Vexing Vectors

[MarkZ]

Most of what I do with PSP is editing photos and occasionally I get into graphics. Today I undertook a neat project for my wife, managed to achieve what I wanted but was very frustrated in the process. I started with a new 1200 x 1600 pixel image/file and built on that with lots of text, lines and some curves. I found the vectors most difficult to deal with but the text also seemed wonky.

Vectors seem to have a mind of their own. If I created a new vector from pen/line and wanted to add another line to that, same properties, sometimes it allowed adding the line and other times not. I could not figure out what the rules were. I'm aware that using the ctrl and shift keys does things such as adding nodes but, again, this seemed inconsistent. Selecting an existing vector would sometimes behave like a selection with the pick tool and other times the line with nodes only (what I wanted) would select. Fortunately I did figure out how to copy from one vector into another, although I was not successful with this:

Maybe too simplistic, but did you dry dragging one such "path" from one vector "group" to the other?

I am using a Bamboo tablet and although it adds precision it was difficult to start a line and not have two nodes added, because of bounce? In other instances I would add a line, click on the check to complete it, then go to start another line and the new starting point would connect to the end of the previous, this with the continuous line unchecked. Happened numerous times. Ability to edit nodes saved the day numerous times.

With text, I found it hard to tell how to select existing text vs. starting new, but managed not to screw up on that. It is very hard to find just the right spot to click on to get at exisiting.

In one of the postings today there is mention of some actions such as cloning being arbitrary.

No it's all random. Sometimes if I do a zoom in or zoom out the 'missing' edit appears!!!
eg. if I clone something out all is ok. Then if I go to the Pan tool the clone is missing. On zooming in or out the cloned edit re appears!

In my case I would make a change, zoom in, some portions of the vector would not be visible although the nodes were, make a change that does not appear and I learned that scrolling that portion out of the window and back would make the change appear. So I did lots of scrolling to see the results of my editing. Perhaps this is an SP1 issue. Overall, I've found vectors to be difficult to work with. I'll need to think about how I would make them better - keep notes the next time I get into graphic work.

[LeviFiction]

The funny part about this for me, is PSP vectors have almost always been easier for me than with other programs for some reason. The only real frustrations I have are converting nodes to cusps curved both before and after. It's just a key-press and drag in most other programs. In PSP it's a menu option. Originally I created a script, but later just assigned them to a shortcut key.

Of course PSP is not as powerful as those other programs. I really want basic combination functions like in Inkscape. Union and difference, intersection and division.

I haven't had a chance to use PSP since SP1 came out, but from what I've seen with just creating a new image there are re-draw issues. Even an 800x600 image has a noticeable re-draw when first created, starting black and turning white. Prior to SP1 I created a 16000x21000 image with very little noticeable re-draw issues.

[Cassel]

Mark, this might not solve all the issues you have in using vectors, but here are some tips I gathered over time:

- there is a checkbox for "Connect segments" that can help create a continuous line if you want to just go click, click, click, without having to worry about double-nodes
- there are also 2 little icons (that are really not that easy to differentiate), "closed selected contour" and "start a new contour". Those are valuable when you want to finish a closed contour and don't want to worry about "double-nodes" and the other when you want to create another "object" (within the same vector layer)
- sometimes, it might be easier to start a new contour by activating a raster layer and starting there. This will add a new vector layer and you wont have several objects annoyingly "stuck" together (they are easy enough to move independently, but I like to have separate vectors when possible)

I hope some of those might help.

[MarkZ]

Cassel:

Thanks for your hints. Every little bit helps. I had used the connected segments option where that made sense. One of the frustrations was the connections when I did not want them and "start a new contour" would have helped there - I'll remember that. As I experimented today I think I learned about why that was happening.

I don't know all the terminology and it helps when I do learn it. For example, object within a vector as opposed to a layer. The objects do look like like layers but there are significant differences one needs to realize. One of the things I was trying to do was to move segments from one object into another, or to combine objects. I had watched the tutorial that LeviFiction provided in this thread, http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=52043, and tried to follow it but every time I used ctrl-V a new vector was created instead of pasting an object. I was trying to paste a circle path into an object with line segments. I finally realized that at the time I selected the line object, the tool that was selected was the ellipse tool; when I selected the pen tool at the time I selected the line object (all within the same vector) I achieved what I wanted.

My impression is that some functionality such as Join when I move a node appears one time as I hover over another end node and not another. (It would be nice if Join worked on any nodes, not just start/end as I've experienced.)

The Refresh/Redraw is dreadful. I don't know if that is because of SP1 or a fault in X6 itself. I don't remember this problem with earlier versions of X6. I was using zoom in/out to see the results of what I had done.

So, even though PSP is reasonably friendly, there is lots to learn. Levi is a font of information about using the tools, such as:

If you're using the "Move" tool just hold down the Shift key and it will only move the currently selected layer. So you click anywhere and only the selected layer will move.

If you're using the pick tool, holding shift or ctrl will prevent the tool from selecting another layer but avoid the control nodes or you'll transform the layer. And it won't move unless you're clicking inside the box.

But where can one find a compilation of this information? Help has very little about using the tools. The learning center has some of the hints and I need to consult that more often. But it is frustrating to try to figure out some things.

And on top of all this, while I was entering text yesterday I discovered that my keyboard had changed to the French version - where do I find "?" ? All the menus were in French. Back to English today. What will tomorrow bring, Polish?

[LeviFiction]

(It would be nice if Join worked on any nodes, not just start/end as I've experienced.)

How do you mean? Do you mean joining two nodes together to form an off shooting branch? Or you have too many nodes, you want to get rid of one but deleting it breaks the line and I just want to merge it.

If you right-click on a node edit -> Merge the node will disappear leaving the nodes where the other nodes connected. Break will turn 1 node into 2 overlapping nodes essentially splitting the line there.

Also, so long as the start and end nodes are close together (they don't have to be right no top of each other) you can select them both go to Objects -> edit -> join and it'll join them right up. Useful in those cases where for reasons unknown the nodes just don't want to join up when you drag them on top of each other.