Problem creating a 90° angle with the polygon tool

[NonoGG]

Hi everyone,

I'm having an issue with the Pen Tool in Polygon mode and was hoping someone could help.

When I hold down the Shift key while drawing, Affinity lets me work in 45° increments, which is great. However, it seems to always use global coordinates for this.

For example, if I already have a line that is tilted at 20°, it offers me an angle of 70° instead of aligning to a 90° angle relative to my current segment.

I've attached an example to clarify. In the image, you can see the yellow line (suggested by Affinity) and the green line (manually added), which shows what I would like to have as a suggestion.

Does anyone know how to work around this or achieve more precise control? Maybe I’m missing a setting.

Thanks in advance!

[NotMyFault]

There are some tools or workarounds:

• use grid and snapping
• use helper objects. I often use the star shape with e.g.24 or 48 nodes for this purpose 
• use a parent object (vector layer or any base shape). Rotate the base shape by a defined angle, than create the child layer node using snapping or horizontal axis, then rotate back the base shape
• create individual segments, join them later by node tool

all a bit tedious, but if you need exact measures and angles you need to use either those workarounds or a CAD app.

[R C-R]

Another way very similar to what @NotMyFault already suggested:

1. Select the line
2. Duplicate it
3. In the Transform panel make sure the center anchor is selected & add +90° (or just +90) to the R: value
4. Snap the rotated duplicate to the end node of the original line
5. Select both with the Node Tool & use Join curves

[carl123]

18 hours ago, NonoGG said:

Does anyone know how to work around this or achieve more precise control? Maybe I’m missing a setting.

If you have Designer or have switched to the Designer Persona in Publisher

1. Duplicate your line
2. Select the Point Transform Tool
3. Move transform point to far-right side of the line (it will snap to the node)
4. In the transform Panel set angle (ΔR) to 90 degrees

 

[NonoGG]

Thank you all for your help.

I was really hoping I had just missed some sort of toggle like "Relative to the last object" or something along those lines... but it seems that's not the case. What a pity.

I’ve tried all the suggestions you provided. The solution that works best for me is duplicating the last line or creating a new one with the line tool, and then rotating it using the Enter key. Before that, I use "Enable Transform Origin" to set the pivot.

However, this process can feel quite cumbersome, especially for larger drawings. Merging the curves afterward is particularly frustrating and time-consuming.

Thanks again, everyone!

[R C-R]

8 hours ago, carl123 said:

1. Duplicate your line
2. Select the Point Transform Tool
3. Move transform point to far-right side of the line (it will snap to the node)
4. In the transform Panel set angle (ΔR) to 90 degrees

And probably step 5. join the curves....