Combine Shapes Add Shapes

Please open the attached Xara 15.1 file and perform a Combine Shapes/ Add Shapes function. Even though the color line is set to "No Line" and the "Set Line Width" box is set to None, the Combine Add Shapes does not work as one would intend.

IF, the "Select an Existing Brush" box has any brush selected OTHER THAN the default "Normal Line", the Combine Add Shapes function will not work as expected, at least NOT as I would expect. In the past, I don't remember this being a problem. When I performed a Combine Add Shapes function, the shapes would combine and form one shape WITH whatever line had been applied previously would outline the new shape.

Anyway, to avoid this, just make sure the "Normal Line" option is selected whether or not you have a line applied to your shapes, before combining them.

not sure ron

as I recall combine shapes has never worked 'as you would expect' with a brush outline - I would certainly remove outline [setting gallery line default] and then reapply afterwards, on the understanding that combine shapes deconstructs the brush and incorporate it's shapes into the mix

this is not new behaviour in ver 15... same in ver 12

Ditto Ron, I checked back with v11.

The Brush is effectively a collection of Shapes. If deconstructed, the "line" produced could gain another line of any other brush, ad infinitum.

Acorn

when i combine shapes on ron's example I get this:


Attachment 121638


which looks like the operation has combined the brush shapes [and discarded/ingnored the original shape fills]

just setting outline width to none gives the same result because the brush is still 'active' - you need to either remove the outline completely, or as ron said, set it to default outline which works

Quote:

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Originally Posted by handrawn

when i combine shapes on ron's example I get this:


Attachment 121638


which looks like the operation has combined the brush shapes [and discarded/ingnored the original shape fills]

just setting outline width to none gives the same result because the brush is still 'active' - you need to either remove the outline completely, or as ron said, set it to default outline which works

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It just seems to me, that logically, if the line is set to NONE than whatever line you had selected for a previous attribute should NOT affect any rendering done after that. INSTEAD, one has to remember to set the line to Normal OR, click and set the current object to No Line Color in advance of every Combine/Add/Shapes function.
To ME, that's not logical.

The logic is in there and is probably along the "lines" of the brush is not a line is is a collection of shapes with no line width so when Adding Shapes you are actually adding all the shapes, which includes the brush.
The shapes effectively all have no line width so the resultant is a lumpy blob with an edge fill of the brush.

Why there is then no Fill is probably the question we should be asking as I cannot square that one away.
The empty fill may be down to some winding rule used in adding shapes.

Acorn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Acorn

The logic is in there and is probably along the "lines" of the brush is not a line is is a collection of shapes with no line width so when Adding Shapes you are actually adding all the shapes, which includes the brush.
The shapes effectively all have no line width so the resultant is a lumpy blob with an edge fill of the brush.

Why there is then no Fill is probably the question we should be asking as I cannot square that one away.
The empty fill may be down to some winding rule used in adding shapes.

Acorn

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Thanks for your opinion, Acorn. However, I don't agree that it's logical. If you create a custom line, then logic tells me, it should be treated as a line, not a bunch of shapes. IF you're saying that there is no way to make that "created line" truly "a line", then that's another thing entirely.

Still, my reasoning tells me that if you set "No Line" then what line is in the "line selection" box shouldn't matter as it should NOT be applied to the shape.

I guess we could go round and round on this, but I just don't think that how this works is not logical to me.

nicely put George

xara causes confusion by refering to brush strokes as 'lines' when they are really no such thing, they are vector shape and/or bitmap constructs that follow a path; you can call the path a 'line' but not the construct

When is a line not a line? When it's a brush.

Acorn

:D

unlike some other programs xara does not make a clear distinction between a simple path rendered so you can see it [xara default], and paths that are overlaid with a stroke construct [brushes] - perhaps it should