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Guide management really too simplistic: should be reviewed from A to Z.


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Hello,


Coming from the Corel Draw world, I wanted to see if I could migrate to Affinity Designer without too much trouble, as v2 includes surface measurement, which is very useful to me. (Presently, the use of Corel Draw is the only reason that makes me have Windows installed on my Mac)
Unfortunately, one of the main things that prevent me from migrating to Affinity Designer is the very minimalist management of guides, whose main shortcomings, in my opinion, are the following:
* Impossible to create tilted guides!
* The attributes (position) of the guides are not editable directly in the "Transform" palette (you have to open the guides modal window!)
* It is impossible to space several guides evenly (it is impossible to use the "Column" guides for this purpose, as these guides must be anchored to the page margins, are only vertical, you cannot create several sets of column guides, etc.)
* Impossible to lock a guide to prevent any inadvertent movement.
* Impossible to create n evenly spaced guides! (For example, create 10 guides spaced 1 cm apart each)
* Impossible to group guides, so that you can move them together,
* ...

Hope this will be upgraded in a future release.

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19 hours ago, Chibi.beru said:

Impossible to create tilted guides

With the appropriate snapping options active, you can create and use any objects in as your (temporary) guides. If you keep them without fill and stroke for use in Designer's Outline mode, they won't even export or print. Otherwise you can put them in a separate layer and hide it for print or export.

Converting any vector object into a guide like in good old FreeHand would be nice!

19 hours ago, Chibi.beru said:

you have to open the guides modal window

On Mac, the Guides window is not "modal", it's floating. You can keep it open at all times if you have enough screen estate.

19 hours ago, Chibi.beru said:

It is impossible to space several guides evenly

19 hours ago, Chibi.beru said:

Impossible to create n evenly spaced guides! (For example, create 10 guides spaced 1 cm apart each)

Create multiple guides in the Guides window by clicking the Add New button, then double-click them in the list to enter your values. The input fields in the list can do basic math, so if you starting point is e.g. 12 mm, you can distribute the other guides by 12*2, 12*3, 12*4, or e.g. 12+3, then copy and paste the basic formula 12+(3*2), 12+(3*3), 12+(3*4), etc.

19 hours ago, Chibi.beru said:

Impossible to lock a guide

19 hours ago, Chibi.beru said:

Impossible to group guides, so that you can move them together

Good points. +1!

Edited by loukash
see below

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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On 1/24/2023 at 5:33 AM, loukash said:

Create multiple guides in the Guides window by clicking the Add New button, then double-click them in the list to enter your values. The input fields in the list can do basic math, so if you starting point is e.g. 12 mm, you can distribute the other guides by 12*2, 12*3, 12*4, or e.g. 12+3, then copy and paste the basic formula 12+(3*2), 12+(3*3), 12+(3*4), etc.

This can be an solution if the number of guides to be created is not too high. But this is just too much time consuming when we need, for instance, to create 50 guides.

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On 1/24/2023 at 5:33 AM, loukash said:

With the appropriate snapping options active, you can create and use any objects in as your (temporary) guides. If you keep them without fill and stroke for use in Designer's Outline mode, they won't even export or print. Otherwise you can put them in a separate layer and hide it for print or export.

 

Yes indeed! I even didn't think of this, but it seems to be quite a powerful workaround!

I suggest two features that would potentially greatly improve the use of objects as guides (but not restricted to this):

  • Add a Printable/Non Printable property to layers/objects, just as they have the Locked/Unlocked and the Visibility properties. A small printer icon just besides the Lock icon, to unable toggling this property would be great!
    ==> Appearance (color, transparency....) of objects created for guide purpose only could be easily managed and not restricted to Transparent or to Outline mode.
     
  • Add a "Move object to..." command in the contextual menu of an object. But as the number of layers may quickly become very high, it would be nice to restrict this command only to layers previously marked as (listed as a destination in the "Move object to..." command
    ==> Just a small checkbox to add besides the Printable & Lock icons
    ==> This would make very easy to create any object for guide purpose, whatever layer you're working in, then move the object to the proper layer.
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On 1/24/2023 at 5:33 AM, loukash said:

With the appropriate snapping options active, you can create and use any objects in as your (temporary) guides.

The more I am thinking about this workaround, the more I can see its very high potential! (But in fact, this is not restricted to Affinity apps and now, I remember I already used this method in Corel Draw for instance, to create non straight guides like ellipses and so on, by creating specific Guide layers)
==> Silly me!

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54 minutes ago, Chibi.beru said:

this is just too much time consuming when we need, for instance, to create 50 guides.

You didn't specify how many, but fair enough. :) 

24 minutes ago, Chibi.beru said:

Add a Printable/Non Printable property to layers/objects

This has been requested since years. Please search the forum and add your +1 to existing threads, too.

24 minutes ago, Chibi.beru said:

Add a "Move object to..." command in the contextual menu of an object.

Hm… I know exactly what you mean because I'm using this very context menu command in MacOS Finder, enabled via the XtraFinder plugin. But even there, navigating to the destination this way is sometime more tedious than simply opening a new Finder window with the destination folder visible (often via other helper tools like Default Folder) and doing a plain old drag'n'drop.

But feel free to post it as a separate feedback/feature request. Here in this thread, it's too buried and may go unnoticed.

