Should the pencil tool default to whatever is in the fill and stroke panel?
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Should the pencil tool default to whatever is set in the fill and stroke panel? I'd like to be able to set the fill and stroke for the tool rpior to using it, not just after. Right now, even if you change the fill and stroke settings, it reverts back to a stroke and no fill setting
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@Boldline You can set the color of the Pencil tool right after selecting it from the toolbox and before starting to draw. Otherwise it will use the color of the stroke of the last selected object.
But do you need the Pencil tool to draw with a fill? The tool imitates drawing with a pencil (hence the name) — it doesn't auto-close or create closed shapes like the Path Sketch tool does.
I'm not even sure the Path Sketch tool should draw with a fill, because if you use it to manually trace something, the fill will cover whatever it's under it and maybe you don't want that. Although it would be nice to have that as a non-default option.
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@b77 I understand your points... I'm not saying it has to change. The pencil serves a crucial role acting as a quick freehand drawing tool.I was thinking of it as a quick way to create a custom shape to clip live strokes or anything really, inside of. I tested clipping a stroke within an open loop pencil tool circle and it worked, thought I then have to go in and remove the stroke color.
Without rehashing the other topic that began all this - I wanted to find a way to crop live strokes so they could be shortened and not overlap others, but still remain live and still retain their width attributes. Affinity has a vector crop tool - but it's very limited. @vectoradmin mentioned looking into a solution better than that in the hopefully near future - but i was just thinking outside the box on ways to do quick clipping masks. the path brush tool might be an option as well... -
@Boldline @b77 The pencil tool should use the (current) default stroke (color, width etc) options.
These are of course updated as the selection changes.Maybe the "Filled Shape with Pen tool" option (Preferences -> Changing Options) should also apply to the Pencil tool.
The clipping mask (and group expansion) will be handled separately.
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@vectoradmin said in Should the pencil tool default to whatever is in the fill and stroke panel?:
Maybe the "Filled Shape with Pen tool" option (Preferences -> Changing Options) should also apply to the Pencil tool.
This might be a good edit totally aside from the clipping topic - sometimes I use the pencil tool as a quick fill creator - as in I have the fill on, no stroke and create a custom fill for a shadow or a detail on the spot
@vectoradmin said in Should the pencil tool default to whatever is in the fill and stroke panel?:
The clipping mask (and group expansion) will be handled separately.
Sounds good - I wasn't trying to get ahead of you on that - just always have my wheels spinning with ideas and possibilities. I think what you do with this will be better than what I am even suggesting with the pencil tool in this role so I'll leave it alone now
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@Boldline In version 1.0.044 the "Filled Shape with Pen tool" now also affects the pencil tool.
And there are 4 new actions in the Object menu, to expand clipping groups or to clip objects into a shape (without the need of clipping groups).
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@vectoradmin Awesome! thank you. Question though, should the stroke on the pencil tool be allowed to be non-existent and just let the fill show? Am I getting too far away from the intent of the pencil?
I'd like the ability in some way in VS, to be able to make a free-form fill shape on the fly without stopping to make nodes. Where I can just freehand draw the shape and the fill adjusts it's shape based on where I draw next
If this is better suited in another tool, I'm fine with that. I don't want to take away from what the intent of the pencil is🍎 macOS Tahoe 26.2, Mac mini (M1, 2020), Chip Apple M1, Memory 16 GB
Cintiq 27QHD Display and LG Ultra HD Display -
@Boldline Possibly yes. If the option is enabled, and the fill is not empty. I add this to the backlog.
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@vectoradmin Right - my thought would be that pencil always defaults to a stroke and no fill. But if I wanted to do what I mentioned above, I would change the preferences setting and then in the color panel, set it to fill/no stroke
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@Boldline Maybe adding this fill-with-no-stroke options to the Path Sketch tool would make more sense for beginners and also for advanced users?
I'm thinking how would beginners figure things out if the Pencil tool doesn't behave more or less like a pencil. Most people don't have the patience to read the manual.
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@b77 hmmm I had thought of that also and maybe that is the best place for it? I'm open to that.
If I get a question answered that will help make the path sketch tool more reliable to me, I'd be good with that being the solution. I'll post it -
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I hope it's okay that I bring this topic back up.
For me, it helps to have the stroke size be different for each tool. I use the Pencil Tool the most, but I often swap the tools a lot when drawing, and it is inconvenient to have the same size for each tool since they each do different jobs. Because of certain tasks that need more precision, it just does not flow with my work. It means having to keep changing the size back when I return to the Pencil Tool.
But if there are people who prefer the opposite, then I wonder if there is a way to implement both options? Perhaps an option for each tool to set as new default but independently from the global default for all tools?
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@Prevalent-Arts I will add this to the backlog: option to have tool specific stroke width.
Tools to consider here are: pen, pencil, path sketch, brush. But also: eraser, path brush, path simplifier, node remover and corner size painter tools.I think the pen and pencil should remain the same (current stroke options). The others will be configurable.
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Awesome.
