DrawPlus brush feature for Designer

[Kuttyjoe]

In DrawPlus, if you have the brush tool selected, and you've made a bunch of different strokes, different sizes, colors, characteristics, etc, you can click on one of the existing strokes in the document, then the brush acquires all those characteristics and new strokes are immediately painted with those characteristics.  It's a killer feature that lets you work very quickly.  This seems to be completely missing from Affinity Designer.  Not only does it acquire characteristics of other strokes, it also struggles to just change the brush stroke.  If you have the brush tool selected, you can hold the option key (I think it's the option key) select a brush stroke, which high lights that stroke, but if you take your finger off the option key, the high light goes away.  If you put your finger back on the option key, the high light comes back.  It seems that the stroke is still selected.  Here's where it gets more weird.  If you click on a different brush stroke, nothing happens.  If the stroke is still selected, it should change to the new brush stroke, but it doesn't.  However, if you keep holding that option key while clicking on a new brush stroke, it will indeed change to the new brush stroke!  So, is the brush stroke remaining selected, or is it not?  Whatever is happening there, it makes for a much less user friendly way of dealing with brush strokes.

 

DrawPlus seems to have really nailed working with brush strokes.  It's one of quite a few reasons I prefer it over Adobe Illustrator for brush work.  I've converted some Illustrator vector brushes to DrawPlus raster brushes so I can do work that looks like vector.  If it needs to be vector, I can vectorize it (Also missing from Designer), but the workflow is a far better experience than in Illustrator.  But not with Affinity DrawPlus.

 

Other killer features are also missing from Affinity Designer.  The option to keep the brush stroke selected immediately after drawing it, and to use the smoothing slider right on the toolbar.  This was great stuff.  And I'm sure there's plenty more missing, including the hyper custom interface which makes it better for drawing on small screens.  Even the option to show just the brushes used in the document in the brush panel is missing from Designer.  It's really unfortunate.

[Alfred]

In DrawPlus, if you have the brush tool selected, and you've made a bunch of different strokes, different sizes, colors, characteristics, etc, you can click on one of the existing strokes in the document, then the brush acquires all those characteristics and new strokes are immediately painted with those characteristics.  It's a killer feature that lets you work very quickly.

 

If Affinity Designer you can use the 'Synchronize defaults from selection' button on the main toolbar. It's an extra step, admittedly, but it gets the job done.

 

Other killer features are also missing from Affinity Designer.  The option to keep the brush stroke selected immediately after drawing it, and to use the smoothing slider right on the toolbar.  This was great stuff.  And I'm sure there's plenty more missing, including the hyper custom interface which makes it better for drawing on small screens.  Even the option to show just the brushes used in the document in the brush panel is missing from Designer.  It's really unfortunate.

 

I would also like to see a smoothing slider in AD; I'd even be happy, at least in the short term, with a 'Smooth curve' button that works properly! And I'd love to see a 'Document' category in the Brushes panel.

 

BTW, a new brush stroke is still selected immediately after drawing it. You can see this if you visit the Layers panel, but it isn't obvious in the canvas view unless you switch to the Move Tool or the Node Tool.

[Kuttyjoe]

If Affinity Designer you can use the 'Synchronize defaults from selection' button on the main toolbar. It's an extra step, admittedly, but it gets the job done.

 

 

I would also like to see a smoothing slider in AD; I'd even be happy, at least in the short term, with a 'Smooth curve' button that works properly! And I'd love to see a 'Document' category in the Brushes panel.

 

BTW, a new brush stroke is still selected immediately after drawing it. You can see this if you visit the Layers panel, but it isn't obvious in the canvas view unless you switch to the Move Tool or the Node Tool.

 

Yeah I was kind of alluding to the fact that the brush stroke is kinda sorta selected, but not in a way that is actually useful.  If you hold the option key, you can see the path and nodes on the brush stroke. That would seem to indicate that it is indeed selected.  But in order to act on that selection, like change the brush type on that line, you have to keep holding the option key.  Which is weird.

 

Regarding synchronizing defaults, I don't really see how that relates to what I've said.  It's not something you can do on the fly while drawing or painting.  With Serif DrawPlus, it's like dipping a brush in ink and immediately acquiring that ink color and making the next stroke.  Designer doesn't appear to be made to do anything like this.  DrawPlus is such a unique program and it's just unfortunate to see Designer lose some of it's strongest and most unique features.  This stuff is where it truly had an advantage over Illustrator and other programs.

[Alfred]

Regarding synchronizing defaults, I don't really see how that relates to what I've said.  It's not something you can do on the fly while drawing or painting.  With Serif DrawPlus, it's like dipping a brush in ink and immediately acquiring that ink color and making the next stroke.  Designer doesn't appear to be made to do anything like this.  DrawPlus is such a unique program and it's just unfortunate to see Designer lose some of it's strongest and most unique features.  This stuff is where it truly had an advantage over Illustrator and other programs.

 

Ah, yes, I see what you mean now! Let's hope that AD acquires that feature sooner rather than later.