hello today I want to talk about the difference
between the pen tool in designer and the pen
tool in photo
Lets see it
so basically, the pen tool is exactly the
same
in both programs you hear well yes they are
is just that one is a vector software or the
main task is going to be creating vectors
but of course you have a pixel persona where
you can do so many things in raster and is
the same for affinity photo where yeah, it's
bitmap oriented but then you have built in
powerful tools to work with vectors
so let's go for it and I'm going to be doing
more or less what I did in my other tutorial
the one where I was just telling newbies how
to start drawing with the pen tool even if
they have no clue how to do it
so I'm gonna talk about how good is tracing
with the pen tool in photo just as good as
it is in designer and what is it the only
thing that I'm really missing ok?
so let get rid of that handle I'm just gonna
use one of those super simple methods that
will allow me to trace with not too much pain
ok, let's just zoom in
and get rid of this handle here if you take
a look you're gonna see it pixelated even
if they are paths
but it's normal because this is a a raster
oriented software
but you're gonna get exactly the same
in affinity designer
now I'm in designer and you're gonna see this
thing here called view mode, now we are here
in the vector view mode but if I changed it
,I'm gonna click here pixel view mode, see
it, now retina, o thats basically what the
view mode is and obviously in affinity photo
is set to pixels and that's why you see it
like that, but then when you pass it into
affinity designer, you will see it's smooth
Now back to our drawing, so let's just come
until here
and now until here and now somewhere there
let's get rid of that let's just go like this
and go like this
ok I don't want to trace the whole thing I
just want you to get the idea of what I mean
so you see here I have a I'm gonna turn this
off, smooth line and this now if I select
the node tool here you can see
this is a vector so it's fantastic. If I copy
it and paste it into Designer and I select
in the vector persona I select the node tool
you¡re gonna see this is a fantastic vector
path so what is the main difference that I
find between the pen tool in affinity designer
and affinity photo?
It's not exactly directly related to the pen
tool itself but related to this other tool
called the corner tool
That will allow you to smoothen your paths
with no pain
So let me show you what I mean by activating
it you can press C on your keyboard or just
select it here and let's just take of course
this works only in sharp nodes because it
smoothens these paths and these nodes,
so I'm gonna take these node that is completely
angled here, there's a sharp corner here,
so activating it you're gonna see what it
does for me. See it? this softens the whole
path. And that is the tool that photo does
not have, well and if you're highly experienced
tracing with vectors software maybe you're
not gonna need it so much, but when you're
starting out it really helps you smoothing
your paths and it's gonna make everything
look much better
And I can tell you, I've been 20 years working
with vector software and I use it. I use it
a lot
So now, I'm gonna trace the whole thing and
show you how this is so useful
Ok, so I have my path here ok, and now if
I want for example get rid of the background
what I'm going to be doing is masking it inside,
clip masking it inside, like so.
And it's so easy!
And now for making it look good I'm going
to get rid of the color and the thickness
of the stroke. I will still keep the mask
but, it won't be visible, but that's basically
one of the most common uses people give to
the pen tool in affinity photo you absolutely
can work with vectors in photo.
Like I do most of my digital painting artwork
in Designer and not in Photo. Why? Because,
well, not because it's better for it, it's
just because I can and I feel more comfortable
with the with Designer I use it much more
and I love it so why not.
Now if you feel you want to learn much more
about the pen tool, just go ahead and check
my other tutorial, I'm gonna leave the link
up there and if you want to know more in depth
how to use the pen tool and master it just
take my other class which will walk you through
all the options it has. You can also visit
my website and find out about the specialised
tutorials that I am sending to my subscribers
or you can simply check the videos I have
in my youtube channel, there's lots of information
there so I hope you enjoy it. Bye!
