Graphic artists are consistently looking for new tools to help them maximum the potential of their designs. One of the most widely used editing tools is Affinity Designer, a graphic designing and UX solution that helps artists create and refine concept art, logos, designs, and other types of digital media.

One of the most useful features of Affinity Designer is its capacity to easily make outer drawing lines for complicated images. However, figuring out how to use this function may be a bit of a challenge for artists new to the program. To help in this regard, keep reading to discover 10 simple steps for outlining an image in Affinity Designer.

1. Import an Image into Affinity Designer

While most images are either in JPEG or PNG format, Affinity Designer allows you to import a wide range of file types into the program.

2. Put Photograph into Pixel Version

The default setting in Affinity Designer is vector. There will be a blue icon in the upper left corner of the screen indicating vector mode. You need to click on the icon directly to the right of this blue icon. This button will turn blue and switch the program to pixel mode. As a photograph is a series of pixels and not vector lines, this will allow you to make your outline with much greater accuracy.

3. Choose the Smart Selection Brush Tool

On the left side of the screen, you will notice a vertical array of tool options. Beneath the bucket fill, you will see a paint brush with a series of dashed lines beneath it. This is the smart selection brush tool. Click on this icon.

4. Select Additive Mode

When you click on the smart selection brush tool, a ribbon will pop up directly beneath the image. Be sure that this ribbon says “add” on the far-left side of the ribbon. This will allow you to add the outline.

5. Trace Your Outline

Use your mouse or stylus to begin making a rough outline around your image. Your outline will be marked as a series of moving dashed lines, or “marching ants.” If you find that your outline has missed a section you want, simply go back over where you traced, and the outline will update. Do not worry about making this outline perfect—we will show you how to clean it up later.

6. Change the Width of Outline as Needed

Each artist will have a different preference for how wide they want their outline. The default width will be pretty narrow, with some of the lines overlapping and getting tangled at the turns of the images. As a result, many artists like to make their outline a bit bolder.

To increase the width of your outline, adjust the settings on the task ribbon beneath the picture. Once you have adjusted the width, you can trace back over your outline. It will have the same basic shape, but with much greater girth due to the increased width.

7. Erase Redundancies in the Outline

With the thicker outline, the artist can clearly see what section of the image will be used and decide which areas you want to keep and which you want to scrap. Using your mouse our stylus, scribble back over the inside section of “marching ants” to blot them out and give you a clean, finalized section of the image you wish to use.

8. Refine the Image

On the far right of the task ribbon at the bottom of the image, there is a button that says “refine.” Click this button. You will get the outlined section of your image set against a high-contrast background, making it easier to see and work with the outlined section.

9. Add Layering to the Image

On the same task ribbon beneath the image, you will notice an option that says “output.” There are several output options, but many artists find the most useful to be the layer option.

Toggle to the option that says “layer” and click apply. This will not only give you the option of seeing your image against a high-contrast background, but you can also toggle back and forth to see the image against its original background as a point of reference.

10. Finalize the Outline

Click on the “FX” button on the far-right hand side of the screen. This will bring up a series of editing options. About halfway down the list is “outline.” Activate this option.

Tapping on the outline bar will cause the task ribbon at the bottom of the screen to change. This will allow you to change the color of your outline, pixel width of the outline border, and many other neat editing features for the outline. Play around with these until you find the combination of settings that truly allows your outlined image to stand out!

» MORE: Does Affinity Designer Have a Live Trace Feature?

Conclusion

There are many great software tools that graphic artists can use to enhance their designs. If you are looking for ways to add a bold outline to your logo or any other piece of digital artwork, use the 10 steps listed above for outlining an image in Affinity Designer!

Creating pixel art is a lot of fun and can be a great addition to logos, apparel designs, and more. However, if you are used to working in Affinity Designer, you may be at a loss at as to how this is actually done.

Affinity Designer’s Pixel Persona allows users to create pixel art using a specialized pixel tool. As for pixelating an image, Affinity programs are meant to be used hand in hand, so users can easily switch to Affinity Photo from within the program for any photo editing tools.

Oftentimes, it’s not easy to get the results we want from one program. Keep reading for a quick guide on how to pixelate images in Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo.

Creating Pixelated Images in Affinity Designer

Creating pixelated images is a great way to spice up a design or create a fun, retro logo. These can easily be added into mockups on sites like Placeit, without the worry of the image lacking quality. However, this type of art isn’t always easy to create, especially in a vector editing program.

Luckily, Affinity Designer is designed for raster and vector images to work side by side. This is possible with the program’s Pixel Persona.

Using the Pixel Persona

Affinity programs and broken up into different sections, with each sporting its own unique interface and methods of use:

• Designer Persona
• Pixel Persona
• Export Persona

 By default, users are brought to the Designer Persona when loading into the program. This is where you will find all of your vector tools. However, if you’d like to work with raster textures and pixel brushes, you will need to switch to the Pixel Persona.

To do this, navigate to the toolbar at the top of the screen and select the Pixel Persona button. This is the icon that looks like a collection of purple, red, and orange squares. You can also access the different Personas from the File menu.

