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Am I overlooking something?

I can't find a way to delete a point from a path that also deletes the line segment it's on.

ex.: delete the half from a circle to get an open path representing a half circle (that is not closed).

In AI you can direct-select a point and delete it, resulting in an open path - or select a line segment between two points and delete it, also resulting in an open path.

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thx. this works... but is not very user friendly. it requires 4 actions (select - break -select again and delete).

Is there a way to make this default behaviour on a selected point?

 

 

But what if I wanted to just delete the point? I delete points from curves far more than I would want the curve to break. 

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Hi William H, I know what you mean but I've gotten used to it.

 

It will help when the ability to assign shortcuts becomes available. For now I select the node, hit the break button, marquee select the node (to select both nodes, because there are two on top of each another) then hit delete. 

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The problem, as I see it is, exactly what action do you want to happen when you click on a node. Here are some possibilities.

 

1. Select that node only. (Node Tool)
 

2. Delete that node from the path segments and leave the remaining path in tack. (Node Tool + command)

 

3. Cut the path at that node. (Node Tool + option)

 

4. Cut the path at that node and delete both line segments attached to it. (Node Tool + control)

 

5. Clicking on the line/curve of any selected path will also add a node at that point.

 

6. Click and drag on a curve segment to adjust it’s curvature.

 

7. Click and drag on a straight line segment to convert it into a curve and adjust it’s curvature.

 

Based upon the above I can see a real need for items 2…4 (at minimum) so how does the program determine exactly which action you want without some kind of user input. These actions listed above in parenthesis could be one solution that would allow all three actions to be invoked with only one selection of the node tool. Obviously the cursor might have to change with each key to reflect the action that will take place when a node is click on.

 

I think this could use some insight from many users at to possible solutions that would seem intuitive. The need here seems to be; what action is going to take place when I click on this node?

 

Just my thoughts here.

 

Max

OS X Ventura 13.0.1, Mac Studio M1 Max, 27" Apple Studio Display, 32 GB SSD. Affinity Universal License for 2.0.

Mac User & Programmer since 1985 to date. Author of “SignPost” for vinyl sign cutting.

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  • 1 year later...

If I draw a square and then click on 'convert to curves' (BTW. I think the term "curves" could be misleading to a new user here). I'd then expect to be able to click on one side of the square and just press delete. Instead, the only options seem to be:-

 

Selecting the whole square

Select a Node or Nodes

Add a Node.

 

Selecting nodes either end of the side I want to remove, then pressing delete, deletes 3 sides.

Selecting one note deletes the node, but then creates a triangle.

Selecting nodes either end of the side I want to delete, then selecting Break Curve (once again, not sure terminology 'curve' would work for a new user), does something, although nothing visibly changes. Now selecting both nodes and pressing delete creates another triangle, but this time with one of the adjacent sides of the triangle deleted.

 

After using a combination of "break curve" and selecting various nodes to delete the side failed, I discovered that adding a node somewhere along the side you want to delete, then deleting the node, initially looks like only the node has been deleted, but in fact if you de-select then re-select it's actually removed a side of the square.

 

I think Affinity needs a tool to select node/s or segment/s, and then perhaps a separate add / delete node tool, unless I'm doing something wrong and completely missing the correct method to do this  :)

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Hi Gaz,

To delete a segment from a shape, you have to select the nodes that surround that segment (one at a a time) and click Break Curve with the Node tool. Then click anywhere on the canvas to deselect the entire shape and click on the segment to select and delete it. Currently it's not possible to delete a segment from a shape directly.

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It would help considerably if the Break Curve action could be applied to multiple nodes at once.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
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1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Hi Gaz,

To delete a segment from a shape, you have to select the nodes that surround that segment (one at a a time) and click Break Curve with the Node tool. Then click anywhere on the canvas to deselect the entire shape and click on the segment to select and delete it. Currently it's not possible to delete a segment from a shape directly.

 

Ah, select and break each node one at a time…. that's where I was going wrong, I tried to break two at once and was getting nowhere.

I think that probably needs looking at for the next version. It seems so counter intuitive to go through all those steps, in that particular way, to just delete a line in a shape. :-)

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Ah, select and break each node one at a time…. that's where I was going wrong, I tried to break two at once and was getting nowhere.

