I activate the line tool, go over to inspector, go down to the line settings, choose “Curved” and, voila, all I get is a straight line no different than when I pick “Straight”. Full disclosure, am beginner so apologies in advance if I’m missing something obvious…
Try adding a midpoint. That’s where you click in the between the graphics you are connecting on the canvas to create the curve you want. If you click one object, then another, there is no midpoint defined to describe where the curve should be, resulting in connecting 2 objects without a curve in either direction. When you tap and then drag between the objects, you’ll see how much the line will curve and in which direction it will curve. You can also later control the curve by moving the midpoint between the objects.
Would it make sense for OmniGraffle to add a (sensibly positioned) arbitrary third point? Then the user could drag that into place.
That way
- That’s one less interaction a user has to do.
- The idea of additional points that control the curve becomes ingrained in the user.
The third point need only be 10% off the straight line to make the point. (Sorry for the pun.) :-)
Changing the Style from Straight to Curved will get you a curved line when other nodes are added. However, I find that sometimes the line will move unexpectedly when nodes are added, or the curve does something I don’t want it to do. Instead, I found this works very well and keeps things where I leave them:
- Leave the Line type as “Straight”.
- Go to “Corner radius” and set it to “5 pt” or “10 pt” (I am using 10 pt).
Now, when you add other nodes and drag them around, the lines stay where you leave them and you don’t get any weird loops.
