How to create double contours in AD?

[Michail]

Is it possible to create double contours in AD (for example, for road maps)? I have a sample file attached. Here I created the streets by copying and changing the lines. But this is cumbersome and time-consuming. Is there a better way (e.g., double contours, as in Illustrator)?

Straßen.afdesign

[MEB]

Hi Michail

I've created a double line using constraints. Not sure if it helps. You can change the width of the white/black part(s) selecting the black (or white) line inside the group and changing its stroke width.

In intersections you have to duplicate it, move it to the top of the other line you want to intersect and hide the black line inside the duplicated group. Check the attached file and clip.

 

Straßen_MEB.afdesign

[Michail]

Thank you MEB!

It's a little help. Better would be real double lines, which I can pull directly.
Can you tell me if something like this is planned in the future?

By your answer I have just learned the following: If I first draw lines vertically and only then rotate, the selection box and the line are cover-equal. Thank you :)

[Gear maker]

Would something like this help you?  Using an Outer Glow fx (with Multiply blend mode and a black color and an Intensity at 100%) or an Inner Glow fx on a group of lines having the color the same as the background.

 

Test.afdesign

[MEB]

@Gear maker

Why not an Outline FX instead? It will give you better results for diagonal lines (note that by using Layers effects the lines will be all rasterised on export).

[Gear maker]

@MEB

Good idea.  I like the looks of that even better.  Crisper edges.  I shall have to remember that one.

[Michail]

@MEB

The idea with the outline I had also first. Unfortunately, this method is only suitable for road maps. The border is created around the whole object. For roads, paths, etc., the border is only needed on the long sides. This method only works when the roads go out of the picture.

[Gear maker]

Just a thought but with a layer mask the ends don't show and the non-street areas can be made any color desired.

 

[Michail]

@Gear maker

Can you please attach the afdesign file? Then I can see how you did that.
The disadvantage of masking: If I change the course of the road, I must also change the masks every time.

[Gear maker]

Michail, depending what you change you most likely won't need to change the mask.as long as you change things  The only affect it will have is what lines are outside the mask.  If you add or remove lines from the group you will be okay.  Changing road width (by changing the stroke) will also not affect the mask.  Hope that helps.

 

Test.afdesign

[Michail]

Thanks for the attached file!

The endpoints can be designed in this way. And masking is, of course, much more complicated, if not all roads are the same length.

But you can not combine different roads in this way (see my attached file in #1).

[R C-R]

I am not sure if this is of any help but I came up with this workaround:

 

1. Start by drawing the streets as lines, using the Pen tool in line mode. At this point, stroke width & beginning & end points don't matter -- just concentrate on getting the angles right & make sure the lines are longer than needed to include the end points.

2. Increase the stroke widths to the widths of the streets.

3. Select all the lines & use Layer > Expand Stroke to convert them to rectangles.

4. Use alt/option with boolean Add to convert them to a compound object.

5. Set the fill of the compound to white, none, or whatever you want for the street color & its stroke to whatever width & color you want for the edges.

6. To 'open' the endpoints, you could use a mask, but I found it easier for editing to use the Pen tool in Polygon mode to draw a shape that cuts through the endpoints & subtract that from a rectangle larger than the map area, creating a (Curves) object. Set the stroke to none & fill to white to make it invisible.

 

Attached is an example based on your file. The Straßen compound layer is the result of step 5 & the 'screen' one is the result of step 6.

 

It is not ideal but at least it preserves everything as vectors, & it does let you change the street color & the street edge widths non-destructively.

Straßen workaround.afdesign

[HairyDalek]

Blimey. I was going to post the self-same question. What luck I found it on the first page of the forum!

 

My problem is related, but not to do with maps. I’m re-working some car maintenance diagrams, and as you’d expect there’s plumbing and wiring involved. I’ve found that trying to “eyeball” parallel lines is impossible, so I’ve tried the Outline FX option. That works up to a point. As the wiring/pipes tend to twist around, and the diagrams reflect that, this option isn’t really helpful as I have to cut the line in places so I can change their layer order. When you to this, the end caps appear which is not desirable. What I want is to only have the line outlined along the direction of travel. See the black/red image example. The caps should be clipped to the ends of the line.

 

What I have been doing is using two lines - one ontop of the other -  with the one the colour of the “fill” being thinner than the one the colour of the outline. That way, I can do the “twisting” thing, BUT you’ll see little artefacts appear where the line segments join. I expect I can remedy this with the use of rounded and caps in places, but it’s a real faff, especially if you need to make an edit later on - both lines need to follow each other perfectly.

 

I’ve looked at the examples here, but none of them leap out at me as *the* solution to use in my situation. Some of these diagrams are really complex, with pipes and wires going in various directions, and the layering of elements has to be pretty precise to help the image make sense.

 

Hoping that Affinity designer will get more options to help this kind of thing in the future.

 

[R C-R]

Twisted pairs & the like are very difficult to do without a lot of editing because of their 'over/under' pattern. For example, check out this Wikipedia illustration. The author's note says it all: "This vector image was created with Inkscape, and then manually edited."

