I have to second this. It's a feature that's quite essential for a power user.
I just started using Affinity Designer in the Windows Beta version and it was a no-brainer for me to instantly buy it when it was released, since even this missing feature is not really a showstopper for me. For the moment I am working around it like this:
- Copy the object that you consider the key object
- Select the copy and all other objects that you need for the alignment operation
- Do the alignment
- Move the selection so that the copied object aligns with the original
- Remove the copy
While this resolves the issue for me, it's a bit inconvenient. Right now, for horizontal alignment the object with the lowest x-coordinate is considered the key object. And similarly for vertical alignment the object with the lowest y-coordinate. Here's a proposal:
No need to get fancy with an extra 'key object selection tool' or a special key-press. Why not just consider the object that has been selected last as a key object? This way you could simply deselect and reselect an object that you would like as key object.
Thanks.