On 4/6/07, bulia byak <buliabyak@...155...> wrote:
But anyway,...
Is it possible to do something like the following:
- File->Import... (choose image)
- Object->Pattern->Objects to Pattern
- Select new pattern filled rect
- Select curve
- Effects->Generate From Path->Pattern Along Path
Doesn't seem to work to me. The pattern (that is, texture -- a "Pattern" in the inkscape sense) doesn't re-orient to follow the direction of the stroke.
Objects to Pattern (unlike the effect) creates patterns that are defined in SVG and have no provisions for any kind of bending, only affine transforms. So I guess the answer is no. Still, I don't quite understand what you are trying to achieve by the above steps and why a simple Pattern Along Path (without Objects to Pattern) cannot do that. Can you make an illustration of the desired effect?
http://www.antigrain.com/demo/line_patterns.gif
All of those lines were created by sweeping a _raster image_ along the path. That's what I'm after. Now I'll admit that in those specific cases they all look like they could be done equally well by sweeping a vector object along the path. But that's not always so easy if what you want to sweep along the path is some kind of noisy natural texture, for instance. In particular I was trying to apply a scanned image of a pencil line to try to make lines that look more like they were drawn by a pencil.
Yet they are useful in design. I used them (at least) several times in real projects. And they are VERY hard to do manually unless you have a tool for them.
Yeh, ok. I can believe you. But I also think there are plenty of other shapes that are as common or moreso.
Common and at the same time non-trivial to do with other existing tools? Can you give an example?
I think what you're not getting here is that "common" is in the eye of the beholder. I can't see myself ever needing that spiral tool. I do however frequently need block arrows, but keeping them symmetric while adjusting the length, width, pitch of the arrow head, etc is a pain. If I were a designer of clockwork mechanisms I'd like to have a star-like tool for making gear wheels. If I were a cartoon maker I'd like to have speech bubbles where the roundedness and location and length of the pointer part were easily modifiable. If I were a flow-chart maker I'd like to have presets for all the common flow chart symbols If I made greeting cards I might like to have parameterized heart-shaped objects If I made database process charts I might like to have a parameterized barrel-type shapes If I made qbert landscapes I might like to have a way to make a perspective cube without assembling it from three distorted squares.
Etc. So ultimately all that I'm saying is that it would be nice if there were an easy way to create new parameterized objects besides the stock four (circle,square,star,spiral).
--bb