How to cut a part out of a vertical line?

[moonbeetle]

Oh I miss the knife tool or scissors so much. So I draw a simple vertical line with the pen tool. How can I cut out a portion so that I end up with two parts a a tiny space between them?

[MEB]

Hi moonbeetle,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Place two nodes (using the Node Tool) in the middle of the line where you want to insert the "gap", then select each one individually and press the Break Curve button in the context toolbar. You can then delete the segment in the middle. You can quickly switch to the Node Tool pressing ⌘ (cmd) while you are using the Pen Tool.

[moonbeetle]

[sOLVED] Break curve does the trick, indeed.

[Inkwell]

This is so confounding in Designer, I fail at this over and over.

[Bri-Toon]

1 hour ago, Inkwell said:

This is so confounding in Designer, I fail at this over and over.

 

Think of the Break Curve option as "splitting" the curve. It breaks it into two (like cutting a film into segments). So the node in which you break the curve is where you split it. In the instructions MEB gave, he is saying to split the curve into three and delete the middle one, in which would create a gap between the first and third.

[R C-R]

9 hours ago, Inkwell said:

This is so confounding in Designer, I fail at this over and over.

One thing about the Break Curve action that can be problematic if you are not aware of it is it can only break one selected node of a path at a time. So for example, if you add two middle nodes to a line & select both of them, only one of them will be broken, creating two lines instead of three. This is why MEB said to select each one individually.

 

Note that if you have two separate curves selected, the Break Curve action can break one selected node on each of them.

[Incy]

Hi, extreme newbie here. I am trying to cut a section from a circle using the instructions here but for the life of me cannot add a node to the circle with the node tool. Surely it shouldn't be this difficult.

[G13RL]

Hi @Incy,
You must first convert the circle into curves before you can insert knots into it: to do this, select the circle, "Layer", "Convert to Curves".

[Alfred]

21 minutes ago, Incy said:

I am trying to cut a section from a circle using the instructions here but for the life of me cannot add a node to the circle with the node tool.

 

8 minutes ago, G13RL said:

You must first convert the circle into curves before you can insert knots into it: to do this, select the circle, "Layer", "Convert to Curves".

If you use the Pie Tool instead of the Ellipse Tool you can specify the exact position and size of the section to be cut out (but you still need to convert to curves before you can remove the unwanted part).

[v_kyr]

Or use the pie shape tool or donut tool which can be used to create section parts of circles.

[Incy]

3 hours ago, G13RL said:

Hi @Incy,
You must first convert the circle into curves before you can insert knots into it: to do this, select the circle, "Layer", "Convert to Curves".

That did it! So simple once you know how. Thanks all!

[G13RL]

18 hours ago, Alfred said:

 

If you use the Pie Tool instead of the Ellipse Tool you can specify the exact position and size of the section to be cut out (but you still need to convert to curves before you can remove the unwanted part).

@Incy's question was about a circle, so I proposed a way for the circle. 🙂

[JDW]

On 1/27/2021 at 8:47 PM, G13RL said:

Hi @Incy,
You must first convert the circle into curves before you can insert knots into it: to do this, select the circle, "Layer", "Convert to Curves".

This is the unfortunate tragedy in not having a dedicated Scissors tool like Illustrator.  It's not just the conflict with Illustrator muscle memory. Productivity drops tremendously.  You see, in Illustrator, I can sketch a circle, then type C to select Scissors, then click on two points on the circle to cut it.  No "Convert to Curves" required.  It's fast and just works.  That is what we all need in Affinity Designer, if we are truly honest.  Bring on the Scissors tool!

[loukash]

9 hours ago, JDW said:

in Illustrator, I can sketch a circle, then type C to select Scissors, then click on two points on the circle to cut it.  No "Convert to Curves" required.

Don't know about newer versions, but in CS5 that's because if you "sketch a circle" with the Ellipse tool, it is already "converted to curves".

10 hours ago, JDW said:

 It's fast and just works.  

