that damned pen tool

[qmr]

well. theres not much that irritates me in xara these days except the pen tool which I use a lot in my work. Clicking to define shapes with points always defaults to curved points which means I have to go back and edit each point afterwards, which is a hassle. So I do this bizarre(?) exercise in Freudhand or illustrator -even Flash, which all allow precise control via bezier curves when using the pen tool. Then export via ai to xara but theres got to be a way to stay in xara, which is my natural home...
Any Xarians found a fix for this??
Q

[qmr]

well. theres not much that irritates me in xara these days except the pen tool which I use a lot in my work. Clicking to define shapes with points always defaults to curved points which means I have to go back and edit each point afterwards, which is a hassle. So I do this bizarre(?) exercise in Freudhand or illustrator -even Flash, which all allow precise control via bezier curves when using the pen tool. Then export via ai to xara but theres got to be a way to stay in xara, which is my natural home...
Any Xarians found a fix for this??
Q

[gdavidson]

Quentin,

Are you referring to the shape editor tool as opposed to the pen tool? I ask because my pen tool only gives me straight line segments when I use it.

However, if you draw with the shape editor tool instead of the pen tool, you can define what the node is going to be before you draw it. Make sure no objects are selected then click on the Shape Editor tool. On the status bar next to "new:" select the straight line segment button and any future lines you draw will be straight. Click the curved one and any further points will be curve nodes. You can also do this whilst creating a shape.

--
Graeme

[gwpriester]

Quentin — are you referring to using the Pen Tool to create Bezier curves? (Bet you didn't know about that function Graeme. Click your starting control point, click the end of the curve control point and drag to curve the line).

I prefer to draw with the Shape Editor Tool in a series of straight line segments and shape the segments as I am drawing them with the Shape Editor Tool.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


XaraXone

[gdavidson]

Gary - now that you mention it I had seen that feature before but avoided it completely because it seemed an odd way to draw. It forced you to always complete a curve in two steps! You can't go line-curve-line but instead you are forced to go line-curve-curve-line instead. Curious!

You're like me - I drop all the points down first and then put the curves in.

--
Graeme

[qmr]

yes. shape tool is what I mean I guess...that looks like a nib pen in other programs. I can adjust each point after click then click further along the shape but I miss greatly the point-shape interactivity of other programs.
If Xara fixed that (whatever it is) and made the layers pallette work like Freudhand's, then I for one would sing hallelujiah..

Q

[boxes100]

Gary, as a Xarian of perhaps 12 months (but intermedite) experiance, could you please define for me the basic differences between the pen/shape edtor tool.
J

[gwpriester]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> could you please define for me the basic differences between the pen/shape edtor tool.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The Shape Editor Tool is Xara's line preferred drawing tool. The Pen Tool was put in to make Xara more appealing to Adobe Illustrator users who learned to draw lines using Bezier curves.

The two tools are very similar with the exception that the Shape Editor Tool cannot create Bezier curves and once a line has been drawn, you cannot edit the curves or control points with the Pen Tool.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


XaraXone

[qmr]

yup, well defined, Gary.

Further to my orig post, whilst usually confused... I was correct however in that the pen - sorry - nib tool is indeed the one with bezier control, and allows 'live' curves as well as straight lines -as it should. Put in as afterthought for Illustrator users?
Sounds like Xara anticipated those new accessibility law constraints in webdesign. Gee those guys are visionary in more fields than I imagined.. (must be braincells in those crumpets).. But I do agree, Illustrator users need all the help they can get. Usually they migrate to Freudhand which is a fertile field of insanity.. wherever you might see a crumpled computer on the sidewalk, look up.. for there lives a freudhand user.. But Im biased, Ive been to that level of insanity trying to draw freely in Freudhand because I was already there. tsk. Go Xara young man for there lies eternal youth.. are wenot young?? we are xarians!!

The point?? sorry.. My outburst is to do with accuracy. The one thing Freudhand etc have over xara is accuracy in this bezier function, and some other little things in print stuff which no longer really matter to me in web based graphics and animation, but to answer the comment above "why would somebody use the pen/nib tool to draw??" - simple. Its the best and quickest way to trace a complex bitmap image, dropping each new trace onto different layers (hence my dream that X emulates Freudhands layers)

Q