Any way to turn off or override the snap function when editing points?

Hi everyone.
I am working on making letter pockets for name puzzles using a font that is not available within Easel. I am trying to outline the letter shapes themselves with the “pen line” tool, and keep running into problems with the points snapping to be in line with other points on the outline that I don’t want them to.

Is there any way to override the snap so that I can put the points where I want them?

Thanks for your time,
Reuben

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Completely different method, skipping the tracing part:

Open up Paint or any other graphic editor (www.pixlr.com is great for a web based “Photoshoplike” tool) and type your text in here (Usually all fonts available to your operative system will be available here)
Create a large B&W image file (png/gif etc is good) and use the function “Image Trace” available in Easel. :grinning:

Hi Haldor.
I have managed to import the letters into Easel as an .svg file from Inkscape. What I am trying to do now is make a shape that is basically a shadow of the letters - bigger and “fuzzier” - that when made as a pocket, the letters will fit inside the pockets with ~1/16" all the way around.

I can cheat the machine and do the outlines with a 1/4" bit while telling the machine that it is a 1/8", then milling out the middles in a separate operation, but that makes for extra steps and a fair amount of time with the bit running in areas that have already been carved.

I have a tool that will do an outline like you seek.
I can help you with your problem if your inerested.
Vcarve and it is not a free tool.
Several of us have it and are willing to help you with any need.
Inkscape will help but I am not sure how well you know it.

Hi Stephen.
I have been working with Inkscape some, but so far have had issues with editing spline/path points - the bessier handles don’t always seem to work the way they should. So far, I have been looking at “low cost”/free software. Seems like I may need to look at investing in something before long.

What?

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Is there a ‘feature request’ forum? I’d like to have the snapping ON-OFF, or make micro adjustments so you can move and snap closer to lines without touching them. As it stands now, the snapping is completely unusable for small adjustments.

There is a offsetting app in easel that should do exactly that .

That does a good job to get the initial outline, however when it comes to rounding sharp corners and otherwise tweaking the vectors after offsetting, the snap is a PITA.

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You could try adobe illustrator or I use a program called sign and go for my vinyl cutting I draw whatever I want in there and export it as a black and white JPEG go to Online SVG image converter coverts it to a svg opens flawlessly in easel . I assume any program you can export as a black and white JPEG should work.not a fix but a good work around saves me tons of time and easel frustration .

Of course you can use numerous external apps to make exactly what you want. The desire is to enable the ability to make quick and simple micro-adjustments inside Easel. Today, you can’t.

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Not at the moment, but I’ll put it on the list!

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Something like that. I image traced a circle (which made a ton of points really close together) and it was really tough to move any of the points accurately.

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Having an on/off toggle for the snap would be nice, but what about holding down [Ctrl] or some other key to temporarily disable it? There are times when you need the snap on but still may want to move something freeform once or twice without having to toggle the snap on/off.

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Oh, I thought you were talking about a checkbox for on/off.

I like the idea of holding down the CMD or Ctrl key to temporarily disable it allowing micro-adjustments. That would suffice.

This needs to be in the next update it is very annoying when the snap works with spots in other locations allowing basically no adjustment. Granted I am working on using more inkscape and soon fusion 360 but easel is still my primary until I have more time to learn and mess with other programs.

@EricDobroveanu Just checking in, any progress here?

I would also like this

Hey Phil,

I have a fix in the works, we hope to deploy it relatively soon. Holding [Alt] while dragging a point will disable snapping.

I’ll let you guys know here when that is live.

Eric

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