Rotate Canvas using a key modifier + pen movement

[141prod]

Hello,

I would like to suggest the feature "Rotate Canvas using a key modifier + pen movement" because I think that if there is a Rotate Tool Affinity Photo, it will be a lot more user intuitive for the users and for the people that are drawing on a tablet, because they can't use the default "Alt+scroll wheel". The reason why Im suggesting it is that I believe that in this industy standart.

Krita, Photoshop, Gimp all of these softwares use the Rotate tool and I believe that Affinity Photo should use it aswell.

[lesergei]

x

On 2/24/2023 at 3:51 PM, 141prod said:

Hello,

I would like to suggest the feature "Rotate Canvas using a key modifier + pen movement" because I think that if there is a Rotate Tool Affinity Photo, it will be a lot more user intuitive for the users and for the people that are drawing on a tablet, because they can't use the default "Alt+scroll wheel". The reason why Im suggesting it is that I believe that in this industy standart.

Krita, Photoshop, Gimp all of these softwares use the Rotate tool and I believe that Affinity Photo should use it aswell.

Hello,

Yes, absolutely, having to use a keyboard key and the scroll wheel is not effective when drawing with a graphics tablet.

THANKS

[lashman]

i absolutely second this, it's essential for tablet users

[debraspicher]

It's also imprecise. I avoid using rotation because it disrupts my workflow too much.

[AoSmiles]

I would also like to request this feature. 

[Reinaldo Eleuterio]

This feature is more important than it may seem.

Often, to make a well-executed stroke on a tablet, it's easier to train in just one direction. If it's possible to rotate the canvas easily as in Photoshop, for example, simply rotate it and maintain the arm movement for the angle at which you find it easier to execute a perfect stroke. This technique is also used in drawing, where the artist gains skill by repeating a stroke in a certain direction and then rotating the paper to achieve that quality stroke. I miss this feature even for retouching images or creating masks.

If you combine this feature with something like flipping the canvas, then you have the perfect combo.

[Art51]

I too would like this.

I use a non-touch pen display tethered to my MacBook Pro and when I need to rotate the canvas (fairly regularly) I reach for the trackpad. Would be so much more efficient to have a keyboard shortcut activate a scrubby rotate with an additional on-screen widget that allows rotation to specific angles and a reset button.

[nezumi]

To reach for mouse wheel I have to drop stylus... Definitely much needed improvement.

[Marconi Ibe]

I would love that feature too. I think it would be way more efficient than Alt+Scroll wheel.

[MurphysBud]

Hi I'm new to this forum.  I was about to purchase Affinity Photo 2 after hearing good things but after researching the topic of rotating the canvas and learning there is no dedicated "rotate canvas" tool I am not going to purchase.  I am a long time Photoshop user and also Corel Painter user (and occasionally use Clip Studio).  All these programs have a dedicated "rotate canvas" tool that is an essential part of my workflow: I use a Cintiq 27QHD that does not have touch features and considering that Wacom products last for years I won't have touch features for many more years - instead I use a small gaming keyboard and click the "rotate canvas" tool and rotate.  I rotate constantly while drawing/painting and I can't imagine not having the ability to do this.   I also have recently been learning Storyboard Pro - just want to mention that SB Pro also has a rotate canvas tool, but  (like Affinity Photo) they also have an option to rotate the canvas with keyboard clicks of incremental rotations - so I've tried this method in SB Pro and do not like it.  I never use it in Storyboard Pro but instead use the "free" rotate canvas tool.  So again for me the lack of a "Rotate Canvas" tool sadly was a dealbreaker for me when thinking about purchasing Affinity Photo 2.  I'll keep using my old PS CS6, Painter 2023 and Clip Studio and check back on Affinity Photo in the future.  Once Affinity Photo gets this feature, if the price is still good as it is now and not subscription based I will strongly consider purchasing it.

[n3tninja]

In simple words,

If Affinity Photo implements the INTERACTIVE ROTATE FUNCTION in the future, you'll secure a large market of painters, storyboard artist, concept artists, etc. I work in the illustrator field and I've been testing Affinity Photo for a while now, and it does shine in places other apps do not. My only reason for not using it as a daily driver is that rotate function.

