Presets for the Arrange tool

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2019-05-22 23:01:22

(Pixelmator Pro 1.3.4)
Hi all.
Prior to 1.3.4 (possibly a couple of versions back), the arrange tool had a Presets palette that I used for quick transformations: doubling or halving the size of an object, rotating by 45°, 90° etc. I can't find it in 1.3.4.
Does anyone know where it has gone? Or if the functionality e.g. of rotating something by 90° with a single click is elsewhere in the UI?
- Stef.
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2019-05-23 11:06:17

Hey Stef! We took those presets out because we'll be slowly phasing out the Presets bar altogether. And, I'm not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing, but you're the first person to notice and comment on this since the update in all our feedback channels (forum, support emails, social media, etc.). That suggests that the feature isn't particularly sorely missed. :smile:

The reasoning for this is:

– We feel the vertical bar takes too much space away from the canvas
– Certain tools have differently sized presets + some tools have presets while others don't
– Which means the image can shuffle around when switching tools or hiding/locking layers plus the UI can feel a little disorganized

With the Arrange tool, we felt the presets themselves weren't particularly useful, so we simply removed them. With other tools, we'll be integrating the presets into the Tool Options pane in various natural (we hope) ways. Of course, we'd be willing to place certain additional buttons in the Tool Options pane, for example, a "rotate 90º" button or "double size" button. Potentially.

As for your question, objects can't be rotated with a single click, but Control-clicking an object on the canvas will bring up a shortcut menu with various rotation options. And as these commands are available in the Arrange menu, you can set up your own keyboard shortcuts for them using the standard System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts method.
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2019-05-23 12:10:19

Hi Andrius.
I thought it might be something like that. I've not been a fan of the 'preset shuffle' as I change tools so I think you're heading in the right direction. I'd love to have a rotate 90° in the tools palette down by the reflect buttons, though. :grin:
As always, thanks for the well thought out, detailed reply.
- Stef.
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2019-05-23 13:20:31

As always, glad to answer any and all questions you might have!
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2019-07-07 18:35:13

2 buttons could fit on the main panel, rotate right / left 90 '. There should also be 2 such functions in the menu. You must also add a shortcut. After Photoshop it is very missing, a basic convenience feature.
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2019-07-15 15:51:37

These two functions are in the menu — the Arrange menu, to be precise. Arrange > Rotate 90º Right and Rotate 90º Left. They don't have keyboard shortcuts by default but you can set up your own using System Preferences if you like.
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2019-07-15 16:41:31

I didn't notice these arrive. Rotate 90° Left now bound to [ and Rotate 90° Right to ]. Thanks for that.

If anyone else want to do this, don't forget to press fn when mapping any unmodified key such as [ or ]. I don't know what Apple insists on that. I think it's just plain weird.

- Stef.