helpful tip snapping complex items/grid

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brynn
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helpful tip snapping complex items/grid

Postby brynn » Sun Jan 10, 2010 11:41 pm

Hi Friends,
I'm not sure where would be the best place to post this, so moderators, please move it if necessary.

So anyway, when using Snap, with complex paths/objects and especially snapping to a grid, I'm often frustrated when there is more than one possible snapping target nearby the intended target. The item being snapped (object, path, text....this applies to everything except a single node or single line segment) jumps around, and never really settles exactly on a target. The new features that came out with the newest stable version 0.47, go a long way in resolving the issue, because now we're able to specify more precisely what to snap to what (my best technical language, lol). But I still find there are numerous situations where the thing that's getting snapped jumps around and always misses the target, especially when snapping to a grid.

But now, I think because so much jumping around has been eliminated, I just stumbled upon a sort of trick to hitting the target when snapping to a grid, despite the jumping around. Previously when I grabbed something that I wanted to snap to something else (either with the Selection tool or Node tool) I grabbed it some distance away from the end or side that would be snapped. This was so that I could easily see when the snap had occurred, so I could release the mouse button.

Well, now that we have the tiny little text the pops up to indicate exactly what has been snapped, at exactly the moment it snaps, I haven't been so careful to grab the thing being snapped on the opposite side of the end that is to be snapped. And what I noticed is that wherever the mouse/cursor grabs the thing being snapped, THAT becomes precisely the area that snaps to the target.

In the past, when for example I had the settings to snap nodes to paths and/or a grid, I thought all nodes were eligible to be snapped, and that the closest node to the path got snapped; or in the case of a grid, I thought that every node that could possibly be snapped, snapped to every possible grid line and/or intersection. That's why I grabbed it some distance away from the nodes that I wanted snapped to the grid or path (to more easily see that the snap had occurred). But now, it appears to me that the site where the mouse/cursor grabs the thing being snapped, *becomes* in this case, the precise node that will be snapped to the path or grid, even though it may not be the closest node to the path or grid line/intersection.

Still it appears to me that "chosen" node snaps TO the closest path or grid line and/or intersection. But even so, it's more controlable than every node being eligible for snapping! And now, it actually works better to grab the thing being snapped right exactly at the place I want to snap to the target. And while there's still some jumping around, the tiny little text tells me when the snap has occurred...but more importantly, the thing being snapped actually finds my intended target!

So I don't know if this snapping mechanism has actually changed in 0.47, or if it always was that way, and I just figured it out. OR if I'm thoroughly lost and hopelessly confused! But either way, getting an accurate snap is much more doable now, with complex paths/objects and/or grids, despite the jumping around. And that makes me happy! :lol:

~suv
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Joined: Sun May 10, 2009 2:07 am

Re: helpful tip snapping complex items/grid

Postby ~suv » Mon Jan 11, 2010 2:41 am

Take a closer look at 'Inkscape Preferences > Snapping' and read the tool tips for the available settings. You can fine-tune (by specifying a weight factor) which node snaps first or whether only the node closest to the pointer snaps...


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