HELP! Rectangle Tool + Move Feature!!

[Bobbie]

Hey guys,

I'm not sure if Affintiy Designer can do this but there are 2 really simple features in Illustrator that I'm hoping I can do in Affinity Designer.

1. Rectangle tool - In illustrator you can just select the rectangle tool and click anywhere on an art board and it will give you a window prompt to create the rectangle or circle you need. Is this possible in Affinity Designer?? (see attached)

2. Move Feature - In Illustrator there is the move option (MAC -Shift +command+M) which gives you control on moving an object on your art board. Is this feature available in some capacity in Affinity Designer? (see attachment)

 

Thanks in advance
 

[dominik]

Hello @Bobbie,

 

2 hours ago, Bobbie said:

1. Rectangle tool - In illustrator you can just select the rectangle tool and click anywhere on an art board and it will give you a window prompt to create the rectangle or circle you need. Is this possible in Affinity Designer?? (see attached)

in AD you don't just 'click anywhere' but click and draw a rectangle (or any other shape) of any size. Then you turn to the Transform Panel (Menu > View > Studio > Transform   ...   if it is not already visible). There you type in width and height of the rectangle. You can even type in position, rotation and shear values if needed. Those are not part of AI's rectrangle window.

 

2 hours ago, Bobbie said:

2. Move Feature - In Illustrator there is the move option (MAC -Shift +command+M) which gives you control on moving an object on your art board. Is this feature available in some capacity in Affinity Designer? (see attachment)
 

There is no command like this in AD. Again, the Transform Panel is your place to go. There are many ways to type in values there.

Instead of AI's 'Position' you type in new values into 'X' and 'Y' fields (where 'X' stands for horizontal and 'Y' is for vertical. I admit this is a slightly more academic nomenclatura  )

You also can type in mathematic expressions in those fields to create very precise moves of objects. There is a detailed description on how this works at 
https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/Workspace/expressions.html

Cheers,
d.

 

[fde101]

48 minutes ago, dominik said:

type in new values into 'X' and 'Y' fields

To add to this, you can enter things like "+4" to add four units to what is there already...

[Pšenda]

13 hours ago, fde101 said:

To add to this, you can enter things like "+4" to add four units to what is there already...

For add must be set "+=4". "+4" is positive four, "-4" is negativ four. https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/Workspace/expressions.html

[CLC]

I also miss those basic features, but you can do the same quite easily with the Transform Studio Panel.

1. Just draw a rectangle manually by mouse, then adjust its properties in the Transform panel at the bottom of the Right Studio Panel.

 

2. Move the rectangle again with the Transform Studio

[Bobbie]

Thanks @dominik, @fde101 @Pšenda @CLC You guys are too good! The transform palette is good. It's a shame those other features aren't available.