Book Image

Up and Running with Affinity Designer

By : Kevin House
Book Image

Up and Running with Affinity Designer

By: Kevin House

Overview of this book

Affinity Designer is a widely adopted creative application, and in a reasonably short space of time, it has become a leading design and illustration application. Affinity Designer, along with Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, is part of a suite of award-winning creative software applications developed by Serif Europe. Built on the latest technologies, which make it fast and smooth, Affinity Designer is quickly becoming the go-to professional creative application for vector drawing and pixel-based painting. Up and Running with Affinity Designer is a comprehensive hands-on guide to the Affinity Designer software. Whether you're new to the creative industry, a seasoned professional looking for a proven alternative, or an enthusiastic hobbyist, this book will help you get up to speed in no time. You’ll learn how to create documents and explore workflow best practices while working through practical exercises using the knowledge and skills developed in each chapter to solidify your understanding of the fundamentals. Finally, you’ll bring it all together with real-world practical applications by building a fun logo and professional illustration, forming a base for in-depth exploration in your own projects. By the end of this Affinity Designer book, you'll have gained the knowledge and confidence to use Affinity Designer as part of your creative toolset.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Getting Familiar with Affinity Designer's Interface and Layout
5
Section 2: Deeper Exploration of Affinity Designer's Documents, Tools, and Workflow
9
Chapter 7: Tools – Pixel Persona
12
Chapter 10: Workflow: Symbols, Assets, and History
13
Section 3: Bringing It All together

Vector and Raster – the power behind the Personas

Affinity Designer has the unique ability to work both in vector and raster formats. But why is this a big deal, and what are the advantages over other similar drawing applications that don't have this ability? Well, to start off with and to help provide a bit of a foundation for what we're going to discuss, let's take a quick look at the main differences between vector and raster art.

In short, vector art is art that comprises or is derived from bezier curves or paths, which are themselves based on a mathematical grid. Because they are built upon math, they can be resized or repositioned and will be recalculated to retain their appearance. Because of this, vector art is called resolution independent, meaning art created entirely of vector information can be scaled up or down without any loss in clarity or sharpness. This is ideal for logo design or specific types of projects that need to retain their sharpness...