How can I deform a shape like how I can in Adobe Flash ? F5 -> Draw circle, Shift + Ctrl + C (Object to path), but when I press F2 to deform, the tangents & point dont work like in Adobe Flash.

Hi Springles,
Welcome to InkscapeForum!

I'm not familiar with AI, so I don't know what F2 does. In what way do you want to deform the shape/circle? With the Selection tool, you can grab the arrows and drag them around. With the node tool, you can grab the nodes and drag them around. But if that's not enough info, please let us know exactly how you want to deform it?

Please see this video from start to end, it explains everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmh8F6FsRUM

Well, stealing brynn's right to answer this I would say that the tweak tool is what you are looking for.

The hand pointing downwards kind of icon, the third from the top on the tool bar (hotkey: Shift-F2).

There are several setting for this tool (displayed on the tool bar on top), you will need to play with them.

Hope it helps

Uktrunie wrote:Well, stealing brynn's right to answer this I would say that the tweak tool is what you are looking for.

The hand pointing downwards kind of icon, the third from the top on the tool bar (hotkey: Shift-F2).

There are several setting for this tool (displayed on the tool bar on top), you will need to play with them.

Hope it helps

No, they are not the same tool's.

Well, I'm gonna step out of my usual sense of decorum and say that was one of the most boring videos I've ever watched. I can't see that the author did much more than drag nodes and lines around. Unless you are talking about the very end, were he drew the green circle and differenced it from the black shape? In Inkscape, that is Path menu > Difference.

Hang on, I'll watch it again (this time with the sound turned on so I can hear when he says F2)(argh!)....

Edit -- Nope, did not say F2 once. I'm still clueless. (No worries Uktrunie, I don't subscribe to the 'first responder owns the reply' theory. I applaud anyone who knows the answer, especially if I don't, lol!)

Edit again -- OH! That's what you're talking about -- dragging lines and nodes! (duh!) Just switch to the node tool. With it, you can drag nodes or lines at will! Now, if F2 is what caused the node handles to be displayed in the video (author did not say), the node handles are displayed in Inkscape by default, I think. But if you don't see them, there's a button on the tool control bar to display the handles.

But drawing a circle creates diferent nodes than the ones in the video & there is a yin & yang thing going on when I convert object to path.

In Inkscape, there are 4 kinds of nodes. If you perform Object to Path on the Circle (created with the Ellipse tool), you get 4 smooth nodes (in version 0.48)(earlier versions you'll get smooth and cusp or corner). I can't actually see nodes in the video, but even if I could, don't know AI, or how it handles nodes.

When you draw a circle in Inkscape, using the Ellipse tool, it is an object. There are handles (square and circle) for manipulating the circle in various ways. After you do Object to Path, it becomes a path with nodes, and cannot be converted back to an object. Is that what you mean by "yin & yang thing" with Object to Path? (ie - yin/yang...all or nothing)

Inkscape is a more comprehensive vector editing program than Flash, which is very convenient for small things but not for detailed illustration (although I am sure some very talented people have done amazing things in it etc. etc.). The working methods are going to be different in Inkscape because there are more possibilities.
I too thought the video was totally uninspiring. I hope adobe did not invest a lot in it!
The node tool does most of what is shown in the video. Double clicking inserts a node. You can set the control bar to not display handles. click-dragging the curve will deform it in the same way.
The special mode where things automatically remove what is below them would really irritate me. Glad Inkscape doesn't do that. Just my opinion. If this is the absolute most wonderful thing for someone Inkscape is probably going to be too much work.

Somewhere recently I stumbled upon a....not so much tutorial, but sort of, that lists all of AI's features, tools, etc, and the comparable thing in Inkscape. I'll try to find it, to learn the illusive F2. But it might take some time

Edit
Well I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find this in the tavmjong bah Inkscape Manual: Edit #2
Still haven't found it, but found this. Now is Adobe Illustrator CS5 the same thing as "Adobe Flash"???? According to this chart F2 is the command for Copy:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator ... 6412a.html
In Inkscape it's either Ctrl + C (in Windows) or Edit menu > Copy. But somehow, I think this is not your answer. I'm still searching for keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Flash.

Ok, I found this, which unfortunately doesn't mention F2 by itself -- just Shift + F2 and Ctrl + F2:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/f ... -dumm.html
This tutorial, I'm not downloading, because it looks huge, but you could: http://www.tutorialspdf.com/adobe-flash ... -tutorial/

Or please just tell us what F2 does. It's late, I'm tired of guessing.

Now is Adobe Illustrator CS5 the same thing as "Adobe Flash"????

No. Your efforts have been mighty , but the Flash editor is for flash based web (mostly) objects, like little games or animations on web pages. AI CS5 is much bigger, costs much more, and is not animation friendly. Macromedia makes flash. Adobe may have eaten them.

I thought Adobe "ate" Macromedia Flash long ago....? I don't understand why it's still called Macromedia Flash, but every "Macromedia Flash" text link that I've ever seen, leads to Adobe. Maybe one of those big corporate things?

Well the 2nd tutorial (or chart, or whatever) that I found (and provided link to) (the dummies.com one) IS for Adobe Flash! But there's no F2 for anything.

But now, re-reading the original message (AGAIN!) now I think Springles means that he or she expects Inkscape's F2 (the Node tool) to automatically make the nodes move around, like in the video. But no (if that's what your looking for, Springles) you have to use the mouse to drag things around (or pen if you use a tablet).

I'm hoping S has figured it out by now