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Rotate view Tool


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3 hours ago, Ruddi Hansen said:

It would be nice if Affinity Photo also have an Rotate view tool like in Photoshop.

In case you haven't found it, rotation is available in the View menu (View > Rotate Right or Rotate Left) though only in 15 degree increments. There is no default shortcut key, but you can assign your own in Preferences, Keyboard Shortcuts. Alt+R and Alt+L are available for use on Windows, for example, if you wanted to assign them.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Hi Ruddi Hansen,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
If you are using a Mac with a trackpad you can also rotate the view using the trackpad. There's an option for that in Affinity  Preferences, Tools section (Enable canvas rotation with trackpad - should be enabled by default).

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Hi Fritz,
Magic Mouse/Trackpad support is relatively straightforward to implement through Apple's provided API's. They work the same way on all Macs and provide quite a lot of functionality so we take advantage of them, the same way we also support the touch bar or any other hardware/software technologies the macOS may provide (the additional Apple Core Image RAW engine for example). It would be silly not doing so. Same approach for Windows where we support the Microsoft Dial and Microsoft Pen (besides the third party tablets/pens on both OS'es), additional export formats (more relevant for Windows users), or Paste Special command just to name a few - which are not available on the Affinity apps for macOS.

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Well, not quit the same thing. 

Now i just have to click Alt+R 54 times to go right and then go to the view menu and select Rotate Left 80 times to go left. 

We need a dynamic way where i can click crtl+r or alt+r and then drag with the mouse or wacom pen to the correct position. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Ruddi Hansen said:

Well, not quit the same thing. 
Now i just have to click Alt+R 54 times to go right and then go to the view menu and select Rotate Left 80 times to go left. 
We need a dynamic way where i can click crtl+r or alt+r and then drag with the mouse or wacom pen to the correct position. 

@Ruddi Hansen @MEB

Hi Ruddi, I was indeed also thinking that the answer from MEB is a bit "lame":
Serif is capable to develop impressive Graphics- and Design-Software but has no clue how to implement Canvas-Rotation without Windows-APIs?

I guess (!) they use some .NET-Framework-Technology in their Windows-Application.
Perhaps .NET does support stuff like this?

(I noticed recently that OBS - "Window-Recording" does not work with Affinity-Applications, but "Screen-Recording" does...
makes me guess that there is more to it than meets the eye..)


kind regards
Fritz

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3 hours ago, Ruddi Hansen said:

Now i just have to click Alt+R 54 times to go right and then go to the view menu and select Rotate Left 80 times to go left.

A bit of an exageration, perhaps?

Each rotation takes you 15 degrees, so at most 24 will go completely around the circle in either direction.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Hi Fritz_H
I'm sorry, my reply was a bit off, probably because i tried to address the inference of a preference for an OS over the other more (which is not true/correct) than explaining why. My apologies.

We started development on the Mac (way before launching the apps on Windows), where due to the close nature of the system it's relatively straightforward to implement/support certain functionalities/hardware. Full trackpad support was implemented there since the beginning. Later with the launch of Affinity for Windows, we have been slowly catching up on a few missing features (after spending some time fixing various compatibility issues reported by users/ensuring the app stability). We are still doing this work - hardware acceleration for example is still also missing on Windows - but due to the open nature of the Windows ecosystem it takes a little longer to ensure proper support for all possible hardware/software configs. I never said it's not possible to provide support for the trackpad gestures on Windows - it's simply something that wasn't done at this point because (i assume) it's not as straightforward as on macOS and there's still other work that needs to be done. Let me check with the dev team if they can provide any more info.

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@MEB Thanks for your reply. No need to apologize.

I do understand, that Serif is still very focused to MacOS which is sad. 
BTW: I really would like to see statistics about your sold licenses: MacOS vs iOS vs Windows

You always refer to the trackpad. Why? Who cares about trackpads?
Based on those many bug-reports in your Forums by (Wacom-) Tablet-Users you can guess that those Users will welcome canvas-rotation too.
There is no need of a Trackpad to allow the user to rotate the canvas - Why not just implement this somehow else?

kind regards
Fritz

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3 hours ago, Fritz_H said:

I do understand, that Serif is still very focused to MacOS which is sad. 

As i said earlier, we simply started the development on Mac first thus we are still catching up on a few things on Windows. The Affinity apps were developed with cross platform in mind since the beginning. Actually the latest 1.8 Betas were released first on Windows.

 

3 hours ago, Fritz_H said:

You always refer to the trackpad. Why? Who cares about trackpads?
Based on those many bug-reports in your Forums by (Wacom-) Tablet-Users you can guess that those Users will welcome canvas-rotation too.
There is no need of a Trackpad to allow the user to rotate the canvas - Why not just implement this somehow else?