Using The Pixel Tool

Once in the Pixel Persona, you will have access to the Pixel Tool. This allows you to draw pixel-aligned lines without antialiasing. This is the best option for creating pixel art in Affinity Designer. As you paint pixel strokes, your brush will apply one pixel at a time, giving you that boxy, pixelated look.

The pixel tool also has a variety of settings that can be adjusted for different effects:

• Width
• Stabilizer
• Hardness
• Opacity
• Blend Mode

You can also set Alternate behaviors such as Erase or Undo From Snapshot that are activated when the Ctrl/Command key is pressed.

» MORE: What Does Develop Persona Mean in Affinity Photo?

Edit with Affinity Photo from Affinity Designer

When working in Affinity Designer, you aren’t just limited to the tools of the program. Affinity software is designed to work in conjunction with each other, allowing users to move freely from one application to another when the one you’re currently working in doesn’t have the tool or editing ability your project requires.

For example, let’s say you would like to pixelate a photo for a logo design that you are working on. You may be working in Affinity Designer because this is the best application in terms of logo design.

However, pixelization is not Designer’s area of expertise. When working with raster images and photo editing, Affinity Photo is the best option.

To open up the photo in a different application, select the content you would like to edit and navigate to the File menu. From here, select Edit in Photo. This will open the image in Affinity Photo, so you can freely edit it as a raster file.

Using the Pixelate Filter

The easiest way to pixelate an image in Affinity Photo is to use the Pixelate Filter. This is a type of distortion filter that creates uniform blocks of color from the image selected.

To use this filter, open up the photo in Affinity Photo and make sure the layer is selected. In the Filters menu at the top of the screen, navigate to the Distort sub-menu and click Pixelate.

A menu should pop up after Pixelate is selected that allows you to adjust the quantization of the pixelation. This control the size of the pixels generated. The larger the number, the larger the blocks. Once done, hit apply.

You can now move back over to Affinity Designer and the image should automatically update since the content is linked.

Final Thoughts

Creating pixelated images isn’t always easy, especially when working in a vector editing program like Affinity Designer. Hopefully, this guide gave you the tools you need to get the job done!

Have you ever captured that perfect photo on vacation only to later realize there is an unwanted person in the background? With today’s technology editing programs like Affinity Photo can easily remove a person from a photo. But how is it done?

Generally, there are three different ways to remove a person from an image in Affinity Photo. These methods include using the various tools found in Affinity Photo’s tool panel.

Just because someone was caught in your sunset photo doesn’t mean the picture is ruined. This guide will show you exactly how to remove a person in Affinity Photos with a few easy steps.

Removing A Person in Affinity Photo

The ability to remove a person from a photo can help to transform vacation and family pictures into lasting memories and make creative edits to otherwise bland images. This can be done using various tools in Affinity Photo. Some of these include:

• Inpainting Brush
• Clone Brush
• Layer Mask

The tool and method you use are going to vary depending on the size of the subject, the amount of detail, and the type of background. Some may require more editing than others, so always remember to take your time and don’t get frustrated.

Using The Inpainting Brush Tool

To access this tool, hover your cursor over the Healing Brush Tool which can be found in the toolbar on the side. Then, locate and select the Inpainting Brush Tool.

Next, zoom in on the subject you would like to remove. Try to zoom in just enough to keep the entire person within the viewfinder. You’ll also want to change the size of your brush to make sure that it isn’t too large or too small. The left and right bracket keys on the keyboard and be used to make the brush bigger and smaller.

Once you have the zoom and brush size adjusted, you will begin to paint over your subject by holding the click and moving the mouse over all of the areas you would like to see removed. Make sure not to release the click until the entire person is painted over. The best method to use while painting is to trace the outline of the person first and then move inward.

After the entire subject is painted, release the mouse. You will see a loading bar pop up and the software will begin the inpainting process.

Here is a helpful video for a visual of what this process looks like.

Using the Clone Brush

Using the Clone Brush is ideal for large areas that need to be removed. This will give you more control over the image as you remove the unwanted subject.

Before removing a person using the clone brush, add a new pixel layer to ensure non-destructive editing. Select the clone brush from the tool panel and change the layer option to “Current Layer & Below” in the dropdown menu at the top of the screen.

Next, hold down Alt or Option on your keyboard, and sample an area near the subject you wish to remove. Then, begin painting over your subject to fill in that area with the sampled selection.

If you are working with a large area, it’s best to continue to sample outside areas near your subject as you go, working from the outside in as you remove the person from the image.

Using Layering Masks

If you would like to remove a person from a photo to add them to another photo, the best option to use is a layer mask.

First, click on the Selection Brush Tool then click and drag the brush over your subject to make a rough selection. Click “Refine” at the top of the screen and drag your brush over any finer detailed areas such as hair that were not previously selected.

You will notice that much of the photo is painted red. Anything in red will be cut from the photo and anything in color will remain.

