Hi, I'm trying to tear an object in half like a piece of paper.

So far I've been able to create a simple tear in a dollar bill type of picture but the problem is the
other side of the bill always disappears. This is what I do:

I use the draw freehand tool to create a circle around the the half of the bill I want to tear. I then click on path-divisions.
I then select both objects and click clip-set. One half remains and the other half disappears. Is there a way to do this so that the other half doesnt disappear?

In the end I need both halfs.

Thank you..

If I understand correctly, I think you would do exactly what you're doing now, except don't do the clipping. After you do the Division, just select one half and drag is slightly away from the other part.

Hi Brynn..thanks for the reply...yeah I tried what you said to do but it didnt work...am I doing something wrong?

I've tried a few different ways since last night....Like I said before, I can make a tear in the dollar bill but the left side disappears after I clip it..

I tried not clipping it and nothing happens....any help would be appreciated..thanks again..

If you clip something, it's the normal behaviour that the part that is not in the clipping area is not visible anymore. That's exactly the purpose of clipping!

What you have to do is to have 2 copies of the object to tear (or one original and one clone) and 2 clipping paths.

Hi Mathieu.thanks for the reply...Im new to inkscape so please bear with me...Im still trying to learn...I have two copies of the object...

when you say two clipping paths..could please explain what you mean? Again sorry, Im still really new to inkscape...If i draw around one side of the dollar bill and clip it..then I am left witht he right half...now to get the left half what would I need to do?

If you mean drawing a second path around the second boject how would you get it exact so that it mathces the 1st object...hope that makes sense..thank you for your help...

1. I assume you are starting with a raster/bitmap image of a dollar bill. In the first step you see the bitmap, a rectangular path ( then ctrl+shift+c to convert to path), and a "cutting" path drawn with . Duplicate the bitmap and send both copies to the back of the z-order.
2. In this step you see what you get if you select the rectangle and the cutting path and do Path>Division. There are actually two paths now that match up like puzzle pieces.
3. To get this result you select one copy of the bitmap and one of the "puzzle pieces" and do Object>Clip>Set. Repeat with the other copy of the bitmap and the other puzzle piece. I have rotated and moved the pieces to show that they are not connected but do match up.

Here's what I was thinking, that does not require clipping.



Of course I drew it like it was cut with scissors. If you need a rough jagged edge, I'd suggest usng the Pencil tool to draw the dividing path, and make sure that the Smoothing is set to zero or no higher than 20.

Just to clarify, I don't think any method without clipping will work if you are starting with a bitmap image of a dollar bill. Your original post is not entirely clear on what you are starting with.

Ah yes, llogg, good point!
I didn't get it in my first read of the message, but by "picture" it does sound like zella21 might be trying to do this on an imported photo or something. That's why I didn't understand why they were using clipping.

If it IS a raster image, you could use the technique I described to create the clipping paths. Then use them on the photo or whatever, like llogg described.

thanks everyone for your help...yeah ya know. I thought I was going crazy..it is a bitmap and it doesnt work....I was trying over and over again...I thought it was me....

yes it is an imported picture...hmm so can inkscape do this? I tried both strategies above and neither seemed to work...I'll try the strategy by llogg again..I may be doing it wrong but I tried it a few different ways...

As I just mentioned, it should work to use my technique to create the paths that will be used in the clipping process.
1 - draw rectangle (remove the fill if you like)
2 - draw zig-zag line
3 - Division
4 - result of division is 2 paths that you can use for clipping

Next follow llogg's steps. Use 1 path on one of the rasters (bitmaps), and the other on the other. It should work beautifully

zella21 wrote:thanks everyone for your help...yeah ya know. I thought I was going crazy..it is a bitmap and it doesnt work....I was trying over and over again...I thought it was me....

yes it is an imported picture...hmm so can inkscape do this? I tried both strategies above and neither seemed to work...I'll try the strategy by llogg again..I may be doing it wrong but I tried it a few different ways...

Make sure you duplicate the imported image. Then use one clipping path on each one of the duplicates.

If you like how your first method worked, then simply duplicate the object before you clip it (I always keep a duplicate on a working layer anyway, since something usually goes bonkers with me, lol).

okay thanks...going to give it a go again tonight......will let you all know how I make out..thanks again..

Okay tried it..it worked great...all done....thank you everyone for all of your help. Couldnt have done it without all of you...thanks again!!!