Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Arrow Brush


ronniemcbride

Recommended Posts

Hi guys,

 

first of all: thanks for these brushes, Ronnie ... and to go a little off topic: here’s another idea how to do arrow heads, which I had this morning. I created a custom font containing arrow heads as glyphs and used the new text-on-a-path feature to place them ... Now this *would* be quite smart, if using the text on a path feature did not strip all the stroke properties from that path ...  :(

 

Nevertheless, I wanted to add this little idea to this thread for your amusement ...  ;)

 

Cheers,

Alex

Arrows.mov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is a fabulous technique Alex! Thanks for sharing that. See how the mind works. there are shortcoming but with a little thinking you can figure anything out!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

Hey guys, I used the one arrowhead only line but there's a small "tail" in the end of the other side that's doesn't have the arrowhead, do you guys know how to fix this?

please reply ASAP!

 

Hello, Johnny! Sorry, I was on vacation and I just saw your post. I hope you were able to figure out how to fix that issue.

 

If you have not been able to figure it out all you need to do is go into you stroke setting and change the end cap to a butt cap. Let me know if you are still having issues.

 

Cheers! 

 

Ronnie 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Hello, Johnny! Sorry, I was on vacation and I just saw your post. I hope you were able to figure out how to fix that issue.

 

If you have not been able to figure it out all you need to do is go into you stroke setting and change the end cap to a butt cap. Let me know if you are still having issues.

 

Cheers! 

 

Ronnie 

Thanks it work!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello, Johnny! Sorry, I was on vacation and I just saw your post. I hope you were able to figure out how to fix that issue.

 

If you have not been able to figure it out all you need to do is go into you stroke setting and change the end cap to a butt cap. Let me know if you are still having issues.

 

Cheers! 

 

Ronnie 

Thanks! It work!

 

 

Hi guys,

 

first of all: thanks for these brushes, Ronnie ... and to go a little off topic: here’s another idea how to do arrow heads, which I had this morning. I created a custom font containing arrow heads as glyphs and used the new text-on-a-path feature to place them ... Now this *would* be quite smart, if using the text on a path feature did not strip all the stroke properties from that path ...  :(

 

Nevertheless, I wanted to add this little idea to this thread for your amusement ...  ;)

 

Cheers,

Alex

 

Hi A_B_C,

 

when I use the text on path feature, my text is displayed on top of the line, not like yours, I changed the baseline to adjust the text to the centre so I can get the arrow in the centre of the line, but I see you didn't change the baseline, so how did you do that? and if I need to change the baseline, what value should I use?

 

I self publishing an ebook about origami tutorial, and I need to make a lot of "complicated" vector line which Affinity Designer is not yet able to make easily like the "Dash Dot Dot" line, "empty white half arrow head line", "rotate circle with 2 arrow line", etc, do you think which method from you guys is more suitable for my case?

Does the arrow brush ronnie made is actually not a vector but a image? because when I zoom in a lot I can see the blurred pixel, while if I use the A_B_C method, since everything is using the font, everything is vector not rasterised image.

 

 

Please reply as soon as possible! Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

When I use the text on path feature, my text is displayed on top of the line, not like yours, I changed the baseline to adjust the text to the centre so I can get the arrow in the centre of the line, but I see you didn't change the baseline, so how did you do that? and if I need to change the baseline, what value should I use?

 

I created a custom font in order to achieve my results. If you have a font editor like Fontlab or the open-source app Fontforge, you can simply go ahead and throw in some triangles or any other shapes you want to use as arrowheads. Center these shapes vertically around the baseline, and adjust the metrics as desired.

 

If you have to use an existing font, you will need to know the exact font metrics in order to get perfect results for the baseline shift. But since the baseline shift is expressed as a percentage, you will also have to do perform some calculations to get it right. Personally, I would zoom in considerably and adjust the baseline shift by eye.

 

I self publishing an ebook about origami tutorial, and I need to make a lot of "complicated" vector line which Affinity Designer is not yet able to make easily like the "Dash Dot Dot" line, "empty white half arrow head line", "rotate circle with 2 arrow line", etc, do you think which method from you guys is more suitable for my case?

 

Unless I am completely mistaken, I fear it is currently impossible to create lines according to the “dash dot dot” scheme, since there are only four input fields for dashes and gaps.  :(

 

Hope that makes sense …  :)

Alex

post-1198-0-38406900-1473369850_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I self publishing an ebook about origami tutorial, and I need to make a lot of "complicated" vector line which Affinity Designer is not yet able to make easily like the "Dash Dot Dot" line, "empty white half arrow head line", "rotate circle with 2 arrow line", etc, do you think which method from you guys is more suitable for my case?

