Freehand Tool Cut issue

[pawel]

Hi Folks,

I was recently trying to slice cut a wheel/circle (converted to an editable shape of course) using"Freehand and Brush Tool"
What I discovered it is not possible to determine which part of the circle
will be erased/deleted after the cut is made.

See the enclosed image and file.
I intend to cut the wheel "A" so I could keep the bigger piece of it after the cut as the shown on the wheel "B".
What happens when I do the cut is that the bigger part is ereased and the smaller art is left as shown on the wheel "C".

Please let me know how can determine which part to erease and which to left after the cut using the "Freehand and Brush Tool".

Cheers
Pawel

[gwpriester]

I'm not sure how you are trying to cut this circle but the easiest way is to let your freehand line overlap the edges of the circle by a small amount.

With the line on top, select both and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Slice Shapes. This slices the circle into two objects. Delete the portion you do not want.

Gary

[handrawn]

just to add - there was a thread somewhere about the cutting of objects from perimeter to perimeter - think it was the slice with the most nodes is kept.
You can of course add or remove nodes to force this - but Gary's way is the neatest if you just need a straightforward slice?

[Ned Addie]

You'll end up with the big piece of pie if you flip the circle vertically (but not horizontally). Or even better, if you change the direction of the line ('reverse paths' button on the shape editor infobar) you'll also get the opposite portion.

The number of nodes is really only one factor determining which section remains, and the other factors are basically unpredictable. see:
http://talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=8673

--Ned

[handrawn]

Thanks Ned - knew I'd seen info somewhere

[raynerj1]

I Just think of slicing and dicing as using a cookie cutter... Take your shape you need cut (the cookie dough) and draw the cookie cutter over top. Then just intersect shapes and what you have left... is your cookie!