Hold Z for zoom and stop using zoom when releasing the Z. Possible?

[Royk]

Hey peeps,

 

I am trying to move away from Illustrator and using Affinity Designer for a week+ now and freaking loving it! I am so glad that there is a sculpting tool addd with the pencil tool that almost match illustrator. 

 

That said... i am facing some frustrating workflows on my keybord in Designer specially with the Z. I want to hold the Z and zoom in and out with moving my mouse left and right. But it seems that zoom is enabled by simply pressing the Z onec, and hit Z again when i am done zooming. Can i change this to "hold Z" that is in my musscle memmory for many many years?

Cheers,

Roy

[Gnobelix]

Hello @Royk,

I'm not so sure if zooming with the Z button works.
But there is the possibility to activate zooming with the mouse wheel.
Maybe this is an option for you.

Preferences
Tools
Use Mouse Wheel to zoom.

Cheers

 

[Royk]

Thank you @gnobelix for your reply. I am working on a Cintiq screen so in most cases i dont use a mouse haha :D. 

[PaulEC]

2 hours ago, Royk said:

it seems that zoom is enabled by simply pressing the Z onec, and hit Z again when i am done zooming.

Actually using the Z key just selects the Zoom Tool. (In the same way as selecting any other tool with a keyboard shortcut.) To leave the Zoom Tool you just need to select another tool, such as V for the Move Tool.

I'm a bit confused about exactly what you want, as you originally said, " I want to hold the Z and zoom in and out with moving my mouse left and right", but said later, " I am working on a Cintiq screen so in most cases i dont use a mouse haha".

[Royk]

2 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

Actually using the Z key just selects the Zoom Tool. (In the same way as selecting any other tool with a keyboard shortcut.) To leave the Zoom Tool you just need to select another tool, such as V for the Move Tool.

I'm a bit confused about exactly what you want, as you originally said, " I want to hold the Z and zoom in and out with moving my mouse left and right", but said later, " I am working on a Cintiq screen so in most cases i dont use a mouse haha".

my reply was on using a mousewheel to zoom in and out  I guess i just need to face the harsh period of replacing learnd muscle memory and create new ones

[walt.farrell]

4 minutes ago, Royk said:

my reply was on using a mousewheel to zoom in and out  I guess i just need to face the harsh period of replacing learnd muscle memory and create new ones

So, what do you expect to do, while holding Z, to perform the Zoom operation?

[Royk]

This is what happens while working. 

I am drawing stuff
Press Z to zoom in or out
It happens that i press Z again to again apply a zoom. 
In Illustrator, pressing and holding Z keeps you in zoom. No matter how many times you press Z.
In Affinty i disabled the Zoom when i pressed the Z for the second time
What happens is that i move blocks because i press on a shape and move to the the left or right (i was expecting to zoom)

This happens me all the time, all day long. It is frustrating me. I want to zoom but move a object, i need to ctrl-z etc. 

So.. Difference Illustrator / Affinity:

Illustrator: You stay in Zoom (Z) no matter how many times you press Z
Affinty: Press Z = zoom. Press Z = exit zoom.

Is there a way to disable this? (i guess not)
 

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, Royk said:

Press Z to zoom in or out

But having pressed Z, what do you do to zoom?

[Royk]

I move pen / mouse left or right. Pressing on a point of interest where i want to zoom in / out.

[Gnobelix]

Is there no way to adjust the zoom in the driver of the Cintiq screen?

 

Cheers

[Royk]

Thanks @Gnobelix

Nah, i dont think so. I dont use the driver like that to. I use my hand on the keyboard for all the shortcuts. I guess i need to addopt pressing the Z twice, and face a zilion moving objects while i want to zoom, ending swearing some words loadly

[walt.farrell]

Thanks for the added info, @Royk.

I'm afraid you won't be able to hold Z as you're used to doing. It is, as you've indicated, click Z once to select the Zoom tool. Click Z again to revert to the prior tool. Once you're in the Zoom Tool you have various ways you can Zoom, as indicated on this Help page: https://affinity.help/designer/en-US.lproj/pages/GetStarted/zoom.html

However, you do have an alternative to using Z. You can press the Spacebar, and then press and hold Ctrl (on Windows) which temporarily puts you into Zoom mode. Once there, you can drag the mouse left/right to zoom, or drag into a marquee as indicated on the Status Bar.

Still, it will take some muscle retraining.