Object to path?

[mamos]

Hi All

Just wondered if there is a way to get an object to follow a path in the same way you can get text to

dreckly

mamos

[Sark]

You can get objects to follow a path using the Blend tool.

You can kind of get an object to follow a path by converting the object to a brush stroke and applying the stroke to a path.

The Help files should explain how to achieve both these methods.

Incidently, if you group objects, you can convert more than a single object to a brush stroke. This method is often used to animate, by first animating a path using the Blend tool, and then stroking each path with an object, or group of objects. These are then used in frame by frame animation.

Sark

[mamos]

I suoppose I could export the object as a .ttf and then use the text to path function.

I like the using blends to create animations idea. That is fantastic

dreckly

mamos

[Sark]

The problem with exporting a .ttf is you will only apply a number of characters along a path, not one character stretched along the path. Only the Brush stroke method will do that.

However, exporting as a font is a way of getting different characters to follow a path, something even the blend tool doesn't do.

Sark

[Grafixman]

I seem to recall that there is a script for sale (at Oberon?) which does that, fit objects to a path.
Here's the link: http://www.oberonplace.com/products/...ects/index.htm
The brush stroke idea sounds interesting. Gotta try that sometime...
Exporting as a .ttf sounds like it would work, but it's a lot of extra work and you're limited to only compound shapes, not grouped ones with several different colored parts.

[Sark]

Forgot about the Oberon script. Not something I would use much, and $12.50 is way beyond my means.

I think mamos is trying to stretch just one object. Only the Brush stroke method will do that.

Sark

[sallybode]

Blending is most powerful, there is a lot you can do with it. When I set up forms, I usually blend the number of lines from top to bottom. That way I know that I am right. This is especially useful if the customer has supplied a form copied from one printer to another and it has degraded so badly, there is no way to supply quality and it becomes a redraw.

If the path is circular, the transform docker or toobar can accomplish that. To me changing object to a font is a bit of trouble for something you won't use that often.

One overlooked blend on a path feature is that you can blend from start to finish on a path with different offsets. Since the path goes from center of the object to center of the object, dragging one or either off the path in different directions especially on a circluar path can give you one revolution of a spring. And springs are notoriously hard to draw.

[Sark]

And springs are notoriously hard to draw.

To draw yes, but the Spiral tool can do it with ease.

Below is a simple example of the Brush stroke method.

Sark

[sallybode]

Yes, Sark, I have used the envelope tool for tweaking, not like your idea, that is very cool, I have used to to refine and alter the shadow painting technique I have used.

I use the envelope tool often with warping text. Keyboard shortcuts help to make it curve, by holding the alt and ctrl together you can warp text nearly like text on a path. But there is an order to doing it, you have to select the node you are using to warp and then hold down ctrl and alt, then your top and bottom nodes more in parallel.

Holding down alt and shift, you get an equal inflation, all nodes. So as you pull away the opposite node repells to the same extent. However ctrl and shift repell the opposite node only and this is when using the Single Arc mode. It likes to default to Putty, but that is not what works best for me.

If you are drawing with artistic media italic presets and have already broken away the edit line, you can easily edit the artistic media shape with the envelope tool and not have to edit nodes at all.

With dynamic guides if you have your snaps turned on such as snap to objects, not snap to guides but dynamic guides, with objects on a path the center node of the ojbect with follow the path as you drag it into position. But if you move the center rotation axis outside the object, such as you can do with blends, it still follows the actual center. I guess snap was not designed to do that.

[Sark]

It's all about being creative with your approach. I've always liked to discover a way of doing something with existing tools rather than have a wish list of things Corel should add in future upgrades (Draw is already to bloated). This is partly why I stuck with CD9 for so long.

Shortcuts are something I should remember and use more often, but I tend to use them only when neccesary. The Envelope can certainly do some interesting things but you do need to use it carefully as it can produce some odd distortions. You can be chasing your tail trying to correct them sometimes. The Brush stroke applied to a path is the same. You need to be careful when applying to less than smooth paths, as you can get some odd effects to the object that forms the stroke.

Sark