Finding the center of a shape

[Gear maker]

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to find the exact center of a shape post creation, and even trickier post rotation?  Like if I want to place a small star in the exact center of a large circle.  So far the only way I can find is to make a large star, move it around with changing the size until all points contact the circle, then reduce the size of the star making sure it stays centered.

 

In other products the center anchor point can be displayed, then guides can be dragged to mark the exact center to indicate where the star is to be started.

[Ben]

You can snap to the bounding box of any object.  If you also enable snap to mid points, that will enable you to find the accurate centre point.

[MEB]

Hi Gear maker,

Welcome to Affinity Forums.

If you enable snap, all those alignments will become much more easier. To enable it click on the third icon counting from right on the top toolbar. Then click on the small arrow to select which options you need. Snap to object bounding boxes and Include bounding box mid points will do what you want. You can also enable Snap to guides to help you align more tricky objects.

 

[EDIT] Ben beat me on this one! [EDIT]

[Gear maker]

That worked.  Thank you.  Good program.  Very supportive staff and members.

[awakenedbyowls]

I'm trying to snap to the centre point of a circle. I've got Only Snap To Visible Layers turned on - why won't snapping work unless the node from the object I am trying to snap to is in the same Layer Folder? These layers are "visible"

Bug?

[GarryP]

Do you have “Snap to object bounding boxes” and the inner “Include bounding box mid points” turned ON in the Snapping settings?

[MEB]

Hi @awakenedbyowls,
Do you have Snap to shape key points enabled in the Snapping options? This also lets you snap specifically to the center of the circle (shape) if you are snapping nodes (rather than using its bounding box midpoints).

[awakenedbyowls]

Funnily enough Snap to Shape Key Points now seems to be working - it wasn't before so maybe that was a bug?

So basically, what I'm seeing is:

- Snap to Shape Key Points snaps to the centre of shapes - Objects can be in different layers - "Key Point" seems to refer to Centre Point(s) of Shapes and that's it: So why isn't it called "Snap To Shape Centre Points"? "Key Points" to me means just that, eg. the points of a star or the corners of a square - but in this context it just seems to refer to some kind of geometric centre or centres?

- Snap To Object Bounding Boxes seems to Snap to Bounding Boxes AND Centre(s) of Shapes (which then raises the question: what exactly is the point in Snap To Shape Key Points?) - It also (unlike Snap To Shape Key Points) won't work unless both objects are in the same Layer Folder? (And this raises the question: What is the point in Only Snap To Visible Laters?)

I've gone through these thing before and if I don't use the software for a while I have to revise all these things - it doesn't help when things don't work as they're supposed to or the wording of certain functions seem wrong or ambiguous

[awakenedbyowls]

1 hour ago, awakenedbyowls said:

- Snap To Object Bounding Boxes seems to Snap to Bounding Boxes AND Centre(s) of Shapes (which then raises the question: what exactly is the point in Snap To Shape Key Points?) - It also (unlike Snap To Shape Key Points) won't work unless both objects are in the same Layer Folder? (And this raises the question: What is the point in Only Snap To Visible Laters?)

I'm now finding that Snap to Shape Key Points works on different layers (on iPad + Win and V1 + V2) so I don't know why it wouldn't work before - maybe just bugs?