Eraser?

[kelleymcdonald]

I know this probably is the silliest question for those who are more experienced in Xara. But I can't figure out how to erase stray lines that I have drawn particularly at the end of a stroke. I am a digital scrapbook designer and use xara to hand draw the graphics in my papers and kits. I still have much to learn. Right now I draw flowers, etc and export them back into photoshop CS2 where I finish the design process.

Can anyone tell me if xara has a way to erase like photoshop's eraser tool?

I have read the help files over and over and they tell me that I have to do it at the very end of a stroke before I pick up the pen. But I haven't been able to figure out how to do that and would really like a better way.....

[Egg Bramhill]

Welcome Kelly,

You could look until the cows come home and you won't find an eraser. Xtreme doesn't have one. So you've got 2 options:

1: Select the line and then select the shape editor tool. Hover over the line where you want it to end and the cursor changes from a squiggly line to a NW pointing pointer. Left click to create a new node. Select a new unwanted node & shift+select or dragselect across the nodes you don't want and hit delete.

2: Select the Rectangle tool. Create a rectangle from where you want the line to end. Select the line and rectangle, Arrange/Combine Shapes/Subtract Shapes (or Ctrl+2)

Hope this helps. It might seem more complicated than using a rubber but you soon get up to speed with it and it's far more accurate.

[Soquili]

Hello Kelley,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

An Eraser isn't really needed in a vector graphics program. If you need to remove a portion of a line or a closed path switch to the Shape Editor Tool and select a node and right click and select Delete from the Pop-Up menu.

You can also hold down the shift key and select multiple nodes and select Break At Points.

EDIT: Egg was quicker to reply and as usual with more indepth information

[kelleymcdonald]

I knew this was going to end up teaching me a different method of drawing. I'll study what you say! Thanks a bunch!

[PhilM]

Hi Kelley,

Here's another thought (similar to what Bill said, now I look at it): Nearly everything in a Xara document is editable aftre you've drawn it, so instead of thinking about erasing, think about adjusting what you've drawn. That is to say: select the line in the Selector tool then use the Shape Editor tool to drag the handles around and make the line end where you want it to.

PhilM

[Intbel]

You could look until the cows come home and you won't find an eraser. Xtreme doesn't have one ...

That's right.

[jedfrechette]

I'm sure this has come up before but Xtreme does have an eraser, sort of. When drawing with the freehand tool you can press the shift key and erase the line you are drawing.

Unfortunately, you can't finish drawing a line then erase part of it (i.e. if you can see the nodes its to late). This is can be very useful, especially when working with a tablet. However, a lot of the utility is lost because you can't use it after you have finished the line. As a result if I end up with a weird little squiggle at the end of a line I can't just hit shift and erase it I have to switch tools, select the nodes, and delete them.

I've always wondered what the reason is for this rather unintuitive behaviour. After all, I can use the squiggly line tool to redraw a line after I've finished it why can't I use the eraser?