Because the trackpad come in sequence of Walt's reply in the second post. The OP never mentioned he was using a Wacom (or any other tablet) and wanted a solution similar to the Rotate View Tool in Photoshop. Besides the menu commands and custom shortcuts suggestion Walt mentioned - which are not exactly want the user wanted but could help a little, if you happen to be using a Mac - in particular a MacBook - you can also use the built-in trackpad to quickly rotate the canvas to any angle without any external tablets or using those commands which is a little closer to what the user wished. Since the OP didn't mentioned what OS he's running the Affinity apps on i thought it would worth mention it, just in case.

Third-party tablet support specifics is another topic entirely and as you noticed it's being discussed in other threads. We hope to keep improving it on Windows as we are doing with other lacking/missing features.

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17 hours ago, MEB said:

As i said earlier, we simply started the development on Mac first thus we are still catching up on a few things on Windows. The Affinity apps were developed with cross platform in mind since the beginning. Actually the latest 1.8 Betas were released first on Windows.

 

Because the trackpad come in sequence of Walt's reply in the second post. The OP never mentioned he was using a Wacom (or any other tablet) and wanted a solution similar to the Rotate View Tool in Photoshop. Besides the menu commands and custom shortcuts suggestion Walt mentioned - which are not exactly want the user wanted but could help a little, if you happen to be using a Mac - in particular a MacBook - you can also use the built-in trackpad to quickly rotate the canvas to any angle without any external tablets or using those commands which is a little closer to what the user wished. Since the OP didn't mentioned what OS he's running the Affinity apps on i thought it would worth mention it, just in case.

Third-party tablet support specifics is another topic entirely and as you noticed it's being discussed in other threads. We hope to keep improving it on Windows as we are doing with other lacking/missing features.

@MEB

Thanks again for taking the time to write a comprehensive answer.
The OP mentioned Wacom in this posting: 

(just scroll up a little..)

He wrote: "We need a dynamic way where i can click crtl+r or alt+r and then drag with the mouse or wacom pen to the correct position. "

Since he posted this after your hint regarding the Mac-Trackpad, we can guess that he does use a Windows-PC.

To cut it short: 
Please add any method for dynamic (?) Canvas-rotation to the Windows-Version of Photo".

:-)

kind regards
Fritz

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Clip Studio does rotation even better than Photoshop. It doesn't have a rotation "tool" which must be used.  Screen rotation is done by key modifier and mouse or stylus drag, and no giant compass appears in the middle of the screen.  In Photoshop, I had to waste a precious button on my Wacom EK remote just for the screen rotation tool.  If Serif is going to do a proper rotation function, I hope they take notes from Clip Studio Paint and not Photoshop.    Also, if you hold the same key modifier and double tap the screen, it resets the screen rotation to default.  It's perfection.

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I'm on a mac and will use the track pad to rotate canvas, but often I am using an external keyboard and second monitor, so it's rather awkward and inconvenient to reach for the track pad, removing my hand from the external keyboard. It's a really small thing, but it would make my drawing process so much more streamlined if there was a single key shortcut (or combination like Shift + Space) for arbitrary canvas rotation, on Windows (which I use occasionally) and Mac. In fact this is one of my few complaints about Photo and Designer, that keeps me from completely adopting them for all my illustration work.

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  • 3 weeks later...

it just needs to be easier. The Photoshop way is just perfect, hold R button and just drag with whatever you're working with, mouse or pen to rotate the view. If you're trying to fix some hair you need to rotate a lot while drawing.

It's one of those features that once you start using it, you can't live without it.

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On 2/5/2020 at 5:17 PM, Pierre68 said:

Hello, i do like your soft, but on Affinity Photo/Design, when the desktop is rotated, the antialising is down... it's rather perturbated.

Capture%20d%E2%80%99%C3%A9cran%202020-02

The edges are aliased.

Can you fixed it ? Thanx

Wow, you're not kidding.

the 45 and 90 degree angles are fine but 15 and 30 are horrible

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+ agree with the OP

a fluid rotation tool like [R] in Photoshop is more intuitive than 15˚ increments assigned to a key for day to day. My workflow example being batch retouching where making an ergonomically comfortable up stroke / downstroke with an Intuos tablet is essential.  This feature addition alone could bring me to using Affinity full time : )

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  • 3 months later...

 

On 2/5/2020 at 3:03 AM, Xzenor said:

it just needs to be easier. The Photoshop way is just perfect, hold R button and just drag with whatever you're working with, mouse or pen to rotate the view. If you're trying to fix some hair you need to rotate a lot while drawing.

It's one of those features that once you start using it, you can't live without it.

Another +1 here, as well. A fluid rotation like Photoshop's is the only thing standing in the way of me moving over to Affinity and dropping Photoshop completely. Any ETA on this? Thanks!

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On 1/9/2020 at 12:24 PM, Fritz_H said:

Since he posted this after your hint regarding the Mac-Trackpad, we can guess that he does use a Windows-PC.

