Distributing objects evenly along a path

[ErichBoehm002]

So, I am trying to arrange copies of an object evenly in a circular pattern, and I thought "wouldn't it be a huge time saver if there was a button you could click to do this," but then I figured why stop there?  I realized how Affinity has a huge selection of custom shapes and it would be neat if we could use these to distribute objects evenly as well.  As I see it, it would work like the "spacing" button under the "align" button where you would drag a slider and the number of evenly spaced objects would increase.  

[Chris M..]

This post is a little old so I hope I can still help. But by no means am I an expert with Affinity (5 years), but I do think I know what you mean.

In the textbook for Designer, there is a section based on what they call "power duplicating" iirc.

while highlighting the object(s) you want to duplicate, use the command+J button. You will now be highlighting the newly created/duplicated object. From here, you can move the object any which direction you like. Once completed, you will now see that pushing the command+J button again will replicate the distance moved, exactly the same as the previous object. Essentially giving you an unlimited and consistent spacing between objects.

If you really want to get crazy with it, use the "enable transform origin" button. That's where you can get really creative with it!

I've linked a vid below of how to do each of those 2 things I mentioned. Hopefully, it helps

 

 

 

[Petar Petrenko]

On 1/31/2020 at 6:34 PM, Chris M.. said:

If you really want to get crazy with it, use the "enable transform origin" button. That's where you can get really creative with it!

And what if you need to distribute them on a freehand curve?

[G13RL]

For a freehand curve, draw the objects to be placed on the curve.
Draw the curve, "Convert to Text Path".
Select the objects, "Ctrl + X".
Select the curve, take "Text Tool", "Ctrl/Cmd + V".
Select the objects with "Text Tool" and set the spacing with "Tracking".

[dominik]

7 minutes ago, G13RL said:

For a freehand curve, draw the objects to be placed on the curve.
Draw the curve, "Convert to Text Path".
Select the objects, "Ctrl + X".
Select the curve, take "Text Tool", "Ctrl/Cmd + V".
Select the objects with "Text Tool" and set the spacing with "Tracking".

This surprises me a little bit because I was not aware that it is possible to treat any vector object as a glyph. I just tried it and it seems to work.

When was this introduced?

d.

[G13RL]

@dominik I wouldn't know exactly, maybe with version 1.7. I discovered this by chance on the forum while browsing it. Someone had posted a message explaining this feature, unfortunately I forgot who it was (I should have noted it somewhere). If he recognizes himself he will be able to enlighten us precisely.

[Chris M..]

Wow, I had no idea this was possible. Thanks for your help @G13RL !

[G13RL]

@Chris M..You're welcome.

[JET_Affinity]

Quote

This surprises me a little bit because I was not aware that it is possible to treat any vector object as a glyph.

It's generically referred to as "inline graphics" (having a graphic flow in line with live text). It's nothing new. Vector based drawing programs, page layout programs, and even word processors have provided for inline graphics since way back.

Since vector-based drawing programs also commonly provide for "path text" (flowing text along a path), those which provide for inline graphics let you combine the two, as demonstrated. This is also nothing new. Other vector drawing programs have had this ability for decades, the notable exception being Adobe Illustrator. (As of CS6. I don't rent software. But I suspect it's still a long-requested and never yet provided feature.)

However, inline graphics is still not the same thing as distributing graphics along a path. Most vector drawing programs can distribute graphics along a path by means of object blends. But implementations differ. For example, in Illustrator, the spacing of the instances along the path is affected by the curve handles. So along curvy freeform paths, the spacing is not what one would call uniform. The workaround is to add an inordinate number of nodes to the spine path, which of course effectively wrecks the ability to smoothly edit the spine path's shape. Illustrator users have also long suffered from its object blends' inability to properly position the first and last instances on closed spine paths.

Illustrator's historic nemesis, FreeHand, uniformly spaced its blend object instances along the path, and had no problem with correctly handling closed spine paths. That is usually preferred. But both spacing methods—being either affected or unaffected by curve handles— are useful, depending on the specific situation.

Also since way back in the day, Deneba Canvas could not only create object path blends but could also automatically simply position and uniformly space elements of a group along a path. So you could easily have an array of completely different and independent objects follow along any path shape, uniformly spaced.

It was much later that so-called vector 'brush' features came along, and some of the problems with Illustrator's sub-par blend handling can now be worked around with Scatter Brushes. But those come with their own frustrating caveats.

Affinity's provision for Inline graphics is much to be applauded. All vector drawing programs should provide that. But again, that's not really the same thing as objects along a path. When Affinity does address the need for true vector brushes and path blends, I hope it takes all of the above and more into consideration toward creating an innovative approach that covers all the above. I still see no reason why that couldn't be done with a new approach toward pathEnds and pathStrokes that would be more powerful, more intuitive, more concise; in other words, elegant in both capability and interface. I'm convinced such a treatment could surpass the conventional wisdom of separate arrowheads and separate kinds of brushes, and should integrate closely with symbols.

JET

 

 

[dominik]

1 hour ago, JET_Affinity said:

Affinity's provision for Inline graphics is much to be applauded. All vector drawing programs should provide that. But again, that's not really the same thing as objects along a path.

Thanks, @JET_Affinity, for putting the information together.

While I do understand the concept of inline graphics I'm really just surprised that it is possible in AD. I cannot remember see it mentioned somewhere (but I certainly do not know all the places in the forum and help files 😉).

I also understand that this is not a replacement to distribute objects along a path. I'm familiar with how Xara does it (= blending between objects). There is also control over the distribution distance between the objects. This may be mimicked with different tracking settings but this is at least cumbersome.

Anyway, this can be of great use in some situations.

d.

[carl123]

1 hour ago, dominik said:

While I do understand the concept of inline graphics I'm really just surprised that it is possible in AD. I cannot remember see it mentioned somewhere (but I certainly do not know all the places in the forum and help files 😉).

Inline graphics are basically just pinned objects. If you open up your AD document in Publisher you can use the Pinning Studio to manipulate them

Pinning in Publisher was introduced on approximately April 26th 2019

To maintain interchangeability between the apps both APhoto and AD would have had to support Pinned objects and since the underlying code (for Pinning) is basically the same APhoto and AD got Pinning (inline graphics) shortly after Publisher did.

There was no big fanfare or announcement regarding this new facility in APhoto and AD - which is why, even today, not a lot of people know you can now use "inline graphics" in this way in those two apps.

  

[dominik]

8 minutes ago, carl123 said:

APhoto and AD would have had to support Pinned objects and since the underlying code (for Pinning) is basically the same APhoto and AD got Pinning (inline graphics) shortly after Publisher did.

Hi @carl123,

thanks for pointing to the link to 'Pinning' in APub. I did think of that but was unsure.

 

8 minutes ago, carl123 said:

There was no big fanfare or announcement regarding this new facility in APhoto and AD - which is why, even today, not a lot of people know you can now use "inline graphics" in this way in those two apps.

The 'no big fanfare' may be the reason that I missed the introduction of this very handy feature.

I just opened my test document in APub and can see that the objects on the text path seem to be pinned ones. There seems to be a distinction between pinning properties and glyph properties.

d.