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Hi,

 

I am a recent convert to AD and I have some questions. I come from Illustrator, so I have some workflow questions.

 

I really like the intuitive way the pen tool works and this was the main reason for using AD. However I have some questions regarding the editing of nodes and handles.

 

1. Is their a possibilty to align different nodes (averaging) like in Illustrator? I find this quite a useful option and would love to use it in AD

 

2. When I draw with the pen, I can use shift to constrain angles, but after I have drawn a shape I have not found a way to constrain it to these angles, which is a bit frustrating as I can not be sure if they are perfectly horizontal/vertical. Is there a workaround or method to archieve this? Plus: is their a way to change the angles in preferences?

 

3. Following up on question 2: it is possible to snap nodes to a grid, but is the same also possible for handles? This would be useful especially for more regular geometric shapes.

 

BTW I love the new grid options in the Beta, AD is getting better and better!

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Hello postmadesign,

 

1) No, not yet. This may be added later.

2) Change to the Node tool and press ⇧ (shift) while you drag the nodes.

3) No, it's not possible to snap control handles to the grid yet. This should be coming later as well.

 

Glad to know you're enjoying it.

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

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Yes, you can. Start dragging immediately at a 45º angle. It will not jump the snap from vertical or horizontal to 45º. You must drag the node diagonally from the beginning. I believe this was possible in previous versions (jump from one snap angle to the next) but i'm not sure. I have to check this out.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...

You must drag the node diagonally from the beginning.

To me this felt odd constraining the angle to the current angle I was drawing. Maybe add the possibility for the shift key to lock angles at every 45 degrees + the current angle the user had when pressing shift?

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  • 9 months later...

Yes please to a node alignment tool :)

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  • 11 months later...

I have a suggestion. You already have alignment and distribution tools, how about using those same tools for nodes when nodes are selected and for shapes when shapes are selected (right now, they apply to shapes regardless of what is selected). There's no need to change the interface but users would have the capability to align/distribute nodes relative to each other. Hit "align-vertical" and you have nodes on the same baseline. Hit "align-vertical"and "align-horizontal", and you have nodes directly on top of each other—even with snapping turned off.

 

There is a group of designers that never switched from Freehand to Illustrator just because of this functionality. They actually keep older Macs running old systems to this day so they can run Freehand. Illustrator added the "Average" function to align nodes, but it is a PITA to use—and it changes the position of all nodes selected (equivalent to "align to-center"). Using the "align-to-bottom" or "align-to-top" tools wouldn't move the lowest (or highest) node, but would move other nodes to that vertical position. Very handy.

Mid-2011 iMac 27, 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

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Improved alignment tools will be coming soon, including alignment of nodes.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is excellent news Ben. Thanks for the info.

iMac: iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017)  -   3.4 GHz Intel Core i5   -   8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4  -  Radeon Pro 560 4096 MB 

Windows: Nvidia GTX 960m 4k UHD 2gb ram video (Windows 10 Pro) -  Laptop screen (resolution 3840x2160 magnified 300%)

2nd Monitor: Phillips 226E9Q HD 1920 x 1080 (125%)

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