Scaling with proportion - When does it happen automatically?

[Inspirimental]

I really haven't figured it out yet. When I scale / resize objects, sometimes the proportion stay the same and sometimes they change. A normal text object stays in proportion, a group most of the time as well. Button several layers don't keep their proportion and I have to press SHIFT to keep the proportion.

 

When working fast, I'd like to know if I have to press SHIFT or not. Is there a guidance when proportions are locked and when not.

Thanks

Tim

[MEB]

Hi Inspirimental

The reason is because for objects with an intrinsic aspect ratio, like text and images, you probably won't want to change their proportions most of the time and so there's no need to press any modifier key, for the rest there's no reason to constrain them by default so you only have to press a modifier when you do want to keep their proportions. However you can choose the behaviour you wish in Affinity Designer/Photo ▸ Preferences, Tools section in the Move Tool Aspect Constrain dropdown so that all objects require you press the modifier (or not) to keep their proportions. The default is Automatic and it behaves as described above.

[Inspirimental]

Hi MEB,

thanks for the quick answer. I was already looking for an option like that, but I guess I did not look closely enough.

 

I understand the idea of the automatic aspect ration. But the problem is the human mind. When you work on a project, you do not look on the layers palette to understand what kind of layer is selected. The intuitive perception only tells your mind: Object selected and now scale it.

I don't have it intuitively in my head, what layer type has what configuration in terms of aspect ration, even though it makes sense as you describe it.

 

This a typical problem of what might make sense and what is the human mind ready to understand.

As an interface developer I am always facing this ultimate question.