Hoy-hoy

I want to slant a group of object to make some like perspective effect. Like half open door. I can't draw half open door. So I drew closed door in front view. And then tried to slant..... I mean open this picture of the door.

- In TopDraw you can slant object (or group of objects) with selecting this object. You get little squares on corners arround object, to resize object.
Then click on it again. This little squares changes to little diamonds. Now you can slant or stretch object by dragging this diamond.

But in Inkscape is this completely different. There is no slant handles. I just I can't find it. There is no slant command in menu: Object / Transform.

I hope, this is no so stupid question. Maybe this is just imposible to make in Inkscape.

civ-civ


Ponny

I think you want to use the shear controls in Inkscape. Use the to click on the object once and you will get one set of arrows for scaling (left side of illustration). Click again (don't double-click!) and you will get a different set (right side), for rotating (corners) or shearing (middle of sides). Drag the handle to get the effect.

Thankyou. This is interessant operation. Maybe useful in some cases. But I need some deformation tool for perspectivic deformation.

Hm, maybe word slant is not quite correct for this. In fact, I don't know what word slant means. Maybe is right word deformation.

How can I explain this...... You know, things in distance goes smaller. Like railway. Or half open door. More distant vertical edge looks shorter.

civ-civ


Ponny

Well, this is a little more complicated. Here's my sample crudely drawn door.

If you have a group of objects, the easiest thing to do is to select the group and call the path effect dialog (path menu) then select from the drop down menu "envelope deformation".

Check either the left and right or top and bottom; you don't need both if you want to keep straight lines straight. For your purpose choose left and right. click on the IN the dialog box to see the control path. only drag the nodes, not the path to keep your object's lines straight. then click on the other path (bottom or left etc) you enabled. You cannot see all four control points at the same time! You must keep the sides parallel to avoid curving lines.

There is another more complicated but more accurate way to get perspective... the perspective extension...

The perspective extension unlike the oath effect, is not adjustable and reversible at any time.... but it is more accurate.
You have to group your objects. Incidentally you MUST make sure that all rectangles and special shapes are converted to paths before calling this extension, unlike the path effect.
You must use to draw a four point control path (only four points) in this order - Bottom left, top left, top right, bottom right. the path does not need to be closed. This path describes the destination shape of your object gruppe. Here is the door again with the control path next to it.

Then select your door first, then the path, then call the extension (extensions> modify path>perspective). Then wait a while.

There it is.

This gives you a much better effect but many people have a lot of trouble with this extension. Just a caveat.

Also note that both methods play havoc with any gradients used to color your objects. As a general rule do all your transforming BEFORE shading with gradients....

Yes! That's it! Path effect editor!

This works the same way like in program TopDraw. Well, result is the same. Principle is the same. And it's simple to use. Well, simple enough for me. And yes, I know, the Inkscape has all, I need, just I could not find.

I tested "extensions> modify path>perspective" first. It is usefull too, but a little bit problematic to use.

1. You must to have just one grup of object. If you have more grups and then all grupped in one group - this object just disappears.

2. This perspective extension turned object for 90 degrees right. I don't know why. Maybe rectangles in inkscape has property named "orientation". But I don't know how to see what orientation has object.

Well, path effect editor is much simpler for me. Thank you for both answers.

Ponny

Ponny wrote:I tested "extensions> modify path>perspective" first. It is usefull too, but a little bit problematic to use.

1. You must to have just one grup of object. If you have more grups and then all grupped in one group - this object just disappears.

2. This perspective extension turned object for 90 degrees right. I don't know why. Maybe rectangles in inkscape has property named "orientation". But I don't know how to see what orientation has object.

These problems are addressed in several places in the forum... But i know what you mean, that's why I offered the less accurate but more reliable Path effect.

Ponny wrote:2. This perspective extension turned object for 90 degrees right. I don't know why. Maybe rectangles in inkscape has property named "orientation". But I don't know how to see what orientation has object.

The extensions 'Modify Path > Envelope' and 'Modify Path > Perspective' use a different origin for the transformation: see this illustration for a simple example (or this one, transforming a group of paths).

You can visualize the path direction of the quadrilateral for the perspective or envelope transformation in the node tool, if you activate the corresponding preference setting (double-click the node tool in the toolbox on the left to open the preferences pane, and activate '[x] Show path direction on outline', and make sure you have 'Show path outlines' active, too - there's a toggle at the end of the node tool controls bar for that).