Bryan Rieger

The new smoothing algorithm is fantastic! It's such a pleasure to use now, and with almost (I'm just being very fussy) no clean up required. The new implementation of the auto-close settings is really intuitive. Well done. I'll report back any issues I find with it, but just wanted to acknowledge what an improvement this is.
Addendum: Okay, now I know this is going to sound whiny, but is there anyway to reduce or turn off the smoothing? It's now very difficult to draw a rough, hand-drawn line. I do LOVE the new smoothing algorithm, but there are times where I want my lines to look a little rougher.

I noticed some weirdness with the auto-close feature when zoomed in (see video below). It gets harder to not only see the 'close loop', but to also trigger the auto-close feature the more you zoom in. This is especially noticeable on the iPad, to the point where I didn't think auto-close was working at all. I routinely work at zoom levels of 400% or higher, and this appears to be the point where the auto-close feature begins to get wonky.

CleanShot 2024-04-19 at 16.17.54.mp4    

Oh, that does help, but it's not overly intuitive as there's no indication in the appearance panel that the stroke has a width profile associated with it. Perhaps adding another attribute such as 'Profile' (see mockup below) could help to indicate that the stroke has additional width/profile data associated with it?

Addendum: I added a few more thoughts on the overall stroke width 'Profile' UX in another post.

I just wanted to say thank you for adding the ability to move width profile points along the curve. It's the little things that make such a difference. It's especially welcomed while working on an iPad with an Apple Pencil.

CleanShot 2024-04-19 at 13.43.24.mp4  

I just wanted to say thank you for adding the ability to move width profile points along the curve. It's the little things that make such a difference. It's especially welcomed while working on an iPad with an Apple Pencil.

CleanShot 2024-04-19 at 13.43.24.mp4  

I just wanted to say thank you for adding the ability to move width profile points along the curve. It's the little things that make such a difference. It's especially welcomed while working on an iPad with an Apple Pencil.

CleanShot 2024-04-19 at 13.43.24.mp4  

When using Pencil tool, If user draw a Square and Hold, it becomes a perfect geometric shape, is like Procreate does, in the video below sample

One of the thing that I feel like it could be really nice for the pencil tool experience.

Sculpt Mode,
is if you Hold Shift the cursor will turn into a Radius that you can Press to Relax the Nodes, is acts like sculpt the lines.

This will be perfect to Polish some curves and vector drawings that still get not an organic flow.
This is a feature that we use in Sculpting to smooth the polygons in 3D, in 2d this also can be really useful


 

 

So, the pencil tool improvements are great, and after a few hours of using them I'm finding that they enable me to stay in the flow while longer drawing as I'm not having to constantly shift to the node edit tool to clean up extra nodes and reshape curves. However, the one thing that keeps pulling me out of flow now is sharp corners, as there is no way to specify one while using the pencil tool, so once again, I have to grab the node edit tool in order to make those changes.
I was hoping that if while drawing I slowed and stopped for a second at a corner it would take that as an intent to create a sharp corner/change of direction, from which I could then continue drawing. Adobe Illustrator on the iPad uses a similar technique when using the pencil tool where when you slow and stop for a moment it displays a small pulse animation at the location of the corner to provide feedback that it has created a corner node, from which you can then continue drawing. The other thing that Illustrator on iPad does that's insanely helpful is they provide a small contextual toolbar while drawing that enables you to quickly move between the pencil and the node tool and modify nodes and curves as you go (as well as access common features). It's a great feature, but unfortunately the rest of Illustrator on the iPad is a dog's breakfast.

Finally this new feature ~ I like it
but this strokes can be modified asymmetrically by holding others key while dragging a width point?

And let’s not forget that you can also use velocity to set ‘pressure’ (ahem, profile) values. Improving naming/labels here would go along way to creating a consistent mental model of what all these tools are doing. Defining the line/curve width profile.

One other thing to consider is renaming the 'Pressure' graph in the Stroke panel to Profile, as it's not always reflective of what controller/data (velocity, pressure, etc) is affecting the width profile of the stroke. Also, the Stroke pressure graph itself has a button labelled 'Save Profile', so simply renaming it to profile would make it much clearer. Then adding a 'Profile' attribute in the Attributes panel (see my previous post) to indicate strokes that have profile data applied would make things much clearer for users. 

The profile controller (see above) in the pencil tool can be set to velocity, pressure, etc, while the Stroke profile graph (see below) uses inconsistent language with the profile graph always labelled 'Pressure', with the 'Save Profile' button confusing things further. Using consistent language and labels will help user understanding.

One other thing to consider is renaming the 'Pressure' graph in the Stroke panel to Profile, as it's not always reflective of what controller/data (velocity, pressure, etc) is affecting the width profile of the stroke. Also, the Stroke pressure graph itself has a button labelled 'Save Profile', so simply renaming it to profile would make it much clearer. Then adding a 'Profile' attribute in the Attributes panel (see my previous post) to indicate strokes that have profile data applied would make things much clearer for users. 

