Curve Manipulation Tools

[leeharper_admin]

I wanted to hear your thoughts on the functionality demonstrated in this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=awI23UXYOLU (it's in HD, so it should be easy to see what is going on).

The video is an introduction to a vector-drawing program called VectorScribe (specifically to the PathScribe functionality). Although designed to meet the needs of illustrators, I couldn't help think about how useful some of these tools would be for manipulating curves in CM4; the ability to interactively drag the curve segments between control points was - for me - particularly striking (I can picture how useful that would be - particularly if the user zooms into the curve).

There are plenty of other features that I think look very exciting, but I'd like to hear your opinion about which (if any) of these tools should find a home in CM...

The VectorScribe webpage is here: http://is.gd/SK8Wlt

Cheers,
Lee.

[ggroess]

I'm not sure that that level of control is needed.
If we zoom into the curve in LAB do you see the curve breaking down?

Greg

[leeharper_admin]

From my point of view it's more a question of speed - take the ability to drag the curve segments between control points for example; certainly you wouldn't need CM4 to enable this, but it allows users to simultaneously manipulate two control points - I can see this being popular because (a) it would speed things up, and (b) it would be an intuitive (additional) method for drawing/manipulating curves.

As for the other options, I agree that some of them would be overkill, but some of them are interesting: take for example the option for removing unnecessary control points - that could be very useful for beginners...

I think that in conjunction with zooming curves, corner points, and being able to view only a specific half of the A or B curve in Lab, this could be a very strong suite of curving tools. :)

Lee.