Lines with sketchy style

[gp]

Is there an option to transform an entire drawing with the sketchy line tool (Wild Tools) without redrawing everything and without changing the lines thickness?
Thanks!

[pbacot]

Yes. Use the Squiggle tool.

You don't have to change line weights or redraw everything. I would insist you keep a copy of the drawing un-squiggled, of course.

[Edit: as Alfred says, use the squiggle COMMAND]

[gp]

Thanks! Very useful reminder: I have forgot the Squiggle Tool!

[Matt]

the squiggle tool is the reason I switched to PowerCADD with WildTools all those years ago.

[Alfred Scott]

There is the Squiggle command in the menu and the Squiggle tool in the WildTools palette. To convert the entire drawing, I think the Squiggle command is the one to use.

Alfred

[poolvibe]

I actually create a duplicate layer with line work only and go .25 and squiggle. Overlay this on top of your other layers. Gives nice hand drawn effect. There is a touch of the effect in this drawing.

http://engsw.com/drawroom/BognerPools/Ghazal3.jpg

[ftribel]

I sometimes use the squiggle tool for something else than the aesthetic : if I must transmit a pdf or dwg to somebody before to be paid or contracted, I squiggle the whole drawing, then he cannot use my file to work with it. And sometimes, I move hazardously most of objects with a small small displacement.

So, I wonder, Alfred, if a "light move tool" would'nt be a better idea :
- chose 2 dimensions : the first is a length, the second an angle (small ones)
- select all your drawing
- apply the tool
> every object is moved with a conjunction of length and/or angle
> the drawing stays OK to be watched, but unusable unless to redraw everything.

[Matt]

ftribel -- I like your idea. I'd like that tool to also chop all the lines into short segments and randomly redistribute them over different layers. Can't detect it from a plot, but you can never put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

[Derek]

...unless Alfred writes a Humpty Dumpty Tool!

[GaryV]

I also use the tool and it was the first tool that made me take note of PC and WT. When I use it, I select all and copy all items to a "squiggle layer". Then I apply the squiggle command as appropriate. I then turn all the other layers off. Using sheets in this case also gives you a quick way of toggling back and forth between the traditional and squiggled version. If the drawing is edited and I still want a squiggled version you can repeat the process on a new or original squiggle layer. Great tool Alfred!

Gary

[poolvibe]

I thought I was the only one who has a "squiggle" Layer in my template.

[Rob C]

[ftribel]

[Alfred Scott]

Squiggle and Jiggle are actually pretty bad, now that I think of it, but I'm afraid we've all got so used to them we don't see the flaws and the possibilities. Very embarrassing.

There are too many fixed choices presented as buttons and size information presented as numbers. It needs to be more interactive and with graphic feedback on each change.

What I've come up with so far is a single control to handle 'wave' amplitude and length, so we could have a single sine wave display with a single slider-like thumb to change the height and width of this curve.

Along this curve we could have a series of points indicating the number of points. So instead of a Simplify choice, we could have a horizontal slider below the curve and you could see the number of points increase and decrease as you move the slider.

On the extensions choice, I'm thinking of a little display that shows a corner of a rectangle and below this a horizontal slider. As you move the slider, the lines would meet at the corner of the rectangle or project beyond it.

So that gets us down to three interactive controls from all those buttons.

Now on the choice of blobs or no blobs, I'm thinking we should change to the concept of brush strokes, like they have in SketchBook on the iPhone. We could have a plain pencil line, a pencil line with blobs, and any number of graphic-effect brush strokes. The one that appeals to me the most is the variable-width brush stroke in SketchBook. The line starts out and ends with a narrow stroke and gets fatter in the middle. SketchBook is doing this by looking at the speed that you move your finger, but we could have similar effects and it's easy to randomize the tapering so it doesn't look like it was done by a machine.

We could also use this type of brush stroke in SketchTools for when you don't have a Wacom tablet.

I'm interested in Frank's idea of duplicating the objects to a Squiggle layer, squiggling them, and by .25 I'm guessing he means 25% opacity.

This raises two possibilities. One is that we could 'fuzz' the line with attributes like opacity, shadows or variable line weights for individual lines instead a one long polygon.

The other is that we could have to Squiggle duplicate selected object and move them to a Squiggle layer, but perhaps this is over-complicating things and combining things in ways that may confuse and turn people off.

On Jiggle, the problem is that you're applying an effect by typing numbers and it ought to be more interactive and predictable than that. I question the wisdom of rotating objects in Jiggle. It sounds good and would work well if you're dealing with small objects, such as flower pedals, but it would destroy a floor plan with long lines.

So again we need some slider interactive controls and a sample window in the dialog. It also raises the possibility that the tool could operate interactively, like the Stair tool, so that you could mess with something on the screen and watch your selected objects move about until you get it right. More thinking required on this...

Alfred

[Matt]

all that sounds terrific Alfred. I'm not sure I would often use a line that thickens and thins, but it would certainly be interesting to try. Most architectural hand sketching is done with a fixed-width pen -- a flair or a rapidograph or a ballpoint, but perspective sketches might be otherwise.

One thing I have noticed in the way my hand creates sketch lines on paper is that the lines tend to have the wiggles bunched to one end. they start out relatively straight and then begin to wiggle as I slow down in anticipation of reaching the endpoint. So as you think about your options, I'm hoping you might consider that kind of "weighting" of the squiggles as well. I've learned to use the button system and have been absolutely happy with the results I am currently getting from the tool, which I use frequently.

It would also be fun if there were an easier way for a user to create their own 'squiggle profile' (that is, to put their own characteristics to be used for the squiggling (as opposed to saving the state of the current settings)).