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Drawing line with rounded corners?
Another one of my "is it possible with Xara X" questions:
how can I draw a continuous line that has rounded corners (see the picture attached). This is something really easily done in Visio and I am missing this capability in Xara. I just can't find how to do it short of creating a bunch of rectangles, round their corners and then chop them up.
Anyone has a better idea about the rounded corners?
Thanks for any idea or comment!
Cheers,
D~
Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
Unfortunately that's one of the things I have always wished Xara, in its various guises, has been able to do, but that, along with decent wrapping of text around an object, has never been seen as a priority.
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Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
Hmmmm, I was just playing with this. You have forced me to get to know better a tool that I hardly ever use, the Pen Tool. With this tool it is quite easy to do what you would like, it just takes a little practice. Make two points to make the starting line, then the third point on the side you will be going to. Before letting go of the mouse button, push or pull that new node and you will see your curve take form.
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Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
It's a bit fiddly, but you can do it this way using the shape editor tool..
Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
Thank you for your replies, guys.
I should try the proposed approaches. The only problem I still see is that the lines will look hand-drawn, and I want them to look perfect because the rounded corner lines are going to be used in technical drawings/diagrams. So I am looking for something that is rounded by the program itself with an eye on the consistency in the radii etc. I guess, if this feature is missing, this would be the first one I would propose to add in the future releases.
Does Xara have an official feature wish list?
Thanks again.
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Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
Another way.
Set the grid to 30 pix.
Show Grid
Snap to grid.
Using the shape editor tool set to line and smooth joins :-
Draw your shape as the top version.
Now drag select over every 2 nodes you want rounded.
Hit the "Make Curve C" (highlighted) for each curve you require.
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Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
This you may find useful when using the shape editor tool.
When pulling the red handle thingoe, if you hold down the ctrl key while doing so, you can constrain it to 100% horizontal/vertical.
So if you do this with both handles on a curve and put one exactly (zoom right in for 100% accuracy) on top of the other you will have a perfect curve on your corner.
Not a good explanation, so see attached image which should simplify things.
P.S. You can also use this method to get your curves right after re-sizing a rectangle with curved corners.
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Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
scriptster
...The only problem I still see is that the lines will look hand-drawn, and I want them to look perfect because the rounded corner lines are going to be used in technical drawings/diagrams...
Paul's method, with an addendum, will give you what you want. It isn't as good as Visio's approach, but it is still quite doable.
Create a circle with the radius you desire, and use that as a template. Make that circle have a transparent center, and give it a thin outside thickness. Place the circle tangent to both lines. Then select the original line, and using the shape editor tool, create the new nodes, delete the center node, and drag the center of the new connecting line until it overlaps the arc of the circle.
Then drag the circle to the next intersection, and repeat. It will look machine-done in the end.
David
ps - when moving the circle, you can use the 'Alt' key and the arrow keys, to move the circle in very small increments, which makes final placement of the circle pretty easy.
Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
David O'Neil
It isn't as good as Visio's approach, but it is still quite doable.
And that's the problem with all these methods, they're workarounds, some of them more Heath Robinson that others, but none of them easy for somebody who needs this automated because of the number of lines and corners. I don't understand why, when we have been able to auto-round off box corners, we cannot have a tool that does this for a line. Other than it's not a priority.
I sometimes do wiring diagrams and flow charts and this limitation in Xara frustrates the heck out of me. Visio is an expensive app with a fairly specialised and narrow feature set. Xara could really nab some of its customer base by including the ability to draw lines with all corners the same radius (customisable as with the rectangle tool) and then include a bunch of galleries of common symbols for line drawings.
IMHO
Re: Drawing line with rounded corners?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Big Frank
I don't understand why, when we have been able to auto-round off box corners, we cannot have a tool that does this for a line. Other than it's not a priority.
I agree with your comment completely. Xara is a great tool, but it's also one of the most frustrating tools because of it's glaring feature holes.
I'm not going to even mention nested layers.. ..oops, I did!
;-)
Come on Xara, pull that finger out.. (and don't dare suggest that if we want it so much we should write it in ourselves..)
Paul