Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Please add ability to hide bounding box (and other signs of selection) with selected objects


Recommended Posts

I just experienced what a nuisance it is when you cannot hide the bounding box of an object when you're doing detail work of some kind or other on an objects.

Oftentimes you have an object selected and want to add a delicate stroke or a sophisticated gradient fill and you notice that you just cannot really judge what you're doing unless you deselect the object to get a proper view without the (quite obtrusive) bounding box getting into the view – really spoiling the preview. I'd say this is also true with other indicators (marquee, marching ants in pixel persona etc.) of an object being currently selected.

Just hiding the bounding box while dragging (as is already possible) is not enough, because the object is not being moved while doing things like mentioned above.

I'd highly appreciate some kind of toggle keyboard command – like "command (or control on Windows) H" like in Photoshop which completely deactivates (and switches on) any current selection indicators.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Lorox said:

Oftentimes you have an object selected and want to add a delicate stroke or a sophisticated gradient fill and you notice that you just cannot really judge what you're doing unless you deselect the object to get a proper view without the (quite obtrusive) bounding box getting into the view – really spoiling the preview.

I am not quite sure if this might work for you:

Press the spacebar. This switches to the Hand Tool and hides the bounding box.
Moving the mouse (just moving without pressing it) brings the bounding box back again.

d.

Affinity Designer 1 & 2   |   Affinity Photo 1 & 2   |   Affinity Publisher 1 & 2
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Photo 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad

Windows 11 64-bit - Core i7 - 16GB - Intel HD Graphics 4600 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
iPad pro 9.7" + Apple Pencil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi dominik,

thank you very much! This (pressing the spacebar) is certainly better than nothing, but I actually want to be able not to just look at but to actively DO things within my file, while not having to see the bounding box or the selection marquee – so I inevitably HAVE to move the mouse (or graphics tablet pen) most of the time.

Considering this I'd say some keyboard shortcut to toggle the visibility of these "markers" (and possibly ALL distracting elements – like guides etc. – at the same time) would be highly useful and ergonomic. You can do so in Illustrator and Photoshop since forever and I think – while I know it's not the point to mimick these programs from A to Z – it's not a bad thing at all to learn from your competitors. They just will have done some things right after all... This appears to be one of them.

L.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Lorox said:

so I inevitably HAVE to move the mouse (or graphics tablet pen) most of the time

I do not quite understand what you are doing to the object that shows the bounding box while moving the mouse while 'Hide selection while Dragging' is enabled. Can you give an example, please?

Whatever I do with the Move Tool active the bounding box gets out of the way. But I admit, without moving the mouse the bounding box is visible, perhaps this is what you are referring to?

 

Quote

Considering this I'd say some keyboard shortcut to toggle the visibility of these "markers" (and possibly ALL distracting elements – like guides etc. – at the same time) would be highly useful and ergonomic. 

Publisher has a Preview Mode that does this. If you have Publisher you could give it a try (CTRL+SHIFT+W).

d.

Affinity Designer 1 & 2   |   Affinity Photo 1 & 2   |   Affinity Publisher 1 & 2
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Photo 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad

Windows 11 64-bit - Core i7 - 16GB - Intel HD Graphics 4600 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
iPad pro 9.7" + Apple Pencil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi dominik,

as to your question (sorry for answering somewhat belatedly): making the bounding box invisible while dragging the selected object works perfectly for me, too.

However, when the object which I'm working on is stationary and I just want to change some of its attributes – like, say, fiddle around with its stroke width or with a gradient or an effect that's been assigned to it – the bounding box with its blue lines and other marks becomes really obtrusive and it's sometimes hard to judge the effects of what I'm doing to the object in an unhindered way. This is especially true if that object is rather small but you have to see it in context with other elements around it (thus limiting the zoom factor used and leaving that object rather small on screen).
And while working on that object, I'll just HAVE to move the mouse (or pen) which immediately makes the bounding box become visible again...

As to your other remark:

I have Publisher and I checked what you wrote – it is exactly like you say (in InDesign it's just the same – and for good reason), BUT:

in "Preview Mode" everything that's not printing is hidden (as expected) EXCEPT for a selected object's bounding box! So we're back to the original problem...

In Illustrator, however, you have exactly what I'd really like Designer (and, for that, Publisher) to have:
in the "View" ("Ansicht") menu you can toggle between "Hide Corners" ("Ecken ausblenden") and "Show Corners" ("Ecken einblenden") which actually applies to selected objects. This way you can work on an object which then just shows "live" the changes you're making to it but doesn't show any markers showing that it's actually selected at the moment (but which you, of course, know at the time) – this way you're getting a true and unhindered preview!

Seems simple enough to me and I do hope the guys at Serif won't find it too hard to implement in the future...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Lorox said:

However, when the object which I'm working on is stationary and I just want to change some of its attributes – like, say, fiddle around with its stroke width or with a gradient or an effect that's been assigned to it – the bounding box with its blue lines and other marks becomes really obtrusive and it's sometimes hard to judge the effects of what I'm doing to the object in an unhindered way. This is especially true if that object is rather small but you have to see it in context with other elements around it (thus limiting the zoom factor used and leaving that object rather small on screen).
And while working on that object, I'll just HAVE to move the mouse (or pen) which immediately makes the bounding box become visible again...

Thanks for elaborating on this use case. Now I do understand your point and see that the bounding box can get in the way. I can imagine that this could be a nice enhancement.

d.

Affinity Designer 1 & 2   |   Affinity Photo 1 & 2   |   Affinity Publisher 1 & 2
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Photo 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad

Windows 11 64-bit - Core i7 - 16GB - Intel HD Graphics 4600 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
iPad pro 9.7" + Apple Pencil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.