Affinity Designer Tutorial - Contour Tool

[@ericathacker6363]

My brain has just exploded! Weeks, LITERAL WEEKS, of watching KZbin have failed me. Your video blew my mind. Honestly, just wow! The examples were perfect for what I’ve been looking for. Thank you for sharing this!

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Erica, I know the feeling when you are looking for answers and can't find them. Check out my other Affinity Designer Tutorials maybe they will help too

[@ericathacker6363]

@@ArtistWright You definitely deserve all the kudos. Looking forward to binging them all! 😊

[@ArtistWright]

Ahh cheers!

[@WeirdSnakeGal]

This is the most fun video about affinity designer I've come across.

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers Charlotte

[@MuhammadRiswan]

Omg this tutorial helps a lot quicker. But making monitor or rectangle with consistent size has blown my mind

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Muhammad. It did with me too when I found out

[@bonedaddy5927]

Well done! Clearly explained. I love it when you show the desired objectives first and then show the steps to achieve them.

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you!

[@Omidojr]

To be honest, i had never touched the contour tool or even thought of it till today 😂 Good job

[@ArtistWright]

Check out my latest Tutorial where I end up using it on the smoke section

[@Luschine]

Fantastic tutorial! You show things that a lot of people never new! Thanks a lot! 👍

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Luschine!

[@BarbaraRz]

Dziękuje za Twoją pracę !Well done! Clearly explained. I love it when you show the desired objectives first and then show the steps to achieve them.

[@ArtistWright]

It makes sense that way I think, thanks alot!

[@neilgyverabangan6989]

Such a cool feature. Perfect for an infographic & pattern design 😎😍

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers Neil!

[@swingtag1041]

I discovered this software a month ago and I am so in love with it. Your tutorials are amazing too. Thank you so much!

[@ArtistWright]

Ah that's great news thanks for watching

[@anthonywarner3610]

Very Informative, and presented exceptionally well. Never knew what the contour tool was capable of now I do. Many thanks

[@ArtistWright]

Happy to hear that Anthony cheers

[@kathleenvonthaden1289]

WOW, thanks for sharing, who knew the contour tool could do so much.....well, not me! LOL

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Kathleen

[@chesensacion4296]

I've glad to find your channel. Your tutorial video explain clearly and very useful, Affinity Designer new user like me get it easily and can practice along with this tutorial. Thank you for your share. 😊

[@ArtistWright]

Very happy to hear that. Thanks 🙏

[@mushroommagic1697]

Amazing, explanation skills. I am so happy I found your video, now I can design.

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you!

[@jdekoy]

Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing. Now I'll start making my way through the rest of your videos! 👍

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Decoy

[@MarkAnthonyHenderson]

This was perhaps the most informative tutorial I have watched. You have leveled me up with skills.

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Mark really glad you like it and that we are all advancing together! Keep going

[@elonrichardson1743]

OMG I'm just discovering this. I learned so much. Thank you very much for this!!!

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Elon

[@elonrichardson1743]

@@ArtistWright you're welcome

[@Bcheller65]

FANTASTIC! And the clearest, most comprehensible Contour demo I've seen.

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers Brian!

[@DeniseNepraunig]

Woah these are some really cool use cases of the Contour Tool.

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Denise

[@rogwhi]

Thanks for showing some practical examples using these features. Time to experiment!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Roger

[@traceygarner4882]

wow this is so cool had no idea about the contour tool thank you so much

[@ArtistWright]

This tool is soooooo useful

[@timclayton8214]

Thank you for these great videos. As a beginner, I never knew Affinity could do so much!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Tim!

[@jimdart8219]

Hell Yeah! You sir are slowly but surely becoming the go to chanel for Affinity Designer. Please put me into information overload. Thank you and Happy New Year.

[@ArtistWright]

Hi Jim! that's awesome to read that. Thank you so much!

[@ArtsyLadyCrafter]

I especially like the text effects. Thanks!

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@jpmb76]

Very nice tutorial. Everything explained in the way even I understood. You just earned yourself new suvbscriber. Thank you.

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Kuba

[@SublimationVacation]

Your tutorials are perfect!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Daniel

[@TheodorElfving]

Incredible tutorials! I can’t even begin imagine the work you put in to do these. Thank you! :)

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Thedor, they do take a fair while to make, so I appreciate that.

[@Maradnus]

100% I'm new to the program, this is amazing.

