Snap to Object not Working Correctly - 18.5.0.63630

[Merlinski]

Hiya,

Since upgrading to Xara Designer Pro X 18.5.0.63630 Jan 10 22 I'm having a very inconvenient problem with object snapping not working like it did previously.

Some object snapping works (like snapping to centre of an adjacent or object below) but on scaling an object it won't snap to the edge of an adjacent object.

It seems really inconsistant, and not at all precise - considering I use Xara for many technical illustrations every day this is a real setback.

Any ideas wonderful populace?

Chris

[rsrsrs]

Hiya,

Since upgrading to Xara Designer Pro X 18.5.0.63630 Jan 10 22 I'm

Chris

same here

Xara Designer Pro+ 21.6.0.63535 SL x64 Dec 6 2021

reinhard

[Chris M]

I was frustrated by this for months. Then someone (handrawn or Acorn, I can't remember) said, "click the object that won't snap, once." That was it. That's all.

[Acorn]

I was frustrated by this for months. Then someone (handrawn or Acorn, I can't remember) said, "click the object that won't snap, once." That was it. That's all.

Cheers Chris, what is happening is Xara is removed a control and is relying of the object type to manage its features.

An image will sit there with a top-left blue control. If you click it the controls end up with a middle-top lollipop.
The Photo Tool is the worst as the resize is the bottom right control and nothing snaps in this mode. The middle selectors don't work either as the entire control focus is on image manipulation.

Another way to get this state is to toggle on the Show Control Handles button (Shift+Ctrl+4) when the Selector Tool is active.
You might also need to toggle the Object edit handles button (Shift+Ctrl+2).

You also need to check the Selector tool is active. Smart object have a tendency to load up with the QuickShape Tool selected.

These niggles have been around since SmartShapes were introduced.

All this still requires the Snap to Objects button being selected.

Acorn

[Chris M]

This is one of those where the explanation makes it sound complicated, but all I do is 'not snapping? - click it'. When I'm concentrating on the task at hand, I don't want to be working out which way the handles look, which hidden smart aspect button is or isn't activated. I just want to do the bare minimum and let my mind concentrate on the flow.

It's always good to know the why's and wherefores, though. When you understand what's occurring, you can usually reach a logical conclusion.

[Acorn]

Many people look but do not see. Everyone has a different workflow based on experience and knowledge gained.
Working any application is like driving a car, painful to learn but there comes a time when it is all intuitive.

The problem in not understanding the why is you may get locked into a bad approach with no way out.

My suggestion is , without the aggression the Smiley here is suggesting.
Go back and work through each introduced feature in the design notes and try and work out what it is offering. Obviously, some will never impact you but knowing they exist is sometimes useful.
Look at other applications and ask yourself "Can I do that in my XDA?"

Acorn

[Merlinski]

Hi there,

I've had a chance to test this now.

It's worth knowing that I did not update from an old-old version, and smart shapes and the 'newer' style object handles were present in my previous version.

Clicking again on the object to snap, or the object to snap too, doesn't make resizing an object next to another snap if the object I'm scaling is a grouped object?

I have read the manual, and I don't see it, and it is 100% a new behaviour.

Any help appreciated

EDIT - I did find it on a second read - I have to now press G when scaling a group? I don't see the advantage of this just yet, just a disadvantage in terms of an extra step. for example, if I'm scaling from the centre I usually press Shift, now I'm pressing G first, and then Shift - it won't work otherwise. It's not really very good to operate. I wonder if I can change the default behaviour back to the way it was?

[Acorn]

Hi there,

I've had a chance to test this now.

It's worth knowing that I did not update from an old-old version, and smart shapes and the 'newer' style object handles were present in my previous version.

Clicking again on the object to snap, or the object to snap too, doesn't make resizing an object next to another snap if the object I'm scaling is a grouped object?

I have read the manual, and I don't see it, and it is 100% a new behaviour.

Any help appreciated

EDIT - I did find it on a second read - I have to now press G when scaling a group? I don't see the advantage of this just yet, just a disadvantage in terms of an extra step. for example, if I'm scaling from the centre I usually press Shift, now I'm pressing G first, and then Shift - it won't work otherwise. It's not really very good to operate. I wonder if I can change the default behaviour back to the way it was?

Chris, 'Snapping Modes' S, G & A have been around for at least XDPXv7; they are not new.
The action is a toggle on/off during a drag (scale).

If I hazard a guess, your objects have a Line Width?
If so, have you possibly falling foul of 'Scale line widths' toggle?
https://helpandsupport.xara.com/xara...g_objects.html
This changes what the object snaps to - its edges or the midpoint of the applied line width.

Throw in Smart transform and your goose is truly cooked.

The simplest solution is to provide a design file with a before and after position of your objects/groups and tell us what to do to get to the after position.

Acorn

[Merlinski]

Hiya, I can tell you with 100% cast iron certainty something has changed with regards to the default, as much as I accept that the "G" method may have been there dor some time, I have never had to use it, ever, in all the years of doing the same thing. It was "on" as default.

Background - I use Xara up to 10 hours a day drawing none stop technical illustrations, I've been using it since it was first introduced on PC from the Acorn fork.

The last version I was on was 17, definitely worked differently in this regard, I'm now on 18.

I don't have a problem with a specific drawing, this is a new workflow fuidity issue for day in day out usage I'm trying to resolve really.

Thanks for your input though.

[Merlinski]

In addition, I now have both v17 and v18 running side by side here on the dual screen PC and I can confirm the operating is different.