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Questions about the Updated Paint.net Documentation


Cc4FuzzyHuggles

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Hello. I am excited that the paint.net Documentation has been updated to paint.net 4.0+. Thank You For The Update! Your hard work is appreciated.  :cake:

I've been visiting it to get acquainted with the new look, feel, and layout. As I have been exploring the new documentation though, I have a few questions.

 

About the line/curve tool page, there are a couple of things that I don't see mentioned. I'm not sure if I am simply over-looking them, or if they really aren't there.

 

-- On the line/curve page, where is an explanation on what the white square with arrows is? And/or what it does? Also, does this square have a name?

It's a really cool new feature, you would think anyone would understand it by simply clicking on it, but I am noticing that some people aren't realizing that they can move their lines/curves by clicking, holding, and dragging the white square. If possible, I would like to help these people as they use the new 4.0+ line/curve tool, by pointing them to the pdn doc.

 

-- I know there is the shortcut key list, but regarding the line/curve tool's page, is there a place where using arrow keys is mentioned?

Grab a handle and use the arrows on the keyboard to move the handle one pixel at a time. Grab the white square and use the arrows on the keyboard to move the entire line/curve one pixel at a time.

 

-- Is there an explanation on how to rotate the line/curve tool?

I personally wouldn't have known that the line/curve tool has a rotate ability if I didn't go through the 4.0 beta development stages, because the tool's ability to rotate changed several times during 4.0's beta releases, going from being the same as the shapes tool, to being gone, to only working when right-clicking on the white square (possible glitch for me), to finally gaining it's current right-click anywhere function. I'm really happy the nice little rotate trick got to stick around.

However, the way to rotate a line/curve isn't super obvious. Many new users don't realize right-clicking functions unless the functions are pointed out to them, once the simplicity of right-clicking is known though, right-clicking is like a hidden discovery that new users end up raving about.

Also, if compared to the shapes tool, the shapes tool gets rotate arrows when the mouse cursor is hovered near certain areas, but the line/curve tool only rotates by clicking with the right mouse button, holding, and then dragging.

However, what is similar to the shapes tool, is that lines/curves can rotate at restrained angels when holding shift.

Have I overlooked the line/curve tool's rotation explanations?

 

-- Is there some kind of shortcut key to toggle between the two curve modes now?

I like how right-clicking lets us rotate the line/curve tool, but at the same time I really miss being able to toggle between the cubic and Bézier curves by simply left clicking or right clicking. A lot of people didn't realize the line/curve tool had two modes in the older versions of pdn, but for those of us who did, the left/right clicking ease of use was great. Instead of left/right clicking to toggle between the modes, is there at least a shortcut key?

 

-- Is there still a way to use arrow keys + another key to move items 10 pixels at a time? I couldn't find out how with the line/curve tool.

 

 

A question that's not about the line/curve tool.

-- Zooming! :D Zooming almost feels fun with all the different ways we can zoom. But is there an all in one place that tells about the variety of ways to zoom?

We have the zooming under the "view" in the menu bar, we have the zooming tool and it's functions, plus the ctrl + mouse wheel, and we have the zooming controls at the bottom right of paint.net. Each thing, for what I can see, is explained in their rightful places in the documentation, but at the same time they are all spread out, and they have no references to each other, with the exception of the scroll wheel being mentioned on the same page as the zoom tool.

 

 

Last question, and it's not about what's in the documentation.

-- When I'm on the paint.net forums, where or how do I get to the "getpaint.net" website and the "paint.net documentation" ?

 

 

I hope these questions aren't too bothersome. Thanks for any answers.

Edited by Cc4FuzzyHuggles
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On the line/curve page, where is an explanation on what the white square with arrows is? And/or what it does? Also, does this square have a name?

 

Missing. Missing. Fred :lol:

 

 

 

regarding the line/curve tool's page, is there a place where using arrow keys is mentioned?

