Contour tool takes ages?

[itsfransie]

I am trying to make a contour on a very complicated shape (several thousand point handles, it's a continent on a fantasy map). I started it around 21:00 yesterday, and at 08:00 this morning it was still working on it. I noticed that the process took only 50% of my total processor capacity (3.20 GHz PIV). Hyperthreading is enabled.

Is there any way to speed this up? Cause when it's finally ready I still have to change the distribution of the contour lines, and that'll take just as long again... (I tried it on a small (clipped) part of the same shape, which took about 10 minutes).

Thanks for any help.

Frans

[itsfransie]

I am trying to make a contour on a very complicated shape (several thousand point handles, it's a continent on a fantasy map). I started it around 21:00 yesterday, and at 08:00 this morning it was still working on it. I noticed that the process took only 50% of my total processor capacity (3.20 GHz PIV). Hyperthreading is enabled.

Is there any way to speed this up? Cause when it's finally ready I still have to change the distribution of the contour lines, and that'll take just as long again... (I tried it on a small (clipped) part of the same shape, which took about 10 minutes).

Thanks for any help.

Frans

[Grafixman]

Have you tried the overlapping lines trick? It looks like a contour but in fact copies of the same line with varying thickness placed on top of each other.
Egg has an example in this topic:
http://talkgraphics.com/groupee/foru...8&m=9361099001

[gwpriester]

Hello Frans

I guess the best way to speed up the process is to buy a faster computer :-)

I have experienced the same thing when trying to apply a bevel to a complex shape. It takes forever as you have observed.

I have a few thoughts.

Reboot your computer and start out with the greatest amount of system resources available. Do not have any other applications running at the time.

Or, if possible, break the image into smaller sections and apply the contour to the smaller sections.

Or, start the operation before you go to bed at night and let Xara work on the contour while you sleep and hope for the best in the morning.

Gary

[itsfransie]

A faster computer is unfortunately not an option, there's no way I could convince my fiancee that a 4 months old pc is ripe for replacement...

I think Xara has got enough resources to play with (1GB ram), only the virus scanner is active.

As I said, I started it last night, and it wasn't yet finished this morning. I'm going back home in a few minutes, and the first thing I'll do is check the pc :-)

If it still hasn't finished I'll draw some contours by hand.

But it's good to hear that I'm not the only one :-)

Thanks,

Frans
Thanks,

[Egg Bramhill]

Frans welcome,

Using the bevel on an object with thousands of points can take a long time see here

However it's not uncommon for Xara to crash in the process. Not an obvious crash either, just seems to continue processing, but in fact Xara has hung. I would consider that after 11 hours this may well have happened to you.

Let us know how you get on.

Egg

[Ross Macintosh]

Frans - are you applying a single contour or one with many steps?

If the original object had, say, 10000 nodes each and every contour step would have have at least that many as well. With ten steps your 10000 nodes would grow to at least 100000 nodes. It does seem that such generations are beyond the capability of the tool. I would agree with Egg that the program may have in fact crashed even if it isn't overly apparent.

The only time I have had troubles due to excessive nodes has been when I've imported the lines into the program. For instance sometimes importing vectors from autocad, using a wmf import, I have had so many nodes that Xara can't manage them efficiently enough for me to be able to work on the drawing.

Do you have any potential to significantly reduce the amount of nodes in the drawing you are trying to contour? In the past I have drawn over highly noded lines and had the new line have only a small fraction of the node count of the original. Not only would the new line be more managable, but it would look smoother.

Regards, Ross

[RTK]

Frans - is it literally ONE shape with 10000 nodes?

Why not just clone the shape - add a line width to it, and send it behind your original shape? If need be, convert the line to shape before doing so.

If you have several "contours" - create additional clones and stagger the line widths.

Looks the same...

[LogoVend]

Frans - in such cases it might be helpful to post your original xara here with some notes on the file as to what you're trying to achieve - I am sure one kind sole will sort it for you and tell you how they did.

It's a bit like trying to build an airfix model in the dark without seeing the file first.

[Grafixman]

True. It would be helpful if we could see what you're trying to achieve. 11 hours is too long. Xara probably went to sleep earlier than you did http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif.
One idea that you should probably check out first is Ross' suggestion. Try to simplify your graphics by eliminating extra nodes. They bog down the app. Also, sharp corners doesn't come out very well with contours. You'll tend to end up with spikes all over the place.