Eraser tool would be cool

I think it would be great to have an eraser tool in the next XXP release! Anyone that creates art with a fast hand such as I, knows the value of a spontaneous eraser tool.

My lines cross over and therefore I have extra lines beyond the intersecting points.

In Photoshop (a raster app) you can go over the excess line with the eraser very quickly. BUT,...like I said it's a lossy raster app. Flash does this too, but the problem with Flash is that if you have a tapered line,...and you erase a portion of the line,..it recreates the tapered line again at the newest endpoint.

Xara has no erase tool at all unless you hold the shift key down while drawing the line and then go backwards on the line,...but that doesn't help at all....
And yes,..I'm aware that I can convert the line to a shape and then cut the points down to the desired spot,...but that's about as efficient as trying to photograph lightning with a point and shoot camera.

A fast and intuitive eraser tool would be awesome....

yes it would be nice :)

so would being able to draw an unsmoothed freehand line with the option not to show the nodes

so would drawing a freehand line without any automatic joining whatsoever

so would drawing a freehand line with a touch sensitive brush tool that updated in real time

ah the joys of being a freehand artist with xara ;)

I'd also welcome this in XXPro's toolbox. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

CorelDrawX3 has a resizable eraser tool (pencil eraser icon - 'X' hot key). Works exactly the same way as a raster eraser.
Though I've yet to create anything useful in CorelDraw in the first place that needs partly erasing.:mad:

Quote:

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"Corel Help File on Erasing portions of objects :
CorelDRAW lets you erase unwanted portions of bitmaps and vector objects. Erasing automatically closes any affected paths and converts the object to curves. If you erase connecting lines, CorelDRAW creates subpaths rather than individual objects. "

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OK,..so I was dreaming.... a guy can dream can't he?

Strangely enough, Adobe Freehand (officially dead now) allows for this. It handles erasing beautifully,...and the line tool is great...too bad everything else was a pain in the butt!

Hey it's a great dream!

yes I played with Freehand for a while in the pre-adobe days.

I also had a 15day trial for the current version of Corel Draw, [after having used Draw 8 on my old machine], long enough to decide life probably is too short....:D

Eraser in xara has come up before - I think it would be popular.

It's hard to actually erase in a vector application since it keep the reference as mathematical points.

Autocad and some other Cad programs handle these functions with "trim" and "extend".

I always end up using slice and delete to remove unwanted items like that. What is the typically used method?

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Originally Posted by ss-kalm

It's hard to actually erase in a vector application since it keep the reference as mathematical points.

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Isn't everything mathmatical on your PC? It's all zeros and ones after all. :)

'Erasing' would therefore be like 'subtraction' I would think?
Like 'Undo' is a 'subtractive action', interactive erasing must work like undo except that it would not be restricted to a chronological list of recent actions held in the 'undo buffer', rather it would work with the overall data that makes up the image you currently have opened in memory.
I really don't see how this would present too much of a challenge to impliment. Though I admit, I am out of my depth here... ;)

'Bit mapping' must also be a mathmatical calculation, colourised pixels (and brightness values) on a grid rather than point to point (vectors). So here, erasing a raster would be re-mapping the grid.

think your right Keith

for example:

If you are using the Freehand and Brush Tool and have not released the mouse button at the end of the line. You can hold a Shift Key down and erase.

Attachement is from the Xara Xtreme help file.

Bill this was mentioned in post #1 and regarded as not useful.

I think a more general eraser like CoredDrawX3 has is what is wanted :)

I guess thats more like a 'localised undo' than a genuine erase

That would seem to me to amount to the same thing.

yes - depends on how you mean 'localised' I guess - what I meant was that the erase mentioned in post #1 and by Bill is really a 'retrace your immediate steps' operation.
a genuine erase you could close down the file, the system, come back next week and erase :)

That is what I get for skimming the text and not Reading the text :o

Missed the reference to the shift key :eek:

I haven't used the Eraser in CorelDraw X3, yet. Still have time on the trial version ;)

The workaround I use:

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Originally Posted by handrawn

a genuine erase you could close down the file, the system, come back next week and erase :)

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One could always drag-select the nodes a week later and hit 'delete'....

sorry Steve the wires seem to have crossed again :D
I was only trying to illustrate the limitations of the erase method mentioned in post #1 and Bill [post#9] ie keep hold of mouse and press shift - nothing more