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Maradnus, I'm working on a new tutorial as I type

[@Maradnus]

@@ArtistWright 100% subbed! thank you

[@nigelblanchard5571]

Thankyou for the tips on "rainbow coloured letters" as I watched the mini tutorials contained within the Motorbike Honda build that you did and after watching the gradient creations that you did the penny dropped and it was quite easy to do any artistic text then covert to curves and then insert gradient with multi points for each colour of the rainbow on each letter. I only had to do one letter. So then from a selection of any of the letters I created a style and it was simples after that to convert to rainbow colouring with click on my style icon I had made. Me thinks I was clearly making heavy weather of this as I was initially using stroke lines on shapes with many coloured strokes. I am trying to work out a progressive play list from the wonderful compilation on your main website. Orange textured video was ok but really tricky on the textured brushes and need to understand the brushes and application in Pixel mode.

[@ArtistWright]

Sounds like you are coming on leaps and bounds. The orange is a bit more tricky as you have to use pixel brushes but it's a good part to learn to add texture etc.

[@gypsybytes]

Wow! I can't wait to try this tool. I had no idea it even existed until today. Love what you did with the text. Thank you so much.

[@ArtistWright]

It's a tool I use alot! Thanks for watching Melody

[@yemiolawale]

This is so cool! Thank you

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@porpapyd]

Thank you so much !! This is so easy to understanding!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks for watching Phimyada

[@MargoBeatty]

Excellent video, pro level - thank you so much!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks iMargo!

[@magentaangel5531]

As a beginner I found this so informative, i'm excited to do the text thank you.

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Magenta

I am so stunned by this powerful tool and especially your clear explanation. Thank you very much.

[@ArtistWright]

That's excellent! Thanks Aurelien

[@schmolty1]

Extremely helpful video. Thanks. Even more helpful than learning about the contour tool was learning about compound objects. What a major jump forward for me!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Scott! Appreciate it. I just uploaded a new tutorial all about the shape builder tool if you are interested kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIPdgoWcmsZ-gtk

[@priitsuve1486]

Hi, thanks for sharing! You have a great channel, brilliant videos, and excellent teaching skills. It would be interesting to see how you vectorize a character (e.g., people in action (walking, playing, etc.)). Anyway, looking for new videos, and I wish you all the best!

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Priit, appreciate that.

[@Mousyfox]

Hell Yeah! Brilliant, thanks again AW.

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers Mousy

[@rycoryco2888]

très cool contour tool! sophisticated tutorial for sophisticated illustration ...imagination successfully launched... "contour orbit"!

[@ArtistWright]

The best comments seriously!

[@samkalib1324]

Thanks u are the best explain clearly

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers Sam!

[@mfrazeehvacc5012]

Your tutorial are amazing Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ArtistWright]

You're very welcome!

[@rajavanya]

Very useful, great examples help me understand one single tool from multiple perspectives and use cases. So much depth, yet engaging (usually when something has too many details it is boring). Thank you for this!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks for watching I appreciate the awesome feedback

[@worthy_is_the_lamb]

Ahhh....just what I needed! AWESOME tutorial! Thank you!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Tammy!

[@kristilyons8735]

Couldn't agree more!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Kristl

[@agentbabs_yt]

this was an awesome video, thank you for sharing!

[@ArtistWright]

My pleasure!

[@ozymet]

I'm just leaving you comment that I'm subscribing. Good stuff you have here. Thank you.

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Ozymet I appreciate it

[@robertevans8635]

Yet another brilliant tutorial, ace content, quality and presentation.... as usual!

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Robert!

[@Skushassss]

This is really helpful especially since I just cant imagine applying it in design. Also never knew I can select the nodes using alt/option

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@lawrencediggs7957]

The information and AV components were superior.

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers Lawrence

[@woodystefeneylee7290]

Learned more from u today. Thx🎉

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@khmedia743]

Thanks for this great tutorial.

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@jeffreypostma6832]

Excellent tutorial! Very detailed and well described!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Jeffrey!

[@Searching4Knowledge]

Love your channel bro. Keep the content coming

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you!

[@jasonvaughn1658]

Really insightful 👊 Thnx Allot 😃

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you Jason

[@DieTabbi]

Nice would like to see how to make a cut contur with xx around the object eg 8px away in same shape as object.

[@ArtistWright]

If you look at the context tool bar you can shoot how far away the contour is with the slider or enter amount into the box. If you are working with pixel measurements then you just enter 8 pixels. Then convert to curves or bake appearance

[@carlhughes2946]

Great tutorial.

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks again for choosing my channel

[@DamirRainerErne]

It is so nice. Thank you so much!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks Rainer!

[@ClintSilverhorn]

Brilliant!!! Thank you!

