Snapping in Designer doesn't work as expected

[RustyDawn]

Hi. I've created a symbol then used two of them on my artboard. Now I have selected both curves (inside symbol group) to adjust them to create what I need. Basically I'm using "Transform Mode" from Context tool bar so each node moves symmetrically. It works fine but problem is:

Only the node of shape that is rotated on right side manages to snap to the node of shape on left side.

If I try to snap the node of shape on left side (which is NOT rotated) to the node or curve on right side, it doesn't work at all. There's no snapping.

You can see it I've explained it in the GIF I've attached.

One possible explanation for this behavior is that the shape that's not rotated is horizontal, that's why it allows to snap other nodes to its own nodes. 

But that shouldn't be an "excuse"? It should work both ways whether it's rotated or not. Am I missing some settings? Or is it expected behavior?

I basically want to snap both nodes exactly when using this Transform to it. I could do it manually by dragging each node one by one, but that's not perfect. I want accurate result which is only possible through snapping in this case.

[GarryP]

I can’t seem to reliably replicate the problem.
It’s possible that you have uncovered a ‘weird edge case' but the developers might need the actual document to be able to check it.
Would you be able to share a document which exhibits this behaviour?

[RustyDawn]

6 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I can’t seem to reliably replicate the problem.
It’s possible that you have uncovered a ‘weird edge case' but the developers might need the actual document to be able to check it.
Would you be able to share a document which exhibits this behaviour?

Hi. I've attached the file. Please check.

gear share.afdesign

[RustyDawn]

Also important note: Please hold Shift + Ctrl when you drag the nodes. It would maintain the aspect ratio and the symmetry that I need. I forgot to mention it earlier and maybe why you couldn't replicate it.

[GarryP]

Thanks for the document and the extra detail.

I can replicate the problem easily now.

I still get the snap without the Ctrl modifier but I don’t always get the snap with the Ctrl modifier. (Ctrl and Shift+Ctrl, in this specific case, give the same result I think.)

Since this is quite an ‘unusual’ things to do – snapping between the nodes of curves within different symbol instances while maintaining aspect ratio and/or resizing around the centre – it’s probably something that was just missed.

[RustyDawn]

8 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Thanks for the document and the extra detail.

I can replicate the problem easily now.

I still get the snap without the Ctrl modifier but I don’t always get the snap with the Ctrl modifier. (Ctrl and Shift+Ctrl, in this specific case, give the same result I think.)

Since this is quite an ‘unusual’ things to do – snapping between the nodes of curves within different symbol instances while maintaining aspect ratio and/or resizing around the centre – it’s probably something that was just missed.

If you are trying to snap the curve on left to the right one, then Ctrl or Ctrl + Shift give same result. If you try to snap the curve on right side (which is rotated) to the curve on left, Shift will make a difference. If you don't hold it will break the symmetry if you drag randomly here and there.

Also yeah, I can agree, without the Ctrl it snaps doesn't matter what the rotation is. I don't even need to select both curves first.

But what I don't understand is how is it able to snap to the curve on the left side without any issue? Even when I'm holding Ctrl + Shift. Is it because that curve is horizontal (not rotated)?

[GarryP]

As I said above, it’s probably just a ‘weird edge case’ that wasn’t thought about or expected.

The developers can’t think of, and plan for, every way that the users could possibly use such complex functionality and, as such, some things sometimes get missed.

With so many users doing so many different things with the software, things like that are bound to come up every now and again.

All we need to do is report it to Serif and they can take care of things as they see fit.

[RustyDawn]

4 minutes ago, GarryP said:

As I said above, it’s probably just a ‘weird edge case’ that wasn’t thought about or expected.

The developers can’t think of, and plan for, every way that the users could possibly use such complex functionality and, as such, some things sometimes get missed.

With so many users doing so many different things with the software, things like that are bound to come up every now and again.

All we need to do is report it to Serif and they can take care of things as they see fit.

Oh okay. Is there any other way to align those two nodes for these symbols so I could maintain the symmetry? Of course I could use this existing "glitch" as it does the work I need but I would like to know any other reliable way way. I think all I need a central point between these two curves where I could place a temporary dot circle so I could manually place both nodes at same place. So I wouldn't need this transform tool at all. Finding a center in horizontal or vertical cases is easy. But it's rotated so I can't think of any solution.

[Return]

Perhaps in this case as it is intended to be a gear, use the cog tool. 
 

[GarryP]

If, by the title of your example document, you are making a gear shape, is there some reason why you are not using the Cog Tool? (Edit: Return got in just before me on that one.)

If you don’t want to use the Cog Tool, you could try what I do in my attached video. (I use Power Duplicate half-way through and the snapping, as you have already shown, doesn’t work, but it’s do-able.)

[Return]

6 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Power Duplicate

That was my next suggestion.😉

[RustyDawn]

5 minutes ago, GarryP said:

If, by the title of your example document, you are making a gear shape, is there some reason why you are not using the Cog Tool? (Edit: Return got in just before me on that one.)

If you don’t want to use the Cog Tool, you could try what I do in my attached video. (I use Power Duplicate half-way through and the snapping, as you have already shown, doesn’t work, but it’s do-able.)

 

Yeah I could do this but like I said I need a perfect snap to nodes. So I didn't prefer it. Also don't want to use cog tool. I don't need gear. I need something like gear that's part of some other design where I will need to adjust stroke widths, curvatures etc. later so symbols is what I decided to use. Any way, I found out a way. I could find the central point by creating a new line shape and rotate it half way between them. And now I can easily snap any of these two curves to that line and eventually - what it means is both curves are also snapped perfectly end to end maintaining symmetry. (see screenshot).

[NathanC]

Going back to the original example, this does look like a bug with bounding box snapping, the non-rotated curve refuses to snap to the newly transformed bounding box of the rotated symbol, and instead snaps to the bounding box's original bounds as if the rotated symbol wasn't being simultaneously transformed, but this does work vice-versa if you start with the rotated curve.

I've now logged this with the developers. 

[RustyDawn]

7 minutes ago, NathanC said:

Going back to the original example, this does look like a bug with bounding box snapping, the non-rotated curve refuses to snap to the newly transformed bounding box of the rotated symbol, and instead snaps to the bounding box's original bounds as if the rotated symbol wasn't being simultaneously transformed, but this does work vice-versa if you start with the rotated curve.

I've now logged this with the developers. 

Thanks