Rotating around centre of selection or at edges + Pen Tool

[odinfont (Andy F)]

Another behavior that was unexpected was the lack of a center point rotation feature.

I understand that I can do this via the transform panel, but I want to do it with live feedback not 1 degree transformations by pressing buttons back and forth which is very inefficient. (Would appreciate also being able to rotate from the bounding box…)

Also from Aligning Points Only - #4 by lnp (why was this topic closed?):

The transformation panel is for complete paths and components, the
Align Selection command is for points. The command with shortcut is much
quicker, which is necessary because you need to align points very
often. So it makes sense to separate the two.

The command does respect the align grid setting, though.

That’s not wholly true as you say because the transformation works for segments – and should continue to work for segments by the way.

The issue is that I often need to change which side I am aligning too, like top bottom left or whatever

I don’t agree that CMD+Shift+A is quicker, the typical method is: selecting the points, then pressing an align button (which is larger surface area than the origin selecter in the Info panel), your suggested method is: selecting the points then choosing the align origin, then pressing CMD+Shift+A.

Even going by Fitt’s Law:

This scientific law predicts that the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the ratio between the distance to the target and the width of the target

You surely see that the 6 point origin selector in the Info panel is quite small so takes more time and effort to choose than the align buttons.

Lastly:
If I am drawing a curve, and place a point, which is smooth, then press Alt and click to make a new segment which is a straight line, the previous point stays a smooth point even though it is clearly a corner. I think this is a mistake, Robofont and FontLab both do not reproduce this behavior.

See image at this link.

Just my 2c

[mekkablue (Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer)]

@odinfont

I understand that I can do this via the transform panel, but I want to do it with live feedback not 1 degree transformations by pressing buttons back and forth which is very inefficient. (Would appreciate also being able to rotate from the bounding box…)

All that is very imprecise and it messes up the node positions. What about the grid? What about handles? What about node triplets?

@odinfont

the typical method is: selecting the points, then pressing an align button (which is larger surface area than the origin selecter in the Info panel),

You are leaving out something:

1. Selecting the points
2. Moving the mouse pointer to the origin selector (very slow, Fitt’s Law!)
3. Clicking the selector
4. Moving the mouse pointer to the button (very slow, Fitt’s Law!)
5. Clicking the button
6. Fine tune node positions

@odinfont

your suggested method is: selecting the points then choosing the align origin, then pressing CMD+Shift+A

No, I do not suggest setting the align origin. I suggest:

1. Selecting the points
2. Cmd-Shift-A
3. Fine tune node positions with the cursor keys

It is way quicker. Setting transformation origin before aligning is overrated. I never do it.

@odinfont

You surely see that the 6 point origin selector in the Info panel is quite small so takes more time and effort to choose than the align buttons.

I agree it is too small. But from our experience, you only need it rarely.

[odinfont (Andy F)]

@mekkablue

All that is very imprecise and it messes up the node positions. What about the grid? What about handles? What about node triplets?

I didn’t know that, I just know RF manage to solve it

@mekkablue

You are leaving out something:1. Selecting the points2. Moving the mouse pointer to the origin selector (very slow, Fitt’s Law!)3. Clicking the selector4. Moving the mouse pointer to the button (very slow, Fitt’s Law!)5. Clicking the button6. Fine tune node positions

Hmm, I don’t understand where you got these extra steps Step 2, step 3 and Step 6?

http://quick.as/azx6tal3v
This is Glyphs App: I want to all points to the right, but I had to change origin and also I missed the origin the first time)

http://quick.as/pqbytdvgq
This is Robofont: select > click, no extra changing origin, it could work like this in GA too

@mekkablue

No, I do not suggest setting the align origin. I suggest:

Selecting the points
Cmd-Shift-A
Fine tune node positions with the cursor keys

It is way quicker. Setting transformation origin before aligning is overrated. I never do it.

I think thats only your opinion and experience – why have an origin selector at all if you want user to just ‘fine tune’ afterwards. And already I’m experiencing when I do cmd-shift-A that the program misinterprets what I want, like a lot of points close in the x, but actually I want to align along y – therefore need origin selector!

There are designs processes that require a lot of aligning to an edge – see my video and design for example.

[mekkablue (Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer)]

@odinfont

And already I’m experiencing when I do cmd-shift-A that the program misinterprets what I want, like a lot of points close in the x, but actually I want to align along y – therefore need origin selector

That is a scenario rare enough to ignore it for the align command. In this case you would set the width of your selection to 0.

@odinfont

There are designs processes that require a lot of aligning to an edge – see my video and design for example.

If you need it very often, going back and forth between your paths and buttons is very time-consuming. Here, it makes sense to write little align scripts and assign them to shortcuts.

[mekkablue (Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer)]

@odinfont

I didn’t know that, I just know RF manage to solve it

I just looked again, and what you say is not true. RoboFont 1.6 always rounds coordinates. If you rotate freely a few times, rounding errors accumulate.