Hello everyone, I have a question and I would appreciate your answer. I used to work with Illustrator, but now I use Inkscape. In Illustrator, with the Shape Builder tool, you can remove and add lines, whereas in Inkscape I can only merge or subtract shapes with this tool. Imagine a logo designed with the golden ratio and a lot of circles placed next to each other. Sometimes, I need to remove a line instead of a shape. Is there a suitable way to do this?
Hello paddy_cad, you are right, but please look at the picture. I want to go from shape 1 to shape 2. In Illustrator, I can use the Shape Builder tool to separate or delete lines that are shared with other lines, but here I can't because the lines in the Shape Builder tool are not editable at all. My goal is to design shape 2. To design this picture, I had to draw the lines with the Pen Tool from shape 1, but at each point, extra lines were created that I did not draw. When I delete them, shape 3 is created. By the way, when I exported to jpg, the lines got much thicker, even though my lines were very thin. What is the reason for this?
Hello polygon, how are you? Thank you for replying. Please watch the video I’m sending with this message. I designed it in Illustrator, but how can I design it in Inkscape? Why does the Shape Builder in Inkscape ignore the lines?
Just back in Studio. Yes - clever implementation - but unfortunately not possible in Inkscape because Inkscape can´t erase single strokes or part of strokes per se. It will just be non-destructively made be invisible by a clipping path.
In code, we would find the intersections between the beziers or arcs and bisect the shape at that point. The whole shape builder is doing this all the time.
The real issues are deciding what is or is not a whole closed path and what is a bisecting line. I thought I'd put in enough logic to help bisecting lines cut shapes, this means that if I see your incomplete (not-closed) shape as being a 'line' instead of a 'shape' I'm going to try and use that line to CUT other shapes and not as a shape in and of itself. If you can figure out what other tools use to decide or not decide on these points, that would be useful.
Hi @cod how are you? I saw the picture and it's true that you used lines, but until the shape is completely closed, the Shape Builder tool doesn't work. Please watch my video 'test6' that I previously sent on this page. The Inkscape software ignores lines, and if you want to draw a shape based on lines, you will face problems. I really wish Inkscape had this capability.
Hi @cod how are you? I saw the picture and it's true that you used lines, but until the shape is completely closed, the Shape Builder tool doesn't work. Please watch my video 'test6' that I previously sent on this page. The Inkscape software ignores lines, and if you want to draw a shape based on lines, you will face problems. I really wish Inkscape had this capability.
Ali, it's not a capability, it's a *decision* about what assumptions to make about the shapes.
How should we classify a line, that isn't closed, as a shape that can be intersected? Fill area? Fill set? closeness of the endpoints?
If we classify them as shapes then we can easily (fairly easily anyway) send them to be auto-closed, bisected with the shape builder, and then readjusted to remove the auto-close line where possible.
Hello mr. martin and friends, I was able to find my answer by asking the AI. In Illustrator, you place the lines and can change their thickness, and there is no problem working with the Shape Builder tool. However, in Inkscape, the story is a bit different. I need to first create the shape and then use the "Stroke to Path" option to convert the stroke into two paths, whereas I think Illustrator does this automatically. After converting the stroke to two paths, I position the shapes where I want them and cut them with the Shape Builder tool. After that, I need to go to the "Path Effects" section and select "Offset" to change the thickness of these two paths. In Illustrator, I would just create the lines, use the Shape Builder tool to cut them, and quickly change their thickness. But here, it's a bit more complex, although it's good because my problem is solved. Initially, I didn't understand why the lines would shift when using the Shape Builder tool, and in the outline mode, everything was in place, but when I selected the Shape Builder tool, the lines would move, and gray lines would appear because I didn't know I had to first use "Stroke to Path" to convert the lines. Thank you for your great website.
Martin - maybe a new tool? Path Builder? With complex paths, you would have to be able to select down to the segment level. When two paths intersect, the intersection point would become a selection point. Just an idea.
Yes - this can all be done currently with Path>Combine and the node tool but it is tedious. Done it many times.
My note was to state that I was surprised (pleasantly) that the shape builder tool could use lines to bisect closed shapes. I use that capability quite a bit.
Hello, does the Shape Builder tool require space to recognize sections? Why, even though I gave it a bit more distance, it still couldn't separate the two parts? Please check my video "1234"
Inkscape is not a CAD application and the Shape Builder can't always always detect tangent points precisely. My guess is that round-off errors result in coordinates slightly off the true geometric tangent. Also, your best efforts at visually arranging shapes will not be exact. Zooming in will show overlapping and non-intersecting shapes and not the tangents you want.
You can help by drawing a path from the centre of the circle through the tangent. Use these snap settings: [Enable snapping] [Other points] [Object midpoints] [Nodes] [Perpendicular lines]
While we are discussing the Shape tool - what does a dark gray area mean? If I click one of the dark areas in the shape builder tool, almost 50% of the design goes blue as if I had drag clicked them to join them. See attached file.
