mcbates Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 I designed a master element, saved it as a style. Next I applied it to child elements. What I expect: Once I update the style of the master, the child updates automatically. I tried to get that behaviour using Designer's "Styles" panel. But I cannot find a way to update. How can I achieve what I want? thedivclass and Mariusz go 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 20, 2017 Staff Share Posted March 20, 2017 Hi mcbates, Welcome to Affinity Forums :) The closest option you have is Symbols (menu View ▸ Studio ▸ Symbols). Styles are independent from the objects they are applied to so updating them does not update the objects. For more information about Symbols see the help file: Help ▸ Affinity Designer Help ▸ Object control ▸ Symbols. HeiligerBimBam and Mariusz go 1 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbates Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 Thanks, but symbols are exact copies of the object, right? I cannot just copy the style of say the line width with this, exactly? I try to create a map where I want to globally change the width of the roads. If I understand it right I cannot achieve this with Symbols nor with Symbols. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 20, 2017 Staff Share Posted March 20, 2017 No, sorry they will not work for this case either. You have to apply a Style then change the width of the strokes for each object independently (or create more than one style with varying widths for the strokes). I advise you to add this to the Feature Requests section - the ability to edit styles and update the respective objects using them -. Seems a great addition. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aammppaa Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 At present I think you'd have to be pretty organised and put all your roads into a single layer, then you can apply a stroke to the layer and it will affect everything contained within. The same for other objects that share formatting. This will be much easier when Affinity add the ability to select objects by their characteristics, and / or update styles. Quote Win10 Home x64 | AMD Ryzen 7 2700X @ 3.7GHz | 48 GB RAM | 1TB SSD | nVidia GTX 1660 | Wacom Intuos Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen57301 Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 hi! I get the same case: as a cartographer, I used in the past the excellent freehand (Macromedia). I was able to change a style if necessary—stroke or fill - color, width, etc.—then update all the elements where the style applied. In AD, it seems impossible to do the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 You can do that if you use Symbols, edit one item and they all change (or not if you want). Edit. I seems to have caused some confusion with Styles (Affinity Styles panel) and Style (the attributes applied to the image). Please read MEB's posts below. Please note, what I describe above about Symbols should not be confused with Styles (Styles panel, as described below) it has nothing to do with Styles (styles panel). However, using Symbols is a great way of applying multiple instances of one object. Insert one repetitive item (such as a tree) and then updating the attributes of one item would update the attributes of every linked item in one go. i.e. changing the colour of the leaves from green to brown in the Autumn. I thought that using Symbols might be very useful for a cartographer. If the items (symbols) are all the same. ====================================================================== Styles part. Just create a new Style (Affinity Styles panel) after you edit an existing object's style (attributes), then select the items you want to update and click on the new Style (styles panel) to apply it to the objects. If you group all the items of one type as you work, applying the new style (Styles panel) would be a one click affair using the layers panel. Not quite the same as Freehand but it works pretty well. For a quick fix on an existing project, or for what may be a bit more flexible, change the attributes on one object, copy the object, select the objects you want to change then go Edit > Paste Style. That will apply the edited style (attributes) to all the items. P.S. Hope that is clear, MEB ? Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted May 11, 2018 Staff Share Posted May 11, 2018 11 minutes ago, toltec said: You can do that if you use Symbols, edit one item and they all change (or not if you want). @toltec No, you cannot use Symbols unless their content is the same for all objects which probably is not the case. Symbols and Styles are different things. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 15 minutes ago, MEB said: @toltec No, you cannot use Symbols unless their content is the same for all objects which probably is not the case. Symbols and Styles are different things. Thank you, but I do know that. I meant if you have attributes (such as stroke, fill, colour, width, as the poster suggests) applied to a object that is a Symbol, altering the attributes on one object updates the attributes on all the linked objects. Using Symbols would be a good way to do what the poster wanted to achieve, without even having to use Affinity "Styles". If he wanted to use "Styles" then what I described later in my post would allow an easy method to change the "Styles". Sorry if I was not clear. How could I make it clearer ? Edit. P.S. The use of Styles (as in the Styles panel styles) can sometimes make it confusing with styles, as in the style (attributes) of an object. That is why I did not use "style" in the sentence describing "Symbols". Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted May 11, 2018 Staff Share Posted May 11, 2018 It changes the attributes on all linked objects (symbol instances) but it also implies that the content of these objects are the same. Instances (liked objects) are just synchronised copies of the same symbol. I don't think that's what @allen57301 is looking for. Styles are not limited to the same content. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted May 11, 2018 Staff Share Posted May 11, 2018 16 minutes ago, toltec said: Edit. P.S. The use of Styles (as in the Styles panel styles) can sometimes make it confusing with styles, as in the style (attributes) of an object. That is why I did not use "style" in the sentence describing "Symbols". The attributes of an object are what defines their style. The Styles panel deals with the attributes of objects so they refer to the same thing. I believe you are referring to the unlinked attributes of a symbol instead which encompasses more aspects (like constraints, transforms etc) than just the styles attributes of an object. