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How to merge vertices (and why doesn't pen tool merge)?


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When I create a closed shape with the pen tool by clicking in a few places and finally clicking where I started, I expect the first and last vertices to be merged, but that doesn't happen. They get placed on top of each other.

1. How can I disable this silly feature and make it so that they are merged by default?

Also, when I want to continue a line, I select it with the pen tool, select the vertex I want to continue, and then click somewhere else... but instead I get a new line which I dont' want.

2. Again, how do I get the pen tool to automerge/continue my old line?

Finally, is there no merge vertices command at all in Affinity Designer? Do I first need to connect (and make sure that the curves are reversed so that both red ends are near each other)?

I hope I'm wrong, because I find that to be incredibly tedious.

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There is a context menu when using the pen tool and under the section Action: you have controls to Break Curve, Close Curve, Smooth Curve, Join curve and Reverse curves.

Node-joining.gif

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1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

There is a context menu when using the pen tool and under the section Action: you have controls to Break Curve, Close Curve, Smooth Curve, Join curve and Reverse curves.

Node-joining.gif

Ok, what I see in that video is what I want, but that's not how my Affinity Designer works. It never merges.

How did you get that behavior?

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1 hour ago, eobet said:

When I create a closed shape with the pen tool by clicking in a few places and finally clicking where I started, I expect the first and last vertices to be merged, but that doesn't happen. They get placed on top of each other.

When using the Pen Tool, if you click on the first node created, the curve will close ... but if you are off even by a tiny amount that won't happen. You can tell when the pointer is exactly on top of the first node if you look carefully at the Pen Tool's icon -- the tiny little plus sign at the bottom right will change to a tiny little circle.

A less eye-straining & more goof-proof alternative is to use the Close Curve button on the context toolbar.

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10 minutes ago, eobet said:

Ok, what I see in that video is what I want, but that's not how my Affinity Designer works. It never merges.

How did you get that behavior?

If you mean switching to the Node Tool & dragging the last created node over the first one to close the curve, this works if another context toolbar setting is enabled, the "Snap to geometry of selected curves" button, the second one in the Node Tool's "Snap" options:

862560029_Snaptogeometryofselectedcurves.jpg.0849648774b8b74f2ea5f36c7e5e45d9.jpg

(Don't confuse this with the snapping options of the main toolbar. The Node Tool has its own set of snap options in addition to those.)

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20 minutes ago, eobet said:

EDIT: No idea why the cursor is displaced in the video...

I am not sure why either, but if you do not have an end node already selected, the Pen Tool will start drawing a new curve. (That's why the stroke color was different in your video.)

A quick way to select an end node when the Pen Tool is active is to hold down the CMD key (on Macs), which temporarily switches it to the Node Tool.

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8 minutes ago, eobet said:

Why isn't that option enabled by default??

One reason is when you add new curves to the selected curves object, all the curves must have the same stroke & fill properties.588364190_mergedvs.separate.jpg.1b84783a63c56fbcd37b9d5b1c71e0eb.jpg

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On 10/30/2019 at 8:42 AM, eobet said:

Also, when I want to continue a line

 

 

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