symbol: add, subtract, intersect, divide, combine .... does not work

[dirkus]

I'm trying to do Geometry operations with symbols but they seem to be greyed out or unavailable.

 

---Repro steps---

1) Create a shape using the rectangle tool (M)

2) Go to view/studio/symbols 

3) Create a symbol from the rectangle tool

4) Drag this newly created symbol onto the canvas multiple times

5) Select several symbols and note that you are unable to add, subtract, intersect, divide, combine

 

Is there a way to do these things with symbols?

[MEB]

Hi dirkus,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

You shouldn't be able to perform boolean operations between symbols when using the symbol to perform a boolean operation with itself.

I'm logging this to be looked at.

 

Regarding performing boolean operations between different symbols, you should be able to do it, just make sure you select the shape's layer inside the Symbol layers and not the Symbol layers themselves. Even so this may open a can of worms when trying to get symbols synchronised...

 

Why not perform the boolean operation between the shapes directly before converting them to a symbol?

[dirkus]

Thanks MEB

 

Workaround = If you go to the layer and look at the child of the symbol you can add new shapes in there and shift select them to do these geometry operations. 

 

You also need to make sure that the object you are trying to add/intersect/combine is a curve and not a pixel object.

[v_kyr]

Well if you go into the symbol group ...

select those and then perform the operations!

EDIT:

Ah Ok you discovered it already by yourself, fine!

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, MEB said:

You shouldn't be able to perform boolean operations between symbols when using the symbol to perform a boolean operation with itself.

I'm logging this to be looked at.

FWIW, as an experiment I overlapped 3 instances of a rectangle symbol on the canvas, selected the 3 rectangle child layers as in @v_kyr's screen shot, & clicked on the Divide operator. That worked ... but shortly thereafter it not only locked up Affinity Designer but also everything else -- I got the so-called 'spinning beach ball of death' no matter where I clicked on the screen or what keys I pressed, & within 10 seconds or so just moving the beach ball pointer became sticky & erratic! Finder eventually quit & all the icons on the desktop disappeared. Even getting the Force Quit window to open took ~3 minutes to appear, & another 30 seconds or so to actually force quit that app!

 

Even now, after finally getting AD to quit & control of my Mac back, some things are sluggish, so I will be restarting soon. This is the first time in many years that I have seen such a severe lock up of the system. I assume this somehow created the mother of all memory leaks, but it is something that I hope gets fixed ASAP.

[v_kyr]

Hmm strange, things that kill AD on my side sometimes are instead more EPS and AI imports.

[R C-R]

5 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Hmm strange, things that kill AD on my side sometimes are instead more EPS and AI imports.

Occasionally, something might cause AD to hang or quit unexpectedly but this was the first time in a long time that the whole system locked up because of something I tried in AD.

 

Restarting the Mac seems to fixed all the sluggishness but I may reinstall the OS just to make sure something did not get corrupted either as a result of the cause of this.

[v_kyr]

When something would have been corrupted, leaved unresolved file handles and the like, the system usually anyway performs a FSCK and repairs. So I would first check the system log files etc. and if all works fluently again.  - Reinstalling the OS from ground up would be last option!

[Uuiop]

Perhaps try a 'Safe Boot' followed by a normal restart before reinstalling the OS? Does a lot of very effective clearing up, including FSCK and emptying caches, the longer it takes the more likely it is to be sorting a mess.