I can't get curves editing paths

Dukk_Dodgers · Postby **Dukk_Dodgers** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:40 am

Hey everyone,
I'm a high school teacher who teaches some Inkscape, though I'm not a vector wizard, by any means.

I have 2 students in my class who cannot curve the paths on their shapes. More accurately, the line jumps from either completely straight to a perfect circle. There is nothing in between. Only some of their shapes are doing this, so I'm assuming they've clicked something which makes the tool function like this. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to turn it off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

flamingolady · Postby **flamingolady** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 2:39 am

hi
congrats to you for teaching Inkscape in school!
I would need to hear more info to properly diagnose. Could you tell us how they are drawing - are they using the pen, pencil or callig. tool, or starting off drawing with say a rectangle or circle object? Sounds like they may be starting with a circle? I was able to reproduce the flat circle that goes into looking like a line, if that's the case, then they simply are letting go of the mouse at the wrong time, meaning too early, they just need to hold on to the circle until the circle looks like the end result they want, then remove finger from the mouse (BTW, I don't use a mouse, I use a laptop, so I draw with my finger, so to me 'mouse' just means untap or let loose of whatever they're using to form the circle.
Anyway, you may need to give us more details so we can give you more accurate answers.
dee

Lazur · Postby **Lazur** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:40 am

Isn't that because they switched to spiro-spline mode at the pen tool?
Press F6 and click on the normal bezier spline mode at the top.

Postby **brynn** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 5:54 am

Yes, if they jump violently, and the circles were drawn with the Pencil or Pen tool, it's probably in spiro spline mode. Check the tool control bar to switch back to normal mode. You'll have to draw new circles though. There's no way to change the existing circle back to normal, if this is the problem.

Or it could also be trying to snap somewhere. Check the Snap control bar, to disable snapping.

If those things don't solve the problem, we'll need the file to look at, or a sample file

Dukk_Dodgers · Postby **Dukk_Dodgers** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:14 am

You people rock!
It was the spiro-spline on the Pencil and Pen tool. (You have to love when students start clicking random buttons on a new program.

) I figured it had to be something like that. I just didn't know what they clicked. I'll have to post some projects up here to show you all. One of my students just finished a Batman that is frickin' amazing!

256K? Apparently, I'll have to send you a link once we get it online. Thanks, again, everyone!

Dukk_Dodgers · Postby **Dukk_Dodgers** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:32 am

Oh, it worked! Not bad for his first project in vector.

flamingolady · Postby **flamingolady** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:44 am

nice job! you must be a good teacher!
I wasn't even thinking about the spiro thing, sorry! (I usually go in and add extra nodes to make it not go wonkers, so I wasn't putting that together with a circle).

Dukk_Dodgers · Postby **Dukk_Dodgers** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:02 am

Thanks! I do try. We've gone completely to open source. We teach Gimp, Inkscape and Al.chemy. I'll actually be teaching two classes for art teacher this summer, showing them how to use these programs. Mostly Gimp, but I'm getting better at the vector stuff. I did my first car last week, and learning how to use the gradients allowed me to show my student how to do the armor on Batman. Here's the car.

Postby **brynn** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:47 am

Very nice Batman image! Impressive. I like how the "I" looks like the side of a spiral ring notebook. Very cool!
The only 1 suggestion I might make, is that the "RISE" could use either more depth and/or detail in its texture, or none at all. The batman figure is very successful in its realism or 3D-ness. But the word RISE can't stand up to the same level of realism. So it either needs more depth and/or detail, or it needs to be entirely flat. Note that's just my opinion.

For the car....it seems that some areas are brilliant, while other areas don't seem to work at all. For example, the wheels, and the texture/pattern under the tail lights, look absolutely real. But the the tail lights themselves don't seem to fit. In a way, they don't even look connected to the car. Also, in the license plate area, something about the lighting/shading doesn't seem to work. I can't quite put my finger on it though.

But anyway, I'm glad the problem with the circles was solved. Just for future reference, if a file is too large to upload, you can zip it, and it will upload just fine

ragstian · Postby **ragstian** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:10 am

Hi

Fantastic images - I envy both your artistic skills.

I agree to some point with brynn - the tail-lights of the car needs a little more "tweaking".
Might be an idea to use a mask to "hide" the blur on the outer edge.

Was the car drawn with a reference to a picture? If yes - can we get a link to see the original?

RGDS
Ragnar

flamingolady · Postby **flamingolady** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:33 am

You're doing very well with the vector drawings - well on your way! It does take a bit to get used to. I end up with some strange drawings all the time, I usually do clipart vs the realistic stuff, so when I do try for realism, it comes out 'half and half; kinda like parts of your car. oh, maybe lessen the blur on the tail lights and do a little more with shadows to resemble where the light would bend above the tailights. of course you didn't ask for critques at all! I think us artists tend to see where others could make adjustments in drawings in other people's work far more than in our own, lol.
and the thing I have a hard time with is that the Inkscape gradients are raster - while the gradients in AI are vector - I always wonder why Inkscape hasn't caught up to that. I love Inkscape gradients!
I do use GIMP, but mostly for filters, love the I-WARP.
anyway, keep on teaching, your students are so lucky to have you teaching.
oh, what does al.chemy do? not one I've used.
dee

Dukk_Dodgers · Postby **Dukk_Dodgers** » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:33 am

First of all, critiques are fine.
I admit, I'm not totally happy with the tail lights either. I'll probably end up taking the blur off, but I would need to be more careful with the shapes inside, and I don't have the time right now. I'm finishing up a bunch of grad work while I'm teaching, so I'm just forging ahead, right now.

Al.chemy is a program meant to get past artist's block. It's interesting, if limited. If anyone could add the ability to use layers, change resolution, and undo, it would be awesome!

Here's the original image of the car. I don't have a link to give credit, as I tend to screen shot images to protect myself from viruses/malware/etc. Plus, I'm never going to try to sell anything. It's just an academic study.

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I can't get curves editing paths

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