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 1 minute ago, MEB said: The attributes of an object are what defines their style. The Styles panel deals with the attributes of objects so they refer to the same thing. OK, not 100% sure what we are discussing ? However, using Symbols in the creation of projects could surely be very useful for allen57301. As a cartographer I'm sure he/she uses many instances of exactly the same item, such as a tree or a church. With Symbols, updating one instance would update the attributes of all linked Symbols (as you know). That was what I was trying to get across in the first sentence of my post. I will add a note to the post so it does not cause any confusion. Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted May 11, 2018 Staff Share Posted May 11, 2018 I'm not saying symbols are not useful in this context. They certainly are and can be used to speed up a lot of work here but they do not address the issue/question @allen57301 posted that was about updating the style of several (i assume - different) elements, similar to how global colours update all objects to which they are linked to no matter if they are duplicate of another objects or not. Taking your three as an example - who said that all trees (or plants) are/look exactly the same in the project? He may be using different three/plants designs to have some variety all sharing a particular style. Symbols don't address this unless you create a symbol for each tree design and change/update each one everytime you want to tweak the style of the trees. Styles would update all designs globally at once (if they were linked to objects as global colours are - currently they are not). Quote I get the same case: as a cartographer, I used in the past the excellent freehand (Macromedia). I was able to change a style if necessary—stroke or fill - color, width, etc.—then update all the elements where the style applied. In AD, it seems impossible to do the same way. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 14 minutes ago, MEB said: I'm not saying symbols are not useful in this context. I have edited my post to make it clear(er) that my mention of Symbols was a suggestion that may help workflow and that the second part about Styles was an answer to 1 hour ago, allen57301 said: update all the elements where the style applied. Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 4 hours ago, MEB said: Taking your three as an example - who said that all threes (or plants) are/look exactly the same in the project? He may be using different three/plants designs to have some variety all sharing a particular style. Just a very small side note but your auto-correct or something seems to be changing "tree" to "three." Quote 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted May 11, 2018 Staff Share Posted May 11, 2018 Oh . Thanks R C-R. I've corrected/fixed the post. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fun Art Sam Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Any news about global styles being included in a future version of AD? I would also appreciate a global styles option, if it's possible. As an illustrator of picture books, this option would save me a lot of time and effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themapsmith Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 I have the same map-making based question! I'd love to be able to make all the houses in my map the same style (stroke, fill, etc), and then have the ability to change them all at the same time if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 1 minute ago, themapsmith said: I have the same map-making based question! I'd love to be able to make all the houses in my map the same style (stroke, fill, etc), and then have the ability to change them all at the same time if needed. You should use Symbols. Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themapsmith Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 Hi @walt.farrell, thanks for the response. Looking at the Symbols pane, it appears to be a "complete object" symbol rather than just the fill/stroke/opacity/etc settings. I'm drawing an isometric town, and I want to make most house roofs all the same fill/stroke. A Symbol is only letting me define the *entire object* - the specific rectangle for a specific house - rather than applying (and critically - updating!) the style of a bunch of shapes. Does that make sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 1 minute ago, themapsmith said: Hi @walt.farrell, thanks for the response. Looking at the Symbols pane, it appears to be a "complete object" symbol rather than just the fill/stroke/opacity/etc settings. I'm drawing an isometric town, and I want to make most house roofs all the same fill/stroke. A Symbol is only letting me define the *entire object* - the specific rectangle for a specific house - rather than applying (and critically - updating!) the style of a bunch of shapes. Does that make sense? Thanks. Yes, that makes sense. Symbols would only work for you if you have a number of identical objects. Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jowday Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 Styles in Affinity Designer 1.x have little to nothing to do with styles. It is primitive presets. It was (!) a panel I closed immediately since I would never need such a useless feature. It is worth understanding before clicking 'purchase' !!! Quote "The user interface is supposed to work for me - I am not supposed to work for the user interface." Computer-, operating system- and software agnostic; I am a result oriented professional. Look for a fanboy somewhere else. “When a wise man points at the moon the imbecile examines the finger.” ― Confucius Not an Affinity user og forum user anymore. The software continued to disappoint and not deliver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 7 hours ago, Jowday said: It was (!) a panel I closed immediately since I would never need such a useless feature. For some of us, AD Styles are useful. For instance, each of these circles started off as the same simple ellipse but with one click per ellipse they were each given a different style. 27 circles.afdesign jmwellborn and Fun Art Sam 2 Quote 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeK36 Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 On 3/20/2017 at 7:48 PM, mcbates said: Thanks, but symbols are exact copies of the object, right? I cannot just copy the style of say the line width with this, exactly? I try to create a map where I want to globally change the width of the roads. If I understand it right I cannot achieve this with Symbols nor with Symbols. This really is a necessary feature for inclusion in AD Fun Art Sam, thedivclass and elguapo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elguapo Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 +1 on this. Using styles with the same logic as text styles would be a massive time-saver for appropriate tasks. Fun Art Sam and thedivclass 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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