Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction in order to merge/join closed nodes from two traced drawings.
Basically I have a core figure outline traced in and saved as SVG file, all good - in adition there are several diferent arm/leg positions using the same tecnique on seperate images (same ratio), what I would like to do is add these to create varying postions.
Folloiwng various tutorials I spent some time today trying to delete the closed nodes, joining the remiaing nodes together - in short I ended up in a complete mess, when I finally did get some sort of figure the body moved leaving the arm in-situ.
I guess the nodes only looked joined up, but because they have been used to create curves the end nodes are not always where you expect them to be (at the end) - this is my excuse for drawing a massive psiders web :)
Hope that makes some sense, apologies in advance for waffling.
Are you trying to create Y-shaped crossings? That's not possible with SVG vector paths. There is a path effect that allows that, but I think it's overly complex for what you're trying to do.
If you're trying to combine multiple paths into one, do Path > Combine with the paths selected.
It's not clear to me, though, what you want.
An example file would be helpful to better understand what exactly you want to achieve.
I'll remove the figure and replace with two equal boxes, joining these together seamlessly would require two sides of each corner (node) to break and re-join to form a rectangle shape.
Its probably quite easy with the above as no curved shapes involved.
Not sure if I can upload sample file but will endevour next day or two.
Yes, please share your SVG file. You can attach to your next message. Then we can tell you exactly what you need to do, instead of guessing.
It sounds like you have a complex image, and it can be quite confusing doing node editing. You can't tell just by looking, which node belongs to which path. It sounds like you might have just joined the wrong path ends together. Though a lot of people like to avoid node editing like the plague, I actually enjoy it. So I might be able to give you some pointers for selecting the right nodes.
This is something that will need at least some experience, if not skill. Because it's not just the node editing which needs to be done. Some path editing as well. Look what happens when you overlap them. I made one red and one blue, for contrast. You can see that the guy on top's (blue) arms are much thicker. See in the green circles, how far away the connections would be. So it won't be just a simple switch by breaking the path on one guy and reconnecting it to the other. You'll have to re-sculpt the shoulder area.
(Note that at this moment, there's a problem with the forum attachments, so I can only make a link to the image, rather than show it. Click on the blue Attachments button, to see the image.)
The other best option I can see, would be maybe to rotate the hand/fist a little bit, and switch over just the club or club and hand. But still, there will be a good deal of tweaking needed. Probably an hour's work, for me, either way.
Briefly, to edit, because of the way the image is made, it's really hard to see what you're doing, because you only have a fill. And once you start breaking things apart, you don't really know where the paths are. So I would temporarily add a stroke and remove the fill, and it will be much easier to see what's happening. Then you can see the actual paths, and you know exactly which nodes to break or connect.
I'll still be glad to make you a quick video, to show the editing. But I'll wait until you decide exactly how you want to edit. Personally, I guess either way would take about the same amount of work. I'm not sure what your overall goal is, but I might consider the next level up, so to speak. In other words, I would think - what happens if I don't do this? What could I do instead?
Or maybe someone else has an idea that I haven't thought of? I don't know, maybe Bend , or other LPE ? Sounds a bit hackish, but maybe someone knows a good trick?
Hi, So, The easiest way is probably to print your figures and cut the legs and arms etc with scissers. Then you scan them and make a bitmap trace of every part.
-------- This can also be done in Inkscape, by drawing a path on top of a prehistoric man, over one arm. And then you select the man and the arm. Menu > paths > overlap to only get one arm. and on a copy of the man and the path do Menu > paths > difference to cut the arm off and only get the body.
Then you have all the parts loose and you can place them on top of one another. They will look connected.
Do you really need them to be one path? Then you select them both and use menu > paths > combine.
I would go for using layers, see both attachments.
I f you only want the club, it can be done with the same technique. You draw two paths on top of the club, which cover the club. Select these two paths and use menu > paths > combine. After that select the club and your path on top of it and use menu > paths > overlap.
It is however easier to draw the club with the pen tool and adjust it to the hand that holds it.
Then you scan them and make a bitmap trace of every part.
But they still won't fit. There still would be a good deal of editing (for a newbie) making the parts fit. You either have to re-sculpt the shoulders or rotate and re-scupt the wrist. Whether you use node editing like I would, or path operations or scissors like Kirstie, it just won't mix and match.
However, it would be a good learning experience to try! That's for sure.
Thank you so much, I have been busy this afternoon following LogoNick and his tutorials - really appreciate the help, will try those suggestions and report back.
