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Thread: Space bar needs attention... and other complaints

  1. #1
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    Jan 2013
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    Space bar needs attention... and other complaints

    The software sometimes just doesn't react to space bar being pressed and instead of panning the picture, as desired, I "accidentally" use the selected tool. Quite frustrating, especially when one is in a hurry (as I often am), so pardon me if I don't sound polite enough right now. I do have a cheap tablet (a $150 "Genius"), but I don't think it's got anything to do with it (if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me),

    Also, the caption "selection prevents painting" appears almost only during failed attempts to pan using "space". Never otherwise, and certainly not when I try to actually paint over the unselected areas.

    Another thing regarding selection - I wish... it's Christmas soon, so let it be a Christmas present, huh? ..... I wish for more detailed selection shortcuts - "L" for lasso, "W" for wand, stuff like that. "Shift+S" will drive me into the ground. Pretty please? :-* :-* :-*

    Cheers

  2. #2
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    ...and while I'm at it - why doesn't ArtRage remember which file is open at the moment? Every time I want to save a new iteration I get the default "untitled.ptg" in the dialog box. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of versions I make, and I'd like ArtRage to do that for me.

    Thx

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by SickBoii View Post
    The software sometimes just doesn't react to space bar being pressed and instead of panning the picture, as desired, I "accidentally" use the selected tool. Quite frustrating, especially when one is in a hurry (as I often am), so pardon me if I don't sound polite enough right now. I do have a cheap tablet (a $150 "Genius"), but I don't think it's got anything to do with it (if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me),

    Also, the caption "selection prevents painting" appears almost only during failed attempts to pan using "space". Never otherwise, and certainly not when I try to actually paint over the unselected areas.
    The selection warning only shows up for certain actions - if it popped up every time you made a paint stroke that went over an unselected area, you'd probably go mad very quickly.

    More importantly, if you have an active selection, clicking then holding the space bar will move THAT instead, so that's probably the issue here. Press ctrl+D to clear any active selections.


    Quote Originally Posted by SickBoii View Post
    Another thing regarding selection - I wish... it's Christmas soon, so let it be a Christmas present, huh? ..... I wish for more detailed selection shortcuts - "L" for lasso, "W" for wand, stuff like that. "Shift+S" will drive me into the ground. Pretty please? :-* :-* :-*

    Cheers
    Just a note; you can create presets from the different selection options, in case that helps.

    Quote Originally Posted by SickBoii View Post
    ...and while I'm at it - why doesn't ArtRage remember which file is open at the moment? Every time I want to save a new iteration I get the default "untitled.ptg" in the dialog box. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of versions I make, and I'd like ArtRage to do that for me.

    Thx
    It's not that ArtRage doesn't remember, it's that 'Save As' usually requires a new file name anyway and people have very different preferences for the naming conventions they'd like to see.

    However, if you turn on the backup saves in preferences, and save repeatedly, you'll end up with a series of save files with similar names (then save as to avoid messing with them!).

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
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    ...about holding spacebar

    When a graphic is selected with "Select Layer Content..." it is needed to code that when the spacebar is down a click in the canvas (to move the canvas) is not meant to "commit" the changes of the graphic. That is... going out of selection mode.

    Hope it makes sense.

    Mic

    Edit: The same goes for the Option Key.
    Last edited by Micmac; 11-03-2015 at 09:11 PM.

  5. #5
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    Thank you very much for the quick and constructive reply!

    I do admit, yesterday "ArtRage" was less about art and more about rage for me. :-)
    Let me firstly emphasize, where ArtRage is good - it's fantastic! No other software can compare in the segment of brushes and the way they interact with the canvas. None. Up until ArtRage, I didn't realize digital painting can be as fun and easy as in real life, without thinking of technical aspects when one wants to achieve certain result.

