Gear maker

spindrift26, I really like the looks of JimmyJack's design. One problem I have run into is if you have to make a lot of pipework the 3D fx is really CPU intensive. Even with the amount in this example if you zoom in you will probably see a fair amount of delay while the image is repainted. So let me throw out a second idea that I have found is much less CPU intensive. And depending on the use it might give you acceptable results. Also if you are doing pipework you'll probably want a square cap so I changed a couple pipes to show this option. weave test1.afdesign

In AD when using the effects panel (behind the layer panel, not the standalone Layer Effects panel) the default is for the "Scale with object" to be off. It seems hard to believe that most people most of the time would rather have the effects not scale with the object. I'm not sure if I can think of more than 2 instances where this might be desirable. Please make the default "Scale with object" to be on. Or at least add a choice in the preferences for this option.

When the layer opacity slider is opened please hide the object's bounding box. Once the slider is opened the space bar does not work to hide the bounding box. Every time I have to close the slider, press and hold the space, then reopen the opacity slider. It would be so much easier if the bounding box disappeared automatically as it does with most functions. 2nd choice, make it so the space bar was functional when the slider was open. Thank you.

Thanks Dave. I'm starting to feel that I'm understanding typography a bit now due to you and pxls2prnt.

Thanks R C-R this is exactly what I was looking for. I didn't find the right search criteria I guess. Mike

WOW, yesterday I had to go back to PS6 to update a project. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to take care of several of the tasks. 15 months ago when I started with AD the main question I seemed to ask was "Why in the world did the Affinity devs do it this way?" Now going back to PS I find that the way that AD did it makes more sense and usually is easier. When I started I was looking for a substitute for AI but with no monthly bill. I had expected AD to be a knockoff of AI. I admit I was somewhat disappointed when it wasn't. But I found that most of the actions made enough sense that though they were different they were mostly pretty easy to pick up. Now going back to Adobe, only when I absolutely have too, I find in most cases the Affinity process (muscle memory aside) really is more natural, logical, intuitive, etc. I know in the past half year I find myself rarely questioning why does AD does it this way, so I should not have been surprised. But Adobe's methodology was even so much more cumbersome than I remembered. I know there are other people on the forum that disagree with this, but I suspect there are not many that have given Affinity a fair try for more than a few months that aren't appreciating the difference between Affinity and Adobe. Thank you Affinity team for all the planning and work you have done. Job well done. Now if we could get some lingering bugs taken care of, like Expand Stroke... <_< Mike

pxls2prnt, that was a great explanation. I had to laugh because I was ready to ask why there wasn't just Kerning (or Tracking) if you select two characters it would work like Kerning and if you select all text it would work as Tracking. But then I realized that this was probably set long before computers. I guess that seeing as Leading would be then controlled by the Paragraph Panel, the Leading Override would allow it to be adjusted from the Character Panel overriding the Paragraph Panel. It sounds good anyway. Thanks again. Mike

I had this problem a few days ago (Jan 28 I believe), which was the last time I tried. I had to reword my forum entry to explain what I was going to add as an attachment. The attachments weren't in excess to my limit or allowed size. It just kept saying the file failed to load or something to that extent.

Not being very typographical in the least can you explain to the (ignorant) layman: What the difference is between: as copied from AD Help Tracking—controls the spacing between characters. Kerning—controls the kerning (distance) between characters. How do these compare to the Paragraph Panel's Desired Letter Spacing? Will the Min and Max specified here affect the above settings in the Character Panel? Seems like many times when I try to use Kerning the pulldown is grayed out except for the 0%. If I remember right I can type in a value and it seems to make a difference, why are the values grayed out? Lastly, the Character panel has an entry I've never seen before and is not in Help. Leading Override. What is this? Thank you for your help. Sorry if these are dumb questions. Just trying to figure out the best way to use the software.

I'm not finding a list of the abbreviations that can be used in the Transform fields, like h, w, pi. Is there a list somewhere? If not what else can be used? When you know what these are they can be very handy. I figure I'm missing several that could be very useful.

When selecting the gradient tool, if a stroke gradient already exists and a fill gradient does not, AD should automatically set the Context to stroke. If an object has a stroke but no fill, then also the gradient tool should automatically set the Context to stroke when the gradient tool is selected.

Nazario, I also am lousy at freehand drawing. So a trick I use to draw parallel complex lines is to draw one as I want it. Make 2 copies. Add a stoke to one copy that is the separation I want. Then drag the second copy until it follows the edge of the stroke. Then delete the copy with the wide stroke. Maybe this would help. No math.

Madame, I was trying to figure out a process a couple drawings back. Just for curiosity's sake. What I came up with was to expand all layers by right clicking on the top layer and choosing Expand Selection. Then I counted how many layers scrolled by for each click of the vertical scroll bar, 26 was the most I could easily get. Then counted how many clicks of the vertical scroll bar were required to get to the bottom of the list. I agree it's a pain in the posterior, but it was the only way I could figure out how to do it. And I only was planning to do it only once per drawing. If anyone else has a better suggestion I'd love to hear it. Mike

Could be, but I guess this time I read it.

