Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

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inkrocks
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Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2019 2:01 am

Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

Postby inkrocks » Sun Sep 08, 2019 5:45 am

Hi Inkscapers,

I need to be able hide the red path outline for the pen tool in BSpline mode as it starts to overlap the blue line and causes annoyance when you're trying to draw small, accurate paths and don't want to zoom in on them.
If hiding wouldn't be possible, being able to change the color of both the outline (red) and the curve line (blue) would suffice. :tool_pen:

Image

Thank you

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

Re: Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

Postby druban » Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:33 am

You will have to go the developer's forum and ask them to rewrite that part of the program for you, it might be more efficient to rewrite the code yourself, since this might be something that most users would not want.
Often some feature might be irritating when one is a novice but with some experience becomes more appreciated, or at least understood.
Your mind is what you think it is.

inkrocks
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2019 2:01 am

Re: Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

Postby inkrocks » Sun Sep 08, 2019 7:13 pm

druban wrote:You will have to go the developer's forum and ask them to rewrite that part of the program for you, it might be more efficient to rewrite the code yourself

Thank you for your suggestion. For now I'm just hoping someone might be able to help.
druban wrote:this might be something that most users would not want.

I think most pen users would appreciate it.
druban wrote: Often some feature might be irritating when one is a novice but with some experience becomes more appreciated, or at least understood.

I'm kind of an OCD person so it might never grow on me, but seriously, it's not just the irritation, the overlapping of the lines actually blocks the view and you can't accurately trace small details without zooming or ending up making unnecessary extra nodes.

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Maestral
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Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 7:10 am

Re: Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

Postby Maestral » Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:35 am

Mate, it`s perfectly clear - you have a problem. Do you have some solutions at hand as well?
:tool_zoom: <<< click! - but, those with a cheaper tickets should go this way >>> :!:

inkrocks
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2019 2:01 am

Re: Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

Postby inkrocks » Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:59 am

Maestral wrote:Mate, it`s perfectly clear - you have a problem. Do you have some solutions at hand as well?

Mate, I may have a problem, but you may have too, albeit different, because clearly you seem to have missed the keywords such as "without zooming", "small, accurate paths" and further explanation thereof in my reply to @durban. The gif is deliberately made "perfectly clear" because it's supposed to demonstrate the LINES in question, not the situation.
I may or may not have a solution at hand, depending on whose problem it is.

Lazur
Posts: 4717
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2016 10:38 am

Re: Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

Postby Lazur » Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:46 am

Hi.

In my humble opinion with B-splines and using a tablet everyone have problems.
The shape layed down is affected by the newly set "node" positions.
Contrary Bézier paths, B-splines never go through these reference points and hence you can't even set an inflection point on a curve precisely.
With more nodes added you can draw a closer approximation to those.

Also if you plan to make a boolean operation -like adding two paths together- B-splines won't be preserved. It's a neat path effect as inkscape edits Béziers to the core. Those objects will be turned to regular cubic Bézier paths with a most likely different node placement as expected.

If there was a way of improvement I'd much appreciate displaying the curvature of the path at every location. Probably not when sketching though, but for tweaking the path.

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Maestral
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Re: Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

Postby Maestral » Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:40 am

Mate, your consideration is much appreciated but what I also meant to ask is - have you tried similar tools in other sw`s/apps? Any similarities?

p.s.
Your tone clearly depicts a misunderstanding. I was referring to the tool and its deployment and apparently "whose", on this subject, appears to be only yours ,)
:tool_zoom: <<< click! - but, those with a cheaper tickets should go this way >>> :!:

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

Re: Help hide the path outline for the pen tool in B-Spline mode

Postby druban » Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:38 am

B-splines are a new addition to Inkscape. What looks on the surface to be a "Tool" or a 'mode' of a tool is actually not, when BSpline mode is activated it takes the input from the Bezier pen and sends it to a Path Effect which sends the results to the Canvas.
Bringing it in like this made it easy to incorporate the work of a brilliant coder (Jabiertxof) who was at the time (maybe still) working independently outside the Inkscape project.
It had to be done this way also because SVG does not support BSpline directly (correct me please if it now does, or if it is planned).
This means that it can only use roundabout ways of displaying the control points using Bezier tool symbols. I agree that seeing the path connecting those points is not of any use, and I add that having to go to the PE dialog to adjust each and every weight makes the whole thing impractically unwieldy.

But what do I know, since I think that BSplines outside a 3D modeling environment are an affectation and that Bezier is perfectly adequate. I have yet to see anyone using BSpine in an Inkscape production in a way that could not have been done with Bezier. And since I can't export a BSpline path to a 3D program there's not much reason to use it. Yeah, I know, mathematically precise quadratics .... woohoo!
Your mind is what you think it is.


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