Surface Pattern Design: Efficiency Hacks in Affinity Designer & Photo V2 | Tracey Capone | Skillshare
Search

Playback Speed


  • 0.5x
  • 1x (Normal)
  • 1.25x
  • 1.5x
  • 2x

Surface Pattern Design: Efficiency Hacks in Affinity Designer & Photo V2

teacher avatar Tracey Capone, Illustrator, Photographer & Designer

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Welcome to Class!

      4:46

    • 2.

      The Class Project

      1:04

    • 3.

      Downloads & Resources

      1:15

    • 4.

      Before We Begin

      2:14

    • 5.

      Asset Linking Between Designer & Photo

      5:46

    • 6.

      Using Pattern Templates

      4:00

    • 7.

      Using StudioLink to Bridge Apps

      4:41

    • 8.

      Using StudioLink in Pattern Design

      5:30

    • 9.

      Visualize Your Pattern with Pattern Layers

      6:40

    • 10.

      What Are Macros?

      1:54

    • 11.

      Creating Macros | Basic Repeat

      13:22

    • 12.

      Adjusting Macros for Canvas Size

      4:17

    • 13.

      Creating Macros | Half Drop Repeat

      8:28

    • 14.

      Importing Macros on the iPad

      1:23

    • 15.

      Efficiency Hacks in Action

      5:29

    • 16.

      Testing Basic Repeats with Pattern Layers

      3:56

    • 17.

      Scaling Patterns Quickly with Pattern Layer

      3:54

    • 18.

      Testing Basic Patterns in Designer

      4:45

    • 19.

      BONUS MACROS | Half Drop Pattern Testers

      2:22

    • 20.

      Final Thoughts

      1:35

  • --
  • Beginner level
  • Intermediate level
  • Advanced level
  • All levels

Community Generated

The level is determined by a majority opinion of students who have reviewed this class. The teacher's recommendation is shown until at least 5 student responses are collected.

1,015

Students

19

Projects

About This Class

Do you find the process of creating seamless patterns in Affinity Designer time consuming? Do you wish you had more time to create? This is the class for you! Discover quick and efficient techniques for creating seamless repeat patterns using Affinity Photo and Designer with Tracey Capone, a professional artist, designer, and teacher.

This class will guide you through the efficient use of built-in tools in Affinity Photo and the rest of the suite, making the pattern creation process easier and faster, regardless of whether you are working in flat vectors.

Elevate your basic pattern creation skills and save time to produce more patterns using the expert tips and tricks provided in this course!

Hello everyone, and welcome to class!

I believe in learning as much as possible about the apps we use, so we can make them work better for us. In this class, I’ll show you how to use tools built in to Affinity Photo that can make the process of creating patterns quicker and more efficient, even if you're using flat vector motifs from Affinity Designer.

As designers, working more efficiently, and effectively, with the tools at our disposal, means more time for the creative side. If you want to up your pattern game in Affinity Designer, and give yourself the gift of more creative time, come join me in class!

  • How to save and link vector Assets, so that you can easily access them in any application, no exporting and importing necessary.
  • How to maintain the infinite scalability of your flat vectors in Affinity Photo. You get the benefit of using Designer, and all of it’s vector tools and using Photo’s built in efficiency tools to complete the pattern making process in less time, without losing the flexibility of working with vectors.
  • How to create reusable Pattern templates which save all user settings such as size, grids and guides, symbols, and more, and can be used in any Affinity app, both desktop and iPad.
  • The benefits of using StudioLink, in both the desktop and iPad apps, which will allow you to seamlessly jump between apps, with a single click.
  • How to use the Pattern Layer tools in Affinity Photo to sketch out, and preview, a seamless pattern before you build it, and use it to check for any issues before export.

  • About macros in Affinity Photo… what they are, and how to create, and use, them to automate the more manual, and repetitive aspects of the pattern process in Affinity, and make them more efficiently. (Please note: Macro creation is only available in the desktop version of Affinity Photo, but they can be imported in to, and used, in both the iPad and desktop version)
  • How to use Pattern Layer in Affinity Photo to test your basic repeat at various sizes, quickly and easily. (you can use this for any pattern you create, not just those created in Designer or Photo!)
  • How to use Pattern Layer in Affinity Photo to quickly and easily scale your patterns to multiple sizes for Spoonflower and other sites. I'll also show you how to change the dpi of your pattern tile in Photo, for different sites, so that you don’t lose quality.
  • I’ll also show you a really handy way you can preview your seamless patterns in Affinity Designer, at any size, without leaving the app. (WITHOUT the white lines! :))
  • As a bonus, I'll show you how to use macros I provided to quickly, and easily, test your half drop repeats in Photo... no manual duplication and tiling needed!

  • Affinity Photo & Designer *
  • an iPad or PC **
  • A set of your favorite motifs. (optional)
    • The class will not be focused on motif creation but rather technical tools built in to the Affinity suite. I will be using simple shapes to demonstrate, however you're welcome to use your own motifs to follow along, if you prefer.

A couple quick notes:

  • StudioLink requires Affinity Publisher. If you plan to follow that part of the lesson, you will need all three apps. For iPad users, StudioLink is only available in V2 of the app, not V1 (it is available in both version 1 and 2 of desktop)

** With the exception of the lessons about creating macros (only available in desktop), I will be using V2 of the iPad apps. You are welcome to use the desktop version for the entire process, as the process is the same, so long as you know where the tools are located.

This class is about how to take the basic pattern making process in Affinity and make it more efficient. This class is not intended for beginner's to the surface pattern design process in Designer as tt will not cover setting up the pattern preview, creating, and proper placement of motifs, or how to create a pattern or collection in Affinity.  

The class is intended for intermediate to advanced students who have experience in, and a firm understanding of, creating patterns in Affinity including the basic process with symbols, vector tools, and more. We will be taking that basic process and applying efficiency hacks to it to make it more efficient, therefore an understanding of the base process is a must.

For those who don't have the desktop version of Affinity Photo, to create the macros, I have you covered. I will be providing you with all of the pattern macros (both basic and half drop repeats) we will be creating. These can be used in either the iPad or desktop app.

You’ll also receive a bonus set of Half Drop Repeat Pattern Testing macros that help you quickly, and easily, take a single pattern swatch and tile it in to a half drop repeat.

Hi there! I'm Tracey. I'm an illustrator, designer, and  photographer located in the Chicagoland area. You can find more information about me, and my work in my full profile. (find the link above) I've been a full time artist for over a decade, after leaving the corporate world behind in 2011. In addition to teaching, I am a full time creator who sells my work on my own site, as well as print on demand sites like Spoonflower, Society6 and more. 

I have been using Affinity products for the last several years and have had the privilege of being spotlighted by Serif, the company who created the app, twice as a go to teacher for their apps. You can find the spotlights here and here.

If you have any questions about the class, or would like feedback on your project, please feel free to let me know in the Discussion section of class, or by emailing me at hello@traceycapone.com.

I look forward to seeing you in class!

Meet Your Teacher

Teacher Profile Image

Tracey Capone

Illustrator, Photographer & Designer

Top Teacher

Hello and welcome to my Skillshare channel! I'm so happy you're here!

My name is Tracey. I'm an illustrator, photographer, teacher and self-proclaimed digital art nerd who loves all the apps, and sharing everything I know. Being able to help students understand more complex applications, like Affinity Designer, and hearing about that moment of clarity when everything came together for them is truly satisfying.

not just the how, but also the why... I believe understanding why I take certain approaches, or use particular tools, will help you absorb what you learn and better prepare you to work on your own later. to embrace the perfectly imperfect... in my mind, it's the best way to develop that sometimes elusive creative voice!

and finally... See full profile

Level: Intermediate

Class Ratings

Expectations Met?
    Exceeded!
  • 0%
  • Yes
  • 0%
  • Somewhat
  • 0%
  • Not really
  • 0%

Why Join Skillshare?

Take award-winning Skillshare Original Classes

Each class has short lessons, hands-on projects

Your membership supports Skillshare teachers

Learn From Anywhere

Take classes on the go with the Skillshare app. Stream or download to watch on the plane, the subway, or wherever you learn best.

