I cant figure out how to make empty spacing on logo

[AustinRW]

hey guy recently been designing logos for fun and really trying to learn this program, Im just have a problem with creating empty space between the text and the logo.

the design behind the text is a regular vector (just created with the pen tool) and the text is just the text. I created the example below just to show you what kind of situation I am dealing with. On the text I created a white stroke with a little bit of thickness to give off the illusion that there is actual empty space between the text, but there isn't based on the screenshot with a black background. How can I properly do this operation without having to use the outline effect on the text?

 

[Callum]

Hi Austin RW,

Welcome to the forums!

You should be able to do this using the boolean operations found in the below video

 

 

Thanks

Callum

[MEB]

Hi AustinRW,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
You can convert the stroke to a shape going to menu Layer ▸ Expand Stroke. You can then subtract (using boolean operations as shown in the video Callum linked to) the expanded stroke (shape) from the background object.
Note that you will need to convert the text to curves first, so you may want to expand the stroke on a duplicate of the text object. To convert the text to curves go to menu Layer ▸ Convert to Curves.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, MEB said:

You can convert the stroke to a shape going to menu Layer ▸ Expand Stroke. You can then subtract (using boolean operations as shown in the video Callum linked to) the expanded stroke (shape) from the background object.
Note that you will need to convert the text to curves first, so you may want to expand the stroke on a duplicate of the text object. To convert the text to curves go to menu Layer ▸ Convert to Curves.

I am still on my first cup of coffee so I may have this all wrong but as I understand it, the idea is to end up with one text object & as many curve objects as are needed to create the gaps in the background vector shape. If so, it is the text (or a duplicate of it) that needs to be given a stroke & converted to curves. For the example, this results in a group of 4 curves, although for text other than "test" that included characters like a or g there would be curves objects to preserve the open space in them.

 Next, expanding the stroke of each curve in the group individually (because expanding the curve on the group does nothing) results in more curves objects in addition to the original ones, something like this:

After removing all of the unneeded curves in this group -- everything besides outer curve in each of the curves objects -- the remaining 4 curve objects can finally be ungrouped & subtracted from the bottom vector curve, creating yet another curves object, here consisting of 2 curves, like in this curves result.afdesign example:

This works, but it is a lot of steps, may create a lot of unneeded nodes depending on the original vector shape & its position relative to the text, & can get very complicated when a or g or similar characters are included in the text. So I am hoping I have missed something that would simplify creating something like this.

Aside from that, I also want to mention a different & much simpler method useful for initial prototyping or where a transparent png or tiff is acceptable as the final output: as in this test prototype.afdesign file, duplicate the original unstroked text, add a stroke to the duplicate, & set its blend mode to erase. The advantage is the two art text layers can be selected & moved around or resized together, & the text can be edited if it is the same in both of them, for example by copying one to the other. The disadvantage is exporting to a vector format like svg won't work because the blend mode will cause rasterization that ruins the effect.

[MEB]

14 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I am still on my first cup of coffee so I may have this all wrong but as I understand it, the idea is to end up with one text object & as many curve objects as are needed to create the gaps in the background vector shape. If so, it is the text (or a duplicate of it) that needs to be given a stroke & converted to curves.

Yes, it's the stroke of the text that must be expanded. That's what i said: "You can then subtract (using boolean operations as shown in the video Callum linked to) the expanded stroke (shape) from the background object.". I was obviously referring to the stroke of the text.

Regarding the Erase method, since the user mentioned he's working with logos it's better to design/have everything as vectors.

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, MEB said:

Yes, it's the stroke of the text that must be expanded. That's what i said.

But is there no simpler way to do it than as I described, including deleting all the extra curves?

7 minutes ago, MEB said:

Regarding the Erase method, since the user mentioned he's working with logos it's better to design/have everything as vectors.

I agree, which is why I suggested it only for initial prototyping to see what the logo would look like with different vector background shapes or different text, or where a transparent png or tiff would work for the intended use.

[firstdefence]

4 hours ago, R C-R said:

But is there no simpler way to do it than as I described, including deleting all the extra curves?

I agree, which is why I suggested it only for initial prototyping to see what the logo would look like with different vector background shapes or different text, or where a transparent png or tiff would work for the intended use.

I like your erase method R C-R much simpler and looks just as good.  

Is the issue with this when you export it?

[R C-R]

5 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

I like your erase method R C-R much simpler and looks just as good.  

Is the issue with this when you export it?

Yes. It is fine if exporting to a raster format that supports transparency like PNG or TIFF is acceptable, but not if for example you need a pure vector format like an SVG.file. The erase blend mode forces rasterization & creates non-transparent areas that should not be there.

[firstdefence]

Thanks for that R C-R, the top one is the boolean subtract method, the bottom one is the erase method.

 

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

Thanks for that R C-R, the top one is the boolean subtract method, the bottom one is the erase method.

What does the bottom one look like if you export to SVG?

[firstdefence]

Exporting with text intact has an offset effect, the erase blend mode @300DPI is pixelated and like you said transparency gets blatted to white.

Original Masterpiece: erase vs boolean.afdesign

erase vs boolean for export.svg

erase vs boolean for Print Text As Curves.svg

[AustinRW]

12 hours ago, MEB said:

Hi AustinRW,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
You can convert the stroke to a shape going to menu Layer ▸ Expand Stroke. You can then subtract (using boolean operations as shown in the video Callum linked to) the expanded stroke (shape) from the background object.
Note that you will need to convert the text to curves first, so you may want to expand the stroke on a duplicate of the text object. To convert the text to curves go to menu Layer ▸ Convert to Curves.

thanks you so much I got to work, thanks everyone for all the help

[AustinRW]

10 hours ago, MEB said:

Yes, it's the stroke of the text that must be expanded. That's what i said: "You can then subtract (using boolean operations as shown in the video Callum linked to) the expanded stroke (shape) from the background object.". I was obviously referring to the stroke of the text.

Regarding the Erase method, since the user mentioned he's working with logos it's better to design/have everything as vectors.

also I had one more thing, the stroke that I had made behind the text was a filled custom shape made with a pen tool, how would i do this if it was just a stroke with just two points made with a pen tool, is has no fill but has a stroke.

[lepr]

.

[AustinRW]

28 minutes ago, owenr said:

You would use the Expand Stroke command to convert the stroke to a filled shape, just as you did with the text's stroke, and then you could subtract from it.

 

 

ahhh thanks so much, i get it now