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How do I join the nodes at point A without getting the result in B? If I use 'Join Curves' nothing happens. If I use 'Close Curve' I get the result in B which I do not want.

Joining nodes.afdesign

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Hi Jackamus,

 

The below video shows how to do what you are looking for :) The result you are getting in example B is because close curve joins the first and last node in the curve you have drawn.

 

To select multiple layers the way I do in the video hold CMD while clicking the layers :) 

 

C

Jackamus join curves.mov

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Easy when you know how! Thanks Callum.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

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Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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Unless I am missing something, the method shown in the video does not actually join the curves because they are both "(Curves)" objects. You can see this at about the 0:16 mark in the video -- in the Layers panel they remain two separate (Curves) objects.

 

Using Jackamus' file, to actually join the shapes I have to first use the Divide geometry function individually on each of the two (Curves) objects to separate them into their individual (Curve) objects. Then I have to use the Break Curve action to open & remove the extraneous parts of the closed curves divide creates. Only then can I select the two curves that should be joined & use the Join Curves action to do that. That works but as so often the case when curves are not perfectly aligned to begin with, it creates a tiny imperfection at the join:

5a8b094c4675b_nodedetail.png.c87d4607be91c8bd914934d0fc0e761c.png

After a few more steps I used the Combine geometry function to end up with this Joined & filled.afdesign file consisting of one (Curves) object.

 

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How this problem ca, about was that finished shape you generated was actually the original shape that I had drawn which was created using the 'Subtract' tool. I then wanted to add part of this shape to the left hand side of ther original shape and that is where I got into difficulties.

Clearly my problem was, although I use these tools regularly, not understanding how they actually work as vector shapes.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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25 minutes ago, jackamus said:

Clearly my problem was, although I use these tools regularly, not understanding how they actually work as vector shapes.

 

I think the problem here is due to using the geometry tools to create this. Joining and closing curves work in the favor of open curves, but the geometry tools work in the favor of closed curves. When you subtracted those circles from your shape on open curves, I think that messed something up. With there being cutouts, I wonder if Designer thinks both curves are closed. So where do you go from here? I would "manually" close up both curves, and then I would add them together with the geometry tools.

 

Fix.afdesign

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When you say 'manually' what do you mean?

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

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Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

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3 minutes ago, jackamus said:

When you say 'manually' what do you mean?

 

I mean to use the Pen Tool and not use the "Close Curves" button. If you close that way now, you will cover that circle when adding the shapes later on. It appears that joining paths do not work for subtracted shapes. It's the same as if you take the Donut Tool, break a curve, and then try joining the curves to another. It doesn't work.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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20 minutes ago, Bri-Toon said:

It appears that joining paths do not work for subtracted shapes.

 

You can only add or subtract closed shapes, and the result is always a closed shape. If you try to use unclosed shapes, Affinity Designer will close them for you by the shortest route (i.e. using a straight line) so the result may be unsatisfactory. Since only open paths can be joined, it follows that joining paths cannot work for subtracted shapes.

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20 hours ago, Alfred said:

You can only add or subtract closed shapes, and the result is always a closed shape. If you try to use unclosed shapes, Affinity Designer will close them for you by the shortest route (i.e. using a straight line) so the result may be unsatisfactory. Since only open paths can be joined, it follows that joining paths cannot work for subtracted shapes.

 

I understand all of that, and that is what I was explaining what I expected the problem to be. Those circles in Jackamus' files are not just circles but subtracted regions from what now appears to be two open curves. I suspect after subtracting (and closing the curves) Jackamus opened them up again thinking the two curves could be joined. So what I am saying is that at that point when there are subtracted regions, the curves have to be treated as closed curves. So in the file I attached, I demonstrated in part A how to properly close both curves, and then part B is the ending result of them being added together.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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Yes that is exactly what I did and it worked OK. I now have a better understanding of how this procedure works.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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1 hour ago, jackamus said:

Yes that is exactly what I did and it worked OK. I now have a better understanding of how this procedure works.

