XXP4 couple of personal disappointments

I see that xara have racked up the automatic closing of shapes from 12 to 16 pix - and the fix is still a registry one

Plus sketching freehand with minimum smoothing, without being able to switch of the nodes while you are doing it, is sometimes just impossible
Cannot keep pressing escape and get a natural line :( too slow

Pity from my point of view these were not addressed - but us freehand drawers are likely not the target market :D

Does not distract from a good upgrade, but it means I continue to look elsewhere....

I agree that not being able to switch off the nodes while sketching freehand is a dissapointment. A button to toggle whether or not to keep lines selected would be a great help.

yep - Expression3 has that - and so according to Mark does ConmicStudo4 which I have yet to get into

don't get me wrong - when it comes to coloring and 'paste up' I use xtreme - and the new VHQ view is a real help

but line work? not really

if you could apply say the blip or dab stroke shape, in real time, with pressure sensitivity, it might go somewhere.

but as it is, for line, I stick with black pencil or pen - for now at least :)

Oh yeah better pressure sensitivity would be wonderful, and if there was an eraser function that would work with the pen as well we'd be all set.

Steve are you comparing to version 3.2 or earlier?

Looking at regedit on my 2 April installation of Xtreme 4, the 'Freehand Hit-detect' is still set at 12, while the 'Fill blobs Hit-detect' is 16
Checking the v3.2.4 CD reg entry shows the same values for my installation.

Was it a registry entry you changed to switch off node while sketching?
I've noticed that keeping the ESC key pressed allows me to sketch freely without seeing nodes (well a momentary flash of nodes when I lift the pen)

checked that and you are right steve 12 it is [both together in the registry :o]

either way both too high for me and both reduced - hit end detect to 1


as far as the escape goes - I'm a 'traditional' cartoon artist for want of a better way of putting it - I work very very fast at times and when I draw a line this way I am not looking at it anymore - it's then on autopilot guided by experience

what I am seeing in my mind is where the next one will be - or the next three

pressing escape is not on working like this

spontaneity is king here - and without pressure sensitivity it is hard to get character

quite different I understand from the way a 'vector' artist would typically work :)

Comicstudio doesn't switch nodes off (or it switches them off by default and I haven't found out how to switch them on)- it does not have any nodes on freehand vector lines, you just drag the path around in a similar way as using the shape-editor to drag lines. Filled shapes and 'Rulers/stroke guides' have nodes. I told you it was weird LOL!

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Plus sketching freehand with minimum smoothing, without being able to switch of the nodes while you are doing it, is sometimes just impossible
Cannot keep pressing escape and get a natural line too slow

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Can someone explain this one to me. I don't see nodes when drawing new freehand lines. As far as I know nothing has changed in this area. Are you saying there is new behaviour here? And if so what exactly?

I think what is being said Charles is that when you let go the mouse to start a new line, the nodes appear on the line you just drew.
Holding the ESC key remove the nodes (for as long as the ESC key is pressed)

I don't do a lot of freehand stuff, so it's no issue for me to hold the ESC while drawing.

The behaviour is the same as version 3.2.4 as far as I can tell.

Yep I guess I didn't express it as clearly as I might - often the way when in a rush :):o

I have tried to explain this point it in the attached

When I was experimenting with xara there were times when I had to keep the esc key pressed for minutes at a time - I even went so far as to develop a 'keyweight' to put on the key to give my poor old finger some relief :D

Sure I could have paused - but that breaks the rhythm of the line work for me

In essence, you want the line segment de-selected after it is drawn, which is what the ESC key does, is that correct?

yes :)

I suspect your requirements are very unusual. Most people surely want the object they just drew to be selected, no least because it means they can adjust its smoothness, and second that you can carry on drawing or extending the line, by just drawing from the end handle. Thirdly many people I know go into the Shape Editor to manipulate the control points. All of these things would be more difficult if we did not select the line you just drew.

I can understand why you say this, but your work-flow is very unusual, and so I can't see us changing this to the detriment of most users, for the benefit of one very specific type of workflow.

And the fact it's been this way from day one, and as far as I know no one has ever asked for this before, it would come way, way down the priority list of improvements. Sorry.

The reason I marked the thread personal Charles.

Your response is not unexpected and I respect it.

I am not a typical xtreme user, quite so - I came to xara for its brilliant ability to use transparency and the ease in which many scanned drawings can be unified into one in a 100% intutive UI - it even calls itself a pasteboard.

I may draw lines with a pen and pencil but I draw the line at coloring by hand :D:rolleyes:

Thank you for the personal response I appreciate it

:)

I don't entirely agree Charles, it seems that a lot of the users sketch with tablets. Surely when using a tablet they want to be able to draw freeform strokes without them all connecting together, as they would with a pencil and paper. They would probably tweak them individually later. Obviously I'm not sure of the complexity of the task, but I think more artists than you think may appreciate this feature.

