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In the attached screenshot I am trying to merge the red box and the blue line. My purpose is so that I can then select and move one of the side nodes and have all three protruding lines stay connected to it. Using the join curves button doesn't seem to accomplish this and using the combine function removes the blue line entirely.

 

In Illustrator creating a new path off of another one automatically merges them – in Designer it creates a new curve on top, which is keeping me from making the shape I need :(

 

Is there a way to combine these curves the way I described? Thanks!

post-47698-0-82667300-1483163510_thumb.png

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Hi mikeabuck,

 

and welcome here …  :)

 

You can only select both your red rectangle and your blue line, group them (Cmd + G), and manipulate the group. You cannot join a closed path (rectangle) and an open path by the Join Curves command, and unfortunately you cannot apply a Boolean Operation (Combine) in your case as well.

 

Hope that helps …

Alex  :)

post-1198-0-69096200-1483177109_thumb.png

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Join Curves only works on open paths -- ones that have separate beginning & ending nodes that are not connected to each other. When you join two open curves, the nearest node of each of them are connected, forming a new open curve.

 

So for example, you could add a node to the rectangle (after converting it to curves) on one of the sides where the blue line touches it, select that node & use the Break Curve action to convert it to an open path, & then select both objects & use the Join Curves action to turn them into one open curve. Where you added the node there will actually be two nodes (or sometimes three because Join Curves is a little buggy), but if you select them all with a marquee selection you can move them all as if they were one node.

 

Not ideal but that is one way to do what you want, if I understand that correctly.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Using the method PixelPest suggested, you can save a small amount of time after selecting both paths with the Node tool by dragging a marquee selection to grab all three nodes at once instead of selecting them one at a time.

 

I use the Node tool marquee select for things like this whenever possible because for me it is faster & slightly less prone to error.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Huh! I just tried this for that pair of shapes & you are right -- the marquee won't select the end node of the line. But weirdly, if I add another node to the line, move that node to the edge of the rectangle, and move the original end node either inside or outside the rectangle, it will select the node on the edge too.

 

Basically, the marquee won't select the end node of a line and the nodes of another path at the same time. This has to be a bug, right?

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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No, this is definitely not a bug, but a feature of Affinity Designer, according to earlier answers by the developers. In order to marquee-select nodes belonging to different paths, you will have to select these paths first, for instance by shift-clicking. And this behavior is deliberately chosen. Think of a very complex piece with lots of intersecting and overlaying paths, and suppose you want to marquee-select and manipulate just a certain subset of nodes on a particular path. Without the current behavior, you would inevitably select nodes you never intended for selection …

 

(Apart from that, you can indeed spare yourself grouping your items, mikeabuck, just as PixelPest described. However, I find fiddling around with nodes a little more convoluted that the grouping approach, but that clearly depends on your objectives.)

 

Hope that makes sense …  :)

Alex

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No, this is definitely not a bug, but a feature of Affinity Designer, according to earlier answers by the developers. In order to marquee-select nodes belonging to different paths, you will have to select these paths first, for instance by shift-clicking. And this behavior is deliberately chosen. 

 

That is what I tried in the AnimGif and it doesn´t work. If I have to maneuver through a hefty scene I have all sorts of grouping/layers/lock-up capabilities to get thinks sorted - marquee select a bunch of nodes simply should work as suggested above.

 

Cheers

P.

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marquee select a bunch of nodes simply should work as suggested above

 

If you want marquee select to select all the nodes that you happen to lasso, you just need to 'Select All' with the Move Tool before switching to the Node Tool.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Maybe I´m lost in translation  - but as shown in the AnimGIF it don´t work here. I just can marquee select the nodes of the rectangle not the one of the straight line while both objects are selected which is confirmed by user RC-R.

 

Edit: Example: draw a single line with the Pen-tool - switch to Node-tool and try to marquee-select one point or two.

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Ah, OK, I'm with you now, but it isn't to do with the line only having end nodes. It's to do with the line being straight.

 

If I choose the Pen Tool and draw a perfectly horizontal or vertical line in Line Mode, switch to the Node Tool and add a few nodes, I can't marquee-select any of the nodes on that line. If I make the original line sloping or curved, I can marquee-select either or both of the end nodes, even if I don't add any extra nodes in between.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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No, this is definitely not a bug, but a feature of Affinity Designer, according to earlier answers by the developers. In order to marquee-select nodes belonging to different paths, you will have to select these paths first, for instance by shift-clicking.

But we have done that. The bug, as Alfred has explained most clearly, is that even after doing that, we can't marquee select nodes on perfectly horizontal or vertical lines along with any nodes from any other selected paths.

 

If I remember correctly, this is one aspect of a long standing bug regarding how Affinity handles perfectly horizontal or vertical lines.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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That’s right, R C-R. But I was referring to the more general case in my original post.

I thought you were responding to PixelPest's "Yes definitely a bug" post that preceded yours, which is why I replied as I did.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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PixelPest and R-C-R

 

FYI there was a bug report for not being able to select a/all node(s) on horizontal and vertical lines:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/20750-marquee-does-not-work-on-horiz-or-vert-lines-selecting-nodes/

 

I have never been able to find the original report of the bug that MEB refers to.  But when I wrote this report I thought it sounded familiar.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) with macOS Sierra

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I vaguely remember reading about that bug but I did not connect it to this topic until you mentioned it. But is certainly still there: even if there is nothing other than a single horizontal or vertical straight line in the document, the marquee select fails to select any of its nodes.

 

In fact, even if a node is first selected by clicking on it, dragging a marquee select will deselect it, whether or not the marquee encloses it. Just moving a node by 0.1 px off the horizontal or vertical is enough to avoid the bug.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Thanks for all of your help, everyone. I do still wish that I could combine curves (or start a new curve off of an existing one) like you can in Illustrator, though. I must admit I'm a bit disappointed with Designer in that regard. 

 

Edit: After coming back to Illustrator for work I realize that I was both incorrect and ineffective in describing my issue. Both programs allow you to snap new curve nodes on top of nodes from other curves. Neither program automatically joins these curves, though. Both programs allow you to select both overlapping nodes and move them together, Designer just requires that you select both curves first (as opposed to having nothing selected and just dragging over both nodes with the node tool), which does feel a bit awkward, but is a non-issue. Neither lets you begin a new curve off of another curve's node – trying to do this in Illustrator defaults the pen tool to "delete anchor point" and doing so in Designer just selects the node.

 

Sorry for my confusion. I've really been enjoying both Designer and Photo!

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Who said you can´t?

1. Select the path you want to continue. Pick Pen tool and carry on.

2. Select the path and one end point to determine from which point to continue

3. Select multiple paths/curves and click "Join Curves" to make them one (AD tries to whatever reason fill the gaps - another mystery "feature/bug" thingy).

 

Cheers

P.

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