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Workarounds for Distortion, Warp, or Perspective distort?


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I LOVE Affinity Designer... I do almost all my work in Designer. But gosh, I'm looking forward to being able to do text/vector warping/distortion, like arcing the bottom of the text in a logo.

Having to go back and forth between ADesigner and Adobe Illustrator to do this drives me nuts :-)

It's been more than a year, since Serif announced that it was in the 1.X roadmap... is there any news on this?

I SO wish that this feature is well under way.

:-) Thanks

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On 2/22/2018 at 10:26 AM, AffinityAppMan said:

I really like Affinity Designer and I really want it to be my app of choice for any illustration project I create. This week has been very frustrating when using Affinity Designer without a perspective or warp tool.  Since time is of the essence for certain projects, you can see why I feel this way. I have spent so much time trying find a way to work around this and is not easy at times.

 

This is my exact feeling on this right now. I'm more than ready to cast off Adobe (using CS6 so at least I'm not feeding the beast) and make Affinity my full time use trio of apps - I design t-shirt graphics for a living and depend DAILY on the ability to access warp text, offset path, blob tool and erase tool. I've been anxious for Affinity updates and while excited by all the new features coming in to 1.7, I keep hoping against hope for the features I mentioned above... because then I could completely cut the Adobe cord. 
I've read a number of posts from the past and found a few that were interesting (I'll try to go back and find them again to link here) - one from one of the developers in response to very strongly worded criticism that the features the customers wanted were not added fast enough - and they explained how the process is not as simple as many may think. There are often less-sexy and overlooked building blocks that need to be created, installed, improved upon first before the more noticeable surface level features can be added. Another post written by a user - gave an enlightening history of feature growth in Illustrator - how many who are used to Illustrator were not likely aware of how long the process took to get it to where it is today - and even now, there are features found in Freehand that have not made their way to Illustrator. 
It's possible I missed it, but I wish Affinity's developers and powers that be would share more of the behind the scenes process instead of leaving us in the dark. The post from one of the developers that enlightened me to the current behind the scenes work was in response to a critical posting. If there was more transparency by Affinity on these things, would that stave off the anxiety and impatience of their customers anxious to make Affinity products their full time apps of choice?
I was reading through the product reviews for Designer on the Apple App Store and noticed a trend of people sharing a similar message: Affinity Designer is NOT Illustrator and that's a good thing! Many shared how they thought Designer was much improved over what Illustrator offers, despite not being as full-featured (yet). 
It made me want to go in to Affinity Designer and Photo with a new thought process - being open to the idea that there is a better way than Adobe, even if it lacks some of the critical features I use daily. I'm going to stop trying to force Affinity Designer to be Illustrator and let it be what the developers intended it to be, and then make Designer what I need it to be. For now I just to need to find as many work-around solutions to what I'm missing. 

Affinity is like a light in a dark tunnel; giving hope to a realistic alternative to slavery in the Adobe ecosystem. For the first time in years, I'm excited about the possibilities of design software again being effective, powerful and affordable. I'm excited to see a new way of thinking about vector and raster design. The idea that one day soon, I could design a complete shirt graphic on my ipad from anywhere and send it off to a client excites me. 
I'm holding on to hope that Affinity will hold to their goal of getting the main features (including the ones I wanted) before their 2.0 release and with the rate of updates so far, we're looking at seeing this come to fruition in the next year at most. Until then, I'm clinging to my copy of CS6 to have access to functions I still need. 

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On 22. Februar 2018 at 4:19 PM, Oval said:

Serif is not edobA, so Serif tries to create better solutions/functions than existing ones. This needs time (without infinitely cat power).

A lot of time (of hopeness and hopelessness).

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On 1/7/2019 at 6:31 AM, Boldlinedesign said:

