ianrobertdouglas
-
Posts
213 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by ianrobertdouglas
-
-
I've been seeing this issue quite a lot, but sadly, reproducing R C-R's instructions doesn't reproduce it for me.
This is just off the top of my head, but is there a time interval for AD to save changes? It's as if when a document is closed, AD is not seeing it as closed and making one more save after the fact.
The other thing I was thinking about was whether the MAS version (1.4.2) was interfering in any way. If I go to Finder Info on any new file created in AD Beta, Finder still has the file format linked to the MAS version. For me, this doesn't matter so much as I rarely double-click to open files. I'll usually drag to the app. When this error has been triggered, for me, is when I try to reopen a recently closed file with the Open menu item, or Open Recent menu.
Does having the MAS version open have any bearing on anything? I've been having it open as it's linked for me to a script that activates a custom font set. But at least as I try to test it now, having it open or not doesn't make any difference, and right now I can't trigger the error, though I'm sure it will come back, because it's been there for me since Beta 7 I think.
-
I still have an issue when trying to reopen a file I've closed. It's the same whether I drag to app, go "Open Recent" or just Open and navigate to the file. I get this:
And then I get something like this, no matter which option above I choose:
The only way forward from there is to quit the Beta and reopen it.
Can someone please weigh in on this? It's been like this for the last three betas.
-
I often make temporary files that I don't save when I'm done with them. Starting a couple versions ago and continuing with Beta 9 the next time I enter AD I get the following message offering to restore the unsaved files. When I exited I told AD I didn't want to save these but it still asks the next time I go in.
I get this often (always, actually) if I open AD Beta, work with a file, close it, and try to open it again. 100%, I think, if I try to open via the File menu. Sometimes dragging into AD from the Finder reopens the file. After this warning box, I get another, no matter which option I choose, that says the file is in use by another application.
Only quitting the Beta and reopening it resets this.
-
Had a couple of nasty crashes when working with symbols. Specifically, trying to undo an action.
-
-
-
I keep getting stuff like this:
Is this a known issue?
Usually quitting and restarting the app is enough to clear it, but not as I write. I hope a machine reboot clears it.
EDIT: A restart didn't clear it, and I'm not sure if the problem originated in AD. It might have been a system problem on my machine. I ran disk permissions verify and repair from the command line and then rebooted in Safe mode, and then booted normally. It seems to have cleared the issue. Could be unrelated to AD.
-
Guys, I accidentally deleted the standard Greys palette. I tried exporting that palette from the MAS version, but the beta doesn't accept it. Can anyone export it and upload it here? It would save me reseting the app and losing my current customisations.
-
-
Saw two crashes when changing colors using the color wheel. Crash report attached.
The crashes were not immediate, but rather if I was lingering with the trackpad pressed, considering different colors.
-
Ian, I can't reproduce this on my Mac running OS X 10.11.6. I tried it with both the Layers panel docked in the Studio & undocked, & with different System Preference > General settings for showing or hiding the scroll bar.
Maybe resetting the app would help?
Many thanks. I reset the Studio and User Defaults in the app preferences and quit and restarted the beta and it's okay now. Thank heaven!
-
I don't know if there's a setting somewhere I can change on this, but I'm really struggling with the layers pane in the beta. In a file with numerous layers, the scroll bar covers the checkboxes that control visibility. It's viewable here, though my screenshot app removes the cursor:
In contrast, MAS 1.4.2 does not have this problem:
I've tried expanding the pane, but the scroll bar continues to cover the checkboxes. This is a critical problem for me in normal use.
-
There are some extremely annoying consequences when moving a canvas/artboard ...
I've also been having problems duplicating and moving artboards. It's hard to describe exactly, but on some complex artboards with many layers, if I duplicate and move things have gone out of alignment and even "jumped" to places far left or right of the artboard or even the original artboard. I've had similar problems copying and pasting content from one artboard to another.
-
Maybe I'm missing something but if all the ovals overlapped, did not the add operation remove all the interior nodes, leaving only the nodes forming the path of the outline of the combined shapes?
I'll have to tell you the next time I do it, but this was also subtracting and dividing, but I think @MEB is right: the most "leftover" nodes come from expanding strokes, which I was also doing in that graphic. I think (just an impression) that AD has much improved in v1.5, by the way.
-
Hi ianrobertdouglas,
Apart from the Smooth Curve command in the context toolbar for the Node Tool there isn't other "automated" way to reduce the number of nodes other than deleting them manually. If you are performing several geometric operations, you may want to try to perform them non-destructiveli pressing ⌥ (option/alt) while clicking on the respective geometric operation icon in the main toolbar. This will generate a compound object that have the same number of nodes (that come from the original shapes).
If you are expanding strokes then there's isn't yet any elegant solution available other than using the Smooth Curves command mentioned above.
Many thanks. I haven't explored option/alt. I should do that. Yes, I think many or most of the extra nodes come from expanding strokes.