Transcripts

1. Welcome to Class! : As designers time to create as one of the most important tools we have at our disposal, though technology made it easier to create faster, there are still opportunities to work more efficiently, giving us more time to create. The process of making patterns and designers already advanced, but there are tools in the rest of the suite that can make it even better. By bridging the gap and working efficiently, we can create our patterns more effectively and have more time to build our portfolios. If you've been creating patterns and designer and want to learn ways to make the process work better for you, welcome to class. [MUSIC] Hi everyone, I'm Tracey Capone, I'm an artist, designer and top teacher here on Skillshare. I spent most of my 20 years in the corporate world as a project manager where efficiency was crucial for success. As an artist and designer, I like to figure out ways to make the apps I use suit my needs. Even if it means using tools and ways they weren't originally intended. In this class, I'll demonstrate several ways to optimize the affinities way for pattern design, so that you can work more efficiently and effectively. The Affinity suite is part of my everyday creative process. I've been using it to design and create patterns for sites like Spoonflower and Society6 for the last few years and I've had the privilege of being spotlighted by Sarah, the makers of Affinity, as a teacher to watch both here and on YouTube. We'll begin class by taking a look at linking assets, which will allow you to take motif to create a designer, even flat vectors and link them up to the Asset Studio in photo so you can access them seamlessly from both apps. Next, we'll learn how to save pattern templates that have all of the symbols, art boards and more needed for pattern preview. This will give us a new canvas each time we create a pattern without having to start from scratch and without bugging down our home screen and slowing down the app. From there, we'll move to studio link, which allows you to seamlessly jump between the apps and the Affinity suite, avoiding a lot of time consuming, exporting and importing when you want to use different tools in different apps. After that, we'll take our first look at pattern layers and photo and I'll show you how you can sketch out a pattern design while photos seamlessly tiles it in a standard repeat, allowing you to visualize your pattern before you begin building it and saving your time upfront. We'll follow that up with one of the Affinity of photos best efficiency hacks, macros, which will allow us to automate some of them are repetitive and manual parts of the seamless pattern process. I'll show you how to plan out and create macros for both a basic and half-drop repeat for use on both the desktop and iPad versions of the app. I'll also show you how to quickly adjust your macros for various canvas sizes so you don't have to do a lot of rework. Next up, we'll take our second look at pattern layers and photo, and I'll show you two ways to use them to test your basic patterns whether you're already working in photo or working designer. From there, we'll head back into designer where I'm going to show you a quick and easy way to test basic repeats right inside the app. When you take the class, you'll receive a set of three basic and half-drop repeat macros that I've created in three canvas sizes. Macros can only be recorded in a desktop version of photo, but for those of you don't have it, or those of you who'd like to follow along with the class and try your hand at making them later, I've got you covered. As a bonus I'm also providing a set of three macros which will allow you to test your half drops in photo with a single click, something that would normally be a manual and very time-consuming process. Use all of the efficiency tips we'll be discussing in class. You'll need the complete Affinity suite, either for a desktop or an iPad. If you don't have the full suite, there are still several tools you can use. Check out the About page for more information. This class is for intermediate students who have experienced creating patterns in either designer or photo. We won't be covering the basics like setting up the canvas, creating motifs or making perfect patterns, Instead, we'll focus on technical aspects of creating patterns and explore tools that will make the process more efficient and fun. If you're new to designer and pattern design, I recommend starting with a beginner class in both before taking this one. Are you ready to level up the pattern-making process and Affinity and make it work more efficiently for you?. If so, come join me in class and I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 2. The Class Project: [MUSIC] The project for class, is to use one or more of the efficiency tools that we cover in class to improve the pattern-making process. You could create a set of assets that you link between designer and photo. You could create a pattern template and whatever size or sizes meet your needs. You could use a pattern layer to plan and sketch out your basic repeat. Perhaps use studio link to seamlessly jump between apps, create macros, and use them to create your own repeat patterns, or use the pattern layer to preview your repeat pattern and check for issues or scale your pattern in a variety of sizes. I'd love to see which tools you found most helpful. Feel free to share screenshots of your progress here in the projects and resources section. Just click the green button, add a title, and load your project. Sharing your project, not only helps future students see what they learn when they take the class, it can help more students find my class. Next up, we'll take a look at the downloads for class. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 3. Downloads & Resources: [MUSIC] The downloads for class include a full set of seamless repeat macros for both a basic and half-drop repeat pattern. I've also included a bonus set of half-drop pattern testing macros, which will quickly and easily take a half-drop pattern swatch and tile it correctly at various sizes. To download the macros, head to the Projects and Resources section of the class on a browser and not the SkillShare app and click the hyperlink under the downloads for class. You'll need a password when you get there, which I'll put up on the screen right now. On the downloads page, you'll find a link at the bottom where you can access the macros on Google Drive. Now the basic and half-drop repeat macros are created for three canvas sizes. They work in both the desktop and iPad versions of Affinity Photo, so I recommend saving them somewhere you can easily access them. I've also included a PDF that breaks down how to import them, but I'll show you how to do that in an upcoming video as well. Next up, we'll talk about working with vectors in Affinity Photo and what you can expect from the class. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 4. Before We Begin: [MUSIC] You've decided to take the class, which means you have experienced creating repeat patterns, either in designer or photo. You've already been through the process of creating your art boards and adding your symbols, creating your polling and motifs, and using the transform studio to move your duplicated motifs to the correct spot on the edges of the art board. It's a pretty straightforward process , but let's face it, even with the Transform Studio, it's pretty manual and inefficient. In this class, we're going to take that base process and make it a lot more efficient by using some built-in tools in both photo and designer. Now you might be asking yourself, I use flat vectors for the infinite scalability and we're about to work in a raster application, is that okay? So do I. But here's the thing, photo can accommodate flat vectors, in fact, there are tools built into it that allow you to create them. As long as you don't add any raster effects to them and you export your pattern swatch in a vector friendly format, you'll maintain the infinite scalability and vector flexibility that you would achieve in designer, but get the benefit of the extra tools in photo. Now one important note, again, this class is not about motif creation or placement, we're not going to focus on heroes or blenders, or how to create a cohesive pattern collection. In fact, to keep it simple, I'm going to be using basic shapes with very little thought to placement. In sun, we'll be focusing on the technical side of things. Specifically how to use tools already built into the affinity sweet, make the pattern creation process easier and more efficient no matter where you create your motifs. What does that mean? That means you can use designer and all of its vector tools to create 100% flat, flexible vectors, and I'll show you how to use tools in photo to complete the pattern-making process in less time. Even if you create your elements in Procreate or Fresco and finish them in Designer, you'll still be able to use the process shown in class as well. Let's head into the next lesson where we're going to see flat vector assets and link them to photo so we can easily access them. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 5. Asset Linking Between Designer & Photo: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we're going to cover one of the most powerful time savers in designer and the rest of the affinity suite, assets, which are stored design elements that you can access from any document because they're saved application-wide. Not only that, but the asset studio will allow you to save your vector motifs and designer and then link them across the affinity suite. Another huge time saver as it allows you to avoid exporting from one app and importing into the other. Let's get started. I'm starting in designer and I'm going to show you how I save four flat vector motifs that I created and link them so that I can easily access them in photo. Let's start by taking a look at the assets panel itself. In the desktop version of the app, you can pull the Asset Studio in from the window menu at the top. In the iPad version of the app, you'll see an icon on the side that looks like this. If you ever can't find an icon, just tap the question mark at the bottom and labels will pop up. Now there's a hierarchy built into the Asset Studio that you need to be aware of in order to successfully save your assets and that hierarchy starts with category, that's the parent level. You'll find the category here at the top and to find a particular category, you can either tap in the middle and use the flywheel or use the left and right arrows to scroll through. The next level of assets is subcategory, and this is where you can further categorize your assets. This is one of my assets packs and you can see that I have it broken down into flower shapes, flower middles, leaf shapes, and vases and reads. To add a new category, go to the burger menu at the top and just choose add a category. I'm going to name mine vector flowers. From this same burger menu, you can import a category if someone shares one with you. You can add your subcategories, which we'll get to in a minute. You can export a category if you create assets that you want to share, you can rename duplicate, link, which we'll