How do I fit objects to a curve?

[joroho]

I know it's possible to fit text to a curve, but how about objects? For example, let's say I have 7 octagons and want them spaced equidistant to form the shape of an oval, it there a way to select all seven and fit them to an oval shape?

I suspect y'all are gonna tell me that I need to create a brush from the octagon object(s) and do it that way.

.joel.

[Soquili]

joel

I created an octagon then duplicated it. Used the Blend Tool on them with the steps set to 5, this created 7 octagons. I then used the Ellipse Tool to make an ellipse. I selected the octagon blend, held the shift key and selected the ellipse. Then click on the blend along a curve button on the toolbar.

The attached file shows the results.
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Soquili]

Sorry Joel,

I must have fat-fingered and hit the 4 instead of the 5. That's why there are only six octagons in the image.

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Egg Bramhill]

joel.

1ne way to do this is to draw the required shape, in this case a octogon.
2:Clone it and move it.
3:Blend between the 2 shapes, entering the number of blends required.
4raw another shape, the shape which you want the above blend to follow.
5:Select both this shape & the blend
6:Select the blend tool. On the tool bar along the top the quarter circle and arrow now become ungreyed. select this and it will place the blend around the shape.
Egg

And even as I wrote this Soquili beat me to it. SNAP

[Soquili]

I went back and recreated everything, to get 7 octagons around the oval, I had to set the blend steps to 6. This created 8 octagons in the blend. When I selected the oval and the blend to curve option, one of the octagons vanishes. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

[Soquili]

Sorry, Egg, I didn't intend to get ahead of you.

I checked under the oval and the eighth octagon wasn't hiding there. I wonder of Xara Ltd. knows they have this extra (magic act) feature.

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[mike engles]

Hello

It is there. It is part of the blend. A oval is a closed line. Start and end is at the same point. The first member is above the last.
If you ungroup you will find it.

Mike Engles

[Soquili]

Thanks Mike,

I knew it had to be somewhere besides up my sleeve. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[joroho]

Thanks for all the input, gang. However, let's extend it a bit further. Let's say I have several objects that are not all identical, nor could they have been created via blending. Any hope?

What I'm ultimately trying for is to take the 8 buttons I've created using the NavBar tool in Xara and lay them out in a circular pattern.

Any way I can grab those 8 buttons and drop them onto a curve and space them out from there?

[Egg Bramhill]

... It can be done joroho:



different shapes around a circle

Egg