Known Participant

Question

PLEASE PLEASE adobe. The new pencil tool has become unusuble to me

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
January 21, 2014
15 replies
25716 views

Sorry for the dramatic subject but this is true, for me. but the pencil tool is my most used tool for my work.

I've used it for many many years and its the basis of everything I do in Illustrator which i use 99% of my work. (i havent even touched the pen tool for many years)

When I saw it was updated I was happy it finally got some attention and decided to give it a try.

Now I'm devastated to see the direction it's taken

I've used the pencil tool on the lowest fidelity 0.5px smoothness 0% setting for many many years.

So that when I draw the result I want is almost exactly what my hand draws and not a smoothed/math generated path.

In the new pencil tool settings the lowest "accurate" preset its still very smooth and controling and gives an output that is not at all something i can use.

Actually I cant draw anything in the style desired with it. Its like it has its own life and decides the outcome of what i draw. This is because of the few anchor points and smoothness.

Not all artists wants their drawings to have that smoothed perfect rounded edge with few anchor points.

Im sure many will like it and its good its there for them but this cripples illustrator to a forced style not everybody wants.

Why lock down the pencil tool to such few and controling presets???

The "accurate" needs to be more sensitive to the hand movement or bring back the old settings.

For example the lowest setting in earlier version was fidelity 0.5px smoothing 0%.

This is more accurate to what you actually draw. Why cant this also exist?!?!

For example when im trying to draw the silhouette of an eye or head shape as accurate as I can, when im done drawing and release my wacom pen cursor i get an roundish smooth blob now that doesnt look and feel as i want. Starting to adjust this shape with other tools is very time consuming and doesnt even then produce my desired result and above all doesnt feel like drawing. Feels like im plotting stuff around.

I need to be able to set the presets to finer detail so that i get many anchor points like before which give the possibility to draw in detail and make "turns" with the pencil that make corners, rugged edges etc.

I know I can continue to use my cs4 version but some day that could be too old for the modern technology coming and it feels now that for me illustrator has been given a death sentence, in my case.

Sorry again for being so dramatic and long in my writing but its really a disaster for illustrators who want to draw in illustrator and have it as accurate as possible to the hand.

Finding another way of drawing my illustrations is pretty nuts after all these years invested with illustrator.

Please Adobe can you fix this? save the pencil tool in this regard.

I dont know how but Im willing to help in any way I can as this is very important to me.

PS the removal of the handy smooth tool shortcut is also a very cumbersome remake. There is already and open discussion about this http://forums.adobe.com/message/6032965#6032965

(This is for the illustrator 17.1 update. I use 15" macbook pro retina computer with wacom cintiq 13hd drawing tablet)

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danielevangarza

Participant

hey all, if you are going to file a bug report (as per Neeraj's suggestion), i've made up a draft to make the process easier. feel free to adjust it as much as you want, obviously; trying to equip us busy folk.

Obviously customer service & product development are two different departments, so if you're bummin out on the new functionality, submit a bug report!

link to submit bug report:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

******BUG******
Concise problem statement:
I was told to by Neeraj N(staff) to report this issue based on this link : (http://forums.adobe.com/message/6065706).
The Pencil / Brush tools have lost essential functionality with the addition of the new accurate / smooth adjustment preset. Users are no longer able to specify high-accuracy pen mapping, as the finest accuracy setting is now set to 2.5px (legacy versions allowed accuracy to .5px).
I would think adding additional slider nodes to allow more accurate mapping (while still using the accurate / smooth preset) allow for a minimal change in programming with a maximum return for power users.
Steps to reproduce bug:
1. open illustrator
2. use either pencil or brush tool.
3. draw erratic and high detail shapes
Results: shapes are smoothed to 2.5px smoothness, even when the accurate / smooth adjustment preset is set to full accuracy.
Expected results: shapes have minimal / no smoothing to maintain the integrity of the artwork.
Thank you for your consideration.

N

ncicAuthor

Known Participant

thanks danielevangarza for the bug report template. saved time

I

ioio_d

Participating Frequently

Why oh why.... I cannot believe this is a new "feature" of illustrator. At first I thought it's a major bug or they simply forgot to implement the smoothness slider within the update. This software doesn't deserve its name anymore because it isn't possible to draw a single line exactly how the real illustrator wants the line to be.

