Author Topic: Drag autoshape confusion  (Read 3202 times)

ggermain1

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 99
Drag autoshape confusion
on: December 17, 2021, 09:49:21 PM
In the features list of the 3.3 beta, one of them is “added option to drag Autoshape with second finger”. I’m not sure what this is or how to use it. Can you explain this feature?

Lucky Clan

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2418
    • Lucky Clan homepage
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #1 on: December 18, 2021, 03:57:42 PM
After you long press to start Autoshape you can use tap with 2ng finger to drag current shape.

ggermain1

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 99
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #2 on: December 19, 2021, 01:27:17 AM
It doesn’t seem to be working for me. Is there a setting I have to enable or is this feature not working?

Lucky Clan

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2418
    • Lucky Clan homepage
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #3 on: December 19, 2021, 03:34:38 AM
Can you delete and install beta again?
Just remember that both Pencil and finger should touch the screen in the same time.

Pikachu

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 51
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #4 on: December 19, 2021, 04:18:47 AM
The reason this isn't working is because you are in pencil only mode.
I think this is a bit of an issue, since I work pretty much exclusively in pencil only mode and would like to be able to use drag autoshape.
Maybe I'm missing a preference that allows this though?

Lucky Clan

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2418
    • Lucky Clan homepage
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #5 on: December 19, 2021, 05:26:51 AM
Ohh, ok, now i understand. I will maybe change it.

mattnava

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 181
  • Creative/Art Director. The Pathless, ABZÛ, Journey
    • Matt Nava Portfolio
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #6 on: December 23, 2021, 04:02:04 PM
When I tried this, I also ran into a bit of confusion about how it was meant to work. I also like to work in pencil only mode.

When I drew an autoshape and then held a finger down while the pencil was still down, it started snapping the rotation to constrained angles. Which is nice, its similar to what happens with transform. I didnt realize that in order to move the autoshape, I had to move the pencil and the held finger together. I found that gesture to be pretty tricky to actually do physically. It also kind of fought with the rotation snapping- the effect was that as I dragged the shape, the rotation was also snapping which seemed a bit weird. When I read that you could move the shape by holding another finger down, I thought that I would hold a finger on the screen, and then just drag the pencil to move the shape. That would be real intuitive I think, but it would have to replace the snap rotate feature since its the same gesture.


I'm not sure what the best solution here would be if you want both snap rotation and move while the pencil is still down. But it seems like mapping them to two separate gestures somehow might help. Here's a couple ideas that may or may not work: holding one finger could do rotation snapping, but maybe you could do a pinch gesture with the other hand to move it. two fingers would let you move/scale rotate, similar to the way zoom controls work. Might be a bit weird to have to hold the pencil to the screen the entire time though. Another idea is to toggle between rotating and translating modes by tapping with a finger, and while you are in rotate mode, holding a finger down would do snap rotate. This idea would be more clear if every time you toggled modes, it would pop up a little HUD message that said the mode, similar to when you change drawing modes or tools with a hotkey.


Those solution ideas are trying to keep the entire editing process while you are still holding the pencil down. It's definitely tricky to cram a lot of functions in during that state. Procreate has an optional edit mode button that comes up after you release the pencil when doing autoshapes, wich allows translating the stroke. It solves the problem but is less immediate and is a lot of UI which is no fun/more scope. I see the appeal of figuring out something intuitive that didnt have to resort an edit mode solution like procreate.




Lucky Clan

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2418
    • Lucky Clan homepage
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #7 on: December 23, 2021, 05:27:12 PM
Yes, i’m still looking for the perfect solution. I really like the dragging with finger, but the problem is the finger touch is also used to snap…

Leonid Deburger

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 33
  • 2d Artist
    • Artstation
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #8 on: December 23, 2021, 07:21:33 PM
Yes, i’m still looking for the perfect solution. I really like the dragging with finger, but the problem is the finger touch is also used to snap…

If you don’t mind, I have some suggestions for auto shape mode using a pencil.
For the ergonomic purpose, I’d suggest performing actual dragging only with a pencil, fingers should be used only as triggers.

Variant 1
While drawing a shape with pencil:
Touch and hold with one finger - angle snapping mode
Touch and hold with two fingers - dragging mode

Variant 2
While drawing a shape with pencil:
Touch and hold with one finger - angle snapping mode
Double-tap with one finger - dragging mode on/off (may add some icon indication in the center of the shape, e.g. arrow.up.and.down.and.arrow.left.and.right)
In dragging mode one finger touch and hold snaps shape moving to horizontal and vertical axes (depending on the current direction of dragging)]
Last Edit: December 23, 2021, 07:31:53 PM by Leonid Deburger
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (4th gen)

mattnava

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 181
  • Creative/Art Director. The Pathless, ABZÛ, Journey
    • Matt Nava Portfolio
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #9 on: December 25, 2021, 03:51:41 PM
I agree it would be more ergonomic to only have to use the pencil to drag the shape. I like that variant 1 idea from Leonid Deburger, seems very straight forward. A couple heads up display messages could help with discoverability. Maybe while you are drawing an auto shape, a message that says “one finger: snap rotate/two fingers: move” or something like that to let you know you can do those things.

lastaccess

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 209
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #10 on: December 26, 2021, 06:36:49 AM
I guess dragging is temporary. The best solution is after editing. All of these finger dragging are imprecise and hard to control.

ggermain1

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 99
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #11 on: December 26, 2021, 08:40:11 AM
Yeah, being able to post-edit an autoshape is the best solution I feel

mattnava

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 181
  • Creative/Art Director. The Pathless, ABZÛ, Journey
    • Matt Nava Portfolio
Re: Drag autoshape confusion
Reply #12 on: December 26, 2021, 03:48:17 PM
The live editing ideas and post editing ideas are not mutually exclusive, they could coexist. Right now the live editing stuff is definitely tricky to control, but I’m sure it can and will be improved as it is still very fresh. It has the good quality of being very quick and immediate. Procreate has both types too- they just don’t have live translation, only a snap rotate modifier when you hold a finger.