Creating a spiral or coil

[jbingram 1]

I'm looking to curve a vector (as the opening stroke of a slanted, capital 'A') into a spiral or coil. I'm working with nodes and their curving arms but am unable to make anything satisfactory. Any suggestions?

[v_kyr 1,969]

Not sure if you mean spirals like in this video here (German)?

[firstdefence 2,620]

Use the spiral shape tool and modify to suit.

I had a brain fart

[Alfred 5,512]

9 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Use the spiral shape tool and modify to suit.

Screenshots, please!

[firstdefence 2,620]

56 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Screenshots, please!

er oops? in my defence I was half asleep but awake enough to press buttons, coherency had obviously left the building.

I wonder where I'd seen the spiral shape?

[Angelize 85]

There is a set of spirals here that you get as a pdf file that you can import into affinity.  In Designer you can select them and add them to the assets panel.  In photo just copy and paste from the pdf.  They come in as vector curves that you can edit to suit your needs.  They aren't free but the price is reasonable.

[firstdefence 2,620]

The Spiral Tool, well, how to make a spiral and the tool who made the gif lol!

[R C-R 4,258]

FWIW, there have been a few topics about drawing spirals & requests for a spiral tool, like Spiral Shape Tool for Designer & How to draw a spiral. As it (pardon the pun) turns out, there are quite a few different kinds of spirals. (This Wikipedia article includes an overview & some links about that.)

Without a dedicated spiral tool, most of those spirals can only be approximated. 

[gdenby 649]

Also check out:

http://xahlee.info/SpecialPlaneCurves_dir/specialPlaneCurves.html
http://www.demonstrations.wolfram.com/LogarithmicSpiral/ etc. from the same site.

Note: Mathematica for home/hobby use is still a fair piece of change. And it appears that getting a pure vector .svg out of it is a bit of a trick. 

Seems like a dedicated spiral app might be a better source. I see that there is only 1 type available in Inkscape. I have to suppose that unless there is a large demand for volutes, perhaps for architects designing neo-neo-classical buildings, there isn't much need for a dedicated tool. 

Perhaps a formula a bit more advanced than what firstdefence uses in a power duplicate might be good for those who want to generate various spirals once in awhile. Not just geometric scaling, but log scaling.

[R C-R 4,258]

12 hours ago, gdenby said:

I have to suppose that unless there is a large demand for volutes, perhaps for architects designing neo-neo-classical buildings, there isn't much need for a dedicated tool. 

I think there are enough uses for a spiral tool to justify a dedicated tool for that, particularly if it supported all the features of the Xara Designer tool that @rubs mentioned in this post. Imagine trying to draw a watch spring or a nautilus or similar shell shape manually.

[Mithferion 952]

Here is another way to do a Spiral inside Affinity Designer (just make circles one by one instead of making them all at once):
 

 

Best regards!

[Alfred 5,512]

6 minutes ago, Mithferion said:

(just make circles one by one instead of making them all at once)

Easier said than done! We need a Blend Tool for that, or at least an option for Power Duplicate to use an arithmetic progression instead of a geometric one so that the gaps between the circles are all the same size.

[firstdefence 2,620]

Or open Inkscape and make one in less than 10 sec

drawing.svg

 

[Mithferion 952]

Just now, Alfred said:

Easier said than done! We need a Blend Tool for that, or at least an option for Power Duplicate to use an arithmetic progression instead of a geometric one so that the gaps between the circles are all the same size.

Or you can download my file, good Alfred.

Best regards!

Spiral Template.afdesign

[firstdefence 2,620]

Spiral Ball: Spiral ball.svg

[Alfred 5,512]

Just now, firstdefence said:

Spiral Ball: Spiral ball.svg

More, please. Or perhaps I should say: Moiré, please!

[firstdefence 2,620]

4 minutes ago, Alfred said:

More, please. Or perhaps I should say: Moiré, please!

hahaha

Spiral eye aye.svg

Spiral sink hole.svg

[R C-R 4,258]

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

Easier said than done! We need a Blend Tool for that, or at least an option for Power Duplicate to use an arithmetic progression instead of a geometric one so that the gaps between the circles are all the same size.

I'm not even sure a 'linear' spiral is a true spiral, but regardless of that, all these examples point to the need for a dedicated spiral tool for Affinity, one based on parametrically adjustable polar equations, ideally with a user friendly interface like the Xara one.

[jbingram 1]

Oh man! You all are wonderful. I forgot I'd posted this and as I didn't have responses turned on, it fell away...

I'll sift through once I have some time and when I get back to that (extracurricular) project!

All the best; thanks again.

[Michael Santa Monica 1]

On 2/10/2019 at 12:28 AM, firstdefence said:

The Spiral Tool, well, how to make a spiral and the tool who made the gif lol!

Just wanted to thank you effusively for providing this. And hundred times moreover, if you created it. Seeing it in action makes makes it much easier/quicker to follow than written instructions.

[firstdefence 2,620]

You're welcome Michael and yes I made the video 

[MapboiDesign 1]

I need help doing this spiral showing on the GIf..when i do the copy and slide and press Control J it doesnt copy at all in a spiral. Simply copies on top of each, I did exactly what that gif is doing but to no avail

 

[R C-R 4,258]

3 hours ago, MapboiDesign said:

I need help doing this spiral showing on the GIf..when i do the copy and slide and press Control J it doesnt copy at all in a spiral. Simply copies on top of each, I did exactly what that gif is doing but to no avail

It sounds like you forgot to resize the first copy after sliding it over.

[Lagarto 627]

In Xara Designer these are all variations of one and same identical spiral shape, and the LiveFX (e.g. deformation effects shown below in color) can also be piled up so variations are endless (effects, though, will be rasterized even if they are shape controlled):

[firstdefence 2,620]

Quick and easy linear spiral document.