Transforming text

[Woodpig]

I'm using Affinity Photo. I want to apply a perspective effect to text. If I try to do that using the perspective too, it rasterises the text (which I don't want). If I convert to curves, then I can't seem to find a way to transform all the nodes in one go.

There's probably something simple I'm missing here.

[GarryP]

It sounds like you need the Warp Group functionality, which warps vectors as vectors, but that is only available in Designer.

Note: It’s best to tell us which application(s) you have so we can tailor our suggestions to the application(s) you can use.

[MEB]

Hi @Woodpig,
I'm assuming you are using Affinity Photo. Is that correct? If that's the case there's two Perspective Filters, one in the Filters > Distort menu which is destructive and rasterises the text as soon as you apply it and the other in the menu Layer > New Live Filter Layer > Distort > Perspective which will keep the perspective transformation editable (until export).
Designer is able to apply a perspective warp to text which keeps everything as vector/editable (until export).

[Woodpig]

Apologies - yes, I'm using Affinity Photo. I've edited my initial question.

If I use the live filter layer option, will the text be exported as curves or rasterised? I'd prefer to keep it as vector for print quality (it's for a book cover).

[GarryP]

Thanks for the extra information.

As far as I remember, all the Filters and Live Filters produce rasterised results.

[Woodpig]

I do have Designer also. Could I covert to curves there, then transform the text as a group, then reimport?

[MEB]

Yes, in Designer you can apply the perspective and convert the text to curves and use it in Photo.

[GarryP]

Just open the document in Designer, do the warping there, then save and open the document in Photo.

Or you can use the menu “File → Edit in…” functionalities to switch applications, but best to save first just in case.

You should be able to use the Warp Group on the text layer directly.

[Woodpig]

That's great - thank you, both. I'll give that a go!

[GarryP]

You’re welcome.

Just say if you have any problems with it.

[Woodpig]

Worked like a charm! Thank you again, both. I really should use the "edit with..." feature more. I don't use Designer much, but it's handy for text and vector manipulation.

[Woodpig]

OK, after editing and transforming the text in Designer, I get an issue where the font loses it's nice curves (see attached). Any idea why this is happening?

But this only shows when exporting to PDF.

[GarryP]

This looks like the same problem as reported here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/221106-warp-group-in-text-problem-designer/

[Woodpig]

Thanks again, Garry. Converted to curves before warping and it exported fine.

[GarryP]

Good to know.

Hopefully the problem will be fixed soon, removing the need for the extra step.

If you follow the thread in my link (it has an official tag) you should get a notification from the Affinity Info Bot when something happens.

[Woodpig]

Thanks Garry.

[GarryP]

You're welcome.