Line Width Magnet Mode (Wait, what?)

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Greenlaw
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Line Width Magnet Mode (Wait, what?)

Post by Greenlaw »

I'm probably the last person to notice this feature but this morning I discovered Magnet Mode for the Line Width tool.

I was animating a long 'brush line' curve with a very irregular stroke width through another curve using Follow Path, and because there were so many points along the 'brush line' art curve, I was wishing there was a way to adjust the line thickness with a fall-off brush.

That's when I happen to see the Magnet Mode option in the Line Width Tool options. So I clicked it on and, whaddya know, Line Width now did exactly what I needed. :shock:

To use it, enable the Magnet Mode option, then hover the cursor over the region you want to make thicker or thinner. A red circle will appear just like one for the regular Magnet tool. Next, click drag the mouse L/R and the stroke will get thinner/thicker inside the circle region with a fall-off effect at the edge of the circle. Just like with the regular Magnet, you can change the circle size by using Alt+LMB and dragging.

I'm sure this option must have been in Moho forever (I see it in 12.5 too,) but since it completely slipped past my radar, I wanted to point it out for others who may have missed it. Line Width Magnet Mode is probably going to save me a few hours of work today and save my mousing hand from extra fatigue.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Mon Mar 06, 2023 8:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Line Width Magnet Mode (Wait, what?)

Post by Greenlaw »

Important tip: To use the Line Width tool's Magnet Mode. make sure you don't have any points selected in the curve you want to edit. If any points are selected, the Magnet circle will not appear, and the tool just scales each point in the selection by adding and subtracting from their current values.

I guess Moho is assuming that when you have points selected, you want to edit the widths of only those selected points. Basically, if points are selected, Moho will ignore that Magnet Mode has been enabled.

However, I assumed that the Line Width in Magnet Mode would still have a fall-off affect on the selection, kinda like how the regular Magnet does when the Selected Points Only option is enabled. Perhaps this option needs to be added to the Line Width tool as well?

Anyway, I'm still finding this option incredibly useful this morning.
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SuperSGL
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Re: Line Width Magnet Mode (Wait, what?)

Post by SuperSGL »

Your not alone. The width tool pretty much does what it says so I never paid attention to the top bar. This adds some nice smoother line widths. It doesn't seem to have any fall off which would be nice actually. But glad you found this!
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Greenlaw
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Re: Line Width Magnet Mode (Wait, what?)

Post by Greenlaw »

Actually, it does have fall off...

Image

You just have to be sure to not have any points selected when using this mode.

And thank goodness, because if it didn't have fall off, it would not have been so useful to me today! :D
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Greenlaw
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Re: Line Width Magnet Mode (Wait, what?)

Post by Greenlaw »

Or did you mean pressure sensitivity? I can see how it would be cool if this could be controlled by a stylus and used like a brush with pressure to set the line widths.

But even without that, this feature has been a great timesaver for me today.
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negroclarito
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Re: Line Width Magnet Mode (Wait, what?)

Post by negroclarito »

I didn't know either :roll: :roll: and I haven't seen any tutorials talking about this.
Nice to know this feature. Thanks :D :D :D
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DK
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Re: Line Width Magnet Mode (Wait, what?)

Post by DK »

Nice pickup there Greenlaw!Like it was mentioned earlier, I never thought to look at the top bar while in Line Width mode.
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D.K
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