Shortcuts: Shape Creation = E, R, S instead of M

[deeds]

[M] key for Rectangle, Ellipse, Rounded Rectangle cycling is ridiculous. What does it stand for "Make"?

 

And it's nowhere near where the left hand hovers on a keyboard, meaning the eyes must go down to the keyboard to find it for the left hand, or eyes off screen AND the right hand must come off the mouse/trackpad/tablet to operate the M key.

 

And it needs cycling to get to anything other than rectangle.

 

So, here's a suggestion:

 

E = Ellipse

R = Rectangle

RR = Rounded Rectangle

S = Shapes, Triangle actually, but more on this in a moment

 

S also pops up a list of shapes directly adjacent the mouse for easy, rapid selection, no need to race over to the side menu and click, scroll down, click again.

 

Otherwise, these sequential keys enable a full pick of the shapes, via follow up presses, like so:

 

SD = Diamond

ST = Trapezoid

SG = polyGon   // starts at 6 sided. SGGG = 8 sided. [s, Shift + GG = 4 sided] etc.

SS = Star

SSS = Double SStar

SSQ = Star sQuared

SA = Arrow

SD = Donut // SDDD = 3 ringed Donut

SDS = Donut Sliced // Which the 'Pie' Tool actually is because it's got an inner radius

SES = Ellipse Segment // Come on... That's what it is. Segment is an ugly word

SEC = Ellipse Cresent // kind of like the obscuring they do.

SF = Fluffy cloud  // Fluffiness starts at 12. SFFF = 15 Fluffs. Any use of [shift+F] reduces fluffiness

SRT = Rectangle Callout

SRRT = Rectangle Rounded Callout

SET = Ellipse Callout

STD = Tear Drop // You and I both know they cause tears.

SH = Heart

 

Now, I know you want more:

 

So, for speed of use, and consistency, I suggest.

 

SC = Circle

SQ = sQuare

SQR = sQuare Rounded

SR = Rectangle

SRR = Rectangle Rounded

SW = Wave // Sine Wave, The more presses of WWWWW the more wave cycles in the line.

SAW = sAW // Again, more WWWWs = more cycles of the wave

[deeds]

Where's a list of existing shortcuts?

 

And what about Alignment tools be renamed as such, instead of being called "Arrange", and either having their own special toolbar (not a popup) and SHORTCUTS, please. 

 

Alignment should be something FAST to do. Minimal effort. Maximum gain. I don't feel that thinking being applied to how it works in AD at the moment.

[AshTeriyaki]

Personally I'd prefer matching illustrators keyboard shortcuts, but that's just muscle memory.

 

I like the double shortcuts, a lot like cinema 4D. More apps should do this. You have gone quite far though...

 

Also why start at 6 for a polygon?

 

You've also missed a key for creating lines. I personally quite like it being a mode of the pen too but a direct shortcut would be grand.

[deeds]

I've only focused on shapes, above. The pen tool, as you rightly point out, and node editing, is well and truly deserving of the easiest possible and fastest possible shortcut access.

 

And you're right, I've gone as far as I think is reasonable to go with key bindings. But if you ever play things like FPS games with any kind of combos, you'll know that it's not that far...

 

Most importantly, I've suggested that these popup the list of shapes, with underlined letters, so they're discoverable and learnable. You only need to start by knowing E,R,S - from there the rest is visually learnable from the popup.

 

6 sides for the polygon is a nice midpoint between 3 and 8, and the most sexy of all shapes, the Hexagon!

 

So from 6 sides it's always easy to go down or up in size. Starting at 3 sides means everything is up... which is intriguing, but then a lot of taps to get to an octagon, which is the next most recognisable shape after hexagons, in the "not standard shapes" bunch.

[deeds]

btw, somewhere else I've suggested that a special Adobe Illustrator Persona should exist in AD, so anyone can switch to that and have complete parity between AI and AD in terms of controls. 

 

But there seems to be resistance to using the Persona feature for something as sensible as this.