Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

[ADe] Select and Delete a Line Segment.


Recommended Posts

  • 3 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Yes the current system seems clunky to me too. Some sort of "one click" cut tool and/or a true vector erase tool would be most welcome.

 

Plus for the life of me I can't get used to those break, join and close icons. They are too similar imho.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 I can't get used to those break, join and close icons. They are too similar imho.

 

Couldn't agree more - they are so indistinct, similar and tiny - some of the worst icons I've come across!

Win10 Home x64   |   AMD Ryzen 7 2700X @ 3.7GHz   |   48 GB RAM   |   1TB SSD   |   nVidia GTX 1660   |   Wacom Intuos Pro

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 all round.

 

(in fact, I didn't even know about the break nodes apart function. I've just been redrawing the path without the segment I wanted to delete. This break nodes function is already a life-saver to me.)

 

BTW, is there a cut tool/function somewhere?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One click on a line segment now creates a node.

So, IMO it is better one click to select the line segment and delete it with <DELETE> key.

Double click to create a node (double click on an existing node to delete it. It is much faster instead of using <DELTE> key).

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

While I agree there is much room for improvement, a word of caution: We must be careful what we ask for, and how.

 

If I were allowed but one thing to suggest to Serif, it would be this: Adobe Illustrator is not the model to emulate for anything pertaining to user interface.

 

One of Illustrator's most fundamental interface faux pas is the pretense that a segment exists independent of the anchor points which define it. Not only is this one of the most chronic stumbling blocks to newcomers, but it is at the root of why Illustrator is so more prone to littering files with accidental "stray points" than any of the other mainstream drawing programs (so prone, in fact, that Adobe had to tellingly add "clean up" commands to find and remove them).

 

Simplest way to see it, in Illustrator:

 

1. Line Tool: drag to create a single-segment path. Deselect.

2. White Pointer: Click the segment to "select" it.

3. Edit>Cut. The current "selection" is copied to the clipboard, right?

4. Edit>Paste. The pasted content becomes the current selection.

 

The pasted content, of course, is not just a segment, but two joined, complete anchor points, because a segment cannot exist without its defining anchor points. And you now have two invisible "stray points" left behind on the Artboard, because they ostensibly were "not selected" when you invoked the Cut command.

 

The steps above are only to easily demonstrate the issue. In real practice, ramifications of Illustrator's ill-conceived selection interface cascades throughout the program. Getting the selection interface right is foundational. Getting it wrong cannot be "backed out of" later.

 

Yes, there needs to be a way to open an existing segment (which frankly, may be a better term for it). A simple selection in the contextual cursor menu may suffice for that.

 

The Break Curve button should break all selected Nodes, not just one of them (just as the full set of alignment and distribution functions that work on whole objects should also work on any current subselection of Nodes, be they nodes of a single path or any number of paths).

 

If I were allowed two requests of Serif, the second would be: If you need a model to emulate for path creation, selection, and manipulation, emulate FreeHand's as far as you can get away with.

 

I'm not saying FreeHand was perfect, nor that an even better interface is impossible. But I've been doing vector drawing for a living since the mid-80s, and in the intervening decades have maintained licenses to most of the mainstream drawing programs. I have yet to see any vector path drawing and selection interface better than FreeHand's.

 

All path manipulation interfaces foist a measure of smoke-and-mirrors upon the user. To my mind, an interface which doesn't overly isolate the user from the reality of what's going on is preferred, even if it means an occasional extra click or two.

 

For example, what we all nowadays call a "segment" is actually a complete cubic Bezier curve defined by its four coordinate pairs (the "segment" is its two on-curve endpoints, its two off-curve handles, and the plot they describe). Illustrator alludes to this fact by the naming of its Select>Object>Direction Handles command (confusingly dissimilar to its pretense of selecting "just" segments, but is really the same thing.

 

Regardless of all that, Nodes are universally treated as single entities, each having two handles (either retracted or extended), when in fact the two handles are coordinate pairs from the two joined curves.

 

A node is really just a joint between two curves. A joint can be straight (tangent) or bent, locked or bendable. A straight and locked joint would be what we call a curve node. A bendable joint would be what we call a corner node. I've often wondered if a more intuitive Bezier-based path interface couldn't be based on such a metaphor. A joint can also be broken or...disjointed (new metaphor for dragging new joints out of existing ones?)

 

But, of course, I wouldn't presume to suggest Affinity rebuild the foundation of its selection interface in favor of my musings. Whatever future enhancements are built upon the foundation, they need to be conceptually consistent with it. And I can't think of a more inconsistent interface than Illustrator's.

 

JET

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.