Edward Goodwin Posted April 6, 2022 Posted April 6, 2022 When copying objects in Affinity Designer (on a mac), I'm finding that snaps don't work to the object copied from. I'll explain: Let's say I have drawn a rectangle. I alt-click & drag to copy the object. I now want this newly created copy to snap to the object that I've copied it from (the original rectangle). It doesn't snap. If I click off the copy, select the original rectangle and then re-select/drag the copy, it will now snap to the original. This is a frustrating work flow as it requires 2-3 extra clicks. Do I have something incorrectly set-up in the snapping preferences that stops this from working? Or does this functionality not exist in Affinity Designer? Seems quite a basic function to me... All guidance gratefully received! Edward Quote
h_d Posted April 6, 2022 Posted April 6, 2022 (edited) Alt-drag (option-drag on my Mac) ignores snapping. If I option-drag to duplicate and then remove my finger from the option key while still dragging with my trackpad, the duplicated object snaps to the original. Add - if you're on a Mac, cmd-drag 'Clones' selected objects and the clone will snap immediately. Might be worth trying with ctrl-drag on Windows. Edited April 6, 2022 by h_d Old Bruce and Edward Goodwin 1 1 Quote Affinity Photo 2.6.3, Affinity Designer 2.6.3 Affinity Publisher 2.6.3, Mac OSX 15.5, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.
Edward Goodwin Posted April 6, 2022 Author Posted April 6, 2022 h_d - this is great! I am on a mac... alt (on my keyboard, option on others) + click/drag doesn't do the snapping *unless* you release the alt key before unclicking. It's a step I'd not though to try but it works. So that's super. cmd-drag also works. Out of interest, what's the difference between the alt/option and the cmd versions? Is that a difference between copy and clone? If yes, what is clone vs. copy? Thanks for your help! E Quote
h_d Posted April 6, 2022 Posted April 6, 2022 56 minutes ago, Edward Goodwin said: Out of interest, what's the difference between the alt/option and the cmd versions? Is that a difference between copy and clone? If yes, what is clone vs. copy? As far as I can see, cmd-drag gives an immediate snapping effect. But if you release the cmd key before you stop dragging, the cloning effect stops and it becomes an ordinary drag-to-move. I don't think there's any difference at all between the final results of 'clone' (with cmd) and 'copy' (with alt/option). Both methods give you a duplicate object on a new layer, both methods can be followed by cmd-j to step and repeat. The 'official' way seems to be cmd-drag: Alt-drag may be more of a macOS-wide shortcut that 'just happens' to work in Designer. Quote Affinity Photo 2.6.3, Affinity Designer 2.6.3 Affinity Publisher 2.6.3, Mac OSX 15.5, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.
Dan C Posted April 6, 2022 Posted April 6, 2022 27 minutes ago, h_d said: The 'official' way seems to be cmd-drag: Alt-drag may be more of a macOS-wide shortcut that 'just happens' to work in Designer. As I understand it, CMD + drag was the original shortcut, but certain firms we work closely with had expressed an interest in making this shortcut ALT + drag to match other creative applications they were used to - as to not change the process for our pre-existing customers, our developers decided to allow both CMD or ALT + drag to perform the clone action. In terms of differences, the objects created using either key will be the same - the only difference is as you've found, the app ignores snapping when holding the ALT key, including when cloning with the ALT key. I hope this clears things up h_d 1 Quote
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