Arrowheads please. . .

[bpedit]

Wow! Affinity Designer looks very good from the git-go. It's fast, well organized and pleasant to use. The text handling has some excellent features already. Scrolling through the font menu and watching selected text change live, quite a treat. 

 

The main addition it needs for me to replace AI is arrowheads. I don't need a lot of useless style options such as Adobe offers, just filled triangles that have some adjustment options.

 

    •  placeable on beziers as well as straight lines

    •  auto scale to line thickness

    •  user adjustable scale acting on default size  (+% and -%, i.e.)

    •  user adjustable head angle (again, maybe relative to default)

 

And maybe, if not too much trouble:

    •  an option to have arrowhead extend line OR

           have the line shorten to place the arrow tip at the end of the original segment.

 

Thanks for listening,

Byrne

 

[edit] P.S. Another discussion of arrowheads suggests ability to round corners. Not strictly necessary for me but nice. Acts on all three corners, maybe adjustable as a proportion of the arrowhead's size.

[idraw]

I second this request!

[idraw]

It is really frustrating not having a way to add arrowheads; please please add this soon that so that I can move my workflow to Affinity.

[idraw]

I am somewhat surprised that adding arrowheads to curves is not even on the feature roadmap. Is that an oversight, or a deliberate decision?

 

Could one of the staff members comment on this please?

[bpedit]

One of the stipulations of the roadmap is that it will not get longer. For a new item to appear in the list, an existing item has to have been attended to. Once the new beta becomes a version and dashed lines will come off the list, I'm pretty certain ;) arrowheads will take its place.

 

I'm anxious for arrowheads too but we probably shouldn't make pests of ourselves. I can't replace AI without arrowheads to work with but Designer is so awesome, I bought it anyway.

 

[edit] You should search "arrowheads" on the forum. It's been discussed before with some encouraging feedback from the design team. I posted here in order to lobby for some specifics on the implementation.

[retrograde]

I'm curious, what kind of work are you doing with arrowheads?  I use them only occasionally for charts or diagrams.

[bpedit]

I write science education apps among other uses of vector programs. You can check out PhysicsEq or MacroMole on the iTunes App Store or visit my website bpedit.com for more images, one is included below. I also do drawings for woodworking projects where arrows are of use.

 

           

[retrograde]

Yes I can see where you're coming from. Thanks for that.

[Titus Tears]

Yes this is very important and will make life a lot easier… create a range of end caps.

both sides of the rule /line segment.

[idraw]

Diagrams in physics and mathematics require arrowheads quite frequently... as bpedit pointed out already.

[woodworks]

Add another request for arrowheads. But keep up the good work. You're getting closer.

[lenogre]

There is already arrows in shape tool. But you can't bend them. It would be a great enhancement.

[techfips]

Variable end capping (with arrows, circles, squares, you name it) is indeed very useful.

 

I would like to add a request for the feature to have the position of the "capping" object also as a variable. In other words, start and end (0% and 100%) being only special cases of a more general capability to place objects (or text!) along a path.

[amstel_1998]

Arrow heads are a must for me as well!  Look forward to when they get added (otherwise really enjoying the software).

[A_B_C]

+1

[ronniemcbride]

Ohh man I know this not like having vector arrow heads but you could just make your own "Texture Intensity Brush"  I think it would solve your problem until they implement that feature. I hate to see you blow a gasket over a arrow head option.

 

 

Here, I made you a couple just import this brush set. Adjust the stroke, modify the butt cap. and change the color. This should least give you the basics and you can use it with a brush, pen or a pencil.

 

 

Arrow heads.afbrushes.zip

[bpedit]

Ronnie,

 

While I don't think brushes are a robust enough replacement for dedicated, adjustable arrowheads, your brushes do appear useful. Thank you for this.  I intend to investigate more potential of vector brush use.

 

Byrne

[ronniemcbride]

Ronnie,

 

While I don't think brushes are a robust enough replacement for dedicated, adjustable arrowheads, your brushes do appear useful. Thank you for this.  I intend to investigate more potential of vector brush use.

 

Byrne

 

You are welcome glad to be of help.  I agree with your statement. I just felt your pain in your statement and all I imagined was you creating litte vector triangular heads for every one of your lines (ouch not fun) lol

 

I figured in your particular situation this would work fine until they get a proper implementation.  Fee free to ask me if you have any other questions about what i have done here. 

[geopick]

The absence of a robust arrow tool is what kept me from buying into Designer, as I use this feature all the time in drafting. I look forward to arrows in the next release, hopefully.

[ronnyb]

Here's another way... uses vectors, too...

[MattP]

Just wanted to reiterate our intentions here: We are aware that users want arrowheads, so we are aiming to put them in as soon as we are able to. I'm very sorry if this deficiency is affecting your productivity and fully intend to get this addressed.

[bpedit]

Thanks for the confirmation, Matt. We can now sleep at night. Maybe the timing will coincide with Apple getting all the bugs out of Yosemite and I can feel free to upgrade.

[peene.biber]

Yes, I hardly support the straight lines tool with variable end caps / arrows, In science you are lost without that and in a lot of other areas they may be used too.

So please give it a high priority, also I am reading you are very busy to get the hold suite done. In general: congratulation,    --- but the straight lines and the end caps... Thanks

[ronnyb]

+1 for a Line tool, as it lets you preview your line before releasing the mouse, which is not something that the Pen tool does.... But it could!! It might actually be very useful to have a preview line connecting the last node placed to the cursor's current position. If that's the case, then we don't need a line tool, and the Path tool would actually be more useful as it will display the connecting preview until the user clicks to place the next node...

[ronnyb]

Just wanted to reiterate our intentions here: We are aware that users want arrowheads, so we are aiming to put them in as soon as we are able to. I'm very sorry if this deficiency is affecting your productivity and fully intend to get this addressed.

 

Great to hear, Matt! Also, +1 for a Line tool from me, as it lets you preview your line before releasing the ouse, which is not something that the Pen tool does.... But it could... wait a minute....

 

It might actually be very useful to have a preview line connecting the last node placed to the cursor's current position, like when you hold Shift after an initial click with the Pen tool. If that's the case, then we don't need a line tool, and the Path tool would actually be more useful as it will display the connecting preview until the user clicks to place the next node. Or perhaps this behavior is activated or deactivated using a modifier key. 2 more cents...