Cannot break apart combined shapes

[Alfred]

If I combine two overlapping shapes, there is no obvious way to break them apart again. All of the Geometry options become greyed out, apart from 'Divide'; the latter doesn't seem to do anything in this scenario.

[Chris B]

Hi Alfred,

 

I don't think that 'Divide' is supposed to separate two objects that have been combined (assuming you are clicking Add). The Divide button is used to split areas into separate objects when they overlap.

I'm not entirely sure why it isn't greyed out when only one object is selected though... 

[Alfred]

I don't think that 'Divide' is supposed to separate two objects that have been combined (assuming you are clicking Add).

 

I wasn't expecting 'Divide' to break apart my combined object. Like you, Chris, I expected 'Divide' to be greyed out after I combined the objects: it wasn't, but clicking on it had no effect.

 

I had actually used 'Combine' rather than 'Add', but trying the latter now I see that 'Divide' still isn't greyed out. However, the main point of this thread is that (unlike DrawPlus) 'Combine' doesn't change to 'Break Apart' so that you can get back to the individual shapes that make up the polycurve.

[MEB]

 

I'm not entirely sure why it isn't greyed out when only one object is selected though... 

 

Maybe it's because of the Cog and Donut Shape tools which generate compound paths? Still shouldn't be highlighted for the other cases...

 

@Alfred,

Affinity doesn't work exactly the same way as DrawPlus. I'm not sure i understood what you are after, but you can press and hold alt while clicking on a geometry operation to create a compound shape which you can expand in the layers panel to access the original objects (they remain editable).

[Chris B]

I see what you mean. I was going straight to 'Add' for some reason. I think you're right in the fact that we can never return to our original shapes. I assume dev would argue that's what the History tab is for, though.

 

Feel free to add a feature request if you think 'Break Apart' should be added though.

[Chris_K]

Hi Alfred

 

Just to clarify, when you have both shapes selected are you just clicking on the combine button, or are you holding alt and clicking combine? The first option will create a brand new shape altogether so it's individual parts basically no longer exist. If you hold alt you create a compound which keeps the original shapes intact. You should be able to release the compound to get the individual shapes back, or adjust them whilst still in the compound. The other benefit of the compound is you can change the applied boolean operation on the fly in the layers tab

[Alfred]

Affinity doesn't work exactly the same way as DrawPlus. I'm not sure i understood what you are after, but you can press and hold alt while clicking on a geometry operation to create a compound shape which you can expand in the layers panel to access the original objects (they remain editable).

 

 

Just to clarify, when you have both shapes selected are you just clicking on the combine button, or are you holding alt and clicking combine? The first option will create a brand new shape altogether so it's individual parts basically no longer exist. If you hold alt you create a compound which keeps the original shapes intact. You should be able to release the compound to get the individual shapes back, or adjust them whilst still in the compound. The other benefit of the compound is you can change the applied boolean operation on the fly in the layers tab

 

Thank you both. I was actually aware of the Alt-click option in AD, but I had forgotten about it! I guess I just need to get into the habit of using it unless I'm sure I want to use the destructive combine option. (There might be an argument for setting the non-destructive command as the default, since by definition you can always reverse that decision later on, but I don't suppose the default behaviour is likely to be changed now.)