help please - moving 1 vertice changes shape!??

[rpc9943]

Hey,
please help me figure this out.

i made a shape of anime kittens face and wanted to define by my own standards how his outline will look, so i copied a black object behind. I drew him with the pen tool.

So i simply want to move the vertices, and it wont let me. watch:

Before moving vertice via shape tool
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v99/rpc9943/xara1.jpg

After moving vertice via shape tool
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v99/rpc9943/xara2.jpg

How am i supposed to move verts without changing the angles on the entire object?

RonC

[Don Lamb]

I would put the two shapes on separate layers and lock the one I was not working on.

Don

[gwpriester]

I'm not sure if this is the answer, but what happens if you take your original shape, clone it (Ctrl K), set the fill to none (left click on the cross hatched box to the left of the screen palette colors) and add an outlline of your choice?

This way both objects have the same outline.

Gary

[rpc9943]

look i have made the outline, as you could see, and i just moved a vertice. it created a curve on every vert after i moved it. its not creating the outline, its been done. im saying it makes the sharp points curve automatically for absolutely no reason as far as i can see.

please help

RONC

[John Rayner]

Hi Ron,

You have to remember, when you move a node, the formula for the line changes. To keep the same shape you would have to adjust the belzier handles. If the lines are curves and smooth joins, then moving 1 node can change the outline of the entire drawing. It is just something you have to get used to. It is not hard, just new.

[Christine Farrelly]

Double clicking a point does change it from a cusp to a curve - could you be accidentally double clicking the point.

Watch the info bar at the top the curve icon will highlight if you have double clicked.

Christine

[rpc9943]

im not double clicking. i simply click a vertice and dragging it.

can someone show me a shape like: a curve here and an angle there, and dragging one of the curves, and seeing it not change to all curves?

thats my question


*edit*

okay heres what happens:

from the clipart gallery:
my anime kittnen face is a line, i converted it to shape.
i clone this shape, scale up, make black
i move a vert, all angles turn into curves.

*edit 2*

i tried using the pen tool and making it a shape, and it works fine.

is this a bug?

i can only reproduce this on the clipart gallery file... weird stuff...

jhopefully buying xara xtreme soon!!!
RonC

[Christine Farrelly]

Can you post the Xar file as I really can't replicate this.

Christine

[rpc9943]

www.caveproductions.net/tmp/Ak.xar

try adding it into the picture gallery if the procedure doesnt work (the "bug" that is)...

also no one please use anime kitten hes my copyright :P

(edit link fixed)

RonC

[Egg Bramhill]

Ron
As I understand it you're using a file from the Clipart Gallery. What folder is it in and what's it's name? Artwork from the Clipart gallery can create a lot of problems if you start editing them in XaraX, as a great deal of them have been created in other drawing progams and imported into the ClipArt Gallery as Windows Meta Files.

Secondly you say that you're using the Pen tool to create a copy of the outline you wish to create. By default the pen tool (& the Freehand Tool) only ever creates curves (to the best of my knowledge) so it's not suprising that all your nodes are curves.

However, looking at your second screengrab I'd say that the these are sharp, not smooth curves.

I would say that the majority of users create their shapes using the Shape Editor Tool and very few use the Pen Tool.

Try re-drawing the outline again using the Shape Editor Tool with the Cusp set to Sharp (Z) and then try adjusting the nodes.

Egg