why is smart guides called smart guides?

[arnoudh25213001]

I have started learning rhino 6 and I've found that a lot of features that are missing in illustrator: drawing lines perpendicular to a surface, drawing paralel to other lines, creating rectangles by creating a line for the base and selecting a point for the height (and lots of other really useful functions like this that don't make much sense when I explain them without pictures). But the one feature I wan't to stress that is totally missing in illustrator are: smart guides. 

In rhino 6 you can actually select and deselect which specific elements you want to snap to. There is some selectivity accesable hidden within menu after menu, but it's nothing compared to the options in rhino 6. Plus, they are always visible in a button toolbar, so I don't need to click menu after menu which is another big issue I have with using illustrator anyways.

Now here's what you can't do in illustrator and can do in rhino 6: snap to center of a shape, middle of a path, a quad ( the point where a path changes direction along x or y axis) and every other thing that would create a snappable axis in illustrator. Except with illustrator you can't select which things to snap to. If the center of a circle is close to an anchor point in either y or x distance, you're screwed. Besides, all too regularly smart guides isn't doing it's job properly... I don't understand why after existing for over a decade this hasn't changed.

another thing, you can select any of aforementioned points and create a perpendicular snapping vertex relative to the direction of the line you're creating. (another really useful function that's difficult to explain). I could've saved soooo much time if these options existed in illustrator. I spent a lot of time creating lines that would intersect point so I could have a smart guide at the right place, or hiding objects so they wouldn't interfere... What a waste. If I'd known that not being flexible was just an illustrator thing I wouldn't have wasted so much time with it. 

Don't get me wrong, illustrator excels at a lot of things, but in other ways it's stupidly behind. 

I'm mostly posting this for relieving some pent up frustration. But at the same time, maybe it can be useful for people to realize that illustrator isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Also for people who will argue that some of the functions I've mentioned do exist in illustrator (if you download plug-ins or some function hidden far away in some sub-menu) I've spent 100s of hours with illustrator at this point I did 2 courses of 20 hours each. YET I don't know these functions, whereas I've spent a total of 5 hours with rhino 6 at this point. If I have to look on the internet for 20 minutes to find a function: it's not really there.

Ok, bye and thank you for sitting through my rant

[arnoudh25213001]

oh and another thing in rhiho 6 you can actually choose between selecting object touching the selection rectangle or everything within it, so no endlessly manually selecting or deselecting objects (that's different from selecting just anchor points) oh and you can select based on object type: select all point or closed shapes, curves, etc.

Ok now I'm totally done, but there's endless more lacking functions like that, just take it from me

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Please post feature requests to http://illustrator.uservoice.com

That's where the developars read.