[@ArtistWright]

It's my pleasure, I'm happy to hear it's helping people out

[@Thespokenone]

I'm ecstatic I found this video, I knew there was a tool for this, just gutted I found it after spending waaayyy too much time doing this effect by joining curves and hoping things looked evenly distributed. 😭

[@ArtistWright]

That's great news thanks for sharing!

[@orlamdc]

Excellent!

[@ArtistWright]

Many thanks!

[@Artistram3d1]

This is Brilliant! Thanks for the great video, new Sub!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks for the comment and sub. Much appreciated!

[@Pyxelles]

Wow thanks for explaining and demonstrating what the contour tool does- I never quite got it before. Can’t wait to watch again and practice along. Looking forward to more tutorials and Happy New Year in advance. Oh before I forgot what is the name of the type face you used at the end please? Thanks

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks more coming for sure. I'm pretty sure it was Roboto

[@pretschious]

Thanks a lot! ☕ 😃 💫

[@ArtistWright]

You are like a premium member now 😂 thanks mate

[@kariforrest9960]

I tried to add contour to png files that were unlocked and it didn't allow the ability to drag the contour. Wondering if you can offer any assistance there? Awesome video. Thanks !

[@ArtistWright]

This is for vector objects, not raster objects like pngs.

[@kariforrest9960]

@@ArtistWright That would explain it! Thanks!

[@ArtistWright]

No worries

[@caitlincurrey7469]

Great tutorial! I tried to copy some of your designs for practice, however mine didn't work the same. The X grid at 14 minutes did not expand the same way as yours. The lines went all over the place and some were even rounded? Also, when I use contour on text, the text disappears no matter what I do. How do I stop this?

[@ArtistWright]

Hi thanks for watching,maybe some of the settings you used were different to mine.check the stroke type and stroke end (cap etc). Also with text sometimes it's better to actually convert to curves first then use the contour tool

[@johnlepore1562]

Thanks!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks again !!!

[@jillwirsing7544]

Hello, I really learned a lot from this video and enjoyed it! Thank you! I am having trouble understanding bake appearance in general. If you use bake appearance with a fill / shape, it automatically converts to curves. But why? So then, if you bake appearance on a stroke with no fill, what is happening….is it just setting the stroke without expanding it? Why does bake appearance not expand a stroke but then it automatically coverts a shape to curves? I can see why you wouldn’t want to automatically expand a stroke….but why would you need to automatically create curves from a fill? Also, would having the scale with object in the stroke panel checked versus unchecked have an effect on the contour tool?

[@ArtistWright]

Very good questions, you would bake appearance if for a number of reasons, if you wanted to further manipulate the shape (as you can now play with the nodes) also if you were to export it and use in another program or export to pdf etc it's better to bake appearance. Also when scaling up or down a shape with the contour tool it might not keep it's proportions. So better to bake appearance. The same applies if you are only using a stroke with no fill ( scaling up and down etc). In terms of checking the box relating to scale stroke with shape, if you don't check that box the stroke will remain the same thickness if scaling up or down. If you want the stroke to remain the same size regardless of how much you scale your shape then check that box. Also there is an expand stroke option which will allow you to manipulate the stroke even further with nodes. Hope that helps

[@jillwirsing7544]

Yes! Thank you for the detailed response!

[@ArtistWright]

No worries

[@ankitgujjar007]

Superb

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks 🤗

[@joaopires65]

Thank you

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers Joao

[@iame-ry6lu]

Buen vídeo

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers! It's the same way you select all the files in a folder on your mac

[@iame-ry6lu]

@@ArtistWright Thanks

[@ArtistWright]

@@iame-ry6lu no worries

[@diyday21]

Thanks a lot!

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@AllanLobo]

10s in and I’m already subscribed

[@ArtistWright]

I love to hear it, thank you!

[@nizamdamanhuri933]

Thanks for this. I just noticed the button last night and was wondering what the point of it was. I played around but for some reason it didnt click it was an offset. Just had a doh moment watching your video.

[@nizamdamanhuri933]

Wow, more than an offset tool

[@ArtistWright]

Ha thanks Nizam!