talk about in a moment, and delete a category. Now, designer is not going to allow you to add an asset directly to a category, so whether you want to further categorize them or not, you need to create at least one subcategory before you can begin adding your assets. I'll add two for mine, because I have flowers and leaves. Once I've added those, I can go into the burger menu for each of those and rename them. I'll name this one leaves and I'll rename this one flowers. Now that I have my subcategories in place, I'm ready to begin adding my floral shape. I'm going to start with my leaf shapes because they're single-layer curves and the easiest to add to the asset studio. With my move tool, I'll select my one leaf shape, go to the burger menu for that subcategory and choose Add Asset from selection and I'm all set. I'll tap the other and do the same thing. Now when adding multi-layer assets, you may need to take an additional step before selecting them and adding them to your assets. I have these flowers here and if you look at my layers to the other, actually broken down into individual layers that I have grouped. In order to save these to the assets studio as a single combined shape, I need to make sure that I'm selecting the group layer and not the two individual layers. Even if I have them grouped, if I select those and save them to my assets, it's going to save it as two individual layers. I'm going to go back up and choose my group layer, go into assets, add asset from selection and you can see that the entire flower is added as an asset as a single object. I'll do the same thing with my other flower. Just make sure that I have the group layer selected and I'm done adding my four assets. Now to use an asset, you can tap and either insert or delete. On the desktop version, you actually have two additional options, you can reorder your assets by holding down the option key and dragging them around in whatever order you'd like. Otherwise, they're going to be loaded in the order you save them. Second, in the desktop version, you can right-click and name your assets as well. Unfortunately, neither of these options is available in the iPad. Now that the asset category is created and the assets are loaded, they're ready to either be exported by going to the burger menu at the top or they can be linked if you're going to use them in an app on the same machine. I know that I want to use these in photo on my iPad, so I'll go up to the burger menu and I want to choose a link category. If it's already linked, that will be grayed out and it's not going to be an option. Linking assets between either your iPad apps or your desktop apps saves you time because you don't have to export your assets from one application and import it into another. When I go into photo, if I go into my assets, it's automatically going to be there. Assets are pretty cool. Remember, because photo can handle vectors, you can link your assets between designer and photo with the reassurance that as long as no raster effects are added and they're saved in a vector family format like PDF, you can safely use what you created in designer in photo. Let's head into the next lesson where we're going to talk about another way to work more efficiently between apps by creating templates that can be used across the entire affinity suite. I'll see you there. [MUSIC]r 6. Using Pattern Templates: As a digital creative, one of the best ways to be efficient is to take advantage of tools that help us avoid needless repetition. One way that photo as well as the other two affinity apps can help us with that, is by using document templates. In a moment, I'll show you how to create templates, but first, let's take a look at a few ways that templates can help you be more efficient when creating patterns. Templates allow you to save the Canvas with placeholders and defaults that you create such as grids and guides, art boards, stroke and fill color, text attributes, symbols and basically anything you add into your Canvas, so they're always at your fingertips, ready to use when you need them. Templates are saved with a standard AF template file extension in all three apps, both iPad and desktop. Which means that what you create in one can effectively be used in the other two. When it comes to the pattern templates, you can use the same template and photo that you do in designer. Unlike linked assets, these do work between the iPad and desktop as well. Another benefit of templates is they're saved outside of the app, rather than housing it in your home screen and continuously copying it. That means the gallery can remain organized and free for active documents, which is going to help your apps run more smoothly and efficiently and help you avoid accidental override. I have a 3000 pixel basic repeat Canvas setup. I want to save this as a template and pull it in whenever I need to use this size canvas. If I open up my layers, you'll see that I have my art board setup with my first one with the main symbol. The second art board has the duplicated symbols across the pattern preview so that anything I place on the main tile will automatically repeat on the pattern preview. Now, I also set up grids, which I use a lot when I'm creating geometric patterns. I can easily turn them off when I don't need them, but I like to set them up because they're handy just to have around just in case. Now, I've also set up a third art board without any layers, which I'm going to show you how I use at the end of class. Stay tuned. Now I want to save this as a template, so I don't have to recreate it each time I want a 3000 pixel basic repeat. I'll head up to my documents menu and choose Export As template. To make it easier to find especially in a list of other pattern templates, I always name mine with something that will indicate the size and type of documents. In this case, 3000 pixel basic repeat at 300 DPI. Then I hit "Save" and choose my file. Now I've already saved this, so I'm not going to repeat that. Remember, you can use this template in both the iPad and desktop versions of the app, as well as the other two affinity apps. Saving this to a Cloud file will allow you to access it on both your iPad and desktop whenever you need it. Now if I go back to my home screen, I can tap New from Template, find the template that I just saved, and it's all set and ready to use. Making changes to the template once you pull it in, isn't going to impact the template you've saved out there. You can pull that template and as many times as you want. As long as you don't export and override the existing one, using the save as template function and will always be a free copy. I do recommend saving the document once you pull it in. Go back to your home screen and just rename and save the document so that you have it set up for that particular pattern. I've created templates for multiple pixel sizes as well as both basic and half-drop repeats, so that I have everything ready to go depending on what I want to create and it doesn't take up space in my home screen. Next up, we'll take a look at StudioLink. Which will allow us to seamlessly jump between apps with a single click. Saving us from wasting time exporting and importing Canvas needlessly. I'll see you there. 7. Using StudioLink to Bridge Apps: [MUSIC] Studio Link is one of my favorite time-saving tools in Affinity. It's existed in the desktop version of the app for a while. However, with the implementation of publisher for iPad, it was just released for Version 2. In this lesson, we'll take a closer look at how Studio Link works in the desktop. In the next lesson, we'll head into the iPad version of the app and look at how it can help you make your pattern making process more efficient. Studio Link was created by [inaudible] as a way of taking their seamless suite of apps a step beyond having a singular file format, and allow users to effectively jump seamlessly between apps with a single click while maintaining all aspects of the original canvas. How can it help me be more efficient when creating patterns? Well, Studio Link automatically shifts your canvas from one app to the other. Which means you don't have to export your Canvas from one and import it into the other to continue working on it. It allows you to seamlessly jump between apps with the click of a button. Now, there are some caveats to that, which we'll talk about in a few minutes. But for the most part, you can continuously switch between apps without disrupting your workflow, which means you have immediate access to the best tools in each of the apps quickly and easily. So let's head into the desktop version and see how it works. While you do need to have all three apps registered, designer, photo, and publisher for Studio Link to work, in a desktop version, you don't need to have all three open. When we get to the iPad version of Studio Link in the next lesson, you'll see that there is a very distinct difference between how the two work. Let me show you an example of how to use Studio Link in everyday creative work. Now, this is just an example, no need to replicate it. I'm here in designer, and I've created this sign and I've used blend ranges to make my text recede into the texture behind it and give it a weathered look. The problem is the edges of the texts are a little too perfect. I want to rough it up a little bit, taking advantage of a displacement filter. Now, designer doesn't have that, but photo does. Instead of exporting this file, importing it into photo, using the filter, and then coming back to designer, I'm going to use Studio Link to jump between the two. Before I do that though, I want to make a copy of my original texts so I can always go back to it if I need it. And I'm going to save my file so I have it somewhere safe just in case. Once I've done that, I'll go up to File, Edit in Photo, and you can see that it's pulled all of my layers into photo untouched. Now, I want to make sure that I maintain the flexibility of my vectors. So I've taken that rasterized version, the copy of my text, and I've put it in its own group because I want to apply the displacement filter just to that particular layer, not the rest. So I'll select that layer and go to my live filters, choose Displace. I'll grab the texture that I want to use. You can see that it's changed the edges a little bit. I can adjust my levels here. I think that looks good. I'll close this. And now I'm done here in photo. So I can go back up to File, Edit in Designer, and now all of my layers are there and that displacement map has been applied. More importantly, if I open up my vector group here, you can see that I've maintained the original vectors because I was careful not to add any raster elements to it. You can seamlessly jump between the two apps and maintain the flexibility of working with vectors and text, as long as you don't add any raster effects to them. This is going to allow you to use the best of both apps without a lot of work. The other thing you'll note, if I go into this group at the top, is that even though designer doesn't have a displaced filter, because I use Studio Link and jump back into designer, it's pulled that displacement map in, and because I used a live filter, I can just double-click this and adjust if I need to without having to go back to photo. Studio Link is great for something like using an adjustment filter that designer doesn't have. How can we use it to make the pattern creation process more efficient? Let's head into the next lesson where we'll take a look at how Studio Link works on the iPad version of the app. And more importantly, how we can apply it to the seamless pattern making process. I'll see you there. 