Evening all

As a relative newbie to inkscape, could someone please help me with a map I am creating for a local charity.

The map is half drawn, but I am having terrible difficulty creating the network of footpaths that lead around the edge and in the middle of the site. I am after something that has a white fill and black stroke.

My problem is thus. If I use skinny rectangles to represent the footpaths, the corners don't align, and where one footpath intersects another the black stroke of one is visible over the fill of the one below it. Further, I cannot get all the shapes I need from using either the rectangle or polygons features.

If I use freehand black lines, then getting the whole network of paths to join correctly so that I can apply a white fill is proving impossible. Also, I cant easily get all the footpath widths the same.

Help please !

Try using the path operations, such as path union and difference, to combine and cut (respectively) using two shapes with a fill and stroke. For example, two rectangles with a fill and stroke, and bisecting each other at 90 degrees...shows normally as one of the rectangles stroke overlaying the other. select both rectangles and do a path union. you should get a plus/medic shape, with the stroke at circumference only of the combined shape.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

If you could provide at least a screenshot of the project, it would help us to offer suggestions. I'm not sure if we necessarily need the SVG file, but it might be helpful if you could provide that. But at least a screenshot

That said though, I can still make some comments based on your description. There may be a few ways to approach these problems, and I suspect you'll get more than 1 or 2 ideas about how to proceed.

To fix the problem where the black stroke is on top of the next section of pathway, it might work to just break the path between those 2 nodes (after converting rectangle to path, if not already done). Depending on the complexity of this network of pathways, that might be good enough. Or it might be necessary to do some node editing, and make all the pathways a single object. It's hard to say without knowing the details of the situation there on the canvas. I can also see Pattern Along Path being a reasonable solution, potentially. And that would actually solve the problem of consistent widths too.

I can think of another way to have the pathway widths the same. You could draw them using Pen or Pencil tool -- but not like a closed path, it would be one single open path for each pathway. Make the stroke width large enough, so that the black stroke looks like the pathway. Then you would do Path menu > Stroke to Path. Then give it a white fill and black stroke. You'd need to be sure the pathways are perfect, before doing stroke to path, because it will be hard to edit later, without jeapardizing the consistent width. I'm not sure if this would potentially be the best solution or not, but it's an idea

If you end up making the pathways all one path/object, then the node editing will solve the alignment problem. If you end up with the rectangles for the pathways, or other objects, you can use Snapping for precise alignment.

I'll wait to offer detailed instructions, until I've seen the situation of the pathways on the canvas, and know a little better what's involved.

Oops, look, chriswww sneaked in a reply while I was typing
I agree, Path menu > Union will be a quick way to make them all one single path, without needing to edit nodes

Thank you for the replies.

I shall try out all of the suggestions you have kindly made.

As suggested, I attach an example of the problems I have been encountering (having deleted all of the footpaths from the original in a fit of frustration). But hopefully you will see the kind of issues I have been facing.

Thanks again.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/825/81277790.jpg/

Ok, yes. In this case, since all or most of your sidewalks are straight with angled and not curved intersections, you can probably continue the way you have been working. Using rectangles, you can make them all the same height or width, then place them where they need to be. (Use the H and W values on the control bar of the Selection tool, to make them precisely the same.) As long as they are all touching, then Path menu > Union will make them into all on path. The triangular part....well, you could do that with rectangles too, except you'll need to rotate them.

I guess I can think of a lot of "what ifs" but honestly, I think you'll do fine with Union and rectangles! But please feel free to post again, if you get stuck

Thanks for the help. You will see I have put your advice to good use

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/313/.jpg

Any thoughts?

Ta

Fatbloke.

Oops, ignore above link, try this instead

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/7720/74876062k.jpg

Awesome, I'm glad it worked out!

My only comment would be that the sidwalk lines that you added stand out. You might want to sort of gray them down some, to better fit with the rest of the image. It's hard to tell if the other lines in the image are the same width. I think the sidewalk lines might look thicker just because they're darker. Making them gray will help, but you might need to make them a little narrower too. You could also make the sidewalk the same color as the other sidewalks in the image.....well, if they are sidewalks. I think you had said "footpath" before. So whatever works. I see there's a driveway that's kind of cream colored. And whatever that is between the Compost area and green areas, is kind of a light gray. I'm not sure if that's a roadway or sidewalk. But they might look better with a slightly different color besides white. Just a couple of thoughts

Thanks for the all guidance Brynn.

I have toned down the stroke on the footpaths to a mid-gray, and it does indeed look better. As for changing the width of all of these footpaths (I call them footpaths only because using the word path would lead to all sorts of confusion!) I wish I could. It took me so long to get them all the correct width (using rectangles, then path union, then sorting out the nodes by eye to eliminate the inevitable extra bobbles) that I simply haven't the time to do it all over again.

The white area you refer to above the "Compost area" text is indeed a road, bounded by two parallel strokes (it is a light gray on the original svg file). You will see that the top right hand extremity of the road is bounded by a stroke; how do I eliminate that stroke to give the impression to the viewer that the road continues northwards? I have tried overlaying it with a similarly gray rectangle, turned to match the alignment of the road but it looked clumsy. I have also tried breaking that small length of stroke with the intention of deleting the unnecessary stroke, but the fill just goes wild. Any thoughts?

Thanks again.

Oh, I didn't mean change the width of the footpaths. I meant change the width of the stroke (black, now gray). Making it gray may be enough, without having to change the width of the stroke. And if you're happy with it, that's all that matters

Breaking the path between the 2 nodes should be the proper way to remove that portion. I actually do have an idea about what you mean by the fill going wild. It probably means that there are either some rogue nodes somewhere on that object, or nodes that may be placed properly, but are not connected to the whole object. To find them (there must be at least one, and I have no way of knowing how many there might be -- I would guess no more than 3 or 4 others, but I really have no idea) you'd have to select that object with the node tool, and using the Tab key select each node in succession. Watch them carefully with each keystroke, and when/if you see that the next selected node is not beside the last selected one, that's a clue that either the last selected or next selected at that point might be part of the problem. This process is a little hard to describe with words! I'd be glad to have a look at the file and fix that path, if you want. Although I think you can probably figure it out. Just make sure you save a copy of the file before you start, in case things go badly

Late to this, but the simplest way is to make a thick stroke in black then duplicate it change it to white and a 2px thinner stroke. This will give the look of a one px black outlined stroke.

You can also do it with clones to keep it dynamic, but that is more complex and often not worth the effort.

-Rob A>

you'll find me in the compost section of the area, telling jokes to compost worms so they produce more worm wee....sorry....the picture has an eye pleasing quality to it, which means it's finished. In the future you may also like to use pattern along path so you can edit and re-edit the "footpaths" as much as you want, just by adjusting a simple path.