Move data entry improvements

[Ash]

Apps: All
Platforms: macOS and Windows

There were a few requests from the previous beta we have now implemented in 2.3. As a reminder the move data entry dialog is initiated by hitting Return while in the Move, Shape, Picture Frame or Artboard Tool.

1. You can now choose duplicates to be created in front or behind the original using the new Insertion mode options

2. Scale has now been added, to quickly resize an object by a given %

3. Properties of the object being transformed can be adjusted without dismissing the dialog

The scale %, when creating duplicates, will also apply to every subsequent duplicate - a very simple example shown below with 10 copies of the same circle being created, each one at 80% the size of the previous.

You can of course combine that with other transforms, such as below a square being rotated and shrunk on each duplicate.

As mentioned you can also now adjust the properties of the object being transformed without dismissing the dialog. E.g. below I have changed the colour of the shape as well as changing stroke width to “scale with object” while keeping the current move data entry settings live.

Another minor thing to mention is we have also changed the ramp on the ‘Number of copies’ slider to make it more useable at lower values (i.e. the first half of the slider now just goes from 1-50, with the remaining half from 50-1000).

 

[Frozen Death Knight]

I tried duplicating a linked object and it kept the links intact, so good job on that! I hope there will be an option someday to use Duplicate Linked as an alternative to normal Duplicate.

It would also be nice if it was possible to edit the Transform Origin while doing the operation to better position the rotation point without needing to undo and repeat the process.

Edit: Just realised that I can activate the Transform Origin and edit it live without the window disappearing as well. This is awesome!

[Frozen Death Knight]

I found a limitation/bug. The Node Tool can throw you out of the operation when changing the nodes of a shape. Sometimes it works, but more often than not it breaks the operation.

I also can't re-activate the operation by pressing Enter while using the Node Tool.

[Tim France]

5 hours ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

I found a limitation/bug. The Node Tool can throw you out of the operation when changing the nodes of a shape. Sometimes it works, but more often than not it breaks the operation.

I also can't re-activate the operation by pressing Enter while using the Node Tool.

Thanks for spotting that. The behaviour on Windows is a little different to on macOS, the latter being correct. Changing the tool should dismiss the dialog and hitting enter with the Node Tool selected doesn't bring up the dialog if you have anything with curve nodes selected (there's a good reason for this...). The Windows version will be fixed in the next beta.

[debraspicher]

The addition of a scaling field is appreciated, especially for preview/testing. Was doing some duplication operations yesterday with Power Duplicate and was requiring multiple tests to check result.

[n_shcherbakov]

It would be great to add a «scale each» checkbox

[debraspicher]

2 minutes ago, n_shcherbakov said:

It would be great to add a «scale each» checkbox

I was trying to do something very close to this yesterday.

[Aammppaa]

Nice improvements.

Is there any chance that we will get absolute differences in addition to relative differences? This has long been requested with Power Duplicate.

Some easy way to make (for example) 100 concentric circles, each 20 pixels larger than the last would be a real time saver.

[Frozen Death Knight]

Being able to scale in X and Y-axes separately could be powerful as well now when I think about it. Not to mention a shearing option. Would allow for easy effects such as squash and stretch in various ways.

 

[Sean P]

4 hours ago, anto said:

Scale does not work on MacOS

 

2023-10-26 о 08.21.29.mov 1.96 MB · 2 downloads  

To compare Windows

 

 

Hi Anto,
This is actually a problem on Windows - the actual problem is that the scale (as well as angle and rotation) goes wrong for Facing Page documents. Your Mac Example is a Facing Pages document (noted by Master A - Right), where as your Windows example is not a facing pages document, so doesn't exhibit the issue.

That said this is something we do have logged with development.

[Sean P]

18 minutes ago, anto said:

Then I don't understand something. I've created a document on a Mac without a spread, but I'm seeing different behavior on different pages

 

2023-10-26 о 13.17.03.mov 7.95 MB · 1 download  

 

Thanks for that - that is also reproducible on Windows. It looks like it does also affect non-Facing Page documents when used on Pages 2 and onwards. I'll update the original issue to cover that.

[Andrew Buckle]

23 hours ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

I tried duplicating a linked object and it kept the links intact, so good job on that! I hope there will be an option someday to use Duplicate Linked as an alternative to normal Duplicate.

It would also be nice if it was possible to edit the Transform Origin while doing the operation to better position the rotation point without needing to undo and repeat the process.

Edit: Just realised that I can activate the Transform Origin and edit it live without the window disappearing as well. This is awesome!

You can use the duplicate linked. You can create a curve and then duplicate link that and then use the move / duplicate panel and all the curves are duplicate linked ?? Or did I misunderstand the question. 

[Andrew Buckle]

It is a pity that the move / duplicate is not active for the node tool as well as changing the properties. It would be great if you could use the move / duplicate with a shape etc and then use the node tool to manipulate the nodes with the move / duplicate still active

Love the addition of the scale, that was something I thought was missing the first time I used the tool as well as the insert order

Would be great to see a jitter feature for the settings, a randomization feature so the horizontal can be any value between 0 to entered (negative or positive) so with 10 entered, it would be 0.2 or 1.3 or 4.6 etc for each new layer. If -10 entered then -0.3 or -3.2 or -8.7 etc 

A colour randomization for the shapes / curves ?? it would be wonder if using a black path initially that any new shape or curve is filled with red or green or blue and perhaps extend it to colour randomize from the swatches panel group so if you currently have the a swatch category of red, green and blue then only those colours would be used as well as if it is filled with different gradients so you could have a red-green, blue-yellow etc gradient fill with the shapes etc 

Would be great if duplicate linked was applied directly though a workaround of first duplicate linking and then using that does create multiple duplicate links

Still find that having to turn duplicate ON and then setting the number of minor issue, be great if you just set the copies to 0 (which means that there is no duplication or copies) and then increasing it to 1, 2, 3, etc does as before and then eliminating that extra step. 

[Jon S]

It would be nice if there was an option to automatically create a group for duplicated objects.

[ronnyb]

Hey @Sean P, the Rotation field acts strangely: pressing the up and down keys or using the mouse's scroll wheel while hovering over the field, it only increments by .000001 degrees....

[Frozen Death Knight]

8 hours ago, Jon S said:

It would be nice if there was an option to automatically create a group for duplicated objects.

Or making Symbols/Linked objects.

[ronnyb]

4 hours ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

Or making Symbols/Linked objects.

Or both!

[Sean P]

14 hours ago, ronnyb said:

Hey @Sean P, the Rotation field acts strangely: pressing the up and down keys or using the mouse's scroll wheel while hovering over the field, it only increments by .000001 degrees....

I'm guessing you have your 'Degree' decimal places set to 6? I can only reproduce this when mine are set to anything greater than 1

[ronnyb]

1 hour ago, Sean P said:

I'm guessing you have your 'Degree' decimal places set to 6? I can only reproduce this when mine are set to anything greater than 1

That’s right I do….

[lenogre]

In Illustrator, it can be also an FX !

Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform

So, it's non destructive, you can change parameters all the time. 

[n_shcherbakov]

@lenogre yep. This was the first suggestion when the feature was released.

On 8/2/2023 at 12:41 PM, n_shcherbakov said:

Very cool, but it would be even cooler if there was an option to add this as an effect or entity to the appearance panel like is done in Illustrator. This approach opens up many options for experimentation. 

 

[Ash]

Yes, that's on our radar as a possible feature in future...

[Ash]

On 10/25/2023 at 1:11 PM, Frozen Death Knight said:

I also can't re-activate the operation by pressing Enter while using the Node Tool.

Yes, you can only initialise the function while using certain tools (Move, Shapes, Artboard, Frame) 

The thing with node tool is that we do intend to offer a similar option specific to the node tool, i.e. so if you have a node(s) selected in node tool you can hit enter to then move those selected by a specific distance. It will be slightly different as the duplication options for example will not be relevant in this case.

[R C-R]

6 hours ago, Ash said:

Yes, you can only initialise the function while using certain tools (Move, Shapes, Artboard, Frame) 

Any chance you could at some point add the AD Gradient & Transparency & maybe a few others like the Corner & Contour tools to that?

[Petar Petrenko]

Please, add sliders to the other elements as for "Number of copies".