Yes, when sketching, I can see it more practical for the line to be automatically deselected so it works more like pixel editing software. Currently, the habbit of pressing Esc when done drawing a line is needed. Bob Hahn does this in his video tutorials. Maybe there will be a 'sketch' mode in future versions?

thanks guys ..

I agree this would be better for sketching, but it isn't a big deal. If I ever sketch in Xtreme, which isn't often, I tend to keep the pen nib depressed until I'm finished with a line, so all I see is the blue path and when I lift the pen and dozens of nodes appear, totally obscuring what I've drawn, I tap the pen on the tablet to deselect the line. It ain't intuitive, but if you have to sketch in Xtreme it will work O.K.

I sketch with my tablet too. So holding the esc key in part of the process, not natural by any means.

Something is not connecting here... Is it us, or Xara?

This sounds like a good topic for a poll. Write a good one tho... No leading questions/answers.:rolleyes: :)

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Originally Posted by Charles Moir

And the fact it's been this way from day one, and as far as I know no one has ever asked for this before, it would come way, way down the priority list of improvements. Sorry.

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Looks like there is more interest for this option. Seems like a simple check box in the Options dialog, which was read at load time and flipped behavior from "keep selected after line drawn" (default) to "unselect after line drawn", for the pen tool would accommodate the need of "sketchers" here...

Me too! When I'm using the freehand/brush tool I most often don't want the last drawn line selected.

Maybe just a toggle button in the control bar for the freehand tool (which would be turned off by default) labeled "Sketch Mode" that would make a line be unselected immediately?

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Originally Posted by Charles Moir View Post
And the fact it's been this way from day one, and as far as I know no one has ever asked for this before, it would come way, way down the priority list of improvements. Sorry.

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Yes, but since graphics tablets can be had nowadays for under $100 (just got a Bamboo :) ) more people are probably using them.

I suppose you could get a keyboard mapping program and map the Escape key to something easier to reach.
http://www.randyrants.com/sharpkeys/
http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/
http://www.swapkeys.com/download.htm
http://www.inchwest.com/mapkeyboard.aspx
(not tested any of these) :D

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Originally Posted by DanDaBear

I suppose you could get a keyboard mapping program and map the Escape key to something easier to reach.

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Personaly my left hand always rests over the left side of k/b enabling me to 'play' common keys, specifically for Xara Xtreme:

• F2 (Select Tool)
• F4 (Shape Editor)
• Tab (tab through shapes)
• Shift (+ Mouse for sizing-to-centre)
• Ctrl (+mouse for drawing perfect square/circle)
• Ctrl+Shift+E (for exporting)
• Ctrl+A (to select all shapes)
• Ctrl+Z (Undo)
• Ctrl+X (Cut) • Ctrl+C (Copy) • Ctrl+V (paste)

Those are the main ones that have become habit for me.

So reaching the ESC key is no stretch for me at all.

But - I agree, a 'toggle' button on the Freehand/Brush tool info bar for sketch-mode (deselect shape on mouse button release) would appear to be the obvious solution.

Steve:

Curious, what do you have assigned to the "most important/convenient" key ... the spacebar. :}

I use the space bar for 'spaces'. Nothing more.
Depressing the middle mouse is what I use for the push tool :)

The key's mentioned in my post above are defaults for Xtreme.
I don't do much in the way of customising keys for any program due my job needing me to give support to others in person, by phone, email and, in the case of Xtreme, forums (although I now have a couple of Xtreme 'converts' who call me now :)). Sticking with the defaults helps at lot, unless they have customised keys, which is actually suprisingly rare.

thanks everyone - nice to know the idea has support :)

BTW - I used the ini file fix with pro 3 to put the space bar back to toggling between select and current tool - not tried this yet in pro4... too busy :D

The fix works! (saved me from buying Pro, as it was the only pro feature I Really wanted).

Just copy the hotkeys.ini file from:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Application Data\Xara\XaraXtreme3.2

to

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Application Data\Xara\XaraXtreme\4.0

where Owner is your profile name. :D

I also have a copy of Registry part with current Xara's settings )

Thanks :)

Freehand drew my attention to this post and I wanted to be sure this need was being shown. Cross-posted from my thread today:

I would like to see an option within Xara that would greatly assist in my using the tool for traditional pen and ink techniques.

Presently, you must press [Esc] to deselect an object drawn. Instead, I would like to have an easily reachable menu option (with keyboard mapping) to automatically deselect an object when the mouse button (or pen tip) is released. This option could be global, though I am most interested in it being used for the freehand drawing tool. I use Xara almost exclusively with a Wacom tablet and could greatly benefit from this feature. To compliment this, I would also like a hotkey assignment for a function that will select the most recently deselected object. That way, even when using the auto-deselect option in freehand drawing mode, I could still quickly access my most recent object without changing my tool type(as easy as that actually is).