Hey all,

I'm totally new to Inkscape, and I'm having a little trouble editing an svg. What I need to do is be able to select several nodes from an object/path (is there a difference), and then create a new object/path from those nodes.

The actual task I'm trying to accomplish with this is to create a path along the US border from an svg containing all of the individual states (excluding AK and HI). I thought that I would just combine the states into one object, select all of the external nodes (along the border), and then create a path from these nodes... if it's not possible to do this, or someone knows a better way, I would definitely be grateful for suggestions.

Thanks,
Elliot

Welcome Elliot!

So your SVG file contains all the U.S. states as objects or paths, and you want to create a new object/path of all of the states together? (fyi -- All paths are objects, but not all objects are paths.) If I understand correctly, here is how you could do that.

Select all the states' paths, then Path menu > Union. It will combine all the individual paths, into one new path, i.e. - the U.S. border. If this doesn't quite do what you want, please clarify, and we'll try again!

Also, please note the resources in my signature, where you can learn so very much about Inkscape

Hey brynn,

Thanks for the info, I'll give those links a read through. I guess I should have made my problem a little more clear, but what I want the end result to be is a single border running around all the states, i.e. a border made up of only those bits of state border that are on the outside edge of the nation. I'd like to get rid of all the internal borders (so states like CO would end up being completely removed).

Thanks again,
Elliot

EDIT: Alrighty, I guess you did understand my problem correctly, I just didn't understand what the union command was supposed to do. The only problem with that is that in my case the state borders are very detailed and adjacent borders don't match up correctly everywhere, so a simple union leaves the majority of the internal borders intact. I guess I need something a little more foolproof in this case.

Hhhm....so if the state borders don't meet each other exactly, then you must have some anomalies in the final U.S. border, as well as possibly some rogue nodes left inside the border, after the Union. Those rogue nodes and partial borders can just be deleted.....although.....well, I think in this case, it's hard for me to guess.

After doing the union, did you end up with one continuous border? Or did you end up with maybe a few different larger areas? I'm thinking it might be better in this case if you can either show us a screenshot of the original, or maybe even better, attach your SVG file. I guess it's up to you.

Your original idea of taking certain nodes and combining them into a larger path comprising the U.S. border, that CAN be done. It will involve quite a lot of what we call "node editing". A lot of people avoid node editing like the plague, lol! Personally, I rather enjoy it, lol! In any case, here's the general process for doing that.

Select a state to start with, and using the Node tool, select the 2 nodes where that state's border leaves the U.S. border towards the interior. With those 2 nodes selected, click the 4th button from the left on the Node tool control bar (tool tip says "Break path at selected nodes"). Then without deselecting anything, do Path menu > Break apart. Now deselect everything, and you can select just the inner portion of that state's path and delete it. (Be sure and save a safe copy of this file before starting, in case you get lost and can't get back what you've deleted.) Proceed with that process for all the border states, until you finally have a sequence of open paths making up the border.

Next you would want to join them all together. Select 2 adjoining open paths, and with the Node tool, select the 2 end nodes closest to each other. Ideally these will be already overlapping each other. Then click the 3rd button from the left on the Node tool control bar (says "Join selected nodes").

But if as you say the state borders don't all exactly meet, then when you click Join, it may slightly distort the border, as Inkscape will move them as it joins them. Another option would be instead of 'Join selected nodes' use 'Join selected nodes with a new segment'. But this will also leave the final border slightly distorted because the states' borders did not meet to begin with. So you will just have to use your best judgement about that part.

So anyway, join the paths all the way around, and you'll be done!

If that works for you, then we're golden. But I hope we can find a way to make Union work for you. It's just hard to say at the moment, without being able to look at the file, or at least a screenshot. So anyway, let us know what you want to do

When I need to union two objects which don't overlap, I usually just create a third object that covers the join between both of them, and then union all three. In this case I would do the following:

1) Remove any land-locked states entirely (except if they share a border with Mexico/Canada) as they won't contribute anything to the final outline and will just add more nodes for Inkscape to process. You're now left with a string of states which have a coastline or border.
2) Draw a very rough path from state to state using the tool, covering the whole of the inner part of the map, but not straying outside the outline. When you get back round to the start, double-click on the first node to close the path
3) Select everything - that path and all the remaining states - and union the lot.
4) You should now have an approximate outline, and can zoom in and use the tool to remove any remaining problem nodes.

Oh, nice trick, Xav!
I'm so experience oriented with Inkscape, and if I had more capacity to understand how things worked, I could do so much more.