Gear maker

Alex, I can't believe that I didn't realize that in past versions there was an automatic closure in the Node tool. I guess usually the points belong to different paths when doing this. But I can't believe this is the first time... Thanks for straightening me out. As they say the best thing about getting old is that there are so many new things discovered, as you don't remember that you've seen it before. I still don't think the one handle should be lost. I guess what I'll have to do is place the nodes close to each other then press close and not worry about the extra node.

Ben, I'm not sure if this is the same function or not. In the attached file if I try to move either end node so that it overlaps the other. No matter how quickly I try I can not get 1.7.0.3 to not change the handle angles. I want to keep the curve as is. How can I do this? test 2.afdesign I see, the problem isn't the handles per se it's that when the nodes overlap they are automatically being joined. And in the process the one handle is lost. In this case I don't mind the auto join but I would like the curve to stay the same. Also sometime in the last few days the tool modifier hints at the bottom of the Separated Mode window have disappeared. This was a great improvement to the past, how can I get them back?

Bruce, thank you. I was starting to think I was crazy. Now I've got to get the attention of Affinity Support. So they can figure out why my file causes it. Whoa I just created a new drawing and it did it also. I guess it's not just that file. Mike

In Preferences > User Interface > Enable touch bar support requires a restart which isn't stated in the preferences.

Can you try one more thing? Try it in Window > Separated mode. I did a reset then changed a few things and it still did it for me. Then kept doing resets and made a different change each time. Turning on Separated mode did it.

Bruce, thanks for trying. Please give this a try if you would. Attached is a file Test 7. Test 7.afdesign Open it up in AD 1.7... When you open it there will be a layer selected, zoom in so the selected rectangle shows well but doesn't fill the screen. Expand the group Engine. Click on the layer "This one" press cmd and click on the layer "and this one". So both are selected. Then with cmd still held down move the cursor over into the drawing (without pressing any mouse buttons). Release the cmd key. Do you see a bounding box? I see: If you get the above try moving the cursor around on the screen. For me it acts just like cmd is still down. Now try to drag the two items by left clicking on one and drag it. For me the one I try to drag moves and the other gets unselected. FYI I find this works with either the Move or Node tool. Test 7 was created in 1.7.0.3 and as I worked on it this problem got worse and worse. I did try doing a reset, but the progression continues getting worse. When I figured out a method to reproduce the problem I made a test copy and just started stripping off layers. This had been several meg. When I got down to Test 7 I figured I'd have someone else try it. I think there are other ways to trigger this but the above seems to work every time for me. I appreciate it. Mike

This time it did it in the node tool with only one layer selected. No buttons held down. It popped out of this when I changed back into the AD window.

Let's see how I can describe this. A few times a day in 1.7.0.3 when I'm in the Move tool I select a few layers (by cmd clicking in the layer panel), the display will be showing in the measurement screen. Like I'm holding cmd down, but I'm not. No bounding box. If I move the cursor into where the bounding box would be I just see the selection blue lines like below. Sorry the cursor didn't show in my capture. It was in the middle of the lower circle. Only the 3 circles were selected. If I then left click in this area the multiple layer selection will change to only have one layer selected. I can't move the layers, just change selection. There is no lock applied to these layers, or any in this area of the image. To get proper operation back I just have to play around I haven't found any one thing that releases this action, or causes this action. I believe I have seen this when only one layer was selected also. When using 1.6.1 I've never had this problem. So I don't think it's a sticky cmd key on the keyboard. Has anyone else seen this issue? Anyone have an idea what is causing it?

