[feature request] "rotate canvas" tool

[lashman]

i know it's already possible to rotate the canvas with the View menu (or with mouse wheel), but for tablet users neither option is all that great, so i would like to request an additional "rotate canvas" tool which could be used to arbitrarily rotate the canvas (with an option to rotate around the cursor position), and which would also enable us to use in a spring-loaded manner (like the brush, or eraser tools right now).

[GarryP]

Related to: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/181966-rotate-canvas-using-a-key-modifier-pen-movement/

[lashman]

2 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Related to: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/181966-rotate-canvas-using-a-key-modifier-pen-movement/

 

oh wow, there already is one, oops, apologies

[carl123]

Depending on your tablet and if you have a spare button available/unused you can assign that button as the Mouse Wheel then in conjunction with the ALT key that button will allow for canvas rotation using the tablet

 

[GarryP]

16 minutes ago, lashman said:

oh wow, there already is one, oops, apologies

No apologies necessary.

I think the other request is for a keyboard shortcut modifier (if I’m reading it correctly) and you seem to want a separate tool, so they’re different requests for the same sort of requirements.

Because of that I think they are both legitimate as separate requests which show that there is a need for something but that there are (at least) two different ways that have been requested to fulfil that need.

Rather than a new tool, I’m wondering if the View (Pan) Tool could be extended to incorporate a rotate function via a keyboard modifier (the View Tool doesn’t do much else other than panning as far as I know).

Or, perhaps, the View Tool, and Zoom Tool could be combined, with the new rotation functionality, into a new Navigator Tool where you could, for example, pan by dragging, zoom by Shift+dragging, and rotate by Ctrl+dragging. (I don’t use these tools much so that might be a very bad idea for reasons I don’t understand.)

[lashman]

1 hour ago, carl123 said:

Depending on your tablet and if you have a spare button available/unused you can assign that button as the Mouse Wheel then in conjunction with the ALT key that button will allow for canvas rotation using the tablet

yes, i know it can be done, but it's still not ideal (to say the least), and not very interactive either

 

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Or, perhaps, the View Tool, and Zoom Tool could be combined, with the new rotation functionality, into a new Navigator Tool where you could, for example, pan by dragging, zoom by Shift+dragging, and rotate by Ctrl+dragging. (I don’t use these tools much so that might be a very bad idea for reasons I don’t understand.)

yes, that sounds like a good idea to me just as long as there's some spring-loaded tool that can make this work (with or without a modifier key, doesn't really matter)

[Aammppaa]

I wondered whether anything close could be achieved with existing tools / functionality.

A couple of related observations...

1. The Move tool can resize and move (translate) Artboards, but can't rotate them, which is an odd design choice especially since...

2. The Point Transform tool can rotate Artboards (as well as resize, and translate).

However the usefulness of either of these existing tools is seriously limited since the handles / nodes required to rotate an artboard will almost always be off screen when the user wants to 'rotate the canvas'.

This in turn relates to user comment over the years that there must be a better way to interact with objects / bounding boxes that doesn't rely on such small target area. For example making the entire edge into the resize target, rather than just the corners and midpoints.

[lashman]

1 hour ago, Aammppaa said:

I wondered whether anything close could be achieved with existing tools / functionality.

A couple of related observations...

1. The Move tool can resize and move (translate) Artboards, but can't rotate them, which is an odd design choice especially since...

2. The Point Transform tool can rotate Artboards (as well as resize, and translate).

However the usefulness of either of these existing tools is seriously limited since the handles / nodes required to rotate an artboard will almost always be off screen when the user wants to 'rotate the canvas'.

This in turn relates to user comment over the years that there must be a better way to interact with objects / bounding boxes that doesn't rely on such small target area. For example making the entire edge into the resize target, rather than just the corners and midpoints.

yes, but this only applies to Designer, since there are no artboards in Photo at all (and i mainly use Photo for drawing, haha)

 

but yes, there should definitely be a way to rotate the canvas/artboards more interactively

[Old Bruce]

4 hours ago, lashman said:

i know it's already possible to rotate the canvas with the View menu (or with mouse wheel), but for tablet users neither option is all that great, so i would like to request an additional "rotate canvas" tool which could be used to arbitrarily rotate the canvas (with an option to rotate around the cursor position), and which would also enable us to use in a spring-loaded manner (like the brush, or eraser tools right now).

I am spoiled in that I use the Wacom Intuos Pro and it has a "Touch" feature that allows me to use my fingers to zoom, pan, and rotate. No modifier keys required, no special tool in any application needed either.

[lashman]

8 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I am spoiled in that I use the Wacom Intuos Pro and it has a "Touch" feature that allows me to use my fingers to zoom, pan, and rotate. No modifier keys required, no special tool in any application needed either.

of course but i only have a "lowly" Huion screen tablet, so no touch for me, unfortunately that's why it would be nice to be able to do it without a touch screen as well