I'm trying to make a battle map that has a grid effect more fancy than simple lines.
I've been trying to do this by drawing one layer that contains the top and left sides for one square, and then applying the Tiling live path effect. However, the way the Tiling effect chooses its interval makes it cumbersome to the point of being almost useless for me.
I want the grid copies to appear at exactly one-inch intervals (or some other interval I define). Exactly and absolutely one inch, regardless of how I change the original object itself. However, the current way it works is that it measures the size automatically and then adds the defined gap. This means that every time I make an adjustment to the object, it completely screws up the whole grid and I have to go and measure and adjust the gap again.
Is there any way to set it to use an absolute length for the interval instead? I find it hard to believe that you can't, especially because that's more direct and presumably easier to implement than the current way.
Draw a 1 inch square. Create a group from this single shape. Apply the tiling path effect. Open the group. Draw or paste a shape inside the group. As long as you stay inside the 1 inch boundary, your tiles will remain on 1 inch centres. Hide the original square by settng fill and stroke to "none".
If the tiles don't update, turn the path effect on and off with the "eyeball" icon. This forces Inkscape to recalculate the path effect.
You can achieve a similar outcome with [Edit > Clone > Create Tiled Clones...]. This generates a smaller file, which is useful if your grid is large.
I don't think tiling LPE will allow you to keep original 1 inch square size for your grid : as soon as something inside the group gets over of the square boundaries, group gets bigger and gaps appear.
As suggest Paddy_CAD, I would :
be sure to have geometric bounding boxes enabled (inkscape preferences > tools) for exact tiling (independant from square's stroke width.
draw the square, group it and create tiled clones.
You're correct about the limitation with tiling in Inkscape's Live Path Effects (LPE). When elements within the group extend beyond the original square boundaries, the group size increases, leading to gaps in the grid.
Paddy_CAD's approach is a solid workaround. To summarize:
Enable Geometric Bounding Boxes: This ensures that the tiling remains exact and independent of the square's stroke width. You can do this by going to Inkscape Preferences > Tools and checking the option for geometric bounding boxes.
Create the Base Square and Group It: Start by drawing your 1-inch square and grouping it.
Use Tiled Clones: Create your grid using the Tiled Clones tool. This should maintain the original square size across the grid.
Add Elements Inside the Group: Once the grid is set up, you can enter each group and add or modify elements inside without affecting the overall grid structure.
This method allows you to keep the grid's integrity while customizing the contents of each square.
@polygon : of course it works for rectangles, if you use it on a group where there is such a rectangle and something going over the the rectangle : as the spacing of LPE refers to group size (bigger than rectangle), there are gaps between rectangles, if you don't set a negative (and inaccurate) gap.
Edit : didn't see that you where not drawing rectangles but tiling two sides of one rectangle. Sorry.
Problem is, I'm not staying inside the original boundary.
A pattern will clip anything outside the original boundary. Moving objects in and out of the pattern is easy using the indent/unindent buttons in the XML-editor.
Beyond the Basics Tiling with fixed interval
Inkscape.org
I'm trying to make a battle map that has a grid effect more fancy than simple lines.
I've been trying to do this by drawing one layer that contains the top and left sides for one square, and then applying the Tiling live path effect. However, the way the Tiling effect chooses its interval makes it cumbersome to the point of being almost useless for me.
I want the grid copies to appear at exactly one-inch intervals (or some other interval I define). Exactly and absolutely one inch, regardless of how I change the original object itself. However, the current way it works is that it measures the size automatically and then adds the defined gap. This means that every time I make an adjustment to the object, it completely screws up the whole grid and I have to go and measure and adjust the gap again.
Is there any way to set it to use an absolute length for the interval instead? I find it hard to believe that you can't, especially because that's more direct and presumably easier to implement than the current way.
Draw a 1 inch square. Create a group from this single shape. Apply the tiling path effect. Open the group. Draw or paste a shape inside the group. As long as you stay inside the 1 inch boundary, your tiles will remain on 1 inch centres. Hide the original square by settng fill and stroke to "none".
If the tiles don't update, turn the path effect on and off with the "eyeball" icon. This forces Inkscape to recalculate the path effect.
You can achieve a similar outcome with [Edit > Clone > Create Tiled Clones...]. This generates a smaller file, which is useful if your grid is large.
Problem is, I'm not staying inside the original boundary.
In that case, send in the clones.
I don't think tiling LPE will allow you to keep original 1 inch square size for your grid : as soon as something inside the group gets over of the square boundaries, group gets bigger and gaps appear.
As suggest Paddy_CAD, I would :
You're correct about the limitation with tiling in Inkscape's Live Path Effects (LPE). When elements within the group extend beyond the original square boundaries, the group size increases, leading to gaps in the grid.
Paddy_CAD's approach is a solid workaround. To summarize:
Enable Geometric Bounding Boxes: This ensures that the tiling remains exact and independent of the square's stroke width. You can do this by going to Inkscape Preferences > Tools and checking the option for geometric bounding boxes.
Create the Base Square and Group It: Start by drawing your 1-inch square and grouping it.
Use Tiled Clones: Create your grid using the Tiled Clones tool. This should maintain the original square size across the grid.
Add Elements Inside the Group: Once the grid is set up, you can enter each group and add or modify elements inside without affecting the overall grid structure.
This method allows you to keep the grid's integrity while customizing the contents of each square.
I don´t get why "LPE Tiling" don´t work for you:
@polygon : of course it works for rectangles, if you use it on a group where there is such a rectangle and something going over the the rectangle : as the spacing of LPE refers to group size (bigger than rectangle), there are gaps between rectangles, if you don't set a negative (and inaccurate) gap.
Edit : didn't see that you where not drawing rectangles but tiling two sides of one rectangle. Sorry.
A pattern will clip anything outside the original boundary.
Moving objects in and out of the pattern is easy using the indent/unindent buttons in the XML-editor.
@David248 Yes as described by the questioner. I find the TilingLPE pretty versatile; Gaps can be treated easily: