Reset Bounding Box

[Jilly]

@Ben Thank you for the thought-out response. It gives us a better understanding of the implications.

 

So you’re saying that permanently resetting the bounding box of a dynamic shape will convert it to curves. That might indeed be a issue, but it also might not make a difference. That is also the outcome of @lenogre’s

suggestion. So for example we might ⌥+click the “Reset Bounding Box” option and what it does is convert the shape to curves, reset the bounding box, and show the Assistant informing “the shape was converted to curves”.

The second, better alternative, is to make “Reset Bounding Box” a button toggle. So we press it once and the button gets inset in the interface, and from then on it’ll always use the alternative box model until we click it again. I don’t think anyone would have a problem with this — it doesn’t really need to be permanent, it just needs to be done so we don’t have to keep toggling the option (current behaviour).

[Bee and Nectar Design]

2 hours ago, vitor said:

So you’re saying that permanently resetting the bounding box of a dynamic shape will convert it to curves.

 

From my personal angle, I'd be happy with a version of reset which permanently converts to curves, although I'd imagine there are others who would prefer something infinitely swappable. But that sounds complex to develop, and as a product manager (as well as designer; why have one job when you can have two?!), I appreciate there's always a trade-off to be made between development effort and benefit. This feature won't sell lots of copies of Designer on its own...

Vitor's alt-click option seems a fairly slick implementation if it's not too difficult to code, although @Ben may (rightfully) argue that it isn't all that discoverable for the uninitiated user, and it may also not fit into Serif's standards for operations in the UI. 

[Ben]

I'm just going to add that I have made some changes to the box resetting method in 1.7.  These changes probably won't address what you are asking for, but it will be worth seeing what has changed when we Beta 1.7 before we make any further changes.

 

[Bee and Nectar Design]

5 hours ago, Ben said:

I'm just going to add that I have made some changes to the box resetting method in 1.7.  These changes probably won't address what you are asking for, but it will be worth seeing what has changed when we Beta 1.7 before we make any further changes.

 

Thanks for the update, @Ben. I'll see what comes in 1.7 and then come back, possibly with a different requirement. 

[Nic727]

I'm waiting for this as well. I did some shapes and give them an angle, but after grouping them, there is no way to actually reset the box to remove the angle it did.

[Suzannewendie]

I think this has helped me to understand that when the objects are placed side by side, and I noticed the change in the skew, I thought there was an error. Then I started correcting every object back to 0, and that was the wrong thing to do. I am trying to correct something that isn't broken. Is that correct? Thank you for your post.

[Cristian Dragos]

This one is a real must have... I understand it's not an easy task but usually objects are grouped together and if I we can't reset the selection box then the center of the group will be distorted and won't be able to align the group properly to other objects. Hope this makes sense.

[fercen]

Just chiming in to add my voice to the choir. Trying to set up an artboard based on the current selection won't work as expected due to the transformed bounding box causing the result to be oversized despite the absence of any visual content near the edge of the resulting artboard.

I believe that @vitor's suggestion of modifier key and conversion to curves would be a good improvement to the functionality.

[Angstyboy]

+1 for the feature to reset without altering the shape

[Fun Art Sam]

I think that a permanent reset bounding box option is essential for anyone using Affinity Designer. Based on my prior experience with Adobe Illustrator, a permanent reset bounding box is a valuable tool for an efficient workflow. It's convenient to have the option of a non-permanent reset bounding box for vector shapes that need it, but most of the time we NEED a permanent reset bounding box. 

[Fun Art Sam]

@Ben Sorry, I didn't read all of your responses until now.

If there is an issue with a dynamic shape becoming a curve, after a permanent reset bounding box transformation, then don't have that option available when a dynamic shape is selected. For curve objects selected, you could have two options– a permanent reset bounding box and a temporary reset bounding box option. 

I appreciate all of the hard work that you and your team put into Affinity Designer, it's amazing software for vector art and design! I especially love the asset library for my vector shapes, the wide range of options for the snapping tool, and the Export Persona.

Edited July 10, 2019 by Fun Art Sam

[Cristian Dragos]

Any update on this one?

[exinstance]

Reset Bounding Box button/command is (was?) a must have.

