Eraser tool for Xtreme

**X-Newbie** · 15 March 2009, 06:31 AM

I would like to see Xara Xtreme have an eraser tool like Adobe Illustrator CS4 and Corel Draw X4 has. It saves a lot of time when erasing vectored lines etc.

**Albacore** · 16 March 2009, 08:46 AM

How many times have you used the Eraser Tool in AI CS4? very few I bet. I find that I use the Pathfinder Tool much more frequently than the eraser. Now if you had said let go for a improved Combine Shapes Tool or menu I might have agreed with you. Even having said that again the number of times that I use the extra options in Illy's Pathfinder Tool is again is very small.

**angelize** · 16 March 2009, 04:32 PM

I could see an eraser tool being useful if it worked with a pen tablet. My wacom Graphire3 for example can be turned upside down to erase just like a pencil, if the feature exists within the program.

**dogbertbh** · 16 March 2009, 08:30 PM

I honestly thought this was easier than it turned out to be.

I thought if I drew something and did a CTL-4 Slice, it would be OK.

Apparently NOT. Is there a way to do this with the swirl?

**steve.ledger** · 16 March 2009, 08:36 PM

Convert the swirl (line) to shape, select swirl and rectangle, press Ctrl+2

But this isn't the forum to discuss such things, only to register your vote for a feature.

**Soquili** · 16 March 2009, 09:21 PM

How is an eraser better or easier than simply selecting a vector line and either delete the entire line or the nodes you want to remove?

In a raster application like photoshop you must erase because everything is simply a matrix of pixels with a colour assigned.

A vector is simply a direction and length. Of course on screen it must be represented by raster because the screen can only function that way. In the program there is no matrix to erase. Code to recalculate the various vectors after an 'erase' operation would add to the program size with little to no benefit over current functionality.

**handrawn** · 17 March 2009, 05:46 AM

What Frances proposes would actually speed things up for those who draw freehand - basically if you turn the pen round then nodes are automatically deleted if you run the eraser end over them - without the need to select them first

With close un-smoothed lines marque selection of nodes is often clumsy and imprecise, and click select tiresome and slow

Its a different approach - whether it would be practical in xtreme is another matter...

**Soquili** · 17 March 2009, 12:20 PM

Using the Freehand and Brush Tool you can hold down a Shift key to switch to the eraser. You must do this before releasing the left mouse button as you draw.