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Closing Curves. Why so challenging?!


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24 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Layer > Geometry > Merge Curves has overlapping nodes :-)

Are you sure about that? As best as I can tell, at the maximum displayable 6 decimal point resolution of the Transform panel, there is no overlap -- the pairs of nodes are coincident, although not joined.

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I have no clue what you´re saying as it don´t make any difference - to be fair:

Anything else?

And to make this case even more redundant: Inkscape has a parametric spiral tool.

PS: not sure what´s about your iMac: a native Inkscape is rock stable here for years - even when I crash it due a new beta round I never loose more than 1 min work thank to it´s Autosave function.

JoinSelectedNodesdynamicPaths.gif.a7ce314ee6d703fafb89cce0ea7b7967.gif

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9 minutes ago, PixelPest said:

PS: not sure what´s about your iMac: a native Inkscape is rock stable here for years - even when I crash it due a new beta round I never loose more than 1 min work thank to it´s Autosave function.

I don't know what the cause is either, but I know I am not the only Mac user experiencing frequent crashes with the various Mac builds.

For me with the various X11 MacPorts builds I have tried, it seems to have something to do with very slow redraws when the document includes several even moderately complex shapes -- moving anything around a few times almost invariably does it. I had hoped the Quartz native build would eliminate that, & while it does accelerate the redraw speed to acceptable levels comparable to other Mac vector graphic apps, it still crashes frequently, often enough that I just don't trust it.

Maybe it has something to do with my GPU or the driver for my Kensington trackball or some combination of the two, but that is just a guess.

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@Pšenda You nailed it!!! Could you please describe your process?

@R C-R Sorry for the misunderstanding when I said "who can easily merge those curves […]"
Still, the rest of my question was all about nodes merging: "Merging two overlapping points is a nightmare." ; "[…] so there is no overlapping nodes" ; (including the filename).

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Hi Tazintosh,
This is a known issue/area that can still be improved. Pšenda's file also has two overlapping nodes. Although there may be ways to get a clean path it would be nice to get it right at first try. I will add your file to our log to be tested against (eventual) new code revisions. Thanks.

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3 hours ago, R C-R said:

there is no overlap -- the pairs of nodes are coincident, although not joined.

If nodes has the same position - then it is overlap.

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Unfortunately, in @Tazintosh's example, as stated above, the grab all nodes and Join Curves method doesn't work. No matter how much (afaict) one fiddles with snapping beforehand.

BUT (...and @MEB, maybe this might help the devs :$?)

If you reset all the selection boxes (can be done all at once), then all the snapping and joining works as expected.

...Still doesn't address @thomasbricker & @Lagartos' original question about joining the two end points of a single curve while maintaining curve fidelity without double nodes. (edit: @Lagarto, the workaround for your example would be to use Booleans. But the main issue still needs to be addressed)
... I think this part is okay now. See second post below.

 

 

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39 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

The method shown by @haakoo does, at least for all test cases I have run so far (e.g., create a circle, conver it to curves, break it from one node; then click Layer > Gaometry > Divide. The path is closed without overlapping double nodes and without distoring the shape.

I was actually commenting on trying to drag one endpoint onto the other where the curves are very different.
I was running into the issue below. The connection was being forced to be smooth. So I couldn't even get to the Divide part.
But as you can see at the end of the GIF..... somehow the behavior changed. Not really sure what I did. But I think that part is ok now. (amended the above)

948017538_curvesnap.gif.b33a196461e7d95f74f6ac54e181edfe.gif

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1 hour ago, Lagarto said:

How did you resolve this? I have now tested with these kinds of curves where the closing point is sharp and I really struggle with them, and do not seem to be able to close the curves without double nodes or distortion (when merging manually).Divide has not helped me with this, at all.

HA (I'm laughing with you O.o)! I've got no idea!! see below. I'm not using any modifiers and it's all one click and drag....at the very end I use divide to get one sharp point.
At first I thought it was the approach angle. But every time I think I understand what's happening the behavior appears to be different each time I try. 
Want to post one of your curves to see what happens on my end??
(Edit: Seems to be more stable on the latest builds.)

39715725_curvesnap2.gif.425c2085aed98660a6a0800d39f3ef61.gif

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4 hours ago, JimmyJack said:

But as you can see at the end of the GIF..... somehow the behavior changed.

I think what you are seeing is the new "Hover to Copy Node" feature, added to one of the 1.7.x releases, kicking in. (If so, the Status bar should confirm this.)

After a short delay, this new feature copies the angle & length of the dragged node(s) to the node it is hovered over. The dragged node(s) can be hovered over any node on another curve that is selected at the same time, but it does not join ("weld") nodes together even if a dragged end node of one open curve is copied to an end node on another open curve.

1553140411_Hovercopy.thumb.png.5bc150bdc8cf0120d18fb16178bc38b1.png

Edited by R C-R
added graphic

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48 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I think what you are seeing is the new "Hover to Copy Node" feature, added to one of the 1.7.x releases, kicking in. (If so, the Status bar should confirm this.)

After a short delay, this new feature copies the angle & length of the dragged node(s) to the node it is hovered over. The dragged node(s) can be hovered over any node on another curve that is selected at the same time, but it does not join ("weld") nodes together even if a dragged end node of one open curve is copied to an end node on another open curve.

AFAIK H to CN is only available when hovering a node from one curve over a node on a separate curve (even within a "merged" set).
That's not what we're dealing with here..... the two ends of a single curve. 
And to boot, in my GIFs the not sharp connections (which doesn't look smooth on the 2nd one btw O.o), if accepted with mouse release, is welded.
(I believe this is the initial development stab at a simple drag and drop join/close..... but it didn't respect incoming curves. It's been doing that for a long time. Now at least, finally, it does both. It's just a little scatter brained atm)

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4 minutes ago, JimmyJack said:

AFAIK H to CN is only available when hovering a node from one curve over a node on a separate curve (even within a "merged" set).

Yes, that is why I said that the dragged node(s) can be hovered over any node on another curve. Sorry if that was not clear.

I thought that is what you meant because you said "I was actually commenting on trying to drag one endpoint onto the other where the curves are very different." I interpreted "curves" as meaning two different curves.

I need more coffee! :S

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32 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

... do not use nudging, since it seems that if you use nudge, it sill moves 1 px at a time ...

Nudge distances are user settable in Preferences > Tools. Defaults are 1 px & 10 px but can be set to whatever you want, including fractional pixel values:

844727255_Nudgedistance.jpg.fd1e7510706cb73ebcc77d005ecf9e93.jpg

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13 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

Good to know about the fractional values but I do not think that this has effect on the "first nudge" issue, as it seems that if your node is initially not pixel-aligned, and you start nudging it, it will move the amount specified by this setting, while it would be desirable that the first nudge after turning on the pixel grid would be done so that the node gets pixel aligned (similarly as it does when moving with the mouse). Thereafter it needs to move 1 pixel at a time to get the nodes perfectly aligned so the nudge setting should be 1px.

Lets hope the devs take this and apply it's logic.

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