Affinity Designer: Understanding the Layers

[Aammppaa]

If you have say 3 circles, one on top of another, and they are all selected, you can "drill" down to them by simply multiple clicking and FH will switch them off in sequence.

 

Alt + Click selects objects individually that are covered by other objects.

 

But this doesn't interact well with Shift to add things to the selection.

Better to use the Layer Studio to Ctrl + Click the objects you want.

 

On your second point: AD doesn't have node transforms yet - but they are coming.

 

Point 3: Again you can use the layers studio and just drag the object outside.

Or right click (in the Layers studio) and choose Release.

Or Cut and Paste (so long as you've not previously clicked the Insert Inside Selection button!)

Sadly there doesn't seem to be a keyboard shortcut for this action.

[Bri-Toon]

Alt + Click selects objects individually that are covered by other objects.

 

This doesn't work for me.

 

Point 3: Again you can use the layers studio and just drag the object outside.

Or right click (in the Layers studio) and choose Release.

Or Cut and Paste (so long as you've not previously clicked the Insert Inside Selection button!)

Sadly there doesn't seem to be a keyboard shortcut for this action.

 

 

There is a much faster way to do this. As I mentioned in my answer for Question 2, this is called clipped objects. Holding Ctrl for Windows or Cmd for Mac will select objects inside another.

[Aammppaa]

>> Alt + Click selects objects individually that are covered by other objects.

> This doesn't work for me.

Works fine here.

 

Stack of 5 circles, Alt+Click 5 times and the circles are selected one by one, from top to bottom.

 

 

 

There is a much faster way to do this... Holding Ctrl for Windows or Cmd for Mac will select objects inside another.

Indeed but I didn't think this was the question.

 

I thought it was asked how to get the clipped object out of the containing object.

 

Ctrl + Click will select it, but not get in outside, where any of my methods will.

[Bri-Toon]

Works fine here.

 

Stack of 5 circles, Alt+Click 5 times and the circles are selected one by one, from top to bottom.

 

Alt + Click Demo.gif

 

What a great feature. I didn't realize the key command had to be pressed the amount of times of the stack. That's why it originally didn't work for me.

 

Indeed but I didn't think this was the question.

 

I thought it was asked how to get the clipped object out of the containing object.

 

Ctrl + Click will select it, but not get in outside, where any of my methods will.

 

In a case like that, just cut and paste after the clipped object is selected. In Designer, objects will always be pasted in the position in which they were cut or copied from. Unless that button on the far top right is selected, the cut object will not insert inside another again.

[MEB]

Hi bleduc,

You only have to press and hold the ⌥ (option/alt) key to cycle through overlapping objects (not press it the amount of times of the stack's items).

[Alfred]

You only have to press and hold the ⌥ (option/alt) key to cycle through overlapping objects (not press it the amount of times of the stack's items).

 

In theory, perhaps, but in practice you need to use separate keypresses so that you can stop at the right place.

[R C-R]

In theory, perhaps, but in practice you need to use separate keypresses so that you can stop at the right place.

I am not 100% sure what you mean by this, but if you mean that if you hold down the option/alt key & click repeatedly too rapidly the selection will not cycle to the next overlapping object & remains "stuck" on the current one, at least on a Mac that seems to be related to the system or pointing device driver "double-click speed" setting, which sets the delay interval that distinguishes between a double-click & two successive individual clicks.

 

As best as I can tell, on a Mac it doesn't matter if you release & repress the key or keep holding it down; all that matters is if you click so quickly that it registers as an 'option-double-click' instead of two individual 'option-clicks' ... I think.  :wacko:

[Alfred]

I am not 100% sure what you mean by this

 

Oops, sorry, I was getting my clicks and keypresses mixed up! What I had in mind is that a key will auto-repeat if you keep it held down, but that's obviously irrelevant in a case like this where it's the clicks rather than the keypresses that allow you to traverse the stack.

[R C-R]

Regardless, I don't think the modifier keys auto-repeat -- since they usually just modify other keyboard or pointing device inputs, there is no need to do anything other than detect if they are pressed when those inputs occur. There might be some exceptions to this in the Affinity UI, like maybe a Status Bar change when just a modifier key is pressed without doing anything else, but I can't think of any.

 

However, it starts to get more complicated when trying to determine what the differences might be between Mac & PC input methods. For example, in recent OS X versions, by default certain keys do not auto-repeat anymore if held down. For the vowels, the n key, & maybe a few others, the new behavior is for a list of alternative forms to pop up, like è, é, ê, & so on, which can be selected by pressing a number key or clicking on the desired form.

 

This only occurs for text input, & not all apps seem to support it, but it does work in Mac Affinity text input fields. I don't know if there is anything similar in Windows. Either way, this has to make coding the Mac & PC versions to act the same much more difficult than one might think.

[voom]

(On Win) I need to press Alt and double-click to cycle through the hidden layers. 

[Bri-Toon]

I think Alfred was saying in his original post that the separate clicks can be more specific in the stack order whereas holding the option down might cause the person to miss their stop and go beyond (assuming more is behind).

[imagineer]

Thanks Aammppaa

The release in the Layer Studio does exactly what I wanted. I agree, I'd prefer a keyboard shortcut for this, like in FH.

 

As for layered selection - I was trying to do layered DE-selection, with the Shift key depressed the whole time.

This simply does not work in AD. Often the quickest way I select a large quantity of elements is to do a drag select, then shift deselect what I don't need.

This is my problem in AD.(and yes, of course I use layers to aid in path management - though in AD having 1000 layers makes this all but useless - it's FAR easier to identify individual paths on the drawing itself rather than in the layers studio.)

 

Duplicate 3 identical circles over top of each other, select them all. Now try shift-deselecting them. I can't do it with any keyboard shortcuts listed so far.

The reason I think this important is because for the complex artwork I routinely do, this is a 'bread and butter' capacity I absolutely need and use continually.

Anyway, thanks for the 'release' heads up - that's one problem resolved!