Adding stroke to artboard doesn't work

[Malauch]

In help there is information that it is possible to add stroke to artboard in Designer. However it just doesn't work. I recorded my attempt to add stroke to artboard. 

Help: https://affinity.help/designer/en-US.lproj/pages/Artboards/artboards_clr.html

 

[Aammppaa]

Has been discussed before, a few times…

 

 

 

[Chris_K]

Hi Malauch

As Aammppaa has pointed out, this has been reported a number of time previously so it is something we already have logged with development 

Cheers

[Pensketch]

On 8/28/2018 at 5:29 AM, Chris_K said:

it is something we already have logged with development 

It's now over a year later, and this hasn't been fixed on Mac? Or at least it doesn't seem to have been fixed. I've been beating my head against the wall for the last hour trying to get it to work. I'm using the AppStore Affinity Designer version 1.7.2, MAC OS 10.14.6.

I need a 1px border for some static display ads. I can make a rectangle set to the top layer have a 1px stroke, and set color opacity to 0%, however then it works like a shield and I can't manipulate the stuff below it without turning it off. And if I turn it off, there's a chance I'll forget to turn it back on, and then my ads become noncompliant.

Is there a workaround for this? Or is it still just "logged with development" and it'll get fixed when it gets fixed?

(edit) Locking the "border" layer stops it from acting like a shield. I would prefer to be able to add a stroke to the artboard, but at least I have a solution for the problem I'm having currently.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Pensketch
update

[walt.farrell]

49 minutes ago, Pensketch said:

(edit) Locking the "border" layer stops it from acting like a shield. I would prefer to be able to add a stroke to the artboard, but at least I have a solution for the problem I'm having currently.

You should also be able to put the rectangle as the bottom layer in the artboard, so there is nothing below it (except the artboard itself).

And no, the bug is not fixed yet. However, 1.7 introduced the Appearance studio panel. Using that panel you can add a second stroke to an artboard, and that stroke will show up.

[Pensketch]

 

14 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

You should also be able to put the rectangle as the bottom layer in the artboard

I tried that as well. The problem is if there's anything larger than the artboard – like an image – that extends past the edge of the bottom rectangle, it obscures the border (1).

I can set the bottommost layer to multiply, as long as the background rectangle is white (2) but any layers above that still obscure the border, and they can't be set to multiply if they are overlapping any other elements (3).

I suppose I could work it out so there's a mask on a container for all of the elements that has a width and height 2px smaller than the artboard and is centered, but honestly it would be much easier if a stroke on the artboard worked the way it was supposed to.

(edit) I was focused on what you said first. I'll look into the two strokes using the Appearance panel. Thank you for that tip.

(edi2) Weird that doing that works, but it does. I also notice when it does, the other stroke that wasn't working disappears from the Appearance panel. This is a great tip to know. I really appreciate it.

 

3 example images.zip

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Pensketch said:

The problem is if there's anything larger than the artboard – like an image – that extends past the edge of the bottom rectangle, it obscures the border

But you wouldn't want to have something larger than the artboard, would you? What purpose would that serve?

And even if you could easily stroke the artboard wouldn't that object still cause problems?

[Pensketch]

5 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

But you wouldn't want to have something larger than the artboard, would you? What purpose would that serve?

And even if you could easily stroke the artboard wouldn't that object still cause problems?

Yes I would, because the boundaries of the artboard clip it, so it doesn't cause problems. The purpose is that I don't need to set up a mask to trim the object/symbol, and can easily reposition it if needed.

Also, if the stroke (1px solid black border) is added to a rectangle at the bottom of the stack, even if I trim the object with a mask so that it doesn't extend past the edges of the artboard it will still obscure the 1px border, like in the examples I attached earlier.

I could spend time fiddling with the masks so the border isn't obscured, but it would take more time than I want to spend on this single problem, and I would have to do it to any element that went right up to – or past – the border. It's especially frustrating when I know the one-step solution is supposed to be possible – adding a stroke to the artboard – it just still isn't working a year after it was added to the development queue; unless I use your tip of adding another stroke through the Appearance panel, I'm very happy that's working.

By design and according to the help file, a stroke on the artboard is above everything contained on the artboard.

From the help file (https://affinity.help/designer/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/SymbolsAssets/symbols.html?title=Symbols):

---
If a color is applied to the artboard's stroke, it will appear over any objects placed on the artboard—therefore acting as an overlay.

To take full advantage of an artboard's stroke appearing in front of artboard content, you may wish to set the line to Align Stroke to Inside on the Stroke panel.

---

You can see from the template file that I've made and attached how it works. When you go to the Export Persona and export the 160x600 and 300x250 ad sizes, the resulting png files have the background clipped, and the 1px black border is where it needs to be. My first version of this template was so convoluted with groups in order to get the border to work that it was a pain to deal with, and cluttered. With the strokes on the artboards, this one is much easier.

I'm still learning my way around Affinity's products after 20+ years of designing in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, and I keep having to puzzle out how to do things that had become second nature for me with Adobe's products. This is one of them. But there are so many good things Affinity Designer is bringing to my workflow that I feel like the time and frustration will pay off eventually.

Thank you again for your tip though. It's working perfectly.

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