Two small points I’ve noticed when using Synfig 0.63.00 with GNOME3 (Fedora 15). These issues affect other programs in GNOME3 too, not just Synfig.
i) Close icon is missing from the Preview Window. To close the Preview Window you have to right-click on the title bar and select Close from the pop-up menu.
ii) Transform Tool - GNOME3 is taking the Alt keypress, so you cannot use Alt to Scale when the Transform Tool is selected. Shift and Ctrl work fine though. When you use Alt with the Transform Tool, GNOME3 decides you want to move the window around instead!
The alt behaviour can be changed in the windows gnome preferences. I use to remap the Windows logo key to move the windows. And it is nothing new in Gnome 3, it is an old issue.
Thanks Genete - I can see you work very hard on this forum! I’m sorry I am posting a lot, but I am just writing what I notice as a new user in case it is useful to users later.
What is new in Gnome 3 is that the System Settings panel no longer lets you change the behaviour of Alt (the “Windows Movement Key” setting has gone). That means Alt for Scale is not a “sane default” for GNOME3 - as it can never be used.
BTW: I think this is a problem with GNOME3 instead of with Synfig! The Alt key is for applications too, not just the desktop!
for the preview window, I am trying to implement it with an new interface and icons.
for [alt] key issue, (I think) the root case is that we are lacking the customizable shortcuts function due to the limitation of developers. I hope someone will be interested and can implement it.
Many thanks to you both for your help. I really hope you get some more developers, as Synfig is an excellent program and it’s community is very, very helpful and kind.
I’ve been animating (orange dots!) busily since I downloaded Synfig a couple of days ago and it is an enormous amount of fun and very rewarding.
I’m writing an article about Synfig for my blog - with pictures of what I’ve been doing in Synfig - I hope to post it tomorrow, depending if I can finish off the animation I’m doing (and finish the work I’m doing as well!).
Another workaround for the Alt issue presents itself when you realize it only happens when you Alt-click. Pressing Alt and then clicking gets picked up by the WM (openbox, in my case), but clicking on a vertex and then holding the Alt key produces the scaling behavior intended. So, next time you Alt-click and the window moves, let go, and then click-Alt.
Changing the Alt key behavior in the WM works too, but I like being able to Alt-click windows, and this makes both behaviors available.
