evtonic3 Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 I am creating a classic retro sunset design with bands rectangles (you've seen them before) and I noticed that AD has a distinct way of doing this step and repeat if I use the basic technique that has been shown in tutorials from probably everyone, but is there a way to create a different type of repeat technique in the initial first copy that will give me a different look? I tried this in Graphic, (still good for some things) and their algorithms are a bit different than AD's which in this case I like better but I couldn't replicate this distribution in AD. Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markw Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Hello evtonic3 To make the bars on the orange T shirt; Make your first bar at the bottom. Change to the move tool. Now duplicate the first bar with cmd+J. While the new bar is still selected grab the node on the top edge and reduce the hight. Now move the duplicate to the desired distance away from the original bar. Now just hit cmd+J again, and again the same number of times as needed bars. The important thing is after you get that first duplicate, don’t accidentally deselect it other wise it won’t work. Quote macOS 10.15.7 | 15" Macbook Pro, 2017 | 4 Core i7 3.1GHz CPU | Radeon Pro 555 2GB GPU + Integrated Intel HD Graphics 630 1.536GB | 16GB RAM | Wacom Intuos4 M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Draw the first rectangle, "Ctrl + J", move it slightly down, type in the H (Height) window of the "Transform" tab 1.2 (for example). Then do "Ctrl + J" as many times as necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evtonic3 Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Thanks to the both of you, but I believe the examples you both provided give the same result. I would like the distribution space of the bars to be like Graphic's. The thinner the bars going up, they're also getting more space in between, making the the "gradated" look of the bars. The result in AD is not the same as you can see. I did play with the distribution manually, but I thought there may be a way if I change my initial setup technique I may get a different result. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markw Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Ahh... I see I misunderstood your first post Actually I've just been trying to get the same distribution as the right-hand image using Power Duplicate without success either. Now I too want to know if it can be done! Quote macOS 10.15.7 | 15" Macbook Pro, 2017 | 4 Core i7 3.1GHz CPU | Radeon Pro 555 2GB GPU + Integrated Intel HD Graphics 630 1.536GB | 16GB RAM | Wacom Intuos4 M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evtonic3 Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Believe me I can get it look like Graphics with the Align and Distribute functions, just thought I could do it all in "one step" using CMD+J. Maybe it can't be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Since the automatic solution seems to be non-existent, there may still be a combination of "Cmd + J" (with size change) and manual spacing since the distance between the top sides of the rectangles remains similar. In my example the change in size is not really optimal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdenby Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 From the land of almost ridiculous work-arounds... New File, 8.5 x 11, portrait. Grid, automatic. Snapping on. Select pen tool. Open stroke dialogue. Set pt size to 32 (just under a half inch.) Open pressure diagram, and taper the stroke to about 10 - 15%. This produces a line as seen below. Draw line in polygon mode, snapping up 1 grid point at a time till there are 11 horizontal section. Expand stroke. Draw a rectangle that overlaps the verticle end section. Duplicate, move to other side, and add. Subtract the recangles from the expanded stroke. Copy resulting curves, and flip horizontal. Select both and add. In node mode, select center nodes, and delete. Color as wished. See, nothin' to it. evtonic3, Alfred, MEB and 1 other 4 Quote iMac 27" Retina, c. 2015: OS X 10.11.5: 3.3 GHz I c-5: 32 Gb, AMD Radeon R9 M290 2048 Mb iPad 12.9" Retina, iOS 10, 512 Gb, Apple pencil Huion WH1409 tablet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 @gdenby, then I say bravo, superb workaround very sought after and very clever! Thank you for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdenby Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Thanks, and any one is welcome to the method. Only took me a bit of time wondering what the proportions of the original sample were, then faking it came to me pretty quick. Quote iMac 27" Retina, c. 2015: OS X 10.11.5: 3.3 GHz I c-5: 32 Gb, AMD Radeon R9 M290 2048 Mb iPad 12.9" Retina, iOS 10, 512 Gb, Apple pencil Huion WH1409 tablet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 5 minutes ago, gdenby said: Thanks, and any one is welcome to the method. Only took me a bit of time wondering what the proportions of the original sample were, then faking it came to me pretty quick. In any case, the result is a great success! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted August 28, 2017 Staff Share Posted August 28, 2017 29 minutes ago, gdenby said: From the land of almost ridiculous work-arounds... Almost ridiculous is when you have no tools and no workarounds! If there's one that allows you to move on then go for it. R C-R 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJack Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Use the Distribute tool. This is equal spacing between strokes of descending/ascending thickness right? So I would: 1) power duplicate a square, with a thick stroke, down in proportion (not in proportion did odd things with the stroke width reduction amounts...) with stroke "scale with object" checked. 2) delete all the top nodes of all the boxes all at once. This will leave you with lines of different stroke widths.... and unfortunately, lengths. We'll fix that in a sec (step 4). 3) select all and use Distribute: Use the "Space vertically" Button with auto distribute UNchecked and use the slider until you see space between to two thickest lines. 4a) expand strokes. Boolean Add them all together. Trim sides with boolean by subtracting a couple rectangles (that part is same as gdenby). 4b) ....or just crop or clip or mask. If there are just a dozen or so lines like the example, I would adjust the stroke widths by hand. Takes about a minute. Then its just: Power duper stack of lines Adjust strokes by hand Use Distribute panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Pretty easy if there is a blend tool--and the blend tools has attributes that can alter spacing... And as we will surely get a blend tool, it should be better than this one... anon1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lepr Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 . markw, carl123 and Alfred 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evtonic3 Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 5 hours ago, MikeW said: Pretty easy if there is a blend tool--and the blend tools has attributes that can alter spacing... And as we will surely get a blend tool, it should be better than this one... WHat app is this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted August 29, 2017 Staff Share Posted August 29, 2017 @evtonic3 It's from Xara Designer (Pro) - it's only available on Windows unless you run it through Parallels, VM Fusion or Bootcamp. Hopefully we will have a Blend along a path functionality at some point. evtonic3 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Yep, like MEB said... The above isn't blend along a path. What is happening is that the little dialog is a Position Profile window. Using the two sliders (roll the middle mouse wheel when hovering over one of the sliders) changes the rate of blend and/or the spacing, depending on what slider one is changing. This would be nice to have when AD gets blending. And it could be implemented far better by Serif. Much of XDP has never been updated and should have been. Quote 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.