Affinity Designer Power Duplicate Is Not Working

[Alexi]

I am not getting consistent results with Power duplicate on Affinity Designer 1.10.4.1198 on Windows 11. In the attached sample file — Test.afdesign — the rotation point of the green circle is set to the middle of the document using the Point Transform Tool. Then Ctrl+J is used to duplicate the circle. Using the Transform studio dialog the duplicate circle is rotated 15° around the rotation point set by the Point Transform Tool. Next Ctrl+J is used again to create a new duplicate. The new duplicate should be rotated 15° from the previous duplicate. Instead the new circle is created in the same location as the original.

Is this a known bug, or am I doing something wrong?

Test.afdesign

[Old Bruce]

Using your file I did the following:

1. Using the Move tool I selected the thing.
2. I set the Enable Transform Origin.
3. I used Command + J to duplicate the thing.
4. I used the R box in the Transform Panel and entered 15 and hit return.
5. I hit Command + J again and again to repeat the duplication and rotation.

At no point was the thing or its duplicated version de-selectied. That is important. If the thing is deselected for any time then the power duplicate won't work.

[Alexi]

By using the Move tool and toggling the Enable Transform Origin on the contextual toolbar for the Move tool, I was able to get consistent results. Thank you so much!

[Old Bruce]

You are welcome, it is always good to hear about what worked.

[jiml706]

Hi i've followed the steps Old Bruce listed here for power duplicate and it still doesn't work even without needing to rotate the angle despite having uninstalled and reinstalled AD just now (8am 14/02/22). I'm using a 2011 imac btw on High Sierra.

As pretty much a newb to graphic apps of any kind-I settled for AD because of adobes daylight robbery and GIMP's sprawling impenetrable bulk was impossible to get a grip on-AD seemed ideal for myself as a beginner with a relatively low barrier to entry in terms of cost and usability. 

This issue is really tainting things because it speaks to the potential  unreliability of AD. I really need an app of this type with AD's accessibility but I need to know I can rely on it. Is there something that needs to be set-up or tweaked within the mac version that I need to do?

While it's not immediately pressing it is a function I'd like to use in future. I'd appreciate any help in getting around this problem, thanks in advance, Jim.

Edited February 14, 2022 by jiml706

[Ron P.]

Hi @jiml706, Here's a tutorial demonstrating Power Duplicate.

 

[G13RL]

Hi @jiml706, a little video showing the process, @Ron P.posted the tuto while I was preparing it, I'm posting it anyway, so I didn't do it for nothing.
If the design should have 24 circles as in my example, instead of typing 15° in "Rotation", type "360/15", the distribution of the circles will be more precise, AD will take into account the decimals in its calculation.

Click on the red button to access the video.

https://www.cjoint.com/c/LBojp0PPZL2

 

[jiml706]

Hi Ron P and G13RL thanks for coming back to me so quickly. Unfortunately that's the video that prompted me to post here. I wanted to go through the tutorials again to see what progress I've made and when I got to this found that power duplicate doesn't work.

I've watched this several times now and I'm hoping someone might have some idea of how to fix things.  

[walt.farrell]

27 minutes ago, jiml706 said:

I've watched this several times now and I'm hoping someone might have some idea of how to fix things

As it's working for others, we would have to guess what you might be doing to make it not work.

It's probably more efficient if you can show us what you're doing.

[Alexi]

Actually, it's not working for me when I use power duplicate on path text and shapes. There is no option to Enable Trasform Origin when certain objects are selected. The power duplicate feature is definitely broken.

[Old Bruce]

5 hours ago, alexihelligar said:

Actually, it's not working for me when I use power duplicate on path text and shapes. There is no option to Enable Trasform Origin when certain objects are selected. The power duplicate feature is definitely broken.

Works here on Designer.

[Alexi]

That's the weird thing. I can get it to work sometimes as with the example below using the Transform studio panel, but other times the power duplicate feature completely fails. It's this unreliability of the operation that puzzles.

[Alfred]

4 minutes ago, alexihelligar said:

It's this unreliability of the operation that puzzles.

Aren’t you simply falling foul of the condition noted below?

On 2/9/2022 at 8:01 PM, Old Bruce said:

If the thing is deselected for any time then the power duplicate won't work.

 

[Alexi]

I take care to make sure that requirement is met. I suggest if it is so easy to cause the feature to fail, an alternate way to execute the feature might be a good idea.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, alexihelligar said:

It's this unreliability of the operation that puzzles.

The really puzzling part is it works fine for almost all of us ... as long as we take care not to deselect the just-duplicated object after moving it before continuing to use the duplicate command.

It might help us better understand why it is not working for you if you could post a simple example of it failing, including saving the History with the file so we can see the steps leading up to the failure.

[Alexi]

@R C-R Thanks for that suggestion. The next time I encounter this problem I will do exactly as you say. Anything to make this great application better

[Lem3]

I assume the AD power duplicate function is the same as the one in Photo, and I'm convinced that one is broken:

 

[CRWillow]

I can't get the power duplicator to work when using the arrow keys. I was trying to move one pixel at a time to create a 3D effect. Does it only work with the move tool and the rotation degree box?