Suggestion for a macro or new command for CDR 2024.
With CAD programs Noun/Verb selection is an option.
Select the objects you want to work with this being the "noun".Then you select the command to be executed on those selected objects with this being the "verb".
For example: I want to combine all these lines together. With Noun/Verb selection I can select all the lines without having to use the SHIFT key. Then I use the COMBINE command. After selecting all the lines I can deselect a line by using the SHIFT key and selecting that line. This does not change the other lines which have been selected.
This Noun/Verb section could be an added command on the PICK tool flyout
Same as in the case with Freehand Pick pressing Alt+P cancels Noun/Verb section.
What are your thoughts?
Cheers!
To me, a lot of stuff in CorelDRAW already use a lot of noun/verb, to the extent that so many tasks are "select, then do" in nature.
Are you just getting at specific aspects of building up complex selections, i.e., the risk of accidentally "clicking on nothing" and losing a complex selection that you were in the process of building up?
Yes, that is correct. Yes, CorelDRAW already uses noun/verb but for a single object unless the shift key is held down allowing selecting multiple objects. If I forget to use the shift key when adding an object to a selection set then the selection set is lost.
Also it's not obvious to know if some objects are selected or not as in the sample image where the grey lines hide the dashed selection indication. What would be better is the only end nodes of the curve are shown as in AutoCAD.
By the way your circles on ends macro is a real time saver, I use it everyday!
Are you already familiar with "selection groups" in CorelDRAW?
It's not an easy feature to discover, because it's only accessible through shortcut keys; not in any menus or toolbars.
It can be very useful for creating complex selections - and even some selections that are impossible to create using the normal selection tools.
No I am not familiar with "selection groups" in CorelDRAW
Google search:
https://learn.corel.com/tips/creating-selection-group/
1. Click the Pick tool, hold down Shift, and click each object that you want to include in the selection group.
2 . Press Ctrl + a number from 0 to 9.
The number you pressed is associated with the new selection group.
I see this enables you to save a selection group, however you still must use the shift key when selecting the objects.
However I was wanting to do away with having to hold down the shift key. If there was a way to use the shift key like caps lock that would be a way to go. Toggle the shift key like caps lock. I'll have to look into that as it may be a Windows feature.
Note also the tip further down in your link, about adding objects to a selection group. That makes it much easier to build a complex selection group.
It's possible for a selection group to include objects that are members of different Group shapes - and to use that to select a set of objects that could not be manually selected at the same time.
Took quite a while before I realized how powerful Selection Groups are, and how I could use them.In most cases I use them to simply swap two objects, like this:Select the first object, press Ctrl+1 to create the group, select the second object, press Alt+1 to add to group, press 1 to select the group and finally execute a macro to swap position.Since the objects are inside groups or even subgroups, it wouldn't be possible to do this in an easy way without Selection Groups.It would take a lot of ungrouping, making sure everything is in the correct order and then grouping again to get it right.
I've been a user since version 2 of CorelDraw and I've never known about Selection Groups!!Once you've created a Selection Group and assign it a number, how do you remove/delete that "Selection Group" and then just simply leave the graphics the way they are?
It's not really "grouping" the objects in any way that you could see, for example, in the Objects Docker - and I'm not sure that it's even attaching any information to the objects themselves. My first guess is that it's just keeping a list of the identities of the members. So, I don't know that there is any harm in leaving Selection Groups in place in a document.
If you wanted to "clear" a selection group, then you could make sure that nothing was selected, and then use the Ctrl+number thing to redefine the Selection Group.