Designer export segments of a document like in Expression Design4

[Denis2]

Is there a possibility to export separate views of one and the same document like in MS Expression Design 4 with its feature called "segments". 
There you can specify segments which have layers included or not included and can be only a part of the document.

Or maybe this can be solved using another way in Affinity Designer? I want to export multiple separate parts of one big document. I normally don't have documents which can be sepeated into independent slices in Export Persona. Any idea someone?

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Denis2

Have a look in the Help for the Export Persona.
In that you can create Slices which can be exported in numerous ways.

[Denis2]

@GarryP Thank you for the fast response. 
I'm not sure if Slices are the right tool for me. It seems that I can create slices only once per layer, but I need it multiple times on a top-level layer with some sub-layers activated or deactivated for separate image exports. 
Do I have to use Artboards for that somehow?

[GarryP]

You’re welcome.

Ah, I see, I didn’t understand your requirements properly the first time (and still might not).

I don’t think you will be able to do what you want to do easily.

As you have seen, you can only create one Slice from any particular layer and slices can’t control which ‘sub-layers’ in that slice are ‘active’ at any one time.

You can manually create as many slices as you want but these manually-created slices will not be ‘linked’ to a particular layer.

Without knowing more details about what you have and what you want to do with it I can’t really advise further, but I think what you want to do may not be possible without a lot of manual work (if it’s possible at all).

You might be able to do what you want with Artboards, and maybe some Symbols, but I couldn’t really say.

If you can attach the document and give us more information then someone may be able to help.
If you can’t attach the document then some screenshots may help but we might not get all of the information we need – layer organisation, etc. – from those.

[Denis2]

As an example, I have a schematic representation of a printed circuit board for a technical documentation.

 

For further describing this board to the customer, I want to show some numbers like this:

 

So I need the exact same image just with some numbers inserted. I don't want to make a copy of the whole design just to add these numbers to extract one image from that design. How can I achieve this without a feature like the segments in MS ED4?

 

[v_kyr]

31 minutes ago, Denis2 said:

How can I achieve this without a feature like the segments in MS ED4?

Create those numberings, place them on top of the layers panel in/as a group. Now you can hide/show these on demand when needed, let's say for an export or the like.

To get an idea or example of a show/hide usage, see for example this calendar where you can switch to different language views via show/hide layers accordingly ...

For numberings see also these assets:

• Numbering Assets

[Denis2]

1 hour ago, v_kyr said:

Now you can hide/show these on demand when needed

Thank you for your response. Ofcourse I can show/hide layers on demand.
The point is in such a documentation project I have many of these different 'versions' of a design. So I don't want to show/hide these layers manually. With these segments in Expression Design the included layers are stored in the segment. On Export I can click on "Export all segments". Now all the different images are generated from the segments on one click, without always remembering which image needs which layers to be shown.

I hope you understand my point.

[v_kyr]

3 hours ago, Denis2 said:

On Export I can click on "Export all segments". Now all the different images are generated from the segments on one click, without always remembering which image needs which layers to be shown.

Then try to rebuild that functionality/behavior with Artboards & the Export Persona.

• Artboards
  • About artboards
  • Adding and removing
  • Selecting, moving and resizing
  • Renaming and viewing
  • Aligning and distributing
  • Design aids
  • Color and opacity
  • Moving artboard content
  • Exporting
  • Printing
• Exporting
  • Exporting using Export Persona
  • Export Options panel
  • Slices panel
  • Layers panel (Export Persona)

 

[Denis2]

Can I somehow create a feature request just from this thread here?

Without this feature I will simply stay with Expression Design 4 where I don't have to pay for.

[walt.farrell]

45 minutes ago, Denis2 said:

Can I somehow create a feature request just from this thread here?

Without this feature I will simply stay with Expression Design 4 where I don't have to pay for.

Easiest, probably, if you create the Feature Request, with a good wording based on this discussion, and point to this topic for further background info in case it's needed.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/166922-designer-export-segments-of-a-document-like-in-expression-design4/

 

[thomaso]

On 9/27/2022 at 9:38 AM, Denis2 said:

So I need the exact same image just with some numbers inserted. I don't want to make a copy of the whole design just to add these numbers to extract one image from that design.

On 9/27/2022 at 11:42 AM, Denis2 said:

Ofcourse I can show/hide layers on demand.
The point is in such a documentation project I have many of these different 'versions' of a design. So I don't want to show/hide these layers manually. With these segments in Expression Design the included layers are stored in the segment. On Export I can click on "Export all segments". Now all the different images are generated from the segments on one click, without always remembering which image needs which layers to be shown.

I hope you understand my point.

I still don't fully understand your desired workflow respectively the exact specification of the mentioned "segments". Currently it sounds you would want to export the added numbers only, which wouldn't make much sense, especially since they are white. Also it seems you don't want to use Slices.

Then possibly the use of nested artboards might be a workaround here? AD enables you to create artboards from selections (e.g. the numbers) + also allows to move artboards in the Layers Panel inside other artboards, which defines what is visible on export in a different way than hide/show layers. With this combination you can achieve to create + export certain areas of a larger "parent" artboard as single files, without using slices.

This short thread shows examples with nested artboards and their exported results:

[Denis2]

@thomaso Thank you. 

On 10/7/2022 at 1:44 PM, thomaso said:

Currently it sounds you would want to export the added numbers only, which wouldn't make much sense, especially since they are white

No I want to export the image with and without the numbers separately. 

On 10/7/2022 at 1:44 PM, thomaso said:

Then possibly the use of nested artboards might be a workaround here

Yes this sounds like a workaround. Maybe a bit more complicated than in the other tool. Unfortunately I cannot try this out because my test period is already expired, although I had not even used the tool for 10 days yet.

Too bad.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Denis2 said:

Unfortunately I cannot try this out because my test period is already expired, although I had not even used the tool for 10 days yet.

The Trial period is 10 consecutive days from the first time you run the program after you install it.

After that, if you decide to purchase directly from Serif (not from Microsoft or Apple) you have an additional 14 consecutive days where you can get a refund of the purchase price, for any reason.