3. Bug: selecting multiple nodes and/or handles stops working

Bug: selecting multiple nodes and/or handles stops working

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    Version: 1.2.088 (Windows 11)

    Expected behaviour:
    When I select multiple nodes or handles from more than one shape, it works initially as expected - all handles/nodes move together as I click and drag.
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    Issue:
    After some editing of the shapes (just moving nodes or handles), node and handle selection stops working as it should. I can select multiple nodes, however when I click and drag to move them as before, only the LAST selected node will move. I.e. selecting and moving nodes from multiple shapes stops working - UNLESS I select all nodes without selecting each individually with Shift+Click (selecting with a lasso for example). But in this case, moving multiple handles only stops working altogether.

    From a UX perspective, it's very tedious and slow to select and then deselect nodes in order to move multiple handles only. Is there a faster way of showing all handles from all selecting shapes at once? I couldn't find this setting in preferences. The handles only appear on hover but will disappear unless I click a node.

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    I love the feature to be able to move node handles from multiple objects simultaneously - super useful for symmetrical logos or illustrations. However it's too erratic and stops working randomly as far I can see. Relaunching the app helps but I could not rely on this for production work. I thought this issue was limited to selecting multiple handles, but it seems I can't select multiple nodes from different shapes at all. Only one will move... Any help appreciated.

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  • S

    @ai_slop

    you could select the Nodes via selection frame
    but not the Handles

    here a video

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  • A

    Thanks for taking the time to reply.

    Yes, when it works, selecting as you have in your video works fine, but after working on a file earlier this behaviour changed - only the last selected node of my selection would move - instead of all of the selected nodes. I was selecting by pressing shift+click as I had done previously. I'll see if this continues to happen. This happened in a previous version also.

    Separately, I think it would be better UX if handles remained visible on selected items. Hovering over a shape reveals the nodes which makes selecting them easy (as expected!) - but this is not the case for handles. Moving to hover over handles means the nodes and handles are not visible again, as the mouse pointer is too far from the shape outline, I guess.

    In Settings > Path Editor I have set Control Handle Mode to "All" so that I can move multiple handles in the same way I would select multiple nodes, but so far it's a bit frustrating, as I have to first select corresponding nodes then deselect.

    I'm excited to see that this feature is available though as it would give me so much more freedom for glyph and logo design. It would be nice if it was a bit more user friendly.

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  • administrators

    @ai_slop I will try to replicate this, if you find out more on what steps trigger this issue please let us know.

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    @VectorStyler Hey thanks for looking into this.

    I don't use VectorStyler in production (yet! :)) but I'll tinker around with this again when I have time. This change in selection behaviour happened only after moving around some nodes, changing some node types from cusp to smooth, etc and then trying to select the shapes again. Also when selecting, I was shift clicking to add each node to the selection individually - this is when VS stopped allowing multiple node selection and only allowed me to move the last node. Relaunching VS seemed to fix this but then it started to happen again.

    I'll post again here when I have time to try this again. Thank you

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    @VectorStyler Hey I managed to reproduce the same issue again. I wrote a note of the steps I took in this gif.

    The lower shapes were just circles that i converted to curves. The top shape was drawn directly with the pen tool.
    The lower shapes, I just moved some nodes with the node tool. Changed some node types and segment types. That's all. Afterward, selecting multiple points of the top shape and bottom shape doesn't work as before.

    Sure, clicking and dragging allows selecting nodes from both shapes with the node tool but this does not fix the bug - which is that node handes from two different shapes can not be moved together as before. It also makes precise shape editing a bit annoying, fiddly. 0_1763239650638_Node selection bug.vstyler

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  • administrators

    @ai_slop I used the example but still could not replicate it.
    I suspect that there could be some other settings, or workspace state that might affect this.
    I always test with default settings (only changed the Path node selection mode).

    The settings and workspace files can be found in:
    c:\Users<user-name>\AppData\Local\NumericPath\VectorStyler1.2\vector\data\resources\ folder or in the
    c:\Users<user-name>\AppData\Roaming\NumericPath\VectorStyler1.2\vector\data\resources\ folder

    These XML files contain the current state of the UI (after exiting) like panels, positions and sizes and the current state of the settings.

    If you can send me those files, I could replicate the same workspace and try it again.

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    @VectorStyler I haven't done anything else in VS since the last update so I didn't change anything. The only setting I remember changing was Settings > Path Editor I have set Control Handle Mode to "All".

    I've uploaded the workspace files you requested. They were in the Local appdata folder.
    0_1763335432320_VS Workspace files.zip

    In your testing, did you add the nodes to selection using shift+click, not click and drag? This is important as it's the only way (that I'm aware of) that allows for only selecting handles from multiple shapes.

    Thanks for looking into this.

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