Pencil Tool Improvements

[MEB]

17 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I tried that a couple of days ago, and found weird behavior on. Windows in V1 and V2.

I drew a curve with the Pencil Tool, then drew a second curve with the Pencil Tool. While drawing that second curve I pressed Ctrl to make the nodes visible so I could adjust them, and the nodes of the first curve highlighted. I haven't finished experimenting with that yet, nor posted it as a bug, but it seems weird.

That's a bug. It should highlight the node´s handles of the object currently being drawn, similar to what the Pen Tool does. It also affects macOS.

[walt.farrell]

29 minutes ago, MEB said:

That's a bug. It should highlight the node´s handles of the object currently being drawn, similar to what the Pen Tool does. It also affects macOS.

Thanks for confirming. I'll report it later today.

[Bryan Rieger]

11 hours ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

Have you tried pressing down ctrl/cmd to temporarily active the Node Tool when using the Pencil Tool? You can move your nodes around and also change the node type and do other commands by R clicking the nodes while it is active.

Yeah, unfortunately that is a really poor user experience (even on the desktop). One of my biggest gripes with v2 on the iPad was the removal of the bottom context bar (it desperately needed a redesign, as well as the option to be hidden/minimized, but it was useable) for the addition of the asinine keyboard shortcut joystick thingy. The iPad is not a desktop computer, and using that silly virtual joystick thing completely takes me out of the drawing experience as I have to look at it each time I use it to remember where each of the virtual keys are, and often where the trigger is in the first place.

[walt.farrell]

10 hours ago, Bryan Rieger said:

One of my biggest gripes with v2 on the iPad was the removal of the bottom context bar (it desperately needed a redesign, as well as the option to be hidden/minimized, but it was useable) for the addition of the asinine keyboard shortcut joystick thingy. The iPad is not a desktop computer, and using that silly virtual joystick thing completely takes me out of the drawing experience as I have to look at it each time I use it to remember where each of the virtual keys are, and often where the trigger is in the first place

Everything that was on the bottom context bar for the Pencil Tool in Designer 1.10 on iPad, is now in the top context bar in V2, except for the width which is now a slider on the left. There's no need to consider the Command Controller at all, as far as I can see, when you're using the Pencil Tool. 

Were you thinking of some other Tool, or have I misunderstood you?

[Bryan Rieger]

41 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Everything that was on the bottom context bar for the Pencil Tool in Designer 1.10 on iPad, is now in the top context bar in V2, except for the width which is now a slider on the left. There's no need to consider the Command Controller at all, as far as I can see, when you're using the Pencil Tool. 

Were you thinking of some other Tool, or have I misunderstood you?

I think so, as it was in relation to @Frozen Death Knight's comment (see above) to "press ctrl/cmd to temporarily active the Node Tool when using the Pencil Tool".

Yes, I know where everything is in relation to the context bar (both v1 and v2) and the slider in v2. My comment is in relation to the Command Controller (aka the asinine keyboard shortcut joystick thingy) not being a great experience when drawing with the pencil in the iPad, and was directly related to the comment I quoted.

[walt.farrell]

40 minutes ago, Bryan Rieger said:

Yes, I know where everything is in relation to the context bar (both v1 and v2) and the slider in v2. My comment is in relation to the Command Controller (aka the asinine keyboard shortcut joystick thingy) not being a great experience when drawing with the pencil in the iPad, and was directly related to the comment I quoted.

Thanks for that clarification.

As far as I can see, there was no way in V1 to press the Ctrl key and temporarily switch to the Node Tool unless you had a physical  keyboard. So the Command Controller provides a new function in V2 that did not exist in V1.

And I, for one, like it though I often keep it hidden as I usually do have my keyboard attached. 

But your opinion is your own, of course.

 

[Frozen Death Knight]

1 hour ago, Bryan Rieger said:

I think so, as it was in relation to @Frozen Death Knight's comment (see above) to "press ctrl/cmd to temporarily active the Node Tool when using the Pencil Tool".

Yes, I know where everything is in relation to the context bar (both v1 and v2) and the slider in v2. My comment is in relation to the Command Controller (aka the asinine keyboard shortcut joystick thingy) not being a great experience when drawing with the pencil in the iPad, and was directly related to the comment I quoted.

Aha, so this is an iPad specific issue? Your original comment made it sound like it was an issue across the board, which is why I was curious about if you used that shortcut feature. At least on my end the ctrl shortcut for the Node Tool on Windows works pretty well for temporarily activating the tool and making edits like that without any extra commands to complicate things. I suppose it's not as easy on an iPad where there is no conventional keyboard.

[Frozen Death Knight]

I found a way to break Auto Close by holding down shift and then use shift+alt (and releasing shift while holding down alt to draw node points) when continuously drawing with the Pencil Tool.

[CM0]

This feature enhancement lands solid for numerous reasons. The results are very impressive, giving a result that is nearly as good as manually using the pen tool and placing nodes. It also performs far better than competitor implementations in like Inkscape etc. It hits on all such marks. Similar to the recent 'duplicate on enter' feature that I now use very often, it is a core tool that hits across a very wide set common uses making it an ideal candidate for enhancement.

[nasu wong]

I think it's a good adjustment. I'm more accustomed to the old style, and I believe adding Auto Close to the Pen Tool would improve it as well.

