Scaling Issue

[MoonaticDestiny]

So I got Designer 2 weeks ago. I'm coming from adobe illustrator cs5, and I'm having this issue in affinity Designer where if I scale my object down and I want to scale it down proportionally it doesnt work. Normally, in adobe illustrator, you would hold down shift, scale down your object, and your object should scale proportionally. So I'm doing this in Designer but its not working. It like skews my object. Its so weird. So then I found out that you dont have to hold shift. You can just scale down the object and your object scales proportionally. So I'm like okay. Cool. I dont have to hold down shift. I can just scale my objects. BUT then sometimes that doesnt work. Sometimes scaling down doesnt work and I'm forced to hold down shift. And then sometimes holding down shift doesnt work so I'm forced to hold down alt. And then other times alt doesnt work so I'm forced to hold down command. Its so weird. I have to hold down either of these 3 buttons for my object to scale proportionally and it randomly works depending on what button wants to work that day. So Im like what is going on? Why is it like this?

I was going through the preferences in the tools and found out that there is something called "move tool aspect contrain." I googled what this meant and found an affinity forum that explained my problem! Heres what a user said about this preference.

Check the setting of the "Move Tool Aspect Constrain" option in Affinity Designer > Preferences > Tools. There are 3 possible settings:

• Automatic (based on selection) -- constrains only objects that have a 'natural' aspect ratio (like Image layers)
• Constrain by default -- constrains unless the Shift key is held down
• Do not constrain by default -- constrains only if the Shift key is held down

So pretty much whats going on is BY DEFAULT the app is set to Automatic (based on selection). So this whole time my object only scaled down when it has a natural aspect ratio. And when it doesnt it skews my object. So it randomly works depending on the aspect ratio of my object. Thats what was going on. Why is this on by default? Like, as a new user, this really frustrated me. I dont want to go into an app that does this.  It turns out I need to set it to Do not constrain by default  so that when I hold down shift my object scales proportionally. 

Like, I'm over here scaling down my object and hitting shift, alt, OR command to see which one of these 3 buttons is going to work with me today. Everyday it was like this. And I have the ipad version of affinity designer and I always wondered why scaling works on the ipad when I hold a finger down but then it doesnt work on the desktop version when I hold shift, alt, or command. I knew something was wrong. I needed to set it to Do not constrain by default  Ugh!!! This whole time! Why do this to new users? Its a bad experience. 

So if your scaling is all wrong and youre there holding down on shift and its not working, its because you need to set your move tool aspect contrain in the tools preference to Do not constrain by default.🙄

 

 

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, MoonaticDestiny said:

BUT then sometimes that doesnt work.

In the StatusBar, the meaning of holding down the Shift key is indicated.

I once suggested changing the cursor based on whether or not aspect ratio is active when resizing an object, which would significantly reduce user confusion.

Today, at least the description in the StatusBar is consistent, which means that the resizing type is already correctly detected (with / without aspect ratio), so an adequate cursor change would be very easy.

 

P.S. "This is frustrating. Why didn't anyone tell me this? This should not be on by default."

A meaningful post title will help other users with similar issues to find it more easily on the forum.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Pšenda

[MoonaticDestiny]

4 hours ago, Pšenda said:

In the StatusBar, the meaning of holding down the Shift key is indicated.

I dont even pay attention to the status bar. Its annoying. I wish it was at the top instead of the bottom. However, now that I can see the status bar show what commands are available when I start to scale objects down, its really helpful. Thank you. 

[MoonaticDestiny]

4 hours ago, Pšenda said:

A meaningful post title will help other users with similar issues to find it more easily on the forum.

My apologies. I was just angry and frustrated and thought that title would get ppls attention. I know now to be VERY SPECIFIC about my problem and not title another post like that. Thank you. 

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, MoonaticDestiny said:

another post like that

Posts can be edited (click to ellipsis) so you can make this more usable 🙂

The StatusBar is generally very useful - because all possible key combinations with different tools cannot be memorized.

[MoonaticDestiny]

2 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Posts can be edited (click to ellipsis) so you can make this more usable 🙂

 

Done.

Curious, do you know how to hide the status bar? LOL. 😅

[Pšenda]

8 minutes ago, MoonaticDestiny said:

Curious, do you know how to hide the status bar? LOL. 😅

I know, but as I said in a previous post, StatusBar is essential to me.

[Jet Blizzard]

Here is a tutorial that might help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kv4Le3giMQ

This is showing how to proportionally scale shapes linked in a group.