Hi paddy_cad, thank you for your response. Please take a look at the video I'm sending. In this video, the rotation angle changes the dimensions of the shape, causing the lines not to be correctly recognized by the Shape Builder tool.
I´m pretty sure that is because a circle made from just 4 nodes is not a perfect circle. A circle made from a polygon with 24 or 32 edges converted and all nodes set to "smooth" will be more precise.
The Ellipse tool [e] can make perfect circles but conversion to path creates a 4-node bezier curve, which approximates a circle but is not the same. As Polygon suggested in #24, you can get a closer approximation with a 24-node polygon with smooth nodes.
Every time you move or edit a path, Inkscape calculates new nodes and angles and curvatures. These calculations incur a round-off error so the result may not precisely match the starting shapes. Open Inkscape's preferences [shift+ctrl+p]. Navigate to [Input/Output > SVG Output > Numeric precision: XX] and increase this value to improve editing precision. (This doesn't help with ellipse to path conversions.)
I think maybe both of these effects occur in your video. If you draw a line from midpoint to midpoint, through the (approximate) tangent, Shape Builder may produce a visually acceptable result even if it's not geometrically exact.
While we are discussing the Shape tool - what does a dark gray area mean? If I click one of the dark areas in the shape builder tool, almost 50% of the design goes blue as if I had drag clicked them to join them. See attached file.
I don't know exactyl why these dark grey areas appear and aren't recognized by shapebuilder tool. I modified a bit your design, removing unnecessary nodes and duplicates. But there still remains dark areas.
Here is a good workaround (learnt from Inkscape Art with Tom YouTube channel) : if a line going over the faulty areas is selected along the other objects for shapebuilder tool use, the dark unrecognized areas disappear).
Rem : for an unknown reason, the yellow line isn't that visible in the begining of the gif below : you can see it at the end.
David - not sure what the issue is. Rarely do I get this issue with the shape builder tool. My goal was to "capture" the triangles and use for something else.
Beyond the Basics Shape builder tool
Inkscape.org
Hello everyone, I have a question and I would appreciate your answer. I used to work with Illustrator, but now I use Inkscape. In Illustrator, with the Shape Builder tool, you can remove and add lines, whereas in Inkscape I can only merge or subtract shapes with this tool. Imagine a logo designed with the golden ratio and a lot of circles placed next to each other. Sometimes, I need to remove a line instead of a shape. Is there a suitable way to do this?
This will probably not answer your question, but : If you merge two adjacent shapes, it removes the line inbetween doesn't it ?
You could share an svg file to help us understand yoir exact problem (use paperclip icon bottom meft of answer window).
Here's an example of David248's answer. [click+drag] with the shape builder tool to combine adjacent fragments. [shift+click+drag] to remove them.
Hello paddy_cad, you are right, but please look at the picture. I want to go from shape 1 to shape 2. In Illustrator, I can use the Shape Builder tool to separate or delete lines that are shared with other lines, but here I can't because the lines in the Shape Builder tool are not editable at all. My goal is to design shape 2. To design this picture, I had to draw the lines with the Pen Tool from shape 1, but at each point, extra lines were created that I did not draw. When I delete them, shape 3 is created. By the way, when I exported to jpg, the lines got much thicker, even though my lines were very thin. What is the reason for this?
I doubt No 1 will work in Illustrator as the name suggests you need shapes. Simple strokes won´t work except when they enclose a form.
If No 3 is your goal it´s pretty trivial to make it from 3 plus 1 tangent:
Hello polygon, how are you? Thank you for replying. Please watch the video I’m sending with this message. I designed it in Illustrator, but how can I design it in Inkscape? Why does the Shape Builder in Inkscape ignore the lines?
Please check my video "test 6"
Just back in Studio. Yes - clever implementation - but unfortunately not possible in Inkscape because Inkscape can´t erase single strokes or part of strokes per se. It will just be non-destructively made be invisible by a clipping path.
Sure it can @Polygon
In code, we would find the intersections between the beziers or arcs and bisect the shape at that point. The whole shape builder is doing this all the time.
The real issues are deciding what is or is not a whole closed path and what is a bisecting line. I thought I'd put in enough logic to help bisecting lines cut shapes, this means that if I see your incomplete (not-closed) shape as being a 'line' instead of a 'shape' I'm going to try and use that line to CUT other shapes and not as a shape in and of itself. If you can figure out what other tools use to decide or not decide on these points, that would be useful.
As a side note, I will use lines to assist the Shape Builder tool.
Hi @cod how are you? I saw the picture and it's true that you used lines, but until the shape is completely closed, the Shape Builder tool doesn't work. Please watch my video 'test6' that I previously sent on this page. The Inkscape software ignores lines, and if you want to draw a shape based on lines, you will face problems. I really wish Inkscape had this capability.
