equi-spaced lines ... or not

[Anna]

I have been trying to produce a very simple line drawing for a background to be used on a web page, but can't seem to get this right.

I drew a line, duplicated it, and made several copies. I then went to "Arange>Align>Distribute equi-spaced" and got even spacing between the lines.

It looks great at 2000% zoom, but starts to degrade at 1000%, and by the time it is at 200% zoom, it looks like it was never distributed.

So, I am not seeing the obvious here. Could someone please cut the learning curve for me and tell me what it is?

Much appreciated .......

[This message was edited by Anna on January 13, 2001 at 09:27 PM.]

[Anna]

I have been trying to produce a very simple line drawing for a background to be used on a web page, but can't seem to get this right.

I drew a line, duplicated it, and made several copies. I then went to "Arange>Align>Distribute equi-spaced" and got even spacing between the lines.

It looks great at 2000% zoom, but starts to degrade at 1000%, and by the time it is at 200% zoom, it looks like it was never distributed.

So, I am not seeing the obvious here. Could someone please cut the learning curve for me and tell me what it is?

Much appreciated .......

[This message was edited by Anna on January 13, 2001 at 09:27 PM.]

[Anna]

Sorry, rookie ... wanted to add more images, but I couldnèt. Perhaps, this may help illustrate what I mean. Seems to me that the distribution is not quite perfect, and so the error is more evident the more you zoom. Anyway, I still want to do it, so would like any suggestions on how to do this in Xara.

[Egg Bramhill]

Anna
I think your problem is as described below:
The lines are distributed equally as you can see when you zoom to 4000 %. The problem is with the screen resolution, a line can only be one screen pixel wide with a one screen pixel gap. So to appear correct on screen (at 100% zoom) if there are more lines than can be represented within the available pixels you get the false looking image on screen. Try printing it out and it should print correctly. Screen resolution is usually 96 dpi where as printers should be able to handle 300 dpi or greater. So it's just the limitation of the screen to display a correct image.
Hope this helps
Egg

[This message was edited by Egg Bramhill on January 13, 2001 at 10:19 PM.]

[Egg Bramhill]

.

[Egg Bramhill]

If you want the image for display on a monitor (i.e for web purposes) keep the lines and gaps at 1 pixel distances and sizes and choose minimum anti-aliasing. I still think there could be a problem on a Mac monitor as I believe they have a different dpi than the 96 dpi of a PC
Egg

[This message was edited by Egg Bramhill on January 13, 2001 at 10:22 PM.]

[Anna]

Of course! You are correct. Thanks for explaining the problem to me, and for the solution. I almost hated to ask, knowing that it was something simple that I was missing.

Thanks Again
Anna
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[Egg Bramhill]

No problem
Egg