Brushes,eraser and a bouquet.

[amoore]

LOL, kinetica.

[Soquili]

The Freehand Tool can work as an eraser.

No I'm not referring to using a shift key before releasing the left mouse button.

[handrawn]

nice video Bill - this is not what the illustrator eraser does of course [I'm sure you know that]

the attachment below is a procedure in xtreme

the illustrator eraser does this procedure in one operation - a single stroke

you can begin and end eraser strokes anywhere you like, even from outside the object

if they ever get a free form eraser that would be cool

[steve.ledger]

Try holding down the 'Erase' key on your keyboard while pointing to the parts of the drawing you don't want.



If your keyboard has no erase key, you can get one here.

BTW: You can try this method with any graphics software

[handrawn]

ho ho - true enough Steve if you want to simply delete

'erasing' artistically is not simply deleting though, its a way of shaping the object [think 'sculpting'] - the illustrator eraser does this very well and very quickly - personally I think it should have been called a '2D sculpt' tool

[zaphodeist]

Thanks Steve. I printed out the image and pasted it on the button shown below - can't wait to try it ...

[steve.ledger]

I should sell those Keyboards John, it would ensure I get repeat PC repair work

How's this one" 'Spinkey'

[Albacore]

Hi Dale,
I am one of these people who still keep there ver. of FH mx to the front of their tool set for it still has its place especially for perspective type drawings. Xara brushes are very similar to FH'es with an editing panel to customise a brush or make your own. As for the eraser that you talk about do you not forget about it and just use the Combine menu for that is the way I use FH.

I think if you get into Xara you will easily transfer your skills from one to the other and you can look forward to using the shape editor tool for most of your vectors. There will be a few things you will miss like the Align Panel in FH as it is miles better, better Flash integration, choosing CMYK in the mixing palette and as I mentioned before the perspective grids but that is about it. What you will gain better raster effects and speed.

[dmcd]

Oh dear! I can't stop laughing. Crazy people here. Thanks for the entertainment. Loved the cartoon. Wish I could draw as well. That erase key will come in handy too. I printed it, cut it out and stuck it in place with used chewing gum.

Thanks too for the video, the mini tut and the words of wisdom, including those on the relative merits of FH and Xtreme. I've C & P to a tips folder. It all helped a lot and I can now see that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

I guess it would be easier learning the ins and outs of the Xtreme if you were free from pre-conceived ideas acquired using other bloated software with really unfriendly GUIs. Xtreme seems strangely uncluttered!

Off to tackle some of the tutorials.

Cheers,

Dale

[handrawn]

and now version 5 released today - what more could a guy want

you'll be flying in no time..