 'smart nodes'. Also turn on Rubber Band Mode to preview the next segment. JET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyanepsion Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 18 minutes ago, fde101 said: Looks to me like they are available in any language you want as long as it is French. 😇Why would you want to subtitle a French speech in French? Choose your language instead! It's easy to change the subtitles on YouTube. Here's how you can do it: Open the YouTube video you want to watch. Click on the Settings icon, which is usually found at the bottom right corner of the video screen. From the menu that appears, select "Subtitles/CC." Then, click on "Auto-translate" to see a list of languages. Scroll through and select the language you prefer for the subtitles. This process allows users to watch YouTube videos with subtitles in their preferred language. It's a useful tip, especially for someone who might not be aware of this feature. Remember, the availability of subtitles in different languages can vary based on the video. Quote 6 cœurs, 12 processus - Windows 11 pro - 4K - DirectX 12 - Suite universelle Affinity (Affinity Publisher, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo). ███ Mais je vous le demande, peut-on imaginer une police sans sérifs ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulEC Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 17 minutes ago, Pyanepsion said: Why would you want to subtitle a French speech in French? You might if you were deaf! (Properly called Closed Captions, rather than subtitles.) fde101 1 Quote Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz : 32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bit Disappointed Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 20 minutes ago, JET_Affinity said: Smart Mode, not 'smart nodes'. Also turn on Rubber Band Mode to preview the next segment. JET Yes, Smart Mode draws smart nodes. You can also convert any node to a smart node without activating Smart Mode. But yes, with rubber band activated, you get a preview, so this Pen setting for using this as well @Nikkwong Quote I simply no longer believe that there are any professional graphic designers here. Everything follows suit. Just everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bit Disappointed Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 @Nikkwong This explains Smart Mode and smart nodes - and nodes in Affinity in general. https://www.shortcutfoo.com/blog/affinity-designer-pen-and-node-tools-tutorial Quote I simply no longer believe that there are any professional graphic designers here. Everything follows suit. Just everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaoloT Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 1 hour ago, Bit Arts said: Smart Mode draws smart nodes And is made of smart code! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fde101 Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 4 hours ago, Pyanepsion said: From the menu that appears, select "Subtitles/CC." Then, click on "Auto-translate" to see a list of languages. This is what I see for "Subtitles/CC" on that video: If I view it on YouTube itself there is one additional message at the bottom that the setting only applies to this one video. That's it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkwong Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 (edited) Thank you for the kind and thoughtful responses. I would still like to push back that the smart mode (or smart nodes) are not the same thing—the curvature tool in Illustrator produces curves that have perfect curvature continuity. You can see this if you analyze the continuity of the curves that are created with the curvature tool. There is only one solvable position of handles for a given position of path points on a given curve. The smart nodes does not work in this fashion—I'm not entirely sure how it determines where to place handles for a given set of path points, but the result ends up being less aesthetically pleasing and requires more manual positioning, IMO. Thank you for the discussion and consideration. Edited January 14 by Nikkwong GripsholmLion and Bit Disappointed 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyanepsion Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 19 minutes ago, fde101 said: If I view it on YouTube itself there is one additional message at the bottom that the setting only applies to this one video. That's it. youtube-translate.mp4 Quote 6 cœurs, 12 processus - Windows 11 pro - 4K - DirectX 12 - Suite universelle Affinity (Affinity Publisher, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo). ███ Mais je vous le demande, peut-on imaginer une police sans sérifs ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aammppaa Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 1 hour ago, Nikkwong said: You can see this if you analyze the continuity of the curves that are created with the curvature tool. There is only one solvable position of handles for a given position of path points on a given curve. The smart nodes does not work in this fashion—I'm not entirely sure how it determines where to place handles for a given set of path points, but the result ends up being less aesthetically pleasing Quite agree. Illustrator curves are beautiful and flowing, while Affinity makes odd lumpy looking things! I'd love to see an improvement to Smart Nodes, or inclusion of other drawing modes such as BSpline or Spiro from Inkscape. Affinityconfusesme and GripsholmLion 2 Quote Win10 Home x64 | AMD Ryzen 7 2700X @ 3.7GHz | 48 GB RAM | 1TB SSD | nVidia GTX 1660 | Wacom Intuos Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bit Disappointed Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 5 hours ago, Nikkwong said: Thank you for the kind and thoughtful responses. I would still like to push back that the smart mode (or smart nodes) are not the same thing—the curvature tool in Illustrator produces curves that have perfect curvature continuity. You can see this if you analyze the continuity of the curves that are created with the curvature tool. There is only one solvable position of handles for a given position of path points on a given curve. The smart nodes does not work in this fashion—I'm not entirely sure how it determines where to place handles for a given set of path points, but the result ends up being less aesthetically pleasing and requires more manual positioning, IMO. Thank you for the discussion and consideration. Yes, that was what I was getting at in my first response, but I didn't want to give the forum a lecture on excellence and aesthetics in algorithms if you could do with less. Thank you for your detailed response, I completely agree with you. Smart Mode is the layman's aid for tracing, but it is certainly not the tool for aesthetes or professionals. I prefer to draw curves myself, as I am trained now, and thus also know that the fewer nodes, the better. Actually, creating perfect aesthetic curves quickly and effortlessly is not straightforward, and that is precisely what the curvature tool assists with. Smart Mode is for one specific need, I hope Serif does not think it also covers the other(s). Smart Nodes in Affinity Designer: The use of Smart Nodes tends to create curves that are smooth and require less tweaking, which can be particularly useful for designers who prefer a more streamlined workflow. The automatic adjustments of curves can lead to a more efficient design process but might sometimes offer less control for intricate curve manipulation. Affinity Designer uses an algorithm for its Smart Nodes, which are designed to simplify the process of creating and editing curves. When you manipulate a Smart Node, the software automatically adjusts the adjoining curves to maintain a smooth and natural transition. The algorithm prioritizes ease of use and efficiency, aiming to reduce the need for manual adjustments of Bezier handles. Curvature Tool in Illustrator: With the Curvature Tool, the aesthetic outcome is often characterized by very smooth and flowing lines. This tool is particularly adept at creating organic shapes and smooth transitions in paths. The Curvature Tool provides a balance between simplicity and control, allowing for the creation of complex curves with fewer adjustments. Adobe Illustrator's Curvature Tool algorithm is centered around intuitively creating and adjusting curves with minimal control points. It automatically generates and adjusts Bezier curves as you add points to a path, focusing on creating smooth, flowing curves that naturally progress through each point. The tool is designed to predict and implement the most aesthetically pleasing curve through the points you define, reducing the complexity of traditional Bezier curve manipulation. Nikkwong and GripsholmLion 2 Quote I simply no longer believe that there are any professional graphic designers here. Everything follows suit. Just everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JET_Affinity Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 21 hours ago, Bit Arts said: Yes, Smart Mode draws smart nodes. Yes, but the screenshot you showed while repeatedly referring to "smart nodes" was of the Pen Modes, none of which are labeled "Smart Nodes." JET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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