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Hi ThoopaDan,

Welcome to the forums!
To join 2 nodes together, select the node tool and drag and drop one node onto the other to automatically join them. 
If you are trying to break a curve from an 'O' shape to 'C', then using the node tool you can select or create one node at the point where you wish to start the break and click the first 'Action' button on the context toolbar. This will break the curve once at this node point, duplicate these actions at the point where you wish to end the break and you will be left with a 'C' shape and a loose curve which can be deleted.

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

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Hi Dan C,

Welcome to the forums! :-)

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Another way to make a C is to use the Pie shape.

 

5ab27a28175e7_PietoaC.gif.dd4f001b491844504d271f29f277f917.gif

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1 hour ago, Dan C said:

To join 2 nodes together, select the node tool and drag and drop one node onto the other to automatically join them.

I included a pic in my OP but that hasn't been approved by the mod yet?  Trying again...

 

All I want to do is join the 2 nodes on the top-right and then the 2 nodes on the bottom-right.  This would make the "O" look like a "C".

 

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@ThoopaDan Unfortunately pictures aren't moderated separately from posts and I cannot see an image attached to either post. Could you please try again for me?

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

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@ThoopaDan First things first, it looks like you have a large pill shape and a smaller pill shape above the larger pill shape, those nodes also look like either smooth or smart nodes, so when you join them they will probably bow and not be in a straight line.

 

A better way to construct this is to create both shapes, i.e. the larger and smaller pill shape centre them vertically and horizontally, then use the geometry tools to subtract the smaller pill shape from the larger one, you will end up with a hollow pill shape, all you need to do now is make a rectangle shape and subtract that from this shape. I'll make a short video and I'll show you how to get an even line too.  

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Hope this helps. You can upload design files to here as well as images so we can take a look at what you have and maybe make suggestions to help you.

 

5ab293f704ab3_MakeaC.thumb.gif.0dc468a22b37b8c1f3a286eddd0c6b82.gif

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8 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

@ThoopaDan create both shapes, i.e. the larger and smaller pill shape centre them vertically and horizontally, then use the geometry tools to subtract the smaller pill shape from the larger one, you will end up with a hollow pill shape, all you need to do now is make a rectangle shape and subtract that from this shape. I'll make a short video and I'll show you how to get an even line too.  

 

Ahhh...ok.  So that's how I started out:  the smaller pill inside the bigger pill, subtracted the smaller.

 

I just did your rectangle solution and got the result I was looking for.  THANK YOU!!!!

 

PS - old dog, new tricks and all of that but this would have taken me all of 2 seconds in AI.  I understand Designer is its own beast but removing lines between points and rejoining shouldn't be so complicated....

 

Thanks again to all who chimed-in!  Can't promise it will be my last newbie question.

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The reason for the small squares is because at the moment there is no Path Offset Tool O.o so you can't just make another shape smaller and it follow the other shape, I'm sure the Affinity elves will get round to adding this "must have" feature soon but in the meantime its a workaround for simple shapes. Glad you got it sorted though thumbup1.gif 

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7 hours ago, Dan C said:

Hi ThoopaDan,

Welcome to the forums!
To join 2 nodes together, select the node tool and drag and drop one node onto the other to automatically join them. 

 

Hi Dan,

 

Any tips on how to do this without destroying the nature of the curve?

(pretty sure I've tried all the modifier combos)

When joining two separate curves, moving one node on top of another, then selecting both, then hitting Join Curves works (despite being somewhat of a convoluted process). But not here?

 

5ab2ba2e68dc4_joinnodesfail.gif.5cd22d98035519c7f7e23e0b9903f3fc.gif

 

PS - old dog, new tricks and all of that but this would have taken me all of 2 seconds in AI.  I understand Designer is its own beast but removing lines between points and rejoining shouldn't be so complicated....

 

Yup.... and right on.

 

 

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2 hours ago, JimmyJack said:

Any tips on how to do this without destroying the nature of the curve?

The closest I have been able to come to doing that involves yet another convoluted process:

 

1. Zoom in & add two nodes to the curve's path, one close to each of its end nodes.

2. Select the two end nodes & change them to sharp nodes.

3. Drag one of the now sharp end nodes onto the other now sharp node to automatically join them.

4. Move this sharp node to about the halfway point between the two nodes added in step 1, convert it to a smooth node, & adjust the control handles of all 3 of these adjacent nodes for the best fit.

 

Everything in step 4 isn't always necessary if the original end nodes are very close to each other to begin with & their control handles are close to 180° wrt each other.

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@JimmyJack have you tried changing the end nodes to sharp nodes?

 

5ab2e09763e4d_sharpnodes.gif.148cbe340598879fa66a6deeb56048a3.gif

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28 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

@JimmyJack have you tried changing the end nodes to sharp nodes?

 

5ab2e09763e4d_sharpnodes.gif.148cbe340598879fa66a6deeb56048a3.gif

 

Well this is where I believe @Dan C's answer comes from. Sharp nodes are fine (no handles to respect in the calculation).

BUT... if the last nodes are sharp then all of each of the end segments' curviness has to come from the one handle of the node before it. 

