Vector Crop Tool in Affinity Designer

The Affinity Designer Vector Crop tool is a non-destructive way of removing parts of a selected object or group of objects. You are able to crop to specific aspect ratios, which also applies to images (raster). It is an intuitive tool for adjusting the size of design elements without creating a clipping mask. The Affinity Designer Vector Crop tool is so easy to use that it will certainly help you streamline your workflow.

For this example we will use an illustrated landscape SVG and a pink flowers background photo.

Step 1 - Select the Vector Crop Tool

In Affinity Designer, open or create a shape/design/image you want to crop. Then, you will need to pick up the Vector Brush Tool from the toolbar since it doesn't have a default shortcut.

Step 2 - Crop Your Image

With the Vector Crop Tool selected, first click on the object or image you want to crop to select it. You will see a blue bounding box around your selection.

Then, you can click + drag a corner handle from the bounding box to crop your selection.

Alternatively, you can click + drag an edge handle to crop your selection either vertically or horizontally.

Reposition Objects Inside the Crop Area

You can move the bounding box around and reposition objects/images within the crop area by clicking + dragging it around.

Remember that this is a non-destructive process. It can easily be reversed by resizing the bounding box to reveal portions of the selection that were hidden before.

The bounding box behaves like a clipping mask. Every movement of the cropped object is constrained to that bounding box.

Step 3 - Use Modifier Keys

You can change the behavior of the Vector Crop Tool by using some modifier keys while cropping. They can be used individually or in combination.

For example, theOption/Alt key will disable snapping temporarily while cropping.

The Shift Key

The Shift key will constrain the aspect ratio during cropping. It can be used when cropping an image from an edge handle.

To get a free form crop, don’t hold down the Shift key while clicking + dragging.

The Control/⌃ key

The Control/⌃ key will allow you to rotate the crop area about its opposite handle.

The Command/Control key

The Command/Control key will let you crop from the center.

Keep in mind that the Vector Crop Tool only crops in a rectangular shape. To non-destructively crop shapes that aren't rectangular, you will want to use layer masks in Affinity Designer.

Next, if you want to learn more about Affinity Designer, why don’t you browse our guides on how to duplicate objects or use the point transform tool.