How to drag-select nodes from multiple layers (split)

[PaoloT]

I would like to drag-select the end of a series o lines, each on in a different layer. What I do is the following:

1. Enable editing in all layers from the Layers pane.

2. Choose the Node tool.

3. Drag to select all the points at the end of the lines.

Nothing happens. As a comparison, in other drawing programs the nodes at the end of the selected lines would have been selected.

How to do it in Designer?

Paolo

 

[GarryP]

You first need to select the layers from which you want to choose the nodes.

With the Move Tool, select the layers which contain the nodes you want to select, then use the Node Tool to select the nodes from the selected layers.

You can alternatively select the layers via the Node Tool, but you need to drag-select the whole layer, or use Shift+Click, to select multiple layers, so it’s worth experimenting with both techniques.

[PaoloT]

7 hours ago, GarryP said:

You first need to select the layers from which you want to choose the nodes.

Thank you. I was hoping there was a faster way to select things, maybe with a modifier key. I'll see if a feature request has already been asked.

Paolo

 

[bp6]

I'm trying to do a similar thing (Affinity Designer 2). I have many dots on three groups here (based on stroke width), grouped into a "Left Side" group. There are hundreds of dots there. I want to copy a small section of the dots from all the layers, but when I try to select with the move tool or node tool it doesn't select anything. I can double-click on the area, but that just selects one dot, when I want to get about 20-30 so I can paste them in another image to fill a differently shaped area.

Is it possible?

[Brian_J]

@bp6 In the Layers panel, select all the layers that you want to copy from, then use the Node tool to drag a selection of the curves you want to copy.

Note that you have curves “grouped” in vector Layers. You’ll need to expand the vector Layers and select the child curves in the Layers panel.

It can get confusing talking about layers in Affinity. Your screenshot doesn’t show any Groups… there are 3 (vector) Layers, and 2 of the Layers have child objects. Hopefully that makes sense.

[bp6]

13 minutes ago, Brian_J said:

our screenshot doesn’t show any Groups

Even though I created them by selecting and hitting command-g? (Probably would be ctrl-g on Windows) I renamed them after using the "group" shortcut.

 

14 minutes ago, Brian_J said:

You’ll need to expand the vector Layers and select the child curves in the Layers panel.

Thanks, I'll see if that can be done with these. There are too many to command-click individually, and shift-click only works in a continuous line.

[Brian_J]

25 minutes ago, bp6 said:

Even though I created them by selecting and hitting command-g?

It sounds like you did indeed create Groups, they’re just not visible in your screenshot. Your screenshot shows 3 vector Layers, denoted by the 5 horizontal blue lines on the left side of each Layer.

Side note: Vector Layers are often referred to as “Layer layers” or “Layers” (without the quotation marks) in these forums.

If you’re not familiar with the layer icons, this help article lists all of them: https://affinity.help/designer2/en-US.lproj/pages/Layers/aboutLayers.html.

[bp6]

Thanks, I'll check out the link.