Combine / Slice stopped working

**mudwoman** · 24 March 2006, 05:56 AM

I've enjoyed working with Xara Xtreme, since figuring out how a vector program works, but I've run into a problem with cutting out unwanted parts of a shape, or erasing, etc. I was doing the "Combine Shapes / Slice" routine, and it was working great, but then it stopped working for a while. Then it just seemed to start working again, and now tonight it's gone AWOL once more. Is there some variable I'm missing? Does the transparency setting matter? Colors? The way the masking shape is drawn (freehand vs shape tool vs shape editor, etc)? I've tried shutting down all other programs, rebooting, chocolate (for me) - no luck. So why would it just stop working? What am I missing?

(ps - I've also tried the line breaking trick, in desperation, but can't get it to break in the direction I want. Also, the line break won't work for cutting out particular shapes, so I just want my Combine/Slice back!!!)

**stratocast** · 24 March 2006, 06:38 AM

Maybe you could post a xar file showing a situation when slice is not working for you and I'm sure someone will come up with an answer.

**jens g.r. benthien** · 24 March 2006, 07:45 AM

As far as I understand you want to chop off an unwanted part of an object. If so, and if this object does have an irregular shape, the cutting line must exceed the outline of the part. If the cutting line is too short, it won't work. The objects can be on different layers - shouldn't be a problem. The state of an object (transparent, fill, no fill, gradient) does not influence the cutting/slicing.

**Jon G** · 24 March 2006, 08:06 AM

Hi,

The colors or tools don't matter, neither transparency, shadows or grouping of objects, the combine shapes-substract should work all the time.

You can also slice shapes with the pen tool - hover it over the outer edge of an object and you see a little curved line appear next to the pen. Then draw the shape you want erased, and close it on the edge again.

**jens g.r. benthien** · 24 March 2006, 08:23 AM

oooops, I forgot to mention that the cutting lines must be in front of the object -> select cutting lines and press CTRL+F

Can you post your *.xar file here so that we can dig into it?

**mudwoman** · 24 March 2006, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by jens g.r. benthien

Can you post your *.xar file here so that we can dig into it?

I wish I COULD post it, but I've already played with it. But here's a rough approximation of the problem (see picture) - to replicate it, I drew some random lines, connected them, and then inserted a circle to close the gap that I left. I then did Combine/Add, so it's all into one shape. What I would like to do now is trim the nubs off the end of the lines that overshot the shape. I think the problem is the nature of what I'm trying to trim - shape vs line. If I remove the circle, and then close the gap with a line, "Comine/Add" to make it all one shape, I can trim all the nubs I want! So it's the shape within a shape that's tripping this up, maybe? Any brief explanation of why?