[2.0.4] Pencil Tool with Auto Close enabled ignores Use Fill status

[lepr]

AD 2.0.4 (and AD beta 2.1.0.1713)

macOS 12.6.3

Pencil Tool has a switch for Auto Close and a switch for Use Fill.

Problem: when Auto Close is enabled and Use Fill is disabled, a drawn Curve is wrongly given a fill at the moment it automatically closes.

 

[Old Bruce]

24 minutes ago, ,,, said:

Problem: when Auto Close is enabled and Use Fill is disabled, a drawn Curve is wrongly given a fill at the moment it automatically closes.

That will be the Default fill for closed curves. Use fill is an option for open curves.  If you want to automatically close the curve and have no fill you will need to make a closed curve with no fill first. That will be the default going forward.

[lepr]

14 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

That will be the Default fill for closed curves. Use fill is an option for open curves.  If you want to automatically close the curve and have no fill you will need to make a closed curve with no fill first. That will be the default going forward.

In my opinion, when Use Fill is explicitly disabled, that should be honoured when creating open and closed curves. The user shouldn't need to set the app's Fill colour to none beforehand when the tool includes an option to use no fill. We'll see what Serif has to say.

[Old Bruce]

24 minutes ago, ,,, said:

the tool includes an option to use no fill.

We will have to agree that we use different definitions. The tool includes an option to use a fill for open curves.

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

The tool includes an option to use a fill for open curves.

It's clear it includes an option.

The definition of that option (from the Designer 2 Help) is:

Quote

Use Fill—when checked, the concave area of the stroke is filled with the currently set fill color (from Color panel) as you draw.

The definition clearly applies while the curve is Open, but does not say what will happen when you Close the curve, so there is perhaps some ambiguity exposed by the addition of the Auto-Close function.

[lepr]

12 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

We will have to agree that we use different definitions. The tool includes an option to use a fill for open curves.

The Help does not say closed curves will always be filled, and there is no such suggestion in the labels or independent functioning of the Use Fill and Auto Close switches.

Your explanations sound contrived, as if based on an assumption that the app cannot be behaving incorrectly.

As I already said, we'll see what Serif has to say. Further speculation by us is pointless.

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, ,,, said:

The Help does not say closed curves will always be filled, and there is no such suggestion in the labels or independent functioning of the Use Fill and Auto Close switches.

There is an additional experiment that could be tried:

1. Draw a curve with the Pencil with Use Fill and Auto-Close both Off.
2. With the curve selected, switch to the Node Tool and use the Close Curve action in the Context Toolbar.
3. What happens with the Fill?

If the Fill in step 3 is inconsistent with what you're seeing when using the Pencil with Auto-Close, then perhaps that inconsistency should be addressed.

[lepr]

21 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

There is an additional experiment that could be tried:

1. Draw a curve with the Pencil with Use Fill and Auto-Close both Off.
2. With the curve selected, switch to the Node Tool and use the Close Curve action in the Context Toolbar.
3. What happens with the Fill?

If the Fill in step 3 is inconsistent with what you're seeing when using the Pencil with Auto-Close, then perhaps that inconsistency should be addressed.

OK, I tried it. The app allows the unfilled Curve to remain unfilled. I'd have been shocked if the outcome was different. If the user subsequently wants the Curve to have a fill, they can explicitly give it a fill. That seems entirely reasonable to me, and the contrary auto-filling of auto-closed Curves by Pencil Tool when Use Fill is explicitly disabled seems unreasonable to me.