If you want to have more control and something like the knife tool from illustrator, you can use either the pencil or pen tool and draw a curvy line through a shape and with that line selected choose Layer->Exapnd Stroke. This will convert the stroke into a shape and then if you select it and the underlying shape and choose the Divide geometry tool the underlying shape will be cut by the overlayed line which was converted to a shape from a stroke. Somethings are definitely easier in Illustrator but there are some ways to pull it off in Affinity Designer if your willing to dance around a bit.
Agreed, more ways to skin a cat. Expanding stroke sounds interesting but it won't give you 100% control at node-level like the procedure described in this video, where you decide precisely which node creates the cut. Thanks for your comment!
An easier way IMO is to draw the base shape first (the square), then draw the line as you did in the example, but then draw a complete shape from the line that overlaps one of the two halves of the square. Then you select both shapes and do a Divide operation on the two shapes. The excess of the overlaps can then just be deleted and it results in two closed shapes. Another way two quickly close open shapes (that don't overlap) without having to switch to the node tool is to select the two shapes and use the divide operation, which will then close the two open shapes.
Yes, that works with some basic shapes. I was looking for info on this because im working with a more complex shape with many node points. As an example, say its a shape of a spider, I place a rectangle over it, covering its legs to "cut" them but for some reason 3 of the 5 "combine operations" or boolean operations are not available (just like he has at 1:35) the remaining tools dont do what I need as "add" just combines the shapes and "divide" does nothing. I suppose I could use a mask but I prefer not to. Im not trying to mask anything, id like to have just a shape, formed and cut how I want. Ive encountered this many times. Both my shapes are curves and they are overlapping each other properly. It seems to happen when there are many nodes involved so I just end up manually shaping and cutting the shape one node at a time which is tedious and time consuming.
Good tip. With simple geometric shapes I use the subtract tool. With this example I wold have rotated the square 45 degrees the creat a Ne rectangle, place it over the rotated one and subtract to leave a triangle.
The problem with that is that it creates an open space (the width of the expanded line) between the two cut shapes. If divide worked properly, it should create cut shapes which touch one another. This is a real problem if you bring it into pixels or, especially, if you print it. This NEEDS to be fixed in the next major upgrade.
I'd be tempted to do this in vectornator first as there is a scissors tool and vectornator is free. You may need to add anchor points first, but there is an automated add anchor points function which evenly distributes them. You can also Import / Export SVG.
Not particularly. V2 did bring some new tools in terms of 'shape building' that are certainly helping speed up your work and achieve things you could not do before.
How do you do this with only the outline of a circle? No fill. I need to make a outline like a U shape. I tried the pie but I don't know how to open it after I have it done. Thank you.
If I understand what you're asking, on your circle you need to Expand Stroke first (Layer menu). Then your circle's outline becomes an actual shape and it provides nodes you can cut/add/remove and open/close the shape.
Wow. Ive had over year with Affinity I believe. I like it and im sticking with it for now but overtime, im discovering that its severely lacking in productivity tools and its painful. Sometimes, as a designer you have deadlines or multiple projects and this is another example of a relatively simple task that eats up more time than it should. I hope the developers address these things with a major update. I would gladly give up some features in exchange for a proper shaping, cutting and envelope warping tool.
I agree, there are some power features that are currently missing, I am thinking that the complex shape tool (also called 'Shape Builder' in some other software), will come in version 2. Too many people have requested it. But overall, I think a lot of people balance the lack of features or convenience or anything else Affinity software might be lacking with the undeniable price argument: lower one-time price, no subscription!
@@Graphicious True. Its just strange that software as powerful as Affinity designer would be sorely missing tools that I would think are no brainers, tools that are present in other more entry level basic software programs. Yes a shape building tool is very powerful but it didnt exist for many years. im thinking of tools like: a tracing tool, text warping, and yes, cutting and slicing. There are workarounds for everything but that just adds time for what are, in my case, frequent, relatively basic tasks. As an example, I currently use inkscape (which is free) to do some tracing and warping tasks. Its an extra step but it beats spending alot more time trying to get it done in Designer. As far as cost, If you do enough business, it might be worth it to just invest in software that can make you more productive, chalk it up as a business expense, which is something I might consider if some of these features don't get addressed. Id keep using Affinity for personal things and such and use other software for work.
Even in 2022 now ,it 's stil not been updated ? It's really annoyed. Anyone suggest a best woftware for patent drawings ? I only do patent drawings, all are white and black lines, AI is too large sw and also not convinent , affinity is stupid in sth. I am screwed by them
What exactly is confusing? Not sure what you mean by 'patent drawings', perhaps more technical drawings, diagrams, that kind of thing? If they are too complex, perhaps try AutoCAD?