Ali, it's not a capability, it's a *decision* about what assumptions to make about the shapes.
How should we classify a line, that isn't closed, as a shape that can be intersected? Fill area? Fill set? closeness of the endpoints?
If we classify them as shapes then we can easily (fairly easily anyway) send them to be auto-closed, bisected with the shape builder, and then readjusted to remove the auto-close line where possible.
Hello mr. martin and friends, I was able to find my answer by asking the AI. In Illustrator, you place the lines and can change their thickness, and there is no problem working with the Shape Builder tool. However, in Inkscape, the story is a bit different. I need to first create the shape and then use the "Stroke to Path" option to convert the stroke into two paths, whereas I think Illustrator does this automatically. After converting the stroke to two paths, I position the shapes where I want them and cut them with the Shape Builder tool. After that, I need to go to the "Path Effects" section and select "Offset" to change the thickness of these two paths. In Illustrator, I would just create the lines, use the Shape Builder tool to cut them, and quickly change their thickness. But here, it's a bit more complex, although it's good because my problem is solved. Initially, I didn't understand why the lines would shift when using the Shape Builder tool, and in the outline mode, everything was in place, but when I selected the Shape Builder tool, the lines would move, and gray lines would appear because I didn't know I had to first use "Stroke to Path" to convert the lines. Thank you for your great website.
Martin - maybe a new tool? Path Builder? With complex paths, you would have to be able to select down to the segment level. When two paths intersect, the intersection point would become a selection point. Just an idea.
Yes - this can all be done currently with Path>Combine and the node tool but it is tedious. Done it many times.
My note was to state that I was surprised (pleasantly) that the shape builder tool could use lines to bisect closed shapes. I use that capability quite a bit.
This was my response to #5 above, but the discussion moved on before I came back. Here it is anyway.
Hello Paddy_cad thank you . Yes I recently realized that I need to use the "Stroke to Path" option
@doctormo you make sound a bit like this is a trivial matter. Then why don't we have a vector eraser?
Hello, does the Shape Builder tool require space to recognize sections? Why, even though I gave it a bit more distance, it still couldn't separate the two parts? Please check my video "1234"
I'm not sure if this answers your question.
Inkscape is not a CAD application and the Shape Builder can't always always detect tangent points precisely. My guess is that round-off errors result in coordinates slightly off the true geometric tangent. Also, your best efforts at visually arranging shapes will not be exact. Zooming in will show overlapping and non-intersecting shapes and not the tangents you want.
You can help by drawing a path from the centre of the circle through the tangent. Use these snap settings:
[Enable snapping]
[Other points] [Object midpoints]
[Nodes] [Perpendicular lines]
Illustrator isn´t CAD either, but check out how good it´s dealing with aligned strokes in the video in reply#7
While we are discussing the Shape tool - what does a dark gray area mean? If I click one of the dark areas in the shape builder tool, almost 50% of the design goes blue as if I had drag clicked them to join them. See attached file.
Hi paddy_cad, thank you for your response. Please take a look at the video I'm sending. In this video, the rotation angle changes the dimensions of the shape, causing the lines not to be correctly recognized by the Shape Builder tool.
I´m pretty sure that is because a circle made from just 4 nodes is not a perfect circle. A circle made from a polygon with 24 or 32 edges converted and all nodes set to "smooth" will be more precise.
The Ellipse tool [e] can make perfect circles but conversion to path creates a 4-node bezier curve, which approximates a circle but is not the same. As Polygon suggested in #24, you can get a closer approximation with a 24-node polygon with smooth nodes.
Every time you move or edit a path, Inkscape calculates new nodes and angles and curvatures. These calculations incur a round-off error so the result may not precisely match the starting shapes. Open Inkscape's preferences [shift+ctrl+p]. Navigate to [Input/Output > SVG Output > Numeric precision: XX] and increase this value to improve editing precision. (This doesn't help with ellipse to path conversions.)
I think maybe both of these effects occur in your video. If you draw a line from midpoint to midpoint, through the (approximate) tangent, Shape Builder may produce a visually acceptable result even if it's not geometrically exact.
I don't know exactyl why these dark grey areas appear and aren't recognized by shapebuilder tool. I modified a bit your design, removing unnecessary nodes and duplicates. But there still remains dark areas.
Here is a good workaround (learnt from Inkscape Art with Tom YouTube channel) : if a line going over the faulty areas is selected along the other objects for shapebuilder tool use, the dark unrecognized areas disappear).
Rem : for an unknown reason, the yellow line isn't that visible in the begining of the gif below : you can see it at the end.
David - not sure what the issue is. Rarely do I get this issue with the shape builder tool. My goal was to "capture" the triangles and use for something else.
Thanks