[Bri-Toon]

Is there an auto close for the Pencil Tool’s sculpt mode? I can’t always close a shape on one go.

[walt.farrell]

29 minutes ago, Bri-Toon said:

Is there an auto close for the Pencil Tool’s sculpt mode? I can’t always close a shape on one go.

Not as far as I can see. The Auto-Close only seems to function for the original start point of the curve, and only if you're starting from there. So, in sculpting, since you're starting from an end-point, not the start, it doesn't seem to work.

It would be nice if it could.

[Bri-Toon]

Oh well. I am just happy to see Affinity’s progress.

[Frozen Death Knight]

1 hour ago, Bri-Toon said:

Is there an auto close for the Pencil Tool’s sculpt mode? I can’t always close a shape on one go.

Sculpt Mode seems to do that automatically on its own.

Auto Close does not seem to affect it beyond the gap initially closing when first drawn.

[Bri-Toon]

21 minutes ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

Sculpt Mode seems to do that automatically on its own.

Well the reason I asked is because with the sculpt mode, you have to draw over the line in order for the shape to close, as oppose to connecting a continued path to the starting anchor point.

[Yaoif]

I have a question about the pencil tool improvement in V2.5 Beta. As I do vector illustrations in Affinity Designer using the pencil tool all the time, what if I want to draw the rugged lines with lots of details using the new pencil tool? It seems like the new pencil tool will smooth the lines automatically and eliminate the unnecessary points which I would like to keep in the drawing?  I'm pretty satisfy with the pencil tool in the current v2.4. I fear that the new pencil tool may no longer suit the need of the illustrators who draw a lot of details.

[Alfred]

31 minutes ago, Yaoif said:

I have a question about the pencil tool improvement in V2.5 Beta. As I do vector illustrations in Affinity Designer using the pencil tool all the time, what if I want to draw the rugged lines with lots of details using the new pencil tool? It seems like the new pencil tool will smooth the lines automatically and eliminate the unnecessary points which I would like to keep in the drawing?  I'm pretty satisfy with the pencil tool in the current v2.4. I fear that the new pencil tool may no longer suit the need of the illustrators who draw a lot of details.

There are several posts complaining about that on the first page of this thread.

[loukash]

41 minutes ago, Alfred said:

There are several posts complaining about that on the first page of this thread.

Which haven't been addressed yet.
There are situations where I definitely do not want any stabilizer, and there's no way to work around that in v2.5!

[Meliora spero]

1 hour ago, loukash said:

Which haven't been addressed yet.
There are situations where I definitely do not want any stabilizer, and there's no way to work around that in v2.5!

Genau. In fact, it’s the only thing I personally use the pencil for, to make uneven lines in sculpt mode, and if that option is lost, there are even more drawbacks pulling me towards other software for several types of work.

It’s a regression that has been mentioned here before but hasn’t been addressed, and Serif hasn’t communicated at all about whether it’s being handled or it’s just tough luck. Therefore, no communication but lots of uncertainty among customers... posts continue. That’s the price for poor or no communication; silent film from one party - talk from the other.

[CLMBsCrackedKnuckleP]

Regarding the new ‘Auto-close’ pencil tool improvements included in Affinity Designer 2.5, is there a way to turn this feature off on an M1 iPad Pro? Or is there a way to go back to the 2.4 version?

I've been working on a project for several months and found this new feature to be less than helpful since I am working on many small areas of detail and want to keep my work somewhat unrefined.

-Chris

[loukash]

4 hours ago, CLMBsCrackedKnuckleP said:

iPad Pro? Or is there a way to go back to the 2.4 version?

I'm afraid there's not.
I, for one, am sticking to v2.4.2 on both iPad and Mac until some of these concerns are fixed. As every so often, this appears to be an update following the "one step forward, two steps aside, three steps back" model.

[Yaoif]

Can I have both affinity designer v2.4 and v2.5 installed on my windows system?

Can affinity designer v2.4 open the documents saved in v2.5?

[Frozen Death Knight]

58 minutes ago, Yaoif said:

Can I have both affinity designer v2.4 and v2.5 installed on my windows system?

Can affinity designer v2.4 open the documents saved in v2.5?

You can only do that if you use 2.5 Beta and 2.4 retail. 2.5 Beta is the same as 2.5 retail. It would be nice if Affinity had an install manager that allowed multiple versions of the same software installed.

2.5 isn't compatible with 2.4, so no, you can't open those that way. You can however copy+paste whatever you are doing in 2.5 into 2.4 and vice versa without crashes as long as it isn't a feature that doesn't exist in that previous version like a filter or something similar.

[walt.farrell]

40 minutes ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

2.5 isn't compatible with 2.4, so no, you can't open those that way.

2.5.0 files are compatible with 2.4.2 unless they use the QR Code Tool, or (possibly) some Variable Font functions. 

And my guess is that this will also apply to 2.5.1 and 2.5.2, but that remains to be seen.

[CLMBsCrackedKnuckleP]

On 5/24/2024 at 6:28 PM, loukash said:

I'm afraid there's not.
I, for one, am sticking to v2.4.2 on both iPad and Mac until some of these concerns are fixed. As every so often, this appears to be an update following the "one step forward, two steps aside, three steps back" model.

Fair enough. Thank you for the reply.