Once you are happy with your selection, click “New Layer with Mask” under Output in the Refine Selection panel, and hit apply. This will create a new layer with a mask of the selection you just made.

Final Thoughts

Whether you are taking photos at a popular tourist destination or someone photobombed your almost perfect wedding shot, the ability to remove unwanted subjects from an image can transform a picture from trash to treasure. Hopefully, this quick guide gave you the necessary know-how for removing a person in Affinity Photo.

Creating shapes and objects in Affinity Designer can be both fun and rewarding. Still to create some shapes and forms you not only need to know how to join lines together but you also need to know how to properly join curves. So, how exactly do you join curves in Affinity Designer? 

To join curves in Affinity Designer you need to start by using the node tool. Hold down the shift key and select both of the curves. If you’re using the pen tool you should hold down ctrl. Finally, just click join curves on the context toolbar. This should seamlessly join the curves. 

If you’re trying to join curves in Affinity Designer but you’re not having any luck, we’ve got you covered. In our guide below we will review everything from how you combine two lines in Affinity Designer to how you actually join those curves properly. Additionally, we will briefly touch on creating shapes as well. So, with that, let’s jump right into it and get started. 

How Do You Join Curves in Affinity Designer?

Now we move on to our main event. Let’s see what the process looks like to join curves together in Affinity Designer in a way that looks flawless. 

The step-by-step guide below will walk you through the entire process of joining curves in Affinity Designer so you know exactly how to complete your shape or object: 

1. Open the program and either load or create your curves to be joined: Before we can do anything we’ve to boot up the program and make sure our curves are ready to go. You can either create them on the fly or you can load a file with them already created in it. However, you’re going about this you should have at least two curves to join. 
2. Using the node tool, hold down shift and select both curves: Again, the node tool can be found in the tool panel on the left side of the screen. You can find it by selecting the third icon down–a white arrow pointing diagonally–and clicking “node tool” from the tiny dropdown menu. Simply hold down shift and select both curves. 
3. Go up to the context toolbar and select join curves: The context toolbar can be found at the top of the page. Instead of being displayed in words, “join curves” is presented as an icon. The icon is two vertical lines with nodes in the middle and a horizontal line connecting them. Click it and join the curves together.  

As you can see the process of joining curves is quite similar to joining lines. The key difference is you’re selecting for curves on one and for lines on the other. 

How Do You Combine Two Lines in Affinity Designer?

Now that we’ve seen how curves can be combined let’s take a look at regular old lines. Are they the same as curves in the way in which they are joined together or are they different somehow? How exactly do you go about just combining two or more basic lines in Affinity Designer? 

Fortunately, combining lines uses the same exact process as joining curves. First you select the lines with the node tool, while holding down shift. Then you go up to the context toolbar at the top of the page and click on join curves. 

It’s important to note that this can be used on several lines at the same time to join them together and create various shapes. It would be a good idea to do some experimenting with basic shapes like triangles and squares before you attempt to create more complex designs just so you have the basics down. 

» MORE: How to Break Curves in Affinity Designer

So Really, How Do You Join Curves in Affinity Designer?

Joining curves in Affinity Designer doesn’t have to be difficult. You simply need to know which tools to use and how to use them. In this case, you’re going to want to use the node tool. As a reminder, the node tool can be found in the tool panel on the left side of the page. It is under the icon of a white arrow pointing diagonally up. It’s the third icon down. 

Once you have the node tool selected, all you’ve got to do is hold down the shift key, then click each of the curves you want to join. When they’re all selected, go to the top of the page where the context toolbar sits and select the icon for “join curves.” Vola, your curves should join together creating a seamless connection. The same will work on simple lines as well.

Affinity Designer is one of the most popular photo manipulation and graphic design applications. It can help you add depth to your photos, create eye-catching graphics, or perfect your company’s logo. But, if you’re looking to add textured overlays to your design, you may be wondering, “how do I import textures into Affinity Designer?”

To import textures into Affinity Designer, you will first have to download a texture off the internet or create your own and save it to your computer. Then, you can use the “File” menu and “Place” option to open the texture directly on your screen.

Below, we’ll discuss more information on importing textures into Affinity Designer. Keep reading to learn more!

» MORE: Can You Use Illustrator Brushes in Affinity Designer?

How to Import Textures into Affinity Designer

Before you can import a texture into Affinity Designer, you will need to create or download one. Once you have your texture ready, follow these steps to import it and add texture to your image:

1. Go to the main menu bar at the top of your screen and click “File,” then “Place.” This will open an import window.
2. Select the texture you want to use and import it to Affinity Designer.
3. After the window closes, your cursor will change to an arrow. Move the cursor to the top-left corner of the image, then click and drag to stretch the texture and move it where you want it to appear. 

The texture will appear as a new layer. After completing the above steps, you can adjust the layer’s blend mode to appear over the image as you’d like.