True. But in this example, I was just using that line as an indication of what I wanted to achieve. If you have more complex shapes, it's faster to just open and close them as shown. Thanks for watching!
Hi Cristi! This task is easily possible in Adobe Illustrator too. It's not same as Affinity Designer though. How I did was, draw the rectangle shape, increase the stroke (if needed) and click on the top corner node of the rectangle and select the scissors ✂ tool in the toolbar and just click on the corner nodes. That will break-apart the shape in to two triangles. Then to bridge the broken nodes, select both - right click and select join. Voila!!! 👐🏻🙂 It's simple in illustrator. Just know the technique😉
I don't know, a lot of people seem to like it. I think the main appeal is not necessarily ease of use as the cost and not having a subscription attached to it.
If you want to have more control and something like the knife tool from illustrator, you can use either the pencil or pen tool and draw a curvy line through a shape and with that line selected choose Layer->Exapnd Stroke. This will convert the stroke into a shape and then if you select it and the underlying shape and choose the Divide geometry tool the underlying shape will be cut by the overlayed line which was converted to a shape from a stroke. Somethings are definitely easier in Illustrator but there are some ways to pull it off in Affinity Designer if your willing to dance around a bit.
Agreed, more ways to skin a cat. Expanding stroke sounds interesting but it won't give you 100% control at node-level like the procedure described in this video, where you decide precisely which node creates the cut. Thanks for your comment!
Waaaaaay better way to do it, thanks for that tip
This works better because it works with donuts.
Really appreciated that, thank you, I'll stop banging my head on the desk now.
Glad you sorted it out, thank you for watching! If you have other head-banging questions, let me know and I'll try to help.
An easier way IMO is to draw the base shape first (the square), then draw the line as you did in the example, but then draw a complete shape from the line that overlaps one of the two halves of the square. Then you select both shapes and do a Divide operation on the two shapes. The excess of the overlaps can then just be deleted and it results in two closed shapes.
Another way two quickly close open shapes (that don't overlap) without having to switch to the node tool is to select the two shapes and use the divide operation, which will then close the two open shapes.
Thanks, there are multiple ways to achieve a certain result. The one presented here is one of them. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, that works with some basic shapes. I was looking for info on this because im working with a more complex shape with many node points. As an example, say its a shape of a spider, I place a rectangle over it, covering its legs to "cut" them but for some reason 3 of the 5 "combine operations" or boolean operations are not available (just like he has at 1:35) the remaining tools dont do what I need as "add" just combines the shapes and "divide" does nothing.
I suppose I could use a mask but I prefer not to. Im not trying to mask anything, id like to have just a shape, formed and cut how I want. Ive encountered this many times. Both my shapes are curves and they are overlapping each other properly. It seems to happen when there are many nodes involved so I just end up manually shaping and cutting the shape one node at a time which is tedious and time consuming.
Can you please make a video about it..?
Excellent demonstration! Thank you very much.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you man, I was struggling to find a way to do it!
Glad I could help, thanks for watching!
Thank you so very much. You have saved me from future frustrations! thanks so so much!
Glad I could help! Thank you for watching!
Cheers bro, brilliant i was struggling with this for ages.!!!
No problem 👍
Good tip. With simple geometric shapes I use the subtract tool. With this example I wold have rotated the square 45 degrees the creat a Ne rectangle, place it over the rotated one and subtract to leave a triangle.
Thanks for sharing! But you're not always dealing with perfect generic geometric shapes. The open/close path operation works for any shape.
If you expand the stroke on the line you drew, you would then be able to divide it. Great tip, thanks for making the video.
Thank you for watching!
I do this
The problem with that is that it creates an open space (the width of the expanded line) between the two cut shapes. If divide worked properly, it should create cut shapes which touch one another. This is a real problem if you bring it into pixels or, especially, if you print it. This NEEDS to be fixed in the next major upgrade.
Do you know if this slice function has been improved in Designer 2.0?
I'd be tempted to do this in vectornator first as there is a scissors tool and vectornator is free. You may need to add anchor points first, but there is an automated add anchor points function which evenly distributes them. You can also Import / Export SVG.
Good to know, thanks for your comment.
Very useful! Short n Sweet tutorial
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for watching and subscribing.
Very helpful, thanks!
You're welcome!
you saved my mental health. thanks
Happy to help! Let me know if you have more questions.
Have there been any improvements to Affinity Design in this respect with the step up to V2 ?
Not particularly. V2 did bring some new tools in terms of 'shape building' that are certainly helping speed up your work and achieve things you could not do before.
Same applies to iPad version. Thanks for the tip. But Affinity if you read this, please bring shape builder tools. Please.
Glad it works on the iPad as well. Thank you for watching!
