Scribus Forums

Development => Features => Topic started by: yamahacasio5353200 on August 09, 2017, 11:13:27 PM

Title: Scissors or knife
Post by: yamahacasio5353200 on August 09, 2017, 11:13:27 PM
Having a Scissors or Knife tool is the only addition that would be of use for me.
That is included with Microsoft Expression Design 4, Adobe Illustrator, & Adobe Indesign.
I have a fairly easy work-around for me, but I am sure it would not be acceptable to the majority of the power users out there.
Thanks for your consideration.
Title: Re: Scissors or knife
Post by: a.l.e on August 10, 2017, 07:47:17 AM
so, scribus does have an icon with a scissor in one of the toolbars...

question: what exactly does your scissor / knife do?

ciao
a.l.e
Title: Re: Scissors or knife
Post by: GarryP on August 10, 2017, 09:35:40 AM
The scissor icon is for the Cut function which I don't think is what's being talked about here.

A quick look at https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/cutting-dividing-objects.html tells me - if I'm reading it correctly - that the scissors and knife tools seem to be for dividing a shape into multiple sub-shapes, with scissors using straight lines and the knife using curves.

Scribus can already do this - pretty much - via menu "Item -> Path Tools -> Cut Polygon". Draw your shape, then draw a bezier curve through the shape - which could just be a straight line - then select both the shape and curve and use the menu item just mentioned. (Normal lines don't work with this, it has to be a bezier curve for some reason.)

It's probably not as intuitive to use as the AI tools - and probably doesn't have all of the bells and whistles - but it does the job in most cases.

Also, the Node Editor has various tools that can be used to split shapes.
Title: Re: Scissors or knife
Post by: a.l.e on August 10, 2017, 10:08:11 AM
good catch, garry.

(and, yes, i knew that she probably didn't mean that scissor... but i was too lazy to check)

also: i knew about using the path tools, but i've never thought about the nodes editor for this!
i hope i can keep it in my deep subconscious... : - )
Title: Re: Scissors or knife
Post by: GarryP on August 10, 2017, 10:36:37 AM
It's probably a good reflection on how much functionality there is in Scribus that it's easy to forget that some functions exist.

Every now and again I find myself thinking "I wish I could do that" and then, after a while, I remember that I've totally forgotten that I actually can.

Some examples that I've forgotten about over the years are: Contents Copy/Paste; Advanced Select All; and Subdivide Path. How many Scribus users have used any of these or even know they exist?