Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Product)

Moho allows users to write new tools and plugins. Discuss scripting ideas and problems here.

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synthsin75
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by synthsin75 »

Greenlaw wrote:Does it allow you to arbitrarily shift selected shapes to any position in the stacking order in a layer? If so, I must have missed that in the docs. Is it a key command? If it's something as simple as (modifier key)-Up or -Down, I can really use right now.

Some stuff I'm almost certain 10.1 doesn't do that this script did in 9.5:

1. I liked being able to bring together multiple selected shapes with a single mouse click. This made it easier to manage and organize complex layers that contained many dozens of shapes. I don't think 10.1 does that but I could be wrong.

2. How about applying the style of the bottom shape to all selected shapes? That was a cool feature.

3. One other thing I really appreciated about the script was the numerical display that showed you the stacking order number of a selected shape. The UI allowed you to drag that position number up and down much more conveniently than the limited menu commands in 9.5 (which as far as I can tell hasn't changed in 10.1.)
Yeah, there are still some useful things missing, but this script may be overkill now that most of its functionality has been absorbed by AS. The arrow keys allow you to move one or more selected shapes up & down in the stack order, and pushing multiple shapes to the top or bottom does bring them together.

AS still has the same push and pull styles modifiers but now with multiple shapes, so yes, you can simply click a shape with the right modifier to have its style propagated to all selected shapes.

No numeric display of stack order though, which is why almost every select shape mod has one. The point is that smaller features like this can now be added without trying to do things AS now does natively. But I never bought Rudigers script myself (I didn't want to be tempted to borrow any of his methods, seeing as he was selling it), so I can't update it, but the details are above. It's pretty simple search and replace.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

synthsin75,

Cool! Thanks for the info. I can't wait to check this out when I get home tonight. It may not be everything I miss about the mod but what you described is a lot more native functionality in 10.1 than I thought I had. :D

G
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Greenlaw
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

Arrow keys...imagine that. For some reason I thought the normal arrow keys were already assigned to something else. I also see that Shift-Up and Shift-Down are equivalents for Raise to Top and Lower to Bottom. Cool beans!

I just re-read your post about how to propagate a style to selections and tried it out. Works perfectly, although the short cut is ctrl-left-click. Just mentioning that in case anybody else is trying this feature for the first time.

Thanks again! Your tips have already saved a lot of mileage on my mouse since yesterday. :)

G.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Sat Sep 13, 2014 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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synthsin75
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by synthsin75 »

Glad I could help. I know it's not everything you had with Rudiger's tool, but shy of someone updating it for non-scripters, at least AS now has much of its functionality built-in.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

Oh, I just realized what else I'm missing from the mod: the ability to convert from shape to point selection and back again. It's really useful when a shape is being occluded by another shape. I know that probably sounds like an odd thing to want but I'm running into that right now. (It was also something I ran into a few times during 'Scareplane'.)

Do we have an equivalent for this in 10.1? I'm guessing this info was contained in a 'read me' file that I must have overlooked. Off to look for that now.

G.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

Oh, disregard that last post...I see now that 10.1 actually does that but I have to be on the Create Shape tool to do the switch, not the Select Shape tool. Nevermind. :)

G.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

Um, disregard my disregard. I really need that switch to work with the Select Shape tool, not Create Shape. Oh, well. :p

I did find the info on the shortcuts though...I guess I hadn't looked far enough down that list in the manual.
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synthsin75
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by synthsin75 »

Greenlaw wrote:Oh, I just realized what else I'm missing from the mod: the ability to convert from shape to point selection and back again. It's really useful when a shape is being occluded by another shape.
The select shape tool has always had the ability to select lower, hidden shapes using Ctrl+arrow. Just select the shape covering it and use Ctrl+arrow to select the lower shape/s.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

The situation just now was that I needed to select a shape that was completely occluded by another shape and bring it forward. I can select the points with the Select Points tool but not the Select Shape tool to bring it forward.

With the mod, all I had to do was select the points through the shape, press the shortcut to convert the selection to a shape selection and shift it up and I was done. Additionally, this kept the shape in its original position, which is always preferable if not necessary.

What I had do instead was selection the points through the occluding shape, switch to transform and offset the shape so it was no longer occluded, switch to the shape selection tool to select it and shift it upwards, then go back the the transform tool to reposition it approximately to its original position. Not saying this is the only way to do this (it's probably not)--it's just what I wound up doing because I couldn't find an easier way.

(Yes, I know I'm being difficult.)

Hmm...now that I'm thinking about this, I guess I could have just selected the occluded shape and then cut and pasted it to the top. Oh, well. I think I just need to get used to not having this tool anymore as it's not nearly as essential as it once was. :p

G.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

Oh, wait, I totally misread what you wrote. Just tried it out again and now I see what you mean and it absolutely works for me.

Nevermind...nothing to see here. :oops:

G.
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

Maybe not...I thought I had this figured out but exactly how do you select the occluded shape using ctrl-arrow with Shape Selection tool?

At first I thought this was working for me but I just did a test where I moved second small shape under a larger shape but I'm not able to select the new shape with the Shape Selection tool using ctrl-arrow--instead, it keeps selecting the first occluded shape.

I know it's just me but there's something I'm just not getting here.

G.
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by Greenlaw »

Okay, now I get it: it's Ctrl-Down after attempting to select the occluded shape. Then the arrow command will select the item at the location you previously clicked but behind the occluding shape. It works, though I have to say the procedure seems a bit convoluted. But I shouldn't complain...at least there is a way to do this. :)
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synthsin75
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Re: Multi-select mod for SelectShape tool (Requires CP Produ

Post by synthsin75 »

Greenlaw wrote:Okay, now I get it: it's Ctrl-Down after attempting to select the occluded shape. Then the arrow command will select the item at the location you previously clicked but behind the occluding shape. It works, though I have to say the procedure seems a bit convoluted. But I shouldn't complain...at least there is a way to do this. :)
Yeah, you're getting the hang of it. But to be clear, it's not just "the location you previously clicked" but the current cursor location when you hit ctrl+down as well. Both have to be over the hidden shape. It becomes second nature once you're use to it, and this behavior has been around since the Moho days (although IMO, aside from having the above shape selected, the location of the previous click really shouldn't be a factor, as it could make it seem more convoluted than necessary).

These are some of the reasons I always suggest people become very familiar with AS out-of-the-box (and really pour through the manual) before adding any third party scripts. That's one downside to AS being so intuitive and easy to just start animating with.
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