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MODS:  I'm not sure where this falls under so please feel free to move this thread.

 

I come from working in Sketch.  After doing tuts and trying out both Affinity Designer and Illustrator, I chose Designer because it felt easier to pick up.  For a beginner, it's not as intuitive as Sketch but still feels better than Illustrator (great job!).

 

I do have one huge gripe though and that's the Pen Tool.

 

I can't change node functions between a Smooth Node to Sharp Node on the fly as I'm drawing.  If I created a curve and need a immediate sharp point, I must backtrack and alt click.  In Sketch, it's simply holding the command key and clicking.  Even Adobe Illustrator is much better in this regard.  

 

This video starting at the 3:50 mark illustrates what I'm talking about.  There's a lot of back tracking work if you look closely.  Is there anyway to improve on this workflow?

The pen tool kinda feels like an engineer built it for an engineer to use.

(Do please educate me if I'm wrong!)

 

https://youtu.be/UDVuI0BPFgo?t=229


 

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Hmmm, I usually just use Alt/Option during my previous drag to position the next off-curve point to help build the next (disjointed) section or simply release the left button after dragging out the last segment and then Alt/Option+Click straight away to reduce the off-curve node I've just dragged back to coincident with the on-curve node. Different people work different ways... I think we can probably add what you're used to, but it wouldn't work for us on Command (that drops through from Pen Tool to a fully working Node Tool for us) so would probably be on the Ctrl key...

 

Thanks!

Matt

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Thanks for the prompt reply Matt!

 

I’m learning from multiple sources, it’s the one thing that sticks out the most in all the tutorials I learn from. 

Currently in Designer(v1.5):

1st approach:

  1. Click and drag
  2. Assess next anchor point/segment
  3. If node modifications is not required, move forward with curvature, else:
  4. Sharp node required, 
  5. Move mouse back to latest anchor point
  6. Alt + Click to change
  7. Click on next node point
  8. Repeat

With the 2nd approach, as you’ve politely described, I suspect the cognitive load would be higher without necessarily increasing efficiency.  The prognosticating of a node!  To calculate 2 segments + 1 handle in return for one correct node placement (all without a path preview!).  I suppose this approach makes accuracy higher on the first pass through but kinda feels moot.  In my humble observation, more often than not, fine tuning the handle happens regardless (unless you’re a spatial genius, hehehe).

 

The additional of a Ctrl Key modifier (yes please!!) greatly reduces the work and cognitive load to:

  1. Click and drag
  2. Assess next anchor point/segment
  3. If no node modifications required, move forward with curvature, else:
  4. CTRL + click next anchor point
  5. Repeat

It’s a ‘proactive’ (high cognitive load) vs ‘reactive’ (low cognitive load) method of performing an identical task, I guess.  No flow disruption and a huge time saver IMO!

 

A great man once said to Larry Kenyon that by making the boot time of the original Mac faster he would be saving dozens of lives because of the compounded time saved.  Please save lives, it’s worth it.  Hehehe.

 

https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Saving_Lives.txt

 

P.S.  I apologise if there was any ignorance above and thank you for reading.   The more I use Designer, the more I like it!

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7 minutes ago, i2blue said:

The additional of a Ctrl Key modifier (yes please!!) greatly reduces the work and cognitive load to:

  1. Click and drag
  2. Assess next anchor point/segment
  3. If no node modifications required, move forward with curvature, else:
  4. CTRL + click next anchor point
  5. Repeat

 

 

I'm not sure if I'm understanding. What I was trying to illustrate is that if one starts drawing using either smooth or smart nodes, one can toggle to make the next node(s) sharp by pressing alt or option depending on the platform, instead of control. One does not need to go back and select the nodes to turn them sharp. Having never used Sketch, I don't know what it does that might be different, other than changing node types on the fly is accomplished by CTRL, instead of alt/opt.

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4 hours ago, i2blue said:

In my humble observation, more often than not, fine tuning the handle happens regardless (unless you’re a spatial genius, hehehe).

I usually do want to do that. But I usually find that much easier to do after I can see all the nodes in the area(s) I want to fine tune because it encourages me to focus on the overall shape instead of individual nodes & their connecting segments. For this reason I rarely try to do it on the fly as I draw:

59a491eb21426_curvetosharp.png.59925a1edc27df1af2cf0e6fe6af74f3.png

I find this approach to be faster overall, largely because I draw much faster & more fluidly when I am not spending much time trying to get every node & handle exactly right. Also, as shown in the lower image, by selecting all the nodes (CMD+A on a Mac) I can see every handle's contribution to the path at the same time. Since fine tuning often includes changing handle lengths or angles as well as deleting some of them, I can drag, shift drag, or alt/option drag on individual handles freely to see what produces the best looking results, undoing anything I don't like as I go if I want to try something else.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
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On August 27, 2017 at 7:01 AM, i2blue said:

MODS:  I'm not sure where this falls under so please feel free to move this thread.