How to Import Textured Brushes into Affinity Designer

Instead of using a full overlay, many people prefer to use textured brushes to give only part of the design a textured look. While importing new brushes into Affinity Designer does require a few more steps than importing a textured overlay, the process is still relatively simple. Follow the steps below to do so:

1. Find the Brush Panel on your screen.
2. At the top right corner of the Brush Panel, you’ll see a dropdown menu. Click on this, then choose “Import Brushes.”
3. Select the .afbrushes files you’d like to import.

This method will work for any Affinity brushes you’ve downloaded off the internet. However, if you’d like to create and use your own textured brushes in your designs, you will have to follow a different process.

How to Create and Use Textured Brushes in Affinity Designer

You can use nearly any image as a brush. This gives you a wider range of options as far as textures go, as well as a way to use unique textures you cannot find online. To create and use a textured brush in Affinity Designer:

• Create and export your design
• Import the file as a textured image brush
• Adjust the brush’s properties

Below, we will discuss each of these three steps in more detail.

Create and Export Your Design

Open Affinity Designer and draw the texture you’ll use as a brush. Then, use Affinity’s Export Persona feature to export it through the following steps:

1. Open Export Persona by clicking the icon at the top of the screen. This icon looks similar to a typical “Share” button.
2. Within the Export Persona menu, open the “Layers” tab and select the layer you want to use as a brush.
3. At the bottom of the export menu, select “Create Slice.” A blue box should appear around the object.
4. Now, click the “Slices” tab next to the Layers tab and expand the menu. Export the file in .PNG format and choose 1x as the size.

Once you’ve completed all the steps above, you can click on the white icon to the right of your newly-created slice. Choose an export location and name your brush. 

Import the File as a Textured Image Brush

After the file finishes exporting, you can import it as a textured image brush. Go back to the Designer screen and find the Brush Panel. Click the dropdown menu on the right corner, and select “New textured image brush.” After importing your .PNG file, the design will be available as a brush.

Adjust the Brush’s Properties

Before you begin painting textures on your design, you will probably want to adjust your new brush’s aesthetic properties. To do so, double-click on the brush in the menu to open the Brush Editor. Here, you can change the brush’s:

• Body
• Size
• Width
• Opacity

The one thing you cannot do with textured image brushes is directly change their color. You can, however, create an adjustment layer. Open the Layer menu, then choose “New Adjustment” and “Recolor.” This will allow you to change the color of the brush strokes on-screen.

Final Thoughts

Importing textured overlays into Affinity Designer is a very simple process. All you need to do is place the overlay on top of your design, then adjust the Blend Mode and opacity as you see fit. While creating and importing textured brushes is not as straightforward, it is still relatively easy and will allow you to take your designs to professional levels. 

Everyone who uses the program knows how to open one photo in Affinity Photo. Still, what if you need to open and edit two or more photos at the same time? How do you open multiple photos simultaneously within Affinity Photo? 

To open two or more photos at the same time in Affinity Photo you need to go to file>open. From there you merely hold down the shift key, select each of the files you want to open and then click open. The photos will all open at the same time in separate documents. 

If you’re trying to open multiple photos simultaneously within Affinity Photo but you’re having trouble actually doing it, you have come to the right place. In our guide below, we will walk you through the process of opening multiple photos at the same time in Affinity Photo. Additionally, we will briefly touch on batch processing and resizing of multiple photos. Let’s dive right in!

How Do I Open Multiple Photos in Affinity? 

Sometimes one photo just isn’t enough. When you have a project that requires you to edit two or more photos simultaneously you can save some time by opening all of them into Affinity Photo together. So, how exactly do you open multiple photos in Affinity Photo at the same time?

In our step-by-step guide below we will walk you through the process of opening multiple photos at the same time in Affinity Photo: 

1. Open the program and create a new document: Before you can do anything else you’re going to need to open Affinity Photo itself and create a new document to import your photos into. You can create a new document by going to file, new. 
2. Select file from the task bar at the top of the page and click open: File should be the first option on the taskbar. It is located next to Affinity Photo. Open should come up somewhere in the middle of the dropdown menu for file. Alternatively, you can just press ctrl plus O on the keyboard as a shortcut if you’re on Windows. It’s ⌘ plus O for Mac. 
3. Find your files in the open window: You’re going to want to find your files in the open window. If you got them online and didn’t move them they are likely to be in the downloads folder. On a separate but related note, this is why it’s a good idea to create a new folder for each project you do and fill it with the photos for that project. 
4. Hold down shift and select each photo, then open them: Holding down shift will allow you to select more than one photo. Select all of the photos that you want and then click open. This should open each of them in separate documents.

And that’s how you open multiple photos at the same time in Affinity Photo. Pretty easy right. Now let’s take a look at some more complicated things you can do with multiple photos simultaneously in Affinity Photo. 

Can You Batch Process in Affinity Photo?

Batch processing is essentially when you make some overarching edits to multiple photos at the same time. This can include things like resizing or cropping a bunch of different photos for the same collection so they all are consistently done. This, of course, leaves the question, can you batch process photos in Affinity Photo or will you need a different program like Photoshop? 

