Escape key's function

[Pieter van Wyk]

Please consider, as with most cad and edit products, the ESC key should release the cursor and the current associated active function.

As an example, when drawing a line, pressing escape should quit the function as if the Move Tool icon had been clicked.

[walt.farrell]

8 hours ago, Pieter van Wyk said:

As an example, when drawing a line, pressing escape should quit the function as if the Move Tool icon had been clicked.

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking for, especially given that example. Pressing Esc already terminates drawing the line, whether you're using the Pencil Tool or the Pen Tool.

Can you explain further?

[Pieter van Wyk]

If I draw lines, pressing Escape does end the line drawing but it does not drop the tool too.

I would like to see that pressing Escape should end the line drawing - great.

But pressing Escape again should then drop the draw tool too so that the mouse action is free to click on an object, selecting it.

[GarryP]

I don’t know if there is a particular reason why pressing Escape twice does not select the Move Tool; there may be a specific purpose for it that I’m not aware of.

However, while you are using the Pen Tool, Pencil Tool or the Vector Brush Tool, pressing V will select the Move Tool, which I think does what you want.

[Pieter van Wyk]

Thank you, V does the job. However, my argument is that most engineering and other software use the Esc key to relase the mouse function from any active tools.

Edited March 12 by Pieter van Wyk

[Pšenda]

51 minutes ago, Pieter van Wyk said:

Esc key to relase the mouse function from any active tools.

But the Move Tool is also a tool. So should there be a release to the Hand tool? Nothing can be done/caused by it except for moving the canvas/document.

[walt.farrell]

40 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

But the Move Tool is also a tool. So should there be a release to the Hand tool? Nothing can be done/caused by it except for moving the canvas/document.

That is reminiscent of the discussions about why Designer has the Move Tool as the default initial tool, and Photo has the View Tool as the default initial tool, and whether one or the other should be changed. Or whether the default tool should be a user option.

[Dan C]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

That is reminiscent of the discussions about why Designer has the Move Tool as the default initial tool, and Photo has the View Tool as the default initial tool, and whether one or the other should be changed. Or whether the default tool should be a user option.

I have raised this internally with our team previously - I'll be sure to 'bump' this now as I am uncertain for the reason they have chosen for the difference in default tools.
This request is either to have Photos default tool be set to the Move Tool to match Designer/Publisher, or allow the users control over their default tool choice in all Affinity apps.

Alongside this, I can certainly see the benefits to being able to 'cancel' out of the current tool and return to your 'default tool' using ESC - whether this is the Move Tool or otherwise, as per the above.
Therefore I'll be sure to raise this with our team also, to be considered for a future update

[Alfred]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

That is reminiscent of the discussions about why Designer has the Move Tool as the default initial tool, and Photo has the View Tool as the default initial tool, and whether one or the other should be changed. Or whether the default tool should be a user option.

Changing one or the other may displease as many as it pleases! Making it a user option means that users who don’t like the installation default can set their preferred tool as the default by changing it only once, or perhaps once per update.

[Alfred]

1 minute ago, Dan C said:

This request is either to have Photos default tool be set to the Move Tool to match Designer/Publisher, or allow the users control over their default tool choice in all Affinity apps.

There’s also the question of whether the top left tool in a custom layout should always be the default, or whether the user should be able to nominate the default tool regardless of where it appears in the Tools panel. My personal preference would be the former (but for maximum flexibility and acceptability it should probably be the latter, since putting the preferred tool at top left and then explicitly nominating that tool as the default would only be one extra step, and it’s not something that most users would do very often).