5 most wanted functions/tools

[spline]

My 5 most useful wanted tools/functions.

A Fillet / Scallop / Chamfer tool, to chamfer/scallop selected points or objects.
Useful on as good as every project.
http://coreldraw.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.PostAttachments/00.00.04.72.21/livefilet.gif


A symetrical tool/mode for making mirror and symetrical stuff.
Should preferable work with other tools such as creating shapes, drawing lines and
even a possible ereaser tool.

Useful on many logo/symbol projects

An ability to rotate/scale only selected points.
Not just full objects. Or is this possible?

Ability to rotate stuff in 3 dimensions.
This can be done with the 3d tool!
But is allways adds atleast 1 in extrude depth. Please make it so that it does not allways add 1 in extrude depth.
The mould tool also comes close, but no cigar since it does not keep the "dimensions"
of the object, but stretches it.

A inset/outset function. Can almost be done with the outline tool but needs alot of other operations, how about modifying the outline tool so that it can be used to inset/outset an object.

A fill function to fill almost closed areas.
Very useful when making paintings/sketches

These few things together with what Xara allready can do would cover many of the most important daily operations for me when working with a vector program.

Thanks

[James Allen]

Interesting post, spline. Were these tools/functions listed in order of importance to you? I’m just wondering which was the most important in your opinion.

Regarding the ability to rotate only selected points, are you thinking of the liquefy/twirl tool in Photoshop, or did they have that in another vector program?

I can see how the fillet/scallop/chamfer tool would be very useful for font making, though I would never need it myself for much.

You mentioned a symmetrical tool for making mirror and symmetrical stuff – do you mean a way to edit one shape and see a reflection of it doing the same thing in real time? Normally I do the work and then clone and flip – how would this tool improve on that?

The eraser tool was being suggested the other day – some love the idea and some hate it.

What is an inset/outset function?

[MarcT]

Those are great suggestions!

I would like all of them, especially the fillet and the ability to transform a group of points like objects (blobs maybe?).



Here's mine:

-Line width editor of some kind, preferably on screen.

-Bsplines

-Line over/under objects.

-Instances

-Diffusion curves



Regards,

Marc

[spline]

Interesting post, spline. Were these tools/functions listed in order of importance to you? I’m just wondering which was the most important in your opinion.

Regarding the ability to rotate only selected points, are you thinking of the liquefy/twirl tool in Photoshop, or did they have that in another vector program?

I can see how the fillet/scallop/chamfer tool would be very useful for font making, though I would never need it myself for much.

You mentioned a symmetrical tool for making mirror and symmetrical stuff – do you mean a way to edit one shape and see a reflection of it doing the same thing in real time? Normally I do the work and then clone and flip – how would this tool improve on that?

What is an inset/outset function?

Inset/outset will make the object shrink/expand, but not scale it. Its allmost like creating a outline/inline that adds or removes from the object.
Many times useful for many operations. It will change the look of the object.

When selecting several points in an object and rotating/scaling it, I mean that those points can be on different places in the object, for example selecting the inner points of a star and rotating them somewhat or scaling the position of them. U can do it in most 3d programs and the latest inkscape.

Fillet/scallop is often very useful when making logos or even frames/buttons that have not rounded corners but instead are inset. Something very useful.
Its also useful when you have a pointy star and want to make it rounded instead etc etc...

[spline]

Those are great suggestions!

I would like all of them, especially the fillet and the ability to transform a group of points like objects (blobs maybe?).



Here's mine:

-Line width editor of some kind, preferably on screen.

-Bsplines

-Line over/under objects.

-Instances

-Diffusion curves



Regards,

Marc

Yup I would love those too and did consider all of them for my list excepts Lines under/over.

As for diffusion curves have you tried any of the 2 free editors?
I find the concept really cool but very hard to work with, might be because they are very slow and the editors are a bit buggy.

Would be cool if someone made a quicker version of them, perhaps more like a 3d program in which you render the full quality picture.

[James Allen]

Thanks for the detail, spline.

As far as the inset/outset idea is concerned, it is called a contour tool. This also does some of the same things your fillet/scallop tool does. I can’t remember when Xara didn’t have the contour tool. If you download a trial of Xara you’ll find the contour tool on the side of the page. Select an object and the contour tool, and then push the arrows either outwards or inwards to adjust the ‘inset/outset’ you describe. You can also adjust the corners to make them straight or rounded, and etc. through the contour sub-menu that appears when the tool is being used.

You can use this for any shape or object, but you can also use the ‘quickshape’ tool for a variety of shapes (stars, circles, rectangles) to adjust points, corners, etc., in making them sharp or rounded.

I’m just going out but will put a video up when I return to highlight these features.

[James Allen]

Here’s a VIDEO showing some Contour and Quickshape functions, spline. Bear in mind I’m using a T-model Ford version of Xara here – Xara 4. I’m so fond of my T-model I haven’t got around to upgrading yet, even though 6 is many levels ahead of it. Think of me as an antique collector.

As I say, Xara has had this contour tool a very long time. They were always very innovative. I’m only crudely showing a few of its features here, but I think you’ll get the gist of it.

You can see much better videos and tutorials in Xhris’ videos here:

http://xhris.digitalred.net/

[MarcT]

As for diffusion curves have you tried any of the 2 free editors?

No, I didn't know they existed, I will try this out when I get some time.

I only saw the video and it seemed a quite good concept. Like they say, some of the gradient mesh limitations are addressed .

It would be awesome If something like along this idea could be integrated with the Xara render engine.

Regards,

Marc

[Albacore]

I think the Live Fillet would be a great tool to use if you were doing a lot of importing from other vector programmes like .eps when you have so many control points that even Xara's Smoothing tool can't cope with. This tool also does it in a more controlled way on the radii of the shapes. Great for people that are doing loads of logos and want to modify fonts. Using the "Shape Editor" you can select by dragging the cursor over the points that you want to rotate or move and use the nudge arrow keys but then you have to edit your curves again. Not a big hassle.