Convert Shape

[RenWaller]

Hello, is there a way to "convert shape" of a frame in either Publisher or Designer? I currently have the photo in a square and I would like a simple way to make it a circle.

Thank you!

[Sackadelic]

You can make a clipping mask. Create a circle shape, size it to how you like it, then drag and drop the circle over the layer, directly to the right of it. It will clip everything else around it and convert your square photo into a circle.

 

Tyler

[Sackadelic]

To clarify, 

See images. I dragged the ellipse and held it on the photo layer until a light blue rectangle directly to the right of the thumbnail appears. Release to mask.

Hope that helps!

[RenWaller]

Thanks! It does, it's not converting the shape, but it's a fairly simply workaround that I didn't think of.

P.S. I love this feature

[Guest]

Hi RenWaller,

In Designer, you can convert the photo to curves, draw the circle over it, select both and do a Boolean operation "Intersect".

[JimmyJack]

2 hours ago, RenWaller said:

I currently have the photo in a square and I would like a simple way to make it a circle.

With any shape tool selected in Designer... (slider really only has to go to 50%).... (don't know about Publisher).
If the square has already been turned into curves use the Corner Tool.... although that will leave you with points on top of points (if that matters to you).

 

[RenWaller]

Thanks! That's very helpful :+)

[Mastro_Gundam]

On 10/11/2018 at 5:57 PM, Sackadelic said:

You can make a clipping mask. Create a circle shape, size it to how you like it, then drag and drop the circle over the layer, directly to the right of it. It will clip everything else around it and convert your square photo into a circle.

 

Tyler

Why don't you give the appropriate question to the answer she made? She is asking if there is a function in Affinity Publisher to convert a shape into another, like InDesign does (Search InDesign > Convert to Shape tool). What you suggested is  to use the border radius effect to change make the square look like a circle, but:
1. it is not a circle, is still a square, so it will act a s a square even if its appearance is similar to a circle.

2. This is a solution to solve this specific task. But what if I have to convert a circle to a square, or any other shape into any other shape, for example a triangle to an hexagon, and so on...

So the answer is NO, unfortunately, there is NO convert to shape function. And this is a big lack in a software for the professional desktop publishing which aims to replace or at least give an affordable alternative to Adobe.

As experienced designer (20 years adobe user, ACE), I wanted to give it a chance testing the trial version of the Publisher and the Photo. I found them really good softwares with a lot of fast and intuitive and time saving tools (and some unexpected really cool stuff that I always dreamt for Adobe),  but I think they still miss something if they want to become the real alternative to Adobe for all the designers of every kind out there.

Anyway what I wanted to say is that I get really nervous when searching in forums I find those kind of answers.

THE QUESTION IS SUPER CLEAR SO PLEASE A SUPER CLEAR ANSWER: no there is no such function in Affinity Publisher....punto!

Grazie.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Mastro_Gundam

[prophet]

I haven't seen this talked about much elsewhere. I would love the ability to quickly convert a picture frame shape, most simply from quadrilateral to ellipse.

[thomaso]

On 10/11/2018 at 5:54 PM, RenWaller said:

"convert shape" of a frame in either Publisher or Designer? I currently have the photo in a square and I would like a simple way to make it a circle.

In APub you have – additionally to the masking objects mentioned above – the Picture Frame Ellipse Tool which gives you more flexible layout and UI options than a simple shape object.– How-to:
1. Select the Picture Frame Ellipse Tool
2. Create an elliptical frame on your rectangular image 
3. In the Layers Panel move the image layer on the name of the picture frame layer
4. release.

Note: if you right-click the image and choose the according "Convert..." command from the context menu it will result in a rectangular frame, not an elliptical.

[prophet]

Certainly, starting with an ellipse picture frame would solve the problem, but I believe the underlying feature request here is the ability to switch between rectangle and ellipse with a simple command.

 

[thomaso]

> switch between rectangle and ellipse with a simple command.

Yes, that would be lovely, not only for Picture Frames!
It wasn't clear to me from the initial question whether the image is within a frame already, or if 'frame' was used as substitute for 'object' or 'rectangular image shape'.
And: this topic isn't a feature request, right?

[Alfred]

9 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Yes, that would be lovely, not only for Picture Frames!

And not only for rectangles and ellipses! Serif’s legacy application DrawPlus (like Affinity Designer, a hybrid vector/raster drawing program) has QuickShapes which are similar to the parametric shapes in AD, but with the added advantage that you can replace a shape with a completely different one via the Context toolbar.

[Rob Luxford]

Incorporate with the shapes tool and be able to swap between shapes once drawn would be very cool.