Brush Up On Vector Brushes - Affinity Designer Tutorial

[@TechnicallyTrent]

💻🚀 Download my FREE PDF with 10 Quick Affinity Designer tips here: trenttech.gumroad.com/l/affinitydesigner_10_Tips (Cost is $0 but a small donation helps support this channel! 😇) ✅New to Affinity Designer? Check out my 2-hour Crash Course right here on KZbin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqqYdHejf7inbsk

[@graftedworks]

The inability to expand "vector" brush strokes and the lack of true vector brushes matters! As an in-house designer, I put an asset together that we needed scalable and it was quite a bummer to realize on export that brush strokes aren't vector. I've steered clear of them ever since. True vector brushes are one of my top feature needs from Affinity right now. That and vector pattern fill such as halftone. (I know Photo has halftone, but it's not vector.)

[@TechnicallyTrent]

I agree GraftedWorks...hopefully true vector brushes are a feature we will get someday!

[@chrisv.6297]

true

[@JohnKanzler]

can the brushstroke be outlined instead, or is that really just the same as expanding it?

[@graftedworks]

@@JohnKanzler Same thing, so no outlining is not possible.

[@evtonic3]

@@TechnicallyTrent Now that Canve has purchased Affinity, we may see this come to fruition soon! They promised they would ramp up features with the new ownership

[@JohannaBergstrom]

As a beginner who is just playing around with Designer 2 to see if it can help me edit my handpainted art, your videos are amazing. So clearly explained, everything makes more sense to me now. Thanks!

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Thanks Johanna!

[@benjfischer]

You can also avoid the tails at the start or end of the stroke by turning on the rope stabilizer. You can leave the rope short if you don’t want too much smoothing. The cause is probably a combination of Affinity’s attempt to draw the entire png pattern and any involuntary movement of the users hand at the start and stop of the stroke. You can easily get extra nodes due to that or a node handle pointing in the wrong direction. The rope stabilizer will smooth you hand motion and make sure the nodes are facing the correct direction.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Great points. I think my rainbow pattern was maybe a little too unforgiving because it had very sharp edges that make it obvious when things don't line up. Generally, with the more organic/messy/textured brushes, the tails aren't as obvious and when they do occur, they are easier to fix.

[@mtm7031]

We are appreciate your hard work

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Thanks, MTM!

[@allegedlytrouble]

You have answered some odly basic questions about some lil things so thank you so much for your great explanations of tools and more. and your handsome.

[@robb2869]

Great tutorial, nicely explained and very helpful, thank you 👍

[@cremecut6659]

Trent, I really appreciate that you share your skills with us. There is always something that I haven't figured out yet and love that you give background knowledge with terminology that I'm usually not sure about its exact meaning. A huge thumbs.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Great to hear!

[@runforrestrun1965]

Brilliant Trent. Great explanations on the differences of vector brushes. Never new the repeating pattern trick as shown in your stars brush. Will def use this idea in future. Video saved for rewatching and step by step trials my end. 👍

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Thanks RunForrestRun, glad it was informative!

[@Talaith-t3e]

This is extremely useful information, thanks.

[@ndc-01]

You could talk about the pressure panel (the "hidden" button at the bottom of the stroke panel) It´s a big tool for illustrators. I´m a new subscriber and I´m enjoying so much your channel, very informative and didactic. Many thanks.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Great idea, ndc....that pressure curve can be useful!

[@anthonyjavier94]

Subs to the channel! This is amazing, Trent! Just bought my own universal license and I'm having fun creating random stuff while exploring the tools and features, and watching tutorials.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

That's great, @lotanthonyjavier5229...thanks for watching and subbing!

[@moonshynesflorida3239]

Thank You AGAIN!!

[@DelightPaws]

Thanks for the tutorial. What would you recommend for fixing slight pixelation around the edges of artwork created with their oil, pastel, and marker brushes when I print at 300 dpi?

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @DelightPaws, thanks for watching! One thing you can try is exporting your image at a higher resolution. Depending on the size you are exporting to, your brush strokes may not be rasterizing at their full potential. As an experiment, you can try this: - Make 100px by 100px file in Affinity Designer - Make a vector brush stroke and see that it looks cool in the program - Export and see that it looks horribly pixelated - Export at 1000px by 1000px and see that it looks better This doesn't mean that the brushes have infinite resolution. They don't. But it does mean your export might be too small to fully take advantage of the brush's resolution. Hope this helps!

[@SpooderSab]

This is the first time I have ever enjoyed a designer tool this much, I didn't expect how easy and fast it is to learn using this program😭, worth every penny. It's also reasonably priced 💰

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Yes, I agree...the price point is a great feature!

[@ОлексійПорохняк]

Fake vector brushes and the lack of raster tracing are just not normal. I jump back to Corel Draw and Illustrator. Thanks for the review!

[@TechnicallyTrent]

I agree...those features would be very useful and hopefully we get them some day!

[@rhonda4487]

Great video... I have a question. On the solid brush option, I like how you can taper the ends and customize it that way. Is it still not going to be scalable like the other vector brushes? I only ask because I do a lot of floral work and I have been using the stroke studio to edit the way the stroke behaves to make easier petal and leaf shapes, but now I am wondering if maybe playing with the brush studio might be something to try? I am relatively new to AD so I might not be asking the right questions but hopefully you can understand. Thanks for any help you can offer... and you now have a new subscriber too!

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi Rhonda, great question! I just did some experiments and it seems like when creating a solid brush, it does act a little more like a vector than the other brushes. When I zoom in, it does seem to keep the edge very sharp. I did notice, however, that it can have problems when I use high taper (the size variance setting) and then make tight turns or come to an abrupt stop. My advice would be to do some small experiments and see if it still suits your needs. Hope this helps!

