Affinity Designer: Question about Free Transform

[UserR]

Hi

I am trying to increase my window without being distorted, but it is not looking like the original.

I selected scale with object in the stroke properties.  I tried holding command and drag the right corner but that did not work. 
 

On this link I noticed that the person click on a dot outside the box.  I think that is called the handler.  However, I do not see that when I click on my window.  I attached my file, which shows the original window, and after I increased the size.  I would appreciate any suggestions.  

 

Window.afdesign

[Pšenda]

You set Artboards size, not Text Frame size. 

[UserR]

@PšendaThank you for letting me know.   I cannot figure why the window distorts when I increase the size.  

 

[GarryP]

The document in the example GIF you have given us is completely different to the example document you have given us so I don’t know which problem you want us to look at.

In the video an Artboard containing at least one Frame Text layer is being manipulated but the example document has no Artboards or Frame Text layers.

Also, I don’t know what you mean by “distorted”, which could mean any number of things.

Can you provide a document which shows the problem you want us to look at and tell us exactly what the problem is and how to reproduce it?

The answer to the problem is probably a simple one but, if we don’t know what the problem is it will be difficult to know which answer to give.

[laurent32]

I think @UserR's question is :

Why when we resize using the panel  

The blue line "Textframe" doesn't grow in proportion ?

Just like it does when we use 

[v_kyr]

Well it depends here on if for the Arboard1 the top toolbar "lock children" is enabled or disabled. The same would apply for other layer containers probably too. - Further the bottom status bar also tells for a selection node how to drag a node in order to accomplish certain things here ...

• Selecting, moving and resizing artboard
• Transforming objects
• ... etc.

For the by the OP shown example ...

• artboard_lock_children.afdesign

 

[Pšenda]

v_kyr, see difference - in your screenshot, and OP screenshot.

 

[laurent32]

I can see from OP's video that "lock children" is OFF.

Why when the OP use  to enlarge

 gets enlarged

while  doesn't ?

Using  to enlarge, everything act as it should…

If you look carefully, the 2 actions don't give the same results for that blue line "Textframe"… Why ? Isn't it a bug ?

 

[Hangman]

1 hour ago, laurent32 said:

I can see from OP's video that "lock children" is OFF. Why when the OP uses the Transform Panel to enlarge Artistic Text gets enlarged while Textframe doesn't. If you look carefully, the 2 actions don't give the same results for that blue line "Textframe"… Why ? Isn't it a bug ?

In V2 it works as expected when you have Scale Override enabled... The OP's video is using V1 where this doesn't work correctly...

[laurent32]

 

Thanks @Hangman, I understand better…

[v_kyr]

15 hours ago, Pšenda said:

... see difference - in your screenshot, and OP screenshot.

I urged here just from the OP's shown animated GIF (where the Group isn't expanded to see how it's maybe concrete structured). Further I can't reproduce getting an/that outer node handle, nor can I open the file the OP attached, which seems to be either way from a later version than V1 and it's thumb preview doesn't look like what the animated GIF shows at all. - So all in all more precise background informations are somehow missing here.

[Hangman]

17 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Further I can't reproduce getting an/that outer node handle,

That is because your file has two Artistic Text elements rather than an Artistic Text and a Frame Text element. You will only see the additional handle when adding a Frame Text element to an artboard...

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, Hangman said:

That is because your file has two Artistic Text elements rather than an Artistic Text and a Frame Text element. You will only see the additional handle when adding a Frame Text element to an artboard...

That's right didn't used Frame text for the blue text here, since I wasn't sure if in the initial shown GIF animation that was used and meant for the "Textframe" part there, as the layer group wasn't shown expanded there. - So an example V1 file has probabaly more to look like this instead then ...

• artboard_lock_children_with_Frametext.afdesign

[Hangman]

1 minute ago, v_kyr said:

That's right didn't used Frame text for the blue text here, since I wasn't sure if in the initial shown GIF animation that was used and meant for the "Textframe" part there, as the layer group wasn't shown expanded there. - So an example V1 file has probabaly more to look like this instead ...

Exactly that... the key giveaway in the OP's GIF animation was the additional handle that is used when scaling the artboard...

[v_kyr]

12 minutes ago, Hangman said:

Exactly that... the key giveaway in the OP's GIF animation was the additional handle that is used when scaling the artboard...

Though it's somehow still strange, that a Frame Text handle will then be propagated towards Artboard and Group containers bounding box selections.

