（Affinity Photo) How to draw straight line?

[pruus]

An option to draw a line parallel to the first one would be an option for AP to add as checkbox in the toolbar. So clicking on this, when you are drawing lines, would make the next line parallel to the last line. Problem solved. And it’s a nice powerful option. He AP make this magic happen! Please.

[loukash]

5 hours ago, Catshill said:

I don’t interpret the users comments as ranting but frustration.

Semantics schmemantics. This misses the point, again.

5 hours ago, Catshill said:

there is an assumption that frustration is due to an unwillingness to learn a new way of doing things but as the poster says, this is not always the case.

I get that.
Heck, been there done that.

My point was that me offering a possible immediate solution to a given problem is not automatically a proof of, or "the perfect example why some stuff in AP is just plain broken".
Emphasis mine, because even though I just ironically claimed "semantics schmemantics", semantics actually does matter: how is my constructive suggestion how to work around a problem an example of "why" stuff is broken? This doesn't make any sense.

I am not suggesting an Affinity equivalent of "you're holding it wrong".

Anyway.

~~~

Actually, last night while replying to another topic, I tried to do something at pixel level, a.k.a. pixel pushing, drawing a fake 1-bit example. I'd need a bit more practice with this technique, haven't done this for years, but drawing straight pixel lines via shift-click at this zoom and resolution level wasn't all that hard. Using a custom grid type, e.g. Oblique for 45° lines, may help as well.

Still, it's just a workaround.

Also, the current implementation of "Drag+Shift to constrain stroke" is odd because it can conflict with "Shift+Click to continue last stroke".
And I still haven't figured out how to discontinue the last stroke…

4 hours ago, firstdefence said:

Problem solved...

Haha!

In recent years I've truly enjoyed jobs where I could simply pull out my old box full of Jaxon oil pastels, sharpen my 3B pencil, take a sheet of white 180 g/m2 paper and simply start drawing.

[iconoclast]

On 9/20/2020 at 7:49 PM, Ballonseide said:

The problem is that I don't see any pattern. It just sometimes fails. Just as many other tools sometimes fail or confuse me for no reason that I can discern. I've pretty much given up on trying to understand why. I'm an irregular user of AP and don't have the time (nor the nerve) to file reports every time, or watch tutorials or ask around in the forum. If stuff that seems fundamental to me doesn't seem to be working reliably (or sensibly for that matter) even years after first using the software, that indicates to me I should just suck it up and put my money elsewhere next time.

If you mean, that the duplication and transformation (move, scale, rotate) of curves or forms sometimes fails, it may possibly have to do with your modus operandi. Even one false click can cause that it does not work. You just have to click on the object and then to duplicate and move/rotate/scale the object - and this transformations will be captured to be repeated afterwards. After that you can click Ctrl+J again and again, and you will get transformed duplicates every time you click Ctrl+J. But if you click somewhere with the mouse or change the tool, the process will be stopped, and the captured informations will no longer work. Then you will have to start it again.

[The Legend]

I have several different photo programs, some new, some old. One old one is Adobe Photo Deluxe Home Edition 4, which I downloaded for free from Internet Archives - https://archive.org/ and, although it;s old, it will download on Windows 10 and it has some things more recent ones don't, such as a Tools item called LINE. You can quickly and easily draw straight lines of any color or thickness, in any direction you like, as many times as you like. I can't understand Affinity being unable to do something so simple!

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums @The Legend,

In AP there is a Line tool that is part of the Pen tool. Found in the context toolbar of the Pen tool. While it is possible to draw straight lines with the Paint Brush, it's sort of a pain to keep it from continuous line painting.

Here's a quick screen video of using the Pen Tool - Line