Or that he uses a desktop computer with a mouse.

Not everyone on either platform uses a trackpad or a tablet

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I still don't like how Photoshop does Rotate Screen.  It's not terrible, but it has issues.  The first is that if you hold R and and rotate the screen, you have to hold it long enough that it registers as holding the R key, as opposed to tapping the R key.  What happens in actual use is that many times I move too quickly and Photoshop thinks that I've merely tapped the R Key so instead of merely toggling the Rotate tool, it switches permanently to the R tool.  The next problem is created by the first.  I must dedicate a precious button on my Cintiq EK Remote just for screen rotation.  That key is normally reserved for the brush tool.  So when I accidentally switch to the Rotate tool, I have to make a trip to the toolbox to get the brush tool back again.  The way it should be done is exactly how zoom and pan are done.  Even though there are dedicated tools for those actions, you never need to touch them.  You can execute zooming and panning with just mouse (stylus button), plus key modifiers.  Otherwise, I'd need to dedicate additional precious buttons to zooming and panning.  Clip Studio does zooming, panning, and screen rotation freely using stylus button + key modifiers.  And even the reset is done by key modifier plus double tap on screen with stylus.  Clip Studio does this functionality perfectly.  Plus there's no giant compass in the middle of the screen when using screen rotate.  Adobe needs to clean this whole thing up a little.  If Serif needs inspiration for how to do it I would say that Clip Studio is the gold standard.  Not Photoshop.

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9 hours ago, Kuttyjoe said:

I still don't like how Photoshop does Rotate Screen.  It's not terrible, but it has issues.  The first is that if you hold R and and rotate the screen, you have to hold it long enough that it registers as holding the R key, as opposed to tapping the R key.  What happens in actual use is that many times I move too quickly and Photoshop thinks that I've merely tapped the R Key so instead of merely toggling the Rotate tool, it switches permanently to the R tool.  The next problem is created by the first.  I must dedicate a precious button on my Cintiq EK Remote just for screen rotation.  That key is normally reserved for the brush tool.  So when I accidentally switch to the Rotate tool, I have to make a trip to the toolbox to get the brush tool back again.  The way it should be done is exactly how zoom and pan are done.  Even though there are dedicated tools for those actions, you never need to touch them.  You can execute zooming and panning with just mouse (stylus button), plus key modifiers.  Otherwise, I'd need to dedicate additional precious buttons to zooming and panning.  Clip Studio does zooming, panning, and screen rotation freely using stylus button + key modifiers.  And even the reset is done by key modifier plus double tap on screen with stylus.  Clip Studio does this functionality perfectly.  Plus there's no giant compass in the middle of the screen when using screen rotate.  Adobe needs to clean this whole thing up a little.  If Serif needs inspiration for how to do it I would say that Clip Studio is the gold standard.  Not Photoshop.

No offense but this entire thread is about begging to Serif to 'do it like Photoshop'. You seem to be the only one having an issue with the way Photoshop handles it.

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9 hours ago, Xzenor said:

No offense but this entire thread is about begging to Serif to 'do it like Photoshop'. You seem to be the only one having an issue with the way Photoshop handles it.

Nope, not the only one 😉

I agree with @Kuttyjoe : the way the controls are implemented in Photoshop for rotating the view is less from ideal. And I concur that the huge wind rose that suddenly appears in the center of the screen while rotating is quite distracting. Never liked that at all either.

As far as shortcut keys go, I actually prefer Krita, which is more in line with how 3d applications layout similar controls: <ctrl> middle mouse button zooms and shift middle-mouse button rotates the view. I find ClipStudio's space-shift/ctrl not as comfortable, because the action requires two fingers simultaneously pressing down keys on the keyboard.

Using a similar control method as Krita would be in line with how Affinity uses the middle mouse button to pan the view.

@Pierre68 The anti-aliasing of Affinity's rotated view is absolutely dreadful (at least, on Windows it is, and I have not tested Mac yet). It is unusable in my opinion. Before the devs implement a proper view rotation, they need to deal with that first and foremost. Zoomed in inks at non-decimal percentages look bad as well in Affinity Photo compared to ClipStudio and Krita. ClipStudio looks best in this case.

In short, my work requires a lot of inking, and I cannot tolerate Affinity Photo for this type of job. Even if I wanted to.

PS on a side note: on top of these issues, a major problem is the bad interpolation while drawing zoomed out in Affinity Photo. For example, when I work on a 10000 by 5000 px canvas in Photo, and draw inks (thin black strokes) zoomed out, the resulting strokes display kinks and straight interpolated sections. This does not happen in either Krita or ClipStudio (and yes, even when I turn on the stabilizer at low values: I hate using a stabilizer that is set to strong values - If I can, I turn it either off or down to the minimum).

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