I now have to rethink my complete working process... or reinstall the old crappy version.

Are there any (software) alternatives? I guess not...

Thanks to danielevangarza - bug report submitted.

Joe

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danielevangarza

Participant

alright, if anyone is looking for a mean time solution, you can

-visit creative.adobe.com, click on the illustrator page,

-scroll to the version toggle (about halfway down the page)

-select "ILLUSTRATOR CS6" and

-download & install to your creative cloud account.

this allows you to download cs6 on your computer as your illustrator login. the pen & pencil work from there.

from what i've tested, you can have both open & installed on one cloud account.

hope this helps.

I

illustratorician

Participant

Huh! That's a mean-time solution, as you said. Thanks.

But for how long? Do you think they are working on bringing back the functionality we were so used to over these many years? Why should I be running two versions, side-by-side & constantly switching between them.

Illustrator has been my most used tool over the last 15 years or so and it has become so ingrained in my whole being. It is the first app I fire up on waking.

With these kind of changes to the Pencil Tool and Direct Selection Tool, I have to dump my expertise & familiarity and re-learn these rotten new ways of working with my everyday tools.

As someone pointed out, where were the beta testers? I believe they've pre-release testers too. Do they really test this out? Why didn't they point out the drawbacks/limitations of these changes to the Pencil Tool and Direct Selection Tool?

The Pencil Tool needs to get back these things, imo:

- Fidelity and Smoothness as separate settings so that we can control them independently of each other (as earlier). I don't understand how Fidelity can vary between Accurate and Smooth.

- Make these settings available in the Control panel when the Pencil Tool is selected so that one can make changes on the fly.

- Somehow bring back the ability to switch to Smooth Tool with some shortcut, like before. Even though the ability to draw straight lines (with Alt/Opt key) is really useful and a welcome addition, it has come at the cost of being able to switch to Smooth Tool.

The Direct Selection Tool needs to get back these things, imo:

- Reshaping with this tool has to go (or at least add a preference). Bring it back to its former glory - remember that it is one of the most used tool for many users. It is the simplest tools to understand, there are no nuances to it - which is also its greatest strength. Adding cumbersome additional functionality (Reshaping, Live Corners) to it has now made it a complex tool. What else can I expect this tool to do in future - Paint with it, Erase with it?

Hope Adobe is listening! Or are they going to say 'unless we hear from ten thousand unique users...'

rcraighead

Legend

illustratorician,

I am in absolute agreement with your post. The 17.1 release of Illustrator has set us back YEARS. I hope you have posted these same words in the Adobe bug/feature page:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

I have spoken with an Adobe tech support individual who acknowledge these capabilities are lost in the new version. I am still trying to fathom what Adobe is thinking.

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danielevangarza

Participant

i agree completely. a terrible "update" to my most used tool.

rcraighead

Legend

Couldn't agree more. Where were the beta testers!!?? I cannot believe these concerns were not made known to Adobe.

rcraighead

Legend

Agreed! You are not too dramatic. Adobe needs to realize how serious and debilitating these changes are and how they effect long-time users.

DrStrik9

Inspiring

I think Adobe needs to make the "Accurate" setting for the new pencil FAR more, um, "accurate." Let "Accurate" be exactly like the original pencil tool. Then allow up to 12 variations (as opposed to TWO) between Accurate and Smooth, in the Pencil Tool Options. Then everyone will LOVE the new Pencil Tool.

ssalln84

Participant

Also it might be useful to make the Pencil Tool Preferences open in a 'Modeless' (non-modal) manner so that it could be invoked with the path selected and any changes made in the dialog would affect the selected path. So if the path is too accurate, I can change it to be smoother and vice-versa.

This would also somewhat alleviate the need for switching to the Smooth Tool, although not fully because the changes made in the dialog would affect the entire path, not just certain sections of the path which I could do in the past.

F

ferdydurke

Participant

For whatever it's worth, I am in the same boat, and agree with everything you wrote.

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