Is there a way to have two openings on an object?

[Bri-Toon]

I understand that closing paths is the ideal way to draw, but in certain designs, some segments need to be open. I want to know if it is possible to draw an object like in this screenshot and still have a fill applied without having to create the fill behind the stroke.

 

 

I'll explain why I want to do this. When drawing characters, I divide each part of the body in its own layer (Front Hair, Head, Body, Back Hair). In this case, the character's hair is planned to be divided into two different layers. The Front Hair must be on top of the head, but the Back Hair must be behind the head and body. So the stroke that you see right now (aside from those few extra lines that were not drawn) is where I want to apply the fill for the Front Hair. Can this be done?

 

 

Some programs like Cacani has a tangents feature in which the entire object is closed but different segments of the stroke are hidden.

[MEB]

Hi bedluc,

It's not possible to do this directly with a single object. As soon as you open it a second time the object will be divided/broken in different paths.

You can use a second shape to mask the parts you don't want... Sample file attached below.

 

sample_file_mask.afdesign

[Bri-Toon]

Thank you very much for the help, MEB. Even though I knew about cropping, I didn't really understand the advantage. That will come useful now.

 

Just two other questions,

 

If I need to remove a cropping mask for any reason, how do I do that?

 

And how do I connect two different paths so I can apply the mask?

[MEB]

Hi bleduc,

1. If you want to remove the mask, expand the parent layer in the Layers panel so you can see it, click on the mask's thumbnail to select just the mask then press delete on your keyboard or click on the Trash icon or drag it over the Trash icon in the Layers panel.

 

2. To connect two paths (using a line) select both paths the got to the context toolbar (with the Node Tool selected) and press Join Curves from the Action section then Close Curve in the same section. This however may not work in all circumstances because when you press Join Curves for the first time Affinity will join the closest end points of the paths which may not be what you want. In theses cases it's best to use the Pen Tool to draw the connections manually.

[R C-R]

To remove the mask, expand the masked layer & delete the indented mask layer, or just click on the mask thumbnail to the right of the curve layer if not expanded, which will expand & select the mask layer, & delete it. You can also drag the mask out of the layer, which turns it into an ordinary curve & delete it from it new position in the layer stack or use it to mask something else. To mask another layer, drag the mask over the thumbnail of that layer.

 

Use the "Join curves" action to connect two open paths, & if desired the "Close curve" action to close the resultant open path.

[Bri-Toon]

Thank you for the answers, guys. That's why I couldn't figure out how to remove a mask. I didn't know to click on the thumbnail to select it. And that's weird, I thought I already tried the Join Curves button, but it did what I wanted to do this time.

 

 

In theses cases it's best to use the Pen Tool to draw the connections manually.

 

All of my problems are solved now, but it doesn't look like the pen tool can be used for this unless it is connecting the same path. Am I wrong?

[Bri-Toon]

Apologies. My problem is actually not solved. Maybe I don't understand after all, or maybe I'm facing a bug. I closed the path on the hair. Now I made another object to crop over it. The Xed  area is what I don't want shown in my cropping area, but after I cropped it, I got a strange effect. Is this normal?

 

 

Never mind. I see what I did wrong. I had the stroke selected instead of the fill.

Edited October 13, 2016 by bleduc