Adding Nodes to existing paths

[OldytroN]

Hey guys I just recently made the switch from Adobe ecosystem to Affinity Designer & Photo because i'm not trying to shell out $600 a year for the rest of my life. I'm getting myself adjusted with Designer right now, but i hit a snag. I can't seem to Add/Remove nodes to existing paths like you could in Illustrator. I've tried searching in Help, but nothing comes up. Is this feature not currently available in Designer? If that's the case, then when can we expect this option in a future update? I only ask because it's something I use often. Thanks in advance for your help and time.

[MEB]

Hi OldytroN,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

To add a node to an existing path change to the Node Tool (the white arrow icon in Draw Persona in Affinity Designer)) and click over the path where you want to add the node. To remove it, select it clicking on it with the Node tool then press the Delete key on your keyboard. To access the Node Tool in Affinity Photo click the small arrow in the corner of the Pen Tool button to open a pop-up from where you can select the Node Tool.

[OldytroN]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm running Windows 10 and I'm using the Artisul D13 tablet with the latest drivers. I've tried doing what you've said with the Node Tool, but instead of adding a node it selects the entire path. For some reason it's acting similar to the move tool. Am I doing something wrong?

[MEB]

If the path is not seleted the first click with the Node Tool will select it. Click again over the path to add a node. If the path is selected you only need to click over the path once to add a node. Can you please check it with you tablet?

[OldytroN]

That was my first instinct, but it doesn't work for me. Nothing happens at all. All I can do with node tool is select and move the ellipse. I tried using the mouse, but it doesn't work either. I just got Designer last night, Do i need to update it or does it update automatically when I installed it? Maybe that's the problem?

[tkpault]

 

[OldytroN]

Further investigation shows that it works when the path is created with the pen tool, but not when I use the ellipse tool, rectangle tool or any other shape tool. Is that by design or is it some type of bug?

[MEB]

Hi OldytroN,

You must convert the shapes to curves before you can edit their nodes. Click the Convert to Curves button in the context toolbar.

 

All shapes are parametric which means you can adjust certain specific attributes - like the number of points of a start for example (look at the different options in the context toolbar) - while they remain as shapes, however you are not able to edit their nodes. For that they must be converted to curves first: their current attributes get baked to the path geometry and you can then adjust the nodes as you see fit however their parametric attributes are no longer editable. Check this video to lear more about them: Shapes.

[OldytroN]

I see, thanks for all the help! 

[Bri-Toon]

Something else I would like to add here is as well as adding nodes, deleting them is a little different from Illustrator as well. When deleting a node in Illustrator with the Node Tool, I remember that it would always break the path. In Designer, it will still keep the path but deform it. If you use the first button under the "Action" set on the Context Toolbar while Designer's Node Tool is selected, then it will work the same way as Illustrator's Pen Tool (subtract mode) works, and break the curve that way.

[tymcat]

I have the same problem in Affinity Photo and the AD tools don't work. If I click on an existing path it creates a new path instead adding a node to the existing one - but it looks "selected".
MBP 15", Mojave. Creating a new path is like in AD or AI but then the similarity ends. There is no "a" tool.

[gdenby]

The pen and node tools are in the same tool fly-out in Photo. But the tool shortcut is "p" in photo, not "a" as in designer.

[R C-R]

4 minutes ago, gdenby said:

The pen and node tools are in the same tool fly-out in Photo. But the tool shortcut is "p" in photo, not "a" as in designer.

By default, in Affinity Photo the "p" key cycles between the Node & Pen tools, but you can customize the Tools panel so each of those tools has its own individual position in the panel, & you can change the keyboard shortcut for one or both to remove the toggle action.

Because I use both Photo & Designer a lot, I changed the Node Tool shortcut in Photo to "a" so it would be the same for both apps.

[firstdefence]

3 hours ago, R C-R said:

Because I use both Photo & Designer a lot, I changed the Node Tool shortcut in Photo to "a" so it would be the same for both apps.

Ive done the same.

[KCP]

On 3/21/2018 at 4:38 PM, MEB said:

If the path is not seleted the first click with the Node Tool will select it. Click again over the path to add a node. If the path is selected you only need to click over the path once to add a node. Can you please check it with you tablet?

How do you extend an existing path as demonstrated in this Illustrator? Start the vid at 4:23/24:11.
 

 

[walt.farrell]

9 hours ago, KCP said:

How do you extend an existing path as demonstrated in this Illustrator? Start the vid at 4:23/24:11.

Perhaps you're looking for the Add New Curve to Selected Curves Object function of the Pen Tool, as mentioned in the Help.

[R C-R]

If you just want to add one or more nodes (what Adobe calls "anchors" in the video) to an existing path, first note that you can only add nodes to either end of an open path. To do this, select the path with the Node Tool & click on one of its end nodes. Then switch to the Pen Tool & click where you want the next node to be placed. Continue adding nodes as desired.

To make this easier to do, you can select the Pen Tool & hold down the modifier key (CMD on Macs) to temporarily switch to the Node Tool for as long as the modifier key is held down.

[KCP]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

If you just want to add one or more nodes (what Adobe calls "anchors" in the video) to an existing path, first note that you can only add nodes to either end of an open path. To do this, select the path with the Node Tool & click on one of its end nodes. Then switch to the Pen Tool & click where you want the next node to be placed. Continue adding nodes as desired.

To make this easier to do, you can select the Pen Tool & hold down the modifier key (CMD on Macs) to temporarily switch to the Node Tool for as long as the modifier key is held down.

Thank you, RC-R. That worked. 

[Mike.P]

AP  1.8.3.641 Windows 8.1, Wacom Tablet.  Could not add a node with AP in Windows 8.1.

Fixed.

I caused this problem myself by switching on

Edit > Preferences > User Interface > Enable Pointer Support

and

Edit > Preferences > Tools > Use Windows lnk for tablet input

One, or both of those caused the problem.  I haven't bothered to check which as they don't seem to have any other effect.

 

[mkh]

hi, i'm having the same problem, when add node to an object. i'm using win10 and a bamboo wacom tablet. i just download the AD last week. 

and when i'm fooling around, i accidentally pressing right click on my stylus, and click the place where i want to add the nodes, and it's working. is there a bug or is it my tablet doesn't support the software? or are there any settings that i need to change?

thank you.

[Stepaan]

So it's not possible to add an anchor between two existing anchors of a closed path using Pen tool?  I can't just temporarily switch to Node tool (Ctrl) and click (as I would do in Anchor tool), beacuse it performs Ctrl + Click, which means Delete segment.

[Old Bruce]

2 minutes ago, Stepaan said:

So it's not possible to add an anchor between two existing anchors of a closed path using Pen tool?  I can't just temporarily switch to Node tool (Ctrl) and click (as I would do in Anchor tool), beacuse it performs Ctrl + Click, which means Delete segment.

It is on Mac by using the Command key, look at the bottom left of the consolidated window for the useful hints. There may be something on Windows OS too.

[Stepaan]

2 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

It is on Mac by using the Command key, look at the bottom left of the consolidated window for the useful hints. There may be something on Windows OS too.

Thank you. In most cases, here on Windows, the Ctrl key has a simmilar functionality to a Command key on Mac. But it means, you have one extra modiffier key on Mac. On the screenshot I'm holding Ctrl. So now there isn't any difference between Click and Ctrl Click.

[Old Bruce]

My screenshot is when the Pen tool is active/chosen. I am guessing that yours is when the Node tool is active/chosen.

[Stepaan]

Unfortunately not. It's a Pen tool. But it looks completely different.