[loukash]

1 hour ago, Hangman said:

the key giveaway in the OP's GIF animation was the additional handle that is used when scaling the artboard

Because the GIF shows an antique version of Designer.
Note the Designer logo: 

The Artboard scale handle has eventually disappeared in recent versions, either "by design" or by accident.

[Hangman]

8 minutes ago, loukash said:

Because the GIF shows an antique version of Designer.

Not just that but the V1 UI as well...

8 minutes ago, loukash said:

The Artboard scale handle has eventually disappeared in recent versions, either "by design" or by accident.

If you mean the additional scale handle shown in the OP's GIF animation then it's still there and hasn't gone away, it only appears when you add frame text to an artboard, as far as I can tell, the behaviour is the same in V1 and V2...

[loukash]

1 minute ago, Hangman said:

it only appears when you add frame text to an artboard

Oh… 

[UserR]

Thank you for the information, I really appreciate it.  I am new to Affinity Designer.  I was not aware of the lock children.

Sorry about the confusion.  I should have posted the questions separately. 

1) I found the link to the gif I posted. 
https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/120555/affinity-designer-how-do-i-make-textframes-scale-with-the-artboard-if-i-scale-b

@Pšenda: Your post: "v_kyr, see difference - in your screenshot, and OP screenshot." That answered my question. The frame text is why you get that extra dot.  

 

2) Window.afDesign:

When I resize my window it is suppose to look like the first image.  However, after I increased the size, it looks like the second image.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by UserR

[Hangman]

@UserR, this is because of the way you have your window graphic set up...

Take a look at the attached version and the layers highlighted in green in the layers panel... The other thing to note is that you need to set your FX to Scale with Object which you can do in the FX Panel...

I hope that helps...

Window New.afdesign

[Hangman]

16 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Though it's somehow still strange, that a Frame Text handle will then be propagated towards Artboard and Group containers bounding box selections.

It is similar behaviour on non-artboard documents, as soon as you add Frame Text to a selection you will see the additional handle appear as part of the group selection allowing you to scale the Frame Text along ith the other selected elements...

[v_kyr]

24 minutes ago, Hangman said:

It is similar behaviour on non-artboard documents, as soon as you add Frame Text to a selection you will see the additional handle appear as part of the group selection allowing you to scale the Frame Text along ith the other selected elements...

I know that's why I wrote "... that a Frame Text handle will then be propagated towards Artboard and Group containers bounding box selections". And the point here is, that the handle doesn't then only show up for a Frame text bounding box alone, no matter if "lock children" is enabled/disabled.

[Hangman]

1 hour ago, v_kyr said:

And the point here is, that the handle doesn't then only show up for a Frame text bounding box alone, no matter if "lock children" is enabled/disabled.

My assumption here is that this is the software being clever enough to recognise that Frame Text forms part of the group selection and since you can only scale Frame Text using the scale handle it intelligently applies the scale handle to the selection group to allow for the Frame Text within the selection to be scaled along with the other elements. Without this behaviour I'm assuming it wouldn't be possible for the Frame Text to scale when part of a group selection so I think it makes sense that it works in this way even if it perhaps appears unusual to see the scale handle appear at the extremity of the group.

[v_kyr]

2 hours ago, Hangman said:

My assumption here is that this is the software being clever enough ...

Appart from Frame text, my thoughts were more why that handle is only available when Frame texts are involved. Instead that outer handle might be more generally usefull to have for all sort of groups/containers which do contain objects here, so not just when Frame texts are involved. - So the general Q arise why that handle for scaling up is only used in contexts with Frame texts at all and not generally for groups of other objects in containers too ... etc.

[Hangman]

27 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Appart from Frame text, my thoughts were more why that handle is only available when Frame texts are involved. Instead that outer handle might be more generally usefull to have for all sort of groups/containers which do contain objects here, so not just when Frame texts are involved. - So the general Q arise why that handle for scaling up is only used in contexts with Frame texts at all and not generally for groups of other objects in containers too ... etc.

I guess because Frame Text is perhaps unique in as much as you can both scale it using the scale handle but also change its formatting/layout using the frame's corner handles. With most graphics, including Artistic Text you are deforming the graphic or group when you change the width or height of the graphic/group but with Frame Text you aren't deforming it, you are simply either resizing it or changing its layout (if that makes sense).

I don't disagree with you, and yes, maybe that handle could be useful, though I guess the question then becomes without Frame Text, is it actually needed when you can simply use the corner handles, I don't know... Having said that I guess in some instances you are also scaling graphics/groups so there could be an argument for having the scale handle for groups that don't contain Frame Text as well...