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The more I work with affinity, the more I understand the approach to edit paths with the pointer tool but there are somethings that I found a little awkward at times: 1. You can access the node tool via the shortcut (A), hit (A) again and it will go back to the previous tool you were using. Maybe it would be useful to specify to which tool you want to go back to, obviously this would depend on what you are working on, hence the possibility of specify the tool you want to go back to or the behavior of the shortcut. 2. Once in edit node mode, you can't drag the pointer to select any path, you have to click on each one to edit the nodes. It would be "faster" if you can select the paths only by dragging. 3. Is great that you can access "open" the nodes of the path you are working on by double clicking on it, but it would be as good if you can "close" the path to return to the move tool or any other tool by double clicking on it again. I don't know if this make sense, from my experience working with FH, Illustrator and Affinity, I'm trying to convey the best I can what I think can be improved. I know that there are many features still not implemented and that there is a feature roadmap. I'm really enjoying working with Affinity, is a very "easy" yet powerful application.

Good point, I don't really know...

Yeah, I'm very well aware the the vast majority of designers are used to Illustrator's way to do things, in my point of view, it's really sad, I been in this long enough to have worked with all kinds of vector, editorial and photo editing programs, operative systems, platforms (NeXT, PC, MAC, SILICON GRAPHICS, etc.) and it always comes down to using the best tool and the best way to get the job done, regardless of the brand you are using. I am not saying that there is something "wrong" in the way each person works, I'm just pointing out the advantages that certain software gives you and if Affinity is to be an Illustrator competitor, it would not hurt to take a look at a different and simpler way to do things. I almost forgot, for those who must absolutely have also a direct selection tool, FH has them both, it's just that since the "regular" pointer tool does everything, you don't really use the "direct selection tool" that much.

Yep, the way (in the now "dead Freehand") I was talking about was that the pointer alone lets you move and edit the nodes and the handles. The (pointer) + 2 clicks lets you move, rotate, skew and scale. The pointer + ALT lets you edit the curvature (bend) on any path. If you are editing a group you just click + ALT and the group "opens" so you can edit it, click anywhere else or go TAB (the default for deselect all) and the group closes, use with SHIFT and you can constrain movement on x and y, all with "one" tool, no need for an extra pointer direct selection or whatever, smooth and fast, I would like Affinity would go for this kind of switch and go approach.

Thanks for your answer, hopefully will be possible in future versions.

Hi Nope, actually is selecting the nodes in individual (separated) curves by dragging the node tool, just like using the move tool to select different objects just by dragging it.

1. Is there any way to constrain the movement of the handles, (e.g. 45°) when editing the nodes? 2. Is there anyway to select different curves by dragging the tool instead of clicking on each curve when using the node tool? Thanks for the help

Hokusai I was not aware (my fault) that you can "access" the nodes with a double click, that is a great feature, the double click in Affinity Design would be the "equivalent" of the pointer+ALT that I was talking about, the only thing I can think to "improve" it is if with a double click you can "open" the nodes for whatever you are editing, with an other double click on an "open" node figure you should be able to "close" it? or am I missing something? As turned out (at least for me) in Affinity you can jump from one pointer to an other on the fly to move/edit just pressing A, great ! To "select an object using the node tool when the object is underneath a shape that has a whole in it" go A+ALT click then click again, same for the move tool, just go V+ALT click then click again, I don't know why it does not select it with the first click but the second click does the trick. Fixx If the ALT key lets you work better and faster... Yeah, I used Pagemaker too, it was not pretty but strong and very stable.

Hi Yes you are right I did not mention anything about selecting nodes, my mistake, yes you can also select nodes and edit them with the same "regular" pointer tool+ALT, the only thing you can't do is adjust (bend) the curvature but having only one pointer tool that can edit everything but adjust the curvature on a path seems to me a good trade off for the sake of productivity. Maybe that extra feature could be added to the "regular" pointer tool?

First a little background I have been a faithful user of Freehand since the times when it was called Virtuoso, I'm still using it now, I never liked Illustrator because it had (and still have) a lot of redundancies. I tried several times to migrate from Freehand to Illustrator never totally succeeding, now I use Freehand to make the fundation of any design and then to Illustrator to add the embellishments, fx, exporting, etc... Ok, enough history, the question is: Do we really need two pointer tools? One of the most time consuming and frustrating things in Illustrator (among many others) is switching from one pointer to an other depending on what you want to accomplish. In Freehand there are two pointer tools, the "regular" one and the "direct selection tool", I rarely use the "direct selection tool", why? because you can access everything with the regular one, it is no matter if you have all your elements in groups, elements pasted inside elements or points on a path (you can even align and distribute points within the groups), all you have to do is grab your pointer tool and then if you want to sub-select to edit something just press "alt" and voila. This kind of behavior for the pointer tool, gives you total freedom and effectively optimizes the workflow, that is why I love Freehand, you can work really really fast. I hope the Affinity team consider this and try it.