I can‘t change shape properties in Photo

[kaffeeundsalz]

Hi everyone,

I‘ve just noticed that in Affinity Photo for iPad, when I select a shape tool (like e.g. Rectangle, Arrow or anything else), I can‘t change any of its properties. Whenever I try, every property in the context toolbar immediately resets to its previous state. Please see the attached video for a demonstration.

This doesn‘t happen with the other tools like Paint Brush or selections. I have tried to quit and re-open Affinity Photo and I also restarted my iPad. I have Affinity Photo 1.7.1.143 and a 3rd generation iPad Pro 11-Inch.

What am I doing wrong? The forum search didn‘t bring up anything useful.

Cheers

kaffeeundsalz

[Alfred]

I don’t think those controls are intended to be used for setting up an initial state. Try drawing a rectangle or crescent (or whatever) and then adjusting the controls while the shape is selected.

[kaffeeundsalz]

Hi @Alfred,

that‘s it! I need to change the controls after drawing the shape. I still find it a strange design decision that I can‘t set up my shape beforehand, but if that is how it works … okay.

I‘m also not sure why it didn‘t try this myself. But that‘s why forum members are smart, right? Thanks so much for your help!

All the best

kaffeeundsalz

[Ulysses]

13 hours ago, kaffeeundsalz said:

that‘s it! I need to change the controls after drawing the shape. I still find it a strange design decision that I can‘t set up my shape beforehand, but if that is how it works … okay.

I was watching your video and saying to myself, "But wait... why isn’t he drawing anything?? "

That's when I realized what was going on. 

Glad to know you’re all set now. 

[kaffeeundsalz]

@Ulysses My confusion probably comes from the fact that I’m much more familiar with the Mac version of Affinity Photo: In the desktop version,  it’s no problem to configure a shape just after selecting the tool and then start drawing when the parameters are set. I guess I am just very surprised that it doesn’t also work this way around in the iPad version.

[Ulysses]

1 hour ago, kaffeeundsalz said:

@Ulysses My confusion probably comes from the fact that I’m much more familiar with the Mac version of Affinity Photo: In the desktop version,  it’s no problem to configure a shape just after selecting the tool and then start drawing when the parameters are set. I guess I am just very surprised that it doesn’t also work this way around in the iPad version.

Very interesting.

I'm on a Mac, where from what I can tell, you can pre-configure most shapes, but not necessarily all of them. For example, the Rectangle and the Ellipse do not seem to be pre-configurable.

Therefore, I've always been inclined to draw the shape first, and then reconfigure it later as needed. 

Some of the configuration controls I'm still learning exactly what they do. But it's always amazing to see how much control we have with these shapes on both the desktop and iPad version. 

[kaffeeundsalz]

Hi @Ulysses,

very well spotted! Rectangles and ellipses cannot be changed before drawing because the context toolbar doesn't offer any controls for them – disregarding the color selectors for fill and stroke and the stroke panel, all of which do work as expected. The other controls only appear after drawing the initial shape. Why this is only the case with the few shapes you mentioned remains kind of a mystery to me; I'd consider this an unnecessary inconsistency. What's more, the iPad version of Affinity Photo does show all the controls from the beginning. It's just that they don't react, just as shown in my video.

There's obviously some room for UI refinement here.

That being said, I share your enthusiasm about how shapes work in the Affinity suite. They really are very flexible and powerful.

[Alfred]

3 minutes ago, kaffeeundsalz said:

I'd consider this an unnecessary inconsistency

Me too, for what it’s worth.

[Ulysses]

3 hours ago, kaffeeundsalz said:

I'd consider this an unnecessary inconsistency. 

+2