 

Shweet!

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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4 hours ago, Bri-Toon said:

So in the file I attached, I demonstrated in part A how to properly close both curves, and then part B is the ending result of them being added together.

If you zoom very very far into your B result at the point indicated, you will see that there are several extra nodes, resulting in a tiny jagged tooth on the path.

5a8c6719baaaf_Bnodes.png.5a946dc1f5a3234d2927c5779ecc47a7.png

This is why I suggested dividing the two "(Curves)" into their individual "(Curve") objects before doing anything else, & avoiding adding anything in the fix.

 

Starting from your part A, one way to avoid this (& the bugs or whatever in the app that give me fits) is as shown below. Step 2 is needed so the join in Step 5 will join the correct nodes, & can be deleted afterwards, as step 6. Not shown, the two dotted line shapes resulting from steps 3 & 4 should be deleted.

 

Fixed-fix.thumb.png.fabd24b33539a1b0e0736a89c5656aee.png

Fixed Fix.afdesign

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I'm afraid I'm having a hard time following. As you mentioned, I started from my part A, but I got lost around the third step. It's not too big of a deal, but I'm interested to learn what you did differently. Below, you can see whatever it is that I did wrong.

 

ScreenRecorderProject2.mp4

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2 hours ago, Bri-Toon said:

I'm afraid I'm having a hard time following. As you mentioned, I started from my part A, but I got lost around the third step. It's not too big of a deal, but I'm interested to learn what you did differently. Below, you can see whatever it is that I did wrong.

Where you went wrong was at about 0:21 in your recording, where you selected the lefthand curve (the green one in my screenshot) to do steps 2 & 3. They should have been done on the righthand curve (the red one in my screenshot).

 

I could have been clearer about that -- I wanted to use color coding to indicate which curves & nodes I meant in steps 2-4 so I could show how they overlapped in one illustration, but I should have explained that better. I apologize for omitting that. :$

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A) the fact that there are so many "how do I join nodes?" threads is appalling.

This is a vector drawing program FCOL. It should be drop dead stupid easy...... and is in Illustrator, et al.

 

B) On to this particular drawing:

@Bri-Toon I think you went astray a bit earlier than that. Hitting divide with both curves selected gave you a long list of (crazy) pieces.

A bit like herding cats at that point :). I'm actually amazed that they all came back together in the end.

Doing the divides one at a time will result in just the line and circles being separated.

 

But the long workaround isn't necessary.

 

Your problem is two-fold:

1) that little hiccup @R C-R is pointing out is part of the original drawing. 

2) your concept to join the elements is sound, it's just that extra point.... and that several of your points aren't snapped into alignment (see attachment).

 

To Fix: From your "Drawing A" state.

Take a second to snap those points correctly (honestly you really don't need this step.... but to be perfect) and then....

1) delete (or move ;)) the extra point 

2) Add the Curves layers. Done.

(Not aligning the points first will result in a new little hiccup on the bottom straight line. But because the're on a straight line, it's easy to just delete them after the add.) Actually some of the alignment thing can be avoided in the first place by not having those vertices fall directly on the boundaries of the other shape....

 

5a8dff7ba7bbc_ScreenShot2018-02-21at6_06_14PM.thumb.png.49d39d18af0857f169a96f72af473759.png

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58 minutes ago, JimmyJack said:

@Bri-Toon I think you went astray a bit earlier than that. Hitting divide with both curves selected gave you a long list of (crazy) pieces.

Good catch! I missed that. While I did mention dividing the two shapes individually in this earlier post, it is yet another thing I left out of the later one.

 

I know my long workaround wasn't necessary (& to be fair I did say it was only "one way" to fix it) but I wanted to show how joining & closing individual curves could easily avoid those extra little 'hiccup' nodes that adding curves so often causes. I prefer to work with individual curves as much as possible, joining & closing to build up more complex shapes, & use alt-Combine to make a Compound object when I need to punch holes in them.

