Pin curve at points not its ends

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DavidCheshire
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:58 am

Pin curve at points not its ends

Postby DavidCheshire » Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:51 pm

I would like to be able to pin a curve, either a bezier curve or part of an ellipse, at two points that are not its ends, that is, at two points part way along the curve, so that whatever I do to the curve it always passes through those two points. The figure gives an example. The green curve is part of an ellipse. I would like to pin it where the two vertical dotted lines meet it. Is this possible?

I guess I could do this with a bezier curve that has editing points at the two points, but I want the curve to always be a smooth curve like the green curve in the figure with only one degree of curvature, rather than a wiggly line.

Figure 9 Middle Temperature Error.svg
(14.57 KiB) Downloaded 177 times

Moini
Posts: 3381
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:44 am

Re: Pin curve at points not its ends

Postby Moini » Sun Sep 23, 2018 6:54 am

The nodes on a path won't ever move, unless you move them intentionally. So what you can do is add a node in the correct place (just double click on the path). Then, to keep the curve always smooth, you can make sure that the node type is 'smooth' or 'auto'.

This is not going to work with an ellipse.

http://write.flossmanuals.net/start-wit ... out-nodes/
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Polygon
Posts: 393
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2013 3:27 am

Re: Pin curve at points not its ends

Postby Polygon » Sun Sep 23, 2018 7:17 am

Why a new node? Why not simply drag with the node tool at the certain stage of the curvature when it´s already a path?

theozh
Posts: 437
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:30 pm

Re: Pin curve at points not its ends

Postby theozh » Sun Sep 23, 2018 8:54 am

Maybe the LPE Ellipse by 5 points could do what you want.
- draw a path with 5 points
- apply LPE Ellipse by 5 points
- e.g. keep points 2 and 4 fixed and change points 1,3,5
However, if you only want to have a part of the ellipse you need to find a way to hide or mask the unwanted part.

LPE_Ellipse by 5 points.gif
LPE_Ellipse by 5 points.gif (238.39 KiB) Viewed 1396 times
Win7/64, Inkscape 0.92.2

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druban
Posts: 1917
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:48 pm

Re: Pin curve at points not its ends

Postby druban » Mon Sep 24, 2018 5:41 pm

To add to the suggestions given above, you could try the Spiro path option in the Bezier tool toolbar. That's the 'S' shape. This will give you a smooth(er) curve with the nodes remaining fixed.
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