Node Handles Should Snap To Node Handles

[Piyono]

In Illustrator, when I want to butt two curves together seamlessly I make sure the abutting edges have matching nodes along their border and then select one set of overlapping nodes at a time. Two sets of handles appear; one belonging to the source node and one belonging to the target node. I just snap the target's handles to the source's handles which guarantees the curve segments align perfectly.

Handles in Xara don't snap to other handles. I see that I can type values in for each handle's position but that's far more tedious than just dragging and snapping.

Has this been an issue for anyone else? Is it worth bringing up to Xara?


Piyono

[ss-kalm]

They should snap together. Make sure your "Magnet" is activated.

[gwpriester]

Enable Snap to Objects by either:

1. Clicking the orange magnet icon on the Infobar (enabled is in the down postion)
2. Right click on the page and select Snap to Objects
3. Select Snap to Objects from the Window drop down menu.

[BobInce]

You can align the endpoints with the magnet tool, but not the bezier control points.

[ss-kalm]

The bezier control points will not snap to other bezier control points, but will snap to objects and a grid.

[Piyono]

The bezier control points will not snap to other bezier control points, but will snap to objects and a grid.

That's what I'm *saying*.
What's more, I can't find a way to drag an object by one of its nodes. I can use the Shape Editor tool to single out a node but then I have to select all the nodes on the object to move them in unison. Coming from a background in Corel and Illustrator this is *maddening*.

It looks like node editing is only just the tip of the iceberg, too. From using XX4 over the last few days I'm finding little workflow impediments that really slow me down or grind my work to a hair-pulling halt. There are good points, too, of course, but frankly, slow(er) screen redraw speed, lack of real-time gradient/bevel/shadow/contour transparency editing and large(r) file size have never kept me from working quickly and accurately in my other apps. Lack of fundamental object interaction behaviour and shape editing tools, on the other hand— those slow me down. At the end of the day I need tools that do what I need without getting in the way; I can't bill for hours I spend working around lack of basic functionality.

Xara Xtreme is promising but it's not replacing Illustrator in my tool kit any time soon.


Piyono

[BONES]

Interesting. I came froma similar background and had no such issues at all. Mind you, that was 10 years ago, which begs the question as to why I should have to adapt to suit what other people are used to.
You really just need to be patient enough to learn how to do things in Xara. Its just different, not any worse. e.g. If you want to move a whole object, press F2, move it, then press F4 to get back to editing. Hardly a workflow killer, assuming that you have to do something like CTRL-Drag in Corel or AI.

[Egg Bramhill]

Piyono

What's more, I can't find a way to drag an object by one of its nodes. I can use the Shape Editor tool to single out a node but then I have to select all the nodes on the object to move them in unison. Coming from a background in Corel and Illustrator this is *maddening*.

Xtreme is Xtreme and Illy is Illy. They are different beasts so don't expect them to be the same. What would be the point if they were?

Re your specific question above, I can't understand what you're trying to say. If you select a single node of an object why would you expect/want the whole object to move? You either select the object and the whole object moves or you select a node/nodes and those selected node/nodes move. Perhaps you could explain your problem in a more detailed manner?

[Piyono]

Bones and Egg:

I've been using Draw for roughly 20 years and Illy for nearly 13. Let it suffice to say that I fly in these programs. Knowing them as well as I do I am familiar with their respective strengths and weaknesses with regard to the work I do, and I will use one or the other (or sometimes both) depending on the task at hand.

I fully realize that XX has no aspirations to be either of these two applications and it clearly has a lot to offer on its own terms. I'd dabbled with it in the past but this was my first time actually trying to use it for serious vector work. I decided to give it a shot so I put a solid seven or eight hours (cumulative, over the course of a day and a half) into a few design sketches, including many trips to the help file and online video tutorial page.

The interface is pretty standard so the learning curve was quite gentle; I got the gist of it pretty quickly. What's more, I also — as I'm sure most of us 'power users' do — learned a good number of basic keyboard shortcuts and tool modifier keys.

Basically I'm trying to say that before I wrote in to vent I had a pretty good handle on what the program does well and where it falls short.

I have observed that in the areas of object interaction and manipulation, and in node editing, Xara Xtreme lags CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator— neither of which handles these tasks in the same manner, but either of which easily outpaces XX.

Here are a few more things I've found using XX:

• Nothing snaps to path intersections.
• No inferred tangents.
• Using the mouse, an object can be rotated only from its rotation handles, not from an arbitrary point along its curve.
• Snap points are not clearly identified (am I snapping to a curve? a node? a guideline?)
• Guidelines can't be angled.

These are things I take for granted, and I expect them to be there as much as I expect power windows in a well-appointed car. I don't care that one manufacturer puts the controls on the door and another puts them in the center console; as long as the feature is *there* I'll learn how to use it.

Anyway, before this gets out of hand I want to stress that I think XX is *excellent* software and that I've *really enjoyed* using it! There's no question that what it does well it does FAR better than Illy or Draw. I'm only picking on its flaws because I expect more from software that holds itself to such a high standard. If it wasn't any good I certainly would not have used it for long enough to nit-pick its shortcomings.

Whether or not I buy it when the trial ends remains to be seen but it certainly is worth the price of admission.


Piyono

[Piyono]

You either select the object and the whole object moves or you select a node/nodes and those selected node/nodes move. Perhaps you could explain your problem in a more detailed manner?

Actually, I think I figured it out.
My problem was that I wanted to move the WHOLE object, but I wanted to drag it holding on to a particular node so that I could accurately snap it to a particular node on another object.

With the selector tool individual object nodes are not visible. I thought that meant that individual nodes are not target-able but it turns out they are— only the program doesn't indicate that you you've selected one! I just figured out that if you click a path within the snap distance of a node your mouse will automatically jump to that node when you begin to drag the object, allowing you to position it accurately.

So one issue was cleared up, but another issue is reinforced: Snap points are not clearly indicated and identified.

Workable. Annoying, but workable.