For people using a tablet without the extra buttons and such. putting your pen down and going to your mouse scroll wheel OR using key-binds for something as simple as rotate is what puts me off from purchasing the app.

Other apps have Press R = Dynamic Rotate Canvas, I don;t know why the devs of Photo havent heard about this or tried to implemented this yet. I did search the forums and people have been constantly asking asking for this particular feature.

[Gripsholm Lion]

On 5/19/2024 at 11:23 PM, Art51 said:

Would be so much more efficient to have a keyboard shortcut activate a scrubby rotate

The scrubby rotations on the View menu can have keys assigned to them if you want to.

[Marconi Ibe]

I would love this too and I'll keep waiting. For comfortable sketching I use Krita at the moment more because it has that single key rotation and right click for brushes menu. Two most essential features for digital painting.

In Affinity products for time being I got rotation assigned to arrow keys. It's something similar I saw in some other drawing app long time ago:
Ctrl+Left arrow to rotate left
Ctrl+Right arrow to rotate right
Ctrl+Down arrow to reset rotation

It's far from perfect but it's usable.

[Juhani]

On 10/24/2024 at 4:00 PM, Gripsholm Lion said:

The scrubby rotations on the View menu can have keys assigned to them if you want to.

That would be okish if it actually worked. Right now trying this with XPPen ACK05 Wireless Shortcut Remote results in a jittery and unresponsive rotation, especially while rotating to the left as seen from the demo below. Having access to smooth rotation while holding down a single key would be so much more intuitive and consistent with other painting apps. I'll keep rooting for Affinity, but because of this issue and a general lack of consistent performance while brushing, which is another big problem, I have gone back to Photoshop for any painting for now.

 

 

[Windtrap]

+1 This is a very necessary feature for digital art

[Makimoke]

+1, but I also think this shouldn't only be added in Affinity Photo, but the whole suite of Affinity software.

I have been recently pushed away from using the vector pen/pencil tools in Affinity Designer and I was forced to do a rasterized design in Clip Studio Paint and import it into the final work because of this.

The experience of "rotating a canvas" in AD2 (and I assume Photo as well given the feedback here) is miserable when using a pen and gesture-less drawing tablet:

1. Rotate Left/Right require you to set multiple key combinations for what should be a simple action: this takes away more slots for shortcuts on devices with very low shortcut keys, forcing a full keyboard/swapping to mouse on workflows that should've just necessitated a simple 9/12-key pad with pen and tablet. With modifier keys + pen dragging, only the reset rotation key would be needed, as the rest would just be modifiers used for any other tasks at hand.
2. Using Rotate Left/Right keys require you to press many, many times, or hold them to get to the rotations you need at times. This is not only extra unnecessary presses, but also a lot of time lost on an action that would've been done in no time on any other art creation software such as Photoshop, Krita or Clip Studio Paint.
3. Rotating using those keys is not only tedious, but imprecise: you can only rotate in very specific increments, so if you have a preferred "drawing angle", you will sometimes reach it, but sometimes not, leading to more frustration on the long run.

What's even more weird is that the control scheme on the canvas in AD2 follows Clip Studio Paint pretty well: Space to move, Control + Space to Zoom in/out... But somehow canvas rotation, which is Space + Shift, was left out of the equation. This is a basic control scheme that is present on literally every other option in the market, free or not (save maybe for Microsoft Paint). Please add it into the full set of the Affinity Suite.

[Ish]

Hello, new Affinity user and digital painter here. I was excited to let go of photoshop to give Affinity a try and the first thing I did was figure out the navigation and I was extremely disappointed that I am not able to rotate freely with a shortcut key and a pen. I just can't use it without this feature. It so simple and important way to navigate especially with smaller tablets. I'm not sure how this software matured this much without this feature. 

[brumby]

I second this. This feature is crucial for the work I do.

[Ish]

Has this feature been added yet? I'm trying to get off of PS and this is critical.

[David McEachern]

Adding my support for this feature. As a digital illustrator without a touch device, the current implementation is very clumsy. I love so many things about the Affinity suite, yet this one missing feature keeps me from fully adopting Photo/Designer as my main drawing and painting tools.

[Rocketdrive]

Agree this would be a much needed addition for illustrators, in Photo as well as Designer.