Streamline and improve node/anchor editing.
I have used CoreDraw for many years, but needed to move to Adobe for a new position. In Corel, you can manipulate nodes (anchor points) with the direct select tool. Everything you need to do - add points, remove points, move points along the path, curve the line, move the handles, etc. - can all be done with the direct select tool and the 2 mouse buttons. In Adobe, I have to keep switching between 3 different tools to do the same thing, and on top of that, not all nodes have handles! It's very frustrating and slow. Why does Adobe treat nodes like they're an afterthoguht, when thy are the backbone of vector graphics? You have to use a plug in script sold by a 3rd party for $150/year called VectorScript in order to easily manipulate nodes the same way that CorelDraw does natively. I'm at the point where I may just draw everything in Corel, and then bring it over to Adobe to submit it. It would be faster than trying to fine tune objects in Adobe.
Laura
shared this idea
-
Laura
commented
You're right, I meant InkScribe. lol
I just cleaned up a candy cane graphic. With Corel, I would have been able to do the entire thing with one hand on the Shift key, and one hand on the mouse. The entire thing.
With Adobe, I had to use the mouse, and the A key, the P key, the H key - because hunting for the button in the bottom scroll bar is annoying - the shift key, and click on the curvature tool, the corner/smooth node, and join once when I forgot that if you delete a node in direct select that it breaks the path.
In Corel, I'm used to selecting/highlighting a node, and clicking the right mouse button to delete them. Done. That's it. On to the next node. Add a node? Double click on the path. Need to curve the line? Take the mouse. click and hold the line and pull. Right in the Direct select tool, no extra tool, no extra node created, no extra clicking. Three node states - corner, smooth and symmetrical. Need to move a node, click on it once, and move. No need to click twice, or you move the whole object by accident. Why would I want that feature in direct select,anyway? that's what the other select is for. No hunting for handles, they're right there. I click, hold and move on the background with the mouse, and it pans around, and I can zoom in and out with the mouse wheel. No need for the alt key, or H key.
I have my color swatches that never leave my workspace in lines down the right side. Need to change the stroke color? Click with the right mouse button, Change the fill? Click with the left button. Tried 5 different blues, and want to go back tot he first one? No problem, every time you use a color, a swatch of it appears at the bottom of the workspace. So simple, and fast.
No need to mess with ctrl, or alt, or menus and preferences. Not a steep learning curve that takes time to learn. Really, it's so tedious the way that Adobe has it set up.You say that InkScribe isn't essential. A Ferrari isn't essential, either. You can drive a Ford Fiesta and get to your destination. And if you've only driven a Fiesta, you'll probably think it's great. But if you're used to driving a Ferrari, , switching to a Fiesta is going to feel slow and tedious. A bit of an exaggeration to get my point across.
It's not about getting there in the end, it's about the ability to work faster and cleaner. It's about how I first used Illustrator over 20 years ago, and the basic, necessary function of manipulating nodes has not improved since. If I'm freelancing, and it takes 20 minutes to clean up art in Corel, and an hour in Adobe, which program is costing me money?
Will I get faster as I go? Sure, but it's been 2 months of almost daily use, and it still takes way too long to clean up objects.
There are a lot of things that Adobe gets right, and a few other things that it gets wrong like color management, which is also a big pain and waste of time. Corel has it's issues, also.
I just can't understand how Adobe can't get it's act together with something so intrinsic to vector graphics, the very foundation of this program. And it's not like it can't be done in Illustrator, as InkScribe has proven.
I'll use Adobe, because I have to, and I'll learn it. But if Adobe can't be bothered to improve, I don't see myself staying with it outside of my current situation. In the end it's all about your workflow, since there's only so much time in the day. -
Laura, VectorScript? Never heard of it. Perhaps you meant InkScribe?
InkScribe is powerful enough indeed, and provides some additional cool features, but I can’t really say it’s essential.In fact, you don’t have to use three different tools even when you master the native Ai’s Pen tool, every subtool is accessible via modifiers.
Ctrl toggles the Direct selection (but yep, only if you had it enabled before, and not the plain Selection tool), Alt toggles the Anchor Point mode, Add and Remove are just context-driven, if you have 'Disable Auto Add/Delete' unchecked in Preferences > General...
It’s just different, and follows its own way, sure you have to learn it. It took me some time, years and years ago, but now I just fine with both approaches.
Perhaps though, there is some specific 'how to do this' which torments you? If you record the workflow in CorelDraw, using its Shape tool, perhaps I can advise the way to achieve in in Illustrator, or otherwise — verify Ai lacks a thing?I am not saying Ai is just great, on the contrary, I’d love to hear more about the experience from a fresh Corel user.
