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First, I'm not a coder, so don't know the 1st thing about writing programs. I asked this question as part of a post in another forum, but it hasn't been answered, so I thought I ask it here.
When we use Pull Shapes, it seems we never know which shape is coming next, or what size the shape is going to be. It appears that both are randomized. And I know that's probably intentional in keeping with the purpose of the program.
But it seems to me that either incorporating Alchemy in a regular graphics program, where everything is completely predictable and under the user's control, OR adding a little more predictabilitly and/or control to Alchemy, could be advantageous, each in their own way, but both towards improving the program overall. Yikes, that was a long sentence!
I haven't been around this forum for very long, as I only just found Alchemy the other day. So I don't know how much the creators of the program want to adhere to the experimental theme, and I realize my idea that I'm about to suggest, might not be received very well. But for whatever it's worth, here goes.
I'd like to see a button, or some other kind of control switch added to Alchemy, so that it turns off the randomized shape display when using Pull Shapes, as well as the random size of the shape. That would allow the user to 1) cycle through the shapes in a particular file, and choose a particular one, and 2) know what size it's going to be.
Another idea would be to make it possible to choose the exact shape the user wants, and even further, to choose the size....perhaps with a menu type of display, I'm not really sure what options might be available to achieve this. And again, I say this with the realization that it might sort of go against the grain, as far as intentions for this program among its creators. If so, just say so, don't jump on me, ok?
Part of the reason I'm posting this, is because that's a feature I would like to see. But the other reason, is that I'm preparing several PDF files to add to my own directory, and also to share in the Shape Exchange topic. They are full of spirograms that I made with Inkscape's Spirograph rendering extension. As it happens, many of them are nearly identical except for the size. So if it's never going to be possible stop the randomized displays, I can reduce the files' sizes, and maybe even the number of files. But if it's possible this feature could be added some day, I might even make more files.
So, I'll be interested to learn if it might be possible to un-randomize the Pull Shapes display. Thanks for listening