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7 hours ago, R C-R said:

so I could show how they overlapped in one illustration, but I should have explained that better. I apologize for omitting that. :$

 

Don't worry about it. It doesn't mean you explained it wrong. I just have a harder time understanding certain directions, but I'm glad people here are patient about that. :)

 

4 hours ago, JimmyJack said:

1) delete (or move ;)) the extra point 

2) Add the Curves layers. Done.

(Not aligning the points first will result in a new little hiccup on the bottom straight line. But because the're on a straight line, it's easy to just delete them after the add.) Actually some of the alignment thing can be avoided in the first place by not having those vertices fall directly on the boundaries of the other shape....

 

I get it now. I didn't realize I had areas misaligned, but that is surely a good thing to be careful with in vector.

 

Quote

I prefer to work with individual curves as much as possible, joining & closing to build up more complex shapes

 

I do something very similar, and joining and closing curves become so, so useful. When I first started doing vector drawing, everything looked puppet-like because I started drawing closed shapes from scratch. It may sound like an ironic approach, but I found out that it's easier (when not having a reference sketch image) to start drawing in open curves, and then later, convert what you can to closed curves. So I would imagine closed regions from overlapping open curves, and from doing that, it would give me an idea on where to break curves, join them, and then close them. The mind seems to identify the structure better, but to start closing from scratch does get confusing.

 

However, this can cause that hiccup issue.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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Coming from Illustrator, I still have hard time joining curves... that's why I still do almost every pathwork in Illustrator, simple efficient, work as espected.

I created this simple attached example file, where AD, due to its workflow, can't join those two nodes at bottom..
I don't get why its made to work this way.

edit: Found (remembered) that if I put those 2 nodes closer, those paths do join. Nice but this needs you to do another extra step.

Join_example.afdesign

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This was easy!  Select the two sets of curves with the node tool anf then click the 'Join curve' which will jopin the top two nodes then click 'Close curve' and that will join the two nodes you wanted. You can then choose 'Break' the curve if you want to separate the top two nodes.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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Thanks Jack, done this way is easy. My problem with this behaviour is that:

- I just want AD to join those 2 selected nodes.
- I don't want AD to join those unselected top nodes, making me have to click on "close curve", then break the curve again, because I want the top to stay open.

My daily job involves fixing a lot of messed paths and overlapping shapes, clean them, create closed non intersecting paths with non overlapping points/nodes to and send them to my CNC machine.

Sadly, really sadly for me, AD does not make this easy at all, 99% of the time I've not simple path like the attached example.

There are some thing about manipulate paths that I like more in AD, but for what I do, Illustrator (while not perfect) is still way better. Makes me reach end result way faster.

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Hi Dok, the reason the top two end points joined is because they were closer together than the bottom two. In Designer, it doesn't necessarily matter which end points you have selected, because the ones that are closer will always be the ones which join. You did the right thing to bring the two nodes closer, or in other cases, you could continue the path with the Pen Tool. Or, bridge the two with the Pencil Tool and join all three curves at once.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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4 hours ago, dok said:

Thanks Jack, done this way is easy. My problem with this behaviour is that:

- I just want AD to join those 2 selected nodes.
- I don't want AD to join those unselected top nodes, making me have to click on "close curve", then break the curve again, because I want the top to stay open.

It would be great if Join Curves allowed users to select the two end nodes to join, but since it does not what I have done to make the process a little less painful is to set keyboard shortcuts for the Join & Break actions (Shift-J & Shift-B in my case), which helps a little. It would help a little more if we could set a keyboard shortcut for the other actions, or at least for the Close Curve one, but no such luck.

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2 hours ago, R C-R said:

It would be great if Join Curves allowed users to select the two end nodes to join

 

Every unclosed curve has a start node and an end node, so all that would be required is for the joining algorithm to be changed to join the end of one curve to the start of the next. This would allow the user to control the joining behaviour by reversing one or both of each pair of curves.

 

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