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6 hours ago, iconoclast said:

Yes, even I didn't miss it yet, a measurement tool would be cool. In the meantime I would use the Rectangle Tool and the Transform Panel.

The rectangle tool and the transform panel offer no ability to measure a curve… that’s the whole point of this post. 

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5 hours ago, firstdefence said:

So basically bring a bit of CAD into the apps, it's a shame the likes of Hot Doors CADtools (Illustrator Add-on) can't be made to work in Affinity Designer.

image.png.b7fcbd69ce63555dcc61c0f96c064039.png

 

Yeah this kind of CAD ability would be a dream come true! Sob sob, maybe I should just go back to illustrator 😭😭😭

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What I had in mind was a simple A -> B or A -> B -> C -> D measuring tool. That should be easy enough to implement in the Affinity suite.

My buddy has an NCD cutter in his garage that follows a line with a blade or a milling tool to cut out complex forms, logos, etc. A specialized tool for a specialized use.

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8 hours ago, SamSteele said:

What I had in mind was a simple A -> B or A -> B -> C -> D measuring tool. That should be easy enough to implement in the Affinity suite

Sounds great to me. 
just click on 2 points/nodes and the tool will tell you the distance of the line between them, regardless of the line shape being straight or curved. 

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  • 4 months later...

+1 for a measuring/tape measure tool.  I use the measure tool in my 5 year old Corel Draw package along with tape measure tool in Sketchup all the time for home design projects.  I just bought Designer primarily for it's Isometric grid features, but also so I can share and update my drawings on my iPad as well as my PC.  I've just been measuring the kitchen cabinets and designing a new island, but having to manually draw lines and use the text tool to manually type in lengths of combined panels I've drawn is a pain, even a simple measure tool that locks to object handles and adjusts as objects are moved and resized would be great, let alone being able to measure the length of curves.

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/8/2021 at 2:04 PM, ra.skill said:

Hi @SamSteele

I use Affinity for many different uses, from technical drawing, graphics, laser cutting through to pattern drafting for fashion garments...

Pattern drafting for fashion garments is the use that I particularly need a measurement tool for, as I need to measure the length of 1 curved line and match it to the length of another curved line (see image attached).

In illustrator there is a documents info window that shows you the length of any line no matter what its shape (see image).

I really wish Affinity would bring this option... it's a very simple tool but essential, plus I think affinity has the ability to bring this info in a more user friendly way that Ai's ugly, hidden window pane.

 

Screen Shot 2021-07-09 at 00.50.49.png

Screen Shot 2021-07-09 at 00.51.20.png

I use the soiftware for the same reason.  I am a knitter and need this deperately,  Affinity is my designing preffered tool, dut for what i see i will have do switch to CAD (not my thing, too expensive).

Affinity developers, don’t you monitor these forums?

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4 hours ago, TomT said:

Affinity developers, don’t you monitor these forums?

The developers monitor the Feature Requests & Feedback forums, not the Questions one. Of course, if you browse through those forums, you will see there are far more feature requests than they could add to the apps without bloating both the size & cost of the apps greatly.

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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  • 1 month later...
On 7/8/2021 at 1:04 PM, ra.skill said:

Hi @@SamSteele

I use Affinity for many different uses, from technical drawing, graphics, laser cutting through to pattern drafting for fashion garments...

Pattern drafting for fashion garments is the use that I particularly need a measurement tool for, as I need to measure the length of 1 curved line and match it to the length of another curved line (see image attached).

In illustrator there is a documents info window that shows you the length of any line no matter what its shape (see image).

I really wish Affinity would bring this option... it's a very simple tool but essential, plus I think affinity has the ability to bring this info in a more user friendly way that Ai's ugly, hidden window pane.

 

Screen Shot 2021-07-09 at 00.50.49.png

Screen Shot 2021-07-09 at 00.51.20.png

Hello @ra.skill Have you tried Valentina for pattern making?  It is specifically built for pattern making professionals and is Open source.

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  • 1 month later...

I recently watched an Affinity Designer video in which a measuring tool was being used, as you will see, but I can't find it anywhere and the YouTuber didn't say. Has anyone any idea?

The relevant part starts at 1:36

 

Mac Pro (Mid 2010) 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon - 16GB RAM - ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB - Asus ProArt  24" 1920 x 1200

iMac 2017 Quad-Core Intel 2.4GHz Cor i5 - 21.5'' Retina 4K - 8Gb RAM - 1TB Fusion drive - Radion Pro 560 4GB - Ventura 13.0.1

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Series 7559 - i7 6700HQ - 16Mb RAM - 128Gb SSD 1Tb HD - Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 960M 4Gb GDDR5 RAM - 4K

Asus N56V i7 3630QM 2.40GHz; 8Mb RAM; 1Tb HD; 64 bit. Nvidia GT 650M 2Gb: 1920 x 1080 - 2nd Monitor: Asus ProArt  24": 1920 x 1200

 

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14 minutes ago, GRH said:

I recently watched an Affinity Designer video in which a measuring tool was being used, as you will see, but I can't find it anywhere and the YouTuber didn't say. Has anyone any idea?

