Is it possible to snap objects according to distance

[Camper69]

I apologize if my question is hard to understand. The picture I provided is a good example; I have one window on the left side and one window in the center. I would like to snap the third window so that the distance between all three windows is the same, it's something I'm used to being easy on Illustrator. But I can't quite figure it out in Affinity Designer. Thank you for your help!

 

--For anyone that is interested, the way I do it at the moment is copying my window along the edge of the wall and then putting the window I'll keep directly against it.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Camper69

[Pšenda]

https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/ObjectControl/distribute.html

[Greyfox]

10 hours ago, Pšenda said:

https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/ObjectControl/distribute.html

As I understand it, both Alignment->Space horizontally and Alignment->Distribute horizontally would move the middle window so it was central between the left window, and where the right window was placed.

What I too would like to know is once the left and middle windows have been placed, how to place, or place and then adjust, the right hand side window so the gap between it and the middle window is the same as the gap between the left window and the middle window.  There isn't anything to snap to if none line up with the grid.

In situations like this, I've simply dragged out a temporary "spacer" rectangle between the left and middle windows, snapping its left side to the right side of the left hand window, and its right side to the left hand side of the middle window, then moved it and snapped its left hand side to the right side of the middle window, and then snapped the left hand side of the right hand window to the right hand side of the spacer, but perhaps there is a less clunky way.

[GarryP]

I’ve attached a video showing some techniques you might want to use including Constraints, which can be very useful sometimes.
Be careful to note which constraints I use on each ‘window’ as you need to set them depending on where the layer is within the group.
This is just a basic example so you might want to do a bit more reading about constraints.

[Pšenda]

... I'll add - when resizing the group (end of video), you can use the Ctrl key, so the size will change according from the center.

[Greyfox]

@GarryP, @Pšenda

Thank you, constraints is a function I haven't used before in Designer, so I've learned something new, but whilst that allows horizontal expansion, or contraction of the group and maintains the horizontal spacing between the objects, it doesn't appear to be able to position, or place,  the right hand side rectangle at the same distance from the middle rectangle as  the distance between the previously place left and middle rectangles (without moving them).

In other words, the existing placement of the left and middle rectangles is exactly where I want them. Now I need to add a third rectangle to the right, and I need it to be the same distance from the middle rectangle as the middle rectangle is from the left rectangle. 

[carl123]

26 minutes ago, Greyfox said:

In other words, the existing placement of the left and middle rectangles is exactly where I want them. Now I need to add a third rectangle to the right, and I need it to be the same distance from the middle rectangle as the middle rectangle is from the left rectangle. 

The "Enable Transform Origin" button can be useful for this sort of thing.

For "symmetrical" shapes it's fine, others may need flipping after moving

 

[Greyfox]

@carl123

Thank you, does the job nicely. I take your point about the need to flip if the object is not symmetrical.

 

[Pšenda]

22 hours ago, Greyfox said:

Now I need to add a third rectangle to the right, and I need it to be the same distance from the middle rectangle as the middle rectangle is from the left rectangle. 

Although this is not exactly accurate, but I would use a measure (Move tool, select middle rectangle, press Ctrl, point to left rectangle, save/remember measure value), and then enter this value in Distribute.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Pšenda

[Greyfox]

11 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Although this is not exactly accurate, but I would use a measure (Move tool, select middle rectangle, press Ctrl, point to left rectangle, save measure value), and then enter this value in Distribute.

Thank you. It took me a while to find the tick box to turn off Auto distribute, and I wish the display of the measurement was larger so I could see it clearly, but yes, that works for me. I take it that when you say ..."Save measure value" you mean remember what it was.

I notice that the Auto distribute tick boxes return to ticked (enabled) after each use. Is there a way of having them remember the selected state until manually changed?

[Pšenda]

9 hours ago, Greyfox said:

I take it that when you say ..."Save measure value" you mean remember what it was.

Yes :-) For hard-to-remember numbers, I use Screenshot/PrtScr (Print Screen), from which I will describe it.

[Greyfox]

3 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Yes :-) For hard-to-remember numbers, I use Screenshot/PrtScr (Print Screen), from which I will describe it.

 

Thank you. I use Faststone Capture for screen shots. That also gets around the problem of the dimension being too small for me to read, as I can zoom the screen grab. 👍

[Pšenda]

9 hours ago, Greyfox said:

I wish the display of the measurement was larger so I could see it clearly

Yes, visibility is unfortunately not good.

It is a pity that the text size does not change according to the zoom size (at least in a few steps). Also keep in mind that the precision of a number (number of decimal numbers) is determined by definition in preferences.

It would be handy a function, that could record these values and then use them when entering (Transform panel, Distribute). For example, the context of the menu (Right click) would be nice.

[Pšenda]

13 minutes ago, Greyfox said:

Thank you. I use Faststone Capture for screen shots. That also gets around the problem of the dimension being too small for me to read, as I can zoom the screen grab. 👍

FastStone Capture (and Viewer) is great, I've been using it for many years, and it's getting better and better. It is unbeatable for annotation of captured screens.

[lepr]

On 4/15/2021 at 8:32 PM, Camper69 said:

I have one window on the left side and one window in the center. I would like to snap the third window so that the distance between all three windows is the same, it's something I'm used to being easy on Illustrator.

Easy in Affinity apps, too. Enable Snap To Gaps And Sizes in the snapping options and then drag the third window until the HUD informs you that the distance between adjacent windows is equal.

Keep that option disabled when you don't actually need it; it can exponentially impact the app's performance as the complexity of the document increases.

[Greyfox]

6 hours ago, anon2 said:

Easy in Affinity apps, too. Enable Snap To Gaps And Sizes in the snapping options and then drag the third window until the HUD informs you that the distance between adjacent windows is equal.

Keep that option disabled when you don't actually need it; it can exponentially impact the app's performance as the complexity of the document increases.

Got it, thank you.

[Camper69]

On 4/17/2021 at 5:10 PM, Greyfox said:

Got it, thank you.

I forgot to check back on this thread but looks like we were both after the same answer. Thank you for pushing on for me and thanks for all the replies from everyone else! My question has been answered as well.