jackamus

I want to create a multi-page document in AD. How do I create a master artboard so that I can use a layer for each artboard page?

Thanks for this and I'm happy to check it out but how do I get to it from AD?

Has anyone suggested an option for snapping nodes? This could be useful when trying to accurately position shapes and objects next to each other.

Sometimes when drawing I copy objects many times and get left with a lot of duplicate objects. Is there a way to highlight and remove duplicates?

That is because my file has the 'Enable transform origin' cursor selected. You need to check which cursor you are using. You cannot move a control point if the cursor is the 'Enable transform origin' cursor. You need to select the Move tool to move a control point. That was the mistake I was making.

OK. Next time if there is a crash, I'll be more careful about reporting what happened.

I've just downloaded the latest trial version and given it a run out. Not ready for work yet.
Giudelines need to be visible on the whole drawing area. Need to be able to select, move and delete multiple guides Adding and editing new guidelines needs to be much much quicker, Line styles for guidelines, dashed or dotted is better than solid Must be able to duplicate whilst dragging Angled guides a must. Will revisit on the next major update.

It would seem that starting this 'Guides' thread that I may have opened a can of worms for the developers!
There have been many suggestions about improving the versatility/usability of the current guide feature. I have basically copied and pasted all the suggestions into this one combined suggestion.
From jackamus
It would be useful to be able to set some locked guides (a different colour perhaps) whilst being able to use movable guides as well. Attached is a  file for having 4 different types of guide lines Guid lines.afdesign
The colour of the guides would be a default colour as well as a a user choice.
One of the suggestions I made some time ago was to be able to see an objects handles/nodes when moving a guide. I'm still waiting for that one.

From Aammppaa
The colour coding might be nice. 
A Guide layer.
Allow the user to export / print with guides visible.

Form CLCI
I also got a suggestion for guides. When you use Guide Manager and click the guide's coordinates, be it horizontal or vertical one, the guide itself should get highligted (maybe change color) so you know what guide you're working with.
Also, multiple guide selection in Guides Manager pane would be huge improvement.

From Nicky G
I also find the use of this panel for guides to be nice, but uncomfortable.
1. As you say you should highlight the guide in focus with different color
2. selection and movement of several guides (as if they were grouped)
3. Creating Guides rotated at user-defined angles
4. creation of vector shapes (any form) in guide, as happens in Ai.
5. possibility to open the guide panel by double clicking on the guide itself. (it would avoid the GUIDE DISPLAY / MANAGEMENT step)
6. Possibility of selecting and direct highlighting of the guide on the drawing table and moving the guide ALSO through the XY axes inside the panel visible on the screen Transform.
It would speed up the numerical displacement of a guide (as happens in Ai). I
In my opinion it would also be useful, by pressing at the same time as dragging the guides, for example CTRL, to activate a SNAP of the guide on the numerical notches of the ruler,
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7- 8 mm.
And depending on the Zoom, it is possible to hook the guides to intermediate sizes 0.5mm - 1mm - 1.5mm - 2mm - 2.5mm ....
Higher zoom even with 1/10 mm notches etc ...
1.1mm - 1.2 - 1.3 ....
Dragging without the CTRL key the operation remains the same as now.
From catlover My only remaining beefs about the guides are these two:
1. they should extend all the way to the rulers
2. the user should be able to choose the color
Other than that, the devs did a cracking job with the guides.      
 
 

I'm finding all these explanations quite confusing! All I wanted to do was to subtract A and B rectangles from the large rectangle. I have since done this successfully but by using three new rectangles. At some point in my original drawing something odd crept in and created this problem. Trying to understand why it wasn't working got out of hand so I've just redrawn it so I can proceed.
Thanks for all your efforts.

The good thing is that it is not a "senior moment" 

Credits go to @A_B_C

Yes I tell a lie! I suggested being able to curve the teeth on the Cog QS to make them look more like gear wheels and it was very quickly adopted.
All I can say is that as far as I'm concerned is that snapping gui9des accurately, for me that is, AD1.7.2 is worse than 21.6.5. I never ever had a problem getting guides to snap to where I wanted them in AD1.6.5 but today I can't and that particular thread is locked and it would be wrong of me to try and raise it again.