You are not alone. I wasted more hours than I want to think about trying to break a curve at two (or more) nodes before I finally realized it only works on one node at a time. It never occurred to me that it would be so limited when there is such an obvious & frequent need to break a curve into two or more parts.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Hi Gaz,

Yes, it's a little tedious. I have raised this with the dev team some time ago but with all that'a being worked on it wasn't implemented yet. I believe this will be improved at some point.

 

That's good, I can work around it now I know the method. :) I can imagine the team there must be very busy, I don't want to pressure on them. It would be nice in 2.0 perhaps.

 

I think a segment selection tool would be the best option (probably the node tool could do both). Select a segment, then if delete is pressed, a script automatically selects and breaks the adjoining nodes, one at a time and then deletes the segment, but if delete isn't pressed, the nodes stay connected.

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There is already a knife tool listed on the AD feature roadmap. If it is implemented in the traditional way, it will allow cutting shapes anywhere along their edges, even where there are no nodes. That should do very nicely for breaking apart shapes into open curves.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello MEB,

Any further news on this?

Right now, I'm having this trouble too. Being unable to simply select then delete an unwanted segment is beyond me. 

Thank you,
Philippe
 

Hi Gaz,

To delete a segment from a shape, you have to select the nodes that surround that segment (one at a a time) and click Break Curve with the Node tool. Then click anywhere on the canvas to deselect the entire shape and click on the segment to select and delete it. Currently it's not possible to delete a segment from a shape directly.

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I know the developers are hard at work, and I'm delighted with the way things are progressing with Affinity. May I just add my voice to this topic and say that the ability to delete individual nodes in the manner described by previous posters is a REALLY BIG DEAL. I know we each have our own little things that are big things to us, but this one is in the realms of basic functionality and has my vote for being addressed sooner rather than later. I simply cannot work with the massive vector map files that are my bread and butter without the ability to use the node tool this way.

 

Maybe the knife tool will do it - looking forward to seeing that one in action!

MacBook Pro 15" 32GB RAM, iPad Pro 12.9" + Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil.  Software tools of my trade: Affinity Designer | Affinity Publisher | PDF Expert | Drafts | The Archive | Plutio  

https://eandrpublications.com.au

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,

I totally agree on this. I've been using Illustrator since version 6 (released in 1996), where this was already good. Like misc33 said, this is pretty basic stuff that should have been nailed from the start. I also cannot work with complex vectors in Affinity Designer for this reason alone.

As soon as your work is done for beta 1.5, I hope you set this (and all other possible features for a pen tool) as your topmost priority.

Here, some inspiration from Adobe XD's new pen tool. :)

 

Thank you very much guys,
Philippe Côté


 

I know the developers are hard at work, and I'm delighted with the way things are progressing with Affinity. May I just add my voice to this topic and say that the ability to delete individual nodes in the manner described by previous posters is a REALLY BIG DEAL. I know we each have our own little things that are big things to us, but this one is in the realms of basic functionality and has my vote for being addressed sooner rather than later. I simply cannot work with the massive vector map files that are my bread and butter without the ability to use the node tool this way.

 

Maybe the knife tool will do it - looking forward to seeing that one in action!

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...

Agree with comments above. I just started using Affinity, and have to say, for an app which does so many things in a first-class way, it is really surprising that they failed to include this simple yet imperative function (as the default). I would hope the next release will set the default action to simply delete the segment and leave an open path. And the 'break curve' toggle button can be changed to a 'retain curve' button, for other such use. I think it gets used this way far more often.

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  • 5 months later...

Greetings,

Any update on this? I've recently switched from Illustrator to Designer. I also find the 'Break Curve' functionality tedious. In Illustrator (sorry, only point of reference), one can simply select (or drag over) a segment between two nodes to select the segment. Pressing Delete then removes the segment. In Designer, this is a 4 step process with multiple tools as many have already pointed out. Yowzer!! This operation is so fundamental to drawing with the pen tool I'm finding it difficult to adjust. There must be another solution here that streamlines the process while working within the vector engine Affinity has created. Look forward to any updates.

Aaron

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  • 4 months later...

You know, this thread reminds me of an old George Formby song, 'As the Hours and the Days and the Weeks and the Months and the Years Roll By"!

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Hi mathead,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Select both nodes with the Node Tool and click the Break Curve button in the Action section in the context toolbar. Switch to the Move Tool select the "broken" segment and hit delete. It's not possible to delete a segment directly yet (i believe that's you are asking about?).

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