How to make path follow outline of another path?

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teddyz
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Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:11 pm

How to make path follow outline of another path?

Postby teddyz » Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:38 am

I want to have a path, that is 20mm outside of the red path in the attached picture.
I tried to just enlarge it in blue - no good
I tried to manually draw it in green - worse
I tried to make it 40mm thick. That seems to me as exactly what I want.
But how can I make a path that follows the outline of the yellow path?
Thanks!
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DT-lek-outline.svg - Inkscape.png
DT-lek-outline.svg - Inkscape.png (35.42 KiB) Viewed 1621 times

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Xav
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Re: How to make path follow outline of another path?

Postby Xav » Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:09 am

If the outline of the yellow path suits your needs, here's what I would do:

1) Create the yellow path by setting the stroke width to 40mm
2) Path > Stroke to Path
3) Path > Break Apart (this will create two paths)
4) Manually delete the inner path

What's left will be a filled path following the outline of the yellow path. You can then set a stroke and remove the fill on that object if you just want an outline.
Co-creator of The Greys and Monsters, Inked - Inkscape drawn webcomics
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teddyz
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:11 pm

Re: How to make path follow outline of another path?

Postby teddyz » Sun Sep 15, 2019 1:06 pm

Thank you! So easy when I slowly begin to understand how it works.

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Xav
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Re: How to make path follow outline of another path?

Postby Xav » Sun Sep 15, 2019 8:49 pm

The key is in the fact that stroke to path converts what was previously an outline into a filled path in its own right. That path is made up of sub-paths representing the outside and inside if the stroke. In your case you only want the outside shape, so you need to delete the nodes making up the inner sub-path. There are a few ways to do that, but Break Apart is the easiest: it converts each sub-path into its own distinct path, so you can just delete the inner path completely, leaving you with a single path that follows the original outer shape.
Co-creator of The Greys and Monsters, Inked - Inkscape drawn webcomics
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