Measure a curved path

[Gear maker]

John, you have quite a task ahead of yourself.  Interesting idea pulling the data from the SVG.  I'm not sure I have any suggestions, actually a question.  I'm assuming that you will only have one shape in the SVG.  Or are you planning on calculating the lengths of all groups in the file?

A month or so ago I had experimented with a method of counting the number of nodes in a path and the number of paths(layers) in the file.  I found the EPS to be easier to work with.  Have you looked at it?  Good luck.  I'll be curious to see how it works.

Mike

[firstdefence]

There is a scientific app called Fiji which is a suped up imageJ this has measurement tools and can import SVG: http://fiji.sc

This is a link for ImageJ but Fiji would probably be a better option. https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/

[John Rostron]

On 10/18/2019 at 10:29 PM, Gear maker said:

John, you have quite a task ahead of yourself.  Interesting idea pulling the data from the SVG.  I'm not sure I have any suggestions, actually a question.  I'm assuming that you will only have one shape in the SVG.  Or are you planning on calculating the lengths of all groups in the file?

A month or so ago I had experimented with a method of counting the number of nodes in a path and the number of paths(layers) in the file.  I found the EPS to be easier to work with.  Have you looked at it?  Good luck.  I'll be curious to see how it works.

Mike

The way I wrote the script was on the assumption that there would be more than one shape (path directives in svg). However I have not actually tried that. I will give it a go and see.

John

[v_kyr]

• Free pattern making software Valentina 0.3 released
• Drafting Patterns with Software
• Are there any free CAD tools for fashion design?
• Tau Meta Tau Physica
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• ... and so on ...

[Simbad82]

I'm a newer user to Affinity. Been searching the forum for posts on pattern cutting/making and came across this one.

It seems that being able to measure curves is still not a feature in Designer?

I know people helpfully posted workarounds and alternatives to the OP posts, but this is a really needed feature for THIS software. Outside of dedicated pattern cutting software, Adobe Illustrator is the most widely used software by pattern cutters in the fashion industry to create patterns. My main reason for buying Designer was for pattern cutting, then I discovered this issue! If Designer is trying hard to compete against Illustrator this one of the features it really needs to implement. 

[firstdefence]

Sounds to me like that is more of a CAD feature, shame CADTools can’t do tools for Affinity.

[GarryP]

Simbad82, if you were specifically looking for software to be used as part of your pattern cutting requirements – quote “My main reason for buying Designer was for pattern cutting…” – why did you choose Designer? Designer has never, as far as I know, been advertised as having any tools that are specifically designed for pattern cutting processes. Wouldn’t some other software, that actually does what you want, have been a better choice?

[Simbad82]

As I said above, Adobe Illustrator is widely used by pattern cutters in the fashion industry. Was Illustrator made specifically for pattern cutting? No. But it does the job very well due to the tools it has, that why it's widely used. As Designer is 'supposed' to be an alternative to Illustrator I thought it would be able to do the same things. My mistake! But other people who are in other industries have also been asking for this feature, so it's not just an issue specific to pattern cutters. 

[GarryP]

I don’t think Serif have ever advertised Designer as being an alternative to Illustrator – or anything else – but I can see how it could be assumed that they could be similar as they have a lot of functionality in common with each other.

If you, or someone else, can come up with a good use case for being able to measure the length of any curve, one that would be useful to a lot of people and not just pattern cutters (and similar), then I feel sure that the team would at the very least think about whether they could implement such functionality.

If you want to get a quick approximation of the equivalence (or otherwise) of the perimeter of two shapes – or the length of two curves – then, if you have Photo, you can use a little trick with the Histogram Panel as shown in my attached video. It’s not particularly accurate but if you just need something close then it’s probably usable. The higher the DPI of the document the more ‘accurate’ the ‘measurement’ will be and the shapes should only have a very thin outline and no fill colour. Basically the Histogram will count the number of pixels ‘in’ the outlines. No guarantees with this, it’s just an estimate.

[AdrianB]

Designer is quite nice – especially considering the low, non-subscription price –  and for a lot of tasks it can replace Illustrator (or even surpass it; the unified file format with Photo and Publisher is awesome) but there are still missing features (like this one or perspective distort or, until 1.8, expanding strokes correctly) and if one of those features happen to be important for your needs then Designer might not (yet) be for you.

Fortunately there is a free trial so you can check that your pet peeve feature works before buying. 

