Dividing into equal segments

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 10:55 pm

Hi all,

I'm new to vectors and Inkscape, and would really appreciate some help! I would like to divide my design into 41 equal segments, and each of the segments should be in vector form. How do I go about doing this??

Thanks much!

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 11:32 pm

This probably depends a lot on what your design looks like.

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 12:03 am

It's a silhouette of the London skyline. I've attached the current file that I have, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated (please let me know if I've done something wrong with the file as well - I have not done a vector design project before!)

Cheers

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 12:12 am

This is a trace, right ?

The rasterimage is still underneath it.
You are aware that you lost a lot of detail in the trace process ?

Why do you want to divide the traced silhouette into 42 pieces ??

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:23 am

Ah, seems like I've done it wrongly then.

I was asked to produce a vector file of just the skyline for cutting, so I isolated the skyline from the background by doing a bitmap trace. What should I be doing instead?

It's for a large scale installation so the design has to be done in 41 separate boards.
Thanks

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:27 am

fixtera wrote:I was asked to produce a vector file of just the skyline for cutting, so I isolated the skyline from the background by doing a bitmap trace. What should I be doing instead?

It's for a large scale installation so the design has to be done in 41 separate boards.
Thanks

I think you will need a better source image to trace in the first place (yours is not of very good quality (blurry)). Exporting just a portion of the image is no problem. You can put a rectangle (with no fill or stroke) on top of the portion you want to export, select it, and just export that part.

hulf2012 · Postby **hulf2012** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:36 am

Hello
Thanks for sharing your artwork
It's true that you will obtain better results if you trace your image "by hand and mouse".

I understand that you want to divide the skyline in 1 row and 41 columns.

So, take the width of the canvas, and divide by 41. Next create a rectangle, without outline, and around 50% opacity. The dimensions of the rectangle will be:
width= width_of_the_canvas / 41 height= height_of_the_canvas
Then create 41 copies of it using tiled clones, (or any other mean)
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Tiles.html

And then use boolean operations

If you have problems:
1.- Post a sample (or samples) of your file please.
2.- Please check here:
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.html
3.- If you manage to solve your problem, please post here your solution.

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:42 am

hulf2012 wrote:So, take the width of the canvas, and divide by 41. Next create a rectangle, without outline, and around 50% opacity. The dimensions of the rectangle will be:
width= width_of_the_canvas / 41 height= height_of_the_canvas
Then create 41 copies of it using tiled clones, (or any other mean)

Thats what i had in mind as well but maybe, converting the rectangles into guides and then use the guillotine extension is even easier ?

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5832&p=74497

hulf2012 · Postby **hulf2012** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 2:02 am

Espermaschine wrote:
hulf2012 wrote:So, take the width of the canvas, and divide by 41. Next create a rectangle, without outline, and around 50% opacity. The dimensions of the rectangle will be:
width= width_of_the_canvas / 41 height= height_of_the_canvas
Then create 41 copies of it using tiled clones, (or any other mean)

Thats what i had in mind as well but maybe, converting the rectangles into guides and then use the guillotine extension is even easier ?

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5832&p=74497

It could be a solution, but it exports to PNG.

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 2:33 am

Okay I've done up another one, hopefully it's of better quality and the raster image is gone. But seems like the file is too big to attach it - any other ways to post it here?

I don't have to have the design in scale for now as I'm just sending it to a company to have the design laser cut onto ply boards. So technically I just need 41 equal segments (columns) of the image. Should I still be creating rectangles for it? Thanks

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 2:46 am

Normally an svg file is pretty small. Are you sure you deleted the raster image you used for the trace ?

In what format does the laser cut company want your segmented design ?

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:13 am

Okay this might sound silly, but I simply selected the original image underneath the traced image and deleted it?

All they said was they needed a vector file, didn't specify which format.

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:19 am

fixtera wrote:Okay this might sound silly, but I simply selected the original image underneath the traced image and deleted it?

All they said was they needed a vector file, didn't specify which format.

Not silly at all. Did you save again before uploading to the site ?
Alternatively you could upload the file to a filesharing service, like mediafire or something similar.