The profile controller (see above) in the pencil tool can be set to velocity, pressure, etc, while the Stroke profile graph (see below) uses inconsistent language with the profile graph always labelled 'Pressure', with the 'Save Profile' button confusing things further. Using consistent language and labels will help user understanding.

Oh, that does help, but it's not overly intuitive as there's no indication in the appearance panel that the stroke has a width profile associated with it. Perhaps adding another attribute such as 'Profile' (see mockup below) could help to indicate that the stroke has additional width/profile data associated with it?

Addendum: I added a few more thoughts on the overall stroke width 'Profile' UX in another post.

The contour from the line width tool isn't automatically carried over to additional strokes that have been applied to a line/curve, making it difficult to create an outline that matches the existing line contour. It is possible to select the another stroke and set line widths for it (which is very nice), but being able to apply the existing line width settings applied to additional strokes would also be helpful.
Above: Current line widths are not applied to additional strokes.
 

Above: An additional stroke with separate width settings applied to the same curve (very nice).

Oh, that does help, but it's not overly intuitive as there's no indication in the appearance panel that the stroke has a width profile associated with it. Perhaps adding another attribute such as 'Profile' (see mockup below) could help to indicate that the stroke has additional width/profile data associated with it?

Addendum: I added a few more thoughts on the overall stroke width 'Profile' UX in another post.

Yeah, I miss that effect a lot, but I'd prefer it to be more of a non-destructive vector effect (sort of a mix between the contour tool and layer FX) so that you could always go back and edit the effect as and when needed. Also see 'pucker, bloat, splatter, block shadow, offset, etc'. Roughen also isn't an effect that should be limited to the pencil tool, as using it with paths/curves/shapes drawn with the pen tool, shapes and fonts would also be desirable.

Yeah, I miss that effect a lot, but I'd prefer it to be more of a non-destructive vector effect (sort of a mix between the contour tool and layer FX) so that you could always go back and edit the effect as and when needed. Also see 'pucker, bloat, splatter, block shadow, offset, etc'. Roughen also isn't an effect that should be limited to the pencil tool, as using it with paths/curves/shapes drawn with the pen tool, shapes and fonts would also be desirable.

I think being able to set the tolerance of auto-close feature would be helpful so folks can tune it to their liking, or set it to ‘maximum’ where it would always auto-close regardless of the distance.

The new smoothing algorithm is fantastic! It's such a pleasure to use now, and with almost (I'm just being very fussy) no clean up required. The new implementation of the auto-close settings is really intuitive. Well done. I'll report back any issues I find with it, but just wanted to acknowledge what an improvement this is.
Addendum: Okay, now I know this is going to sound whiny, but is there anyway to reduce or turn off the smoothing? It's now very difficult to draw a rough, hand-drawn line. I do LOVE the new smoothing algorithm, but there are times where I want my lines to look a little rougher.

Yeah, I miss that effect a lot, but I'd prefer it to be more of a non-destructive vector effect (sort of a mix between the contour tool and layer FX) so that you could always go back and edit the effect as and when needed. Also see 'pucker, bloat, splatter, block shadow, offset, etc'. Roughen also isn't an effect that should be limited to the pencil tool, as using it with paths/curves/shapes drawn with the pen tool, shapes and fonts would also be desirable.

I think being able to set the tolerance of auto-close feature would be helpful so folks can tune it to their liking, or set it to ‘maximum’ where it would always auto-close regardless of the distance.

The new smoothing algorithm is fantastic! It's such a pleasure to use now, and with almost (I'm just being very fussy) no clean up required. The new implementation of the auto-close settings is really intuitive. Well done. I'll report back any issues I find with it, but just wanted to acknowledge what an improvement this is.
Addendum: Okay, now I know this is going to sound whiny, but is there anyway to reduce or turn off the smoothing? It's now very difficult to draw a rough, hand-drawn line. I do LOVE the new smoothing algorithm, but there are times where I want my lines to look a little rougher.

I think being able to set the tolerance of auto-close feature would be helpful so folks can tune it to their liking, or set it to ‘maximum’ where it would always auto-close regardless of the distance.

I think being able to set the tolerance of auto-close feature would be helpful so folks can tune it to their liking, or set it to ‘maximum’ where it would always auto-close regardless of the distance.

Oh, that does help, but it's not overly intuitive as there's no indication in the appearance panel that the stroke has a width profile associated with it. Perhaps adding another attribute such as 'Profile' (see mockup below) could help to indicate that the stroke has additional width/profile data associated with it?

Addendum: I added a few more thoughts on the overall stroke width 'Profile' UX in another post.