Creating 3d ribbons in Publisher

[davide445]

Trying to follow this tutorial to create a ribbon around an object (basically create two curves and close them in a strip), I got a problem: as soon I try to use the Close action so to close the curves and create the strip, instead of creating a straight line from on end to the other, always create some strange path extending up or down.

I suppose it's some settings in the pen tool, but can't find which one, so wanted to ask some advice. Using 1.10.6 release.

[GarryP]

At which point in the video are you having a problem?
If you can show us what you get at that point we can compare the two and give advice.

[davide445]

At min 1:19 Close the curves, applyting this result in this

[thomaso]

Your screenshot does not show nodes or handles, so it is hard to judge what exactly was drawn / what we look at indeed.

Just in case: Your text description made me think of issues with the handles when joining/closing two curves, caused by the direction they where dragged when drawn before, for instance:

[GarryP]

Thanks for the extra information.

Note: The video you are watching uses Designer, not Publisher, and they have different functionalities. It doesn’t matter in this case but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Joining and closing curves can be a ‘finicky’ business and I don’t understand all of the various ‘foibles’ of those functionalities.

As thomaso said above, the direction of each curve matters a lot in most cases.

In this case, once you have joined and closed the curves you can use Geometry Add on the result to remove the ‘extra bits’.
See my attached video.

Note: The result of the YouTube video isn’t very realistic because the shadow is only on one side of the ribbon.

[davide445]

Thanks, trying again seems I need to be very precise in the handles orientation, so that using a grid reference to be sure they are vertical now all works

[GarryP]

Good to hear that you’ve managed to get it to work.

[thomaso]

44 minutes ago, davide445 said:

to be very precise in the handles orientation, so that using a grid reference to be sure they are vertical

Holding the Shift key while dragging helps to maintain certain directions -> angles: vertical, horizontal or 45º.

[Old Bruce]

4 hours ago, thomaso said:

Holding the Shift key while dragging helps to maintain certain directions -> angles: vertical, horizontal or 45º.

We can use the Advanced setting in the Grid and Axis... window to set up additional axes for snapping.