Placing Images into an Image box in Publisher

[Oscardorito]

Ok, so I've used InDesign for over 10 years, specifically for creating Wedding Books in the Photography industry. I love how Affinity combines all 3 of their software components into Publisher. But there are a few things that I think would be very simple additions that I actually rely heavily on but are difficulty in Affinity Publisher.

1. When using the Picture Frame rectangle tool and resizing stretching to fit a grid actually also stretches the image upon placement. in Indesign, I just create a box and divide it to as many images i need to place and just click to insert. But in Affinity Designer, you have to create each frame individually. If you create (let's say 3 frames) to go across a page, they have to be perfectly sized otherwise, if you create all 3 frames and then stretch to fill, once the images are placed, they will appear stretched. 

2. Resizing Picture Frames AFTER you have placed the images the left side of the frame stays in place as the right side moves according to your pointer. this is annoying because then the frames overlap into each other.

3 Fill Frame Proportionally would also be a very strong tool, I don't see it available. I do however see "Size Frame to content" and a few more options under "properties," but none of which are usable for what i need it for.

4. Distribute Horizontal Centers would be a simple addition. I can see the align postilions, but something like this where I want to align my Images proportionally and centered is not available, and if it is, it is not easy found.

5. The "Gap Tool" is a very neat feature that would be awesome to see in Affinity Designer, that would solve many of my issues mentioned above.

Maybe it's just me and as I keep using Affinity Publisher I will get used to the workflow. Just those simple items would make Affinity Publisher that much more stronger.

[MickRose]

If it's helpful, the Guides Manager can give you a precise grid structure to place picture from on to. With Snapping on you can create a grid of picture frames. Scale to maximum fit will keep the proportions but crop the image symetrically.

[fde101]

On 10/31/2019 at 6:35 PM, Oscardorito said:

Distribute Horizontal Centers would be a simple addition.

It is under Layer -> Alignment (Distribute Horizontally), or you can customize your toolbar to add a button for it.

[Oscardorito]

fde101, thank you so much! that was exactly what i was looking for for one of the issues i was having.

do you know how i can insert images without them getting distorted inside the image frame box? for example, I need to create a layout with picture frames, once i create them, I insert the images, but they get distorted or stretched, so i have to select each individual image and find the "original size" tab to fix it. I have been looking all over Affinity Designer for this button to be on my tool bar or to create a keyboard shortcut, but I have found no success.

[Seneca]

40 minutes ago, Oscardorito said:

do you know how i can insert images without them getting distorted inside the image frame box?

@MickRose showed you how to do it a couple of posts up.

[Oscardorito]

@Seneca, after messing around I did find that @MickRose did in fact show me how to do it all. its was just a little messing around and just discovering the language and where all the tools are placed. Thank you.

Edited November 6, 2019 by Oscardorito
tagged wrong user

[markstraw]

I'm also new to publisher - the above explanation isn't really explanatory enough.

To Place an image: 
File > Place (Ctrl + Shift + M)
If you place and image and look at it in the Layers panel, it is image with an image icon next to the name. This means the image is not in a container. If you click on this image layer and then pull on the transform handles, you start stretching the image. Push shift and pull handles to scale image proportionally. There is a line on the top menu which says Picture Frame > toggle Transform Objects Separately. This doesn't seem to do anything. That this toggle is visible all the time makes it confusing. It should not be visible if it's not an option. Am I missing something? 

To place an image in a container [M]:
Click on Picture Frame Rectangle, then drag an image into it from windows file explorer. Not sure if there is another way of doing this. Looking at this in the Layers panel, there is now a Picture Frame layer and the image nested under it. Click on the tree view to expose the image under in in the layers panel. If you click on the Picture Frame layer, you resize the picture frame container - the image size remains the same. If you click on the image layer once the tree is open, you can move or scale the image independently from the container. 

 

Is there a way to place an image but inside of a Picture Frame by default? 

 

*** 

Screenshot of Picture Frame with Image dragged into it. Picture frame with tree opened with dragged in image selected. 

Below is a Placed image - which is not in a picture frame.  

Edited October 13, 2024 by MarkStraw
typo

[Hangman]

Hi @MarkStraw and welcome to the forums,

1 hour ago, MarkStraw said:

Is there a way to place an image but inside of a Picture Frame by default?

This should help...