I think I've taken this thread about as far is will go for my purposes. There have been some useful suggestions that I will play with.
One of the things I've discovered about AD is that it impossible to get anything changed unless there is a bug in it. This would suggest that at all times it is perfect and works perfectly for all users at all levels. There's no answer to that unless someone knows differently.
I would like to say that this forum is one of the best I have ever used and issues get responded to very quickly. I have much to be thankful for.

You are only saying that because your common sense tells you that it is a a picture hung the wrong way.. If it was just a rectangle that had no feature to say which way round it should be then the Transform tab would appear to be wrong! I keep saying that it is a visual thing and its size would appear to be wrong to the uninitiated. Again I say the Cycle box is a good tool if it was permanent until each time it was used - it would make a big difference for me.. I suppose it could be switchable for the purists.

Copy the dimension lines at '!' (the double headed arrow and the two other lines) and from that copy create all the other dimensions.

Right!

Much obliged Dan.

An extra box in the Transform tab showing the angle at which an object is drawn from say the horizontal position. It could be call a 'Protractor' box.

An extra box in the Transform tab showing the angle at which an object is drawn from say the horizontal position. It could be call a 'Protractor' box.

Hi Michael. I lost my wife at the beginning of June after 5 years in a care home with Altzheimers.
Over this last 5 years I have used AD to make design drawings of a special kind of door handle that only allows that person to access their own room. The biggest problem for care home dementia units is 'wandering' residents and the attendant problems for residents, staff and relatives. I am close to finishing the design and prototypes and hope to get the devices marketed.
 
 

Hi Michael. I lost my wife at the beginning of June after 5 years in a care home with Altzheimers.
Over this last 5 years I have used AD to make design drawings of a special kind of door handle that only allows that person to access their own room. The biggest problem for care home dementia units is 'wandering' residents and the attendant problems for residents, staff and relatives. I am close to finishing the design and prototypes and hope to get the devices marketed.
 
 

First, thanks a lot for all your great apps!!! 
I have also a problem with this new feature. It definitely depends on the zoom level and the speed of moving the guide if I am able to find the snapping point, a lot of times I just miss it now because I am too fast.  The "snapping force" is not strong enough, when you move too fast and you have zoomed in a lot, you just move over the point and it will NOT snap. Of course it would snap and the position would be accurate, that is not the problem, I just miss it...
I can not understand why you would say, that users do not understand the technique or we do not use the tools correctly? Maybe different people use tools just in different ways?
I am dragging out a guide and move it over an object, using the settings from the snapping studio. What is wrong with that? I was able to place the guides without any problems in versions <1.7, now I have to move up and down a lot of times, its try and error for me...
The handles have been at least a good visible hint where the snapping is going to react. For me it was not redundant as you said, I lost some comfort.
Why not make it available as an option again? Or making an option to increase the "snapping force" ?
 
 
 
 

Since my drawing are usually of the engineering  type many of the objects that I draw can be very close in terms of snapping and often I can't get a guide to snap to the node I want. That is because there is a node on another object that it is trying to snap to. So, as I said earlier, I either turn off the snapping and do it manually or I zoom in to accurately move the guide. Does this not make sense to you?
Having said all that I was vindicated when I downloaded AD 1.6.5 and saw that I was right and that bounding boxes and control points do not disappear when moving a guide in previous versions and I could do good work in the older versions.
But now I can't. You may think you have improved AD but as far as I'm concerned you haven't. You have taken a backward step and I am very disappointed. Again I ask you what was the reason for changing it? Were other users complaining about 'screen clutter'? If its not broken then don't fix it!
Also I resent your remark about 'technical superstitions' and I would like an apology for that and for telling me that it was never like that in the first place when it was! I felt that you were calling me a liar or that my 80 year old memory was failing! I was right all along about previous versions.
Whatever reason you give to explain away why it was changed, AD is less useful to me now that it was before - its harder work.
I would be interested to know how many other AD users feel the same!

That's OK Alfred. Next time it happens I'll contact the forum again. Sorry to have been so vague!

Thanks Walt it was AD I was using.
I got round the problem by using Mac's 'Preview' to open the pdf, copied all the pages and pasted them into a new Open Office document and did the editing there.