Arrow Heads?

[LookToWindward]

Hi,

 

From reading posts on this subject it seems that Designer doesn't support multi line segment Arrow heads, but it is on the roadmap. Does anyone know if this will ever be added? It seems to have been on the list for quite a long time. Not having this simple drawing tool really lets Designer down IMO and is stopping me from adopting it 100% Everything else works so well, I'm amazing at how this simple feature could be left out of this product when there are so many advanced features, why leave out a relatively simple "bread-and-butter" tool?

 

All the Best

Dave

 

[carl123]

What are "multi line segment Arrow heads" exactly?

[MEB]

Hi Dave,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

We do have them on our roadmap - which covers the whole 1x cycle of the app - so it will come before version 2.0 as a free update, however there no's specific eta. It's taking time because there's still a few issues to solve. Although these things may look simple from an user point of view, things are not so simple when they have to be implemented through code. Bear with us while we work on them.

 

[R C-R]

To get an idea of why implementing "simple" arrowheads is not really so simple, consider for example the discussions here or here regarding the myriad arrowhead styles (for want of a better word) various users would want to be supported in some way or another.

 

Even for the simplest, most commonly used ones getting them to conform to a curved line they are attached to that looks right can be tricky as the shape of the curve or the proportions of the arrowhead to the line lengths change, as hopefully this very crude simulation demonstrates. 

I am just guessing but I think the developers won't be satisfied until they can work out the most flexible, most user friendly way to deal with these issues, not just for the simple "bread-and-butter" arrowheads but for the widest practical range of them.

[LookToWindward]

Yes, I can see that for a solution that works for every possibility of Line Style that it isn't as straight forward as it seems, but, IMO something that worked on a limited sub-set would be better than nothing. I've done a lot of these types of charts in the past and in 99% of cases a straight (rectilinear) line is all that is needed. As it is now, I can't use Designer for this job which is off putting since most other Apps of this kind do support some kind if arrow head (albeit in a limited manner).

 

What are "multi line segment Arrow heads" exactly?

 

The first and last segment have an option to include an "arrow head" (< or >) like so:

 

<-----------------+

                           | 

                           | 

                           +--------->

 

 

[gdenby]

Hi, LookToWindward,

 

There are a number of work arounds to do the job. They take a few seconds more than drawing a line and choosing an arrowhead end cap.

 

For instance:

 

Check out the built in arrowhead shape, and reduce the shaft to a very thin rectangle. Boolean add it to other shapes. Or, change the stroke pressure graph.  The work can then be  minimized by saving as an asset or a style, depending on the approach.

 

 

 

 

[R C-R]

More about the workarounds can be found in the Arrow Brush topic in the Learn and Share > Resources forum, including a useful set of arrow brushes by @ronniemcbride you can download, more about the pressure graph technique, & using the iOS 10 or Grade UI Basic elements assets.