You can, in fact, batch process multiple photos together in Affinity Photo. To do so, you simply need to select the “Batch Job” tool in the file menu. From there you can follow the prompts to add whatever photos you want, then crop or resize them together. Once you’re done you just select OK and the changes will be made across all of them. 

As we alluded to previously, batch processing is great for when you’re working on a bunch of photos or images that are supposed to go together in a series. If done correctly, they will have a symmetry with one another that not only makes them more desirable but more professional looking as well. They will really feel like they go together. 

So Really, How Do You Open Two Photos at Once in Affinity Photo?

Opening two photos at once in Affinity Photo is really a simple process. You go to open the photos the same way you would open any other, except this time you hold down the shift key and select multiple photos before clicking on the open button. 

If you’re trying to open multiple photos because you want them to go together in a series or as part of one project, you may also want to think about batch processing. Batch processing will allow you to resize or crop all of your photos at once so they are 100% consistent. To do this you simply need to use the Batch Job tool in the file menu.

If you’ve ever used Affinity Designer, you already know that you can both open and edit a PDF within the application. You can also create an exportable PDF document, but if you needed to make edits after creating your PDF or if you needed to send it to a third party and they needed to make edits, could it be done in Affinity Designer?

Unfortunately, Affinity Designer does not have editable fields to add to your PDF to make it an editable PDF. The same goes for Affinity’s other common PDF editing application, Affinity Publisher. Keep reading for ways to create an editable PDF.

How to Make an Editable PDF Using Affinity Designer and

Though it might be disappointing that the Affinity Suite doesn’t offer interactivity for PDFs or editable fields, it doesn’t mean you have to abandon using Affinity Designer altogether. You can create the design for your PDF in Affinity Designer and then export the document to add editable fields using a different program.

If you’re creating a PDF for a flyer, poster, or newsletter, you can head over to placeit.net to browse through editable templates. Placeit is a one-stop shop for some of your design needs.

Create Your PDF Design On Affinity Designer

A PDF or Portable Document Format is a file format for a document that typically contains an electronic image of text or a combination of graphics and text. A PDF can be electronically transmitted but is also commonly printed and distributed. Let’s use a simple document, like a workbook, as a design example.

1. Open Affinity Designer
2. Create a new document by navigating to New Document > Print
3. Choose the following settings for your new document
   • Page width and height
   • DPI
   • Document units
   • Color Format
   • Color Profile

Most commonly, for print, you’ll use a DPI of 300. All the other elements are based on your preference and the project. A workbook would typically be 7 x 10 inches, setting your page width, height, and document units.

Now, you will want to start adding elements to your workbook design, like graphics, text, color, etc. If you want to add an existing graphic or image, you can use the following instructions.

1. Navigate to File > Place
2. Select the image or graphic and click Open
3. You can either click to place the image at its default size or drag the image onto the page to set the size and position.
4. Once it’s positioned, deselect the image or graphic to move on by hitting CTRL + D.

To add headers or titles to the sections in your PDF, use the Artistic Text Tool. This tool best suits decorative typographical design or important single words or phrases.

1. Click on the Artistic Text Tool icon, which will show as the letter “A”
2. The context toolbar will appear above the canvas. In the toolbar, you will be able to choose the following:
   • Font Family
   • Font Style
   • Font Size
   • Font Color
   • Character Style
   • Positioning
   • Typography Advanced Settings
3. Once you’ve selected the settings, you can type out your heading or title.
4. To move the text, drag and drop where you’d like it. Just make sure the word or phrase is selected first.

If you want to add larger sections of text, you can use the Text Frame Tool, found under the Artistic Text Tool icon.

1. Click on the Artistic Text Tool icon and choose the second option in the drop-down menu.
2. Navigate to your document, click on the area in the document you would like to place the text frame, and drag it out to the desired size.
3. Once you let go of the mouse or touch screen, your cursor will appear in the text box.
4. The context toolbar will appear above the canvas. In the toolbar, make the selections you would make for the Artistic Text Tool.
5. Begin typing your text.

Don’t forget to leave space for sections to be made editable later on. In a workbook PDF, you may have questions for your reader, which you can type out using the Text Frame Tool. Leave a section below the question for your reader to answer. You can format this space using the Rectangle Tool in the toolbar to the left of the canvas. Using a shape like this will set parameters for future text.

Make Your PDF Editable Using a Third-Party Application

You can use several applications or websites to make your existing PDF editable. Now that you’ve designed it in Affinity Designer, you can make it fillable. Some of the more commonly used applications or websites are as follows:

• Adobe Acrobat
• PDFescape
• Scribus
• PDFSimpli

Before using these programs, you’ll want to export your PDF from Affinity Designer by selecting File > Export. Let’s use one of these applications to show how a PDF can become editable.

1. Go to the PDFescape website
2. On the homepage, select choose your file. A dialog box will appear, find and select your file and click Open
3. Navigate to the section you left open in your design for fillable text.
4. Select Form Field in the left panel
5. The Type should be set to text, then click Select.
6. Click on the document over the section, and a box will appear.
7. Drag out the box by the corners until it matches the section parameters.
8. Above the document, you can change the font type and font size
9. In the Form Field, right-click and select Object Properties
10. A dialogue box will appear, and you will check mark Multi-line, then click Ok.