8. Using StudioLink in Pattern Design: [MUSIC] We've looked at a typical use case for studio link in the desktop version, but what about the iPad version? More specifically, how will it help us when creating patterns? Let's head into the iPad and first take a look at how Studio Link works, then talk about how to use it to make pattern creation more efficient. Unlike the desktop version, when using Studio Link and the iPad version, not only do you need to have all three apps registered, you need to have all three running and publisher is going to be the gateway to using it. What does that mean? I have the 3,000-pixel pattern template that I saved earlier open here and publisher and I'm not going to add anything to it here, but I at least need to pull it in in order to engage Studio Link. Now with this is open, I can go up and tap and switch between designer and photo. Now I do want to note when using Studio Link on the iPad, you'll only have access to the main persona in both designer and photo. Here in designer, I'm only going to have access to the vector tools. Additionally, because the Save As function is now in the home screen in Version 2 for the iPad, if I back out of this, I'm in publisher. I'm going to be saving it from publisher not the other two, which is fine, just be aware that it's going to save it with an AF pub extension. Now, because of the way the affinity suite is set up, you'll still be able to reopen it either in designer and photo and everything is going to be intact. Because remember the suite is set up so that all three file extensions are readable within each of the other apps. From there, you can save your final pattern tile in either designer or photo, whichever you prefer or you can simply leave it in Publisher format since it can be read in all three apps. Now that we have Studio Link engaged, just like with the desktop version, we can switch back and forth between the photo and designer with publisher in a background acting as host and we can use each of the app's best features to make our pattern process run more smoothly. Let's look at an example. In an upcoming lesson, we're going to cover macros and affinity photo, which will allow you to record a series of steps and play them back with a single click. We're not going to go into it too much in this lesson, but long story short, it's going to make the process of duplicating and moving the motifs on the outer edge of your Canvas super-fast. Now designer doesn't have macros, but it does have the best and widest range of vector tools between the two apps. How do we get the best of both apps when it comes to creating our patterns while avoiding a lot of needless exporting and importing of full Canvases between the two? Well, that's where Studio Link comes in. I'm hear in designer and I have some of those motifs I showed you earlier pulled in from my assets and since they're at the outer edge of the Canvas, I'll need to duplicate them and move them to the opposite side to complete my pattern. I could do this manually, of course, but I want to speed up the process by using the macros that I just mentioned. I'm going to use Studio Link to pop over to photo, just tap and hit Photo and now I have all of the photo tools available to me, so I can select one of my assets here. I can go to my macro menu and I'll find the particular one that I want and I need to duplicate this and move this over so I'll tap the correct macro and I'm all set and I can keep doing this until they're all done. Now of course I'm not done with my pattern. Maybe I want to add more to the outer edges and remember since I've linked my assets, I can add some more. I can use my macros to move them around and keep going until I'm done with the outer edge. But let's just pretend I'm done with that and I want to add some filler elements, but I want to use designer's vector tools to do that. Again, since I'm in Studio Link, I can just click, go back to designer, and now I have all of designer's vector tools available to complete my pattern. When I'm done, I can go back out of this, save this here in publisher and I'm all set. If I want to pull anything up in designer or photo, I can, and everything that I just created will remain intact. Studio Link is pretty awesome. A seamless way to jump between all the apps and get the best of all of them while working more efficiently on your patterns. Now again, just a few reminders that apply to both iPad and desktop versions. Make sure that before you use Studio Link, you save your work, save the full file, complete with history in one of the three apps, just so that you have a backup. Personally, I've never run into a glitch using Studio Link, but it's always better to save than having to start all over again. That leads us to the next one. When you switch between apps using Studio Link, the file you are working on is no longer open in the other apps, so it's really important to save before you back out of that Canvas. We've covered linking assets, creating templates, and using Studio Link. Let's head to the next lesson and take a look at photos pattern layer and how it can easily map out your pattern even if you complete it in designer or any other app. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 9. Visualize Your Pattern with Pattern Layers: [MUSIC] Affinity photo has a pattern layer feature that allows you to sketch out a seamless pattern, starting with a single panel. While providing a live preview of the repeat, no symbols required. Whether using designer or another design app like Procreate to create your final pattern, this feature will allow you to visualize and sketch it out beforehand, making the design process run more smoothly. Let's take a look. This is a pattern that I sketched out previously and it's all based on a single swatch in the middle of my Canvas. Anything that I draw both inside and out of the swatch is going to repeat across the Canvas giving me a preview of my repeat. In a moment I'm going to start with a fresh Canvas and create a new pattern sketch, but first, let's talk about some of the limitations of the pattern layer. Now first, this is only going to allow you to sketch out a basic repeat, not a half-drop. When I create a shape, I can size this up and down. I can move the pattern layer, but I can't adjust the position of the repeats outside of the swatch to offset them for a half-drop. Second, this is only going to work with rasters not vectors, so you can sketch a pattern, you can create a pattern from a selection. You can use symmetry and mirroring. You can even add pixel adjustments to the pattern layer, but you're not going to be able to pull any vector assets in. Where this pattern layer does come in handy when it comes to efficiency is giving you the tools that you need to sketch out a vision that you have for your pattern and see it before you begin to build it. I have a 3,000 pixels single layer Canvas setup. This is only going to be a sketch, so you don't need to pull in your pattern template for this. I'll head to my layers studio and choose the plus sign. I want to select Pattern Layer in this case. Pattern layer from selection is something we will go over later in class, I'm going to show you a different way to use that. In a desktop version of the app just go to Layer menu at the top and again choose Pattern Layer. A dialog box is going to open to allow you to select the size of your pattern swatch. Now by design, the largest size you can choose is 1,024 pixels. I'm just going to tap and set mine to 1,000. Now to start, it's going to look like nothing happened on your Canvas, but if you've looked at your Layers studio, you'll see that a pattern layer showed up. If you choose either your move tool or a brush, you'll see that the pattern swatches here in the middle. I'm going to go in and choose one of my pencils. Now, anything that I draw within that box is going to seamlessly tile again in a basic repeat. But here's the cool thing, I don't have to stay within the box. In fact, going outside of the box means that I automatically get a reference for where my seamless repeats need to happen on the other side. For example, if I create a vine shape like this, I can see that I need to complete this portion here and not here. I'm going to use mine to sketch out an OG pattern. I've turned on both symmetry and mirroring, I've changed the lines to two and I'll just draw out the initial template. I'll change this back to one and I want to shift my symmetry lines so that it's vertical. I find it easier to do this with the Shift key on. It's not an easy thing to do in the first place, but if you have this on, it actually helps snap it exactly where you want. I'll just lock that back in place. Turn this off. Now, I can start drawing out my shape. Now I made a little mark there so I'm going to grab my eraser and just get rid of it. With my pencil I can begin creating my initial shapes. Since I have mirroring on, it makes it a little bit easier. Now you don't have to do this in mirror or fashion, you can create any pattern you'd like with this. This is just what I choose to create. You can see as I'm doing it, it's tiling it across the rest of the Canvas. Now, for the purposes of keeping this class under 20 hours, because I am not a fast sketcher, I'm going to keep this a rather simple design, but I'm going to speed it up and I'll see you on the other side. [MUSIC] Again, I'm going to keep it relatively simple. I could keep going and fill in the top here, but what this allows me to do is step back and see if I feel like there are any holes, anything that needs to be edited and I can go into the actual creation process, whether it's with vectors or rasters in another app with a plan rather than building as I go. That makes them much more efficient process and saves me a lot of time in the creation process. Now, what do I do with this? Well, from here, I'm going to save my pattern swatch and use it as a sketch layer in whatever app I want to build it in. I would end up pulling this into Designer and start building it with vectors. You could just as easily bring this into Procreate or Fresco, or again, any app that you use to create your patterns. I'll go ahead and use my move tool and you can see that it's a selecting that swatch. I'll go up to my documents menu and export. Under the area, I want to choose selection only. I can either save it to my files or in this case, I'm just going to hit the Share button and save it to my photos. I'm all set. I can import this in to any app that I want to use it in. [MUSIC] Now towards the end of class, I'm going to show you how to use pattern layer from selection. But first, let's head into the next lesson where we're going to begin talking about my all-time favorite efficiency hack Macros. I'll see you there. 