Using Boolean Functions Keeping Original Shapes

[Marmelani]

Hi everyone,

I hope I'm doing this right as this is my first time posting.

I searched the internet and watched a starting course on Affinity Designer for this problem but I ran into a problem while doing my first design. I wanted to subtract a circle from another circle and then move around the circle that was subtracted to adjust it but then I realized that the had merged into a single object. Is there a way to use boolean operations and not transform both elements into a single one, so they can be adjusted after the fact?

I attached the file I was working with.

Cheers

equilibrium.afdesign

[Callum]

Hi Marmelani,

Welcome to the forums

Which of the two circles in your design is it that you were working with? If possible could you provide a screen recording of what it is you are doing?

Thanks

Callum

[R C-R]

Hi Marmelani! I am not entirely sure of what you want to be able to do but using the compound form of the boolean subtraction may help with that. That is done just like a regular subtraction but by holding down the alt key on the keyboard, the shapes are converted to a "(Compound)" layer so that either one can be selected in the Layers panel & adjusted independently of the other, even though both subtractions look the same on the artboard or canvas:
   

So for example, in this artboard subtract example.afdesign file you can select the small or large ellipse in the Layers panel & with the Move Tool change its size, rotation, or position without that affecting the other ellipse. You can even use the "Convert to Curves" function on either or both of them & then use the Node Tool to move around individual nodes or change their bezier control handles to alter the shape of the compound object.

If you want to do something else that is totally non-destructive, you could duplicate the original objects first & work on only the dups or originals.

[Marmelani]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

Hi Marmelani! I am not entirely sure of what you want to be able to do but using the compound form of the boolean subtraction may help with that. That is done just like a regular subtraction but by holding down the alt key on the keyboard, the shapes are converted to a "(Compound)" layer so that either one can be selected in the Layers panel & adjusted independently of the other, even though both subtractions look the same on the artboard or canvas:
   

So for example, in this artboard subtract example.afdesign file you can select the small or large ellipse in the Layers panel & with the Move Tool change its size, rotation, or position without that affecting the other ellipse. You can even use the "Convert to Curves" function on either or both of them & then use the Node Tool to move around individual nodes or change their bezier control handles to alter the shape of the compound object.

If you want to do something else that is totally non-destructive, you could duplicate the original objects first & work on only the dups or originals.

Thank you so much. That is exactly what I was searching for. Where did you get this information from? Is it in some documentation of sorts?

[Marmelani]

2 hours ago, Callum said:

Hi Marmelani,

Welcome to the forums

Which of the two circles in your design is it that you were working with? If possible could you provide a screen recording of what it is you are doing?

Thanks

Callum

Thank you for the help but R C-R already gave me the info I was searching for.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Marmelani said:

Thank you so much. That is exactly what I was searching for. Where did you get this information from? Is it in some documentation of sorts?

https://affinity.help/designer/en-US.lproj/pages/ObjectControl/compound.html