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Slightly messy Expand Stroke


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Dear Affinity-Team,

 

I've been working on a logo font where i use mostly bezier curves to define the look and after that expand to strokes... 

while I'm used to clean expanded strokes/curves... within Illustrator for instance, in Affinity Designer the created points are quite a lot if not messy?! 

 

This is even more problematic (also slows down the app considerably) with SVG/EPS Exports. (see attached files)

Optimising / simplify curves/strokes could be helpful.. in that case. As well just a better conversation or maybe better conversation control.

 

Other than that is the Affinity Designer pretty nice!

 

post-9617-0-28028900-1428163482_thumb.png

post-9617-0-69326600-1428163483_thumb.png

post-9617-0-06479300-1428163813_thumb.png

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  • 1 year later...

Hello vwollschlaeger,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

We are aware of those limitations with the Expand Stroke command. This will be improved soon.

 

Any progress on this MEB? It's a bit of a show stopper for me... and I'm thinking quite a few others.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

limitations with the Expand Stroke command. This will be improved soon.

Please, is there hope, an answer for retrograde after one month and what is exactly meant by “soon”?

Any progress on this MEB? It's a bit of a show stopper for me... and I'm thinking quite a few others.

 

 

  Serif, give us a ping, just a single ping, please.

 

 

 

 

 

28562490nc.jpg

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On 17. März 2017 at 5:14 PM, evtonic3 said:

I'm not seeing this in AD 1.5.4.

 

LOL. Can be seen very often because that part of the Expand Stroke problems has been reported/not been corrected since 2014. That you don’t see it, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Try the line mode with a line of 1,108256 mm length.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow, i didn't notice all these comments!

Well, the problem still persists. Which isn't great.

For now... i will work around it..., since AD is still way faster compared to AICC2017!

 

It's not a rant either. I left Adobe because of slow software and massive problems with 'retina' screens.

And even after 3 years I'm out... AI still isn't as fast it needs to be. LR is also super slow.. so i stick to Apple Photos... (which is a mixed bag). But now i get offtrack.. you get the idea i guess?! 

 

Things i would like in AD/AP as well:

- A 3D-ish layer rotation (or in general a perspective tool) miss that from AI (Freehand)

- And.. please not laugh.... bitmap export! - i work also on games and general with game tech, and some still use 'bmp' data.

 

- something like InDesign (Affinity Publisher?!) would be nice slowly or at least in AD linked Textboxes  :-) 

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I'm thinking dealing with this outline, expand curve thing must be a hard nut to crack code wise.

 

I'm sending some good vibes/karma/juju/what have you... to the Affinity devs... kick some code butt!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Quote

- And.. please not laugh.... bitmap export! - i work also on games and general with game tech, and some still use 'bmp' data.

Hi , as a workaround for this, I would recommend exporting (lossless) PNGs and them convert them to BMPs as a batch using Adapter: https://macroplant.com/adapter

UX/UI designer, IT analyst & consultant, Business Architect at Cool Ticket (www.coolticket.co).

MacBook Pro 13'' Early 2015, 3,1 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1867 MHz DDR3, Apple Thunderbolt Display 27'' (2560 x 1440).

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Do they even plan to fix this? I use this feature quite a bit in Illustrator, so AD is just about useless to me.

 

I'm disappointed that the moderator comments once then ignores the problem for two full years.

 

I think as this is a pretty important and core part of any vector application to get right, that the team are working hard to address this. 

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I think as this is a pretty important and core part of any vector application to get right, that the team are working hard to address this. 

 

Yes, It seems quite complicated!  I've just did make another test.. using a pen tool, like always, making a 'S' shape and converting by using 'expand stroke'... the result is still very messy.

Let's say, when you plan to create Fonts and prototype your glyphs preferred in Illustrator, you're usually able to copy and paste the path/stroke over Fontographer as well Fontlab 5 or 6, which a beta. recognise that path and you don't need to build it again, just tweak it. Quite a timesaver! 

 

With Affinity Designer FontLab 6 (beta) and 5 or you end up with a bitmap after i copied and pasted the stroke.

Here i have to build the whole thing again. In fact since Fontlab 6 comes with a sketch board, it's maybe not as important anymore to build my glyphs in a faster more comfortable environment. Still i don't know what happens when i copy and paste glyphs from the sketch board to Affinity Designer (update: tried it out, and it doesn't work!)... 

 

Hi vwollschlaeger, as a workaround for this, I would recommend exporting (lossless) PNGs and them convert them to BMPs as a batch using Adapter: https://macroplant.com/adapter

 

I don't think it should be an issue in the first place!

Using a different application to solve that issue doesn't feel like it should be! 

However i use GraphicConverter 10. I guess, normally i would develop my own plugin and provide it on GitHub.

But ... Affinity doesn't provide a SDK. 

post-9617-0-18040700-1493757149_thumb.png

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That's my last on that topic.

Especially since it's two years ago that i faced that little problem.

 

I downloaded Adobe Illustrator CC (2017.2) as trial. And made the same tests, that pushed me to abandon it, with the current version.

And of course the one example expanded strokes in AI to Fontlab. 

 

1. Strokes are in AI are way way cleaner. Just have a look on the screenshot.

And when i copy it over, Fontlab recognises the path as well the expanded stroke keeps all editable.

This is how it should be!  kinda... 

 

2. AI has gotten faster,  finally. When i dropped it, I used the 2nd generation Retina MacBook Pro (16GB and Geforce GT750M, 2.3 Ghz Core i7...).

Illustrator had the tendency to slow down extremely (like 1fps) when tried to pan or zoom... or simply position and scale objects. Adobe back than said, I should avoid to work in 'retina' resolution when it slows down even lower the resolution! 

And that they are working on a solution. 2 Years later, now i own a iMac 5K and while AI is faster... --- like i might have 30fps when i pan the view.. let's say, it feels faster but not smooth.  

Working with it.. or loading the old documents that performed horribly - things are quite the same.  AI is very slow. It might be better but hardly noticeable. Must be the 5K. 

Maybe the old projects cause issues too...?! But even when i work on a new project its just not fast! = Funny when i open up the document in Affinity Designer its super smooth and even the old ones are super smooth.

That says something!  -- Still... I'm not happy with the expand stroke situation. 

 

post-9617-0-77959300-1493817756_thumb.png

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  • 1 year later...

28.July.2018. - another test - Affinity Designer 1.6.1 & Adobe Illustrator CC (22.1) (and for fun Inkscape 0.9.1 despite being unbearably slow on the Mac)
Somehow the 'Expand Stroke' issue isn't better. I didn't realise it's already over a year an issue.... good I didn't finish the font I was working on when I opened up the thread. 

Screen Shot 2018-07-28 at 13.31.43.png

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  • 3 months later...

This is a long-standing issue that's been brought up time and again. I sincerely hope a fix sees the light of day eventually. In the meantime the only viable workaround is to take your path elsewhere (e.g. Inkscape), expand it and then bring it back in. Maybe it'll get promoted in the agenda if enough people voice their concerns so let's make some noise :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4. April 2015 at 6:33 PM, MEB said:

improved soon

On 17. Juni 2015 at 4:03 PM, MattP said:

this will get fixed and it is a priority

Soon eventually really  is  fake   ?

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The silence is deafening indeed which is the worst part of the whole shebang. I doubt anyone thinks fixing these kinds of issues is easy or quick but the complete absence of dialogue is starting to feel increasingly discouraging.

Either the issue has turned out to be much worse than the casual inspection would have you believe or they just don’t care anymore.

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