Jim Monson Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 Can Affinity Designer allow the user to use the modifier CMD in Mac temporarily to use the Move Tool? This was so helpful in Illustrator. I find in AD that holding down CMD acdtually shows the Move Tool, but I cannot actually use. This means that when working with a text I must go to tools or use my shortcut, which of course means that I have to use ESC or some other method to exit the text itself. It would be so much easier simply to hold CMD, move the the text box and then release CMD. Perhaps this would not work with Art Text. Quote
dutchshader Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 don't know if it is the same on mac, but on windows you can move the cursor to the textframe boundingbox and move the textframe. Quote intel core i5, 16GB 128Gb ssd win10 Pro Huion new 1060plus. philips 272p 2560x1440px on intel HD2500 onboard graphics Razer Tartarus Chroma
firstdefence Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 Affinity Designers main tools do not allow modifiers. You can see this by going to preferences: keyboard shortcuts and try setting a modifier and key, it will show a red warning icon when a modifier key like CMD is pressed. Quote iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions
Dan C Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 Hi Jim Monson Unfortunately you can't set the CMD key to tools in Affinity, as it's used as a modifier for many other tools, my apologies. However, you can use the V key to shortcut to the Move Tool, then when you're done simply hit V again and you will return to the previous tool used. I hope this helps! Quote
dutchshader Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 5 minutes ago, Dan C said: Hi Jim Monson Unfortunately you can't set the CMD key to tools in Affinity, as it's used as a modifier for many other tools, my apologies. However, you can use the V key to shortcut to the Move Tool, then when you're done simply hit V again and you will return to the previous tool used. I hope this helps! with te frame text tool active? Quote intel core i5, 16GB 128Gb ssd win10 Pro Huion new 1060plus. philips 272p 2560x1440px on intel HD2500 onboard graphics Razer Tartarus Chroma
Dan C Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 4 minutes ago, dutchshader said: with te frame text tool active? Apologies, in this circumstance you'd have to hit Esc first, then V to switch to the Move Tool, and V to switch back to the Frame Text Tool when you're done - so I can certainly see the use case for the CMD modifier. Quote
Murfee Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 3 hours ago, dutchshader said: don't know if it is the same on mac, but on windows you can move the cursor to the textframe boundingbox and move the textframe. Yes it does, I can move the mouse curser to the edge of the frame, when it changes to the 4 way arrow I can move the frame around with the Text cursor flashing, if I need to resize I just position over the handle until it changes to the 2 way arrow, I can then continue where I left off, no additional clicks or key presses needed. Works on frame & artistic text for me. Old Bruce 1 Quote
Old Bruce Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 4 hours ago, Murfee said: Yes it does, I can move the mouse curser to the edge of the frame, when it changes to the 4 way arrow I can move the frame around with the Text cursor flashing, if I need to resize I just position over the handle until it changes to the 2 way arrow, I can then continue where I left off, no additional clicks or key presses needed. Works on frame & artistic text for me. Doesn't that just resize the frame not actually move it? Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.7 | Affinity Photo 2.5.7 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.7 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.
Murfee Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 1 minute ago, Old Bruce said: Doesn't that just resize the frame not actually move it? If its the normal 4way arrow it moves, the 2way resizes, well it does on my MBP running Sierra Quote
Old Bruce Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 As soon as I posted I thought to myself; "I should test that". Did so and you are right, I am just so used to using the esc, V, T key commands that I never tried anything else. Thanks for the tip. Murfee 1 Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.7 | Affinity Photo 2.5.7 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.7 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.
Murfee Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 8 minutes ago, Old Bruce said: As soon as I posted I thought to myself; "I should test that". Did so and you are right, I am just so used to using the esc, V, T key commands that I never tried anything else. Thanks for the tip. You are welcome Bruce, we all have different ways of working and it is good to share Quote
Old Bruce Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 In my case I think I learn more than share. [smiley face emoticon] Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.7 | Affinity Photo 2.5.7 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.7 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.
Murfee Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 1 minute ago, Old Bruce said: In my case I think I learn more than share. [smiley face emoticon] If I am honest I think I found it by accident Quote
Jim Monson Posted December 6, 2019 Author Posted December 6, 2019 Great discussion. Since in my data heavy file I have to wait for the Move Tool to appear after pressing CMD, and since it getting the mouse in the exact position to do what I want to do, I'm wasting more time than simply pushing ESC and shortcutting to the tool I want. More often than not, whatever key shortcut I use then appears in my text and I have to undo and try again. Clicking outside the Frame Text box to exit the box works great, but for Art Text it's a different story. In this case I use the ESC method since the Art Text took is too eager to create another Art text. But AD is light years beyond Illustrator so I'm not complaining - but it would be nice to have the Illustrator feature that pushing CMD •totally• frees me to work with the Move Tool and does not require me to take the time to find the exact place for my cursor in order to resize or move. I'll live with that any day rather than struggling in Illustrator again. Bravo Affinity! Quote
Fantomas.CZ Posted February 22, 2020 Posted February 22, 2020 Actually I'd love to have this behaviour too. When using InDesign, I often combine text with other objects like pictures or tables and moving a picture in a text field is not always easy, when AP gets stuck in a different layer etc. The Adobe solution is more practical, at least for me. And of course, the Cmd key is more at hand than Esc, not to mention the virtual Esc key on a Touchpad I'm writing on right now. Any chance of reconsidering this feature? I'm sure you could make it optional in the menu for those who don't like it. Thanks! Quote
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