 

I come from working in Sketch.  After doing tuts and trying out both Affinity Designer and Illustrator, I chose Designer because it felt easier to pick up.  For a beginner, it's not as intuitive as Sketch but still feels better than Illustrator (great job!).

 

I do have one huge gripe though and that's the Pen Tool.

 

I can't change node functions between a Smooth Node to Sharp Node on the fly as I'm drawing.  If I created a curve and need a immediate sharp point, I must backtrack and alt click.  In Sketch, it's simply holding the command key and clicking.  Even Adobe Illustrator is much better in this regard.  

 

This video starting at the 3:50 mark illustrates what I'm talking about.  There's a lot of back tracking work if you look closely.  Is there anyway to improve on this workflow?

The pen tool kinda feels like an engineer built it for an engineer to use.

(Do please educate me if I'm wrong!)

 

https://youtu.be/UDVuI0BPFgo?t=229


 

 

What you want is now possible (If I understand correctly).

 

On the fly, as you are creating each node, you can have control over both handles independently. 

Click drag to dictate the curvature from where you came then hold down CMD & Option to break the handles and determine the angle of continuation. No backtracking.

I guess technically you would still have two handles on a node but the angles can be nice and sharp.

 

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I think by backtracking what is meant here is eliminating both(?) handles of the last drawn node when drawing the next one, or something like that.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

I think by backtracking what is meant here is eliminating both(?) handles of the last drawn node when drawing the next one, or something like that.

 

Oh! Glad I added the if I understand part ... :D.

I was going off of the vid in the op. 4:45. (Keeping the incoming flavor of the curve before, while transitioning to a sharp angle to the next segment... curved or straight.) He says "lineS", but only one goes away. In fact I think he really should have clicked the handle itself and not the node. To get rid of both ya gotta click on both.

 

Of course, one could Alt click as you go. You don't necessarily have to make the next node and then go back.

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19 minutes ago, JimmyJack said:

He says "lineS", but only one goes away. In fact I think he really should have clicked the handle itself and not the node.

I thought the same thing when I watched the video.

 

But I'm still just guessing about exactly what @i2blue meant -- I could have that completely wrong.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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5 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I thought the same thing when I watched the video.

 

But I'm still just guessing about exactly what @i2blue meant -- I could have that completely wrong.

 

So, now I'm a little confused too.

If one doesn't want an incoming or outgoing curve control just click.... no drag. No handles.

If one wants no incoming control but wants outgoing, use alt n drag.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This also annoys me (so much so that I finally decided to chime into a discussion about it)


I'd also love to see the Control key modified mentioned above. Currently, I find it much easier to draw paths in Sketch for this reason (even though some other stuff about that app annoys me) and also the fact that it shows what part of path you're about to draw next (see video below)

 

@R-C-R's "delete all the unwanted handles afterwards" workaround is something I'd not considered but will try. The problem I'm going to have is looking past the drawing being intentionally wrong until I end my path.

 

On 28/08/2017 at 6:09 PM, gdenby said:

 

I'm not sure if I'm understanding. What I was trying to illustrate is that if one starts drawing using either smooth or smart nodes, one can toggle to make the next node(s) sharp by pressing alt or option depending on the platform, instead of control. One does not need to go back and select the nodes to turn them sharp. Having never used Sketch, I don't know what it does that might be different, other than changing node types on the fly is accomplished by CTRL, instead of alt/opt.

 

I'm not clear about how many clicks it took to create your image, but the issue is that there is no way to easily transition from curve into a straight line that doesn't require unreasonable foresight or backtracking.

 

for example, try to reproduce this shape in 3 clicks starting with the curve:

 

59b1806b75182_ScreenShot2017-09-07at18_22_31.png.26e06760c7fbbe655ab6cc5ba6698066.png

 

This curve followed by straight line is what I beleive @i2blue was expressing difficulty with, at least that's what I got from the video.

 

In Sketch:

  1. click initial point
  2. click and hold secondary point, drag to create the bezier
  3. hold command to get a straight line, rather than a curve, and click on the initial point to close curve

Sketch.mov

 

in AD:

  1. click initial point
  2. click and hold secondary point, drag to create the bezier
  3. click on the initial point to close curve
  4. alt+click correct control handle to make curve into straight line 

AD.mov

 

The AD approach requires an extra click & more mouse movement, it also requires more thought & decision making & backtracking.

 

You can alt-drag in AD, but that won't give you a perfectly straight line.

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