How do you do this with only the outline of a circle? No fill. I need to make a outline like a U shape. I tried the pie but I don't know how to open it after I have it done. Thank you.
If I understand what you're asking, on your circle you need to Expand Stroke first (Layer menu). Then your circle's outline becomes an actual shape and it provides nodes you can cut/add/remove and open/close the shape.
Thank you. this was really helpful.
You're welcome! Thank you for watching.
Wow. Ive had over year with Affinity I believe. I like it and im sticking with it for now but overtime, im discovering that its severely lacking in productivity tools and its painful. Sometimes, as a designer you have deadlines or multiple projects and this is another example of a relatively simple task that eats up more time than it should. I hope the developers address these things with a major update.
I would gladly give up some features in exchange for a proper shaping, cutting and envelope warping tool.
I agree, there are some power features that are currently missing, I am thinking that the complex shape tool (also called 'Shape Builder' in some other software), will come in version 2. Too many people have requested it. But overall, I think a lot of people balance the lack of features or convenience or anything else Affinity software might be lacking with the undeniable price argument: lower one-time price, no subscription!
@@Graphicious True. Its just strange that software as powerful as Affinity designer would be sorely missing tools that I would think are no brainers, tools that are present in other more entry level basic software programs. Yes a shape building tool is very powerful but it didnt exist for many years. im thinking of tools like: a tracing tool, text warping, and yes, cutting and slicing. There are workarounds for everything but that just adds time for what are, in my case, frequent, relatively basic tasks. As an example, I currently use inkscape (which is free) to do some tracing and warping tasks. Its an extra step but it beats spending alot more time trying to get it done in Designer. As far as cost, If you do enough business, it might be worth it to just invest in software that can make you more productive, chalk it up as a business expense, which is something I might consider if some of these features don't get addressed. Id keep using Affinity for personal things and such and use other software for work.
Thank you for this!!!!
You're so welcome!
Thanks man ! This was awesome !
Glad you liked it!
Even in 2022 now ,it 's stil not been updated ? It's really annoyed. Anyone suggest a best woftware for patent drawings ? I only do patent drawings, all are white and black lines, AI is too large sw and also not convinent , affinity is stupid in sth. I am screwed by them
What exactly is confusing? Not sure what you mean by 'patent drawings', perhaps more technical drawings, diagrams, that kind of thing? If they are too complex, perhaps try AutoCAD?
Or Blender which is free but not uncomplicated-just another system to learn. There are many versions maybe one would suit your needs.
Thank you for this tutorial-Couldn’t affinity give free updated software for creator tutorial videos?🤷♀️ There is much need for tutorials🙇♀️
Draw a white rectangle from one corner to the other.?
Draw a line.
THANK YOU!!!
You're welcome!
Thank's man!
Happy to help!
a simpler way is to expand stroke on your dividing line before applying the divide boolean operation
True. But in this example, I was just using that line as an indication of what I wanted to achieve. If you have more complex shapes, it's faster to just open and close them as shown. Thanks for watching!
wow thanks - this is exactly what I was looking for :)
Thank you very much
You are welcome. Let me know if there are other functions or topics you're struggling with in Affinity Designer! I love ideas from viewers like you!
lovely
Great tip!!!
Glad it helps. Thanks for watching!
THANKS GUY!!!!!!!
No problem, thanks for watching!
Thanks!
No problem!
Cristi esti cumva roman?
Da, salut!
Where is the path ( difference) tool looking to slice an inner circle ⭕️ from 2 other circles 🤦🏽♀️
Thanks
Top bar, in the Geometry section, you have various operations. I believe you're looking for Subtract?
I miss freehand Penknife tool and it's faster and efficient
That's in Illustrator, isn't it?
Hi Cristi! This task is easily possible in Adobe Illustrator too. It's not same as Affinity Designer though. How I did was, draw the rectangle shape, increase the stroke (if needed) and click on the top corner node of the rectangle and select the scissors ✂ tool in the toolbar and just click on the corner nodes. That will break-apart the shape in to two triangles. Then to bridge the broken nodes, select both - right click and select join. Voila!!! 👐🏻🙂 It's simple in illustrator. Just know the technique😉
Thanks for the tip Allan, I might do a video for this procedure in Illustrator also.
@@Graphicious Your welcome 👍🏻 let's see
Affinity is a poor quality tool. Way behind adobe
I don't think it's trying to be 'adobe'. I use it every day and certainly beats the subscription costs if you can do your work with the features.
Affinity is the worst thing that happended to Serif. i wont be wasting any more of my money on this chopped down annoying software.
I don't know, a lot of people seem to like it. I think the main appeal is not necessarily ease of use as the cost and not having a subscription attached to it.
thank you !
Happy to help!