TravisL Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 When joining shapes with the Geometry panel (e.g. Union), sometimes they will create inexplicable "tears" or "holes" which sometimes can take some time to go in and manually fix. This seems to happen more at areas where strokes join and start again. The image below is an obvious example but sometimes they can be smaller and less obvious. Does anyone have some advice or how to avoid this - and if it isn't something that can be avoided, can there be a fix for it in future? I once spent 20 minutes fixing little tears like this where strokes were overlapping on a detailed illustration. Time that could be better spent doing something else. Thank you. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlightflower Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 I hope someone has a solution. I have the same problem. TravisL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 I'm not quite sure what you mean by Geometry panel, or which Affinity app & version you are using, but maybe if you post a simple example file with this problem it would help make things clearer. Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.2 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 More sharing options...
TravisL Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 Hi R C-R, this is the Geometry panel and what I mean by Union is called Add in Affinity Designer (first button) to join two shapes/curves together. I'm using the most recent version (V2) 2.4 and I saw this issue in version 2.3. Not sure if it's something that would have been fixed for 2.4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 5 minutes ago, TravisL said: Hi R C-R, this is the Geometry panel and what I mean by Union is called Add in Affinity Designer (first button) to join two shapes/curves together. I'm using the most recent version (V2) 2.4 and I saw this issue in version 2.3. Not sure if it's something that would have been fixed for 2.4. Please post an example file with this issue. Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.2 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 More sharing options...
TravisL Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 Sorry for the delay getting the file. It was a client project under NDA so I had to remove the rest of the illustration to isolate the example. So it looks like the tear is appearing when selecting Expand Stroke and this error is still present in version 2.4. It seems to be because of a "curl" or "twist" in the line. But the thing is I don't want this to happen. When I select Expand Stroke it should ignore little kinks in the vector line and just render as it is on screen a black line as I see it or merge it as a shape as if Union was selected. There are additional tears that I've attached screenshots of that appear all alone the line (keep in mind this is a single stroke, these tears shouldn't be happening IMO). These kinds of things appear all over my vector illustrations, it's a pretty big problem because fixing them takes a lot of time. Vector-tear-example-2024-04-10-v01.afdesign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 This is not entirely an Affinity issue, sometimes the strokes can have malformed nodes where the node handles are crossed over or you have more than one node in very close proximity to each other as seen in the screenshots below. Quote iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.4.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravisL Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 @firstdefense the smaller tears don't have additional nodes as far as I can tell so there is still an issue with how Affinity is expanding the stroke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 10 hours ago, TravisL said: @firstdefense the smaller tears don't have additional nodes as far as I can tell so there is still an issue with how Affinity is expanding the stroke The additional/coincident nodes would be present on the original stroke, not the expanded version. Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 Affinity Designer 2.4.1 | Affinity Photo 2.4.1 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.1 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Next example... You could also click on the sharp node on the context menu in the convert section to remove the node handle, this would do a similar thing and result in a cleaner expand. You also have a section that joins... Quote iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.4.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravisL Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 Thanks, firstdefense, it is good to know there is a point of commonality between all these expand stroke issues. These lines were all drawn with a Wacom Tablet and the Pencil Tool so these tiny deviations have been added by the tool (maybe in response to my hand movements, but also - it would be better if it never happened in the first place). These extra nodes/handles are also next to impossible to see and easy to miss when expanding the stroke so it would be good if there was a way for Affinity to not make these additional points because it means I have to back and fix them all later. Do I need to make a separate post in the Feature Request part of the forum or is there a way to cross post there using this thread? Something like a threshold (don't make additional nodes/handles within x radius between a corner) to prevent this from happening. That, or a different way for Expand Stroke to work that has a similar kind of setting (to ignore malform nodes/handles). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarinC Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 I use expand stroke often. I wouldn't want it to ignore certain nodes. I start with a clean stroke to begin with by going in and cleaning up extra nodes or adding a node or two if handles are overlapping. Having to clean up a stroke made with the pencil tool is just part of vector drawing. It's good practice even if you aren't going to expand the stroke. R C-R 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravisL Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 Hi @KarinC, So it's a skill issue on my part, heh, I can accept that. Still, these nodes are sometimes really hard to see. It would be good if there was some kind of visual indicator when there were nodes close to or overlapping each other so they're easier to find in the first place. If I'm drawing straight from the Wacom the number of points is sometimes going to be uncontrollable, but it would be nice if it was easier to clean up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarinC Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 7 hours ago, TravisL said: Hi @KarinC, So it's a skill issue on my part, heh, I can accept that. Still, these nodes are sometimes really hard to see. It would be good if there was some kind of visual indicator when there were nodes close to or overlapping each other so they're easier to find in the first place. If I'm drawing straight from the Wacom the number of points is sometimes going to be uncontrollable, but it would be nice if it was easier to clean up. I didn't mean to criticize your skill. Illustrator has a smooth tool which would be really nice to have in Designer. But since we don't have something like that you do have to zoom in and delete piled-up nodes. If you plan to expand a stroke it would probably be better to draw it with the pen tool instead of the pencil tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 On 4/10/2024 at 2:24 AM, TravisL said: it's a pretty big problem because fixing them takes a lot of time. Have you tried the V2 options "Fill Holes" | "Remove Inner Curves" • To fill holes in a shape: From the Layer menu, select Geometry>Fill Holes. • To remove inner curves within an open curve (or closed curve): From the Layer menu, select Geometry>Remove Inner Curves. Layer>Fill Mode>Winding (Non-Zero) must be enabled. This operates on a per layer basis. 1 hour ago, KarinC said: Illustrator has a smooth tool which would be really nice to have in Designer. I never understand the use of the Affinity "Smooth Curve" feature … >> Smooth Curve modifies a line or shape, by adding and removing nodes, to create a rounder and softer curve effect. << … and I wonder what algorithm is working in curves like this … … where it appears to fix an issue but also adds rather useless nodes with its goal 'to create a rounder and softer curve': Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarinC Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Quite honestly I didn't even know Designer had a smooth tool. I guess I never have had a wish to use it. I like to make all the decisions about my nodes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 1 hour ago, thomaso said: I never understand the use of the Affinity "Smooth Curve" feature … It's current implementation is known to be buggy. thomaso 1 Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.2 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 More sharing options...
thomaso Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 16 minutes ago, R C-R said: current Good to know. – Did it work as expected in any previous app version? Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Just now, thomaso said: Did it work as expected in any previous app version? I don't think much if anything has changed, version to version. It's still hit or miss as far as adding excessive nodes. thomaso 1 Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.2 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 More sharing options...
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