Direct selection of nodes without pre-selection

[sergio]

In Illustrator, I'm able to directly select a node without having to pre-select the object. I just hover a node from an object with the direct selection tool and I can directly select that node.

 

Would be great if this becomes also possible in AD. Or maybe it already is and I don't see how :-)

[TonyB]

You have to select an object before you can select a node. It's just how we work and when you get used to it I hope you will learn to like it. When you are in the node tool a single click on and object will select it so you should still be productive. One of many advantages is a drag selection of nodes is constrained to only objects you wanted.

[sergio]

@TobyB

 

> I hope you will learn to like it. When you are in the node tool a single click on and object will select it so you should still be productive.

 

I've been trying to get used to it in the meanwhile, but after countless documents created in AD, I just cannot get around to like this. I think this restriction is just a productivity killer. The addition of the object selection requirements adds an extra step. After many operations for moving a group of objects + individual nodes from different objects, that's a lot of extra additional steps.

 

 

> One of many advantages is a drag selection of nodes is constrained to only objects you wanted.

 

That makes sense, so I propose the following:

 

1) If no objects are selected, enable the behavior I initially suggested

2) If there's objects selected, enable the current behavior

 

 

I feel this would be such a huge workflow improvement to AD, that I decided to make a quick screencast illustrating the workflow difference between Illustrator and AD. In the following example, I'd like to add a shape inside the black container, above the existing content:

 

- In AD: https://v.usetapes.com/5SNdC1jPpA

- In illustrator: https://v.usetapes.com/oLjRzPV9v7

 

Note there's two important additional advantages to Illustrator's way:

 

1) any margins/padding are preserved. e.g. the bottom padding of the black container got preserved and I wouldn't be required to do extra work to match it to the original padding. This is a huge advantage in UI design.

2) text objects can also be included in the selection done with the direct selection tool

3) does not require standard objects to be converted to curves first in order to enable node selection

 

This was a simple example, but there's also more complex scenarios where the mixed selection of nodes from different objects would be beneficial after many repeated operations of this type.

[TonyB]

Thanks for the videos they are very helpful.

 

We will have a think about how we can get some of your productivity gains without loosing the other benefits of Affinity.

 

TonyB.