Grids: Affinity Vs. DrawPlus

[JET_Affinity]

The only Macs I have around here are old ones, so I am among the many Windows users who have yet to actually lay hands on Affinty Designer.

 

In eager anticipation of the Windows release, I am viewing the Serif-authored video demonstrations. (Would love to be able to access a copy of the full Help files content while awaiting Affinity for Windows.)

 

Of particular interest to me is the axonometric Grids feature, and whether it fully replicates the functionality of the corresponding DrawPlus feature set (3D Planes).

 

For example, there is a set of four videos which involves drawing a simple floorplan in a plan view, and then re-drawing it in isometric, using the plan view as a reference. My question is this:

 

DrawPlus's 3D Planes menu includes commands for Send To Plane [Top, Front, Right] and Assign To Plane [Top, Front, Right]. In the videos, the demonstrator re-draws the floor plan, rather than simply using the Send to Top Plane command to convert a copy of the floor plan to isometric.

 

Perhaps it was re-drawn just to demonstrate drawing directly into the isometric view and the variable incrementing of the grid while in the process. But those could have been demonstrated in the vertical planes. So I would like to make sure:

 

Does Affinity not include the Send To Plane and Assign To Plane functions? Are there any other aspects of DrawPlus's 3D Grids feature for which Affinity does not provide equivalent functions?

 

Thanks,
JET

[Alfred]

(Would love to be able to access a copy of the full Help files content while awaiting Affinity for Windows.)

 

Me too. The DrawPlus Help for recent versions is available online. It would be nice if the Help for the programs in the Affinity suite could be made available online, too, if it isn't already.

[MEB]

Hi JET, Alfred,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

No, currently Affinity doesn't possess any of the 3D grid features of DrawPlus. You can only use the grids/snapping as references for drawing directly over them. I believe however this is being considered for a future version.

 

@Alfred,

There's no online Help available, but if you do a search for "ibook" in the forums you should find a few threads where some users shared an iBook version of the Help file.

[JET_Affinity]

I believe however this is being considered for a future version.

 

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Thanks, MEB. I certainly hope that is the case. The full axonometric grids feature of DrawPlus is a great competitive differentiator. The only mainstream competitor with something similar is Corel Technical Designer. It's one of the most valuable advantages of DrawPlus against Illustrator, Draw, Canvas, and others. It just takes a little while for users unfamiliar with the method to come to appreciate it.

 

Grids alone are of less value than they may seem. For example, it's a rather simple thing to draw objects (like the sample floorplan) which conveniently consist of just right angles aligned to the grid axes, even without grids. But (thankfully) not everything we must draw is so conveniently boxy.

 

In DrawPlus's implementation, for example, you can draw a straight line of known length in the top plane. You can then rotate it and as you do so it will automatically scale to the correct proportional length for its off-axis orientation (effectively "spinning" it about the vertical axis). This is key functionality for serious axonometric drawing. It would be a shame to limit Affinity Designer to just snapping grids.

 

Still very much looking forward to Affinity on Windows, though, and hoping this will receive priority as features mature.

 

JET