10. What Are Macros?: [MUSIC] We've reached my favorite efficiency hack in photo. This is one of those tools where when you know how it's supposed to work, you can figure out ways to apply it to things it's not necessarily intended for. What are macros? Well, if you've come from Photoshop or Illustrator, you may be familiar with actions. There are a series of recorded steps that can be recreated with a single click of a button. Macros are affinity photos version of actions. As a photographer, I typically use them to add multiple layers of go-to adjustments to my photographs. Those I use regularly and don't want to have to rebuild each and every time. Basically the automate manual or complex processes making your workflow more efficient. How can we apply them to the pattern process? Think about it. What is the most manual part of creating a pattern and affinity designer? Duplicating the motifs on the edges of the canvas and moving those duplicates to the other side. And that's just a basic pattern. What about half drops where you have to move them twice. Sure, the Transform Studio lets you key in a specific number and that's great. But after a while, all that keying adds up and it takes time. What if we could reform that duplication and transformation in a single click? That's where macros come in. Over the next few videos, I'm going to show you how to plan out and create macros that can be used in both the iPad and desktop versions of the app. Now they can only be created in the desktop version. We'll be heading there for the next video. If you don't have the desktop version, don't worry, I've got you covered. I provided the macros we'll be creating in the class with the downloads, and I'll show you how to import them in an upcoming video. Let's head into the next lesson and start mapping out and creating our macros. I'll see you there. 11. Creating Macros | Basic Repeat: In this lesson, we're going to plan out the macros needed to complete a basic repeat, then head into the desktop version to create our own seamless repeat macros. It's always a good idea to plan out the macros you need, because you don't necessarily need one for every part of the pattern process. Just the key parts that are more manual and involve a lot of repetition. If you create too many, it just becomes confusing and you're more likely to make errors with your patterns. Let's plan what we'll need for a 3,000 pixel canvas. For a basic repeat, we need to duplicate and move each shape on the outer edge once in the opposite direction of where we added it. This is going to require at least four macros. For shapes we add to the left edge on the x-axis we need a macro that says duplicate this shape and move it plus 3,000 pixels to the right. For shapes we add to the right edge on the x-axis we'll need one that says duplicate this shape and move it minus 3,000 pixels to the left edge. For shapes added to the top of the pattern square on the y-axis we'll need a macro that says duplicate this shape and move it plus 3,000 pixels to the bottom edge. Finally, for one that we've added to the bottom edge, we'll need to write a macro that says duplicate this shape and move it minus 3,000 pixels to the top edge. We'll also create a macro that reduces a pattern layer by half, which we'll use in lessons at the end of class, as well as one that duplicates the shape and offsets it to the four corners of the canvas. Now that's a lot of info all at once. Let's head into photo and create our macro set step-by-step. Before we begin, you'll need to make sure that your macro and Library panels are open as we're going to need both if yours aren't go up to window and you can open them here at the bottom. You'll also want to make sure that your transform and layer panels are open. I recommend detaching the macro panel and pulling it out next to your canvas so that you don't have to click back and forth between the layers, panel and macros during recording. Let's take a quick look at both the macro and library panels before we begin recording. On the left side of the macro panel, you'll see record, stop and play, which is pretty straightforward. Let's head over to the right. The rounded arrow will let you reset the macro panel. If you're done creating your macro and you save it to the library, or you've made a mistake and want to start again You can hit this icon. The second is going to add your finished macro to the library. When you click on it, it's going to give you the option to either put your macro in a default category or one that you've created. More on that in a bit. The last two icons are export and import. Now, I prefer to import my macro sets from within the library, which we'll take a look at in a moment. But you can do that here as well. You can create your own macro categories by heading to the burger menu at the top of the library panel and choosing "Create new category". This is another area where you can import macros as well. If I head into one of my existing categories and go to the burger menu, you can see that I can rename, delete, duplicate a category. I can also move them up and down within the panel. This is where I can export my individual categories. We're ready to create our macros. Let's head back over to the macro Studio. Now, I'm just using basic shapes for this and there's no need to use your pattern template. I have a single 3,000 pixel canvas setup. You can set your Canvas app in whatever size macros you want to create. Again, I have my macro panel pulled out. My layers panel is open and so is transform. I'm going to need all three during this next process. I want to take this donut shape and move it from the left side of my Canvas to the right side. I'm going to select it first, and then I'll go ahead and click record. You want to make sure that you select it first. Otherwise you're going to get an error message from photo. With it selected. I'll type command or "Control J" to duplicate it. Now I need to move this from the left to the right side. I'll go up to my transform studio and in the x-axis, I'll type plus 3,000 and you can see that move the duplicate over to the other side. Now one final thing that I want to do before I stop recording is to click outside my canvas. That's going to clear my selection which is going to get recorded and it's going to make it a bit cleaner when I want to move to my next shape and that's it. That's all we need to record for that move. I'll hit stop and we're going to test it out. I'll delete my duplicate. Again, select the original and I'm just going to click play here in the macro Studio. You can see that it duplicated it and moved it over to the right side. I know it's working fine. I'm going to go ahead and save it to my library panel. I'll click the second icon and I already have a category setup for the 3,000 pixel basic seamless repeat, so I'll select that and you can name yours whatever you need to remember yours. I have 3,000 pixels on the x-axis. I think I'll add plus to this and click "Okay" and that's going to take me to my library panel. If I open up that category, there's the macro. Let's test it now that it's here. Again, I'll remove the duplicate, go to "my Library", click the macro and it worked just as expected. Now we need to do the same thing, but for our y-axis. Now technically, we can just adjust the existing macro and I'm going to show you how to do that in the next lesson. But just for some more practice in creating the macros, let's go ahead and repeat the process that we just did. Again, I'll select the donut shape before I hit record. I'm going to clear my macro panel. Start recording and I want to duplicate my shapes. Command or control J, you can see that showed up there. I'll go up to my transform panel and this time I'm going to type a minus 3,000 in the x-axis and it took that duplicate and offset it to the left side of the canvas. Again, I'll click outside and then hit stop and my macro is recorded. Let's test it. I'm going to remove the duplicate and select the original, click "Play" and it worked just as expected. Let's go ahead and save that. I'll tap the second icon. Again, I want to put this in my 3,000 pixel basic seamless repeat. I'll just change this to minus 3,000. Okay, and there it is. Let's just test it and make sure it's working. Again, we want to create macros now for the y-axis. I'll clear my macro panel and I'm going to select this first shape at the top. I need to duplicate it and move it plus 3,000 on the y-axis. With it selected, I'll tap the record button. I'm going to duplicate it, go to my transform studio and this time click into the y-axis and type plus 3,000. That's offset it from the top to the bottom. I can click outside my canvas to stop and I'm all set to test it. Let's remove the duplicate, grab the original, and click "Play". I'm all set. I'm going to say this to my library, again, to my 3,000 basic. This time I want to change this to y-axis and plus 3,000. There it is. I'll go ahead and test that. Make sure it's working. Let's create our final one. That's going to be from the bottom to the top, so minus 3,000y. I'll grab this donut shape. I'm going to clear my macros, hit "Record". I'll duplicate my shape. Go to my y-axis on the transform studio, and this time type minus 3,000. There we go. I'll click outside, hit stop, and the macros all set. Let's just test it. I'm going to save this and we're done done the main macros for this set. Next, let's create a macro that's going to duplicate this shape and send it to the four corners of the canvas. This one's handy once you want to create something like a polka dot pattern, where you have your main circle here in the middle and then need to repeat it evenly along the four corners. As you can see here, this macro is a little more tricky because it involves multiple duplicates and some select and deselect which photo has a bit of a process for, but we'll walk through it slowly. I'm going to clear my macros here, select my shape in the middle and I'm going to hit "Record". The first thing I want to do is duplicate my shapes. I'm doing "Command" or "Control J" and I'm going to hold "Shift" down and just drag this with snapping on to the corner until it pops into place. Next, I want to clear my selection and you can see that it shows up here. I'm going to select the second shape and it's going to bring up a dialog box that asks me which layer do I want to select. Now, these are technically the same thing, so I'm going to keep it at select layer 1 from the top, because it's layer 1 from the top. I'll hit "Select", duplicate the shape, go up to my transform studio and I'm going to type plus 3,000 pixels. That's going to send it to the right side. Again, it's evenly spaced. I'll de-select and I'm going to follow the same process. I'll click that last ellipse, choose select layer 1 from the top. Duplicate the shape and this time I want to go plus 3,000 on the y-axis. Then one final one, we'll select it, select layer 1 from the top, duplicate our shape and we want to type in minus 3,000 x. Now we have our circle in the middle and all four corners, and these are evenly spaced. I'll click clear to clear my selection and stop. Now let's test that out. I'm going to remove all the duplicates, select the middle ellipse and click play. What should happen is that I get four duplicates that automatically go to the four corners. There we go. I could turn this into a polka dot pattern if I