Ben, that is great info to know on the PSD. Not necessarily obvious so I'm glad you stated it. Mike

I find that Separated mode has many benefits such as being able to view multiple views at one time. And to view multiple documents at one time. The working area available can be larger. Being able to see another application that is beneath AD/AP. Etc. etc. etc. But the one drawback is that the Status bar with the applicable modifiers is missing. A method to display modifiers in Separated mode would be very valuable to the user. Nobody remembers all the modifiers for every instance. Maybe in a dockable panel.

Hi Darren, I can't get that to work. If I don't use the Offset button the whole layer moves (as it should). Only the slider moves the offset with the Layer Effects panel. Hi MEB, as you mention the standalone Layer Effects panel is supposed to be an unabridged version of the abridged dockable Effects panel. But the Offset button is missing from the unabridged and is in the abridged. That's backwards. It's the only thing missing from the Layer Effects panel that is in the Effects panel that I have found. I have to admit that I never use the abridged dockable Effects panel, it has just too few controls for most uses. That's why I didn't notice the absence of the Offset button in the unabridged Layer Effects until a few days ago. But that button sure would make it easier to use. I used to turn off the Effects panel in View Studio, now I have turned it back on again to access that button.

I think I’m finally done with my latest drawing, The Streetcar Boat. In 1905 there were streetcars that went from Minneapolis to the shore of Lake Minnetonka, but the people living around Lake Minnetonka needed a way to continue to their homes. So a set of 6 steam boats were built to resemble streetcars. These boats added 27 more stops to the streetcar line. In 1926 the 6 boats were deemed no longer necessary and were scuttled in the middle of the lake. In 1979 a diver found the wreck of the Minnehaha and it was raised. After 17 years of restoration it was put back in service on weekends in the summer making runs between two cities across the lake. Being 1600 miles away and the wrong time of the year, I used pictures I had and pictures on the web to construct as much detail as possible. Right down to screws and rivets. At 4,638 layers, all vectors, it’s my largest drawing so far. Zooming from the full image to some of the smaller detail requires a zoom of about 80,000%. So AD is about the only program capable of the detail.

How come if I use the effects panel that is part of the layers panel to set the several of the FX like Inner Shadow there is a Offset Tool to make the offset easier to set. But If I use the stand alone FX panel by clicking the FX at the bottom of the layers panel there is no Offset Tool. Shouldn't it be available from both FX panels?

I really like Paekke's process. It makes it so easy to get as many nodes around the circle as desired. 2 nodes per bubbles. I would have never thought to try that.

Hi Darren, The Pantone web site did help a bit in getting an idea of the color numbers. But didn't really help in my questions. So you are saying to select a Pantone color from the swatches, then go into the Colour panel selecting Edit Global Colour. Then from there try colors until I get the one I like. That's a little awkward, but it's better then having to delete a bunch of swatches later. Please let me know if that's not what you mean. It looks like when the above is done AD looses the Pantone number. When a color is selected from the swatches it remembers that it was a "Pantone 618 C". But when it's selected by using the Edit Global Colour, it's just called only Global Colour 17. So when I name a color I need to use the pallet name like S for solid, then add the designator 618 C then a descriptor, like "S618C Clown Nose" if I ever want to identify the color again. And each color I try I have to make note of the color number, so I have it when a decision is made. That's really more than a little awkward. I must have misunderstood what you meant. Can you please clarify. Thanks for your help. Mike

In AD I used several global Pantone colors (colours) and came up with a couple questions. When selecting which color I wanted I clicked on several possible choices to see which I liked better. Every color I clicked on was added to the Document color swatch list. Now it contains many colors that I'm not actually using. And most are extremely close to the ones I am using. How can I tell which are not being used in my drawing so I can remove them? I know I should have renamed the ones I was using as they were created, so I could tell them apart. Live and learn. But I didn't. I figured if I only had 6 global colors, red, brown, green, blue, orange and yellow I could easily tell which swatch was which without a name. :huh: If I know a Pantone color I want by number, the swatch panel let's me search for it. But it only shows swatches matching my search criteria. If I am looking for a color that would be in the area of the search color, how do I find the search color in the full swatch pallet? If I have an object selected and go to the Colour panel it shows me the Pantone color number, how do I know which pallet it came from? (Solid coated, Goe uncoated, etc.) And one final one I never really thought about but how come seeing as I am specifying the English language in the US region, color is spelled colour? I am new to Pantone, so maybe some of these wouldn't be issues if I had more experience. Sorry for any stupid questions contained herein. :unsure:

Dale, what is "Selection from layer luminosity" in the Selection Shortcuts. I'm not finding an explanation of it in Help and have not been able to figure out what is happening different from "Selection from layer".

Great, thanks Dale. My mistake, I had searched for Keyboard and only found Customizing keyboard shortcuts. I should have searched for Shortcuts.

Have I missed the answer to this question? Has anyone figured out how to do this?