But of course! Thanks Ben. Yes it looks like it works better without the snapping on. It's 50-50 whether the hover is to short or not. If you want the copy function then not but it does act sometimes when I guess I'm just being too slow. I can learn to work quicker. Usually I realize it before releasing the button so it's easy to recover. I think it will be very handy in the right circumstance. Now I've got to remember it's there. An hour ago I used the manual method to copy a few nodes, didn't even think of this. DUH! We'll just be using the reverse path widget more now. I don't see a problem with that. Is that the reason for the small circle on the tip of the node cursor? What is the difference between a white and black node cursor? Thanks again. Mike

Your right about that pause. It's a short pause, 1/2 second maybe. As long as I only drag it far enough for snap to work nothing happens, if I drag it to the center of the node it pops. Going to have to play with this to see if I find an actual use. It works with all type of nodes, cusp, smooth, smart. We can even do it back on another node in the same path. But then it's usually 180 degrees off. It's function relates to the direction the line was drawn. If the one line is drawn from the opposite direction the node will always be 180 degrees out of phase. Your right it does make a tangent. It can also be used to copy the handle positions of another node by dropping it on that node, with the pause, then grabbing it again and moving back where it's wanted. When multiple nodes are selected only the one being drug actually snaps.

Alex, good catch that the "sprouted" handles are at the same angle as the handles of the other node. interesting thought that this is intended but I hope that's not the case as more often than not just because a node is overlapping another doesn't mean the handle angle needs to be the same. Plus it's intermittent as heck. I notice your cursor is not turning white. "Curiouser and curiouser!" Cried Alice...

Every so often when using AD 1.7.0.3 I'll be moving a cusp node snapping it to another node and the cusp node will suddenly change into a smooth node sprouting 2 handles and the handles are twisted 180 degrees from where they would normally be. All without releasing the mouse button. Handles.mov If it is showing the twisted handles with the smooth node when the mouse button is released that then is what goes into the drawing, not the cusp node that was originally grabbed. Lots of times it will not do this, so it may be hard to reproduce on command. Other times it happens easily. I have not been able to figure out what was done differently. I am assuming this is a bug. Attached is the drawing I was doing when it last occurred. The Node tool was being used and all layers were selected when this occurred. Also a couple questions: In the video it's easy to see that when the node cursor turns white there is a small circle just in front of the cursor. What is this circle for? I've never noticed it in earlier versions but it's so small... Does it mean something? When dragging some nodes the cursor is white while for other cursors it's black. What do these colors mean? I'm not finding this in the help. When the cursor is black there is no little circle. I always use separated mode and until 1.7.0.3 the tool hints were not shown below the drawing, it's great that they are now included. But when a node handle is hovered over or grabbed the hints say "⌥ to ignore snapping". But this is not correct, it doesn't ignore snapping it breaks the constraint between the two handles so one can be moved separately from the other. Is there a way to "ignore snapping" when moving a node's handles without separating the handles? Other than turning off all 5 node snap widgets. I guess it does ignore snapping even though it breaks the bond between the handles, so I guess one could use the opt to position the handle without snapping then release the opt before the mouse button, but if it's close to a snap point it will then snap into position. So that doesn't work either. Temp 4.afdesign Thanks for all your work Affinity team.

In 1.7.0.3 when snapping is turned on the candidates are not shown until something is done to the drawing to force an update such as a click, pan, etc. Likewise when snapping is turned off the same type of update has to be made to force the hiding of the candidates. All other versions this did not require a second trigger to cause the update of the screen. Is this intentional? I sometimes just toggle snapping using the hotkey " ; " to display the hidden edges of an object. This can't be done any longer.

And some possible problems. Like if there are several layers selected the cmd+J will add each new layer above the old layer so they will not be in a contiguous block. Where cmd+V will keep the new layers together. Which makes them easier to group. Plus a cmd+J will place the duplicate always in the same place as the copied layer (unless being used as a power duplicate). But cmd+V will place it in whatever portion of the screen is visible at the moment, making some moves easier like trying to drag some very small object completely across the drawing. If some panels have just been used then the cmd+C & V along with many other hotkeys will be ignored. Like if the fx panel is open and used then until the drawing is clicked these hotkeys will not work. For some reason the cmd+J is an exception and will still work.

JimmyJack very good! I would have never thought of that but it's really clean and simple.