    Unfortunately, though, there are places where, to my mind, revision is still very much required. Since I've come from Photoshop (as probably everybody here), I'm biased towards Photoshop's ergonomy and transfer to a new one can be a pain. So, in general, no hard feelings, you've got a wonderful and inexpensive piece of software here and even if you charged ten times more, it would still be well worth the price. It's just that this user and ArtRage don't see eye to eye sometimes. :-)

    As for the complaints, the thing with space bar is that it's as if it doesn't react sometimes. After I posted this, I paid even more attention to when and how it happens. And it's simply that on some occasions there's either a delay or a complete failure to register the bar being pressed (hence the popup message). Often it happens in combination with Ctrl (when I want to pan and zoom in quick succession), but also when I press and release space too quickly in a row. Again, I must mention that there is nothing wrong with the keyboard I have (although it's even cheaper than the tablet :-)). Also, I checked whether it's in interaction with the tablet, but using "space" with mouse produces the same result.

    When it comes to preset selections, yes they are helpful, but simply not as quick to use for me as would the shortcut keys be. I figure, since one can attribute shortcut keys to practically everything in ArtRage, why not to types of selection as well?

    And as for "Save As" - I simply wish that it behaved as in most other software, where the name of file you opened is readily available for reedit (adding the increment number or so...). I turned the backup on, if it does okay, I'll drop a line. Many thanks!

    (Edit: export option already features retained file name for a long time now, and I often use it to track down the exact name and iteration of the file I'm working on)

    Cheers
    Last edited by SickBoii; 11-04-2015 at 06:17 AM.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by SickBoii View Post
    Unfortunately, though, there are places where, to my mind, revision is still very much required. Since I've come from Photoshop (as probably everybody here)...
    Actually, a lot of users come from purely traditional art - we do try and make as much of ArtRage compatible with Photoshop as possible (e.g. shortcuts, blend modes), but we're not targeting it specifically at a Photoshop audience.



    Quote Originally Posted by SickBoii View Post
    As for the complaints, the thing with space bar is that it's as if it doesn't react sometimes. After I posted this, I paid even more attention to when and how it happens. And it's simply that on some occasions there's either a delay or a complete failure to register the bar being pressed (hence the popup message). Often it happens in combination with Ctrl (when I want to pan and zoom in quick succession), but also when I press and release space too quickly in a row. Again, I must mention that there is nothing wrong with the keyboard I have (although it's even cheaper than the tablet :-)). Also, I checked whether it's in interaction with the tablet, but using "space" with mouse produces the same result.
    (BTW, I edited my first message right after I posted it. I'm not sure which version you're responding to).

    I've been hammering my space bar since you first posted, and haven't been able to replicate this, but:

    1. Do you have the Select tool active when the problems happen? If so, it sounds like you're clicking on the canvas and creating a tiny active selection that you can't see.

    If you click before pressing the space bar (e.g. this can happen if you're doing it very quickly), the click will take precedence and ignore the space bar, which means that you can't move the canvas contents around, only the Selection. Hold space, then click.

    2. If you press Ctrl + Space at the same time, it will zoom instead. You can see the full range of canvas movement shortcuts in the Modifiers list at the top of https://www.artrage.com/manuals/artr...oard-commands/

    3. If you're getting a pop up, this means that it IS registering, it's just not allowing. We need more details about where you're clicking, what layer you're on, and what selection(s) you have active. If you don't think you have any selections active, press Ctrl +D to clear all selections and try again.

    Actually, rather than try and troubleshoot this here, can you drop us an email at [email protected]? We'll also need to know which version of ArtRage you're using and what OS you have.


    Quote Originally Posted by SickBoii View Post
    When it comes to preset selections, yes they are helpful, but simply not as quick to use for me as would the shortcut keys be. I figure, since one can attribute shortcut keys to practically everything in ArtRage, why not to types of selection as well?

    And as for "Save As" - I simply wish that it behaved as in most other software, where the name of file you opened is readily available for reedit (adding the increment number or so...). I turned the backup on, if it does okay, I'll drop a line. Many thanks!
    It is good to get feedback on this sort of thing, and we will pay attention to it while developing new updates, but we also have reasons for not doing them. So definitely noted, but don't get your hopes up, basically.

  7. #7
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    Well... I've been drawing and painting ever since my kindergarten years, and I'm nearing my fifties now.
    That pretty much makes me a member of the "traditional" art, too. But that's beside the point.
    Photoshop is simply the convention for ergonomics when it comes to digital art. They're not "be all end all" but they got a great majority of things right.

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