Yes and I agree with you. I'm playing the Devils advocate and thinking of counter arguments :)

Righto :p

Well then - the trouble with traditional vector drawing is that to an old traditionalist like me its not drawing. Before the lynch mobs arrive at my door what I mean is that its more a question of laying down a path or shape and then reshaping it - to me it has more the quality of 2D sculpture than it does drawing. So cutting stuff away rather than erasing it makes perfect sense.
Now when we get a brush tool where we can see what we are doing as we actually do it [as in E3 and inkscape] - not have some namby pamby path - when we can draw lines out by making contiguous strokes [which is what drawing actually means] without them automatically joining themselves up - when I can switch off the nodes so I can see what the chuff I am doing in the fine detail - then an eraser would be most useful ;)

I like this advocacy stuff - its fun :cool:

Hey ya'll,..those are all workable solutions and I would never shoot down any suggestions or alternatives as I love to read everyone's thoughts and ideas. I work a strange way indeed when it comes to vectors. I draw like I would on a pad of paper with a pencil. It's imbedded in my brain and I cannot change the way I draw to suit a piece of software. I just don't feel I should and I know I'm funny this way. SO,....that being said,...the only way that the eraser tool makes sense to me is if it can truly act the part of a conventional eraser. It can be done in vectors as ToonBoom Studio and Flash both do it. Flash does it but at a cost....(it is also not a proportionate line with the art) TBS does this and does it beautifully,..but I was just hoping my favorite graphics app could do this too which led me to my original post.

I think what TBS and Flash really do is "cut out" the nodes as you go over the lines (strokes) with the eraser tool.........Basically eliminating nodes thus reducing the line length. Mathematics (as mentioned in this post) is indeed going on here. SO in Xara,..when I finish a line (stroke) I release the mouse because I make quick lines (the way I draw)..so holding the mouse down (or Wacom stylus pen in my case) won't work for me.

Scott Kurtz obviously has given this issue some thought too and created a video to show his personal dilemma with the eraser tool and he's asking anyone to show him a vector app that has the eraser hew needs for his work...
http://www.pvponline.com/2008/01/19/...vector-victor/

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Originally Posted by TDolce

Scott Kurtz obviously has given this issue some thought too and created a video to show his personal dilemma with the eraser tool...

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He's a funny guy..
Though I can't help thinking he's his own worst enemy either.

I wish him luck in his quest, perhaps XaraXP will come to his rescue? He might be fun to have on this forum.

Whoo - fellow souls on the forum :cool:

TBS is a solution agreed. It is expensive. Top range animation programs in general are a solution - they are all expensive - some you need a mortgage for.
Not a route a creator of non-animated catroons can necessarily take.

I draw strip cartoons - I pencil them - I ink them by hand in the traditional way with a pen, or with hard black pencil [eg caran d'ache prismalo].
I scan them, if I need vector I vectorise them with inkscape or vectormagic.

Not an idea solution either.

Xara will need more than an eraser for this - its all in the character of the line for me.

Up to very recently I used Illy CS3 which introduced the eraser tool which my work mates found really useful. Have a look at the video workshop. click on Illustrator and then look for "Using the Line, eraser and Shape Tool: http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/

At the moment I have very little in the way to say about how useful or not this tool is because I have not used it that much. I would say however since the pathfinder tool in Illy is much more powerful than XPro's is this might be the way to go and have the eraser tool included in the next version but we will have wait and see.

I was just playing with Flash and Illustrator last night and remembered why I hate both those apps when it comes to line quality with their respective brush tools. Is it me or does Flash have the ugliest brush line of all? I mean it has random variable widths all within the same line and just looks weird and not consistent at all. I mean I can see something and no immediately if it was created in Flash. I don't like that! Maybe some do,...but I want my line to speak out and be the way I INTENDED it to be,..not the applications way. Illustrator to me is closer than Flash to a better solution,..but I just don't like the line (stroke) it offers. XaraPro is amazing in the fact that other than Expression Design,...it has the best looking vector line out there. It is amazing and allows for a nice smooth line that can follow my wacom stylus with the exact amount of precision that I choose to allow it to. Gosh I love that line tool. Give me an easy and fast eraser tool and it cannot be beat!!!!

OK<..I have spent far too much time on line quality haven't I? I need help! Is there a Doctor in the house????