This website has other functions for images, text, links, and tools like whiteout and freehand. Browse through your third-party options and see what best suits your needs for creating an editable PDF document.

Conclusion

Though you may not be able to use Affinity Designer to make editable PDFs currently, you can use a third-party until that feature is added to the design application. Many Affinity Designer users have requested editable or interactive fields for PDFs, and Affinity is always making updates to the suite applications.

Vector programs work on a mathematical level with paths and points unlike their raster counterparts. This allows them to be resized without loss of quality. Therefore, they become a prime choice for designers needing to make commonly resized assets such as logos or those who demand a certain level of precision that a raster program cannot offer.

One way this is done is through the use of grids. Grids make guides that a designer can use to ensure precision in their work. Affinity Designer has multiple kinds of grids and ways they can be made, so keep reading to learn more about them.

How to Set Up Basic Grids

There are two kinds of basic grids in Affinity Designer, each with their own uses. One method goes through using the Grids and Axis Manager route, while the other goes through the Guide Manager. They each have different ways they snap to the guides and how they calculate their positioning, so experimenting to figure out which works best for the design, and which is most comfortable for the designer is key.

Setting Up Grids with Grids and Axis Manager

Most methods of setting up a grid in Affinity Designer involves going to the Grids and Axis Manager menu. That alone is a fast and simple way to set up a grid.

Here’s how to make a basic grid show up:

1. Navigate to the View menu
2. Check Show Grid
3. Return to View
4. Select Grid and Axis Manager

From the Grid and Axis Manager menu, the option Use Automatic Grid will be checked. In order to adjust anything, this needs to be unchecked.

Setting Up Grids with Guide Manager

There are a few reasons why trying a different method for building grids could be viable, but the biggest reason is the snapping effect. While that can be turned off, grids can also be made with Guide Manager as well. It’s mostly a matter of preference as far as simple guides go.

Here’s how to use Guide Manager instead of Grids and Axis Manager to make a grid:

1. Navigate to the View menu
2. Click on Guide Manager
3. Fill in desired settings under Column Guides

In order to enable or disable these guides, select Show Column Guides under the View dropdown. This will toggle the guide on and off.

» MORE: How to Enable Snapping in Affinity Designer

How to Make an Isometric Grid

Isometric grids are exceptionally useful when angle and perspective are critically important. This is a style often seen in video games, though that’s not the only place where an isometric grid can come in handy.

Here’s how to make an Isometric grid:

1. Navigate to the View menu
2. Select Grid and Axis Manager
3. Click Show Grid
4. Select the Advanced tab
5. Choose Isometric from the Grid type dropdown menu

From here, there are other options that can be adjusted to make the perfect isometric grid. The default spacing is going to be 64px but decreasing the spacing between the lines allows for more complex work. Experiment with different settings to find what works best for the project at hand. Additionally, ensuring snapping is enabled will help with keeping things exact.

How to Enable Snapping

Snapping is usually on by default. However, sometimes a stray click or unusual button press happens and things deselect.

Here’s how to make sure that Snapping is enabled:

1. Select the red magnet on the top right side of the UI
2. Select Enable Snapping
3. Select Snap to Grid

Snapping is enabled for most types of grids, but Isometric designs rely so heavily on being perfectly precise that it’s most important for them to ensure that snapping is enabled.

How to Create a Perspective Grid

Affinity Designer doesn’t have an easy way to make a perspective grid, so it’s going to take a little bit of elbow grease to make it work.

Here is a method to create a perspective grid:

1. Use the Pen Tool to create a straight line horizontally across the canvas
2. Use the Node Tool and select approximately the center of the line
3. Click and drag over all three nodes
4. Open the Alignment menu
5. Select Space Horizontally
6. Duplicate the line until it fills the space needed
7. Select all of the lines
8. Open the Alignment menu
9. Select Space Vertically
10. Merge the lines via Layer > Geometry > Merge Curves
11. Enable the Transform Mode setting in the Node Tool settings menu
12. Click on the lines with the Node Tool
13. Click and drag over the nodes on each side
14. Hold Shift+Ctrl to scale both sides evenly

After this point, it’s often recommended to lock the grid layer, so it doesn’t get messed with accidentally. Feel free to mess around with the scaling and exact perspective needed for the piece, as not everything needs a head-on perspective.

How to Create Custom Grids

Eventually there may come a time where the aforementioned grids are not enough for a design or aren’t quite what’s comfortable to use. In that case, building a custom grid might be the key.

It can either be done manually with the Pen Tool, or there is this method to try as well:

1. Navigate to the View menu
2. Select Grid and Axis Manager
3. Select either Two Axis Custom or Triangular Custom from Grid Type
4. Select Uniform
5. Select Create Plane Set
6. Configure the Up axis
7. Select Fixed Aspect Ratio
8. Configure as needed or disable to keep the same ratios for both Second and Up

From here there are two options. Either configure the Spacing, Division, and Angle settings for the First, Second, and Up axes for precise configurations, or use the Move Tool to drag an existing axis handle for more organic needs.

