Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

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XorUnison
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2017 4:39 am

Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

Postby XorUnison » Wed Sep 27, 2017 5:25 am

After days of looking through manuals, tutorials and trying out everything I could think of I decided to yield and post my issue here. It seems like a very simple problem to me, but maybe it actually isn't.

I hope the title is somewhat clear, but if not, here's a picture to leave nothing up to imagination:
Image
From left to right we have:
1. The initial shape, the red line is the stroke, and also the path of the object, while the black area is the fill
-Reshaping the stroke/path will cause the fill to reshape as well, just as would be the case with a rectangle/ellipse/etc
2. The desired result, here manually replicated by turning a stroke into a path, adjusting it, and then adding the "fill" as a separate object behind it
-I want this sort of result, but as 1 object, so that when I adjust the path, that is the outer stroke, the fill automatically follows suit, but 2 separate objects obviously don't work for that
3. What I've gotten with "Power stroke", while I can now adjust the width of the stroke, the fill is applied to the stroke itself, not the object as a whole
4. Same problem, just done with "Pattern Along Path"
-I can also get a similar result by just making a stroke, turning it into a path and shaping it into how 3&4 look, all of which are not what I need

There are 3 solutions I can think of:
1. There's a way to adjust stroke width dynamically while using this stroke of variable width to surround a fill, and I just don't know that way
2. There's a way to link up objects so I'd have 2 objects, one serving as the stroke, the other as the fill, but they behave together as one object
3. A plugin, sort of similar to "Power stroke", that adds separate handles to the stroke for width adjusting, much like the :tool_node: tool, but without abusing the fill to fill that stroke

I hope this is clear enough, and maybe someone has some enlightening words for me.

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

Re: Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

Postby Lazur » Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:12 am

Welcome aboard!

You are definitely looking in the right direction.
If I'm not mistaken the clone original path effect can do what you are looking for.
Check Xav's tutorial in the 107th issue of the Full Circle Magazine.

XorUnison
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2017 4:39 am

Re: Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

Postby XorUnison » Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:34 am

Ah, that was the piece I was missing! Indeed, the COP effect is 100% what I needed to know about, as it's pretty much solution 2.
But it's really difficult to find as the correct solution by oneself without the necessary background.

Thanks a ton for this surgically precise tip. Now it's time for me to put in some learning time and use it.

Moini
Posts: 3381
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:44 am

Re: Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

Postby Moini » Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:53 am

There exists a solution for this, using the PowerStroke LPE in conjunction with another path that has another live path effect applied to it (Clone original, Fill between Strokes or Fill between many).

Unfortunately, this functionality is broken in 0.92.2... (at least for me)

This is how they are /supposed/ to work:
http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php ... tween_Many

The bug report is: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1715433
Something doesn't work? - Keeping an eye on the status bar can save you a lot of time!

Inkscape FAQ - Learning Resources - Website with tutorials (German and English)

Moini
Posts: 3381
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:44 am

Re: Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

Postby Moini » Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:54 am

Something doesn't work? - Keeping an eye on the status bar can save you a lot of time!

Inkscape FAQ - Learning Resources - Website with tutorials (German and English)

Moini
Posts: 3381
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:44 am

Re: Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

Postby Moini » Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:58 am

It's supposed to be fixed for 0.93, I'm still compiling it for testing.
Something doesn't work? - Keeping an eye on the status bar can save you a lot of time!

Inkscape FAQ - Learning Resources - Website with tutorials (German and English)

Moini
Posts: 3381
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:44 am

Re: Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

Postby Moini » Wed Sep 27, 2017 9:12 am

Just getting a crash when I try... :-/
Something doesn't work? - Keeping an eye on the status bar can save you a lot of time!

Inkscape FAQ - Learning Resources - Website with tutorials (German and English)

XorUnison
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2017 4:39 am

Re: Dynamically adjusting the width of a stroke which surrounds a fill

Postby XorUnison » Wed Sep 27, 2017 10:15 am

Thanks for briefing me on the current issues of this function. Fortunately for me I happen to be working with 0.92.1 currently, and after trying everything it seems to only work perfectly for me. Currently I doubt I need any more functionality so I'll just hold off on updating my Inkscape for a while.


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