INSTRUCTIONS

Thanks for purchasing The Patch Works - Fabric Badge Maker!

PLEASE NOTE: This product is compatible with Affinity Designer only. An Illustrator version of
the pack is also available at artifexforge.com.

The pack contains the following elements:

One-click Styles - Transform type and vector shapes into fabric. Saved in three color groups.

Authentic Stitched Edge Brushes - Add those all-important borders and edges to designs.

Badge Shapes - The perfect base to your patch design.

A Quick Reference Guide - Navigate the pack easily.

Please see below for usage instructions.

HOW TO USE THE STYLES

WHAT IS A STYLE?

A style is a number of grouped textures and effects that can be applied to vector objects and
type, with one click. You can view or edit the individual elements via the ‘APPEARANCE
PANEL’, EFFECTS PANEL and ‘LAYERS PANEL’. Below is a breakdown of one of the fill styles
from the pack.

THE TEXTURE
The texture is shown
here.

THE EFFECTS
Find a list of the
THE EFFECTS
effects used in an
Double-click here to
applied style, on the
access the advanced
‘EFFECTS PANEL’.
‘LAYER EFFECTS’
Click the relevant
options.
drop-down arrow to
access the basic
settings.

Please read on to find out how to load, apply and edit the textures and effects.

TO LOAD THE STYLES

1. Open the ‘STYLES

STYLES PANEL’.
PANEL This can be found in the ‘VIEW>STUDIO>STYLES
VIEW>STUDIO>STYLES’ menu at the
top of the screen.

2. Access the corner menu on the panel and select ‘IMPORT

IMPORT STYLES CATEGORY...’
CATEGORY... as shown
below.

4. Navigate to the un-zipped product file, select a ‘STYLE’ file and click ‘OPEN’. The styles will
now be ready to use.
APPLYING A STYLE TO A VECTOR SHAPE OR TYPE

Please note: I have used styles from my ‘Pin Pals - Enamel Badge Creator’ in this
example.

The styles included in this pack can only be applied to vector shapes and type. They will not
work with bitmap shapes (some styles work with bitmap shapes but the included textures
make these styles incompatible).

Once the styles are loaded into Affinity Designer you will need to choose a set from the
drop-down menu on the ‘STYLES PANEL’ (as shown below). This menu shows every set of
styles that’s loaded.

1. Once you’ve chosen a set of styles, select a vector shape or piece of type using the ‘MOVE
TOOL’.

2. Click on one of the style icons from the ‘STYLES PANEL’ and it will be applied instantly.

CLICK A STYLE ICON TO

APPLY IT TO AN OBJECT

3. Adjust the style attributes (the texture and effects) to suit your design - instructions on
this can be found below.

PLEASE NOTE: These particular styles are designed to be applied to ‘FILLS’ only and will not
work with ‘STROKES’. If your design contains ‘STROKES’ please expand them using the
‘LAYER>EXPAND STROKE’ menu.

IMPORTANT!

The texture and effects contained in the styles will be proportioned and resized as per the
shape and size of the object which they are being applied to, rather than at the sizes I
created them - on shapes sized 500px. This will be particularly noticeable on wide or long,
unevenly proportioned objects and type.

Because Affinity Styles work in this way, some of the attributes may need adjusting after
application. Please read on for more information.

ADJUSTING THE STYLE TEXTURES AFTER APPLICATION

For the examples below I have used textures from my Stained Glass Creator.

When a style is applied to an object, any textures used will be proportioned as per the
vector object/type to which they’re applied, rather than at their original proportions.

CORRECT PROPORTIONS INCORRECT PROPORTIONS

There is a very simple way to adjust the proportions and size of the texture. Simply follow
these steps:

1. Select the object to which you applied the style, and click on the relevant ‘APPEARANCE
PANEL’ icon.

2. Select the ‘FILL TOOL’. You will notice the ‘L’ shaped cursor appear over or near your
shape. This represents the proportion of the texture. It also shows you the extent of one
tile of texture.

FILL TOOL ‘L’ SHAPED CURSOR

3. Check the ‘CONTEXT’ settings to ensure the ‘MAINTAIN FILL ASPECT RATIO’ button is
not activated (as shown below). When activated, this lock icon maintains the current
proportions of the texture.

‘MAINTAIN FILL ASPECT

RATIO’ BUTTON

4. Drag one of the cursor line’s circular ends to adjust the proportions manually or,
double-click one of the circles to automatically re-proportion the texture.

CLICK AND DRAG

OR DOUBLE-CLICK

5. Click the ‘MAINTAIN FILL ASPECT RATIO’ button to prevent further proportional changes.
ROTATING THE TEXTURE

To rotate the texture within it’s shape/type, select your object and the ‘FILL TOOL’ then
rotate either of the circular parts of the cursor, as shown below.
ROTATE

MOVING THE TEXTURE

To move the texture within it’s shape/type, select your object and the ‘FILL TOOL’ then
click and drag the cursor’s central circle.

CLICK AND DRAG HERE

SCALING THE TEXTURE

To scale the texture within it’s shape/type, select your object and the ‘FILL TOOL’ and ensure
‘MAINTAIN FILL ASPECT RATIO’ is on. Now, drag one of the circular end parts of the cursor
out, to enlarge the texture or, in, to shrink it.

