Xara designer sunburst random clone pasting, CTRL-left-mouse, right click tap mouse

[mintintegral18]

Hello,
Sun Ray Vector Sunburst in Xara Photo and Graphic Designer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uglGUhlrZY0

I've cloned and made a 15 degree rotation. Getting random results using right-click method.

1. Could you try and "edit/fix" my steps below?
2. I'm using the latest v20 Xara.
3. Is Xara supposed to rotate 15 degrees exactly at each Right-click-mouse?

what I've tried:
perhaps I left an origin point setting on the bottom.
perhaps I need to move mouse towards inside the circumference (?) while tapping Right-mouse - still I get random duplication around the center point.

Get to the part where you:
1. group the 2 objects to form one vertical sunburst looking object.
2. select object
3. CTRL K
4. mouse click into the rotation filed setting on Xara toolbar. enter 15.
5. unselect all or click away from all objects
6. click select the new 15-degreed-object.
7. click select it again, to enable rotation handles on object
7. CTRL (hold down)
8. Left-click mouse on top-left-arrow handle (hold down and keep CTRL holding down)
9. drag your mouse towards the right about 15 degrees
10. Right-click once (while keep holding down Left-click)
11. observe that either a duplicate got created on top of existing, or observe that the sunburst got duplicated randomly, No 15 degrees, around the same radius.

project attached and one screen shot.

Thanks, Mike.

[Acorn]

Mike, you need to set the 15deg first in Options > General > Angle constraint.
You can use the drop down or type in whole numbers.

1. Select object
2. Set Centre of rotation
3. Hold Ctrl key down
4. Left drag object to its next stop position.
5. Right-click
6. Repeat round the clock

You will always get 90deg stops regardless, I believe.

Acorn

[mintintegral18]

Thanks. I do not know why the setting wasn't working initially, as I was doing these steps, but somehow editing this setting, seems to engage Xara. This appears to be working, though I have strange occurrence. Is Xara supposed to Not allow vertical straight lines if Angle is set to 12 or 4 or certain numbers even 55, disables the Line-tool for me. I can make "straight lines if going horizontal, but not Vertical. Is this supposed to do this? Thanks again.

[Acorn]

Mike, welcome to the world of modular arithmetic.

Imagine it is a clock face and you are step forward each time 30deg in a clockwise fashion.
You now have 12 steps, like the hours on the clock face and things 'reset' at 12 o'clock.

Xara's increments are in the anti-clockwise direction, aligning with how maths functions, so the clock numbers are backwards.

Instead of 30deg, use 55deg.
The stop points are now going to take 18 steps to go perpendicular (0deg) and all of 72 steps to be back at zero.
(0, 55, 110, 165, 220, 275, 330, 25, 80, 135, 190, 245, 300, 355, 50, 105, 160, 215, 270, ...)
For 3deg, you are 30 steps to perpendicular.
12deg will never go perpendicular.
14deg takes 45 steps to go perpendicular.

It's what made Spirograph so popular, c.f. Lissajous Curves.

As I said previously, Xara still locks at 0, 90, 180, 270, regardless of and in addition to the Angle constraint.
As a result of this, I can always set lines to be up, down, left, right, relative to each other.
Xara strangely only allows inputs of 0, 0.1 to 0.9, 1 to 99 (2digits).

Acorn

[mintintegral18]

ok thanks. It's working, "adding up" is how I have to internalize it. Now that I follow your modular arithmetic and note about Locking. So, always modulate, or start from a Horizontal straight line (for me, avoid starting with vertical lines, unless you always want an offset of 90 in your computations). Xara always draws a straight horizontal line. That's my epiphany, focus on horizon lines in Xara and maybe in drawing as well. There is no "vertical line" concept in drawing, pedagogy anyways, if I'm correct. Only horizon lines, perspective lines and maybe parallel, perpendicular...etc). I assumed 3 planes in 3-dimensional space, Xara will have each plane have its own "zero," or any perspective can always "snap" to the assumed 3 x,y,z planes. I had to keep add 12 degrees, which makes it to 96, and this "jumps" over the 90 vertical line. It's like, Xara has it's own starburst from which to make all the modular arithmetic, that is based on the horizon line. And like you said, actually moves anti-clockwise.

And I may get an unusual 90 degree extra sunburst line, that doesn't jump, because Xara sort of locks, or likes to snap, on those 0, 90s. Whooosh. my brain is tired. Thanks. Sorry I didn't find this in here earlier.