[MEB]

Hi exinstance,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
The changes @Ben was talking above were already implemented in version 1.7. It' still not possible to reset the bounding box permanently but you can switch between the base box and regular bounds using the Cycle Selection Box button in the context toolbar (for the Node Tool and Move Tool) which should help in some situations. If you need permanent reset there's a workaround you can use that consists in creating a rectangle covering entirely the object/shape you want to reset and then boolean intersect the two. The output with your original object with the bounding box reset.

[remiARQ]

I just wanted to push for this mandatory (IMHO) feature.

[j_create]

Hi, I'm using the hotkey workaround for this but it's really cumbersome, both to get used to and to continue to use. A bounding box reset – a permanent one – is pretty important. I'm coming from Adobe so there's been some re-learning for the Affinity Designer workflow but this is maybe the first instance where I feel like there's a real deficiency in the software and it's tripping me up.

I hope in future releases that a bounding box can be reset permanently, and from the right-click menu, too (not just via hotkey) . . . and along with that some real warping, meshing, bulging, etc., that one would use for vectors or (especially) grouped vectors to go with it.

Thanks!

[Amitashi]

There is such button on top called "Cycle selection box".

This is last button at right when move tool (black cursor) is chosen.

[mangojambo]

Hello.

The 'Cycle Selection Box' is kind of handy, but to have to click it every single time you select the object / group back is quite annoying.

Another thing is to align the object in an artboard: I entered the value I want but it keeps changing the tranformation numbers to the other selection box mode. It shouldn't do it when in the other mode.

So, at the end, I prefer to 'apply' my objects rotation simply by pressing the boolean Add button:

The issue here is that I lost my gradient set up. Kind of weird to do that. So I duplicate the object to copy the gradient (and check it visually), press the boolean Add button, Ctrl+Shift+V to paste the old Style and... the gradient is messed up. I have to set the gradient position again. This is the most annoying thing from the whole process since sometimes I need to make it match to another gradient, shape or what so ever.

To conclude I think the boolean add button would be the best and fast way to apply it if Boolean operations or Paste Style keep the world axis references and not local axis.

 

 

[prophet]

+1 for permanent "reset bounding box"

[JinoBetti]

+1 with either vitor's behaviour (converting shapes to curves with an assistant warning) or Fun Art Sam's behaviour (allowing this only for curves...).

Since curves seems not to be a problem for this functionality, and are for many users acceptable, I think it would be a great improvement...

In any case, thanks Ben for sharing the behind the scenes for us to understand better the complexity of the matter !

[EvGa]

+1 for permanent "reset bounding box"

[Elio]

+1

Struggling with this in Publisher as well.

[Przemek]

Dear @MEB

@Ben Mentioned once the need of use cases. This is mine. I'm making a 40 page report with multiple charts. The attached image shows a complex chart with the bottom stacked bar chart pasted from Numbers (as PDF). The chart in Numbers was horizontal and with bars of the same height. Once in Publisher/Designer I rotated the bars 90 deg so to have it vertical. Once customised to my needs (different widths, spaced out properly, changed colors) all my heights are widths and vice versa. And here where my issues start. It takes extra, unnecessary mental effort to remember the rotation. If I share the file with my team they have to figure it out also. The transform points are swapped too. If I transform each selected I also have to remember that top is left and right is top. If I have 20+ charts with similar "mental constraints" it starts to be a hassle. All this could be fixed by a button in the transform pane called "Overwrite Base Box" or something. This way, the original skew and rotation get's overwritten with present transforms.

I might be mistaken or it's a bug but I think you already have something similar in Designer. When I transform objects between isometric grids (and back to flat gird), they get baked in their skewed form. I'm sure it's possible to take advantage of your open approach that I appreciate (as it gives me complete control and freedom) and the "stiff" one present in other apps.

Much gratitude to the amazing job you guys do at Serif with the Affinity apps.

Yours,

Przemek (Pshemek)

[MEB]

Hi @Przemek,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Thank you for your feedback. I will pass it to Ben for consideration.
Meanwhile, I don't know if you are already aware, but if you select each rotated object and press Add (boolean operation) - to add it to itself - it resets/fixes the rotation issue (you can set up a shortcut for this to speed it up a little bit). You can also select multiple rotated objects (those that use the same fill/attributes) and Add them all together than Divide (boolean operation), to fix the issue to more than one object at once (you can do it for objects with different fills but they will end up all with the same fill after the Add operation so you have to set the fills again).

[Move Along People]

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