Slotted Ruler

[KurtF]

I've been having trouble using the current ArtRage rulers for Perspective work.

The Pin can be accidentally moved, and the ruler size can be changed, both of which throw off your drawings. You can't swivel the ruler around the pin if it keeps moving to a new location. Also, if the ruler gets fatter and skinnier, you are no longer drawing lines towards the same ending point, making it worthless for perspective.

In addition, the line you draw along the ruler is unsteady, and a person can often 'lift' the drawing tool away from the edge. I know this emulates a real ruler, but is not what I need when creating a drawing.

Therefore, I am suggesting a 'Slotted Ruler' tool:

http://home.comcast.net/%7E787kfillmore/images/slotted_ruler.jpg

The end point of this ruler (the pin) can't be moved, it always exists at the end of the ruler.

The edges of the ruler are not used, instead the drawing takes place along the length of the center slot. The length of the ruler is variable, but since the edges are not used, this is not a problem.

The ruler is free to rotate around the end point (pin) without restrictions, but as long as the 'lock' icon is toggled ON - the ruler is fixed and cannot be repositioned from that end point.

When the artist positions the drawing tool along the slotted center, a clean line is drawn, accidentally moving away from the edge is not allowed, the tool understands that you want to draw a clean, perfectly straight line.

Hope this makes sense, and that it will be implemented.

Thanks.

[Nureek]

Thank you KurtF! I'm always struggling with persepctive in ArtRage. Your suggestion gave me the idea to make my own ruler based on your idea. I haven't fully tested it out, but it seems to solve some of the problems.

Ruler is attached. Just have to invert it, change it to a ruler setting and move the pin to the end. On my set up, holding the ctrl key while hovering over the ruler will let you rotate it without moving the ruler.

Thanks for triggering the idea! And I second for an offical one of these with the locking function and his other ideas.

[DaveRage]

Thanks for the suggestion! Regarding accidentally lifting off the ruler, if you want to draw a straight line along the edge of a ruler, start drawing on the ruler itself. The straight line will start on the canvas and follow you along the edge. You can see an example image on the first page of the 'Stencils' section of the ArtRage Studio / Studio Pro manual.

[Someonesane]

I've never had any trouble with the current ruler myself. I'm just here to point out to others who may come across this thread that ArtRage Studio Pro has an additional option of holding down Ctrl, left clicking and dragging the mouse in order to draw a straight line.

-EDIT-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/someonesane/straight-lines.gif

[Nureek]

Love that staight line trick, but it doesn't help if your vanishing points are off the page, and it makes it slower to keep to the same vansihing point on the page.

[KurtF]

Yeah, when trying to place Vanishing Points and then swinging the ruler around that point, the AR ruler leaves a lot to be desired.

I found out that Sketchbook Pro uses a ruler similar to the one I suggested.

I'm still hoping that this will be implemented in ArtRage in the future.

[KurtF]

Thanks for the link. Interesting approach to perspective. He even adds perspective to brush strokes, gradients, and masks.