Grab a handle and use the arrows on the keyboard to move the handle one pixel at a time. Grab the white square and use the arrows on the keyboard to move the entire line/curve one pixel at a time.

 

Arrow keys and rotation are mentioned here: http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/KeyboardMouseCommands.html

 

 

 

Is there some kind of shortcut key to toggle between the two curve modes now?

 

I don't know. I haven't found one. I'll ask Rick.

 

 

 

Is there still a way to use arrow keys + another key to move items 10 pixels at a time?

 

Used to be that the Ctrl + arrow keys moved by a larger increment. I'm not sure if there is a modifier in pdn 4.

 

 

 

But is there an all in one place that tells about the variety of ways to zoom?

 

They should all be covered in the Keyboard commands page linked above.

 

 

 

hen I'm on the paint.net forums, where or how do I get to the "getpaint.net" website and the "paint.net documentation" ?

 

There is a list of URL's in the documentation: http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/WebLinks.html

 

What I've done is simply bookmarked these URL's

 

Documentation: http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/index.html

 

paint.net website: http://www.getpaint.net/index.html

You've raised some excellent points Fuzzy. Thank you. I'll raise these with the documentation team and see what we need to fix.

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Arrow keys and rotation are mentioned here:http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/KeyboardMouseCommands.html.

 

404 - Not Found

 

EER - Thank you

 

"-- Is there still a way to use arrow keys + another key to move items 10 pixels at a time? I couldn't find out how with the line/curve tool."

 

FuzzyHuggles - Hold Ctrl + Alt while (Fred) the square handle is showing and move with arrow keys.

 

Was my PDN acting up?

Edited by doughty

 



 

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  • 2 weeks later...

@Fuzzy - We're updating the online documentation website as a direct result of some of your suggestions. ETA is around a week. Give or take. It depends of how busy we all are :mrgreen:

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Please do. I've already made several changes and additions as a direct result of discussions on the forum.

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Just curious, how are you guys managing the docs?

Because I was using the original pdn_help.dwt for my page until just this month when I finally decided to move to a different system.

I'm now migrating to Hugo which is quite the upgrade from Expression Web + Dynamic Web Template.

sig.jpg.7f312affa740bae49243c4439bc4a244.jpg

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I wrote* the latest version of the website (html5 + CSS) using PSPad. I'm kind of old school and like to assemble web pages by hand :lol:

Now that the website is live, we have migrated to GitHub to handle management of the docs (changes and revisions). I'm using Visual Studio to write new content and code because the GitHub extension makes integration a breeze.

*When I say 'I' I mean that I wrote the code for the layout and most of the new content. Technorobbo did an awesome job creating the images. Red Ochre, David Atwell, BoltBait & of course Rick assisted me greatly during the process. It really was a collaboration. One I'm rather proud of.

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@Fuzzy - We're updating the online documentation website as a direct result of some of your suggestions. ETA is around a week. Give or take. It depends of how busy we all are :mrgreen:

Done! Shape tool and Line/Curve tools updated (plus a few more minor edits).

If you don't see a revision date of October you may need to press F5 to reload the page.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just noticed I never replied to this.

 

Thank you so much for the update! I have enjoyed it. The line/curve tool is one of the tools I use the most. It's great seeing it's full list of hot keys. <3:cake::pizza:

 

 

However, sometimes how to move the line/curve tool doesn't work for me as the documentation explains.

 

For my paint.net 4.0+, I often have to click the four way arrow icon first, and then use the arrows keys, or sometimes I have to click and hold the icon and then at the same time use the arrow keys. Until I click the four way arrow icon, the arrow keys specifically move my mouse cursor, not the object, nubs, lines, etc. When the mouse cursor clicks the four way icon, or is holding something, whether that be a nub or the little four way icon, what it holds will then move with the cursor. So, to move something, I need to click or click and hold.

Edited by Cc4FuzzyHuggles
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