wanted to. I'm going to save this to my library. Click the second one. Again, this is a 3,000 pixel canvas and I'm just going to type four corners. Again you can name yours whatever you need to so that you remember which is which. Let's go ahead and remove our duplicates again. I'm going to remove the duplicates and then test my final. It's always a good idea to test the macros in both places here and in your library just to make sure it's running okay. I'll click four corners and we're all set. One final macro that I want to create is cutting my pattern layer in half. Again, we'll use this later in class. But since we're here creating our macros, let's take care of it now. To do this, I'm just going to duplicate the rectangle that I have in the background of my canvas and I'll change it to a different color. I want to select that rectangle, hit record. I'm going to go right to my transform studio. In the width and height, I want to make sure that this is locked so that they maintain their aspect ratio. On just one or the other doesn't matter which one I will just you divide two. That's going to take that rectangle and it's going to reduce it from 3,000 pixels to 1,500 pixels. I'll click outside and clear selection and stop and let's just test that again on. I'll just back up. Sure that the rectangles 3,000. Hit play and there we go. I'm just going to save this to my library. This one's going to make a lot more sense towards the end of class. I'm trying to name this cut pattern layer in half. Click, "Okay", and I can test this last one again. Let's just go backwards. Go to library and we're all set. We've created our macros for the basic repeat. In an upcoming lesson, I'm going to show you how to create macros for a half-drop repeat. For now though, let's head to the next lesson and I'm going to show you how to adjust an existing macro for a different Canvas size. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 12. Adjusting Macros for Canvas Size: [MUSIC] We've created macros for a 3000 pixel Canvas. But we all know there are times when we need to create another size. The good news, you don't need to re-record all of the macros just to change the Canvas size. Instead, you're going to adjust the ones you've already created and save them as a new set. Now if you're more comfortable recreating the macros for each size Canvas or you just want to practice creating them, go ahead and do that. If you'd prefer to edit the existing ones, let's head back into the desktop version and do that. I'd like to create a category of macros for each Canvas size that I use and keep them separate from one another. There are two main benefits to doing that. The first is that I don't have to spend a lot of time searching for an individual macro within a single category. Second, by breaking my macros out individually, I don't have to edit the offset for a particular Canvas size each time I use that macro, that just takes time. Instead, I'm going to do that once and create a separate macro and separate categories for each Canvas size. The very first thing I'll do is create my category and my library panel. Now this is a 2000 pixel Canvas and I already have a setup for a basic repeat. But for the purposes of the class, I'll just set up another one. I'm going to name this 2000 pixel basic repeat. Now I want to take this diamond shape and I want to move it from the left side of the Canvas to the right. I don't have to start all over again though and record the macro. Instead, what I'm going to use is one of my existing ones, in this case, the existing 3000 pixel set. Because I know that I want to go plus 3000 on the x-axis, I'll right-click on this one and choose ''Edit''. If I open up this cog shape here, you can see that on the offset x it shows 3000. I'm going to change that to 2000 and click ''Out''. Now to test it, what should happen is it'll duplicate it and move it 2000 pixels to the right side. We'll click ''Play'', and that worked just fine. I want to make sure that I don't overwrite the existing macros. I'm going to go right up to my add to library, pick the right category, and I'm willing to change this to plus 2000 pixels on the x-axis and click ''Okay''. Let's test it one more time. I'll remove the duplicate, go back to My Library, click the Macro, and we're all set. Let's do one more together. I want to clear my macro panel so that I can bring in another one. This time I'm going to take this diamond shape from the bottom and move it minus 2000 pixels to the top. I'll right-click on y-axis minus 3000 to bring it into the macro panel, go into the COG shape and change this from 3000 to minus 2000s. Now if I select that shape and test this, it should bring it to the top. Let's go ahead and save that. Again, to the right category, I want to make sure I rename it. It's minus 2,000 on the y-axis. We're all set. Now I'll continue doing this for each of the macros, making sure to test them out both here and in my library panel. Saving them to the new category with a new name again, so I avoid overwriting the existing macro so that everything stays intact. That's it. By editing existing macros, you can save yourself tons of time by not having to repeat steps you've already taken. That gives you more time to use those macros to create beautiful designs. As long as you're careful and plan out what you want the edited macro to do and then test it to make sure that it does, you can quickly and easily make macro sets for all of your favorite Canvas sizes. Now that we have our macros for a basic repeat, let's head to the next lesson and create some for a half-drop. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 13. Creating Macros | Half Drop Repeat: The process for creating macros for a half drop repeat isn't that different from a basic repeat. In fact, we can borrow two of the macros we've already created. The only difference is that for those macros created for shapes placed on the sides, we need to record two offsets, one across and either one up or down, depending on which quadrant the shape was placed in. Let's plan our macros for a half drop repeat. For any shapes placed on either the top or the bottom of the pattern tile we'll need a macro that says duplicate and shift + or -3,000 on the y-axis. We've already created this for the basic repeat, so we'll simply borrow those. But for anything placed on the side, not only do we need to offset or duplicate to the opposite side, we also need to shift it either up or down to the opposite quadrant. For example a motif placed on the top-left will need to be duplicated and shifted 3,000 pixels to the right and then down 1,500 pixels on the y-axis, half of the canvas size. The same goes for the rest of the quadrants. We'll create a macro moving the duplicate from this chart in quadrant to the opposite quadrant on either side. Lower left to upper right, upper right to lower left, and finally, lower-right to upper left. We won't be creating a macro to half our pattern swatch as it won't work properly for the half-drop. However, at the end of class, I'll share a three bonus macros that I've created specifically for your half-drop repeats. I also don't create corner macros for half drops because motifs placed in the corners never worked well. But let's go ahead and create the rest of our macro set. I'm back in photo for desktop. Again, I have my macro and library panels open, as well as my layers and transform studio. Again, I'd like to keep my categories separated by canvas size so that I don't have to hunt around for a particular macro, but set yours up, however, works best for you. I've already set up a category for 3,000 pixel half-drop repeat. Remember we can copy two of them from the other set that we created for the basic repeat specifically for those on the y-axis, because anything placed at the top or the bottom works exactly the same way. We just need to duplicate it and offset it to the top or bottom. I have my category here and I'm going to go up to my basic seamless repeat for the same canvas size and I'll start with the y-axis +3,000. I have a clear macro studio here. I'll go ahead and right-click and edit, and that's going to pull this in. Now I don't need to change anything. What I'm going to do is immediately go up to add to library, choose the new category and I'm going to save this as +3,000 y-axis and click "Okay." Let's just test that and make sure that's working. There we go. I'll just move this guy over here so we can do the other side. Now I don't need to pull a new macro in for this next step. I'm just going to go up to the cog shape and this time I'll just change this to -3,000. I'll test it and then I'll go ahead and save it to my library. Again, I want to choose the new category, and I'll change this to -3,000 on the y-axis. There's no easy way to duplicate this. The best way is just pull it into your macro studio, adjust as needed, and then save it to your new category. Now I have my originals here and my duplicates here. I'm going to remove those from my macro and I'm just going to delete any of these duplicates. Let's go ahead and create the rest of the macros for the sides. We want to think of our Canvas as being broken out into four quadrants. I've added guides to mind so you can see what I'm talking about. I mentioned earlier in the lesson that we'll need to create our macros so that the duplicates on the side and up going across the canvas. Then either down or up, half the size of the canvas, so in this case 1,500 pixels. Let's start with this rectangle. It's in the upper left quadrant, which means that the first transform needs to take it to the upper right +3,000 pixels. Then I need to send it down 1,500 pixels to the lower right quadrant along the y-axis. I'm going to keep it selected. I'll hit "Record." I want to go back to my layers panel. I'm going to duplicate this, go up to my X and type +3,000 to send it to the right and then go to my y-axis and you +1,500. That's going to send it from the upper left quadrant to the lower right quadrant. Again, I'll go ahead and click out of the canvas so that I clear my selection and I'll hit "Stop." When I click play, it should duplicate it send it 3,000 to the right and 1,500 down. Perfect. Let's go ahead and save this to our library. Again, I'll choose the new category. I like to be a little descriptive in my names for my macros here just so that I can see upper left to lower right. I find it a lot easier to see it that way. I'm going to say upper left to lower right and type +3,000 on the X, +1,500 on the Y. You can name yours again, however, works best. Now from here I can either edit my original macro and save it, or I can record each one individually. Let's do one more together and then we can do the rest by adjusting the original macro. I'm going to clear my macro studio. This time I'm going to start at the upper right quadrant so that it has to go to the lower left. To grab the move tool here, I'm going to delete one of these duplicates to bring this guy over here. Again, I need it to go across -3,000 and then down +1,500. I'll hit record. I'm going to duplicate my shape, go to my x-axis and type -3,000, and then in the y-axis +1,500. I'll click outside to clear the selection and hit "Stop." Let's just test that. It should run from the upper right quadrant to the lower left, and there we go. Let's save this to the library. Again, I'm just going to change this from upper right to lower left. I'll do -3,000+1,500, I'll click "Okay", let's get rid of one of these duplicates and just test that final macro. There we go and that works. Now from here, I can just adjust the existing macro and keep saving it so that I don't overwrite the existing ones. I'm going to do that off camera since you've already seen me do that. But again, you also have that in the macro sets that I provided with the class. With my macros complete, I'm ready to export these so that I can use them both here and the iPad version of the app. I'll go to the burger menu, choose Export macros, find the file that I wanted to place the name. It's automatically going to get it whatever you named your category if you wanted to change it, you can do that. I'll just click "Save" and I'm all set. Now that we have our full and half-drop repeats for a 3,000 pixel canvas, we're ready to begin using them. Now they're all loaded here in the desktop version but now we need to bring them into the iPad version. In the next lesson, I'll show you how to import the macros that you created here on desktop into the iPad version. I'll see you there. 