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

Expand Stroke - Rounded strokes become sharp & pointy


Recommended Posts

I've been using Affinity Designer since its inception. 

 

Sometimes it really does help with illustration-based tasks, making it faster to work with than Adobe Illustrator. 

 

However, the "Expand Stroke" function is still terrible even after several years of development. Has this feature been entirely ignored?

 

This is an example of what I'm talking about:

After creating a stroke with the Stroke Pressure modified, I attempted to use "Expand Stroke." 

 

As you can see, the nicely rounded stroke converts into something pointy like a dagger. 

 

I searched through the forum for help, but all I found was a trail of complaints regarding "Expand Stroke" going back to 2014. 

 

With 2017 almost finished, it would be GREAT if this got fixed.

 

Looks like my "timesaving" approach by using Affinity Designer rather than Adobe Illustrator is actually going to cost me a bit of time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, itsallpixels said:

However, the "Expand Stroke" function is still terrible even after several years of development. Has this feature been entirely ignored?

 

30025941rn.jpg

 

And no sorry, just that hopelessly repeated “we are aware of the issues …” :(  The fear is that the entire base must be rewritten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Hi itsallpixels,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

This is a known issue when working with very small lines. If you scale the line up (make sure Scale with object is ticked in the width dropdown), expand the stoke and then scale it down the same amount you should get a better result. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. We already have this logged and this command will be overhauled/rewritten but it's not something simple to fix.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff
On 08/08/2017 at 10:33 AM, Oval said:

 

30025941rn.jpg

 

And no sorry, just that hopelessly repeated “we are aware of the issues …” :(  The fear is that the entire base must be rewritten.

Err... it's one function - there's no fear involved. It just requires time. If I do it in a rush I'll just make things worse... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Curious, is this issue with Expand Stroke also why we haven't seen the Contour / Offset feature yet?   I'd rather get it later and right, instead of now and broken, but best of all would be sooner, and right.  (Not that I'm impatient - ok, I'm not known for my patience LOL)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff
6 hours ago, Oval said:

 

A function that is needed every day a lot and we had those fears for more than two years. Sorry!

You said there was fear the ‘entire base must be rewritten’ I wanted to stop this crazy statement in its tracks and make it clear there is no such fear, it is just one function and has no bearing on anything  else. What did I misunderstand?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff
14 hours ago, Busenitz said:

Curious, is this issue with Expand Stroke also why we haven't seen the Contour / Offset feature yet?   I'd rather get it later and right, instead of now and broken, but best of all would be sooner, and right.  (Not that I'm impatient - ok, I'm not known for my patience LOL)

When I write the new version of expand stroke it should essentially provide a very nice contour function at the same time :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, MattP said:

You said there was fear the ‘entire base must be rewritten’ I wanted to stop this crazy statement in its tracks and make it clear there is no such fear, it is just one function and has no bearing on anything  else. What did I misunderstand?

 

Crazy (?!), but Serif claimed: “may require a complete rewrite”. Because issues of a basic function were not corrected within years, this explanation is a logical one. Also, after three years users could get the impression they must use this function forever in other programs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff
11 hours ago, Oval said:

 

Crazy (?!), but Serif claimed: “may require a complete rewrite”. Because issues of a basic function were not corrected within years, this explanation is a logical one. Also, after three years users could get the impression they must use this function forever in other programs.

We must be talking at cross-purposes then - as explained, I read your statement as a fear that the whole codebase must be rewritten (i.e. the whole of Affinity!!!! - which is why I wanted to make it clear to any readers that it is a crazy statement) but you meant that you had a fear that the function must be rewritten. In which case, let me assure you that it is not something to be afraid of in the slightest - it will be written in isolation and when it works as expected it will be switched over in place of the current method. This is just how development works and there is nothing scary here... :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, MattP said:

