Affinity Designer 2， Is there a missing feature for converting pixel graphics into vector graphics so that I can add a stroke effect on the edges of transparent images to highlight my product.

[eairt]

Affinity Designer 2， Is there a lack of functionality to convert pixel graphics into vector graphics so that I can add stroke effects on the edges of transparent images to highlight my product. It is also necessary to convert monochrome images into vector graphics in order to modify colors and create more possibilities! Manually drawing the outline of transparent images is indeed a waste of time.

Edited December 21, 2024 by eairt

[GarryP]

There are no vectorisation functionalities in the Affinity applications. You can search the forums for trace or vectorize for information about this.

As for adding an outline around your design, there are many ways depending upon what you need to do. One place to look first would be here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/225783-ap-how-to-create-outline-of-object-without-translucent-borders/ but that sort of thing is discussed in other threads too.

[JET_Affinity]

Affinity Designer does not have a raster image auto-tracing feature. If you search for the topic in the forums, you'll find discussions about it.

JET

[loukash]

There is an undocumented "accidental" and very rudimentary tracing "feature" in Publisher:

[DutchDude]

Hate to say this because I would love for AD to feature both these functions, most ideally with some more settings available, but as long as it doesn't: Inkscape does vectorising of a pixel file. And node reduction. And it's free. 

I also hate to say this: I used to use CorelDraw 4 or 5 (or 6?) on Win 3.1 when they had a student version for cheap. That had vectorising and node reduction. About almost 30 years ago... Come on, guys, it can't be that hard if CD had it 30 years ago? I used it in college and I'm almost a pensioner now!

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, DutchDude said:

Come on, guys, it can't be that hard if CD had it 30 years ago?

It isn't just about how hard it would be to add a platform-agnostic auto-trace option to AD. As the staff have mentioned in several of the old topics about this, the developers do not have any interest in adding that feature unless or until it will work better than what is already available from other sources, particularly the free ones.

EDITed to add: There was once some vague hint about them working on an advanced auto-trace feature but no details about it were ever shared. Personally, I always suspected it relied on some sort of AI powered method to better mimic how humans do manual construction of vector illustrations but that was just a wild guess.

Anyway, nothing seems to have come from it, at lease so far.

[DutchDude]

On 12/27/2024 at 11:46 PM, R C-R said:

It isn't just about how hard it would be to add a platform-agnostic auto-trace option to AD. As the staff have mentioned in several of the old topics about this, the developers do not have any interest in adding that feature unless or until it will work better than what is already available from other sources, particularly the free ones.

EDITed to add: There was once some vague hint about them working on an advanced auto-trace feature but no details about it were ever shared. Personally, I always suspected it relied on some sort of AI powered method to better mimic how humans do manual construction of vector illustrations but that was just a wild guess.

Anyway, nothing seems to have come from it, at lease so far.

Oeh. Just quoting that one line makes me sound like a d!ck. Not my intention!

I'll just use Inkscape in breathless anticipation of Affinity's brilliance! Again, not trying to be d!ckish. Just in jest!

[iconoclast]

The easiest way to get a vector outline for a raster object would be a selection of its contour that gets converted into a path/curve/vector. Unfortunately Affinity can't even do this, as far as I know. But e.g. GIMP can.

[petedraz]

I have searched online for far too long to finally arrive here and realize what Im looking for does not actually exist: an automated way to create vector paths or curves from raster images with Affinity Designer2 or Photos2. I have been using Affinity Photos 2 and Designer 2 for almost half a year and figured out the UI and how things are done, and I conclude they are about 25 years behind Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. 

Affinity aspire to be professional tools and compete with Adobe and I want them to be winning but they are not delivering a competitive product. At all. I love their purchase model, but this becomes irrelevant when the software is missing several key tools and those that does exist are too rudimentary to be of effective use. Examples are the selection tool, the add noise tool to mention two, and there are some workflow quirks that are super annoying: saving a file is a nightmare.

Professional tools dont manipulate or force but assist and support: when the creative workflow breaks, my sympathy and desire to continue using Affinty diminishes.
I absolutely revolt against Adobe and their predatory business model, but Affinity is too FAR behind to be a viable alternative today. Unless there is another version coming soon, in 2025, Ill be forced to return to Adobe and pay their exorbitant fees