14. Importing Macros on the iPad: [MUSIC] Now, while you may not be able to create macros and the iPad version of photo, you can import and use any macros and they'll work exactly the same way that they do in the desktop version. Let's take a look at how to import them into the iPad. Importing macros works just like any other import in Affinity. In order to import them, you need to be in the macro studio and have the macro file saved somewhere that you can access them from within the app. I'll head to the burger menu at the top, tap ''Import Macros'', select the file, and it's automatically going to pull it in. Now, I can locate it by tapping in the middle and using the flywheel, or again, I can use the left and right arrow keys. I can go back up to the burger menu and rename the category, duplicate it, delete it, or import more macros. The only thing that you're not going to be able to do in the iPad version is to edit them. If you've created your own macros and you need to make an adjustment to them, you'll need to head back to the desktop version of the app to make the changes and re-export them. Now that our macros have been loaded, let's head into the next lesson and take a quick look at them in action. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 15. Efficiency Hacks in Action: [MUSIC] Let's recap. We've saved and linked vector assets between designer and photo, so we can easily access them without having to export from one and import to the other. We've created a pattern template which provides us with a clean canvas, complete with all of the symbols and artboards and everything we need to complete our patterns without having to recreate them each time. We've explored StudioLink, which on both desktop and iPad will allow us to seamlessly jump between photo and designer so that we can take advantage of the tools in both without having to leave either app. We've covered pattern layers, which can help us visualize our basic repeats by tiling them as we sketch them out. Finally, we planned out and created Macros, which will allow us to automate the more manual and repetitive steps in the pattern-making process, saving us tons of time. Now what? I'm going to jump into the iPad and show you how I would put several of those into action on a half drop repeat, starting with StudioLink. I'm in the iPad version of publisher and I'm starting out here so that I can make use of StudioLink between photo and designer. Because remember on the iPad version, all three apps need to be open and publisher access your gateway to the other two. I've pulled in a pattern template for a half-drop repeat, and it has all of my artboards and symbols, so I'm ready to head right out of publisher and begin building my pattern. Now, I'm going to start in photo so that I can pull in my motifs on the edge and then immediately use my macros to help duplicate and move them. Since I've linked up my assets between designer and photo, I can easily access them. Since Photo can handle the vectors and maintain their independent scalability while I add them to the canvas, I can do that without worrying about them becoming rasterized. Now since the class isn't about the pattern process itself, I'm not going to spend too much time thinking about where I'm placing my motifs, or even complete a full pattern. But I am willing to place a few of these along the edge. [MUSIC] Now that I have a few of the motifs along the edge of my canvas, I'm going to use the half-drop repeat macros to duplicate and move them. I'll head to my macros and find the set for the 3,000 pixel half-drop seamless repeat. I'm going to start with the two easier ones. For this one it needs to go top to bottom so I'll choose +3,000Y. The other leaf goes bottom to top, so I'll choose -3,000. Now on these two, the daisy flower here is going to go from the upper left to the lower right so I'll find the matching macro so upper left to lower right and now it's completed it. Then this final one is going to go from the upper right to the lower left. Upper right, lower left. Now of course I could move these around and I would normally keep going, but in the interest of time, let's just say that I'm happy with the outer edges of my pattern and I want to add a little bit more into the middle. Now, I could stay here in photo, but I prefer to use some of designers vector tools that photo doesn't have. Instead of exporting this from publisher and then pulling it into designer, instead, I'm going to use StudioLink to head back over there and complete the pattern. Before I do that, I just want to make sure that I save a copy at the point where I'm at just in case because Affinity auto saves your files and places it in the sandbox or your home screen, but I want to be sure that I've captured everything that I've done up to this point and I have a backup file available. Now remember, we did start in publisher, so I'm going to end up saving it from here. However, because the Affinity suite is set up so that all three apps use the same file format, I'll be able to pull this into either a designer or a photo without an issue. My main goal here is just to have a backup. I'll go ahead and tap the burger menu and just save it. I'll go back in, and now I'm going to use StudioLink to head to designer to use all of the vector tools that I have available to pull into the middle. Now I could have easily just pulled this directly into designer, but again, just in case I need to go back to photo to use my macros, I'm going to stay within StudioLink so that I can jump easily between the two of them. The pattern's not quite done, but let's just pretend that it is. I have everything filled in and I want to get it out into the world. But before I do that, I want to test it because that white line that forms down the middle of the pattern preview is a bit distracting and I just want to make sure that everything looks okay before I load it on Spoonflower or another site. That's where the final efficiency hacks we'll be covering come in. In the next lesson, we'll head back into photo and take another look at pattern layers and how they can help you test your basic repeat patterns. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 16. Testing Basic Repeats with Pattern Layers: [MUSIC] We've used the efficiency hacks we covered so far to create a basic repeat. Now let's put that final swatch to the test and make sure everything tiles correctly. Over the next two videos, I'm going to show you how you can use tools built into photo and designer to quickly and easily test your patterns of various sizes. In this one, we'll focus in on photo and head back to pattern layers to take a look at two different approaches to testing patterns. I'm in photo and I have a 3,000 pixel basic repeat template open and I want to test the pattern to make sure that everything is tiling correctly. Now of course, this is the full file with all of my symbols and artboards so I want to be careful not to rasterize anything that I want to remain vectors. To do that, I'm going to select artboard 1, three fingers swipe down and copy and then I'm going to back out of here, choose new and new from clipboard. That's going to bring that copy into its own document. If I open my layers, you can see it's still an artboard. Now in order to use pattern layer with this, I need to rasterize it so in my layers panel, I'll choose the second option and rasterize. I'll go back to my layers studio and choose the plus sign and choose pattern layer from selection. When I do that, you'll see it creates a second layer. I want to turn this first one off because I don't want it to create any issues when I'm sizing the top one down. Now, if I select it, I can scale it by hand and you can see that it's tiling but instead I'm going to use the macros that we created. I'll go into my macro studio and I'm going to find the macros for my 3,000 pixel basic repeats and I'm specifically going to use the cut in half macro. What this is doing is it's tiling it down to 1,500, it's cutting it 3,000-1,500 and the pattern layer is then continuing the pattern past that. I can keep doing that to check it at different sizes. I can two-finger tap and bring it back or use the history studio. More importantly, I can zoom in and scroll around to check the pattern and make sure that everything looks okay. That was using pattern layer coming from inside a photo but what if you're in designer and want to do that? I find the quickest way to do that is to export artboard 1 as a raster layer and use the share function between the two apps. Again, I'm going to select artboard 1 and this time I'm going to go up to documents export. I want to make sure that I'm only sharing artboard 1. You can see it's 3,000 by 3,000 pixels and I'm sharing it as a PNG. Again, it needs to be rasterized. I don't need to change anything else other than making sure that my area is set so I'll choose share and I'm going to scroll across to find photo 2. If you don't find it here, you can check under more and I'll select that. Again, it's open as its own layer here in photo. Now this time it's a rasterized version, I don't need to rasterize it so I can immediately go to the plus sign and choose pattern layer from selection and follow the same process. I can go to my macro, use my 3,000 pixel basic and check the different sizes. That's two approaches to checking a pattern in photo. In the next lesson, we're going to use the pattern layer along with one of our macros to quickly and easily scale the pattern to various sizes for export so I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 17. Scaling Patterns Quickly with Pattern Layer: [MUSIC] Not only can pattern layer help you test your patterns if you use it in conjunction with your macros and maintain the repeat, you can use it to scale your pattern to multiple sizes quickly and easily. Let's take a look. I have my pattern open from the last lesson. Again, this is the full pattern template and I only want to use the pattern tile. Now at this point, I've already tested the pattern and