Object Alignment to Key Objects

[Elise Kleve]

What's holding me back from purchasing Affinity Publisher and Designer and abandoning Adobe Illustrator entirely is the obsolete implementation of the alignment feature.

Here's what it looks like in Publisher/Designer:

 

And how Illustrator handles aligning object/s to a key object:

 

Please add these functionalities for us to switch. To be honest, if features like this won't be added to your apps, there's no reason to leave Adobe.

[walt.farrell]

I'm not sure I understand the difference you're pointing out, but if I do, I think you're ignoring the "Align To" options in the alignment dialog. First you select the kind of horizontal or vertical alignment you want, and then you can select where to align them, including "First selected" and "Last selected":

You were leaving it set on "Selection Bounds".

[Elise Kleve]

24 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

First you select the kind of horizontal or vertical alignment you want, and then you can select where to align them, including "First selected" and "Last selected":

Thank you, that works. It's just that it's not as quick to setup compared to Illustrator. i wish I can specify the key object in few clicks.

[transposable]

Hi, @walt.farrell Is there an option anywhere to lock/unlock the preferred 'Align to' option? I mean, is it possible to do key object alignments without using the dropdown menus each time? I'm a new user (experienced AI user), but I can't seem to figure out the tool. I've had to use the dropdown + dropdown each time (the 'Align to' option is always reset) I do an alignment. 

[walt.farrell]

7 hours ago, transposable said:

Hi, @walt.farrell Is there an option anywhere to lock/unlock the preferred 'Align to' option? I mean, is it possible to do key object alignments without using the dropdown menus each time? I'm a new user (experienced AI user), but I can't seem to figure out the tool. I've had to use the dropdown + dropdown each time (the 'Align to' option is always reset) I do an alignment. 

I think you always have to select the Align Horizontally or Align Vertically option first, to specify what you want to do. But the Align To field will remember the last option you chose, at least for that file.

[StephenK]

On 4/23/2020 at 1:20 PM, walt.farrell said:

I think you always have to select the Align Horizontally or Align Vertically option first, to specify what you want to do. But the Align To field will remember the last option you chose, at least for that file.

1. BUG:  The 'Align To' field is broken in Publisher 1.8.2 & 1.8.3 (mac) and it no longer remembers the last chosen alignment option (as it did in previous versions). Now it always reverts to the default alignment option of 'Selection Bounds' so if you are aligning to Spread or Margins you have to change it every time - very annoying and time consuming. I've raised a bug report for this and have reverted back to 1.8.1 until they fix.

2. REQUEST:  I agree with the OP. Please can we have an Alignment Panel that we can keep permanently open, either docked or floating - just like the other Studio Panels. Having to open a popup every time you want to align/change alignment options is really annoying and really slows down work. Or at least include the crucial 'Align To' field on the Control bar with the other alignment buttons so we don't have to open the popup!

3. REQUEST:  Personally I'd like the Alignment process reversed, so that you set the 'Align To' option first and then choose the Align Horizontally/Vertically option. Choosing the Alignment Horizontally/Vertically first (left, right, top, bottom, etc) is counterintuitive to me and confusing because the objects jump all around the screen when you click these settings first and it feels like you're doing something very wrong.

4. REQUEST:  A Key Object like Illustrator would be nice too.

[GarryP]

Have you tried using the Alignment Handles? They can be very quick to use in a lot of cases.

(Image is from Designer but they exist in all the Affinity applications.)

[Elise Kleve]

9 minutes ago, StephenK said:

4. REQUEST:  A Key Object like Illustrator would be nice too.

That's all we need. Adobe Illustrator's implementation of the alignment feature is highly intuitive. Illustrator's UI and UX are well-designed and more contextual with high level of affordance.

We don't really need tons of features but features that are implemented correctly into the software. Object alignment is a fundamental feature; there's no need to complicate it. 

[StephenK]

46 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Have you tried using the Alignment Handles? They can be very quick to use in a lot of cases.

(Image is from Designer but they exist in all the Affinity applications.)

@GarryP   Hi. Thanks, good point. They're an interesting and nice method of snapping to a key object and on the face of it more visually direct and quicker than using buttons. For simple alignments - excellent   but I find I don't use them much because I don't find them reliable. I find it can be quite tricky to get them to snap to the object edge that you want to align to in complicated artwork. They will often snap to some of the selected objects but totally ignore others, unless you zoom in a lot and take time placing the handle exactly near the object's edge for it to snap, which is more time consuming than using the alignment panel.

Plus, perhaps I'm a bit slow in the head but it took me ages to notice them and even longer to figure out what they do and how to use them. At first I was utterly confused and I've never found any tutorial/instructions for them in any Affinity video/webpage/help manual (i have the Designer Workbook and they are not even mentioned!) or the several Lynda/LinkedIn and Youtube tutorials I've gone through.

@Affinity - As a general point, your tutorials, help and workbook are woefully short on in-depth coverage and explanations. We really need a comprehensive manual for reference. I love the software but this lack of decent training/reference material is what prevented me switching from Adobe years ago. No use producing brilliantly well thought out software if no-one knows how to use it  

[Elise Kleve]

We could just assign custom keyboard shortcuts to align objects faster but without the option to specify a key object, we still have to manually go through the alignment options. 

[GarryP]

StephenK: You might find that using the Candidate List snapping option could help there as you can specify which layers you want to snap to. In other words, when using that option, the software will only snap to what you say you want it to snap to by you selecting what you want to snap to before you try snapping. (If that makes sense.)

As for a “comprehensive manual”, what you mean by “comprehensive”? Ask that question of ten different people and you will probably get at least ten different answers. Unless it covers absolutely every possible aspect of what every tool/filter/adjustment/sub-tool/feature/function/etc. can do – a particularly huge task considering the functionality that already exists, never mind new features which are coming in quickly – there will always be someone who says: “But it doesn’t cover <this thing> which is really important to me.”

[StephenK]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

StephenK: You might find that using the Candidate List snapping option could help there as you can specify which layers you want to snap to. In other words, when using that option, the software will only snap to what you say you want it to snap to by you selecting what you want to snap to before you try snapping. (If that makes sense.)

As for a “comprehensive manual”, what you mean by “comprehensive”? Ask that question of ten different people and you will probably get at least ten different answers. Unless it covers absolutely every possible aspect of what every tool/filter/adjustment/sub-tool/feature/function/etc. can do – a particularly huge task considering the functionality that already exists, never mind new features which are coming in quickly – there will always be someone who says: “But it doesn’t cover <this thing> which is really important to me.”

@GarryP    I use the Candidate List and Snapping Prefs and Layer Locking/Hiding/Restrict To One Layer Editing for certain situations and I love having that power and flexibility. But in general for the kind of stuff I do it's quicker to use the Alignment popup. But a permanent Alignment Panel would be even quicker and nicer 

By 'comprehensive' I mean detailed info for everything, every tool, feature and setting. Greedy maybe but I don't see why I should have to play guesswork for something I've paid for. The info should all be available already in the dev requirements and the documentation of the build process if the devs are following good practice. So it should just require getting a tech writer in to massage it into a digestible form.