Pencil tool improvement?



  • I've noticed you took some great ideas from CorelDRAW like creating pie and arc from a circle and dealing with the colors. So, I would like to suggest some idea from FreeHand -- how pencil tool was implemented there (see the attachment).
    Press and hold left mouse button at point 1 to draw freehand curve. At point 2, you relise the button and drag toward point 3 to draw a straight line. At point 3 just click with the left mouse button and drag toward point 4. At point 4 do the same and drag to the point 5. At point 5 press and hold the left mouse button to draw a freehand curve again. At the end just click twice to end drawing or finish over the point 1 to create a closed path which will be indicated with some symbol. If you close the path, you won't need "path sketch" tool any more.

    0_1626861598263_Untitled-1.png


  • administrators

    @Petar_MK Currently holding Control+ at point 2 does the line, and the release+press (and hold) again Control at point 3 continues with a line. Releasing Control at any point then stops the line and continues with freehand mode.



  • In my suggestion there is no need of CTRL key.



  • @Petar_MK How would the program decipher between when you were wanting to make a straight line and when you were done with a path?



  • See the drawing. At point 1 you press and hold the left mouse button until the point 2. At this point you release the button and the line automatically converts to straight line. At points 3 and 4 you just click to change the direction of the straight line. At point 5 you press and hold the left mouse nutton as you did at point 1. At the end, to finish the path, click twice to end it. If you draw the line/curve until the point 1 and release the button over it, you get a closed path.


  • administrators

    @Petar_MK I think the main issue is that this would be very difficult to use with a tablet or touch device.
    Is there a drawing app doing like this? I checked in CorelDraw (PC) it does not work like this.



  • As I mentioned at the beggining it's a FreeHand tehnique.

    @vectoradmin said in Pencil tool improvement?:

    this would be very difficult to use with a tablet or touch device.

    If it is possible, leave the existing tehnique for a tablet and implement my suggestion for the desktop and laptop computers.


  • administrators

    @Petar_MK said in Pencil tool improvement?:

    As I mentioned at the beggining it's a FreeHand tehnique.

    Sorry, missed that one. FreeHand is a great reference. I will have to look into this more to better understand all the implications.
    It could be added in the future as an option.

    BTW: if there are some specific features of FreeHand that would be good to have, please just post about it.



  • @vectoradmin said in Pencil tool improvement?:

    BTW: if there are some specific features of FreeHand that would be good to have, please just post about it.

    Thanks. I will. I think I keep the Freehand manual downloaded not so long ago.
    https://www.manualslib.com/download/389871/Macromedia-Freehand-Mx-11.html