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Option for Corel Style Node Delete


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This is something familiar to Corel Draw switchers, and would be a great option to have as a checkbox on the node tool's context bar. I would call it "Reshape on Node Delete" - and i would never turn it off.

 

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Anyway... Here's what im talking about.

 

When a node is deleted in Affinity - the handles on the remaining nodes on either side retain their exact postion, which causes the shape to distort when a node is deleted. For precise, mathematically correct drawing this is likely the best option because the node accuracy is retained.

 

When a node is deleted in Corel, the handles still retain their exact direction, but the app auto adjusts the handle distance on the remaining nodes to try it's best to retain the original shape of the object.

 

I've attached a screenshot to show this in action.

 

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Now I'm not saying to remove the original functionality, i just think it would be a great addition as an option for Corel switchers, because there are quite a few of us, and we are likely all used to this behavior (Corel droppers, please chime in, haha).

 

Now why is this useful? (because it's obviously not perfect...)

 

Sometimes you just have a problem node that you just cant get to the right shape... and alot of times in corel, you can just delete the problem node and have the app fix the shape for you, sometimes with greater accuracy and way less headache. I know it's lazy, but i guarantee most corel users use this more often then they should... and for alot of us, its probably second nature.

 

So far, this is the ONLY thing in Affinity that is really slowing me down, other than that, it's true love! Keep up the good work! 

post-82-0-26526500-1436895564_thumb.jpg

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Illustrator introduced a new tool last year called the curvature tool that kind of works like that. I guess it's adobes answer to the node edit tool in Corel since they never had an equivalent. It's functional but needs work. I would love to see the smart delete added to affinity as elegantly as it is in Corel.

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+1

Corel also has nice ideas for some "problems":

1. Doesn't have special icons for rounded rectangles, but it uses "Shape Tool" with option to choose which anngle(s) to round;

2. Pies and Arcs are also drawn with the same "Shape Tool". For pies you select the elipse's control point and drag the mouse inside the elipse, for arcs -- outside.

3. By double clicking on a shape you enter automatically into "Bezier drawing mode" and add a new curve control point. With double clicking on an existing control point -- you delete it.

 

Now, in Designer or Photo you can add:

CTRL + click on a control point to convert it to a Cusp node,

SHIFT + click -- into smooth node, and with

ALT + click -- into symetrical node, just without additional "Pen/Bezier" icons in Tools Palette.

 

CTRL + click on a line segment -- to toggle between straight line and curve mode.

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  • 1 month later...

+1 on all of that! haha.

 

So far, Affinity is the best tool I've ever used. It's almost a perfect switch from corel, all the good stuff, none of the junk.

 

If the node delete above was implemented even as an option, along with selecting through combined "holes" as i detail here:  https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/12780-select-behind-combined-objects/... Affinity would be 100% complete for me.

 

Kudos to the developers, if we lived in the same country, i'd find you guys and get you all a beer, haha!

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  • 1 year later...

Checking in to see if this is on the roadmap somewhere. This feature would speed up my illustration by leaps and bounds! haha.

 

Again, amazingly awesome app! Has totally changed my professional life for the better!

Kudos to the developers and the awesome feedback you get from this forum!

Art director by day, illustrator by night: Check Out My Shutterstock Gallery

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  • 1 year later...

This is an older topic, but it's one of the two final puzzle pieces that I've found that would make affinity superior to Corel in node editing (it's already ahead, but it's just missing a couple tiny details, this topic and deleting nodes with a double click).

When looking into the action, it appears corel simply adjusts the length of handles automatically to try to best maintain shapes when nodes are deleted, the angle of the handles are not adjusted at all, so this function isn't really all that smart, it's just a quick auto adjustment... but look at the video and you'll see that it's remarkably effective.

Here is a side-by-side of corel and affinity editing the same shapes, and how node delete works between applications. You'll see corel's auto adjustment can really aid in cleaning up shapes while not needing to rebuild them every time a node is deleted.

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From Affinity Designer help

To delete nodes:

  • Select the node and press the  delete.

The curve will automatically reshape because of the deleted node, but you can retain the curve's original geometry by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace  instead. This needs to be a node that could be removed and the curve remain similar.

 

NOTE: It isn't perfect (I hope the devs can improve the accuracy in a future update) but is considerably better than simply deleting the node.

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WHOAH! I totally missed that being added! That works perfectly!

That is a pretty complicated key command for a simple function though...

Handsome & Intelligent Developers,
  Would it be possible to add a check box on the node tool's context bar (possibly called "maintain shape on node delete)  to set this type of delete to the default action when the delete key is pressed? I cannot imagine a single scenario when i would ever want to turn this off, haha.

Thanks so much!
You all are seriously the best!

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This would be a perfect compliment to my other node tool request: double click to delete node

If these 2 functions were added to Affinity, it would have (in my opinion) the most powerful node editing tool of any design suite, i cannot think of a single thing illustrator or corel can do better in the node editing department. These are the last pieces of the Corel style node editor that i could find that are missing in affinity. 

This app has changed my professional life, keep up the good work guys!

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  • 3 weeks later...

If anybody is interested, i found a way to map a key for this kind of delete. I used an app called Karabiner Elements (a mac application for remapping the keyboard) and created a custom profile to map the right-shift key (a key i've never once used) to activate cmd-option-delete when pressed. It took some custom editing of the settings file, but it works flawlessly. PM me if you want the settings file. 

This would still benefit from being a checkbox to enable the smarter delete of nodes by default in the node tools though, any chance of this making it into a future version?

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