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I like the idea of being able to navigate the Layer tree with keypresses, but am not sure that Esc is the best keypress - it is already so integral to exiting menus and deselecting (especially with Text tool, where we can't press any other shortcut as it simply gets typed as characters). There are already two keypresses (Ctrl+Alt+[ and Ctrl+Alt+] on PC) that select the Next and Previous sibling in the Layer tree. It would be nice to extend this to Jump to Parent Container, which would work with clipped objects, groups, Layers, right up to artboards.

+1 for absolute values, please.

You might also be interested to try out the new (to 1.7 beta) alignment handles, they are very quick and intuitive. They also work when multiple objects are selected.

@MickRose I think you are on Windows? If so the keypress is different… Ctrl+Alt+Backspace But also @JimmyJack's observation about the top node having no handle applies.

Do you get the same result if you export as SVG rather than copy paste?

A great first drawing. Try nesting the white reflection lines on the windscreen, inside the grey windscreen shape. That way they will not spill outside the shape. Also, should the reflection lines have a shadow?

Perhaps I am misunderstanding your question (your language is slightly ambiguous). Are you talking about adding nodes to a new shape? So placing the first node, then the second, third etc. In which case the snapping option that I described works just as you ask in the current version of Designer (v1.6.5) Or do you mean inserting new nodes into an existing shape? For example placing a new node between existing nodes 2 and 3. In which case you are correct, then node will not snap to existing nodes until dragged in Designer v1.6.5 However this behaviour has changed in v1.7 Beta, and the node will snap upon insertion.

Increase the value in the Mitre box (default 1.5) until you get a sharp corner. See https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/Panels/strokePanel.html for more details. Mitre—Sets the length of the extension of Mitre joins to create either sharp or flat corners.

Affinity already does what you are requesting. Ensure you have "Align to nodes of selected curves" turned on, via the context menu of the Pen tool. See https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_pen.html for more details on Node snapping options.

Chevron Example: There are further snapping options on the context toolbar for the pen tool which do what you are asking. https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_pen.html Your second point… 1.7 Beta has significant improvements with snapping nodes in single objects and also multiple objects. There is a whole new tool - the point transform tool which does exactly what you ask (middle node of the M). Also alignment handles that operate on nodes / objects. You can try out the customer beta of 1.7 to start using the new features today, but see the caveats in the download thread regarding stability, file format etc. That said, I have been using the beta daily for many months now.

The colour coding might be nice. For the green guides are you suggesting that the guide knows that an object is attached, and that moving the guide would also move the attached objects? If so, you can already get a good approximation of this behaviour by using Constraints. I think the system used in Xara Designer works pretty well. Any object can be designated as a guide. It is then moved to a special layer (called Guides) which will never be exported or printed. This layer can be locked as a whole, or individual objects within it can be locked. And everything remains an editable object that can be manipulated by all existing (and future) tools. Affinity could go one better by allowing the user to over-ride this default to explicitly export / print with guides visible. Combine that with your colour coding, and the construction tools (that were previewed, and later removed in the 1.7 beta) and we'd have a comprehensive and powerful system.

@sumneuron Sorry - misread your question. Glad you got the answer.

This post by A_B_C demystifies somewhat…

Symbols in 1.6.5 are buggy. I believe that much of the code relating to symbols has been reworked in 1.7 as it is the technology on which master pages are based. So hopefully they will be more stable and more useful. Have you tried the 1.7 beta?

As a workaround use a straight line (drawn with the pen tool) as a guide. Individual objects can be locked. Make sure you turn on Snap to Geometry.