 

Unless I am completely mistaken, I fear it is currently impossible to create lines according to the “dash dot dot” scheme, since there are only four input fields for dashes and gaps.  :(

 

 

Well, I think you're right........ But it can still (sort of) be done with "minimal ;) extra" work.  

 

Make two line styles..... post-12544-0-24696500-1473450963_thumb.png

 

Draw any shape you want using one of the styles. When done duplicate and apply the other style.  B)

 

As a group (or just selected together) they will be fully scaleable. And if you're lucky enough to be able to grab both nodes on top of each other the shapes will be adjustable together as well (not node handles though I afraid. You can do them independently of course, but I would just delete, make changes, and re-copy/paste).

 

post-12544-0-80562200-1473452786_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wonderful idea … and I believe we can still improve this method when using the latest Beta:

  • Create your two object styles.
  • Draw a curve, apply one of the styles, and make it a symbol (A.).
  • Drag another instance of the symbol exactly onto the first one (B.).
  • Now adjust the curve inside one of the symbols, while Sync is active, and the other path will follow accordingly (C.).
  • When you’re done, disable Sync, and apply the other style to the other path (D.).
  • Done.

Wow …  :)

post-1198-0-48965300-1473459014_thumb.png

post-1198-0-31909900-1473459021_thumb.png

post-1198-0-78686900-1473459026_thumb.png

post-1198-0-93828500-1473459031_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Drag another instance of the symbol exactly onto the first one (B.).

 

"Drag another instance ... exactly onto" implies careful alignment of a dragged copy of the symbol. If you duplicate the original instance with Ctrl+J (Strg+J), then the copy will automatically be exactly aligned.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Smart … :)

 

I considered this as well, but I could have sworn duplicating a symbol would turn the duplicate into a group … which does not make sense indeed … seems it was too late yesterday night …  :blink:

 

Five minutes later, I see what was the problem:

  • When you turn off syncing and use Cmd + J on a symbol, your duplicate will be a group.
  • When you turn on syncing and use Cmd + J on a symbol, your duplicate will remain an instance of the symbol.

Good to remember …  ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Symbols!! Now why didn't I think of that!!  

 

Handle control. Very Nice.  :)

 

FWIW, I ran into a small issue when trying to assign the second style on the second symbol. Nothing happened when I clicked on it.

For some reason I had to click on a factory preset style FIRST and then on the custom made one. Then it took. A little weird.

 

(Also, the drag option didn't bother me. Snapping eliminates the need for "careful alignment". But, of course, CMD J is quicker.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

My opinion is that the first brush from ronniemcbride remains the easiest and the best the most effective.

I have only one question: it is possible to draw it moving perfectly in line or at 90°?

 

Sorry I just seeing this now but did you ever figure out how to get the arrow to inline or at 90 degrees? Did holding shift and clicking work or changing your pen mode to line mode perhaps? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The arrows are right here in Affinity Designer - just look under:

 

View> Assets > Grade UI Basic elements or 

View> Assets > iOS 10

 

There you find a bunch of ready made arrows.

Ready to be converted into paths

post-40493-0-41090500-1484853571_thumb.png

Mac print publishing X-Press & Adobe hostage, cooking on extrem high level, subscribing with joy to US Cooks Illustrated & Foreign Affairs, the british Spectator and the swiss Weltwoche - absolute incompatible publications 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The arrows are right here in Affinity Designer - just look under:

 

View> Assets > Grade UI Basic elements or 

View> Assets > iOS 10

 

There you find a bunch of ready made arrows.

Ready to be converted into paths

 

 

 

Everyone is aware of these versions of the arrow, but the type arrow feature that people need so badly is the type that automatically added to the end of drawn stroke. This type of arrow head offers the most flexibility. The type of arrows people are so desperately in need of are arrows required for technical drawing.  Imagine this extreme scenario:

 

d22d026d55a4c9be55e29c95dbe65bfb.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have seen this topic come up pretty often and thought maybe I should post this resource here.

I know some people need to have native vector arrow shapes in their work so I created a brush for that you can use until arrows are implemented fully in the the application.

 

Just import them into your brush pallet.

 

cheers :)

 

arrowheads.png

Hi ronniemcbride,

Thanks for this way of quickly drawing curved arrows, tool that is currently missing in AD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.