Append existing shape/curve

[mwenz]

A few things.

One, I have no idea what your end goal is. What I told you does what you wanted from what I understood. Yes, it makes a new clip group. Without knowing what it is you want to expressly accomplish, tis sort of difficult to, well, read your mind, eh?

I am using version X9. I don't know if version 10's default behavior is like former versions in the following or not. If you double click on a clipped group, does it open a new tab showing just the contents of the clipped group? That's what the default behavior is on prior versions. I have this behavior shut off. When I turn it back on, I can of course double-click on a clipped group, make my shape to add or paste one or more shapes I have previously cut to the clipboard, move them around, reorder them in the layer panel, by the icons on my toolbar or keyboard shortcuts. Then exit the tab, click on save to the dialog that pops up and I am back to my main editing tab.

Now, you may not like that method. I don't and so have that double-click shut off. But that is your options.

The above is separate to adding to an existing shape. I have already told you the methods for so doing. For a closed path, you need to break the path at one of the points, likely move one of them, switch to the Shape Tool, Pen, or what have you, and continue drawing. The Add indicator will show up under the above circumstance. BUT it is an indicator only and not something you switch on or off by say a button.

Beyond the above, if there really isn't other ways to accomplish whatever it is you really want and someone pops into this thread to tell you, file a Wish in the appropriate forum. Xara is working on the next version.

Mike

[chromafunk]

Thanks again mwenz.

Im not talking about specific projects. Rather a general way of working which I would prefer.

I'll give an example. Im currently doing a project in photoshop. It involves a world map drawn using the vector pen tool. I then use this world map layer to mask all the layers above it in the layer stack. If I want to work on the map itself I simply select its layer and draw some more shapes/land/islands. They are automatically appended to the existing layer. No need to select and combine. Same goes for the masking. I just add more contents to the masked layers and it all works automatically. I wanted to move the project into a specialist vector art program as it is almost entirely using vectors and I thought Xara looked like a great choice. However, the inability to append existing layers/masks without having to break apart and re-combine is proving to be a bit tiresome. I appreciate your method of adding to an existing shape by extending it. But in the case of an object like a map, I dont want to extend existing shapes. I just want to draw some new shapes ( islands for example ) to the existing map layer so they are combined right away. Having to constantly re-select objects and combine them is bottlenecking my workflow.

As for the clipping, the same applies. Say the world map is the clip object. Then I draw areas of different colour ( areas of desert and green for example ) that I want to be clipped by the map. Every time I draw one of these areas, they are not in the clip group. I have to ungroup them and then re-clip. Im drawing hundreds of these areas, so im constantly finding myself doing this process over and over every time I want to see how each one looks in the clip. Your method of double clicking seperates out the clip sections but I can no longer see the map, so I dont have a guide to see where im drawing. I dont understand why im not allowed to drag and drop shapes into the clipview, forcing me to un-clip.

To be clear, the drawing tools in Xara are excellent. The node and curve manipulation the best ive seen by far. But the control of layers and groups is letting me down. I may need to just accept that Xara wont do for most of my projects and stick to Photoshop for its excellent layer and mask/clipping control. Its a shame as I really wanted Xara to work for me.

Thanks again for all your help.

[mwenz]

I'll have to read through your last post a little better, and I am short of time at the moment.

Picking up on your last paragraph, though. You likely would face the same thing in Illustrator, too. If so, that would because neither work how PS works. I don't work as you do (method-wise). I do think that having the ability to drag something into a clipped group would be a nice improvement that would benefit others...which is why perhaps you might want to throw a request into the Dear Xara forum.

As for seeing the area surrounding a clipped group if double-clicked on? Well, that has been requested before. The more people who request it, the better the odds of having that in the next version. They'll only listen to a "number" of voices. If people stay silent on desired features/improvements, then it makes it appear few want the feature/improvement.

Mike

[wizard509]

If I am understanding this correctly, you can work on clipviewed objects. For instance if you have applied a clipview, use the selection tool and with the pointer, over the object in question, press ctrl + click.
You cannon select objects behind other objects in this manner but if you can see it and ctrl click on it you can. For instance I made two shapes and clipviewed them, then drew another shape and again ctrl selected the clipview then shift clicked the new shape and Ctrl 1 added both together. I also subtracted one shape from another using this method. Mike do you see any problem with this method?

[mwenz]

Hi Larry,

It is a good method for adding a shape to another inside a clip, but I don't think that meets the OP's needs.

Mike

[angelize]

Welcome to Talkgraphics Chromafunk

Perhaps I'm missing something here but why not just marquee select all your shapes and hit ctrl+g to group them? Then when you want to work on this group of shapes again just double click the group to open it in an edit inside window and edit to your hearts content. when you finish just hit ctrl+s to save and return to the main document.

[haakoo]

Frances,

This is also applicable to a clipped group
Or right-click>open clipped group

Hans

[haakoo]

Oh and to the OP,
You can add new shapes or manipulate them when opening like stated by Frances and myself

Hans

[chromafunk]

Thanks for your time and help chaps.

If I am understanding this correctly, you can work on clipviewed objects. For instance if you have applied a clipview, use the selection tool and with the pointer, over the object in question, press ctrl + click.
You cannon select objects behind other objects in this manner but if you can see it and ctrl click on it you can. For instance I made two shapes and clipviewed them, then drew another shape and again ctrl selected the clipview then shift clicked the new shape and Ctrl 1 added both together. I also subtracted one shape from another using this method. Mike do you see any problem with this method?

I'm not sure I understand. If I create a couple of objects and clip view them, and then create a 3rd shape, this shape is not inside the clip view. If I select a clipped object and the 3rd shape, then ctrl-1, it adds the shapes together but the result is outside the clip view. I still have to break open the clip and then re-clip. If you are suggesting I can add shapes to a clip view without breaking it open then I cant replicate it. Can you clarify please?

Welcome to Talkgraphics Chromafunk

Perhaps I'm missing something here but why not just marquee select all your shapes and hit ctrl+g to group them? Then when you want to work on this group of shapes again just double click the group to open it in an edit inside window and edit to your hearts content. when you finish just hit ctrl+s to save and return to the main document.

The problem with opening the contents of a clip view is that I cant see the actual clip object and thus have no guide to know where the clip edges are. Using this method is limited as in many cases I want to manipulate objects in the context of the rest of the doc.



My fundamental issue is the inability to use the shape tool to add new shapes to an existing shape, without the need to combine them. For example, the ability to select a clipped/grouped object and whatever I draw gets added to the shape as opposed to a new layer. To be able to stay in the current shape and add new shapes would sort out many of my issues. As it is, drawing 10 shapes using the shape tool will give me 10 separate shape layers, which is fine in many cases. But the ability to auto combine these shapes as I draw them is missing. So when using a clip view, lots of extra steps are added to do the above, when really it should be as simple as selecting a clipped shape and drawing into it. ( I appreciate mwenz method of extending an existing shape. But mostly, I just want to add another closed shape to an existing closed shape without the need to combine. )

This has been a very helpful forum. Thanks all for your time and effort. For now, im going to continue working in photoshop as none of the above issues are present in PS. I'll probably re-visit xara in a year or so and see how its going. Once my current projects are wrapped up ill come back and make some suggestions in the Dear Xara forum.

[haakoo]

Maybe this is what you're looking for:

create shape>convert to editable shapes>choose the freehand/brushtool>hold along edges(it shows a tilde) and now you can add/substract parts of the shape

Hans