May be, as long as I don't count all the Undo steps because of accidentally changing, adding or deleting nodes and path segments from ellipses that I wanted to keep intact…

In Affinity, converting to curves is either a button click or a keyboard shortcut away, if needed.

[JDW]

1 hour ago, loukash said:

In Affinity, converting to curves is either a button click or a keyboard shortcut away, if needed.

LOL.  Defending the status quo of doing something that takes longer is something only diehard fans could appreciate.  I am totally open-minded when it comes to software.  I hate the Adobe subscription model, but I prefer certain key features.  And if on reads through these forums one sees I am not alone.  This isn't about making Affinity a clone of Adobe apps, but rather adding something greater to an already great app.  So no need to get feathers ruffled over somebody like me asking for the status quo to be disrupted for the sake of something faster.  Many defended horses when cars came out.  Sometimes, you need to go with what's faster, even if it pollutes more.

[loukash]

Just now, JDW said:

Defending the status quo

I'm not defending it, I like it better the Affinity way.
As in: I consider it an improvement over the Schmadobe way.
Vive la différence.
(Disclosure: coming originally from Freehand starting already at v3, Ill-frustrator never became my best friend.)

1 minute ago, JDW said:

I am totally open-minded when it comes to software

So am I, at least pragmatically-technically:
When I need reliable boolean operations, AI CS5 is still my "best friend" in that regard.

3 minutes ago, JDW said:

Many defended horses when cars came out.

I've never even had the need for having a driving license, so all those boring car analogies are totally lost on me.

[JDW]

LOL.  You'll be defending the status quo until your last breath.  That's fine.  But I will be defending change until mine.  I'm happy to agree to disagree.  

I think it is possible to manipulate software to do just about anything.  I think if there's a will, there's always a way.  I think it could be changed to please both you and me.  The secret?  Vision and determination.  That's it in a nutshell.

[PaulEC]

17 minutes ago, JDW said:

 Sometimes, you need to go with what's faster, even if it pollutes more.

Not sure I'd agree that speed is always the most important factor, personally I prefer quality! 😉

[JDW]

Just now, PaulEC said:

Not sure I'd agree that speed is always the most important factor, personally I prefer quality! 😉

Insanity.  Sheer insanity.  Friend, we're talking about a Scissors tool to cut objects.  That has nothing to do with quality.  With the status quo of things, you have to do more operations to get the same result as less operations in Illustrator.  Some hate to hear it, and go off on tangents trying to defend THE WAY THINGS ARE, but that is what I am talking about -- a tool that doesn't require you to "convert" anything and just cuts when you click once on the object.  

[PaulEC]

Sorry, you seemed to have gone on to speaking generally, rather than solely about breaking a line!🙂

[loukash]

2 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

solely about breaking a line

Even though I've rarely used them, I'd like to have the Knife and Vector Eraser tools.
But then again, those would rely on precise boolean operations, so… not of much use in Affinity anyway until that gets fixed.

As for a general Scissors tool need, I'm totally fine with:

1. press "a" for node tool
2. click curve to add node
3. press my custom shortcut option-a (hint hint nudge nudge!) to break curve

Three steps.
Two steps if you were in the Node tool mode already.

In Illustrator:

1. press "c" for scissors tool
2. click curve to add node and break curve
3. press command to get back to the Direct Selection tool (or "a" if another tool was selected previously) in order to being able to move the node

Three steps.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, loukash said:

3. press my custom shortcut option-a (hint hint nudge nudge!) to break curve

I use Option-B for that & Option-J for join curves. Easy for me to remember.

[loukash]

Just now, R C-R said:

Easy for me to remember.

To each its own.
My own associative logic went like this:

• I need to be in the Node tool mode (pressing "a") to even apply this command, so my left hand index finger may already be in the right position above the keyboard
• the option key on european Mac keyboards has this very illustrative symbol ⌥, and the thumb is naturally above it while the index finger already floats over the "a"

Very easy to remember.

To join: shift-a
Because my pinkie already floats above the shift key…