Quarter Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Hi all, I'm completely new to this! So far the program's been pretty great, but it's been a learning curve for sure. I'm working on a logo and have ran into an issue I can't wrap my heard around. I'm using the subtract operation to cut out some shapes. I'm doing a bicycle tire/rim against a black background. Everything has been going smoothly, until I tried to use the subtract operation on the "spokes" (single lines going from the center to the outside of the tire.) When I go to subtract, the line disappears and the layer they were on deletes itself. Also, any objects in that layer delete themselves with the individual spoke selected (the other objects being the other spokes). Any insight on this would be great :( I was doing so well until I hit this wall and I have no idea what to do to fix it, about a million searches online gave me zilch, most likely due to me not knowing the correct terminology to search for. Thanks in advance everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MattP Posted January 8, 2015 Staff Share Posted January 8, 2015 Hi Quarter, If you're able to share a .afdesign file with us that shows the problem then I'm sure we can try to help :) It doesn't have to be the full file - just the bit you're having a problem with :) Thanks, Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted January 8, 2015 Staff Share Posted January 8, 2015 Hello Quarter, Welcome to Affinity Forums. What's probably happening is that you are trying to perform a boolean operation (subtraction) between a shape and a line. Currently Affinity doesn't support boolean operations between shapes and lines. The objects disappearing from canvas is what usually happens in those situations. To workaround this, you can select the line and go to Layer-> Expand Stroke to turn the line into a shape. Then, you can subtract it from another shape. Let me know if you still find trouble. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 MEB, THANK YOU! A thousand times. That fixed my problems!!! Could I ask you to sorta explain what "Expand stroke" actually does, in regards to this I understand it turns it into a shape; in other situations does it does the exact same thing (i.e. it's only used for lines?) Thanks :) and thanks for the welcome, I'm glad to be here! Matt, I appreciate the speedy response for assistance regardless. Loving and learning the program! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted January 8, 2015 Staff Share Posted January 8, 2015 Expand stroke turns a line or stroke into a shape. It doesn't need to be a simple line (an open path). You can covert the stoke of a shape ( an ellipse or a character/letter) into a new shape to create offsets for example. You can also convert vector brushes into shapes. Select the Vector Brush Tool, pick a brush in the Brushes panel on the right (from the basic set - there's other categories but are mostly bitmap based so don't apply here) and use it to draw a stroke on the canvas (make sure you have a Controller selected in the context Toolbar). Then go to Layer-> Expand Stroke. You will get a shape with the "outline" of the painted stroke. This command can also be applied to lines with pressure profiles applied. Example: draw a line with the Pen Tool, go to the width drop down on the context toolbar, click on Pressure button on the bottom right and create/draw a profile. That profile is applied to you line. You can then apply the Expand Stroke command to get a shape from it. Hope this helps :) Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Thank you so much! That'll definitely be something I'll come back to at some point. Sort of related, what if this same issue is happening with some rectangle shapes but the "expand stroke" fix isn't fixing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted January 8, 2015 Staff Share Posted January 8, 2015 It will "fix" it. When you expand the stroke of a shape (with a stroke obviously!) you will get two objects. The fill becomes one shape and the stroke becomes another. Anyway boolean operations between shapes and lines should become available at some point. We just need some time ;) Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Hmm.... I must be doing something wrong here then... I wasn't having this issue previously with shapes until today, otherwise the subtract operation had been working without a hitch. None of the other operations seem to be working either, they all give the same results- delete both shapes. I apologize if I'm being thickheaded or missing something, this is my first attempt using a graphic design program so it's a little fuzzy to me. Thanks for the assistance so far though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted January 8, 2015 Staff Share Posted January 8, 2015 No worries @Quarter :) Can you post the file so i can take a look? It may be a bug or some other issue. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeresta Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I am having a problem using the subtraction on two curve objects. All of the geometry features are greyed out. I was able to previously subtract text from a curve object after converting text to curves but now I cannot even do that. Am I doing something wrong or is it a bug? I have attached a sample file trying to subtract the arrow from the box. Okay, solved my own problem. Must first click the layer then shift click the layer I want to subtract from. Sorry for the false alarm! test1.afdesign goen and benskipper 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted February 3, 2015 Staff Share Posted February 3, 2015 No problem @Jeresta. Glad you sorted it out. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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.