This is my exact feeling on this right now. I'm more than ready to cast off Adobe (using CS6 so at least I'm not feeding the beast) and make Affinity my full time use trio of apps - I design t-shirt graphics for a living and depend DAILY on the ability to access warp text, offset path, blob tool and erase tool. I've been anxious for Affinity updates and while excited by all the new features coming in to 1.7, I keep hoping against hope for the features I mentioned above... because then I could completely cut the Adobe cord. 
I've read a number of posts from the past and found a few that were interesting (I'll try to go back and find them again to link here) - one from one of the developers in response to very strongly worded criticism that the features the customers wanted were not added fast enough - and they explained how the process is not as simple as many may think. There are often less-sexy and overlooked building blocks that need to be created, installed, improved upon first before the more noticeable surface level features can be added. Another post written by a user - gave an enlightening history of feature growth in Illustrator - how many who are used to Illustrator were not likely aware of how long the process took to get it to where it is today - and even now, there are features found in Freehand that have not made their way to Illustrator. 
It's possible I missed it, but I wish Affinity's developers and powers that be would share more of the behind the scenes process instead of leaving us in the dark. The post from one of the developers that enlightened me to the current behind the scenes work was in response to a critical posting. If there was more transparency by Affinity on these things, would that stave off the anxiety and impatience of their customers anxious to make Affinity products their full time apps of choice?
I was reading through the product reviews for Designer on the Apple App Store and noticed a trend of people sharing a similar message: Affinity Designer is NOT Illustrator and that's a good thing! Many shared how they thought Designer was much improved over what Illustrator offers, despite not being as full-featured (yet). 
It made me want to go in to Affinity Designer and Photo with a new thought process - being open to the idea that there is a better way than Adobe, even if it lacks some of the critical features I use daily. I'm going to stop trying to force Affinity Designer to be Illustrator and let it be what the developers intended it to be, and then make Designer what I need it to be. For now I just to need to find as many work-around solutions to what I'm missing. 

Affinity is like a light in a dark tunnel; giving hope to a realistic alternative to slavery in the Adobe ecosystem. For the first time in years, I'm excited about the possibilities of design software again being effective, powerful and affordable. I'm excited to see a new way of thinking about vector and raster design. The idea that one day soon, I could design a complete shirt graphic on my ipad from anywhere and send it off to a client excites me. 
I'm holding on to hope that Affinity will hold to their goal of getting the main features (including the ones I wanted) before their 2.0 release and with the rate of updates so far, we're looking at seeing this come to fruition in the next year at most. Until then, I'm clinging to my copy of CS6 to have access to functions I still need. 

I cannot echo this loud enough. Recently I lost my graphic artist job but found a way to help from home doing freelance work over the internet. Imagine my horror when I find my old copy of Adobe CS4 would not work on my new machine. I was discouraged, let me tell you. Adobe is FAR too expensive to justify its subscription for a freelancer (much less a corporate office) and I was desperate for answers. Then I found Affinity Designer and Photo, and I could not more happy with it. No, its not the same but I would do it again. Its almost as powerful and can even do things Adobe cannot, which I adore! I love this program and consider this a Godsend.

It has been a little rocky at first, trying to learn this new system as I was using Adobe for almost two decades, but I am loving it. The one major thing I miss is Free Distort and Blend Object (or whatever you want to call it). I am working on a project now where it could come in real handy. Any news would be welcome, but I understand it is not the same as typing a few keys and clicking DONE.

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Photopea is an Open Source project hosted in GitHub. Photopea vector warp code can be reused / rewritten into AD so you don't need to start coding from scratch. Later on you may implement your own approach to warping. In the meantime AD users will not be forced to break their workflow. Please let us know how you feel about this suggestion. Do you think it is feasible?

Thanks.

Petr

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  • 1 month later...
On 1/10/2019 at 1:27 AM, JamesSchelelr said:

Here's another user who is suddenly quite shocked and surprised that this fundamental set of tools isn't hiding somewhere... Really enjoying working with Infinity Designer, but this is certainly an unexpected wall to slam quite violently into.

It sure is.

  • "The user interface is supposed to work for me - I am not supposed to work for the user interface."
  • Computer-, operating system- and software agnostic; I am a result oriented professional. Look for a fanboy somewhere else.
  • “When a wise man points at the moon the imbecile examines the finger.” ― Confucius
  • Not an Affinity user og forum user anymore. The software continued to disappoint and not deliver.
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  • 3 weeks later...
24 minutes ago, Junon said:

A year later and still no response from the team. Just an acknowledgement would be nice.

They very seldom respond to suggestions. From another thread:

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4

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16 hours ago, Junon said:

That's a silly children's game. Knowing whether or not they've acknowledged it and/or have it on a roadmap internally would be beneficial for prospective buyers.

The only items committed for the future are listed on the published roadmap. Prospective buyers should, in my opinion, base their purchase decision on whether the software is useful to them now, not on what functions it might have in a year, or two, or five.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4

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On 10/28/2018 at 1:46 PM, reglico said:

Hello,

In the meantime, DrawPlus owners can curve the text, convert it into curves, copy and paste it into Affinity Designer where nothing will be pixelated, the curves are kept.

Texte DP_AD_2.png

Where I can get that software for mac? Your solution could be a valide alternative to wait that adds!

