Option Click Node Shortcut!

[RenDaHai]

Option click node shortcut.

 

You know when you are drawing ANY line ever?

 

And you don't want a continuous curve (because most of the time really you don't) and so you hold the option key and click the node to get rid of one of its levers and force it to a sharp corner?

 

WHY, why why why is there not a shortcut key to do this automatically???

 

The action of having to MOVE the curser, line it up with the node and option click it, this action is the biggest time waster of all. If you are drawing for 10 minutes, literally 5 minutes is moving back and trying to click on the previously drawn node.

 

Why not have a shortcut key that acknowledges the last drawn node WITHOUT having to click on it, and cuts its handle. One key. I would set it to the right mouse button, I would have it on my stylus, it would be the most useful key ever.

 

Surely this is easy to do?

 

Is there a way to do this already? If so I will commit ritual suicide, partly of shame for asking the question needlessly, partly out of frustration of having wasted so much of my life MOVING THE CURSOR BACK TO CLICK ON THE NODE!

[MattP]

We do this slightly differently to Illustrator, but I would argue it's much more productive - certainly when you get used to it. Option-clicking on any off-curve handle will remove it, causing that side of the curve to look sharper. Option-clicking on any on-curve node will remove the off-curve handles on both sides of it, making the previous and next curves appear sharp at that node.

 

Think about it... As you are drawing your line you drag out away from the centre (on-curve) node so when you release the drag, you are currently over the top of the off-curve node that you might want to actually get rid of. If you want to get rid of it, just Option-click and it will go away because you are already on top of it. There is no extra time-wasting moving the mouse required.

 

Hope that helps :)

Matt

[RenDaHai]

Thanks very much.

 

But even with this feature the problem is still present. Even clicking with the mouse or pressing with the stylus jerks you slightly off point. Even using this method it is very frequent to draw an unwanted point and have to correct. If you are dragging handles then the action of letting go of the mouse button or moving stylus off pad moves the cursor off point and you still need a precision correction to click on the handle point.

 

When in the flow you are always looking to the next point and holding the picture as a whole in your mind. Having to reafirm each point with an extra precision click is very jarring, it makes you lose the image and the flow.

 

Lets look at this in a Zen way. Having to precision click occupies the focus of your mind. It jerks you to a mental stop, every point you draw. Imagine writing for a moment and looking at every single letter after you wrote it to check it? How frustrating would that be. I know using vectors is not the same a drawing free, but still you could capture more of the free flowing feeling by having this shortcut.

 

You could keep your eyes on where you want to click next and keep the whole image in your mind if you have this shortcut because you don't have to think of another precision click and having to keep accelerating and suddenly coming to a perfect stop with the mouse. Even that little click is extremely fatiguing in terms of eye and mental focus.

 

Of course this method is never going to capture the essence of free flowing and often we specifically want great precision with vectors and thats why we are using them. Even still if you measured the time you spent correcting that tiny mouse or stylus movement (often smaller movements take longer than large ones) making sure you are on point and the mental focus it requires each time, I think you would see above all other features this simple shortcut would save time the most.

 

If you don't believe me draw a line on a piece of paper. First look at where you want to draw next and you see how free you draw. Next instead only look at the line already drawn by the pen and see how fatiguing it is of your mental focus and how bad the line looks.

 

Its not just about workflow, its about mind flow. Why shift the focus of your mind to a previous point or to a handle that is probably far outside the contour of your image, when you could just keep the mind focused on the whole image without constantly shifting gear with this distraction.

 

Affinity is such a slick program in comparison to illustrator, so much more pleasant to use. Its great already, but you guys have the chance to make it perfect.