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1. Is there a way to crop the document/canvas/artboard to the exact rectangular area of the selected objects?

 

In photoshop, you could cmd+click on the layer's thumbnail to select the entire object in the layer, then press C to switch to crop tool, and it automatically fits the crop area to the selection, so you get the minimum canvas size that fits the object.

 

How do you achieve this in AD? While it's able to cmd+click on a layer to select the objects, I can't figure out a way to do the cropping for the canvas other than adjusting the document size with numbers.

 

2. when exporting, the "Area" dropdown menu is greyed out, how do I enable it?

 

Thanks

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I have the same issue and a search of the forums suggest it is not supported feature. Coming from other tools like Sketch not having Resize Artboard to Fit is a big problem for me when using affinity, there are so many use cases where it is useful. Affinity should look at the artboard features in Sketch as I would say they are best in class at the moment, though Sketch has terrible QA & stability issues.

 

I would make this a priority feature request as the other posters on this subject need it.

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  • Staff

Hi Eggimage,

 

Welcome to the Forums :)

 

It isn't possible to crop the canvas to a selected object I'm afraid. To have the area dropdown enabled you need to have a Layer/Object selected before going to File > Export.

 

Thanks

C

Please tag me using @ in your reply so I can be sure to respond ASAP.

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Please keep in mind that AD is primarily a vector based app, & cropping out part of a vector does not save any file space like it would in a pixel based app. You can always export artboards at what ever size you want & it is easy to change their size in the workspace.

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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  • 3 weeks later...

In most cases what I need to use this for is just that create my exportable area so when I open a file and make changes and have this new size I need my canvas to be I simply, Select that object, click the Artboard tool, in the size dropdown choose selection, then click the Insert Artboard button. Bada Boom. Now the great thing is you can resize your artboard at anytime.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 weeks later...

thanks imfastrnu2 :D

 

On 1/25/2017 at 5:58 AM, R C-R said:

Please keep in mind that AD is primarily a vector based app, & cropping out part of a vector does not save any file space like it would in a pixel based app. You can always export artboards at what ever size you want & it is easy to change their size in the workspace.

That's true, but here at work most of my export have to be in PNG so this feature would be most appreciated.
It's really annoying having to create a new artboard cause it implies at least renaming and reorganizing...

At least the artboard should be able to stick to the object when the resize it. The same way that objects can actually stick to the artboard when you resize them.

Edited by hujikoda
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3 hours ago, hujikoda said:

.It's really annoying having to create a new artboard cause it implies at least renaming and reorganizing...

The thing is, Designer is a page layout program, like MS Word or Quark. You create a page first and place objects on it, often with bleed and maybe crop marks, etc.

So what you are trying to do is resize the page to fit a single component on the page. It is possible by creating an Artboard but it will be a bit of a workaround.

Still, try fitting a page to an object in either MS Word or Quark ;)

This is what image editing programs like Photo are designed for. They are based on a canvas, not a page, so they work very differently. 

Another way around is to copy the item, then go File > New from Clipboard. That might help ?

Edited by toltec

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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11 minutes ago, toltec said:

The thing is, Designer is a page layout program, like MS Word or Quark.

MS Word tries to do some page-layouty things, but it is most definitely not a page layout program: it is just a (very capable) word processor. If you want to stick to Microsoft’s offerings, MS Publisher would be a better example. :)

 

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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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6 minutes ago, αℓƒяє∂ said:

MS Word tries to do some page-layouty things, but it is most definitely not a page layout program: it is just a (very capable) word processor. If you want to stick to Microsoft’s offerings, MS Publisher would be a better example. :)

 

Actually, although I agree in principle, during my years in the print trade you would be amazed at how many people used Word to lay out pages before submitting them for print. It is actually pretty good, it even has built in image editing, text effects etc. The main problem was lack of bleed.

Anyway, Designer is not an image editing program, but it often gets used for that.

The thing is, so many modern programs do a bit of everything so you can use them for what you want.

P.S. Out of all the programs we used to print from, Publisher was the worst for problems. Word was more reliable.

Go figure :S

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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New from clipboard doesn't do much better:

image.thumb.png.692320d5dbcf01af5218b6cbce0c2f99.png

 

There still a margin around.. And it creates a new file which is not what I want to do anyway.