-
Since technically "erasing" part of a vector shape is equivalent to changing its path, I usually draw a new shape with the Pen tool outlining the part I want to remove & use the Subtract boolean operation to remove it.
Yes, I often do the same. But at other times its more complex. Recently I constructed a bird out of many overlapping ovals. It all worked out, but the end result included scores of nodes I had to remove by hand. Another possibility was just to create a new shape with the pen tool over the original. Sometimes I do that too. But I would love to take advantage of a tool for the purpose of reducing nodes. I really like the end result to have as few nodes as possible. I take it as part and parcel of producing a professional result.
But since this is a destructive operation what I sometimes do instead is to switch to the Pixel persona, use one or more of its selection tools to select the part to be "erased," invert that, & convert it to a mask. No only is this non-destructive, I can refine the mask in the usual ways to add things like a featured edge or paint out part of it or add to it with a pixel brush.
I use artboards for versioning, so I'm not so worried about destructive operations. I also always need the output to be solely vector, so in general I don't touch the Pixel persona much at all.
-
We don't even have the ability to use a slider when cleaning up / smoothing curves to reduce nodes.
I think this post is a little unkind. Personally, I can barely imagine how complex and difficult it must be to develop an amazing app like AD. But anyway, I would love to see some way come in to AD of intelligently reducing nodes. Right now, I do it manually. I'm sure a machine or algorithm with human guidance and correction could do it better.
I'd be interested to hear how others do this. Sometimes complex addition operations leaves scores of unneeded nodes that it's best to remove.
-
Sorry about this - I think it was mentioned in one of the earlier betas that someone must have accidentally disabled it again (this has happened before too!)
It will get sorted for the next beta :)
Thanks,
Matt
thanks Matt.
While I have you here, I really, really hope that a vector erase tool comes soon. I manage by using any shape above the layer I want to amend and subtracting. But clearly this is a little ... well, crazy. But I still love you guys, and AD!
- MattP and Wiredframe
-
2
-
I have something odd going on with the geometry tools.
In the MAS version (1.4.2) if I have a simple shape I can divide its elements:
But in the Beta, this option is greyed out and not available:
In this example I even copy pasted the curve from Beta to MAS. So it works in MAS but not in Beta at all.
-
I keep getting this message when I try to reopen a file I was working on and then closed:
If I press either option I get the following:
I have to quit AD and reopen it to get around this.
- smallreflection and MattP
-
2
-
This might be dreaming, but I wondered if it's possible to embed .psd files and have the default behaviour on double clicking them to open them in Photoshop? I often have to use mockups, and embedding is not a feature I've used before. AD can open the .psd file, but it doesn't work with smart objects, it seems.
What I'm trying to do, finally, is put together a series of templates (often I need to show things in similar ways) and be able to just double click in AD and go to that embedded file in Photoshop, where I can edit the smart layer and save.
Any way to do this?
Until now I just select mockups manually, create my image, and put them direct in AD files.
-
You can use one of side outlines of the shape as a reference (you have to break its end nodes to turn it into a single line - don't change its position) then apply a stroke to it, until you find the middle of of the original shape (it should have half the width of your original shape). Finally convert this stroke to a shape and break the end nodes again to separate the part that follow the middle of the original shape from the rest.
Okay. This is what I'm not sure how to do: "you have to break its end nodes to turn it into a single line - don't change its position". For example, on a curved shape.
-
Not sure the correct terminology, but if I have a shape in curve form, is there a way to trace a link through the centre of it, aside from manually (and imprecisely) with the pen tool?
Though it refers to Illustrator, this thread on Adobe's forum basically was asking in Ai how to do the same thing.
In my case, I have a squirly pattern, with arcs and straight lines. I want to be able to expand it outwards. If I had a line running through it I could add a stroke.
-
1+ for the original request here. Back on an earlier version (I don't remember which), if you were looking (auditioning is a good word) for a font you could go through your list one by one. Having seen one on your design, when you clicked on the font menu it would take you back to that font and you could key down to the next. Now (since a couple of versions), in my view, it doesn't work anywhere near as well. You get "recent fonts", which may be useful in other circumstances but not in font picking.
In addition (and this is the worst thing, in my opinion), if you type a font name, it will take you to that font in the recent fonts section, instead of that font in your full font list.
In my opinion, the earlier way of font selection was much better.
[Beta 10] Still some save/restore issues
in [ARCHIVE] Designer beta on macOS threads
Posted
Good sleuthing, R C-R.
The error happened to me last night, really for no reason and while following standard procedures that didn't trigger it earlier. The inconsistency is what's a pain.
Interesting you mention the time interval (10 mins). I get a sense that it happens more if I'm outside AD for a good while and then try to open a document I closed before moving to another app, or whatever else I was doing.
What I don't understand is why the bug cannot be traced. The final error message was written by the developers for a purpose, to follow a particular set of outcomes from feeding code through a gate. So why not check those conditions and what could trigger them and see if all is well or not in the relevant code?