luispedrofonseca Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Not exactly sure how to call this "feature" but I think in Illustrator it was called "Isolation Mode". What I want to be able to do is, for example, enter a group and drag a selection over a few elements without interfering with background elements. Without, obviously, having to lock them previously. Is there something to accomplish this? It seems like a really basic feature and it's essential to my workflow. How do you guys deal with this type of situations? Georgesd, thatFloozie, Intuos5 and 2 others 4 1 Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted October 6, 2014 Staff Share Posted October 6, 2014 Hi Luís, There's currently no isolation mode in Affinity Designer. I'm not sure if this is what you're after but may i suggest you to use a layer instead of a group? You can drag a selection over a few elements as you want. If you have Edit All Layers disabled in the Layer panel (icon on the bottom left of the panel) you can limit the edition to one specific layer without interfering with other objects from other layers. You can also move the entire layer (all objects as if they were a "group") if you select it (the layer) from the layers panel. Does this help? Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 I see what you mean MEB, but it still feels very cumbersome. For me, it would make sense that once "inside" a group I'd be able to only select the elements on that group and then I'd have to double-click outside the group to exit. Do you know if there's any planned feature that will make this easier? GalaxySurfer, Georgesd and Intuos5 3 Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted October 7, 2014 Staff Share Posted October 7, 2014 Currently, when you double click a group, you immediately select the shape below the cursor, inside that group. Then If you try to drag-select other shapes you are left outside the group. Basically the only thing missing is the ability to drag-select a bunch of shapes inside a group in the canvas (you can always select them individually in the layers panel) and the double-click to exit from it. I'm not aware of any improvements regarding groups but there are still so many areas being worked, that i'm not surprised to see changes here. In any case this is a good request but only an Affinity developer can give you a definite answer. Just give them some time, i'm sure they will step in and give you more info here. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 Yes MEB, that would be pretty much what I need. The ability to drag-select shapes inside a group. fernandolins86 1 Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pier Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 +1 Has there been any progress in this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 I haven't been doing any graphical work lately, but this feature is pretty essential to me. Not sure why there's not more people complaining about the same thing. Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted February 12, 2016 Staff Share Posted February 12, 2016 In the current version you can already press and hold ⌘ (cmd) and drag a marquee around a few objects (even if they lay inside a group) to select them. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 MEB, the problem is that when doing that, it will select all objects and not only the ones inside the group I'm currently at. See this video: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/883485/affinity_designer_group_example.mp4 Georgesd 1 Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filou Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 +1 This is a real problem. If I need to select multiple elements from a group by making an area selection, I always select elements from other groups (or sometimes no element at all!) The isolation mode is more than a feature, it's an essential tool. Selecting every element one by one in the layer box is very tiresome. GalaxySurfer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pier Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 I agree with the others. This is as essential as being able to create a group. I simply can't use Designer without this. GalaxySurfer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 I wish there was a way to bring more attention to this problem or at least some kind of indication this is being worked on or considered. I honestly don't know how people can work without it on semi-complex projects. Prabha 1 Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeandphoto Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 layerzzzzzzzzzzzzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paolo.limoncelli Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 I wish there was a way to bring more attention to this problem or at least some kind of indication this is being worked on or considered. I honestly don't know how people can work without it on semi-complex projects. I think it is a matter of workflow... Isolation Mode is a ux solution that Adobe inherited from Macromedia, being illustrator the only professional vector tool on OSX it is recognised as a "must" feature. Personally I think it is fundamental in Illustrator, where layer palette is the awful same code since earliest versions. In AD would be a plus, imho. CMD+Click allows to pick a nested object, ALT+Click overlapping objects. Moreover grouping/nesting and clipping are non linear operations, made simple stupid using Layer Studio. Last but not least the "Find in layers" command. Very handy. So isolation mode would be probably a nice addition, but I'd love to see other features as first in next versions. Patrick C 1 Quote The white dog, making tools for artists, illustrators and doodlers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 I think it is a matter of workflow... Isolation Mode is a ux solution that Adobe inherited from Macromedia, being illustrator the only professional vector too on OSX it is recognised as a "must" feature. Personally I think it is fundamental in Illustrator, where layer palette is the awful same code since earliest versions. In AD would be a plus, imho. CMD+Click allows to pick a nested object, ALT+Click overlapping objects. Moreover grouping/nesting and clipping are non linear operations, made simple stupid using Layer Studio. Last but not least the "Find in layers" command. Very handy. So isolation mode would be probably a nice addition, but I'd love to see other features as first in next versions. Thanks for your opinion. Although, I'm not sure how the features you listed compensate for the lack of an "isolation mode". On this video I posted above (https://dl.dropboxus...oup_example.mp4) how would you do to select the shapes from the group inside the drag area? Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paolo.limoncelli Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 So you want to select the small circles inside the group without selecting the background rectangles? Am I wrong? Quote The white dog, making tools for artists, illustrators and doodlers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 So you want to select the small circles inside the group without selecting the background rectangles? Am I wrong? Yes, that is correct. Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paolo.limoncelli Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 I currently use the CMD+Shift+Click and CMD+Drag and work fine for this kind of needs. Video I tend to use layers and lock/unlock them to get rid of overlapping elements. But probably there are scenarios I'm missing now... As told you before, in Ai I'm accustomed to isolation mode too because there it is very needed. There are some features I'd love to see before this one :) Quote The white dog, making tools for artists, illustrators and doodlers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 Thanks for the video! The scenario is simple: The ability to select elements of a group that have other overlapping elements outside of that group. With the "isolation mode" in Illustrator you can achieve it in a few clicks. In AD, you have to manually lock the other groups/elements or manually pick the ones you want resulting in multiple clicks, depending on how many elements you have. Jowday and Prabha 2 Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paolo.limoncelli Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Ah ok! Maybe I would add The ability to select elements of a group that have other overlapping elements outside of that group... ...dragging your mouse. Right, this is not yet possible. But somehow this kind of minimalism in tools force me to work somehow "cleaner"... I never used as much layers in vector tools as I'm doing in AD. PS. Congratulation for your projects, the PRO Camera 2D seems stunning! Quote The white dog, making tools for artists, illustrators and doodlers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luispedrofonseca Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 Yeah, I also appreciate cleaner ways of working. But I think the "isolation mode" would just add to that. Any how, let's hope Affinity is listening and some day we might get it. :) Glad you liked ProCamera2D (All icons and art is made with AD)! ;) LoankIx 1 Quote Personal website - http://www.luispedrofonseca.com Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lpfonseca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pier Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 Working with layers is extremely tedious.Working with groups and isolation mode is 10x faster. You can edit a group in isolation mode with literally 1 double click. No need to use shortcuts, modifiers, or waste time in the layers panel.I'm still amazed isolation mode is not in the roadmap. I've been using vector software since Corel Draw 4 (back in the 90s) and isolation mode is by far one of the most useful features ever introduced in the vector workflow. Georgesd and GalaxySurfer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highvoltage Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 +10 Working with layers is very slow, cause you always have to click and manage things on a different part of the screen. With isolation, you never have to worry about where you are. Speeds things up tenfolds. mdfm28 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highvoltage Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Also the Ctrl+Alt select inside group thing works fine when you have only one layer of groups, but as soon as you have groups in a group, on top of a background, or a group inside a constraints, it just doesnt work anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pier Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 When is isolation mode going to be implemented?Selecting stuff on the layer panes is a waste of time. GalaxySurfer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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