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Question:

Is there a way to rotate object effects (i.e. a drop shadow) with the object they are attached to in AD?

Example:

To clarify what I mean, let's consider this example: I have a rectangle with a 45° drop shadow. Now, when I rotate the object by let's say another 45°, I'd want the shadow to also rotate with it (resulting in a 0°/90° drop shadow, depending on direction). Similar to "Scale Effect with Object", just for all the angles of the enabled effects.

Related (2nd) Problem:

At least it would be expected that when I embed a file that I created in AD into AP and then rotate the embedded picture there, the effects should rotate together with the picture frame. I'd actually even say this could be considered a bug, since it's so counter intuative. (edit: seems fixed in latest version of publisher)

Edited by pekranodon
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Hm, seems the problem is not present for drop shadows, however for "Bevel/Emboss":

When I embed a drawing I created in Designer into another Designer or Publisher document and then rotate the drawing as a whole, the light source of the bevel/emboss effect does not rotate with it and thus changing my drawing! To me this seems pretty much counterintuitive: Why does the light source for the drop shadow rotate with the scene, yet the bevel's light source does not?

Should that be considered a bug?

Edit: In addition, it is pretty confusing, that when I embed a document and rotate it, the view in Designer/Publisher is just as expected: light source of bevels is rotate with it. However upon export or simply zooming in, the view get's updated and the light source suddenly is _not_ rotated. That's definitly weird and probably a bug. Does anyone know how I can file a bug? (see demo files. The red bevel is clearly moving just from zooming in and out)

untitled.afpub

zoomed in.PNG

default zoom.PNG

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I don't have Publisher...  But a shadow is caused by the position of the light source, not the orientation of the object.  So I'm not surprised that the shadow does not change when rotating the object.  It really shouldn't.  Granted sometimes I use a shadow for other than what it is designed and do want it to rotate with the object so I have to manually do that.  But most of the time it's a shadow. 

For me the Bevel/Emboss, in Designer, acts the same way as the shadow does for the same reason.

I don't see any obvious effect on the emboss when zooming in or out.  I wouldn't think Publisher would be any different.  I'm at a loss to figure out why that would be.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) with macOS Sierra

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Yes, you are right, a drop shadow and a bevel are applied corretly within the same file. But not if you embed a file in another one. Seems bugged in Publisher and Designer likewise.

Try the following, maybe it really does work for anyone but me:

  • create a rectangle and add two layer effects: a drop shadow and a bevel (let's say light source is top left, 135°). (sample file is attached).
  • Save the file and create a new empty file
  • Go to "File" > "Place" and select the file just created. It will be embedded as a "whole".
  • Now rotate this. For me the shadow behaves like expected, yet the bevel does not ...

(oh, for me it is important to zoom in and out after rotating to update the preview ... this is another bug i guess)

shadow_emboss.afdesign

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I think the problem is that you are using an imbedded document.  Which is standalone image.  What you see is probably a pixel image of the original.  That image is tied back to the original so it can be modified but the image itself is unintelligent.

If you do a copy paste of the shape then it will be an actual vector shape and the effects will have intelligence.

I just did the zoom and found that at 122% on my image suddenly the bevel flips.  I deleted the shadow and it still does it.  The shadow by itself acted like above.  The smaller the image placed the larger the zoom needs to be.  It does look like there is a bug in there when a "Placed" shape has a bevel and the image is zoomed possibly fairly far.

I didn't try exporting to see which condition is in the export.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) with macOS Sierra

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22 hours ago, Gear maker said:

I think the problem is that you are using an imbedded document.  Which is standalone image.  What you see is probably a pixel image of the original.

I think that is almost right: an embedded (or linked) document isn't a pixel image but it is a document with its own X & Y axes independent of those of the document it is embedded in. So if in the main document you rotate an embedded one, you are rotating its X & Y axes relative to the main document, not relative to its own axes.

It is easy to see this with a modified version of the shadow_emboss.afdesign file like this shadow_emboss plus.afdesign file that includes other layers:

640421903_shadow_embossplus.jpg.1949c9fec2dd875887a6082c37bd3542.jpg

If you place that in another afdesign file like this shadow_emboss plus embedded.afdesign one & select it, the Transform panel shows its rotation angle is 0°. If you rotate it, everything in it rotates relative to the main document, effects included. IOW, it acts like rotating a pixel or image layer.

But if you double-click it or click on the "Edit Document" button in the context toolbar, it opens in its own window titled "<Embedded>." Rotate the rectangle with the effects in that window & the effects will be rotated relative to its own axes. Close the "<Embedded>" window to return to the main document & the effects angles will be what you expect.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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11 hours ago, R C-R said:

If you place that in another afdesign file like this shadow_emboss plus embedded.afdesign one & select it, the Transform panel shows its rotation angle is 0°. If you rotate it, everything in it rotates relative to the main document, effects included. IOW, it acts like rotating a pixel or image layer. 

This is what I can not confirm. It would be what I wanted it to do, but when I take your file (shadow_emboss_plus_embedded), and use the transform panel to rotate the whole embedded image, at first it looks like it's correct: everything looks rotated in afdesign. But if I then zoom in or export the image, only the shadow is rotated, the embossment is not.

My point is, that the expected behaviour would be, that both is rotated. I could understand, if nothing is rotated, which would be annoying but at least would be consistent. And the 2nd problem is that zoom in/zoom out behavior: the preview should not change just based on zoom level.

 

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3 hours ago, pekranodon said:

But if I then zoom in or export the image, only the shadow is rotated, the embossment is not.

OK, I see what you mean. I can't imagine this is the intended behavior so it should be reported as a bug.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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