camloken Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 It would be nice to be able to add a stroke to text. I know the workaround is to convert the text to curves and outline it. But this is not really useful if you need to edit the text. One other consideration might be to allow for multiple strokes and adjust the layering of the stokes and fill. I use this feature in illustrator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camloken Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 Ok, my mistake. I just saw the outline effect. I take back what I said about text stroke (just different terminology I guess). So the text outline does exist, I'm just wondering if there is a way to add more than one outline. Great job guys, keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 5, 2015 Staff Share Posted March 5, 2015 Hi camloken, The Outline FX is processed as a raster effect. You can apply a vector stroke to text like you do for any other shape. Select the Node tool go to the Stroke panel on the context toolbar and you can change the colour and the width of it there. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Harris Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 You can also select an individual word with the Text tool, and use the Stroke and Colour tabs to give it a vector outline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camloken Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 Hmmm, ok so this is not very discoverable. I tried selecting an individual word and then used the colour swatch to add a stroke. Nothing. Then I realized I needed to actually add a stroke... whola! You should probably add a default width to the stroke of text when users choose a colour (either 1px or the last stroke setting they used). However, if the last stroke setting they used was "none" then I guess users wouldn't see anything. So for that reason you should probably default to 1px. Otherwise people like me will think the feature doesn't exist. Great work so far guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnyb Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 +1 for @Camloken comments. I've reported this behavior as well, but haven't heard back... It's weird to have a stroke color attribute turned on while the stroke width remains at zero... Basically whenever the user sets a stroke width or stroke color, the software needs to apply a minimimum width (1 pt?) and a color (black?), it doesn't matter which happens first: if the user changes a stroke's color color from None, then the software needs to add a 1pt stroke so you can SEE it, or if the changes a stroke's width above zero, then the software should assign a color to see the width automatically... I hope to see this functionality added soon as well... Quote 2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS Sequoia 15.1 2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 18.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petar Petrenko Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 No. it is not a good idea. Text would be deminished by the outline width. It is good the way it works now. Quote All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows. 15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 ● Windows 10 x64 Pro ● Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) ● 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) ● NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 ● 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD ● UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display 32” LG 32UN650-W display ● 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 ● Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated ● 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort 13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) ● Ventura 13.6 ● Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) ● 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 ● Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB ● 500 GB SSD ● Retina Display (3360 x 2100) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camloken Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Petar, I'm not sure I understand you statement "text would diminish by the outline width". I assume you mean that the letters will lose some of their width (or appear lighter) when you add a stroke around them. For this reason I think the Affinity developers should add the default width to the outside of the letter or send the stroke behind the fill. Petar, did you realize that stroking the text is a feature that exists already? I'm just curious because I was unaware of this until the Affinty developers told me how to do this. To the Affinty developers, I initially highlighted the word with the text tool and looked to change the stroke effects on the TOPBAR. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petar Petrenko Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Yes Camloken, you are right. I meant exactly what you say. The letter will be thiner (lighter). But... in every app that outline is an option, stroke width is set to zero. If you want to use outlines you need to change the width and select a color. So, this option is implemented in AD exactly as it should. Quote All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows. 15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 ● Windows 10 x64 Pro ● Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) ● 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) ● NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 ● 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD ● UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display 32” LG 32UN650-W display ● 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 ● Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated ● 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort 13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) ● Ventura 13.6 ● Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) ● 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 ● Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB ● 500 GB SSD ● Retina Display (3360 x 2100) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnyb Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 The way i see it is that the strange behavior is the following: one can change the color of a stroke while the stroke has a width of zero... 90% of the time, if the user is changing the color of the stroke, they obviously want it to be visible, so the app ought to change the stroke width to a default width in order to aid the creative flow Yes Camloken, you are right. I meant exactly what you say. The letter will be thiner (lighter). But... in every app that outline is an option, stroke width is set to zero. If you want to use outlines you need to change the width and select a color. So, this option is implemented in AD exactly as it should. Quote 2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS Sequoia 15.1 2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 18.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camloken Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Yes ronnyb, I agree with you. It seems like strange behaviour to me, but then again what do I know. I'm sure we're not the only ones who think this. I'm sure the folks at Affinity will figure it out. ronnyb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petar Petrenko Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 And the others apps behave the same. In InDesign you can also change the color of the stroke while it's stroke width is zero. Nothing strange. You should use it like it is. Quote All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows. 15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 ● Windows 10 x64 Pro ● Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) ● 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) ● NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 ● 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD ● UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display 32” LG 32UN650-W display ● 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 ● Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated ● 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort 13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) ● Ventura 13.6 ● Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) ● 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 ● Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB ● 500 GB SSD ● Retina Display (3360 x 2100) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katesull Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I am new to Affinity and Illustrator, so apologies if I am not explaining this correctly or if I did something wrong, but I wanted to point out something that I noticed. When designing an invitation recently with a lot of delicate script fonts, I added a .15pt stroke to be sure they would hold up and be thick enough to print. I exported the file from Affinity as a PDF (did not convert the text to outlines, as it was important that the text stay editable). When I imported the PDF into Illustrator to test that everything would transfer over correctly if opened in a different program, the stroke width around the text looked much thicker than the width I had originally set in Affinity. Is this some error on my end, or perhaps a bug in the export? A few other notes, and apologies if I'm not posting this in the right place - but I noticed three things in the new beta version: The font chooser (I don't know the technical name but it's the box you click on and can scroll down to select a font) automatically resets to the top every time you click on it - rather than starting at the name of the font that is currently selected. I find this frustrating as I often like to scroll through fonts and try different ones out, and don't like to have to start back at the top of the list every time I click out of the chooser to get a better view. Also, I noticed that even though I have "show text in points" clicked, if I switch the document units to anything besides points, the text size shows up in whatever the document unit is set to (inches, mm, etc.) This isn't the case with the lines, just the text. Finally, I noticed that you can zoom out (using the command, - shortcut) while actively editing text, but you cannot zoom in (using command, +). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnyb Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Actually Petar_MK it seems that's not accurate. Check out this video I put together of InDesign CC v9.0 and how changing the stroke width and color settings influence each other: stroke weight and color palette behavior.mov And the others apps behave the same. In InDesign you can also change the color of the stroke while it's stroke width is zero. Nothing strange. You should use it like it is. Petar Petrenko 1 Quote 2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS Sequoia 15.1 2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 18.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Harris Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Hmmm, ok so this is not very discoverable. I tried selecting an individual word and then used the colour swatch to add a stroke. Nothing. Then I realized I needed to actually add a stroke... whola! You should probably add a default width to the stroke of text when users choose a colour (either 1px or the last stroke setting they used). However, if the last stroke setting they used was "none" then I guess users wouldn't see anything. So for that reason you should probably default to 1px. Otherwise people like me will think the feature doesn't exist. Great work so far guys. You're right. We already do that for Shapes, and not doing it for text is a bug. We'll get it fixed. Petar Petrenko 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camloken Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Great, that will probably help your usability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Harris Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 This is now fixed in the code. It won't make the next App Store update, but will be in betas after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnyb Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Awesome Dave! Glad t see this one fixed... was slowing down the flow... Quote 2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS Sequoia 15.1 2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 18.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camloken Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 That's excellent news Dave. It should reduce the number of complaints for sure. Good to see Affinity is focusing on the fine details. Very important when building large scale products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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