Using Change Like Draw Tool

The Change Like Draw Tool is something I've never used before, but would probably be very handy, so I want to learn how to use it. When I click on it and select a new style (to change say a land mass from one style to another) I get the list, select the style I want, but the sample images are all solid colors and not the fills for that style. This seems to happen no matter which style I choose. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong... What am I missing?

Comments

  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    edited February 2018
    Drawing tools only work in a map belonging to the same style as the drawing tools, unless you import the fills belonging to that style first. This is the same if you simply draw with the tools, or use change like draw tools with them.

    To import the fills, the simplest is to first create a new blank map in the appropriate style for those tools, then go back to your normal map, and use Draw -> Insert file and pick the new map you just made. Once you have it on your cursor ready to place, you can hit Esc to abort. Just the act of preparing to insert it will have copied the fill style definitions over. Now the tools of that style should work normally.
  • Ah, okay. I guess I misunderstood the use of the command. The importing fills process and changing styles that way I got down already, I just thought this was a quicker or a "cheat" way to do it! lol! Thanks for clarifying, Monsen.
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    No, it won't magically import the fill definitions from other styles, but it is a real time saver when you have copied something from a map of one style into a map of another style and want to bring that entity in line with the style of the map you copied it into. Or if you have drawn something without using a drawing tool (for example by merging multiple segments using CMB and CLOSEPATH) and then want to bring it in line with the style of the entities drawn using drawing tools.

    It is very difficult to "cheat" the way you had hoped, because a drawing tool only stores the name of a fill, which are then looked up against the fill styles defined in your map when you use it. However, if it doesn't find the fill style in the map, that name isn't going to tell it anything useful. Would be like you wanted to come visit me, and the only bit of information I gave you was my cat's name. And to confuse things even more, many map styles can rely on the same fills, so there isn't a clear folder structure for each style where it can start the lookup.
  • Well, I wasn't expecting magic, and I used "cheat" to mean a shortcut or quicker way to do something. The use of the tool wasn't clear to me and I have 0 understanding of programming, so I (erroneously) thought that when it brought up the menu of different styles you selected one and that fill was then brought in to change the selected item. The Tome is fantastic for its tutorials and basics but is pretty much useless for looking things like this up (and I fully understand that to create a program guide with detailed, step-by-step instructions for every single command and tool would require something probably twice the size of what we already have or more), so I look here for answers...
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    Yea, covering every possible use of every command is pretty difficult. And on top of that, one need to predict what people think the command would do (like in this case), or the writer would probably never have thought about mentioning this "limitation" specifically anyhow. I am continuously surprised at how people use the commands (sometimes ingeniously, sometimes horribly stupidly, and everything in between)
  • Right, no one could ever possibly hope to cover every aspect of every question or every user of a program. Then factor in the varying degrees of understanding of tech things from user to user and it would be an impossible job. As I've said numerous times, in my case, I'm a dumb dumb when it comes to understanding the tech side of the program. Things like your thread about what you do with the atlas maps when they come in or when Joe discusses the workings of FT3, for instance, cause my brain to glaze over! I read them in the hopes that little bits might sink in, but usually no... lol! But once I know how to use a feature I got it locked down. That's why these forums are so fantastic as it puts users in contact with not only each other but the creators and company personnel, and who better to answer or explain things?
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