question about moving a selection of multiple clones
I have a question about handling clones (an example file is on http://volition.wustl.edu/test.svg
Imagine this:
1) I create an object (the top left one in the file)
2) I make multiple clones of this object and spread them around (the others, not the original of the clones)
3) Then I decide that I want to move the clones a little to the right
4) I select them all (make a selection box with the mouse around all the clones, but do not include the original).
5) I move the selection area to the right (or to any position).
6) I release the mouse button
AND THEN THE STRANGE THING HAPPENS: all the clones seem to move to some RANDOM positions.
To resolve this 'problem', I can group the selection, move the group and then ungroup. That works.
I have the clone option to stay unmoved when the original moves. If I select the move according to transform option in the inkcape preferences, the problem does not occur anymore, that is, the selected clones move as I intend.
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My questions:
1) What is going on? Why the random moves of some of the clones?
2) Why does it work as I want if I select the option 'move according to transform'. I thought this inkscape pref is ONLY about what happens when you move the original, but not when you move the cloned selection.
I wonder whether I am missing something, or whether this is an unintended side effect?
---- BTW: I use Ubuntu Linux Dapper. It happens on the official ubuntu 0.43 inkscape version as well on the latest Linux version I downloaded using the autopackage.
On 6/11/06, Gijsbert Stoet <stoet@...679...> wrote:
AND THEN THE STRANGE THING HAPPENS: all the clones seem to move to some RANDOM positions.
First, they are not really random. What happens is, you move a clone AND the original of that clone too. Per SVG standard, a clone inherits from its original its position too, besides other properties. So in this case, the clone gets moved twice, and if it is rotated or scaled, the size and direction of different movements are changed correspondingly too. And if you have a long clone-of-clone chain, it gets worse with each step.
So what to do? Rule number one: Never use clones of clones. If you need many copies of one object, make ONE clone and then duplicate (not clone) it. This will give you many clones of the same object instead of a clone-of-clone chain.
And for single-level clone depth, I spent a lot of time working around and compensating the weird SVG behavior. As a result, the behavior in this case is completely predictable and even configurable. Go to Clones tab in Inkscape preferences and make sure that "When the original moves, its clones and linked offsets: Stay unmoved" (this is the default). With this setting, if you move only the original, the clones will stay put, and if you move them together, they will move together as if they were independent objects. (What actually happens is that for each clone, a compensatory move is calculated and applied so it moves as expected without cutting the link to the original.)
participants (2)
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bulia byak -
Gijsbert Stoet