19 minutes ago, Chibi.beru said:

I usually need to lock/unlock not ALL guides, but only some specific guides.

  1. unlock (keyboard shortcut)
  2. move specific guide
  3. lock (keyboard shortcut)
1 minute ago, Chibi.beru said:

I already used this method in Corel Draw for instance, to create non straight guides like ellipses and so on, by creating specific Guide layers

Just last week I finally installed my Freehand 9 in a SheepShaver emulation of Mac OS 9.
Freehand could convert any vector shape to a guide with a simple click on the Guides layer in the Layers palette!

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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On 1/23/2023 at 5:39 AM, Chibi.beru said:

Hello,


Coming from the Corel Draw world, I wanted to see if I could migrate to Affinity Designer without too much trouble, as v2 includes surface measurement, which is very useful to me. (Presently, the use of Corel Draw is the only reason that makes me have Windows installed on my Mac)
Unfortunately, one of the main things that prevent me from migrating to Affinity Designer is the very minimalist management of guides, whose main shortcomings, in my opinion, are the following:
* Impossible to create tilted guides!
* The attributes (position) of the guides are not editable directly in the "Transform" palette (you have to open the guides modal window!)
* It is impossible to space several guides evenly (it is impossible to use the "Column" guides for this purpose, as these guides must be anchored to the page margins, are only vertical, you cannot create several sets of column guides, etc.)
* Impossible to lock a guide to prevent any inadvertent movement.
* Impossible to create n evenly spaced guides! (For example, create 10 guides spaced 1 cm apart each)
* Impossible to group guides, so that you can move them together,
* ...

Hope this will be upgraded in a future release.

I do not have the V2 version but the V1 version and I would like to ask this question: When an object is selected i.e. the bounding box and handle are visible, do they disappear when you drag a guide like they do in V1?

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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I have tried your years to get Affinity to change that so that a guide can be positioned or snapped on the object handles. This is particularly useful for circles and ellipses. I cannot for the life of me see why this is not possible! Surely the coding for doing this cannot be complicated. I have no nothing about coding so cannot speak with any authority but to me it would seem that it cannot take much effort to keep the handles in view as it would to make them disappear.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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1 hour ago, Chibi.beru said:

This can be an solution if the number of guides to be created is not too high. But this is just too much time consuming when we need, for instance, to create 50 guides.

I may be missing something, but have you considered using a grid instead?

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No a grid is not necessary for such a simple feature. To be able to place a guide on any handle on an object's bounding box would be universal! Snapping is not an option as there may be another snapping point somewhere on the drawing, very close in alignment to the object's handle, and thus be off-centre.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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36 minutes ago, N.P.M. said:

But as in version 1 the guides snap to object already.
 

 

I know that! But if you many many objects on the page the guide may snap to another object which is almost in alignment. I have to zoom in to make sure the guide snaps to the correct handle.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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30 minutes ago, jackamus said:

there may be another snapping point somewhere on the drawing

4 minutes ago, jackamus said:

But if you many many objects on the page the guide may snap to another object which is almost in alignment. I have to zoom in to make sure the guide snaps to the correct handle.

Snapping options > Candidates: Immediate Layers
Make sure the object you want to snap to is in its own layer, then select it. Or just temporarily group it with itself and select it within this group.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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Also an important snapping option: Only snap to visible objects
Then temporarily hide anything you don't want to snap to.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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All of these solutions call for needles effort on my part just to make sure a guide snaps to an invisible bounding box handle! If the handles were still visible when dragging a guide then there is no problem. How difficult is that to write code for?

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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7 minutes ago, N.P.M. said:

If you put your mind to you can do anything(yourself)
Why should Serif put in the effort if you're not willing?
Maybe try out some AI with a speech to text mode where you can sit and talk to your screen and have it do the stuff for you.
 

That is a pathetic response and you know it!

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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36 minutes ago, jackamus said:

How difficult is that to write code for?

As every so often, it's less about "difficulties", more about priorities.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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One of the problems I have is getting people to understand that this feature I'm speaking of, to me is as basic a feature as having guides and bounding boxes in the first place. It must take a conscious effort to choose to make bounding boxes disappear when dragging a guide. Its got nothing to do with priorities which seems to apply to new requested features. I don't believe what I'm asking for is a 'new feature' its why was it left=out in the first place?

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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"Priorities" as in:
Is this an issue for the majority – or at least a significant part – of the ±1000000 Affinity users, or is this an issue for @jackamus plus a few fellow forum contributors?
No offense… :) 

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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11 minutes ago, loukash said:

"Priorities" as in:
Is this an issue for the majority – or at least a significant part – of the ±1000000 Affinity users, or is this an issue for @jackamus plus a few fellow forum contributors?
No offense… :) 

Such an obvious comment was be expected but no offense taken.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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  • 1 year later...

+1 for this. coming from illustrator, this is a must as a printhouse. we do thousands of templates and manage lots of files every day. if you forgot to hide the layer, it gets printed and your job gets screwed. having a dedicated nonprintable layer to add stuff like cutting guides, should be a better transition for us. not all rip apps use a specific pantone color to avoid printing the cutting lines. we use epson's rip plus graphtec machines. 

On 1/25/2023 at 5:26 AM, Chibi.beru said:

Add a Printable/Non Printable property to layers/objects

 

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