there are times I’d like to drag something on one axis but without it moving on the other (for example left right, without any vertical movement).
I know that you are supposed to press a key to constrain dragging to the direction you want… but, it seems to only come into effect once you’ve actually started dragging. Which is often too late as micro-movements on the wrong axis can take place during that second.
is there some way of always having dragging constrained to one direction? (ie: start dragging left, and it will not move up/down).
Yes: While dragging an object, hold the Shift key.
Unlike some other software, you press the key after you start dragging. (This is because Shift-click is used to toggle between the hand tool and the marquee tool.)
except that is exactly the problem.
when you start dragging THEN click, there is always the chance
(a very good chance) that there will be unwanted movement on the other axis. So while dragging up and down, chances are you will inadvertently include some left/right movement if you have to start dragging THEN press the shift key.
it would be nice if there was an option, possibly with a toggle, to allow for ALWAYS constraining movement to whatever direction you start moving in.
If you drag and afterwards press shift, Dorico will see in which axis most of the movement has happened and only change the value of this axis.
Try it: move significantly up and noticeably to the right and then press shift: Dorico jumps back to the left (Original x value) and moves the object only vertically.
yes, and in the short moment between the moment you start dragging and the moment the shift key takes effect, there is, as always the strong possibility that there will have been unwanted movement.
@klafkid’s point is that one axis will reset as soon as you hold down Shift and drag, so the minimal unwanted movement is then always reset to 0. In the gif below, I clearly start out dragging up and to the right, affecting both the X and Y axis a tiny amount, but then when I hold down Shift and drag, the Y axis resets to 0.
Even though I started dragging in a way that would affect both X and Y, you can see the Y is still at 0 when I’m done and only the X has been changed.
ok, I can see that from your example.
it’s still not easy to really grasp.
I’d still like a more permanent “lock” of the constraining function. as in, ALWAYS constrain according to the first direction of movement.
