Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

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mtthw
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Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 9:47 am

Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby mtthw » Wed May 26, 2010 9:55 am

Is it possible to select an item and decrease the overall number of nodes? Is there any kind of tool or automatic
way of doing this.

Thanks, inkscape is so big, I can't find this or something similar that I could try. I'm sure the way I am doing it
now is not the most efficient way.

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brynn
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Re: Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby brynn » Wed May 26, 2010 11:37 am

Path menu > Simplify
Doing this once will reduce the number of nodes, with minimal effect on the path(s). But a 2nd time or more and you will notice changes in the path. Sometimes it's actually beneficial, but other times not tolerable. Whatever works for you :D

mtthw
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Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 9:47 am

Re: Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby mtthw » Thu May 27, 2010 2:21 pm

Thanks.

Wow, Inkscape is powerful indeed. I'm getting into it now, found the simplify paths and also the different node types etc.

I must say, this program is capable of much more than I thought when I downloaded it. Truly amazing how easy it is to work with,
compared to the vector illustration software I remember trying to use some years ago.

PapaSue
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Re: Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby PapaSue » Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:54 am

I changed the Inkscape Preferences/Misc/Simplification Threshold from 0.0000 to 0.0001 after someone told me that it would further reduce the nodes in a design. I'm a cutter and less nodes is better.

NOW I get more nodes (sometimes double the number) with just one application of simplify.

I've tried to change the Preference back to 0.0000 but Inkscape won't let me.

Can you help?

Susan
Mac Snow Leopard, Inkscape 0.47

~suv
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Re: Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby ~suv » Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:14 pm

PapaSue wrote:I changed the Inkscape Preferences/Misc/Simplification Threshold from 0.0000 to 0.0001 after someone told me that it would further reduce the nodes in a design.
The default value for 'Simplification Threshold' is '0.0020', not '0.0000'.
PapaSue wrote:I've tried to change the Preference back to 0.0000 but Inkscape won't let me.
The lowest possible value is 0.0001. Change it back to 0.0020 to get the default behavior - or higher if you want 'Simplify' to remove nodes more aggressively.

Tooltip information of the setting: «How strong is the Node tool's Simplify command by default. If you invoke this command several times in quick succession, it will act more and more aggressively; invoking it again after a pause restores the default threshold.»

PapaSue
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Re: Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby PapaSue » Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:32 pm

Thank you yet again. I don't see well and I guess I forgot/didn't see that the original number had been 20 not 00.

I really appreciate you!!!!

PapaSue
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Re: Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby PapaSue » Sat Aug 21, 2010 12:32 am

Follow up question.

I got the information about changing the Simplify Threshold to 0.0001 or 0.0002 from two crafters, one in Australia and the other in England. They both use mm as the unit of measure. I use inches and have set my Ink preferences to default to inches.

Now that I have reset to 0.0020 it works just fine which makes me wonder if the unit of measure affects anything else besides node threshold. Any thoughts on this?

Oh, BTW I did read the Tool Tip paragraph, over and over, but it is in tech speak not user speak and it didn't make any sense. "strength" did not compute. More aggressively, strong???. How about less and more or add/subtract, increase/decrease? Just a comment on the documentation in general. Without you I would still be banging my head.

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prkos
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Re: Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby prkos » Sat Aug 21, 2010 12:41 am

I doubt units have any influence on the simplify algorithm, the formula is the same.

Writing software interface text can be hard, do you have a suggestion how to rewrite the whole tip?

The idea is that using simplify quickly several times removes even more nodes and distorts the path more, it's a shortcut to temporarily increase the Simplification threshold.

Heh maybe this can do it :)
just hand over the chocolate and nobody gets hurt

Inkscape Manual on Floss
Inkscape FAQ
very comprehensive Inkscape guide
Inkscape 0.48 Illustrator's Cookbook - 109 recipes to learn and explore Inkscape - with SVG examples to download

theflatid
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Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:13 am

Re: Automatically decrease numbr of nodes?

Postby theflatid » Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:27 am

A good trick is here!
You could use "Inset/Outset Halo" extension at "Extensions > Generate from Path > Inset/Outset Halo...":
Use Lowest Values:
Width:1
Number of steps:5
This makes 5 extra objects. Select all and ungroup it 5 times and delete main object. Objects are above each other. move them to another place and choose the object with minimum nodes [Often first(UP) or last object(Bottom) has minimum nodes]
Often, this works better than Simplify command because keep shape and reduce number of nodes more.
That likes Inset and Outset commans but keep main shape.


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