How to make a curved arrow?

[hawk]

I'm trying to make a simple curved arrow for a clock/"time acceleration" icon (for a game).

 

I started with the arrow tool to get the basic proportions, then I ran into problems:

• I cannot rotate selected nodes, i.e. I cannot rotate the arrow tip to the angle I want without moving the other nodes.
• So I duplicated the arrow, rotated it, removed the arrow tip, and I want to connect this rectangle to the base of my arrow. But when I do "Break Curve", it leaves two end nodes on top of each other, and I don't know which one is on top and if it's the one I want to keep then I have to move it out of the way in order to delete the node underneath it, then move it back into position, which is a bit tedious. Why does Affinity need to create this extra node when breaking a curve? Also, moving the first node back into position isn't a problem with snapping enabled as long as there are other nodes at the same x- and y-coordinates to snap to, which is the case with rectangles that are not rotated, but if you've rotated a rectangle or other shape by any amount other than 90 degrees, you can't snap to anything. You'd have to create two temporary nodes at each side (top/bottom & left/right) in order to be able to snap the node back after moving it out of the way.
• Even after I did that and clicked "Join Curves", the two shapes didn't connect the way I want them to. I tried reversing one curve, reversing both curves, selecting different nodes, and each and every time the two curves cross over each other. At this point I just wanted to give up and google for a similar icon that someone else has already made.

 

I feel like I'm approaching this the wrong way because surely there must be an easier way to create arrows and simple icons like this.

 

Here's roughly what I'm trying to achieve:

 

 

P.S. the numbered list formatting doesn't seem to work here, so I changed it to a bulleted list.

[MEB]

Hi hawk,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

This was already discussed in a few threads. Take a look at those:

- How to draw perfect double arrow circle?

- How to make arrow head in the end of line?

- Arrow Brush

[gdenby]

Hi, hawk,

 

Being fairly new to AD, I've been practicing a lot on working with curves and nodes.

 

Here's a few details I've noticed.

 

Break curve does what you might suppose. It splits the curve at the selected node. As you mentioned, there are then 2 nodes, one on top the other. After splitting a curve, look at the layer panel. You will see that there is only 1 curve. If you click the join curves widget, nothing happens, because it is just one curve, and it can't join to itself. If you want to re-close the curve, the widget called close curve will put the 2 nodes, on on top another back into one. If you move the nodes apart, the close curve will draw a new curve segment joining the nodes at different places.

 

Suppose you have several curves. The layer panel will show each one. Select all with the move tool, switch to node tool, and use the join curves widget. So far, what I've seen is that the application will find the closest distances between all but 2 end nodes, and add connecting lines between the various curves. I haven't been able to choose which nodes are joined, the program appears to make the selction despite user selection. The layer panel then shows only a single curve. That curve can be completed by using the close curve widget.

 

If the curve is not completed by close curve, it can have a fill, but not a stroke. And depending on where the close-by nodes were, the fill shape can overlap, as you have seen.

 

If you start w. some simple curve shape, say a rectangle, and you add a node, and then break curve there, there is still only 1 layer.  But add another node, and break. 2 layers will be in the layer list. If you then use close curves, a line will be drawn closing each curve, but the new lines will be one on top the other, just like the parent nodes were. This allows different parts which can have different fills to appear seamless.

[Alfred]

Why does Affinity need to create this extra node when breaking a curve?

 

Every curve (in any vector app) needs to have a start node and and end node. ^_^

 

If the curve is not completed by close curve, it can have a fill, but not a stroke.

 

I'm not sure what you've done to give you that impression! :o

[MikeW]

I feel like I'm approaching this the wrong way because surely there must be an easier way to create arrows and simple icons like this...

 

Here's roughly what I'm trying to achieve:

 

Below I used a circle, added a couple of nodes, broke the curve and deleted a couple of the nodes. Then expanded the stroke. Drew a triangle, placed it at the one end, rotated until it looked OK. Selected both objects and then Added them together.

 

 

[gdenby]

Every curve (in any vector app) needs to have a start node and and end node. ^_^

 

 

I'm not sure what you've done to give you that impression! :o

 

Every curve... yup, basic

 

 

Hmm, I am fuddled. 

