Feature request for drawing mirrored straight lines
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Yup, FreeHand has a wonderful and intuitive Mirror function. There are so many things in FreeHand that after all these years is missing in so-called industry standards (f*** Adobe for killing FreeHand).
Look up FreeHand's Find & Replace Function. It is a global function, meaning, you can apply it equally for text as well as shapes. That is unmatched for it's sheer power.
I will record a series of videos and post to show all the things you can take from FreeHand. Bezigon is at the top of the pile - as I've already said - as it immediately makes vector drawing a lot easier. Find & Replace comes next.
Then you get the Punch & Union Boolean operations.
Then you the Xtras operations, such as smudge, mirror and so on.
Me and my design colleagues (who are actually lecturers in the University of Reading and Hertfordshire's renowned design program) have also been working on a system to analyse and simplify design tools. It's a simple matrix that identifies operations and functions that need to be merged, thus creating a more logical, coherent and minimalistic UI.
This is not a criticism, but VS has an enormous amount of tools, which, often splinters logically related functions and creates too much clutter in the toolbox. I'll do my small part in helping you simplify this and make VS good.
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@VectorStyler: If you would like to access FreeHand, I can share my license with you so you can play around on your computer. Please let me know and I'll email it to you. https://archive.org/download/FreeHandMX/FreeHand MX Installer.exe - the installer for the last version of FreeHand is here. You can use it for a month on free trial, but I have a paid for license. This was from back in the day when you could have unlimited activations.
Let me know!
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@Daniel said in Feature request for drawing mirrored straight lines:
If you would like to access FreeHand
I have access to Freehand, but it is not running on any OSes I can use now.
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@VectorStyler: It works perfectly on Windows 11, 24H2, the latest version. Which version are you using?
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@Daniel said in Feature request for drawing mirrored straight lines:
Which version are you using?
I have used the latest Freehand MX from Adobe on Windows 8 some years ago, but that machine is gone now.
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I see. Fair enough. If you don't have windows, unfortunately, you can't use it. I can't be sure whether it works on Mac. I've stopped using Mac ages ago...
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@Daniel It is not working on Mac (10.6 was the last, pre-intel).
I will try the Windows 10 or 11.
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@VectorStyler You can try installing a Windows emulator, which might solve your issue.
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@Daniel The Find & Replace feature is a significant characteristic of Freehand, and I have yet to encounter it in other programs. If VS were to incorporate this full set of functionalities, it would be immensely enhanced.
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@monsterfox: Completely agree. Not many users might be aware of yet another possibility within FreeHand. But you can literally turn any function within the program into an icon in your toolbox. When you go to Windows, Toolbox, Customize, this calls up a window that shows the entire program's function alongside icons for all the functions. You can drag these into the toolbox and create your own toolbox. This includes quite literally every program function from print, export, down to the very last function in the pull-down menus. I've emailed you @VectorStyler privately with suggestion for a simplified toolbox view.
The only other program that can do this PhotoLine. Which, again, has a huge legacy, going right back to the Atari System of the late eighties. The original program was called tms Cranach. Two brothers brought it and rebranded it PhotoLine, built new functions on top of it. Cranach was a rock solid program on it's own.
Likewise, Xara was one of the first programs to introduce vector feathering, anti-aliasing and so on. It was built, first in assembly-level code for ARM RISC architecture computers, and was called ArtWorks. The program was so cutting edge and beyond its times that Corel, another bastard corporation bought the program's marketing rights, tried to completely kill it. Xara never found the market share it deserved. Xara and FreeHand should have been the norm. Instead shitty Adobe became the norm.
The point is not be swept away by modern AI crap and new toys that perform really niche but useless functions, but to really focus on the basics and get it so right that the program can continue to have a legacy. That's why FreeHand, after long it's dead, continues to live.
VS is well on it's way there. But I'd like the developer to avoid the trap of trying to be too Adobesque. Adobe is indeed the better PRODUCT. But users can't make a living with merely a good product. We need a good PROGRAM. Rock-solid, stable under pressure, lightning-speed rendering, meaningful functions, intuitive and easy to use and ultimately, non-subscription.
Screw big corporations. Let's get back to the 80s ethos of building rock solid software.
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@monsterfox: Now posted as a separate feature request.
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I was a Xara user and still have a copy on my computer.
Bought a Steam version on sale, its still useful in some cases.
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Still my go to program for layout work. Eats Publisher and InDesign for breakfast in terms of speed. The only VECTOR program with multi page table that's not InDesign or Quark Express.