Setting Up Custom Grids Using Cube Mode

A slightly more advanced method but more visual approach to setting up custom planar grids involves using Affinity Designer’s Cube Mode.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Navigate to the View menu
2. Select Grid and Axis Manager
3. Set the Mode as Cube

From this point there are multiple values that can be adjusted on the cube itself, such as the Elevation, Orientation, and Roll using sliders. It looks a little imposing at first, but is actually rather simple.

Conclusion

Affinity Designer is a powerful vector graphics editor program developed by Serif for macOS, iPadOS, and Microsoft Windows. As a vector program, it will make huge files but is optimized to do so with minimal lag. That is of course, if the computer using it can handle it.

A vector program uses mathematical formulae to make paths and points which allow for intense precision and perfect scaling abilities, something that a raster program cannot do. Affinity Designer has multiple kinds and ways of making grids to help the designer make things as precise as possible as easily as possible, typically even in only a few clicks.

Cutting and cropping paths through your images can significantly enhance the final look of your project. You can even use this technique to personalize your work with unique shapes and fonts. However, Affinity Designer does not have a dedicated image slicer. As a result, you must use a complicated procedure to achieve your desired effects.

Generally, the way you cut paths in Affinity Designer depends on your desired effect. Sometimes, you must use another object and the Subtract tool as a stencil. Other times, it requires using the Nodes tool. Both methods have their benefits and downsides.

Because cutting paths in Affinity Designer can become tedious and overwhelming, you always want to pick the best method for the job. Therefore, by reading further, you will learn the appropriate application for each cutting method along with the steps to complete them.

The Many Ways to Cut Paths in Affinity Designer

The easiest things to understand are often the most difficult to do in practice. For instance, cutting paths, curves, and shapes out of other objects and shapes should be simple enough to do. However, Affinity Designer has no quick solution for them.

However, you can cut paths into things in the vector graphics editor. It just requires using the Node and Subtract tools. With these tools and the right stencil shapes, you can slice your image very accurately and precisely. Though, your desired outcome will determine how you use them.

1. Using the Break Curve Function of the Node Tool

Affinity Designer’s closest equivalent to a native shape and path slicer is the “Break Curve” function of the Node Tool. This feature will delete a single editing node segment from your curve, effectively cutting it. It requires that the curve has a transparent interior, but you can delete as many nodes as you need.

To use the Break Curve function, you must:

1. If necessary, remove the fill color from your original shape or text
2. If necessary, convert the shape to a curve using the “Layer > Convert to Curves” command
3. Activate the Node Tool
4. Select the node you want to break
5. Click the “Break Curve” button in the Action section of the context toolbar. You could add a stroke to see the node better if you forgot to remove the fill.
6. Break additional nodes to split up a closed curve or Delete a segment

The Break Curve method is the best method when you want to simply cut a shape or curve into smaller curves. Affinity Designer will also always treat the resulting segments as separate objects, allowing you to apply different alterations to them to create unique shapes and designs.

However, it will not let you cut a path inside another shape or curve. For that, you need either the Crop or Subtract methods below.

2. Using the Crop Tool

Unlike other cropping tools, the Affinity Designer Vector Crop tool is non-destructive and will not crop the canvas. Instead, it creates a copy of the original image as a layer underneath your cropped shape. This layer lets you resize and reshape the crop without having to Undo your work.

To use Crop:

1. Click the Crop button on the lefthand toolbar.
2. Adjust and move the resulting boundary box until it encloses the curve segment you want to cut. Hold Shift to constrain the boundary as needed. Hold Ctrl to resize the box evenly.
3. Reposition the image inside the boundary box as needed
4. Unlock the Image Layer and Reposition the image and boundary box on the canvas as a group if needed

This method is only useful if you just need to cut a design into a simple curve. It offers no customization, and the resulting image is usually considered a single object.

3. Using the Subtract Method

To have full control over your cut, you must use the Subtract method. This method works by using a curve or shape, usually a rectangle or a line, as a cookie cutter. You then subtract this shape from the shape you want to cut. To use this method:

1. Position your base shape where you want it
2. Create a new layer and create a curve or shape that covers the segments you want to cut
3. With both layers active, click the Subtract option under the “Layer > Geometry” menu.

This method works for any type of curve or shape. However, Affinity Designer will usually treat the resulting curve as a single object despite the cut. If you must edit each piece differently, you can use the Break Curve method to continue the job.

Conclusion

Affinity Designer has no native image cutter, but that does not mean you cannot use it to cut paths or use them in your designs. It just requires diligent use of editing commands and tools to create your desired effects.

Affinity Photo stands as one of the most dynamic image editing software on the market. With loads of exotic features however, some of the simpler ones can become tricky to find when you need them. The perspective tool in particular is one that many beginners discover is difficult to find and know how to use. So how do you correct perspective in Affinity Photo?