I understand that Affinity photo would crop better but I work with vectorial objects so.... Moreover, when you create an artboard, the snapping works fine, I don't get why the resize of the artwork wouldn't be able to work with the snapping too :(

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3 hours ago, hujikoda said:

actually creating a new artboard according to the selection doesn't work, here is what I get:

Are you sure there was not a white rectangle or some other object included in your selection that would account for the extra space? If possible, could you include a screenshot of the Layers panel with all its items fully expanded in a post? 

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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4 minutes ago, hujikoda said:

New from clipboard doesn't do much better:

image.thumb.png.692320d5dbcf01af5218b6cbce0c2f99.png

There still a margin around.. And it creates a new file which is not what I want to do anyway.

That's a bit odd. I tried it (artboard) with a couple of things, like an ellipse and a photo and there was no margin. It might be something about that file it doesn't like ?

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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  • Staff

Hi hujikoda,
Select the group layer in the Layers panel then go to menu File ▸ Export... and select Selection with (or without) background from the Area dropdown.
Alternatively create a slice from that group (in the Layers panel in Export Persona) and export as PNG from there. There's no need to create artboards just for export.

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10 minutes ago, hujikoda said:

No RCR, no white rectangle

Could you scroll the Layers panel all the way to the bottom & post another screenshot that includes that area? In the one you just posted, we can't see any of the text-as-curves layers besides the last 3 in "Instaroid." 

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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26 minutes ago, MEB said:

Hi hujikoda,
Select the group layer in the Layers panel then go to menu File ▸ Export... and select Selection with (or without) background from the Area dropdown.
Alternatively create a slice from that group (in the Layers panel in Export Persona) and export as PNG from there. There's no need to create artboards just for export.

Thanks Meb ;) The things is I usually use the export persona so I can export as batch

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  • Staff

Have you seen the bottom suggestion: Alternatively create a slice from that group (in the Layers panel in Export Persona) and export as PNG from there. There's no need to create artboards just for export. Isn't it working for you correctly? 

If your logo is tightly placed on the artboard (no extra space around it) and exporting the artboard using File ▸ Export or the Export Persona doesn't work (adds empty space) can you please upload  the file using this link for us to take a look? All files will be deleted after being checked. Thanks.

Note there's a known bug when creating artboards from selections that prevents the artboard from being tightly created as it should. This is being looked into.

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16 minutes ago, hujikoda said:

As you want RCR but there is not such rectangle

But there are what appears to be a few oddities, like one S shape showing as an unfilled shape & an extra "m" & "e" curve in the "memories" text block. I am not sure if that has anything to do with the extra margin, but like @toltec I cannot duplicate your results with any of my files, so maybe it is something unique to yours that is causing this.

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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41 minutes ago, owenr said:

Designer is a primarily vector drawing/illustration program with some page layout features and some raster editing features.

 

Yes, but the main "currency" of the document is a "Page" not a "Canvas". That makes a big difference, which is what seems to cause so many users problems.

I don't know how better to explain it for those who struggle a bit. Just trying to help you know.

Still, with Artboards and the ability to output them imposed with bleeds, Designer makes a very good page layout program. I  am no illustrator but I use Designer to lay out all my pages these days. 

With so many programs that can be used for so many tasks, I think old fashioned labels like Word Processor, Page Layout program or Illustration program are a thing of the past. Is a phone just a phone these days?

Actually, I'm not sure if mine can even make telephone calls :/.

 

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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23 minutes ago, toltec said:

Yes, but the main "currency" of the document is a "Page" not a "Canvas".

Nope. The main "currency" of an Affinity document is either a canvas or one or more artboards. This is equally true for both Affinity apps because while Photo cannot create artboards it supports ones made in Designer. "Page" really is mainly relevant only for end uses like printouts or maybe web page mockups.

31 minutes ago, toltec said:

With so many programs that can be used for so many tasks, I think old fashioned labels like Word Processor, Page Layout program or Illustration program are a thing of the past.

I sort of agree with you on that, but that terminology is still useful to indicate in general terms the primary purpose of an app or the kind of document it is best suited to create.

47 minutes ago, toltec said:

Is a phone just a phone these days?

A phone is a device, not a program.

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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