How to join / combine two nodes without changing the curve?

[XenPhi]

Hi there,

short question regarding the node tool: I often convert a bitmap to a vector image in Adobe Illustrator and then use the vectors in Affinity Designer (would love to see this conversion feature in Designer some time...). There, it happens very often that two adjacent nodes of a certain curve are exactly above each other. When I select one of them and remove it, one part of the curve changes and I have to restore that part. Is there any option to select two or maybe even more adjacent nodes and combine them to one single node, so the original curve changes as least as possible? This would come also in very handy when drawing something with the pencil tool. This sometimes produces way too many nodes...

Best, Markus

[stokerg]

Hi XenPhi,

You can select multiple nodes by selecting one and then holding the shift key down, selecting the next one.  You could then use the Add option on the toolbar along the top to the those nodes together.  If that doesn't give the results you want, could you post a sample afdesign file and i'll try to help further  

[Gear maker]

6 hours ago, XenPhi said:

When I select one of them and remove it, one part of the curve changes and I have to restore that part. Is there any option to select two or maybe even more adjacent nodes and combine them to one single node, so the original curve changes as least as possible?

Try using an opt + delete (on a mac, I'm not sure what on a PC) this deletes a node trying to change the curve as little as possible.

3 hours ago, stokerg said:

You can select multiple nodes by selecting one and then holding the shift key down, selecting the next one.  You could then use the Add option on the toolbar along the top to the those nodes together.

I had never heard of doing an add on a couple nodes so I took the attached drawing and moved node A until it was snapped to node B.  Then selected both nodes and clicked on Add.  I ended up with 5 nodes. 3 on top of each other in the original location and two in another location.  Not what I expected from your description.  What did I do wrong?  The opt + delete worked fairly good.  FYI I was using the beta of AD.

Test.afdesign

[Alfred]

47 minutes ago, Gear maker said:

Try using an opt + delete (on a mac, I'm not sure what on a PC)

Option on a Mac is Alt on Windows.

47 minutes ago, Gear maker said:

I had never heard of doing an add on a couple nodes

I’m not surprised, Mike! You can only join nodes, not add them: the ‘Add’ Boolean operation is for adding shapes.

[Gear maker]

1 minute ago, Alfred said:

I’m not surprised, Mike! You can only join nodes, not add them: the ‘Add’ Boolean operation is for adding shapes.

Thanks for giving me a sanity check, Alfred.  I was surprised it actually did something.  Not what I would want, but something.