The Cat tool?

[MaryLou]

I'm going to start with a "dumb question alert" here, but I am curious about this Cat tool. While exploring the Tool Customize options, I found a CAT tool among the blue presets. Not sure what one would do with it, but it's cool.  Also found a horizontal bar.  Neither of these are on the flyout with the other presets.

 

So, I dragged them to the Tools bar  Apparently, the horizontal bar is to separate something (just a guess here) but what about the cat?  It is on my tool bar as you can see in the image below.  However, when I select it, it causes the icon for the presets to change to the cat.  That shouldn't happen, should it?    Now, I have two cat icons on the toolbar.  If I click on the icon showing on the flyout, I cannot access the cat ..  it can only be used by adding it to the toolbar.

 

Doesn't all of this seem a bit awkward?   If the cat in not in the presets, why does the preset icon change to the cat when I use the cat that I added to the toolbar? 

 

I did warn you that this was a dumb question alert so... don't beat me up here. :)

 

[Bri-Toon]

I'm confused. I just downloaded and installed the latest version (1.5.0.32 for Windows), and I see no cat tool or horizontal bar tool on the shape flyout.

[MaryLou]

You won't, unless you put it there.  Go to View\Customize Tools.  Both the cat and the bar are the last two icons on the last row.  You can drag and drop them on the Tools bar.

 

This was the reason for my post. Why aren't ALL the presets on the Tools bar and why does the cat show up double when I do put it on the Tool bar.

[oliverh72]

So I don't know the answer for sure, but here's my guesses.

• the cat tool was perhaps a joke, or testing complex shapes, which got left into the customize tools menu
  • It shows up twice only if it's selected - it's a child of the multi-shape tool popout (though it's not listed there because of the above, likely) and doesn't show twice if it's overriden by selecting something else from the popout, like a triangle tool
• The separator looks to be exactly that - a separator so that you can divide your tool icons up on your toolbar. It makes things tidy! (it doesn't do anything to images)

Hope that helps. I think the cat tool is awesome and I hope you can create vectors/symbols and have them added to this popout. That would be great.

[Bri-Toon]

Oops. I was clicking the wrong "customize" option. I never noticed those two extras before. Regarding this:

 

 

 

Apparently, the horizontal bar is to separate something (just a guess here)

 

It looks to be a separator for the tools themselves, not an actual tool.

 

As for the cat showing doubles, it looks like it is indeed a bug. If you reset your tools, dock your panels, and then add the cat tool back to your toolbar, you do not get the same result. Also, I agree that it should be listed with the other presets.

[MaryLou]

I just now re-set my tools, then dragged the cat back to the tools bar and as soon as I clicked on it to use it, the icon on the fly-out changed to the cat.  It should not do that since the cat is not in those tools.  To me, that is a little bug.  Still don't know what the cat tool is for but it's cute! 

[Bri-Toon]

But did you dock the panels before adding the cat tool back? For me, it will not show double as it does when the panels hover. Either way, it's definitely a bug.

 

I guess the tool is just an extra thing they decided to add. Not sure.

[MaryLou]

My panels are always docked.  I seldom ever undock them.  Maybe they threw the cat in to see if we were paying attention?

[MaryLou]

I like the cat but....  I don't like seeing it twice on the tool bar.  If I click on the triangle, the icon changes to a triangle.  If I click on an ellipse, the icon changes to an ellipse.  If I click on the cat that is on the tool bar, it changes whatever icon is being displayed on the fly-out to the cat. That should not happen.

[Mark Ingram]

You've found the easter egg (though we shouldn't have allowed it in customise)!

 

On Friday 13th, the cat shape becomes available. You can also access it by SHIFT+Click on the shape flyout tool button.

[Bri-Toon]

Sounds interesting, Mark. A little foreshadowing feature. Pretty clever. Though, it sounds like MaryLou caught a bug in regards to it appearing in the preset flyout when it isn't even listed in the flyout. Playing around with that hidden tool, the same thing happened to me.

 

Wait a minute...you hid the cat on purpose! Seeing your photo how you're a dog and all.