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...and in any case I still think it's really absurd that tools of this kind are not in Affinity Designer. I think it's a fundamental function to abandon Adobe products for good.
Instead of creating other programs such as porting to the iPad or a new software like InDesign, why not fix what users have been asking for some time? Let's be clear... as a user I don't feel guaranteed. I won't buy other Affinity software until I'm sure I'm supported in my needs. At the moment the purchase of Affinity Designer will remain a random case...

 

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Unfortunately, as far as I know, DrawPlus, like the other products in this range, are only accessible to people who already have a software key.
You will certainly get some clarification from someone at SERIF.
For the rest of your message, I fully agree with you, I bought Designer and this will remain the one and only purchase I will make at SERIF.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/22/2018 at 4:12 PM, Mithferion said:

The closest thing that comes to mind is using Inkscape:

 

http://www.built-to-spec.com/blog/2011/01/02/quick-inkscape-tutorial-perspective-transforms/

 

Best regards!

I definitely want this (in this way or another) in my illustration-Software. 

Why do photo apps (PSD, AP) offer this feature and vector app don't? I can't understand.

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1 hour ago, abra100pro said:

I definitely want this (in this way or another) in my illustration-Software. 

Why do photo apps (PSD, AP) offer this feature and vector app don't? I can't understand.

The shortest answer is that it’s not been developed but it’s in their plans.

I don’t know how long we will have to wait for it, but it will eventually come.

Best regards!

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On 27. März 2019 at 4:42 PM, abra100pro said:

Why do photo apps (PSD, AP) offer this feature and vector app don't? I can't understand.

Dem ist ja nicht generell so, wie Inkscape beweist. Ein weiteres Beispiel: Nach drei Jahren Entwicklungszeit für CorelDRAW für Mac gibt es dort neben einer Perspektiv- auch eine 3D-Funktion bei der sich vermeintlich sogar die Linienstärke entsprechend der Flucht ändert. Allerdings spiegelt sich der kurze Programmieraufwand in der Qualität wider und man kann erwarten, dass Serif das besser und nicht so bald umsetzt.

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On 3/3/2019 at 1:05 AM, Huvir said:

I can see this feature clearly stated on the roadmap so we should be just patient.

It's been over a year since this post was made. There are already similar tools in their Photo software, why would such a simple, commonly used tool be overlooked for so long in their Designer software? I'd rather see a bunch of small updates that add completed features than having to wait years for an update that finally gives commonly used basic features. Affinity has something really special going but they can definitely mess it up if it's going to take this long to add basic stuff. I literally just bought the Designer software and can't use it anymore until they add a tool for perspective. I can live with a distort tool I guess but I have to go back to Illustrator now and there will be no point in me switching back and forth. I suppose Affinity got my money already so what's the rush right? I completely understand QA as I used to do quality assurance. It takes time, but there are ways to speed up the process where it doesn't completely ruin the usability for so many designers that rely on this basic function every day. 

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On 4/2/2019 at 10:41 PM, silent_knight said:

There are already similar tools in their Photo software, why would such a simple, commonly used tool be overlooked for so long in their Designer software?

Because warping pixels is totally different from warping vectors. I would think the math is much harder.

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8 hours ago, Fixx said:

I would think the math is much harder.

Yes and no. 1. Software is not hard but soft. ;-) 2. The basic and best algorithms have been available for a long time, and other companies can do it quickly.

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Can confirm Photopea is great for creating warped text, does it pretty much the same way PS does but you can add your chosen font (if it's not already there), warp it, then export as an svg and it will preserve the vectors (downside, text does not remain editable) Works great, simple and intuitive if you've used Photoshop.  Inkscape will also do it, with a thousand more mouse cicks (seriously Inkscape, why?) and if you're using Windows, Inkscape can be notoriously finicky but same results you would get in AI.

I have to do this practically every time (I design for t-shirts) I make anything so I will be as glad as everyone else when this FINALLY becomes available. 

I'd love to have an ETA on this feature as well; if it's not too far off, I would make do with what i have in order to achieve the warping results I need. However, if I knew I had to wait say, longer than 6 months, I could go ahead and purchase something else.  

The Legacy Serif products are still available for purchase but there's no updates forthcoming for them. https://www.serif.com/en-us/

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I did some research to bring a workaround for the AD community recently. It took time and some effort. What AD stuff did since the first post on this topic? What I miss badly is an AD acknowledgement that our complains / requests / suggestions get any attention. It is the basis of a polite communication: to give the other party some feedback. This can be done regardless of how far you proceeded with the development. Even if there was no development at all - you should talk to us. Regardless of the fact that we are your paying customers - you should talk. It was you who opened this channel so we all expect there is somebody to listen to and talk to. And AD is your product you should care about. Thanks for understanding.

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