![]() ![]() ![]() One of the features where Affinity Designer wins over Illustrator, however, is in its grid functions. One of the key elements is Illustrator’s Envelope Distortion tool, allowing text to be twisted and skewed intelligently to fit specific spaces.Īffinity Designer allows vectors to be skewed to match faces of customisable isometric grids (Image credit: Beth Crane) Illustrator is integrated with Adobe Fonts, allowing users to preview Adobe fonts in situ before downloading them, and in the program itself, Illustrator possesses text editing abilities that Affinity Designer simply doesn’t have. Illustrator has a lot of additional features that are text based, and considering the importance of text in graphic design, for many this will be the match point. Vector lines can be modified either by clicking and dragging or by using vector point levers, depending on your goal. The key element of any vector software, the node editor, is both relatively similar and fairly simple for both nodes can be added either individually and specifically with the pen tool or in a more freehand manner with the straightforwardly-named freehand tool. Whereas Illustrator relies on its mainstay of drop-down numerical boxes, Affinity Designer’s sliders are a more intuitive way to determine sizing, whether you’re determining the appropriate stroke width or layer transparency.īoth programs have the ability to customise their toolbar, meaning you can be rid of the tools you don’t use and prioritise the ones you use the most, and both have the ability to make simultaneous changes across all instances of similar objects in Illustrator, this is called Global Editing, whereas in Affinity Designer you can designate an object, such as a logo, as a Symbol, giving you the opportunity to automatically copy across any changes made to all instances of it. One of the more intuitive elements of Affinity Designer’s user interface is the use of sliders to control sizing and zooms. The only real way to go about vector image tracing with Affinity Designer is to do so manually using the Pen Tool.Affinity Designer's Workspace (Image credit: Beth Crane) This can be done by simply drawing individual elements right on top of your image, and then coloring them in using the Color Picker tool. In fact, I created a video tutorial demonstrating how to do so: This method may be right for you if your image is simple enough to trace manually, or if you have something that needs to be traced with precision. The downside of using an automated tracing feature is that it very rarely traces over your image with absolute precision. However, if your design is large and complex, then manually tracing it probably isn’t the best approach, or even possible for that matter. If this describes you then you may want to consider one of the other two solutions. Inkscape is a free and open source vector graphics editor that is similar to both Adobe Illustrator and Affinity Designer. Inkscape is a free and open source vector graphics editor.Īny regular visitor to this website is surely no stranger to Inkscape. I’ve used it as my preferred vector graphics tool for over a decade, and have served thousands of freelance clients with it. I know the feeling of hesitation that comes with downloading yet another application though - especially if it’s to use a really standard feature that wasn’t included in a product you purchased. I promise you though, Inkscape is worth a try. Believe it or not, it’s capable of far more than Affinity Designer is. Once you have Inkscape opened, all you have to do is import your image and open the Trace Bitmap menu by pressing Shift + Alt + B on your keyboard. From there the UI is pretty self-explanatory, but feel free to check out this tutorial I made in case you need help: The benefit of using this solution is that you’ll be able to make auto-generated vector tracings of your images using Inkscape’s powerful Trace Bitmap feature. Not only that, but Inkscape is the only vector graphics editor available on all three operating systems - Windows, Mac, and Linux. ![]()
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