You can correct perspective in Affinity Photo by using the Perspective Tool. The Perspective Tool can easily be found by going to the tools panel on the left side of the screen and scrolling down to the second to last icon. The Perspective Tool icon is one of a small grid. 

If you’re trying to correct the perspective of an image in Affinity Photo, but you’re still not too sure where to start, you have come to the right place. In our guide below, we will breakdown where to find Affinity’s perspective tool, as well as how you can change and even fix perspective with it. So, without further ado, come along and let’s jump right into it!

» MORE: How to Create a Grid in Affinity Designer

Does Affinity Photo Have a Perspective Tool?

To change perspective it only makes sense that you would need to have some sort of perspective tool. The question that arises is whether or not that tool is already installed in Affinity Photo or is something that has to be added. In short, does Affinity Photo have a prebuilt-in perspective tool? 

Affinity Photo does, in fact, have a perspective tool built right into the program. As we alluded to in the introduction, you can find this tool by going to the tools panel on the left side of the screen and scrolling down to the second to last icon–one of a small grid. You should notice the tools panel by looking for a bunch of little icons stacked vertically on top of each other. 

While this tool can technically be used on any photo, it is best used on those that have clear three dimensional shapes within them so that you can really tell how the perspective shifts and so you don’t just end up with a warped flat looking image. 

How Do You Change Perspective in Affinity Photo?

The basic steps behind changing perspective in Affinity Photo are quite simple and intuitive. Granted, changing perspective well may not be quite as easy, however, we will cover that in the next section. For now, in basic terms, how do you change or skew perspective in Affinity Photo? 

Follow the steps below to change or skew perspective in Affinity Photo in the most fundamental and easy way: 

1. Open Affinity Photo and pull up your image: First things first, you need to open up the program and either load a file with your 3D image already imported into it, or go ahead and import a new image of your choice to a new document. Either way you should, at the very least, have one 3D image to skew perspective on. 
2. Select the Perspective Tool from the tools panel: Right-click on the second to last icon on the tools panel–a small grid. Two options should pop up in a tiny dropdown menu from the icon. One option is labeled Mesh Warp Tool while the other is our very own Perspective Tool. Obviously, we’ll be selecting the Perspective Tool. 
3. Change the plane to “dual plane” in the perspective window: Once you select the Perspective Tool a small window will pop up in the bottom right corner of the screen as a grid suddenly appears over your image. For now, ignore the grid and change the plane setting in the perspective window to “dual plane” by using the dropdown menu.
4. Shift the perspective by grabbing the nodes on the perspective grid: The grid over your image should suddenly become 3D. There will be little nodes on the end where the two sides meet in the middle. You can drag these as you please and it will automatically shift the perspective of the image whichever way you go.   

These steps are merely the beginning. They just bring you to the point where you can change perspective in Affinity Photo however you would like to. In the next section, we will dive into how you fix that perspective or, in simpler terms, how you change the perspective of your image without it looking heavily distorted. 

How Do You Fix Perspective in Affinity Photo?

So now that we know how to change perspective in the most fundamental of ways, let’s get more specific. What if you want to fix an image so that the perspective changes without leaving it looking all distorted? In short, how exactly do you fix perspective in Affinity Photo? 

The following steps will guide you to fix the perspective of a 3D image in Affinity Photo without it becoming overly distorted: 

1. Use the Perspective Tool to put a dual plane over your image: Essentially, you’re just going to want to start by following the steps in the previous section so you can have the dual plane grid over your image. Remember, select the Perspective Tool from the grid icon in the tools panel then change to dual plane in the perspective window. 
2. Move the points of the dual plane into alignment with the image: First you need to switch the mode in the perspective window to “source” by using the dropdown menu. Once source is set to the mode, you can now grab the nodes on the middle line of the plane and drag and drop them along the straight vertical line in your 3D image center. 
3. Line up the other side of nodes with the side of the image: The other two sides of the dual plane need to be lined up with the vertical edges of the photo on both sides. This will help ensure there is no weird distortion when you go to shift perspectives. 
4. Switch modes back to “destination” and change perspective: Now that everything in your plane is lined up properly, you can change the mode back from “source” to “destination” then grab any of the center nodes and begin shifting perspective without heavily warping the image. 

To be fair, this can be tricky to master. Fortunately there are many video tutorials available online that will not only explain the steps involved in changing perspective well, but that will also provide you with real examples. If you still feel that you need a little more guidance, we highly recommend checking them out. 

So Really, How Do You Correct Perspective in Affinity Photo?

The bottom line is to correct perspective in Affinity Photo you will need to become acquainted with the Perspective Tool. Remember, the Perspective Tool can be found in the tiny dropdown menu from the grid icon on the tools panel. The tools panel itself, of course, is located on the left side of the screen. 

The Perspective Tool can be tricky to use if you’re unfamiliar with it. Therefore we recommend that you stay loose and have a little fun experimenting with it before you try to use it on your main draft or project. So, how will you be using the Perspective Tool in Affinity Photo?