How can I measure things?

[MEB]

Hi kalbinsson,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

Change the document units to mm. To do it click the View Tool (the hand icon) and change the units in the corresponding dropdown in the context toolbar on top.

In Affinity Designer you can also change document units going to menu File ▸ Document Setup....

[kalbinsson]

Thanks.

 

This was exactly what I needed.

 

/K

[Jo Jo Dancer]

This doesn't work at all if the object you want to measure the distance to is nested in a clipping group. Sketch handles this much better, and Illustrator of course provides an actual measurement tool that isn't hidden behind secret modifier key combinations.

[MEB]

Hi Jo Jo Dancer,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
You are right. It doesn't work with clipped objects. I'm logging this/passing your feedback to the dev team. Meanwhile instead of selecting the independent object you started with, pick up the clipped one instead then mouse hover the original object you intended to measure the distance to and it should work.

[Zontag]

@MEB Any way to perform measures on iPad like on Desktop (cmd key)?

 

thx!!

[Raptor Swire]

I would like to add my opinion to this topic.

Even though it seems like the tool is not for that purpose, the Marquee Tool is really nice in photoshop for quickly measuring things without creating anything.

I would be really happy to see Marquee Tool showing real-time sizes, same like Rectangle Tool does now.

I think it is quicker and less chaotic than creating a rectangle (which is not even transparent by default) and then deleting it etc.

Sometimes it is just nice to have more tools for the situation

[MEB]

Hi Raptor Swire,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
In Designer (Pixel Persona) and Photo, check the Width and Height dimensions of the marquee (in px) in the Transform panel.

Regarding measuring things - in case you are not aware from previous posts - you can also press and hold command (CTRL on Windows) with an object selected and move the cursor over other objects or the canvas to see the distances between them.

[Tormy]

No way to measure things on Affinity Photo under windows please?

[walt.farrell]

44 minutes ago, Tormy said:

No way to measure things on Affinity Photo under windows please?

There are some ways described above, depending on what you want to measure. More details of your need would help.

[Tormy]

I need to measure lenghts of elements into an image

[MEB]

Hi Tormy,
Select the Pen Tool and draw a line covering the distance you want to measure. Switch to the Move Tool, select the line you just draw and check the Length (L) in the Transform panel.

[Tormy]

oops quite cumbersome but I got it. Thanks.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, MEB said:

... and check the Length (L) in the Transform panel.

I do not seem to have a Length (L) item in my Transform panel. What am I missing?

[MEB]

Select a line (composed by a single segment) with the Move Tool.

[Old Bruce]

Just now, R C-R said:

I do not seem to have a Length (L) item in my Transform panel. What am I missing?

You have to have Straight lines, not even a hint of a curve and you have to have the Move tool selected.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, Old Bruce said:

You have to have Straight lines, not even a hint of a curve and you have to have the Move tool selected.

Straight or not, I do not have anything in my Transform panel labeled as "Length" or "L"

I just have the usual W & H items, so even if the line is perfectly straight but not perfectly horizontal or vertical, neither of those items will tell me the length of the line.

[MEB]

I've attached a screenshot to my previous reply. The Length (L) is on the bottom right in the Transform panel.

[Old Bruce]

3 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Straight or not, I do not have anything in my Transform panel labeled as "Length" or "L"

I just have the usual W & H items, so even if the line is perfectly straight but not perfectly horizontal or vertical, neither of those items will tell me the length of the line.

 I am using the keyboard shortcuts P and V and A for the different tools.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, MEB said:

I've attached a screenshot to my previous reply.

Thanks. For some reason I was not seeing the "S" value change to "L" until I quit & relaunched AD. I guess it is possible in my first attempts I did not put the Pen Tool into Line mode & very slightly wiggled the pointer when I clicked on an end point, creating an arc too small to notice.

[MEB]

You don't have to put the Pen Tool in Line Mode.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, MEB said:

You don't have to put the Pen Tool in Line Mode.

I usually don't bother with that when drawing straight lines (or polygons) but I think what I must have done when I first tested this was to very slightly move the Pen during one of the clicks, creating a smooth instead of sharp node.