[@ArtistWright]

Definitely more than an offset

[@Hi-HK]

Was this tutorial good? Answer: 17:23

[@ArtistWright]

Lol! Amazing thanks 🙏

[@emileogier]

This tutorial was awesome, think one of the best I have seen! Thanks so much. One question the select node using your 'rope' technique, was not sure how to create that, there is no alt on Mac, I tried all the function keys but could not replicate the 'draw node' aspect you did to cleverly select the outside nodes. Thanks

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks buddy, appreciate it. Yes there is an Alt key on a mac. It's right next to the command key on the left

[@emileogier]

Its ok I worked it out, for anyone else struggling, needed to convert all the squares to curves first, then select all, then node tool, then hold down OPTION for mac 👍

[@emileogier]

@@ArtistWright Yes same place, says Option on my Macbook :), loving all your affinity videos, you have such great tutorials, first class 🙏

[@ArtistWright]

@@emileogier oh cool good to know I think maybe the British keyboard looks slightly different. Thanks again for the kind words I always appreciate it when my viewers give feedback.

[@emileogier]

Thank you again, yes its UK keyboard, been through a lot of your videos now, you are excellent! First class content 😊@@ArtistWright

[@mninzatti]

Thank you so much for all the work you do. You're by far the best Affinity Designer teacher on KZbin! ✨ PS: Is there a warp tool available on AD? And if so, would you teach us how to use it? Thanks a lot!

[@ArtistWright]

Hi Michelle, what a nice comment to read, Thank you. There is no warp tool in Affinity Designer.... Yet. I really hope they do implement it. There is a workaround with the mesh warp tool in Affinity Photo but that converts the vectors to raster. Btw I have a new Affinity Designer Tutorial coming out very soon.

[@mninzatti]

@@ArtistWright Nice!! Looking forward to it ✨And thanks for answering 😉

[@ArtistWright]

No problem! Feel free to ask for all kinds of tutorials

[@JohnAnderson-ju8fp]

Thanks

[@ArtistWright]

No worries

[@noody2081]

Awesome

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@pinkcartonagem7152]

Great!

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you

[@Muthukaviyarasan]

🤩 wow 😃👍🙋🏻‍♂️

[@ArtistWright]

Most excellent!

[@mubinafa]

Hola saludos gran tutorial... En Windows 10 no funciona los COMPONENTES, si une pero no da esos efectos al unir como a partir del minuto 8:15, puede que al tener usted una MAC las actualización y las herramientas cambian dependiendo el sistema operativo. Un saludo desde Colombia

[@ArtistWright]

No he usado una computadora con ventana en años, así que no sé cuáles son las diferencias. Estoy bastante seguro de que es exactamente lo mismo según lo que veo en KZbin con los usuarios de Affinity. ¡Gracias por dejar un comentario y ver los videos!

[@_maccouk5950]

Great video , but i can't find the contour tool anywhere can u help me with that? :'(

[@ArtistWright]

Go to VIEW - CUSTOMISE TOOLS - AND DRAG IN THE CONTOUR TOOL

[@graziacavasino8884]

Thanks a lot! I have to say that I can't have the glueing effect at 8:15". I tried and tried and tried but came up to nothing. Maybe it's my Italian version of the programme that I find confusing after your explanation in English ( which I understand perfectly well), maybe it's just me. Anyway, your videos are great.

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you! You can totally do it. Just follow the exact steps I take

[@nadahkhi]

Excellent tutorial.... When I contour the shape and then select node tool, it does not work on node, rather it work like move (Arrow) tool. Why? can you figure this out for me, maybe I am missing something. I am new to this program. Also, tell me if we do "Bake Appearance", then after that, can we go back to "NON-Back Appearance" condition? . The Other thing, I cannot see is Stroke Tool in Context Toolbar. and when I click on Miter in Contour Type, some corners are Sharp and the some are like Bevel. . And, When I started practicing the other session, that is "cmd symbol", the Alt key selection did not work, and that seems that same, because of Node Tool is behaving like move tool. Thanks in Advance

[@ArtistWright]

Hi thanks for watching. All of your questions are answered in my other videos. But when you use the contour tool, in order for you to be able to play with the nodes for that corner you need to select bake appearance. If you wanted to go back to before you baked it your would have to press command Z (undo). So make you are are happy before you press bake. You will see the stroke in a tab on the right hand side and also its in the context tool bar if you have the object selected and are using pen tool or node tool etc. If some sharp corners of an object are bevelled it's because the angle of a corner might tight. Increase the mitre a bit and a sharp corner will appear.

[@ArtistWright]

Also I work on a mac, so some of the shortcuts are slightly different on a Windows computer. Always check the description of my videos, in some I include the shortcuts for Windows

[@lunaedward6574]

Take my sub!

[@ArtistWright]

Ha! Taken thanks

[@KittyMeowWow]

Hi, I can't find the contour tool? I went to customise tools but it's not there - how do I get this? :(. Driving me nuts!

[@ArtistWright]

View - customise tools - drag contour tool into tool bar

[@suryanshsingh8290]

What is Bake Appearance,does it call convert to call, I am trying hard to know and finally i have decided it will be convert to curve…I am right or wrong ?

