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masemj β Tutorial: Inkscape/Ponyscape Fill Between Strokes
Published: 2014-02-03 23:29:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 7346; Favourites: 91; Downloads: 66
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Description
This is a tutorial I've put together on how to use an otherwise unstable feature of Inkscape/Ponyscape to effectively do complicated fills with little work, using the Live Path effect "Fill Between Strokes" (The current experimental version of Ponyscape has a "Fill Between Many" that makes this even simpler).
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Comments: 30
I've fixed the bug with it randomly looking weird
bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscapeβ¦
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Great to know - how close is the Inkspace experimental branch close to Ponyscape now? Does it include PowerStrokes (last I read I know that was a target for it, I just haven't had a chance to check).
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Everything except:
Objects and Tags dialogs (yes, he lied)
Specifically the CubicBΓ©zierSmooth power stroke interpolator (all the others are there)
Inverse clips (learn SVG dammit 
The missing Ponyscape features are awaiting a merge proposal from me.
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I've had too many problems when trying to do Inverse Clips and compat with other formats that I've just gotten in the habit of making the negative shape to use normal clips with. Β But that's getting close, that's good to know.
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Oh yeah, and a serious bug in Power Strokes was fixed.
You'll recall me complaining about this:Β sta.sh/0zjipbqvdbm
That's finally been fixed with an important update (I think it's that one) to the geometry framework.
It's now this:Β sta.sh/012bj6s57ln2
This means that recent builds will generate SVG files that are much lighter when Power Strokes are used.
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I could have sworn it was a feature in Inkscape but it might only be in unstable builds now that I look. Β I'll have to modify this to point that out. Β However, knowing the steps that are used here, I might be able to provide instructions that can simulate this to at least do complex fills. Β It's a few more steps but still less error prone.
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No. It isn't (yet). I have an experimental build that includes Power Strokes, my favourite path effect of my own design, Taper Strokes, the Objects dialog, Attach Path, Bounding Box, Fill Between Strokes/Many, etc. No custom swatches however (you'll get swatch book features in nightlies rather soon, according to the devs)
And I hope to get this merged into Inkscape trunk (the master branch
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The non "Fill Between Strokes" approach, which might not be easy to explain verbally, is similar to the way I described for stable (not new) Ponyscape:
- Select the two strokes.
- Duplicate them (ctrl-D)
- Combine them (Path/Combine or Ctrl-K)
- Connect the appropriate ends of the paths together. Note this will leave a floating open node.
- Drag-select one of these nodes in Node Editor, and use the "Merge Node" toolbar icon (normally the 4th icon over); repeat on other node
- You should now have a closed path fill between those two curves- set the color, remove the stroke, and then move on to another pair. Β
At this point, the rest is similar to this tutorial.
I may expand this to cover that case.
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Yeah, the bucket tool in Inkscape is .. not always great at least for pony vectors. (It's better geared towards more regular geometric drawings). Β Good luck!
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The biggest problem with Fill-Between-Strokes is when you want to get multiple vectors into one file, as it causes ID collisions. That's basically the only reason why I convert them to plain paths most of the time. Apart from that, the feature is completely stable for me.
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I'm not sure, but I think this was fixed recently in trunk sometime around 134xx, dunno which revision exactly
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Yeah, I have had problems even with steps like cloning and the like with FBS (even if I clone the strokes along with the path). Β The main benefit I get out of this is that it drastically simplifies the process of filling a complex shape (like Pinkie's body here), automatically getting the path edges at the midpoint of the strokes and identifying the stroke intersections. Β It is a zillion times better than the bucket fill option that IS/PS offers
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Indeed, it saves a lot of time, which is what we are all after. Optimizing our vector time as much as possible
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Actually, FBS works pretty fine for me. I have much more trouble with clones and powerstrokes.
But you know what they say: "Jesus saves, Buddha does incremental backups."
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At the end of the day, Inkscape/Ponyscape has no problem with straight fills and strokes - its only when you go to the exotic but more time-saving features do problems come about , unfortunately. However, as long as the vectors come out good, I recommend using whatever way works best; I found this best for me, in particular because I use an unstable feature to generate a stable feature with minimal work and then ditch that unstable part
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It's not the Ponyscape feature that's unstable. I've been digging into this bug for a good while now and determined that the "disappearing" fills are due to Inkscape not regenerating certain path effects after undo/redo. Hope to resolve it soon.
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I like this live path effect, but the one I actually use far more often is the "Clone Original Path" path effect, just because it is stable and usually won't disappear randomly (by the way, you can resurrect those disappearing fills with the XML Editor) .
The only drawback is that it only works for one path. Clone Original Path was made specifically for filling Power Strokes, and is included in Inkscape trunk builds along with Power Strokes.
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Yeah, I've tried that too, and it's...touchy. It's unfortante that IS/PS is otherwise stable as a brick for most other major features but these ones that would really help on pony vectors have their issues.
I'm only temporarily using the FBS LPE to get the shape I want easily, and then I covert that shape to a normal node-based path for fill; this is all a process that takes a minute or so to complete and FBS is stable enough for that. If I was doing a simple shape that is contained by a single stroke, like hoofs normally, I simply duplicate that stroke, add a fill and remove the stroke color, and I'm all set. Β
Illustrator users have it easier - strokes can be tapered and possess a separate fill from the stroke color. FBS can simulate that feature but I played enough with it to ditch that quickly.
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Is it really practical to learn how? I'm sure it requires less work but I don't personally like working with unstable or partially unstable features.
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As practical as working with Power Strokes. Your decision.
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I just convert the fills made with "Fill between stroke" to paths so it doesn't cause issues.
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The Fill Between Stroke feature is stable in the short term, it just becomes problematic as the vector gets more complex. It's not a feature that I can tell exactly when it will fail - I've used it for a few vectors where there were no problems at all with fills using it, just that I know it can fail.
However, what I do is to use this in the short term to generate the fill shape, and then convert that to a path, which disconnects the Fill Between Stroke feature, the resulting fill being a normal object within IS/PS and not subject to the same instability that the Fill Between Strokes has to start.
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Okay so I will convert the fills to paths then. Spare myself the trouble of having to deal with a crash every time I touch the fills. Thanks so much
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Yes, I know, late response.
Β Spare myself the trouble of having to deal with a crash every time I touch the fills.Highly unlikely, but potentially due to some fixes to undo mechanisms in upstream Inkscape, I haven't seen this; in any case, I am studying the undo bug (I filed a report here ) and am working hard to find its cause β it seems to be pointless SVG updates so far, but I can't identify whether this is really the cause.
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