Affinity Designer Shape Builder Tool

[RKissane]

I have tried Affinity Designer before but did not like it. I found that for me, it was still much easier using Xara to do graphics work.

With the new release of Ver 2 to the Affinity suite, I have been looking at some videos on Ver 2 of the Affinity suite. In Designer there is a new Shape Builder tool.

Here is a video demonstrating it uses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1QtVdcklVY

I think this has some real advantages for logo's and such.

Just wanting to get some opinions on what people think of this tool and would this be something useful for Xara to develop? Also I know several people on here have been using Affinity have you tried Ver 2 and what are your impressions.

I am thinking Xara desk top is slowly being phased out because Magix has not released a new update since last May, where they use to release one around September/October time frame every year. The Pro+ is being updated constantly so there is plenty that Magix could update. I will not do a subscription plan so I am really considering the Affinity suite again.

Thanks
Ray

[Acorn]

Ray, the tool looks fun but you are almost already there with Xara's current tools.
The big omission in the video was the preparation of the grids.

I would create my grid as 0px lines, use Smart Duplicate, Group, Clone and Rotate and finally Group.
Place over a smaller solid Shape and Subtract Shapes.
Drag the grid elsewhere; it has not been affected.
Finally, Break Shapes.

The only difference is you now delete or colour the cooker-cuttered sub-shapes.

Probably slower to apply but far more versatile.

Acorn

[handrawn]

there again... it depends on what you are doing...

you can look on the affinity 2 shape builder tool as being a fill tool - something I and others were asking xara for 10 years + ago, when even inkscape had one..

as such you don't need to faff witn break shapes, which [nearly] always gives more shapes than you need so has to be tidied up, and can be quirky in it's stacking order - you just fill a gap with a shape and away you go

[Acorn]

there again... it depends on what you are doing...
you can look on the affinity 2 shape builder tool as being a fill tool - something I and others were asking xara for 10 years + ago, when even inkscape had one..
as such you don't need to faff witn break shapes, which [nearly] always gives more shapes than you need so has to be tidied up, and can be quirky in it's stacking order - you just fill a gap with a shape and away you go

handrawn, yes it is the inverse of the Affinity approach and you have lots of shapes to delete/deselect but there are always strategies.

Stacking order is usually unimportant after a grouping.

I do accept the joy of being able to hover inside a bounded region and voilà a shape.

Acorn

[handrawn]

handrawn, yes it is the inverse of the Affinity approach and you have lots of shapes to delete/deselect but there are always strategies.

Stacking order is usually unimportant after a grouping.

I do accept the joy of being able to hover inside a bounded region and voilà a shape.

Acorn

I have cursed [silently] break shapes in xara for the last 15 years or more because it is so time consuming when all I want to do is colour a b&W lineart cartoon - just drop in the colour is all I asked

and in this case stacking order is important...

[ss-kalm]

I still can't come to terms with Affinity's - manipulating layers vs Xara's - manipulating shapes. It's much more intuitive to work at shapes level, which makes Xara always win for me.

With Affinity - Unless I'm doing something wrong - you don't seem to be able to move an item on a layer without moving everything on that layer. Which effectively means every single object HAS to be isolated on it's own layer. Just seems so wrong.

[handrawn]

keith - try thinking of affinity 'layer gallery' as an 'object and group' gallery - ie there are no 'layers' in affinity, just base objects and groups, listed there - same as xara really once you get you head around it, without xara's top-level 'layers' [everything on the same 'layer']

[Boy]

But Xara has the blend tool!

[Marco D]

But Xara has the blend tool!

Yes, but lacks the rounding corner tools, something that I'm asking for years sadly.
The shape buider tools is something that can be useful in many situation, but as Acorn said you can find ways to accomplish something similar.
Another thing that I miss is the ability to change the thickness of the lines node by node.

[Acorn]

Yes, but lacks the rounding corner tools, something that I'm asking for years sadly.
The shape buider tools is something that can be useful in many situation, but as Acorn said you can find ways to accomplish something similar.
Another thing that I miss is the ability to change the thickness of the lines node by node.

As we all know and expect, Xara will never save the day and deliver all these worthy proposals.

While waiting for Line width by Node, I clone the shape and Break at points.
Each segment can then have a different width and stroke.
Never liked doing it like this but at least the shapes produced are now SVG (XPro+) and not a clutch of PNGs and so I can tweak the SVG if i choose.

Acorn