I just came across this tutorial using the 'join nodes' feature, very clear cut with a single nodes and known shape but no so on a cartoon figure (3.53 in).
Maren, Thx for clarifying what overlay is, I kept looking and looking, thought I had lost my mind there for a minute, or that it was a beta 1.0 thing, ha ha.
Off topic - Good explanation Kirstie (hope it gets on your blog...)
just an fyi here. I keep body parts in separate files now, so much easier to have a starting point. I have leg, feet, hands, and arms files, even though I don't draw a lot of people. I probably do a lot as Brynn has explained - since I've learned a lot from her over the yrs (thx Brynn)!
I also learned a while back that sometimes it's easier to break the path ends where the shoulder meets the arm, or where the foot meets the leg for example, when doing a path union. It can be cleaner to edit, just depends on the body position,your drawing preference, and knowledge of working with nodes. A lot of testing, that's for sure. Nick has such good info, that's a great place to start! ps love your caveman!
If you want to turn two (or more) paths into a single path, and they're too complex for "join nodes" to work effectively, in my experience the best approach is to drag nodes so that one path overlaps the other where needed (or draw another path that overlaps both) then use Path > Union to combine them into a single path.
But as someone who has done a lot of manipulation of traced cartoon characters, I would say not to bother trying to create a single path unless you need do for some specific reason. So long as the end result looks correct, it doesn't matter so much if paths overlap - particularly for the thick outline paths that are common in cartoons and comics.
The techniques described by Kirstie are all you really need for a task like this.
Thank you Maren for the correct translation, sorry to have caused some confusion.
Yes, editing nodes on a bitmaptrace always takes up a lot of time. One of the reasons people start using Inkscape is, to vectorize something. I think tracing a bitmap is a very popular feature. But the node editing is really not the easiest tool to start with.
I started that way, scanning drawings and then editing them. Later I bought a drawing tablet and drew directly in Inkscape. That was much faster than cleaning up and editing scanned results. It all depends on your own prefered way of working and what the end goal is.
Beginners' Questions Best practice traced drawings
Inkscape.org
Hello folks,
Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction in order to merge/join closed nodes from two traced drawings.
Basically I have a core figure outline traced in and saved as SVG file, all good - in adition there are several diferent arm/leg positions using the same tecnique on seperate images (same ratio), what I would like to do is add these to create varying postions.
Folloiwng various tutorials I spent some time today trying to delete the closed nodes, joining the remiaing nodes together - in short I ended up in a complete mess, when I finally did get some sort of figure the body moved leaving the arm in-situ.
I guess the nodes only looked joined up, but because they have been used to create curves the end nodes are not always where you expect them to be (at the end) - this is my excuse for drawing a massive psiders web :)
Hope that makes some sense, apologies in advance for waffling.
Are you trying to create Y-shaped crossings? That's not possible with SVG vector paths. There is a path effect that allows that, but I think it's overly complex for what you're trying to do.
If you're trying to combine multiple paths into one, do Path > Combine with the paths selected.
It's not clear to me, though, what you want.
An example file would be helpful to better understand what exactly you want to achieve.
Thanks for the reply.
I'll remove the figure and replace with two equal boxes, joining these together seamlessly would require two sides of each corner (node) to break and re-join to form a rectangle shape.
Its probably quite easy with the above as no curved shapes involved.
Not sure if I can upload sample file but will endevour next day or two.
Thanks
Welcome to the forum!
Yes, please share your SVG file. You can attach to your next message. Then we can tell you exactly what you need to do, instead of guessing.
It sounds like you have a complex image, and it can be quite confusing doing node editing. You can't tell just by looking, which node belongs to which path. It sounds like you might have just joined the wrong path ends together. Though a lot of people like to avoid node editing like the plague, I actually enjoy it. So I might be able to give you some pointers for selecting the right nodes.
Thank you for the welcome, please see attached SVG file..
This is typical example, if I wanted to move the club from lower charecter to upper it might involve opening nodes at say arm pit/shoulder area.
I could probably acheive this but it's very fiddly, perhaps there is a more direct method - thanks.
This is something that will need at least some experience, if not skill. Because it's not just the node editing which needs to be done. Some path editing as well. Look what happens when you overlap them. I made one red and one blue, for contrast. You can see that the guy on top's (blue) arms are much thicker. See in the green circles, how far away the connections would be. So it won't be just a simple switch by breaking the path on one guy and reconnecting it to the other. You'll have to re-sculpt the shoulder area.
