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Dave's Soft Shapes

Disciplines > Photography > Affinity Photo > Resources > Dave's Soft Shapes

Download

Click here to download the latest 'Dave's Soft Shapes' macro set.

To insert this into your library, simply click on the 3-line 'hamburger' on the top right of the library panel, click on 'Import Macros...' and point it at the downloaded file. Then click on the layer for which you want a model and click once on the appropriate macro in the 'Dave's Soft Shapes' library group category.

About

These macros each create a set of layers that combine to create a scalable soft shape. 

To use the soft shape:

• Set Fill colour to white (click on a shape on left toolbar and change at top).

• Click on the macro. This creates a 1000 x 1000 pixel vignette layer in the top left corner of the image (and in one separate layer group, visible on Layers panel to right).

• Select the Move tool (left toolbar, arrow near top), click on the shape and drag/stretch/rotate/etc to suit.

• Adjust Opacity, Fill Colour, Blend Mode, Blur, etc. as required.

  • The default is 50% Opacity (so you can turn it up and down), with Overlay Blend Mode.

  • The 'Softness' layer is a Gaussian Blur which just adjusts the blur around the edges of the shape.

With the shapes, you can:

• Move, resize, skew and rotate as any shape.

• Double click to see the small red nodes that you can move to adjust the basic shape.

• Click on 'Convert to Curves' in the top context toolbar to change the defined shape to a 'manual' shape, so you can now use the Move Tool or Node Tool to:

  • Drag to bend the lines.

  • Click on line to add further shape nodes (and move/adjust these).

  • Use top Context toolbar to do such as Convert to different types of node (angle, smooth, etc).

Note: Affinity Photo does not allow Fill colour to be set within a macro, so you need to set it beforehand or after the macro has run.

Macros

Macros created include one for all of the available shapes in the left-hand toolbar:

• Soft Rectangle

• Soft Ellipse

• Soft Rounded Rectangle

• Soft Triangle

• Soft Diamond

• Soft Trapezoid

• Soft Polygon

• Soft Start

• Soft Double Star

• Soft Segment

• Soft Donut

• Soft Pie

• Soft Crescent

• Soft Cog

• Soft Cloud

• Soft Callout Rounded Rectangle

• Soft Callout Ellipse

• Soft Tear

• Soft Heart

See also

If you are having problems downloading the macros, click here to download as zip file.

Dave's Vignettes (these work in a similar way)