We must be talking at cross-purposes then - as explained, I read your statement as a fear that the whole codebase must be rewritten (i.e. the whole of Affinity!!!! - which is why I wanted to make it clear to any readers that it is a crazy statement) but you meant that you had a fear that the function must be rewritten. In which case, let me assure you that it is not something to be afraid of in the slightest - it will be written in isolation and when it works as expected it will be switched over in place of the current method. This is just how development works and there is nothing scary here... :)

 

If Serif really interprets that the whole codebase including parts like text and colour algorithms must be rewritten because of issues of “Expand Stroke”, you have to be scared as user. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff
1 minute ago, Oval said:

 

If Serif really interprets that the whole codebase including parts like text and colour algorithms must be rewritten because of issues of “Expand Stroke”, you have to be scared as user. ;)

Seriously, I'm assuming it's just because of the translation gap, but that's what I thought you were suggesting which is why I called it crazy, sorry.

 

To put it in context. You said: "The fear is that the entire base must be rewritten." To us, 'base' is a contracted version of 'codebase'. So to suggest the entire codebase must be written is... insane... ;) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've done the thing today where you duplicate a line of text (one word) expand the outline of text and merge it.

Goal is to have a second vector outline that can be shifted. Try it. Set the outline to around 10pt @ 300dpi with like a 100pt text. Set the outline to outside and do as I did.

 

Maybe that example can help with diagnosing the issue. It requires a lot of cleanup and the outsides intersect. Geometric Sans 'T' shapes often bulge out on the sides and top instead of being straight.

 

I vaguely remember similar shape issues from the first version of Illustrator that had a variant of Streamline (yeah, not really) implemented. It was bulging out as well on angles close to or at 90° and close to or at 45°. I always had to redraw these sections back then. Maybe this is similar, maybe not, but there it is. :) 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 14. August 2017 at 11:27 AM, MattP said:

Seriously, I'm assuming it's just because of the translation gap, but that's what I thought you were suggesting which is why I called it crazy, sorry.

 

To put it in context. You said: "The fear is that the entire base must be rewritten." To us, 'base' is a contracted version of 'codebase'. So to suggest the entire codebase must be written is... insane... ;) 

 

Serif wrote “may require a complete rewrite or a different approach to get solved”. The context here is the topic of this thread. It is about “Expand Stroke”, not about the whole app. We did not write “the entire base of the app”. It is perfectly logical that you do not have to rewrite the whole base (including colours and text features) of the app to get a flawless “Expand Stroke”.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Oval said:

 

Serif wrote “may require a complete rewrite or a different approach to get solved”. The context here is the topic of this thread. It is about “Expand Stroke”, not about the whole app. We did not write “the entire base of the app”. It is perfectly logical that you do not have to rewrite the whole base (including colours and text features) of the app to get a flawless “Expand Stroke”.

You're just resorting to pedantry now. It's broken, it's known to be broken, it's being worked on, it'll be fixed. Some things are complicated and take time, sometimes priorities have to change, a software package is a large and complex thing. 

 

You're obviously frustrated, but I don't think this conversation is helping anyone anymore.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 21. August 2017 at 5:11 PM, AshTeriyaki said:

You're just resorting to pedantry now. It's broken, it's known to be broken, it's being worked on, it'll be fixed. Some things are complicated and take time, sometimes priorities have to change, a software package is a large and complex thing.

Thanks. Sorry, just wanted to be clearer if the English was not good enough. Do the changed functions get a quality inspection before they are put online (since the beta 6 “Expand Stroke” has a new issue)?

 

On 21. August 2017 at 5:11 PM, AshTeriyaki said:

You're obviously frustrated

Your misinterpretation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/21/2017 at 4:04 AM, Oval said:

 

Serif wrote “may require a complete rewrite or a different approach to get solved”. The context here is the topic of this thread. It is about “Expand Stroke”, not about the whole app. We did not write “the entire base of the app”. It is perfectly logical that you do not have to rewrite the whole base (including colours and text features) of the app to get a flawless “Expand Stroke”.

 

 ENOUGH! How many times people have to explain things to you?! It's a damn misunderstanding? GET IT?!?

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Ventura 13.6

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
×
×
  • 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.