(Note that at this moment, there's a problem with the forum attachments, so I can only make a link to the image, rather than show it. Click on the blue Attachments button, to see the image.)
The other best option I can see, would be maybe to rotate the hand/fist a little bit, and switch over just the club or club and hand. But still, there will be a good deal of tweaking needed. Probably an hour's work, for me, either way.
Briefly, to edit, because of the way the image is made, it's really hard to see what you're doing, because you only have a fill. And once you start breaking things apart, you don't really know where the paths are. So I would temporarily add a stroke and remove the fill, and it will be much easier to see what's happening. Then you can see the actual paths, and you know exactly which nodes to break or connect.
I'll still be glad to make you a quick video, to show the editing. But I'll wait until you decide exactly how you want to edit. Personally, I guess either way would take about the same amount of work. I'm not sure what your overall goal is, but I might consider the next level up, so to speak. In other words, I would think - what happens if I don't do this? What could I do instead?
Or maybe someone else has an idea that I haven't thought of? I don't know, maybe Bend , or other LPE ? Sounds a bit hackish, but maybe someone knows a good trick?
Hi,
So, The easiest way is probably to print your figures and cut the legs and arms etc with scissers.
Then you scan them and make a bitmap trace of every part.
--------
This can also be done in Inkscape, by drawing a path on top of a prehistoric man, over one arm.
And then you select the man and the arm.
Menu > paths > overlap to only get one arm.
and on a copy of the man and the path do Menu > paths > difference to cut the arm off and only get the body.
Then you have all the parts loose and you can place them on top of one another.
They will look connected.
Do you really need them to be one path? Then you select them both and use menu > paths > combine.
I would go for using layers, see both attachments.
I f you only want the club, it can be done with the same technique.
You draw two paths on top of the club, which cover the club. Select these two paths and use menu > paths > combine.
After that select the club and your path on top of it and use menu > paths > overlap.
It is however easier to draw the club with the pen tool and adjust it to the hand that holds it.
But they still won't fit. There still would be a good deal of editing (for a newbie) making the parts fit. You either have to re-sculpt the shoulders or rotate and re-scupt the wrist. Whether you use node editing like I would, or path operations or scissors like Kirstie, it just won't mix and match.
However, it would be a good learning experience to try! That's for sure.
Overlap = Intersection in the English version.
Thank you so much, I have been busy this afternoon following LogoNick and his tutorials - really appreciate the help, will try those suggestions and report back.
I just came across this tutorial using the 'join nodes' feature, very clear cut with a single nodes and known shape but no so on a cartoon figure (3.53 in).
Maren, Thx for clarifying what overlay is, I kept looking and looking, thought I had lost my mind there for a minute, or that it was a beta 1.0 thing, ha ha.
Off topic - Good explanation Kirstie (hope it gets on your blog...)
just an fyi here. I keep body parts in separate files now, so much easier to have a starting point. I have leg, feet, hands, and arms files, even though I don't draw a lot of people. I probably do a lot as Brynn has explained - since I've learned a lot from her over the yrs (thx Brynn)!
I also learned a while back that sometimes it's easier to break the path ends where the shoulder meets the arm, or where the foot meets the leg for example, when doing a path union. It can be cleaner to edit, just depends on the body position,your drawing preference, and knowledge of working with nodes. A lot of testing, that's for sure. Nick has such good info, that's a great place to start! ps love your caveman!
If you want to turn two (or more) paths into a single path, and they're too complex for "join nodes" to work effectively, in my experience the best approach is to drag nodes so that one path overlaps the other where needed (or draw another path that overlaps both) then use Path > Union to combine them into a single path.
But as someone who has done a lot of manipulation of traced cartoon characters, I would say not to bother trying to create a single path unless you need do for some specific reason. So long as the end result looks correct, it doesn't matter so much if paths overlap - particularly for the thick outline paths that are common in cartoons and comics.
The techniques described by Kirstie are all you really need for a task like this.
Thank you Maren for the correct translation, sorry to have caused some confusion.
Yes, editing nodes on a bitmaptrace always takes up a lot of time.
One of the reasons people start using Inkscape is, to vectorize something. I think tracing a bitmap is a very popular feature.
But the node editing is really not the easiest tool to start with.
I started that way, scanning drawings and then editing them. Later I bought a drawing tablet and drew directly in Inkscape.
That was much faster than cleaning up and editing scanned results.
It all depends on your own prefered way of working and what the end goal is.