Snapping and guideline improvements

[Rhys Stenhouse]

Hi folks,

 

I’ve been using Designer to draw up a logo which relies quite a bit on geometry. I’ve been trying to work around the lack of diagonal or custom guidelines by using lines drawn on another layer at the angles I need and using snapping, but it doesn’t seem to be working like I was hoping. Through conversation on Twitter it seems that some of the features I was hoping for aren’t included yet.

 

 

Quick description of what I’m trying to do:

 

Basically I was hoping to be able to have my nodes snap to the lines and to the intersects between them. I have snapping enabled, including “Snap to shape key points” and “Snap to object geometry”, but the only geometry that nodes will snap to is other nodes or line endpoints – it doesn’t seem to snap to anything else that “object geometry” should describe.

 

 

Examples:

(I’ve eyeballed the measurements in these images by zooming in up close to the intersects, but better snapping would make this hassle-free)

 

In this image, the two white object nodes should be able to snap to the red/blue intersect and the red/cyan intersects.

 

 

 

In this image, the nodes should be able to snap to the green/blue and green/cyan intersects. (Note the guideline which one of the shapes is snapped to – ideally this feature would also cover intersects between guidelines and regular lines)

 

 

 

Feature requests:

2. I’d like the snapping function to have an option allowing snapping to lines, including line midpoints and intersections between two lines.
3. 
   
4. I’d like to be able to create guidelines at angles and at specific lengths, so I can (for example) draw a guideline starting at a particular point on the page and drawing this at an angle for a specified length, rather than just extending through the entire document window.
5. When dragging a new guideline in from the ruler, I’d like for it to snap to object geometry including nodes and lines. (I noticed this just before posting – if an object is selected as a snapping candidate then guidelines will snap to the bounding box, but not to other geometry within that object)
6. 
   

 

I know that these features are probably already being worked on, but I wanted to highlight them as to me they’re very important tools for creating more technical artwork such as logos, diagrams, infographics/charts etc.

[MEB]

Hello Rhys Stenhouse,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

 

Currently it is not possible to snap to intersections or paths themselves as you discovered. This wasn't implemented yet.

Grids, guides and snapping all are being worked/improved while we speak. Some may take a little to appear in the program but they are all planned. Check out our roadmap for a better idea of what's coming.

[callumgare]

Any more word on guide improvements? I too would find custom angled guides and the ability to snap to intersection of either lines or guides to be extremely useful.
Cheers,
callum :)

[MEB]

Hi callumgare,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Not yet, but the Customer Beta for Designer and Photo have started today (check the respective beta sections) so you can expect new features and improvements in the next weeks.

[Ben]

The features will be coming as soon as they are ready.