"smooth" curve went weird?

[kirk23]

Could somebody explain me how to use "smooth curve" button  And why when I hit it I get  just straight line  ( on the right)?   

smooth curv.afdesign

[firstdefence]

Using the node tool, to smooth the curve select all the nodes barring the end nodes and change them to a smooth node. 

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, kirk23 said:

Could somebody explain me how to use "smooth curve" button

My advice: don't even try using it, or if you do be prepared for weird results like you saw or adding & subtracting nodes almost randomly as you repeatedly tap the button.

[kirk23]

Thanks  firstdefence. 

it works perfectly fine that way.

[firstdefence]

7 hours ago, kirk23 said:

Thanks  firstdefence. 

it works perfectly fine that way.

You're welcome.  

[firstdefence]

Just for curiosities sake I had a bit of a play around, I selected both end nodes and closed the curve, this allowed the smooth curve option to have a positive result and did smooth the curve, however if you select the top end node, close the curve and use the smooth curve option, the curve disappears. Selecting the bottom end node and closing the curve gives you a positive result when using the smooth curve option and the curve smooths out.

Reversing the curve and selecting the top node and closing the curve now allows curve smoothing but you get a stroke corruption on the node joint at the top node point.

Selecting the bottom node after reversing the curve and closing it now has the weird effect of leaving a single node at the top.

Go figure!

 

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

for curiosities sake

*for curiosity’s sake [i.e. for the sake of curiosity]

1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

if you select the top end node, close the curve and use the smooth curve option, the curve disappears

Very interesting, but which node is the ‘top’ one? (I like to think of the ‘end’ node as the one you end with when drawing the curve, so that its opposite number is the ‘start’ node and you avoid ambiguity about which ‘end’ is which.)

[thomaso]

5 hours ago, firstdefence said:

I selected both end nodes and closed the curve, this allowed the smooth curve option to have a positive result and did smooth the curve, however if you select the top end node, close the curve and use the smooth curve option, the curve disappears. Selecting the bottom end node and closing the curve gives you a positive result when using the smooth curve option and the curve smooths out.

Your node selection experience may depend a lot on the specific curve. – I tried with this red curve below various node selections, without or with closing the curve, and all seem to have the exactly same result: Some redundant nodes get removed while some new redundant nodes get added. The best result is between two sharp* nodes while between sharp+smooth node and between two smooth nodes one or more redundant nodes were added.

*"between tow sharp nodes:" There may also be different results even between two sharp nodes, influenced by specific node positions within a purely rectangular (!) setup (or maybe by other curves?), as recently shown in this thread, tagged by Serif as AF-3953:

On 7/31/2024 at 1:40 PM, NathanC said:

We have some historical reports logged of user files encountering paths 'collapsing' when using the smooth curves function as well as a more specific report on curve sections being removed entirely. I've created a quick sample file comprised of straight paths I am also observing these same failures shown in the recording and screenshot. The function does certainly have room for much improvement so i'll log this with the developers.

Ideally a 'Simplify Path' function similar to illustrators would be beneficial in this scenario so hopefully it will be considered in a future version as it is a popular request.

[firstdefence]

6 hours ago, thomaso said:

Your node selection experience may depend a lot on the specific curve

Yes, I was just playing around to see what would happen. I've used the smooth option many times and it does an average job but I generally draw my curves carefully with the bare minimum I can get away with without compromising the look I'm after.

Cheers Alfred, almost got it lol!