[@ArtistWright]

You are right, it converts it to curves so you can play with the nodes etc.

[@darlenelohnas1445]

I’m primarily planning to use AD for my embroidery machine designs as well as my CNC machine. And as time goes by photo for my family history photos . Everything I will be doing is vectors so I looking for videos geared towards these programs. Can you direct me toward these types of videos and any new one you can do that are directed towards these items. Any help is greatly appreciated. (Don’t know if it matters but I use embird 2024 for embroidery and carve pro 11.5 for CNC. Thanks for listening.

[@ArtistWright]

Hi there! Yes I have many videos that will help you with that. I assume you will just be needing the vector outline for cutting etc. I suggest you watch my pen and node tool tutorial to begin. I'm currently working on a tutorial for someone who has never used Affinity before where I cover everything so stay tuned

[@darlenelohnas1445]

@@ArtistWright thank you so much I await your new tutorial. I have complied a list of your videos and look forward to watching more of them.

[@ArtistWright]

@darlenelohnas1445 thank you! Also the shape builder tool

[@nigelblanchard5571]

Enjoyed watching this and tried it myself with success but trying to create say 6 coloured rainbow letters that is each letter has say 6 coloured gradient or contour seems beyond Affinity. I was thinking maybe 6 or 7 colours to the stroke outline might be a compromise and wondered if you had more success

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks for watching. You could totally do that with Affinity, it might be your computer struggling rather. If you check out my Honda crf250l tutorial I have hundreds of layers of gradients. Try bake appearance each time you use the contour tool, maybe that will help

[@nigelblanchard5571]

@@ArtistWright watching this video now and will follow your advice. It is always difficult for me (tongue in cheek -) to watch videos featuring motorbikes as I had to sell my bike a few years ago when the wife said "it is the bike or me!" I had a couple of honda's - and a harley fatboy plus started out on a small Yamaha 600 street bike- ah well!!!!

[@ArtistWright]

Ha well I hope its useful

[@robertojonayjimenezalvarez2982]

Hola, qué tal? El contenido es genial. Pero no consigo hacer lo que sucede en el minuto 8:15, alguna sugerencia de lo que me puede suceder? Muchas gracias.

[@ArtistWright]

Can you ask any questions in English please. Helpful for other viewers who may have the same question. Thank you

[@kolkrabbi-io]

4:46 Cap, no cap 👏

[@ArtistWright]

👍

[@saddlebrookesilversmithand9493]

I don't get the 'magnetic' merge effect in v1.3

[@ArtistWright]

Updates before V2 are free, so try updating it

[@sanjaysinghchauhan8830]

How can we Break the Contour, what is the short cut key ...? Like in Coreldraw its Cntrl + K ....?

[@ArtistWright]

What do you mean?

[@sanjaysinghchauhan8830]

@@ArtistWright How can we seprate/break the contour object, suppose if we contour any rectangle there must be 2 rectangle after contour so how we seprate the rectangles ?

[@ArtistWright]

Oh I see, well I would start off by making a copy let's say a rectangle, then I'd use the contour tool on the rectangle behind (or underneath in the layer stack)

[@madsiserouh4269]

The font name is Grand Hotel ik not many people are able to zoom into the video lol

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@mandyburbank3770]

Could someone help me? I clicked on the "Contour Tool" and all the tool icons showed up but when I tried to select and draw a shape on the art board nothing happened. I have restarted the computer, etc yet I still have the same problem. It won't let me select anything. Any ideas on what I can do to have Affinity Designer function again? Please and Thank you!

[@ArtistWright]

Hard to tell without seeing what you see on screen. Try this View>studio>reset studio

[@chillywilson]

one day they'll get off their a$$'s and give people a shapebuilder tool like everyone wants

[@ArtistWright]

Pray for it

[@joseramonacosta3355]

Ponéis la pantalla demasiado grande y no se puede ver las herramientas de la barra contextual.

[@ArtistWright]

will take note thanks

[@oasinwolf]

Pretty sure that ARTISTWRIGHTSUNG is a Korean company lol

[@ArtistWright]

😂

[@fen4ri]

13:29 .... BRUHhhhhhhh

[@ArtistWright]

Had to do it

[@pretschious]

8:15 be like "Are you a wizard" and when realizing it really works and oneself is now a wizard: 😱🧙‍♂🪄

[@ArtistWright]

Now go forth and create magic!

[@jillwirsing7544]

Thanks!

[@ArtistWright]

My pleasure! A super thanks to you for watching ⭐