Perhaps here… https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/licence/

@DatCleverOldFox you need to reverse the direction of the path. https://affinity.help/designer/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Text/pathText.html?title=Text on a path https://affinity.help/designer/shared/ui/fill_reverse_gradient.png

I'd like to see something like a Studios panel… One keypress to toggle it open, and then have a series of checkboxes / icons to toggle each other studio in the app. This would also be the natural home of saved workspaces, when they arrive. -- A few of the previous discussions (in no particular order). https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/80075-put-studio-on-the-menu https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/72211-bring-the-studio-to-the-main-menu https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/66801-view-menu-studio-sub-menu https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/65560-ui-sub-menu-for-studio-could-be-a-menu-on-its-own https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/67329-promote-the-viewstudio-submenu-to-a-top-level-menu https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/58266-move-studio-menu-to-its-own-parent-item/

The method above is a (cumbersome) workaround until the Offset Tool arrives in a later version. I anticipate an elegant and versatile tool that works directly on canvas, but who knows what Affinity have up their digital sleeves?

This was discussed last month (on the Mac subforum) and it looks as if the issue was fixed? But I am seeing the same bug on Windows… When I first select an object with multiple fills the Delete icon is greyed out and unclickable. Clicking on the current fill (which should be unneccessary) does not enable the Delete icon. Selecting a different fill does activate the Delete icon. Right clicking and choosing Delete does work.

I am experiencing a repeatable crash to desktop when dragging to reorder the strokes in the appearance panel. Create a new document. Draw a shape. Add a new stroke. As one movement, drag the original stroke above the new stroke Result: Crash to desktop. As an aside, this killed my installation of Designer! 1st run after the crash produced this… Splash screen never disappeared. Popup (which should be informing me about a recovery file) white, with only one visible option ("Yes"). Subsequent runs of 1.7.0.293, after the crash, instantly crashes to desktop! I just tried running 1.6.5 out of curiosity, and that is dead too!

Draw 3 lines. Select 1, and use the Appearance panel to add a second stroke Result: Works fine. Select the other 2 lines, and attempt to add a second stroke Result: Fails. Original stroke is replaced by the new stroke. Then original reappears, and second stroke disappears when selected. UPDATE… Now select either line on its own, and you will see that the second stroke was actually added, but not shown!

Create a new document Draw any object Isolate the object by Alt+Click in the Layers Panel Create another new document Result: The shape that was isolated appears on the canvas of the new document. It is only a ghost, not actually present in the layers panel, and vanishes once the user interacts on the canvas. Discovered in AD 1.7.0.331, doesn't happen in AD 1.6.5.135

@Sean P With reference to my earlier post… https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/36293-by-design-ad-symbol-name-does-not-update-propogate-on-rename The behaviour regarding symbol names seems to have changed. 1. Create a shape 2. Make it into a symbol 3. Duplicate the symbol a number of times 4. Rename one instance of the symbol Result: All instances of the symbol adopt the new name. 5. Rename the symbol via the Symbols Panel Result: none of the symbol instances are renamed. 6. Drag several instances of the symbol from the Symbol Panel to the canvas 7. Rename one of the new instances Result: all of the new instances are renamed, but not the original set of symbols. --- Update: Mouse over tool-tip now shows "Name" as something that can be un-synced with symbols, so I guess that this is 'by design'? However, if that is the case then the behaviour seems inconsistent to me. Renaming the symbol in the Symbols Panel should update the name of all instances where the Name property has not been un-synced. Also, this is the only property that can be un-synced without first toggling the Sync button in the panel. This is good from ease of use perspective, but is inconsistent with default behaviour.

1. Draw an object 2. Convert it into a symbol 3. Duplicate the symbol twice 4. Drag the instances so that each one partially overlaps the other two, so that we can see the stacking order 5. For ease of visualisation, Un-sync and rename the instances 1, 2, 3 (optionally give them a unique colour too) 6. Play with the stacking order using either Layer > Arrange or keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+Shift+ [ etc) Result: Is a mess! The stacking order seems to be an attribute of the symbol, which causes all sorts of unusual behaviour, including… The keypress does nothing. The keypress moves the object to the wrong position in the layer stack. If the symbol if a group of objects only some of them move. Affinity BUG Symbols Move to Front.afdesign