Alternate option to stretch path curves directly

[Cristobal Vila]

I love the possibility to stretch a curve directly (no need to control both handles). And I like the “organic forms” we can achieve with that options.

 

But there are situations where we would need to stretch curves maintaining handles direction (even if that handles are not horizontal or vertical)

 

My suggestion is:

 

— Direct manipulation of curve ---> actual behavior

 

— SHIFT + direct manipulation of curve ---> modify curve maintaining handles direction

 

Next capture shows a practical case maintaining HV handles (very useful for corners):

 

[MattP]

Hi Christobal,

 

That's a great suggestion - I'll have a think about it and how it might work :)

 

Many thanks,

Matt

[Cristobal Vila]

Glad you find this option interesting, Matt!

Thanks for hearing :-)

[Cristobal Vila]

Just a BUMP to this :-)

[matisso]

Bump from me as well. It's been three years since this was requested? :blink:

 

regards,

Matt

[Cristobal Vila]

Yes, and also THIS.

[Cristobal Vila]

And here is again another bump…

[Cristobal Vila]

Well, lets make another BUMP in May 2020 (and attach the image, since my website changed hosting in 2019 and it doesn't appear in my first post)

[Alareta]

Bump from me as well. Cool feature for some cases.

[dominik]

22 hours ago, Cristobal Vila said:

Well, lets make another BUMP in May 2020 (and attach the image, since my website changed hosting in 2019 and it doesn't appear in my first post)

Hello @Cristobal Vila,

while I find your idea not bad I wonder if you couldn't achieve something like this with the corner tool? Did you try that?

Cheers,
d.

[Cristobal Vila]

Corner Tool is a great one to create perfectly round/circular transitions from straight corners.

But this other feature is a basic and much needed one when you need to reshape existing curves. For example working on fonts design or precise cad-type paths, maybe not so “organic/artistic” drawings.

In fact, this feature I ask here is exactly like Adobe Illustrator work since the very beginning. In a much more recent release, Adobe decided to change the behaviour for the equivalent tool to make it exactly like it's in Affinity Designer. Then, lot of “old time” Illustrator users protested, and they finally decided to re-integrate the old behaviour as an option.

This optional behaviour is now controlled by a Preference in lllustrator “Constrain Path Dragging on Segment Reshape”

I think that Affinity could do even better, and simple allow to use a key modifier to change between the actual behaviour (which is great for certain situations) or pressing SHIFT, for example, to get that “Constrain Path Dragging on Segment Reshape” behaviour.

[dominik]

36 minutes ago, Cristobal Vila said:

But this other feature is a basic and much needed one when you need to reshape existing curves. For example working on fonts design or precise cad-type paths, maybe not so “organic/artistic” drawings.

Thanks for explaining that use case. I can see some use for this.

Cheers,
d.

[slarti]

If dragging a segment will be so imprecise, then why make the anchor points be static? It would vastly improve the "organic" shapes that could be created if the curve moved "organically" no matter where the anchor points are.

But I won't use Affinity products until this feature of constrain path dragging on segment reshape is in - I find it impossible to be fast creating any precise drawings with it. It's so much quicker in Illustrator.

 

[James Rodriguez]

Any news on this?
I’m a veteran Illustrator user and rely on this behavior too (Constrain Path Dragging on Segment Reshape). I believe it was default Illustrator behavior, but at some point Adobe made it optional in Preferences—I always turn it on. I need this behavior in Affinity Designer, it speeds my creation. Please, Serif, include this vector editing behavior.
Thank you