If the company needs a vector file, you will probably go with svg. That also means you cant export to png, like i suggested.
Instead you must do what Hulf already posted.

EDIT: btw, if you google london skyline and svg, you can find what you want in perhaps better quality.
This for example:
http://www.clipartbest.com/london-skyline-silhouette

I dont know about the copyright, but surely you can check the details yourself.

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:43 am

http://www.mediafire.com/download/dzb2v ... london.svg

are you able to view this??

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:51 am

Yes.
You traced this with 7 scans.

I would go with Brightness Cutoff and uncheck 'Smooth' instead, that way you will get only one object.

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 4:21 am

Brilliant, it looks promising now, thanks!

I've now created 41 rectangles in another layer over the image but can't seem to perform the 'division' boolean?

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 4:33 am

Heres how i would do it:

Lets say your skyline is 1000px wide.
You create a rectangle that covers your skyline in height and is 1000/41px wide.
This rectangle must be aligned with the left edge of your skyline.
Now you go to the Edit Menu -> Clone - > Tiled Clones.
Clone your rectangle 41 times (thats one row and 41 columns).
After you cloned, delete the still selected original. That should convert all clones into paths.
Select all of your 41 rectangles, remove the fill and add a stroke of 0,1px.
'Combine' these rectangles (Path -> Combine) into one object.
Select your skyline, include the rectangle with Shift and apply a 'Division' (Path -> Division).
That should split your skyline into the desired segments.

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 5:09 am

It worked!! Thanks a million, you're a star! both of you are amazing, thanks for your help!

Espermaschine · Postby **Espermaschine** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 5:56 am

You're welcome !

Just a comment: this may not come out they way you expect. Im pretty sure there wont be any sharp angles and some of the details might be very thin and thus break easily.
You said this is going to be cut from plywood, but you didnt say in what dimensions.

If i was you, i would do some sort of test. Plywood isnt exactly cheap. Maybe print one segment in Din-A-4 paper and see if you like the result.

In case you need a very good exact result, you may have to go the route Hulf suggested: trace the skyline by hand with a mouse, which is a lot of work.
Or buy/download a svg skyline of london somewhere on the net, that wasnt done by an automatic trace of an antialiased image.

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 6:35 am

Another option that I'm exploring are MDF boards. And I think the largest dimensions for these boards are 2440mm x 1220mm. The details probably won't be too intricate since the final product that I'm looking at is around 100m in length. Just got to wait and see what the company has to say about practicality. Thanks for your comment though, I'll keep that in mind

Moini · Postby **Moini** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 7:16 am

Just a thought: @fixtera: Would you like/would it be possible to write a 'user story' about this? This would make a really nice website news article for inkscape.org. Your project sounds very impressive!

fixtera · Postby **fixtera** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:22 am

Possibly, although not at the moment as I'm busy with quite a number of deadlines. What does it involve?

Thanks, I imagine the final product would be really grand if practicality is not an issue!

Moini · Postby **Moini** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:37 am

You could add a comment to this thread when it is finished - I or Brynn (who's also an editor of the Inkscape website) would then ask you for a photo of the work (licenced CC-By-SA 4.0) and you would describe in short what you did, why you used Inkscape, which problems you encountered, if we've been nice with you

, and how awesome the result looks (hopefully it will

). Nothing long or exhaustive, just a conversational description.

We could really use some non-boring news stories - currently all we have on the website is FSA-Agreement, donation requests (important, but not really inspiring) and board resolutions and finance planning...

Postby **brynn** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:46 am

I'm coming in late to this thread. But if you're very busy and don't have time to write an article or user story, we could do it sort of like an interview. I don't mean that the story would be formatted as Q and A. (Although it could be, I'm not a big fan of interview articles.) But just that Moini or I would ask you questions about the project, and do the writing for you.

And actually, I shouldn't volunteer Moini for that. But I'd be glad to do that, if you don't have time. Actually, Moini and I should discuss this elsewhere (I know someone else who would probably be very happy to do this, as well)

Moini · Postby **Moini** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 10:02 am

You're making me curious, Brynn

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