 

If you download the svg version & open it in Affinity Designer, you can see how it was layered, & that because it contains a straight, repeating pattern many of the "twist" groups are identical & could be made from duplicates (or symbols). But for something like your second example, even that won't help.  :mellow:

[Guest]

To create small maps including curved, straight and rounded roads, I draw the roads with the pen, in white by adjusting the desired thickness. To have smooth turns I adjust the curves with the tool "Node". I then add a "Contour" effect in black. For roundabouts I add a circle that I copy to use it afterwards.

I select all the routes, "Expand the stroke". Then I add to the selection the possible roundabouts and I do a Boolean operation "Add". I then stick the copy of the circle that I reduce to be the center of the roundabout.

To "open" the ends of the roads, I draw with the "Pen" tool" a line thick enough to hide these ends and I put it in white.

[Madame]

There's more than one way to Rome. I find the suggestions here very ingenious and inspiring.

 

What also could work is to draw a draft of the streets with the pen tool. Set the stroke to an appropriate width. 

Then fill in the blocks with various shapes with strokes. Then you can delete the draft of the streets.

 

You would have to "delete" the end blocks by breaking the curves though.

[Michail]

@R C-R

Thanks for the work!
This method I had already tried. It is good and you can use it for many things. For road and other maps the following disadvantages result:
1. The width of the street contours can only be changed for all, or you have to undo the Boolean operation.
2. When the lines become rectangles, it is difficult to change their course and shape.

3. The road width can not be adapted later.

 

 

@HairyDalek

My thought would be. Construct a short part of the tangled cables (with masking levels). Then make a brush out of this part (brush panel). Now you can paint the cables with the brush.

 

 

My conclusion is: HaireDalek needs a good cutting tool. And I need a multi-line tool.

[Guest]

 

 

@R C-R

Thanks for the work!

This method I had already tried. It is good and you can use it for many things. For road and other maps the following disadvantages result:

1. The width of the street contours can only be changed for all, or you have to undo the Boolean operation.

Hi Michail,

If you only want to change the thickness of the outline of streets you can copy the street or streets and paste them into a new layer that you place under the others. In my screenshot I changed the street St.-Franziskus-Straße.

[Gear maker]

Michail, I must not be too sure what exactly you wanted.  I didn't understand that you wanted St.-Franziskus-Straße to actually end before what I assume are railroad tracks, as shown in the right example.  Either way is not too difficult.

 

Test1.afdesign

 

[R C-R]

@R C-R

Thanks for the work!

This method I had already tried. It is good and you can use it for many things. For road and other maps the following disadvantages result:

1. The width of the street contours can only be changed for all, or you have to undo the Boolean operation.

2. When the lines become rectangles, it is difficult to change their course and shape.

3. The road width can not be adapted later.

You can change the road widths (but not easily) if in my step 4 you create a compound layer (by holding down the alt/option key when adding all the rectangles together). You can then go back, expand the compound layer (Straßen in my workaround version), select some or all of the curve layers it contains in the Layers panel (each one a street), & switch to the Node tool. This makes the individual nodes in the compound editable.

 

This also makes it possible (but still not easy) to change the course or shape (including curvature) of individual streets. I did that for the Kiefernweg street by adding two nodes, changing them to smooth, & adjusting the nodes, like this:

[Michail]

@Gear maker

Thank you for your work!
With the current possibilities of AD this is perhaps the fastest variant. The ends of a street are rarely seen in the picture. And the street borders are often the same for differently wide streets.

 

@R C-R

The method with the rectangles also has its advantages. I can use boolean operators. Thanks!

 

I will experiment a bit. Maybe I can combine both variants.

[JimmyJack]

Is there room for another workaround option?  :) (mostly for straight roads I guess.... at any angle, width and length)

 

If the main problem is the road ends, why not take care of that in the original road unit? (meb's suggestion does this too)

 

I would make a rectangle (white/color fill) with a stroke and use the crop tool to clip the ends left and right (leave some extra room on top and bottom).

Now you have a simple unit with a stroke on only two sides and open ends that can be pulled and stretched, length and width, to (almost) your heart's content.

 

To address the overlap issue......answer one question.

Does the final output need to be vector or can it be raster?

If raster, you could just give all of the units a blend of Lighter Color. You can still make easy edits. (If you use this method you can use all sorts of other shapes too.)

If vector, group them all, copy and paste the group and turn off stroke on the copied (top) group. (Adjust the stroke on the lower group to your liking).

[Guest]

For twisted cables you can, (if the overlaps are not too many because it is a lot of work as R CR says), draw with your "Pen" your two cables, "Expand the stroke".

Draw a very thin line (0.1 pt) on each side of an overlap on the upper cable (which must disappear at this point). Vectorize the outline of these lines. Make a Boolean operation "Divide" between the two lines and the cable to be modified.

Remove the middle section between the two lines to reveal the lower cable.

You may or may not delete the cut-outs (three on each side) of the two lines.

[Raskolnikov]

I would like to know how to create a form, with a certain width... that you can modelate (curve) like an spaghetti... keeping their sides parallel.

This is a very useful thing... for thousends of cases!!

To draw, for example... pipes.

 

[Alfred]

5 minutes ago, Raskolnikov said:

I would like to know how to create a form, with a certain width... that you can modelate (curve) like an spaghetti... keeping their sides parallel.

This is a very useful thing... for thousends of cases!!

To draw, for example... pipes.

 

Those look like thick curved strokes with little lines across them. Am I missing something?