It is not obvious what is happening there. Make your new node on the the line by clicking with the node tool. Now start to drag the node, the distances should show up when you start to drag the new node.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

It is not obvious what is happening there. Make your new node on the the line by clicking with the node tool. Now start to drag the node, the distances should show up when you start to drag the new node.

Thanks Bruce, though I still can't get any distances to show, the nodes slide along left or right but no measurement showing up. I'm wondering if this is a Windows only feature - I'm working on a Mac.

Mac Pro (Mid 2010) 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon - 16GB RAM - ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB - Asus ProArt  24" 1920 x 1200

iMac 2017 Quad-Core Intel 2.4GHz Cor i5 - 21.5'' Retina 4K - 8Gb RAM - 1TB Fusion drive - Radion Pro 560 4GB - Ventura 13.0.1

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Series 7559 - i7 6700HQ - 16Mb RAM - 128Gb SSD 1Tb HD - Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 960M 4Gb GDDR5 RAM - 4K

Asus N56V i7 3630QM 2.40GHz; 8Mb RAM; 1Tb HD; 64 bit. Nvidia GT 650M 2Gb: 1920 x 1080 - 2nd Monitor: Asus ProArt  24": 1920 x 1200

 

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Just now, GRH said:

 I'm working on a Mac.

As am I.

Three steps

1: Use the Node tool to add a new node to the line.

2: Use the Node tool and click on that newly added node, keep holding the node.

3: Start to move the node, the numbers should show up.

I am on Mac OS 11.6.5 Here are the snapping preferences I currently have set for Designer.

439531789_ScreenShot2022-05-02at8_12_03AM.png.0cbac65aa77f481fc96f0bc1c9bdcd7c.png

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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9 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Three steps

1: Use the Node tool to add a new node to the line.

2: Use the Node tool and click on that newly added node, keep holding the node.

3: Start to move the node, the numbers should show up.

They don't, for me, on Windows.

-- 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

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16 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

1: Use the Node tool to add a new node to the line.

You don't need to do that

In the context toolbar for the Node Tool, ensure in the Snap: options the first one is selected (Align to nodes of selective curves)

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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Try with this Snap setting enabled as well

1177102518_ScreenShot2022-05-02at8_26_28AM.png.9caefb99691dc52485a871b179c7b7b8.png

Note that the video uses a horizontal line and that is what I use as well. Doesn't work with curved lines either.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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2 minutes ago, carl123 said:

You don't need to do that

In the context toolbar for the Node Tool, ensure in the Snap: option the first one is selected (Align to nodes of selective curves)

Thanks Carl123, works a treat now; thanks also Bruce - we got there in the end.

Mac Pro (Mid 2010) 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon - 16GB RAM - ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB - Asus ProArt  24" 1920 x 1200

iMac 2017 Quad-Core Intel 2.4GHz Cor i5 - 21.5'' Retina 4K - 8Gb RAM - 1TB Fusion drive - Radion Pro 560 4GB - Ventura 13.0.1

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Series 7559 - i7 6700HQ - 16Mb RAM - 128Gb SSD 1Tb HD - Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 960M 4Gb GDDR5 RAM - 4K

Asus N56V i7 3630QM 2.40GHz; 8Mb RAM; 1Tb HD; 64 bit. Nvidia GT 650M 2Gb: 1920 x 1080 - 2nd Monitor: Asus ProArt  24": 1920 x 1200

 

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A tape measure tool that would show the length of a curved or variously curving line would be so nice to have. If only I had a computer, I could calculate it very quickly. Let's see: if the radius is this, and the angle of the segment is this, the distance along the circumference should be...........

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  • 8 months later...

That's not how you measure cubic curves. It's not difficult though, in the end the curve is made up of small straight line segments (Bézier or DeCasteljau's point interpolation methods) that can easily be measured individually and summed. 

Affinity Designer 2 has a "measure tool", but it can only be used for measuring one thing. You can't add measurements to your artwork. Amazing how they thought this would be useful to anyone. I'm used to Astute Graphics'  Dynamic Measure in their VectorScribe Illustrator plugin. It's all so basic, I can't fathom why they didn't go the extra (quarter?) mile.

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The point I was making is that the programmers have already figured out how to draw a curved line on the screen, or on a printout (even if it is a Bézier curve) so they must have all the figures/data/numbers available to calculate the length of that curved line. Once they have that final number, it can be displayed.

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9 minutes ago, SamSteele said:

so they must have all the figures/data/numbers available to calculate the length of that curved line. Once they have that final number, it can be displayed.

V2 supports that with the Measure Tool. But the measurement cannot be made part of the document. You need to add it to the document yourself, after the Measure Tool reveals what it is.

-- 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

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29 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

V2 supports that with the Measure Tool. But the measurement cannot be made part of the document. You need to add it to the document yourself, after the Measure Tool reveals what it is.

Reasonable, I suppose, Walt, that you have to add the text yourself. This type of program never puts automated text in the best place, anyway. "Best" from a designer's point of view. 

I don't use V2. I want nothing to do with WIN 10. It's not a question of money but of productivity. I hate learning new GUIs. If I was churlish, i'd suggest that maybe AFF received a "subsidy" from MS like COREL did, but more likely it was just easier to design afresh. Too bad. We helped make the company successful. Adobe used to be backward compatible.

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