Pen tool snapping and alignment

[Mirrodin]

I'm trying to draw a symmetrical object using the pen tool but the points do not snap or align to other relative points in the shape such as equi-distance, horizontal or vertical alignment with other points in the shape so if I draw one half of the shape none of the successive points snap or align to any other previous points. So even drawing a square is tricky which should be straight forward yes?

 

Am I missing some obscure checkbox somewhere?

 

Many thanks.

[Dan C]

Hi Mirrodin,

Welcome to the forums

There are many Snapping options in Affinity that should allow you to achieve this, could you please provide a screenshot of your current snapping settings?

You can find out more about these options here - https://affinity.serif.com/tutorials/designer/desktop/video/301797237

I hope this helps!

[Mirrodin]

Hi,

 

But that video is all about snapping objects and I'm using the PEN TOOL. As I draw INDIVIDUAL lines...so if I draw a square for example, 1st line point a to b...then right angle...but I don't know when 90 deg is reached...then point b to c...i don't know when both lines are equal...then point c to d same problems again the d back to a and hopefully I have square that's not skewed.

So to be clear this is NOT about snapping pre-made shapes this is about alignment and snapping when using the pen tool to draw symmetrical shapes. And I'm using Photo not Designer.

 

Thank you. I have nearly all the snapping boxes checked. The only ones that are not checked are "Move by whole pixels", "Include margin mid points", "Include bounding box mid points" and "Snap to object geometry".

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Old Bruce]

Show the grid and show the grid manager. There are constraints in the Advanced tab which can be set for snapping in up to six divisions. Hold the shift key while using the pen tool with the snapping on for the grid.

[Mirrodin]

Old Bruce...that's quite useful I see it's made a difference but the snapping is still not very precise, e.g. I just drew an elongated pentagon but Affinity wouldn't indicate relative dimensions and spacing such as when a line's endpoint is equidistant so I know it's length is proportional...using Affinity's snapping guides I have to visually check the pixels which is really tedious. Sometimes angle indicators appear but nothing strongly indicates symmetry. I think Photo and if it's missing in Designer could well do with some symmetry options. These are standard in other free, less comprehensive software. I feel it's quite a strong point that's lacking from a relatively very expensive piece of software.

[Dan C]

19 hours ago, Mirrodin said:

so if I draw a square for example, 1st line point a to b...then right angle...but I don't know when 90 deg is reached

You can use the SHIFT key as a modifier to constrain the angle of your next line, so that the angle is always 90deg as shown below - 

If you're looking to always draw a perfect square then I recommend using the grid & snapping options as Old Bruce has suggested

[R C-R]

@Mirrodin:

Also note that the Pen Tool has its own set of snapping options independent of the global ones. From the Pen Tool help topic:

[Mirrodin]

R C-R:

Oh dear. I'm a silly billy.

I didn't notice those snapping options as they were off screen as my tablet can't display the whole toolbar and if I increase the res any more I won't be able to see even with my glasses on!!  I wish I could put some of those icons on the empty space above. I keep forgetting they're there.

That's perfect. I've adjusted some of the values and now I can see the angles and symmetry points very clearly!!! Phew...I was beginning to feel quite disappointed there!!! I thought how could this have won so many awards and it can't even do symmetry...!

 

Thank you everyone!!! Problem solved.