I know that it has no issues. Now I just want to scale it in a few different sizes. I'll select the artboard, choose the move tool, and I'm going to three-finger swipe down and copy that's the same process we did with the last lesson. Again, I'll go ahead back out, choose new and new from clipboard, and now a copy of that artboard is open its own canvas. Next, I need to rasterize this because I want to create a pattern layer out of it, but I want to rasterize it in such a way that I don't lose any quality and I can load it onto Spoonflower. I want to maintain my 3,000-pixel canvas and make sure that photo doesn't either add or take away any information from what I've created. I'm going to start by rasterizing the artboard. Now affinity of photo defaults to 96 DPI regardless of what the original document is set up whenever you rasterize a layer. Now, this isn't an issue because we can change this. That we want to set it at 150 DPI because that's Spoonflower's recommendation for their size. I'll go up to documents, choose resize. You can see the DPI, there's 150. I'm going to tap and change that, but before I accept the change, I'm going to scroll over until I find this lock. Now yours might be showing automatically I have my icons enlarged so that you can see them on the video, but you want to make sure that that is grayed out and not on. The lock is re-sampling and I need to make sure that it's off before I accept the DPI change. Otherwise, photo will re-sample my canvas and increase my pixel sizes. Again, I don't want that to happen. So once I've made sure that's off, I've changed my DPI. I can go ahead and click the check mark and accept the change and that's it. Now I can use my macro to adjust the size of my pattern layer and find the various sizes that I wanted to keep. But first, I'll go ahead and create a pattern layer. I'll turn off my bottom layer, go to my macros and I can use my cut-in-half macro to create the various sizes. Now, remember we're not sizing this by size. This is sizing using precise pixels by using the transform studio and we're maintaining our repeat. If I like a particular size, I can simply go up to the documents menu Export, and I can export that particular size. I'll just change this to, let's see, Ogee medium. I can keep this as whole document and I can just click "Share" to share it to my photos or okay to share it to my files and because I maintain my pattern layer, I can continue using the macro to size it down and find additional skills that I want to export and save to load onto Spoonflower. Again, as long as you rasterize and change the DPI in such a way that you maintain your original pixel size. You can use pattern layer and your macros to automatically create multiple pattern sizes quickly and easily. In the next lesson, we're going to take a look at a quick way to test your patterns right inside designer without having to leave the app. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 18. Testing Basic Patterns in Designer: [MUSIC] You've seen it. That annoying white line that forms down the middle of the preview panel when you create your pattern in designer. You can zoom in and it disappears temporarily, but it always comes back. Don't get me wrong, I love the ability to see how my overall pattern looks by using symbols, but the ability to test my final pattern without worrying whether that line will or won't be there when I export even better. Now we've taken a look at how you can use Affinity Photo to test a pattern. But to do that by using two simple tools and designer, you can test your pattern right inside the app quickly and easily. Even better, you can use the test pattern to make elements for future designs so let's take a look. This is where the third art board that I showed you in the templates lesson comes in. Now, this is going to work in both the iPad and desktop versions of the app. All you're going to need is a bitmap or raster version of your pattern tile and the fill tool. The fill tool, which looks like a gradient with a line through it has an option called bitmap and that's going to allow you to fill a shape, or in this case, an art board with a rasterized version of the pattern tile. But first we need to export this as a raster image. I'll head up to the documents menu and choose export. You can select either PNG or JPEG. I've already got it named but I'll change the area in this case to pattern tile, if you haven't renamed yours, it would be artboard one, and I'll click ''Okay''. Now it's important to note that the fill tool will not pull from your photos, on your iPad you're going to need to save it to a file. I'll click ''Okay'' again and I have a file setup just for test patterns. That way if there's anything wrong with the test swatch, I haven't saved it among my other good files and I clean this out regularly. I'll just hit ''Move'' to save it and now I'm ready to use the fill tool. Back at my third art board, my pattern test or I've also pulled in my command controller by going to the documents menu and just toggling it on, I tend to keep it off until I need it. I'm bringing this end because when I tab and turn on shift, that's going to help me create a nice straight fill across and then help me size my pattern up and down, so I've just tapped and hit the Shift key. I have my fill tool selected and I'll just drag left to right with a fill. I want to go up to the contextual menu at the top. If I tap left, bitmap is the very first option, I'll just pull the pattern in and you can see it's coming in rather large, but I have these handles and shift is going to help keep these handles at the angle that they're at. I'll just drag this down and I can see my pattern at various sizes. I can just keep dragging this up and down if I release shift it'll let me tilt it if I want to, but I actually want to keep it this way. Now more importantly, I can zoom in to the pattern and just make sure that there's no issues with it, without the white line that forms on the pattern preview window. If there are any issues with it, I can go back and fix it and test it again. If not, I'm good to go. There's an additional benefit to using this tool, which is that once you have the bitmap created and in place, you can make it a selection with your move tool like I have done here and you can add it as a bitmap filled your swatch studio. If you'll notice my swatch up here because I have this selected, it's showing the pattern instead of a solid color. I've created an application-wide pattern palette and with the selected, if I go to the burger menu and choose add current fill to palette, it's going to add it there. Now because I've set this up as an application-wide palette, if I use this in another canvas, I can turn a selection like this one which is a solid color into the pattern and I can use the fill tool to adjust its size. Again, if I use the Shift key, I can drag it down and up and make it whatever size I like. This is great if you plan to create a pattern within a pattern. Shape has a pattern and within a larger pattern, this is a really great way to do that. Pretty simple, and you don't even have to leave designer. Now unfortunately, just like pattern layer and photo, this will only work with a full drop repeat. A half trump isn't going to tile correctly however in the next video, I'm going to share a set of bonus macros that I provided with the downloads that will allow you to quickly tile your half-drop and tested at multiple sizes and photo. 19. BONUS MACROS | Half Drop Pattern Testers: [MUSIC] In your downloads, I shared three bonus macros that will let you test your half drop repeat patterns in photo in three canvas sizes. Because the pattern layer built into photo only accommodates basic repeats, to test your half drops, you would normally need to manually duplicate and tile the layers in a half drop formation. The macros, which will test a 1,000, 2000 or 3,000 pixel pattern, will automatically do all of that for you with a single click. I opted not to teach this macro as part of the class because in truth, due to some of the odd steps you have to take to record this macro in photo, it ends up being a rather convoluted process that would've caused more confusion than good. Instead, I'm providing them to you as a bonus and I hope you find them useful. That said, while we won't be walking through the creation of the macro, let's head into photo and take a look at how they work. I have a 3,000 pixel half-drop pattern swatch that I pulled in and rasterized. I'm starting with a single pixel layer. It's important that you work with a single layer to start because anything with a lot of layers and groups built into it will bog these macros down and potentially cause your app to crash. Simply use these as a test and make sure to keep a full unrasterized copy somewhere safe. I'm going to head to my macros and find the bonus set, and because this is a 3,000 pixel canvas, I'll go ahead and use this first one. What this is doing is taking the pattern swatch and duplicating it five times. All five copies are halved. In this case, it was sized down to 1,500 pixels, and it's automatically moving the five layers to the top and bottom left corners, and the other three to the middle right, and then halfway up and down the top and bottom to form the half drop. If I keep tapping that, you can see it'll continue to do that. I can test the pattern at smaller sizes. To go backwards, I can either two-finger tap or use the history studio. I hope you find these macros helpful in testing your half drop pattern swatches. [MUSIC] In the next video, we're going to wrap up the class with some final thoughts. I'll see you there. [MUSIC] 20. Final Thoughts: We've reached the end of class. As always, I thank you for trusting me with your time and creativity. I look forward to seeing what you've taken away from the class. Which efficiency hacks are your favorite? Will you implement some of them in your everyday pattern making process, or maybe make them a part of your overall creative process. Let me know in the discussion. Of course I'd love it if you would share a project. If you share your project on Instagram, be sure to tag me at the handle on the screen. Have you enjoyed the class and found it helpful? I would be grateful if you would leave a review. Sharing projects and leaving reviews not only helps future students see what they'll learn, it helps more students find the class. I invite you to join my free creative community, the creator collage, which is an extension of my classes here on Skillshare. It's a friendly, non-judgmental community of digital creatives of all skill levels with experience in a range of applications. You can ask questions, share your work or tips and tricks, and participate in live events that compliment my classes here on Skillshare. You can find the link to the creator collage in my profile. I have lots more classes planned, including several pattern classes. Be sure to hit "Follow" on my profile so you always know when a new class is published. Of course if you have any questions about what you learned here in class or suggestions for a class you'd like to see, let me know in the discussion or send me an email. You can find my contact details on my profile. Thank you again for joining me and happy creating.