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Where have the Gutter settings for grids gone?


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Windows 10 Home 1809, Designer 1.7.0.209.

In 1.6.5 there is an option to set a gutter between grid divisions - very useful for laying out a set of grids on one page/artboard, e.g. for icon design - but they seem to be missing from 1.7.0.209.
Attached is a snapshot from both 1.6.5 - with gutter - and 1.7.0 - without gutter.
I've tried various things in 1.7.0 but I can't seem to get the gutter options to appear.
The only mention of gutters in the 1.7.0 Help is for column guides.
However, if I create a document with gutters in 1.6.5 they are still evident when I load the document into 1.7.0 and they can be altered.
Are they deliberately missing for new 1.7.0-created documents - and if so, why - or have they gone accidentally missing, or have I not used the correct options?

missing_gutter_165.jpg

missing_gutter_170.jpg

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I find them very useful when experimenting with icon design, where each grid division is its own 'mini artboard'.

Here's my workflow:
* Create document with artboard, any size will do;
* Set-up grid with gutters;
* Create background rectangle, colour it and lock it;
* Draw icons, one to a division, nicely spaced out;
* When I need more space, expand artboard and background rectangle; grid automatically expands;
* When I need to see the icons against a different background, change the background rectangle colour;

If instead I had to use column guides - within a single artboard - I:
* Would have to create a square document, otherwise the column/row guides would not be square;
* Would not be able to easily add extra 'mini artboards' because expanding the artboard would stretch the column guides;
And using multiple artboards has its own disadvantages too.

I tried some experimentation and it was a little bit awkward to get the column guides and the grid to play nicely together. I had to do some calculations to make sure that the grid conformed with the column/row guide edges. Not an impossible task by any means but it requires more forethought than the old way.

By way of example, to have a 10x10 grid of 48x48px 'mini grids' with an 8px gutter I had to:
* create a document with dimensions of (48*10)+(8*9)px;
* create 10 column guides and 10 row guides with 8px gutters;
* create a grid with a spacing of 56px (48+8 gutter) and 56 (48+8 gutter) divisions (and remember to ignore the last 8 divisions).
Not the easiest thing to do but certainly possible.

I could well be doing things the most awkward way but it was simply quicker the old way for whacking some ideas down. If the new way is just how it is and/or I'm the only person who misses the old way then that's something I can very much live with. Just thought I'd mention it in case it had slipped someone's mind.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ah, I see, that's very useful, thanks.
(I notice that the document has to have Pixels as the Document Units before you can access the Pixel-based Presets - as defined in the "Manage Presets" dialog - but that's fairly obvious once you think about it.)

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  • 1 month later...

I totally agree with GarryP! Working with gutters in a grid was quicker and far more intuitive. Now you need nearly high math to set an equivalent document to the "old gutter style".

Please, give the gutters back!

BTW, if you open pre-1.7 document with gutters set they work well, so where is the problem? The code is still there, only gutter setting is hidden...

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  • 2 months later...

I see the preset with the gutter setting has now been removed so my workaround no longer works. Such a shame. This was such a simple and useful way to create a workspace for designing multiple icons or logos within a single artboard. The column guides are great, but they're no substitute for the old gutter setting. Wish this could be restored.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Well this sucks. I was starting an icon project and the original setup would have been awesome and painless. Now I'm scratching my head opening/closing two panels to sort this out. Can't get my gutters to line up with grid squares.

As others mentioned, you had it in there working and rather intuitively, but instead removed it causing a workflow bottleneck. Just bizarre and I gotta mention, so Adobe-ish.

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Months ago, I was extremely impressed by Designer's grid possibilities, and immediately fell in love with the gutter setting, which enabled me to very nicely and consistently draw icons for software (which are then easily exported as either PNGs or SVGs, depending on the project). It is very sad that this feature is now hidden by default. Luckily, I still have the 'old' files that make use of the gutter, can still open them and - surprise! - the corresponding edit field becomes visible again.

It would be nice if Designer could revert to the old behaviour and make the gutter available again for new documents - thanks.

With best regards,
Andreas Weidner

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  • 3 weeks later...

A note that I managed to get them back in v1.7.1 by setting the grid/gutter on the iPad version of Affinity Designer--which has the feature--and then opening the file on the desktop.

 

Window_and_Grid_and_Snapping_Axis_and_Affinity_Designer_-_Untitled__1593_9__.png

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Yet another reason I keep a TI-83 kicking around. :24_stuck_out_tongue:

Microsoft Windows 10 Home (Build 19045)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X @ 3.8Ghz (-30 all core +200mhz PBO); Mobo: Asus X470 Prime Pro
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Monitor 1 4K @ 125% due to a bug
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WACOM Intuos4 Large; X-rite i1Display Pro; NIKON D5600 DSLR

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On 7/5/2019 at 2:58 AM, Dr. Dave said:

Well this sucks. I was starting an icon project and the original setup would have been awesome and painless. Now I'm scratching my head opening/closing two panels to sort this out. Can't get my gutters to line up with grid squares.

As others mentioned, you had it in there working and rather intuitively, but instead removed it causing a workflow bottleneck. Just bizarre and I gotta mention, so Adobe-ish.

This is what you get when you have engineers trying to do user experience designers work.

  • "The user interface is supposed to work for me - I am not supposed to work for the user interface."
  • Computer-, operating system- and software agnostic; I am a result oriented professional. Look for a fanboy somewhere else.
  • “When a wise man points at the moon the imbecile examines the finger.” ― Confucius
  • Not an Affinity user og forum user anymore. The software continued to disappoint and not deliver.
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14 hours ago, Jowday said:

This is what you get when you have engineers trying to do user experience designers work.

What's the point of your post? Quoting another user from over a month ago just to criticise us? I assume you've read my post above, so you know that we've brought the setting back in the latest betas. 

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The point is written oh so clearly. 

  • "The user interface is supposed to work for me - I am not supposed to work for the user interface."
  • Computer-, operating system- and software agnostic; I am a result oriented professional. Look for a fanboy somewhere else.
  • “When a wise man points at the moon the imbecile examines the finger.” ― Confucius
  • Not an Affinity user og forum user anymore. The software continued to disappoint and not deliver.
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