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Cycle tool problem causes change of layer selected


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I really love being able to turn on the Use ⇧ modifier to cycle tools, it used to be so awkward to hit a hotkey for a tool only to find you were already in that tool and now are no longer there because you were switched to the previous tool used.

But the cure has just shifted the problem.  I just hit a G when I happened to already be in the Fill tool.  So now instead of switching my tool selection to the previous used it searched out the layer that had a name starting with a G and selected it instead.  So now I changed the gradient in the wrong layer.

Okay so now how do we stop AD from searching out a field with the name starting with the hotkey that is disregarded by the tool cycle?  The only workaround I can think of is to start every layer name with some character that doesn't cause a tool cycle like maybe a tilde.  Or just don't name layers, which is really a poor solution.

I didn't even know AD would search out layer names starting with a character pressed until this happened.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) with macOS Sierra

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Hi Gear maker,
This is a bug, It shouldn't behave this way (selecting a layer which name starts with G). I will pass this to the dev team. Note however that when you turn Use ⇧ modifier to cycle tools ON both the cycling between tools of the same group and switch back from current to previous used tool behaviours are disabled.

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  • 2 weeks later...

MEB, sorry for the late response.  I was out of the state for a couple weeks.

I just loaded 1.7.0.8 which over wrote 1.7.0.7, so I tried it in 08.  I just created Test4.afdesign and made a few layers giving them random names that start with hotkey letters.  Yes all of them cause this problem.  So far it seems to work incorrectly on every .07 & 08 file I've created.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) with macOS Sierra

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  • 2 months later...

I am experiencing the same issue and mentioned it in another thread:

I can reproduce this behavior all day with the brush tool and a background layer with another layer above that is currently active. Let me know if you need a screen recording! I’m happy to help if it will help squash this bug!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

MEB, a video doesn't show the problem well as you can't see keystrokes.  I thought you were able to reproduce this back in April.  We have been waiting to stop the cycling of tools for years and now there is a way but it causes a worse problem.  Did you try my example with the test4 file I had attached above in April? 

With Use ⇧ modifier to cycle tools selected:

Several things seem to trigger the problem, one of those is to: Click in the area of the layer panel below the layers to unselect all layers

Then click on the unnamed layer

Press a P twice you'll end up in the Pen tool but the layer selected now is the Purple layer, even if you wait a few minutes between presses

Press G twice you'll end up in the Fill tool but layer Gray selected

Press M twice you'll end up in the Rectangle tool but with layer Marble selected

Press A twice you'll end up in the Node tool but with layer Apple selected

The idea of the Use ⇧ modifier to cycle tools is supposed to be so that if we happen to hit a letter key more than once it doesn't put us in a different tool than what that letter calls for.  If we forget we are already in the Pen tool than hitting a second P won't dump us into the Brush tool.  And now it doesn't, but frequently the second P will switch to a different layer which I think is worse because we end up modifying the wrong layer or creating a layer in the wrong location.

You are right it's not every second keypress, but it happens frequently.  It used to be that when I pressed a P I would have to look at the tools or at least the cursor to see if it was correct.  Now we have to look at the layer panel to see if the correct layer is still selected following the keypress.  Not what I'd call forward progress.

Unless we always have all groups expanded then searching by the first character of the layer name isn't a reliable method of finding a layer.  And I usually don't keep everything expanded.

Mike

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) with macOS Sierra

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I happen to have ScreenFlow so I captured the issue with keystrokes showing. You can watch the tool change on first keypress followed by the layer change on second keypress. I show it with the "b" and "l" keys, but it is reproducible with any key that selects a tool and is also the first letter of the name of an existing layer.

I may have found a caveat, because this behavior doesn't happen until you click on a layer or something in the layers panel. Once you "activate" it, it becomes infintely reproducible.

Hope this helps!

Edited by vincentlepes
corrected wrong word
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Thanks for the video vicentlepes! I've reproduced it now and it certainly seems to only happen whilst in Separated Mode or if the Layer Panel is floating, after making a selection in the Layers Panel (presumably because it has focus). This is why videos are very important, as it can allow us to see the little details like this that can be missed!

@Gear maker are you in separated mode or going a floating Layer Panel? 

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6 hours ago, Sean P said:

(presumably because it has focus)

Focus! That's the word I was scrambling for xD

Happy to help, I'd love to see this problem go away so any time spent helping here might just save me aggregate hours in the future. Let me know if you need any further details or demonstration, I'm happy to try different things out.

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On 7/17/2019 at 9:35 PM, Gear maker said:

MEB, a video doesn't show the problem well as you can't see keystrokes.  I thought you were able to reproduce this back in April.  We have been waiting to stop the cycling of tools for years and now there is a way but it causes a worse problem.  Did you try my example with the test4 file I had attached above in April? 

Hi Gear maker,
I did reproduce it in the beginning but when I was logging/reporting the issue I wasn't able to replicate it anymore. I may have reset the app at some point and the conditions changed before the report. I'm glad the issue was addressed/correctly identified. Thanks for your support and keeping at it. 

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  • 1 year later...

This is AP in normal (not separated) mode. Shift to cycle tools enabled. This shows the bug with a keyboard on screen and clicks recorded. Only happens with floating layers panel as you can see. Notice the clicks and keyboard clicks. It happens after you click on the 'empty' layer (even if it's already selected). If you dock the layers panel and undock it,  the bug does not immediately occur until you click the (empty, or any other) layer (not layer panel but the layer). And it only occurs at the moment where you would rotate the tool (if shift to rotate was disabled), so with your second click.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ex1cowp8630rifz/Shift cyle tools bug.mov?dl=0

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Ok I have found a way to reproduce this issue without the floating windows or separate mode!

 

Shift to cycle tools enabled

Create e few layers. 

Group Them and name them starting with the letter "B"

Add a few layers below this group

Group these layers. No need to name the group but for the purpose of this explanation I will refer to this as the LOWER group.

Now select the bottom most layer in this lower group

Add a new layer with the shortcut (cmd shift N)

Now a layers is created above the lowest layer. Drag this layer to be the lowest layer in this second group

now press "B".  Instead of the brush tool the The TOP group is now selected. 

 

Check the attached movie

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