On 9/24/05, Daniel Stiefelmaier <webmaster@...985...> wrote:

well, objects could be scaled in one direction by the eight numpad keys surrounding 5. So ctrl+alt+7 would scale to the upper left, ctrl+alt+8 would be the representation for dragging the handle on the top. But now that i think about it, shift should then be used to scale down. ctrl+alt+shift+9 would be the same then dragging the upper right handle towards the lower left.

I think that this way of reversing it may be too counterintuitive and actually quite annoying. That is, you press left-arrow, but the edge on screen moves to the right?! Even if I do it with Shift, it's still too much of an unpleasant surprise.

Alternatively, we could do it this way: for example: - left arrow scales left edge to the left, Shift+left arrow scales right edge to the left; - right arrow scales right edge to the right, Shift+right arrow scales left edge to the right (all with ctrl+alt, of course)

This would make more sense with respect to the arrow actions, but it would still be cumbersome to remember to press and unpress Shift as you reverse directions. People will be constantly trying to reverse the scale without shift, and inadvertently scaling the other end. This may drive one crazy.

That said, I think I need to just try this out. Maybe it will get natural after some getting used to, but maybe it won't.

Maybe the Num-Lock key could be used to switch between pixel-accurate scaling and normal scaling.

No. That's Alt, always. Let's not introduce additional hard to remember expressions for the same semantics.

Alternatively: Scaling is always pixel-accurate, Num-Lock is used to switch between up- and downscaling, and shift is used to scale in two directions. ctrl+alt+shift+6 or ctrl+alt+shift+4 would scale the object horizontally, keeping its original center.

No, I think using Numlock for direction is an even worse idea. It's hard to remember which is which.

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