How to combine objects or connect separated lines on AD

[R C-R]

I cannot not see what you did not post from another unsuccessful experiment, in the unlikely event that is somehow what your first sentence meant.

But regardless, in that last video you did post I can't see the yellow indicator line appear at any time, nor does using the CTRL key with my trackball change the magnification, maybe because I am viewing that video in Safari on the website, even if I open it to full screen size in a separate window.

All I can tell you is on my iMac running Mojave, it works as I described, not that is of any help to you.

Sorry I can't be of more help than that.

[appearsharmless]

59 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I cannot not see what you did not post from another unsuccessful experiment, in the unlikely event that is somehow what your first sentence meant.

 😁 Sorry about that; I certainly didn't intend to make this thread more confusing! Let me change this: "I didn't track along the curve in the video I posted; that was an (unsuccessful) experiment I did later."

To this: "I didn't track along the curve in the video I posted. However, after reading the suggestion in your post, I tried it again, this time tracking the curve along the yellow indicator line until the node snapped, but it still didn't work."

If you really want to, you could right-click on that video I posted, save it to your HD, and see if you can get a better view with Quicktime, VLC, etc. All I can tell you is that it is as I described, yellow indicator line and all.

And I do indeed appreciate your help (and suggestions. And analyses.)

 

[PixelPest]

12 hours ago, JimmyJack said:

Connecting selected is available

But joining still fails here:

[R C-R]

32 minutes ago, PixelPest said:

13 hours ago, JimmyJack said:

Connecting selected is available

But joining still fails here:

First, because this topic is not in a beta forum, to avoid confusion please mention if you are using one of the Mac app betas (& which one) or something else. (By "you" I mean I am asking everyone to do this, not just @PixelPest.)

Second, while it is hard for me to tell from the GIF exactly what you are doing, I suspect that the top & bottom nodes of the shape that you duplicated & flipped (if that is what you did) does not have exactly the same x coordinates, so when you select all the nodes of the duplicate & drag it to the original, only the top or the bottom nodes of each shape will be directly over each other. So when you try to join them one or the other node will be slightly offset from the other, resulting in the creation of short a segment that connects them.

If the x coordinates of the top & bottom nodes of the original are not the same, maybe try selecting one of them & using the Shift key drag it horizontally slightly until it snaps to the same vertical as the other node, & then repeat the rest of the steps to see if anything changed?

[PixelPest]

It was a reply to JimmyJack who brought AD-beta into play and YES! I did all kind of snapping as the yellow highlight indicates. The set up is very easy; Draw a shape - duplicate - mirror (flip horizontally)-  align (with shift or whatever it takes unless the yellow highlight appears) - Join Curves - Close Curves gives a redundant node every time.

[R C-R]

15 hours ago, PixelPest said:

It was a reply to JimmyJack who brought AD-beta into play ...

Because it is a beta (& only the second 1.8.4 AD Mac one at that), & there is no mention of this new 'connecting selected' feature I can find in the topic with the download, I don't really expect everything to work as it should.

 

[prophet]

3 hours ago, PixelPest said:

Join Curves - Close Curves gives a redundant node every time.

Ran @PixelPest's test even more simply by drawing a circle shape, converting to curves, breaking curve at top and bottom nodes to create left and right halves, then "joined" and "closed" curve to create a complete circle. Getting a redundant node at the top of the circle.

Should we make this a bug report?

[j.king]

Not sure if this is exactly the same scenario, but just in case it helps... here goes. I drew half a badge shape with pen tool, copied & mirrored it, snapped the halves together at center, selected all, clicked A to bring up node tool, then selected the top 2 (stacked) corner nodes and clicked "join curves". Those nodes joined (became 1 corner node) but this didn't work for the 2 stacked curve nodes at bottom center. For some reason, clicking 'Add' on the toolbar joined the 2 curve nodes at bottom as 1. I've been battling this for a while too. Got to where I would just draw 2 closed shapes and weld together.

[R C-R]

6 hours ago, j.king said:

I drew half a badge shape with pen tool, copied & mirrored it, snapped the halves together at center, selected all, clicked A to bring up node tool, then selected the top 2 (stacked) corner nodes and clicked "join curves". Those nodes joined (became 1 corner node) but this didn't work for the 2 stacked curve nodes at bottom center. For some reason, clicking 'Add' on the toolbar joined the 2 curve nodes at bottom as 1.

Weird that "Add" works but it does. In fact, it isn't even necessary to select the top two nodes -- just select both halves after they are snapped together, select both, switch to the Node Tool, & click "Join Curves." Then finish with "Add" & there are no 'stacked' nodes.

The attached beta shape join.afdesign includes the history so you can see how few steps are required. I tried this both with the Mac 1.8.3 & beta 1.8.4 builds & it works in both.

[j.king]

Yeah that is weird. Just tried it in Windows version and it worked.

[appearsharmless]

12 hours ago, R C-R said:

Weird that "Add" works but it does. In fact, it isn't even necessary to select the top two nodes -- just select both halves after they are snapped together, select both, switch to the Node Tool, & click "Join Curves." Then finish with "Add" & there are no 'stacked' nodes.

The attached beta shape join.afdesign includes the history so you can see how few steps are required. I tried this both with the Mac 1.8.3 & beta 1.8.4 builds & it works in both.

More weirdness, R-C-R:  In Mac 1.8.3, it works exactly as you described as long as the nodes at the top and bottom are sharp. If the nodes are smooth, it will successfully merge the two top smooth nodes, but convert the bottom smooth nodes into sharp nodes with a segment between them  🤷‍♂️ .

Have you noticed any new glitches or downsides to the current beta? I think I'm ready to make the jump...

[prophet]

If I select both halves and "Add" without "Joining", I get double nodes at top and bottom. That may be expected behavior, though. Hard to say.

[R C-R]

7 minutes ago, appearsharmless said:

More weirdness, R-C-R:  In Mac 1.8.3, it works exactly as you described as long as the nodes at the top and bottom are sharp. If the nodes are smooth, it will successfully merge the two top smooth nodes, but convert the bottom smooth nodes into sharp nodes with a segment between them

I cannot duplicate that in Mac 1.8.3 unless the top & bottom nodes have different x coordinates -- it does not matter if they are sharp or smooth; as long as the x values match up the "Add" step closes the curve without creating an extra segment.

As with the beta file I included in my previous post non beta shape join.afdesign includes the history & uses exactly the same shape with two smooth nodes.

17 minutes ago, appearsharmless said:

Have you noticed any new glitches or downsides to the current beta?

I have not really used it enough yet to say much one way or the other about that.

[appearsharmless]

I downloaded your non-beta file, R-C-R, and it worked flawlessly. I tried the technique two more times with my own file, and got the sharp nodes. I made a screen recording to show you... and it worked flawlessly; no sharp nodes. Did it three more times, worked flawlessly every time. 🤔 Either it's an intermittent bug, or I need stronger coffee (or both).

[Jon Cooper]

I can't make these nodes meet. or merge. I have tried many different ways please help. 

 

[PixelPest]

8 hours ago, Jon Cooper said:

please help. 

How could we without at least that portion as a file?

[Ragu]

Wait, try selecting all the curves in the layers panel