[johnnyfive]

On 3/25/2020 at 11:27 PM, Simbad82 said:

As I said above, Adobe Illustrator is widely used by pattern cutters in the fashion industry. Was Illustrator made specifically for pattern cutting? No. But it does the job very well due to the tools it has, that why it's widely used. As Designer is 'supposed' to be an alternative to Illustrator I thought it would be able to do the same things. My mistake! But other people who are in other industries have also been asking for this feature, so it's not just an issue specific to pattern cutters. 

+1. I've been waiting 3 years for this. I keep using Illustrator because it can let me easily measure paths. Anyone who prints their designs will find this functionality useful regardless of the industry. Surely the software needs to make these calculations in the background anyway, it's just that visualising it to the user has not been a priority.

[Alfred]

2 minutes ago, johnnyfive said:

Surely the software needs to make these calculations in the background anyway

For what purpose?

 

[johnnyfive]

3 minutes ago, Alfred said:

For what purpose?

 

Vectors are points, lines, curves and shapes that are based on mathematical formulas.

 

[Alfred]

3 hours ago, johnnyfive said:

Vectors are points, lines, curves and shapes that are based on mathematical formulas.

You only need the mathematical formula that defines the path of the desired curve. The length of that path requires a separate calculation.

[lacerto]

(...)

[johnnyfive]

Thanks Lagarto for expanding on this. 👍

[Cheryllyna]

I am also a garment pattern maker hoping to use AD for accurately drafting up patterns. Have tried Wild Ginger which is a **** program and  did a promo version of TukaCAD which seems to have a very steep learning curve and it is 200 dollars a month which is financially crippling to an artist getting started. I have used AD so far for some logo design but was really hoping to get some heavier use out of it. I know Affinity would attract SO MANY at-home pattern makers out there if you had this feature, as it is very easy to use and the pen tool makes such beautiful curves!

[ra.skill]

On 7/7/2019 at 10:03 PM, Gear maker said:

SpongeBob, I don't know how accurate a measurement you need.  But a trick I have used to get a fair measurement of the length of curves in AD is to use the dashed line.  I have found that the following setting will position the dashes at 1" intervals.  So then I just count the dashes and estimate any partials.  Not the greatest, but it gives me a measurement probably to the closest 1/4".  Hint: enter the stroke width as a number instead of using the slide bar, the dash interval is very dependent upon the stroke width.  With a little playing you can find many combinations of dashed sizes that will give an interval that is usable to whatever scale is needed.  Start counting from the red node and the first dash is number zero.  So in the example below the lines total just shy of 18".

Great work around Gear Maker 🙂
I do hope AF add a measurement tool though.... and perhaps something easier to read and find than the Ai one

[PuppyPuppyPuppy]

Is it still not possible to do this (get the length of a curve)?  It would be insanely useful in creating package designs, among other things.

[Debmanks]

As a pattern maker I'm used to measuring the length of a curve with an actual ruler. Is there  a function in Affinity Design to make my screen display actual size so i could rotate my ruler around the screen. I'd be happy to add a few nodes to break it into sections to make it more managable.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Debmanks

[G13RL]

10 minutes ago, Debmanks said:

As a pattern maker I'm used to measuring the length of a curve with an actual ruler. Is there  a function in Affinity Design to make my screen display actual size so i could rotate my ruler around the screen. I'd be happy to add a few nodes to break it into sections to make it more managable.

Double click on the "Zoom Tool" icon, or "Ctrl/Cmd+1", or "Ctrl/Cmd+8".

[Debmanks]

20 hours ago, G13RL said:

Double click on the "Zoom Tool" icon, or "Ctrl/Cmd+1", or "Ctrl/Cmd+8".

Thank you that does seem to do the trick. It's a work around that will suffice for now but AD really needs a measuring tool.

[G13RL]

2 hours ago, Debmanks said:

Thank you that does seem to do the trick. It's a work around that will suffice for now but AD really needs a measuring tool.

Thanks for the feedback, I agree with you.

[Babem000]

On 7/6/2019 at 5:56 PM, John Rostron said:

For the reason I mentioned earlier:

I am not aware of any graphics/drawing program that will do this. You probably would need to use a more mathematically-inclined program, possibly Mathematica. Just to give you an indication of the complexity involved, look at this page. At the least, you would need to export the co-ordinates of the curve in question. Not a simple task........

I wouldn't say that, because CoreDraw solved this a long time ago. I am attaching the CorelDraw2019 images here. The curve sections and node data of a letter "P" are shown.

[John Rostron]

17 hours ago, Babem000 said:

I wouldn't say that, because CoreDraw solved this a long time ago. I am attaching the CorelDraw2019 images here. The curve sections and node data of a letter "P" are shown.

I said 'not a simple task', not that it was impossible.

John