[Daniele Salvatore]

I never noticed before; it appears only by activating the "Customise tools"; the thin line has no effect, but the cat is very beautiful; would be a shame to remove as it looks like the mascotte of AD.

[MaryLou]

Yeaaaah!!  I found the Easter Egg!!  It was quite unintentional though!   It's a beautiful cat, especially with a black fill.  Perfect for Friday the 13th!!  

 

There's still a problem with it though - it shouldn't appear twice on the tools bar like it is. But, I"m happy to know my "dumb question alert" wasn't all that dumb!   I do tend to question things but now and then, it's simply because I'm not understanding how to use a given tool.  Hope we find more of these little goodies hidden in AD!

[ronnyb]

MaryLou, you discovered what's called an easter egg in programming parlance; In the early days and still now to some degree, programmers would hide these funny easter eggs with obscure key combinations; we used to try to find them in new programs as kids... anyway, the Devs here LOVE cats (me too, all beings actually :D) from their icons on the forum. You're seeing two cats because the tool with the flyout MUST switch to the HIDDEN Cat tool, that you uncovered. If you don't want the individual cat tool but want to access it via the Flyout Shape tool, just hold down alt/option before clicking on the Flyout shape tool.

 

Enjoy the kitties ;)

 

 

I just now re-set my tools, then dragged the cat back to the tools bar and as soon as I clicked on it to use it, the icon on the fly-out changed to the cat.  It should not do that since the cat is not in those tools.  To me, that is a little bug.  Still don't know what the cat tool is for but it's cute! 

[MaryLou]

Ronny, thanks for the explanation. I didn't know programmers still did that!  I was a business apps programmer back in the 60's and did that most of my life. Always loved  those hidden goodies!  Microsoft was good about hiding a lot of them. Somehow, I had forgotten about that.

 

The thing is, when I was using the customize tools options, I dragged the cat to the toolbar. Then, when selecting a preset from the flyout, the icon on the flyout changed to the cat.  That should not happen because now I have two cats on the toolbar.  All is well if I remove the cat from the toolbar.   Just a FYI,  on the PC, one needs to hold down the Shift key when clicking on the flyout to get the cat to come out of hiding.   I am a cat lover too so I don't mind having some cats running around in my AD! :)

[Dave Harris]

Having a shape tool both in the toolbar and as a flyout icon isn't specific to cats. It will also happen if you add the Pie tool to the toolbar, for example. We don't remove the Pie from the flyout so you get it in two places.

[fercen]

The cat needs a name like Suzanne the monkey in Blender.

[MaryLou]

I agree!  The cat needs a name.  How about Samantha?   She is very cute with a witchy look. 

[Alfred]

8 minutes ago, haakoo said:

How about Sam, just to make it gender neutral. 

If you were a cat, would you like to be gender neutral?

[MaryLou]

That cat is definitely a female.  Look at the confidence she has just in the way she sits!  If it was a male cat, he would be laying down all curled up in a ball with a smile on his face.  Girl cats have a mysterious look so this one has to be a female.

 

[Bri-Toon]

I kind of like Priscilla. It sounds "Persistent," and it means to keep going after falling.

[MaryLou]

Hmmmm..  well, she might be Prissy, but she has not fallen.   I like Samantha because it is associated with a witch and a witch can do magic things just like AD - it is magical!!

 

[Alfred]

31 minutes ago, MaryLou said:

I like Samantha because it is associated with a witch

That was the first Samantha I thought of! That particular Samantha, however, is a witch rather than a cat.

 

[MaryLou]

30 minutes ago, αℓƒяє∂ said:

That was the first Samantha I thought of! That particular Samantha, however, is a witch rather than a cat.

 

That is true, but that particular Samantha can wiggle her nose, just like a cat!

[Bri-Toon]

I think Samantha is a cute name, but personally, I would like the name to reflect a meaningful quality of Affinity seeing how a cat is like their mascot. They say every name means something. Maybe something that means dedicated, smooth, or something. That's just me though. Don't scratch me, Samantha.