DRAG INWARDS TO SHRINK TEXTURE DRAG OUTWARDS TO ENLARGE TEXTURE

ADJUSTING THE STYLE EFFECTS

The styles feature the following effects: An ‘OUTER SHADOW’, an ‘INNER SHADOW’, ‘3D’ and
a ‘GRADIENT OVERLAY. To access the ‘LAYER EFFECTS’ options, double-click on the ‘FX’ icon
on the relevant ‘LAYER PANEL’ layer, as shown below.

Double-click here to
access the ‘LAYER
EFFECTS’ options.

Once the ‘LAYER EFFECTS’ panel is open, you can view the effects in the list on the left-hand
side (featured effects are ticked). To access the options for each effect, simply click on the
relevant list icon.

Click to access
the options for
each effect.
To disable an
effect, click
the ‘TICK’.

Below are screen shots, featuring the settings I used to create the original styles, plus
information on how to adjust each of the effects.

OUTER SHADOW

Change the shadow’s opacity.

Adjust the size of the shadow.
Change the position of the effect.
This changes how solid or soft the edges of
your shadow will look.

INNER SHADOW

Change the opacity of the effect.

Change the size of the effect.
Change the positioning of the effect.
This changes how solid or soft the edges of
your shadow will look.
3D

Unless you are an advanced user, I would suggest adjusting only the highlighted settings,
shown below.
Change the size of the effect.

Change how soft/hard the effect looks.

Change the opacity of the effect.

Change the angle of the effect.

GRADIENT OVERLAY

You should set the gradient so it works with any other lighting in your design.

Change the opacity of the effect.

Change the positioning of the effect.

Change the angle of the effect.

I would recommend removing the ‘GRADIENT OVERLAY’ on very small sections of your
design as it may look odd/not be needed.

SCALING EFFECTS

In the ‘Layer Effects’ options, you’ll notice a ‘SCALE WITH OBJECT’ tick box, at the bottom of
the interface. Tick this box if you want the effects to be scaled with the vector shape or type
which they are applied. Leave it unticked if you want the effects unscaled when making size
changes to your object/type.

FURTHER GRAPHIC STYLE TIPS

If you have two different colored fabric sections placed next to each other, you may not need
to use both the ‘DROP SHADOW’ and the ‘INNER GLOW’ on both sections. Sometimes it’s best
to remove the drop shadow from one of the items. This will vary from case to case.

The drop shadow’s color mode is set to ‘overlay’ you may want to adjust this and use other
blending modes, particularly when a style is placed on top of a light color.

CHANGING THE COLORS OF AN APPLIED STYLE/BRUSH STROKE

To change the color of an item, simply follow these steps:

1. Select the object you’d like to adjust.

2. Go to the ‘LAYER>NEW ADJUSTMENT...’ menu and choose one of the color adjustments.
I’d recommend ‘RE-COLOR’ as a good place to start but you may want use a combination of
adjustments.

3. Adjust until you are happy with the result then close the panel.

The great thing about adjustments is that they are non-destructive so you can easily revert
by deleting the adjustment layer in the ‘LAYERS PANEL’.

HOW TO USE THE BRUSHES

A NOTE ABOUT THE BRUSHES

You’ll notice that two versions of each brush have been supplied - one is for open shapes,
where you can see the ends of the brush strokes. The other set is for closed shapes (for
example a circle), where you can see no ends. You can identify the different versions by the
words ‘OPEN’ and ‘CLOSED’ at the ends of the brush names.

TO LOAD THE BRUSHES INTO AFFINITY DESIGNER...

1. Making sure you are in the correct persona, open the ‘BRUSHES PANEL’ by accessing the
‘VIEW>STUDIO>BRUSHES’ menu.

2. Access the right hand corner menu on the panel and select ‘IMPORT BRUSHES...’ as shown
below.

3. Navigate to the downloaded, unzipped product folder and select the brush file. The brushes
will now be loaded.
 TO DRAW WITH THE BRUSHES

1. Open a document and make sure you’re in the ‘DESIGNER/VECTOR PERSONA’. Please note
all screen-grabs show the desktop version of Affinity Designer.

DESIGNER PERSONA/VECTOR PERSONA

2. Select the brush set from the drop-down menu on the ‘BRUSHES PANEL’.

CLICK HERE TO
ACCESS DROP
DOWN MENU!

3. Select the ‘VECTOR BRUSH TOOL’.

THE VECTOR BRUSH TOOL.
THIS IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN
THE ‘DESIGNER’/’VECTOR’
PERSONA.

4. Select one of the brushes from the ‘BRUSHES PANEL’ by clicking on it.

5. Set the brush size by using the square bracket keys on your keyboard. ‘[’ makes the stroke
smaller and ‘]’ makes it larger.

6. Set the color using the ‘COLOR PANEL’.

7. Click and Draw!

Alternatively, you can apply a brush to an existing vector path or shape by selecting the path
and then clicking on a brush icon from the panel.

The width of the brush strokes can be adjusted after drawing by changing them on the
‘STROKE PANEL’, as you would a normal vector stroke.

The color of your brush stroke can be changed by adjusting the stroke color. You may wish to
make further color changes using Affinity’s ‘ADJUSTMENTS’. Please see the ‘CHANGING THE
COLORS OF AN APPLIED STYLE/BRUSH STROKE’ section above, for more information on this.

BRUSH END MISALIGNMENT

Occasionally you may see brush ends misaligning as per the screen shot below. If this
occurs then simply change the cap type to ‘BUTT’ rather than ‘SQUARE’ as shown in the
image below.

A brush from my Vintage

Nautical Map Maker has
been used in this example.

Fix misaligned brush

end by clicking here!

GET IN TOUCH!

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