How do I erase part of a letter in Affinity Designer?

[kstodi]

Hello,

 

I'm trying to erase/delete part of a letter (the dot in an 'i') and replace it with an image. This is for a logo with a transparent background. Can you please help?

 

Thanks 

[toltec]

You will have to convert the text to curves. You will end up with a group of letters. Ungroup them and select just the "i". Divide the shape (*Geometry) then the body of the "i" and the dot will be individual shapes. Delete the dot.

 

You can then regroup the shapes for your logo, along with the new "dot" image.

 

*I'm not 100% sure about Designer (I'm using Photo) but it should be Layer > Geometry > Divide

[Alfred]

*I'm not 100% sure about Designer (I'm using Photo) but it should be Layer > Geometry > Divide

 

Yes, the menu option is the same in Designer, but there's also a 'Divide' button in the Geometry section of the main toolbar. :)

[R C-R]

Depending on your needs, it may be desirable to avoid converting the text to curves so that it remains editable as text (like if you decide to change the font or something).

 

Obviously, if the image is fully opaque & larger than the dot in the "i" you can just put it on a layer above the text, but if not, you may be able to use layer clipping to hide part of the text. In the example below, for convenience I created the notched rectangular shape with no fill so I could see how to position the notch & then set its fill to black prior to dragging the text onto its thumbnail.

If you change the font, size, or whatever of the text, you might need to adjust the position of the notch but that is easy to do with the Node tool.

 

EDIT: Even simpler, just add a filled rectangle or whatever that covers the dot, order it above the text layer in the Layer's panel, & set its blend mode to Erase.

[kstodi]

Piece of cake! Thank you all SO much. R C-R, thanks for explaining this alternate method to keep it as editable text. So great to know.

[uncle808us]

@

R C-R

When I try this drag text on to rectangle converted to curves filled with black. I get everything clipped but the dot over the " i" .

What ann I doing wrong? I want just the dot masked. Thanks

[Alfred]

I'm not R C-R (obviously!) but I think the best way to get a handle on these things is to play with the various scenarios and observe the outcome. Put a "My icon" black text layer on the canvas, place a red rectangle behind it and cut a notch in the rectangle so that all of the text except the dot over the "i" has a red background. Now go to the layers panel and drag the text layer down to one of three possible positions:

 

1. If you drag all the way down so that the horizontal blue line covers the full width of the Layers panel, most of the text will be covered by the red shape and only the dot will still be visible.

2. If you drag down and to the right, stopping when the horizontal blue line stretches from the right of the thumbnail to the right-hand edge of the Layers panel, the text will be clipped to the red shape to give you black text on a red background, but without the dot.

3. If you drag down over the thumbnail of the red shape so that you get a vertical blue line instead of a horizontal one, the red layer will be cropped to the shape of the text to give you red text without the dot on the "i".

 

Option 3 is exactly the same as right-clicking the original text layer and choosing 'Mask to Below'.

 

If you drag the red shape instead of the text layer, dragging it up to the clipping position on the text layer (cf. step 2 above) will give you red text with a black dot, and dragging it up to the cropping position (cf. step 3 above) will give you black text without  the dot.

[R C-R]

When I try this drag text on to rectangle converted to curves filled with black. I get everything clipped but the dot over the " i" .

What ann I doing wrong? I want just the dot masked. Thanks

If I wrote ">>> Thumbnail <<<" like this would it be clearer?  :lol:

[dutchshader]

Another easy way is : create text, switch to pixel persona an use the eraser to erase the dot.

now the dot is masked out

[uncle808us]

@

Alfred:

Thanks that was a great explanation I tried them all and now understand a bit more. No.2 was what I liked the best and I changed the Rectangle color to white worked great Thanks.

[uncle808us]

If I wrote ">>> Thumbnail <<<" like this would it be clearer?  :lol:

Huh? I don't get it if it's humor I missed it.

[Alfred]

@

Alfred:

Thanks that was a great explanation I tried them all and now understand a bit more. No.2 was what I liked the best and I changed the Rectangle color to white worked great Thanks.

 

@uncle808us: You're welcome. You might like to try changing the fill and stroke on the rectangle not to have any colour at all, so that the clipped object isn't displayed with a white background when you place it on top of a coloured object; if you fill the shape with black instead of red, then dragging either layer and dropping it on the thumbnail of the other layer will give you visually the same end result.

[uncle808us]

Cool Thanks.

[uncle808us]

Another easy way is : create text, switch to pixel persona an use the eraser to erase the dot.

now the dot is masked out

That works also. Thanks

[JimmyJack]

Or.... Highlight the "i" (or "j") and press option+shift+B. No more Dot. 

[R C-R]

Huh? I don't get it if it's humor I missed it.

Sorry, that was a lame attempt at a little humor. In my diagram, I underlined "thumbnail" to make the importance of that word stand out. The joke, such as it was, was it might have stood out more if I had written it in big red letters.

[Fixx]

If you are making a logo the old skool way is to convert to curves as letter shapes usually need some finetuning anyway.

[uncle808us]

Sorry, that was a lame attempt at a little humor. In my diagram, I underlined "thumbnail" to make the importance of that word stand out. The joke, such as it was, was it might have stood out more if I had written it in big red letters.

Oh I get now... Thanks