Length of a curve

[Ejko]

Hello,

I am using CorelDraw9 and need to know the lengths of drawed curves (in milimeters). I couldnot find anything related in the CorelDraw9 Help or Tutorial. I will be thankful for any advice.

[Ejko]

Hello,

I am using CorelDraw9 and need to know the lengths of drawed curves (in milimeters). I couldnot find anything related in the CorelDraw9 Help or Tutorial. I will be thankful for any advice.

[molucca]

I don't know about Corel, but AutoSketch has a measuring tool. Maybe look at some CAD type applications. Rich

[OklaEd]

Hi Ejko ... Welcome to TalkGraphics.

I don't know of an easy way to accomplish what you want. CorelDRAW has a built in dimension tool which will measure linear distance in millimeters... but it doesn't measure curves. You would have to copy the curved line, use the bezier tool to straighten it out, then use the dimension tool to measure it.

I wish I had a better solution.

-Ed.

[Ejko]

Thank you very much for your input.

[Grafixman]

There is a commercial vba script for draw that comes to my mind:

http://www.oberonplace.com/products/...orks/index.htm

However, the earliest version it supports is Draw 10. Not much help here, I'm afraid. But it's got some nifty features for Draw 10 users and above.

[Grafixman]

I found this problem very interesting.
Maybe this sounds like a no-brainer, but here's how you can do an approximation:
Create a circle with a fixed diameter, say 1 mm. Duplicate it and make a blend from the two. Fit this blend to the curve from the start to end points and and increase the number of steps until the edges of the circles just touch each other and runs through the entire length of the curve. Go to the wiremode view to view this and zoom as close as you can so you could increase the number of steps and see when the edges just touch each other without gaps or overlaps. See how many circles are needed and you have a pretty good approximation. You may have to cut up the curve into sections if it is too long. The smaller the diameter of the circles in the blend, the more accurate the measurement will be. Tried it on a circle 100 mm in diameter and managed to fit 312 1 mm circles along the circumference. Remember that the number of steps does not inclue the start and end objects, so there are actually 314 circles running around it. Quite a good approximation. For open ended curves, you'd have to take into account the start and end portions of the circles extending beyond the line and subtract 1 circle from the total number of circles along the curve.

[Grafixman]

Here's another better method:
Select all nodes of the curve and unjoin them so that the curve is divided into two node segments. Ungroup the shape so you could work with individual segments. Pick a segment and select both nodes. Add nodes again and again so that the segment is basically subdivided into virtually straight segments. Measure the distance between the nodes and multiply this by the number of nodes. Do the same to other segments and add the result.

[Grafixman]

OK, I have this habit of talking to myself. But maybe if somebody would care to tackle this question, I'd leave it alone.
Adding nodes doesn't work as well as I thought. The nodes are supposed to be equidistant, but it seems they are not. Tried it on a circle but can't seem to make it add up right. Strange.

[OklaEd]

Go get 'um Grafixman ... I love watching a genius at work http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-Ed.