How do I transfer my Assets and Symbols to a new drive/installation

[Mario Michetti]

Hi, 

I have recently upgraded my computer and re-installed Designer to a new SSD. I tried copying C:\Users\myUser\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Designer\1.0\user\assets.propcol to the new installation (I had done this before and it worked) but this time I don't see them in the Assets drop down menu. 

How can I get my Assets and Symbols back?

[walt.farrell]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

First, Symbols are only saved within a document. They are not related to Assets, though you could, of course, turn a Symbol into an Asset.

Next, for Assets: What release of Designer are you using, and which Store did you purchase it from?

[Mario Michetti]

v.1.10.6.1665 for Windows purchased from Affinity Store.

[walt.farrell]

Thanks. I'm not sure what's happening, then, as that's the right place for that release and Store.

Mine, for example, are in C:\Users\Walt\AppData\Roaming\affinity\Designer\1.0\user

[Mario Michetti]

Problem solved. I found an Exported assets file and imported it into Designer. I now have all my assets available.

On another subject, is it normal that the grid lines overwrite my drawing lines and text blocks?

 

Regards,

Mario

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Mario Michetti said:

On another subject, is it normal that the grid lines overwrite my drawing lines and text blocks?

Can you provide a screenshot? They should be under, I think, not over, the data.

[Mario Michetti]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

Thanks. I'm not sure what's happening, then, as that's the right place for that release and Store.

Mine, for example, are in C:\Users\Walt\AppData\Roaming\affinity\Designer\1.0\user

You were right, my error was that I had recently changed the drive of my Jurassic Era i7-950 of 2011 from a Seagate HDD to a Samsung EVO870 Sata SSD and had not copied the assets file to the new installation (that was 6 months ago). Fortunately I had exported them to my OneDrive so I was able to retrieve them.

[Mario Michetti]

I'm using the Intel's i7-13700K integrated graphics card. I'm no longer using the Radeon HD 6870 from 2012.

 

[walt.farrell]

Thanks. I guess I'd never noticed exactly how the Grid behaves. Here's mine, from V2, in a quick sample:

Note that using View > Grid and Axis Manager... you can control the color and the opacity of the lines. Maybe you have them more opaque, or a different color, than you used previously?

[Mario Michetti]

10 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Thanks. I guess I'd never noticed exactly how the Grid behaves. Here's mine, from V2, in a quick sample:

Note that using View > Grid and Axis Manager... you can control the color and the opacity of the lines. Maybe you have them more opaque, or a different color, than you used previously?

Well, because I'm designing fretboard diagrams for guitar lessons I need to clearly see the gridlines for proper alignment and set the color fairly dark. I do not see any opacity control in the Grids Manager. I never noticed this before. To me, this is most definitely a bug, but maybe not...At least I'm reassured that my graphics card is functioning properly. 

Many thanks Walt, your responses calmed me down. BTW, is there anyway to darken the sheet's background color a bit. This white background is hard on the eyes for me. 

[Mario Michetti]

Hi Walt,

I found a workaround that helps. Thought you might be interested. I drew a grey rectangle that I placed in the back at 100% opacity and changed the grid lines to Lightness:

Here is the result. I turn off the rectangle before printing or exporting.

 

 

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Mario Michetti said:

I do not see any opacity control in the Grids Manager.

Not sure what the name is in Windows but on Macs in AD 2 this manager is named "Grid and Snapping Axis" & on the View menu it is called "Grid and Axis..."

It looks like this:

The 2 sliders at the bottom set the opacities.

Are you sure you opened the right manager?

[Mario Michetti]

46 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Not sure what the name is in Windows but on Macs in AD 2 this manager is named "Grid and Snapping Axis" & on the View menu it is called "Grid and Axis..."

It looks like this:

The 2 sliders at the bottom set the opacities.

Are you sure you opened the right manager?

Hi R C-R,

Correct, if you look at my previous post I showed the work around as you suggest. I chose the color BLACK and reduced the opacity. Also putting a grey rectangle behind changes the way the grid lines display. 

Regards,

Mario

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, Mario Michetti said:

I chose the color BLACK and reduced the opacity.

Then I do not understand what you meant when you said you did not see any opacity control in the Grids Manager.

[Mario Michetti]

On 8/4/2023 at 10:55 PM, R C-R said:

Then I do not understand what you meant when you said you did not see any opacity control in the Grids Manager.

I'm using your terms. I don't believe the sliders control opacity. Furthermore, the grid should be completely in the background, behind all artwork and in that case opacity would be totally irrelevant.

[R C-R]

7 hours ago, Mario Michetti said:

I don't believe the sliders control opacity.

They do.

7 hours ago, Mario Michetti said:

Furthermore, the grid should be completely in the background, behind all artwork and in that case opacity would be totally irrelevant.

Grids are always overlaid on top of everything else; otherwise objects would cover them & they could not be seen. There is no way to change that.

[walt.farrell]

8 hours ago, Mario Michetti said:

I don't believe the sliders control opacity.

As @R C-R says, they do:

 

  

8 hours ago, Mario Michetti said:

Furthermore, the grid should be completely in the background, behind all artwork and in that case opacity would be totally irrelevant.

If they were completely behind everything, doing this would be very difficult as you wouldn't be able to see the grid to figure out when to stop moving the object. Snapping can help, but not always, especially with a finer set of grid divisions.

 

 

 

[Mario Michetti]

On 8/7/2023 at 9:28 AM, R C-R said:

They do.

Grids are always overlaid on top of everything else; otherwise objects would cover them & they could not be seen. There is no way to change that.

I would prefer having the grid behind the artwork as in Illustrator

 

 

[Mario Michetti]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:34 AM, walt.farrell said:

As @R C-R says, they do:

 

 

  

If they were completely behind everything, doing this would be very difficult as you wouldn't be able to see the grid to figure out when to stop moving the object. Snapping can help, but not always, especially with a finer set of grid divisions.

 

 

 

Hi Walt, personnaly for what I do, I use grids mostly for snapping and general alignment. See my reply to RCR

[R C-R]

16 minutes ago, Mario Michetti said:

I would prefer having the grid behind the artwork as in Illustrator

So I gather it does not bother you or interfere with your workflow that the grid cannot be seen behind your artwork? What if you want to use the grid as a reference for creating or moving new items on top of your artwork?

[thomaso]

On 8/4/2023 at 9:51 PM, Mario Michetti said:

On another subject, is it normal that the grid lines overwrite my drawing lines and text blocks?

On 8/4/2023 at 10:46 PM, Mario Michetti said:

I found a workaround that helps. Thought you might be interested. I drew a grey rectangle that I placed in the back at 100% opacity and changed the grid lines to Lightness:

1 hour ago, Mario Michetti said:

I use grids mostly for snapping and general alignment.

Your workaround with black guides + black background object appears unnecessary: You can use grid snapping and grid display independently of each other: You can use snapping without a visible grid, or a visible grid without snapping, or a combination of both.

[Mario Michetti]

On 8/13/2023 at 9:07 PM, thomaso said:

Your workaround with black guides + black background object appears unnecessary: You can use grid snapping and grid display independently of each other: You can use snapping without a visible grid, or a visible grid without snapping, or a combination of both.

 

Hi Tomaso, 

You are correct concerning grid snapping and grid display. The grey background is to make it easier for my eyes, and as I discovered seems to emulate a bit of the "grid in back" effect of Illustrator.