This makes a lot of shapes impossible. Including my off the cuff example above (right side), so I don't think it's a rare event.

Also, I really don't want to have to keep that special circumstance in mind when drawing something.

Yes you can join the two sharp nodes and go back in and make it smooth/"smart"again and rework the angles......... click click click click click O.o....uh uh :(.

 

But again, the two curve solution respects handles. So I don't get it.

 

Thanks for trying though :).

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6 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

@JimmyJack have you tried changing the end nodes to sharp nodes?

Compare the curvature of the lower segment between its 2 visible nodes in your gif before & after joining the now sharp nodes. It isn't really the same. The ideal solution would be something that smoothly joins the 2 end nodes without changing the curvature of any of the existing segments, in this case something like this that is more S shaped:

5ab2e6c167a51_smoothjoin.png.8c9c303cf6c64f6d6579cc0f9fbd4f98.png

Of course, how smooth this should be is somewhat arbitrary -- the app can't know exactly how much smoothing the user wants -- so no matter what some post-join tweaking will almost always be needed.

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1 minute ago, R C-R said:

Compare the curvature of the lower segment between its 2 visible nodes in your gif before & after joining the now sharp nodes. It isn't really the same. The ideal solution would be something that smoothly joins the 2 end nodes without changing the curvature of any of the existing segments, in this case something like this that is more S shaped:

5ab2e6c167a51_smoothjoin.png.8c9c303cf6c64f6d6579cc0f9fbd4f98.png

Of course, how smooth this should be is somewhat arbitrary -- the app can't know exactly how much smoothing the user wants -- so no matter what some post-join tweaking will almost always be needed.

Agreed, the mere fact of moving the node towards another is deforming the shape anyway, I suppose when you think about it the nodes are making a guess as to what you want and by connecting two curve nodes it's going to assume the end result must be curved also. It cannot know which of the two nodes will have priority so it makes a compromise of sorts, basically asking the question "do you mean like this", obviously the answer is going to be no, but at least it tried lol!

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18 minutes ago, JimmyJack said:

But again, the two curve solution respects handles. So I don't get it.

I am not entirely sure what you mean here, but when I use the Join Curves action on two selected open curves, they are (almost?) always joined by a straight, un-curved segment, whether or not their end nodes are smooth or sharp.

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Ive just noticed that if one node is a smart node and the other is a smooth node the change is very minimal and they seem to respect there respective node handle positions, well kind of. I think the smart node has priority over the smooth node because I adjusted the smooth node to be at more of a right angle to the smart node and the smooth node adopted the direction of the smart node, adjusting the smart node again forced the smooth node to comply with its direction.

 

Nope... I'm totally confused now, lol! moving the handle of a smart node appears to change it to a smooth node and it's whichever node is dragged that is the "boss" node, sigh!! Theres a logic here somewhere.
 

It's too late I'm going to bed to dream about... Nodes lol! see ya in the morning.

 

5ab2edcbb40d4_NodeMadness.gif.e76e2eeefe3aa26a858b3a100843a368.gif

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6 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Ive just noticed that if one node is a smart node and the other is a smooth node the change is very minimal and they seem to respect there respective node handle positions.

But this still changes the curvature of the segment connected to the moved node. I don't think there is any way to avoid that if one end node is dragged onto another one to automatically 'join' (actually to close an open curve). In this respect, the "Close Curve" action produces the smoothest results without changing the curvature of any of its existing segments.

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47 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Ive just noticed that if one node is a smart node and the other is a smooth node the change is very minimal and they seem to respect there respective node handle positions.

 

Didn't work for me :|.... at least not in the example I have going. I'll have to look into further.

 

49 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I am not entirely sure what you mean here, but when I use the Join Curves action on two selected open curves, they are (almost?) always joined by a straight, un-curved segment, whether or not their end nodes are smooth or sharp.

 

Same thing we're doing here just with two separate curves. NOT bridging the gap. Placing an end node on top of another (+ the other steps).

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@firstdefence since we're exchanging techniques.....

I liked what you did above with the capsules. But that locks your offset to the size of the squares you're using.

 

Consider this:

Draw a line constrained to 45° from the capsule box border corner. 

Now the copy will be constrained to that geometry when being resized and can be any size you want.... on the fly.

 

ezgif-2-d600d720a9.gif.01e43516f2924368bd17a7329ef8b23a.gif

 

 

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6 hours ago, JimmyJack said:

@firstdefence since we're exchanging techniques.....

I liked what you did above with the capsules. But that locks your offset to the size of the cubes you're using.

 

Consider this:

Draw a line constrained to 45° from the capsule box border corner. 

Now the copy will be constrained to that geometry when being resized and can be any size you want.... on the fly.

 

ezgif-2-d600d720a9.gif.01e43516f2924368bd17a7329ef8b23a.gif

 

 

 

Neat Trick, that works with the star and double star too and a few of the other shapes, I went through them all lol!

Roll on Offset paths.

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This is a bit off topic, but, first defence and jimmy jack, could you tell me what tools you are using to make the videos you've shown in your replies?  I'm on a Mac, so would be interested in knowing what tools there that do similar things for Macs. (I searched in the Forum for videos, but didn't see anything.)

 

Thanks,

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