Hi Guys, I urgently need help with the knife tool.
I think it was since version 14 that the knife tool started to act differently from earlier versions.
Before I could place the crosshair on or near a node (it would snap to it), then drag it across to another (non‐neighboring) node, click again on or close to that node and release the mouse button. Et voilà, that would split the contour into two between the two nodes, creating two independent objects.
This no longer seems to work. When the crosshair cursor is on the nodes and not just near them and — very important — not OUTSIDE the contour, nothing happens. That is, sometimes it works ONCE but never again.
I found a tip related to this: to select the two nodes and then choose from the drop‐down menu. Same problem as before: It works at most once, but then the option will remain grayed out, no matter what you try.
My question is: Are there any workarounds for this? Or is this possibly even a feature?
The reason why this is so important to me is that I used to use the knife tool to cut out certain shapes from more complex shapes (contours) in order modularize my design.
Example: The dollar sign is actually composed of two shapes, the “S” and the vertical slash. Imagine you want to cut of the “S” in order to create a double‐barred dollar (or peso) sign, with the exact same “S” in them. Formerly, that would a matter of seconds: split the contour at the nodes where the bar meets the “S”, then delete the bits and pieces remaining from the bar, and there you have your “naked” dollar “S”.To me, this is a “make it or break it” feature because I work a lot with modular designs, meaning I reuse certain shapes in several glyphs in order to maintain consistency.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
We have tested this with the most recent version, and it all seems to work just fine. Have you enabled “Snap to Points”?
Hi Erwin! Thx for the hint. Iʼm trying to find the option. Whatʼs the menu itʼs in?
Found it! Itʼs unexpectedly in the “View” drop‐down menu.
But itʼs still not working…
Do you use the latest version?
It is recommended that you use the shortcut key X to complete the outline cutting work.
This way, you don’t have to waste time using the mouse to align the nodes; just select them directly.