 

I did a couple of attempts, and had results similar to what you showed. Then, I made 4 arcs as I had done earlier, joined them, and attempted to to give them a stroke. Little I could see. Just the tiniest indicator of a stroke everyplace except the unclosed portion. Closed them, and then, stroked. See the 2 screen captures.

 

[Alfred]

Below I used a circle, added a couple of nodes, broke the curve and deleted a couple of the nodes. Then expanded the stroke.

 

Using the Donut Tool is probably a better option, given the poor result that we often currently get when expanding a stroke. It's also quicker and easier, IMO.

[Alfred]

Hmm, I am fuddled.

 

Me too! :(

[MikeW]

Using the Donut Tool is probably a better option, given the poor result that we often currently get when expanding a stroke. It's also quicker and easier, IMO.

 

I tried it both ways. If you haven't, try it both ways. Using a line as described took no time at all. The redrawn illustration took less than 10 minutes or there so.

 

Opening up the donut  and closing it at each end is something that simply took more time than it ought to have.

[R C-R]

The attached image shows the simplest way I know of to create a circular arrow, using the pie shape's start & end angle & hole radius settings to create an adjustable circular part & a triangle shape for the arrowhead. Grouping the two shapes rather than adding them retains the ability to change the thickness of the circular part & how much of a circle it includes.

[MaxHecks]

Using the Donut Tool is probably a better option, given the poor result that we often currently get when expanding a stroke. It's also quicker and easier, IMO.

 

The quickest way, I think. This can be done in under a minute. I once made a video.

 

https://youtu.be/9SroUZFNBRc

[MikeW]

The attached image shows the simplest way I know of to create a circular arrow, using the pie shape's start & end angle & hole radius settings to create an adjustable circular part & a triangle shape for the arrowhead. Grouping the two shapes rather than adding them retains the ability to change the thickness of the circular part & how much of a circle it includes.

 

Nice, RCR.

 

I more or less brought over how I di it in XDP--with the exception there are adjustable arrow heads on lines, so I simply did it the way I described in AD to mimic it.

[Alfred]

I tried it both ways. If you haven't, try it both ways. Using a line as described took no time at all. The redrawn illustration took less than 10 minutes or there so.

 

Opening up the donut  and closing it at each end is something that simply took more time than it ought to have.

 

I hadn't tried it both ways, but I have now! Not a huge amount of difference in the time taken, but the 'expand stroke' route involved fiddling around with the 'Smooth curve' button to try to minimize the number of nodes, and then there was the extra step of deleting a node handle (shown in the attachment, with a black node cursor pointing to it) to remove the curvature that you see on the right, where there should be a flat end cap.

 

If you keep the donut as a donut instead of converting it to curves, opening it up takes very little time and there is no closing of ends to be done.

 

The attached image shows the simplest way I know of to create a circular arrow, using the pie shape's start & end angle & hole radius settings to create an adjustable circular part & a triangle shape for the arrowhead. Grouping the two shapes rather than adding them retains the ability to change the thickness of the circular part & how much of a circle it includes.

circular arrow.jpg

 

When I joined my two shapes, I Alt-clicked on the 'Add' button to create a compound shape so that each component would retain its editability. (I presume that the Mac equivalent would be Option-click.)

[R C-R]

If you keep the donut as a donut instead of converting it to curves, opening it up takes very little time and there is no closing of ends to be done.

I never really thought about it before but the donut & pie shapes are actually the same thing -- they have identical parametric adjustments on the Context toolbar & both are identified as type "(Pie)" on the Layers panel. The only difference is the default values for start & end angles & hole radius. Using either one as a starting point for something like this gives you quick, precise parametric control of the angles & takes only a few seconds to set.

When I joined my two shapes, I Alt-clicked on the 'Add' button to create a compound shape so that each component would retain its editability. (I presume that the Mac equivalent would be Option-click.)

It is the same for Macs -- on many Mac keyboards the key has both the "alt" & "option" labels.

 

I suggested grouping the shapes instead of compound-adding them only because it is slightly easier to do with a keyboard shortcut (CMD+G on a Mac) without the extra step of having to move the pointer to the operations buttons, but in general I would compound them too, if for no other reason than setting a stroke for the pair or adding some layer effects works much better on a compound because that treats everything as one shape.