Viper x Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I need to trace over lots of curved pathways drawn by others to make closed polygons which I can then colour fill. I have beed trying combinations snapping which works well when I trace over buildinmg outlines that are square but curved lines are very hard to do. I have resorted to using no snapping and slowly clicking along the line by hand. Very slow indeed. Thanks Quote Link to comment
John Meunier Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 So the easiest way to fill in a boundary is to use the polygon tool with the mode "polygon from inner boundary" second mode of the polygon tool. it looks like a paint bucket. All you do is click inside the boundary you want to fill and it fills that area in with a polygon. However if the area is extremely complex I usually draw lines across the boundary creating smaller areas which I then fill and after add polygons together. Another hint is that you should be able to see the entire space you want to fill on your screen. Quote Link to comment
CipesDesign Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 (edited) Another solution is to use the "Compose" command. The requirement here is that all lines, segments, curves, etc. are EXACTLY coincident at their intersecting corners/points. For example, draw a curve (or and arc) and then offset it, then connect the two ends with lines. Select all four objects (2 arcs, 2 lines) and then run Compose. You will end up with a closed polygon (or polyline, which can be filled or converted to a polygon and then filled). Edited December 3, 2009 by CipesDesign Quote Link to comment
Viper x Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 Thanks for the reply. I am trying that but the entire site outline ( which is a poly as well is being filled instead of the section of curved path. I have the path as the entire screen space as well. Quote Link to comment
CipesDesign Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Another note on the polygon from inner boundary (paint bucket) mode: all segments MUST entirely cross or connect otherwise the command cannot see the boundary you desire to fill. I have done this sort of tedious work before and my best solution has usually ended up being a combination of all of the methods: tracing, polygon from inner boundary and compose. There's no way around it - it's work! What has frustrated me to no end is that often these files originate in Autocad (or the like) and are "lines only" drafting (ie: no closed shapes!) and are very very sloppily drawn, therefore require a whole lot of cleaning up to get right. This is not necessarily the fault of the software, but of the draftsperson. Most people are just not that accurate as their printed result does not suffer from minor errors (much like hand drafting). Quote Link to comment
Viper x Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 It is a pain in the next tracing I can tell you, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU GET REVISIONS !!!! Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Viper x are the paths in the source drawings hatched? If so you might be able to extract the hatch boundaries and use that. If the path perimeters are a unique Class make that Class Active Only. Then you should be able to fill in the gaps by either drawing lines or connect the adjoining linework with the Connect/Combine tool. You could also look at Vectorbits' ChainMaker tool. www.vectorbits.com Quote Link to comment
Viper x Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 (edited) Not hatched unfortunately and not on their own class, bugger. Edited December 3, 2009 by Viper x Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Have you tried using Custom Selection. If there are any unique aspect to the path border's attributes these can be used to select only those objects. You can also create a script for it as well. Quote Link to comment
Kool Aid Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 If the linework is bleeding, there's no bleedin' fast way. Quote Link to comment
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