Moho Forum

I am trying to weld 2 shapes together, similar to Tutorial 2.1...

• Drawing 2 shapes ~ Shape 1, a blue box and Shape 2, a white oval.
• Select the Transform Points Tool, uncheck Auto-weld.
• Click on the white oval, and position one end point of the oval over the top corner of the box.
• Click on the point to select just that point, rather than all the curve points of the oval, and hit the spacebar to weld the point.

Immediately BOTH shapes take the whitecolor of the oval and Shape 3 is created...
This is NOTHING like the example of the two welded circles on page 20 of the manual.

Trying the *recommended* method of welding two shapes together by removing the the bottom half of the oval (2 curves), and then welding the endpoints to the second shape leaves you with a "dead curve shape," that you CANNOT fill by any means. The Select Shape Tool will only activate the box.

Although you CAN change the stroke width and color of the now open ended oval curve, you cannot get the shape to return with a fill color, similar to the example "Welding the new end points" on Pg. 26 of the manual...

I am following the manual instructions as printed, but am NOT getting the promised results...
Could someone PLEASE tell me what I am doing wrong, here? I think it's a bug, but could very well be mistaken (and hope I am!)

Thanks!

Well, I sent a request to Smith Micro about it, and VERY QUICKLY got a reply.

Turns out to be a combination of poor instructions and operator error.

When you are welding the end points of two shapes, and you select the Translate Points Tool, you need to deselect Auto-Weld (which the Users Manual tell you) AND deselect Auto-Fill (which the Users Manual DOESN'T tell you). Then when you well the end points, the colors keep their identity.

As for the removing parts of the curve, that one I figured out on my own. When you remove part of the curve, the shape loses all fill data. After you weld the points, you need to take the Create Shape tool, and select all the points of your shape, and then click the "Create Shape" button on the top Menu Bar. The shape then fills and strokes to your settings.

Yay!

I'm glad you got a solution. Sorry for read it too late

Mozbo wrote:Well, I sent a request to Smith Micro about it, and VERY QUICKLY got a reply.

Turns out to be a combination of poor instructions and operator error.

I'd say it's at least 99% poor user design and bad Technical Writing on their part. Tutorials should be, by their very nature, easy to follow. I remember trying to do that particular tutorial, and it nearly drove me crazy, because it just doesn't work the way they describe it.

There is very little worse (tutorial-wise, anyway) than providing instructions that do NOT yield the promised results. It brings the entire learning process to a complete stop.

...also, it's my personal belief that if three steps are required to get a single result, at least two of the steps are superfluous. It boggles my mind that it takes so much effort just to get two simple overlapping shapes.

I guess what I'm saying is: don't feel bad. There's not a single person in the universe that could have completed that tutorial using the information they provided. Much like you, the only way I finished it was by tracking down all the information that they DIDN'T give me.