[@rhonda4487]

@@TechnicallyTrent Thank you! I will definitely play around with it a bit more thanks to your answer. Can't hurt to try and see what I can come up with, right?! 😄

[@jktolford8272]

It would look a bit different, but you could also use a normal stroke w/ a pen pressure profile. Sharp ended taper, no problem, put end points at bottom w/ higher mid point. Softening the ends try lowering end points, but not as far down. or use a total of 5 points--a point near each end point to to soften the contour.

[@rosebeane708]

Hi Trent. Thank you for this video. I have a question. I am making hand drawn menus for our deli and have been using photo for this. But I am finding more often than not that as I change and rework the menu, especially over various delis that differ slightly in what they offer, I lose resolution and quality. I try with sharpening and a bunch of other tricks I've figured out along the way but still have very choppy lines in the end. So I thought to try vector brushes and have been looking for tutorials to get started. I haven't used Designer yet. Your video is very helpful, but then, you reveal that it is not a true vector brush. My simple question is this: Is it closer to what I want, to be able to make changes, not so much scaling but reworking, and not lose quality? If that is so, it may be worth the switch for me. If you have any suggestions, these would be appreciated as well. thank you so much!

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi RoseBene, thanks for the comment! To clarify, you can use the vector brushes with the basic round brush pattern and it can scale. This also applies to if you apply pressure. However, if you start using the fancier brush styles (ex: oil, acrylic, etc...) it will just be a bitmap and look pixelated if you zoom in an extreme amount. I think with something like a menu, any of the vector brushes should still be good. It is probably small enough so that bitmap brushes don't matter. The bitmap "pixelization" is really only noticeable if you zoom in an extreme amount. Since you say you want to re-work the lines, I think vector brushes would be a good solution. You can download the Affinity Designer trial for free and see if it suits you needs. Hope this helps!

[@KellyNovak-bm9bd]

Hey Trent! I have both Affinity and Illustrator. I want to learn to make those layered wood art pieces, some call them a mandala but they’re more than that. Which of the two tools would be better? I realize they’re both great vector tools, but is one or the other better at this? I saw someone making a design in illustrator and I liked that you could see all the layers at once on the canvas, in different colors and then stack them to sort of get an idea or clue at least of how they would look cut and stacked. Thank you!

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @KellyNovak-bm9bd, I think Affinity Designer would be great for making mandalas. I've some other channels give tutorials on how to do it. The official Affinity Designer channel also has a tutorial on it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6GsZnWrr8RphdU As for viewing all layers at once, it sounds like you are referring to something like X-Ray Mode. You can enable that in Affinity Designer by going to View -> View Mode -> Wireframe -> XRay Hope this helps! Trent

[@rosebeane708]

Hi Trent, thank you for your reply! I have had Designer for 3 years and haven't used it. But I realized that I need to. So yesterday, working with the brushes the basic round brush is as you say. But, our menus are rustic! So I need a little roughness to the line. I tried every one and haven't found one that works right yet. I tried making some myself. They were rough edges in a smooth sort of way. But when I exported them as .png files, they went fuzzy! Every time! I tried to import my brushes from Photo and they say they say they imported but they do not show up in my brush sets. Are there any good brushes for free that you can suggest that may have such a brush? thank you so much for your help!

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi Rose! I'm not sure of any brushes that could solve your issue right now. One thing you may want to consider is looking at fonts instead. If you google things like "rustic fonts", "handwritten fonts" or "chalk fonts", that might give you some good options. Hope this helps!

[@dummydoe8567]

if I apply those textures to my shapes in Affinity Designer, can I still import everything (shapes and vector brush textures) into After Effects for animation?

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi, thanks for the question! I'm not exactly sure what formats After Effects supports. But you should be able to export your result as a PNG and use it in After Effects. You can also try exporting it as an SVG and see if that works. Just keep in mind that the "vector" brush texture is actually a bitmap that is embedded in your SVG.

[@dreamatomic]

i can't expand stoke effect help me pl.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @dreamatomic, If your stroke is a solid line or dashed line, it can be expanded by selecting it and choosing Layer -> Expand Stroke. However, if you've made a stroke that uses one of the brush styles (ex: Acrylic, Dry Media, Engraving, etc...), you cannot expand it into a vector that has the pattern brush shape. Unfortunately, the vector brush tool actually just uses a bitmap image stretched/repeated along a path. I know this is different than the expected behavior, and how programs like Adobe Illustrator work. Hopefully we'll get true vector brushes in a future version of Affinity Designer.

[@dreamatomic]

@@TechnicallyTrent ok thank you

[@mercyla6]

biggest problem is the png image brush. It doesnt export as vector! so comes out all pixelated 😢

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @mercyla6 , yes, unfortunately the "vector brushes" are still just bitmap images that can be pixelated if too big.

[@LV4EVR]

True, and not ideal. A semi workaround is to create the PNG at a very large size. Then it won't *appear* pixelated unless you use giant stroke widths and/or print at huge sizes. Hoping the Canva sale will help correct some glaring deficiencies like this.

[@CarlosSantos-nk6qp]

Maybe, if it is called "Vector" it would be cool creating it not only with a .png graphic, but with one vector drawing.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @CarlosSantos-nk6qp, yes, I agree it would be nice if we could actually use vectors. Hopefully in the future we will get that!

[@shirazigs]

I think the title is not correct. There is a difference between vector and pixel. That is Pixel Brush. Affinity can't make vector brush. Thank you

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @shirazigs, I agree that the "vector brush" is not a true vector brush. I gave the video this name because that is what Affinity named the tool and that is what people will be searching for. But I tried to make it clear in the video that it is not actually a vector brush. Hopefully in the future we will get a real version of this tool.

[@shirazigs]

​@@TechnicallyTrent Thank you for the clarification! 🙏