Jim Smith Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 I've used the Polyline tool over the years with mixed results. Often I end up by Clipping or Adding Surface but even that does not always give me a nice smooth curve. Any tips to using this tool more "fluidly" ? Quote Link to comment
Bryan G. Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Not sure what you are referring to but I use the poly line tool all the time and get great smooth curves. Could you elaborate on your issue? Quote Link to comment
Bryan G. Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Bezier or cubic vertex modes can be less than ideal. I mostly use buy vertex. Quote Link to comment
Jim Smith Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 When I have a curve I've sketched, I will often scan & trace, & generally I get somewhat "blobby" results. Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 In tracing complex curved shapes, its often easier to rough it in and then refine it using the reshape tool. The various vertex types behave differently than many other programs and take a fair amount of practice to get consistent results. When adding and subtracting surfaces, extraneous and overlapping points are often introduced, especially where curved segments meet straight segments. Kevin Quote Link to comment
Bryan G. Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Yes, I agree with Kevin. The reshape tool will have to be your friend in this situation. Quote Link to comment
Benson Shaw Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Jim - You probably know all this, but for anyone having Tracing Troubles, here are a few tracing basics I have discovered: 1. Place the image to be traced on a layer by itself so it doesn't constantly get selected or moved during the trace. 2. Draw the trace on a different layer, with visibility set for only these two layers. Trace with a line color and weight which is visible over the image. 3. Polyline tool has several types of vertices - Corner, Bezier, Cubic Spline, several types of arc. During drawing of a polyline, toggle through these by pressing the U key to change vertex type at next click. 4. To temporarily disable all snaps, press/hold the back quote key. It's above the tab key on many keyboards, to left of the 1 key. 5. QWER & ASDF keys toggle the individual snaps on/off while drawing. 6. While drawing the poly, press Delete key to undo most recent click 7. Polylines with lots of points get laggy. A polyline bogs down at about 75 points on my system, maybe more with better hardware. Workaround is to end the laggy one and start a new poly with a new color. Compose them later if needed. Enough for now -B Quote Link to comment
barkest Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 I always draw the rough outline in corner mode and then change each vertex as required. When I add a new vertex once again it is always a corner on then I will change it. A good tip is that in corner mode you can press and hold the left-mouse button and it will temporarily switch to a bezier. Quote Link to comment
Jim Smith Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 (edited) Thanks all, I've used most if not all these techniques, perhaps if I need to draw these shapes more frequently I should be using a tablet. I guess my issues boil down to the interface, & how long it takes one to refine the polygon. I have also found that using the 2D Polygon Tool & the Inner Boundary Mode helps move things along if I use objects as, well, boundaries. It still takes me a lot of time to get a nice smooth result. Smoothing seems to result in an unwanted object. Edited January 8, 2013 by Jim Smith Quote Link to comment
Nicholas Kargel Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 You could also try the freehand tool for initial trace, then reshape. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Try the Tangent Arc mode of the polyline tool. It was kind of designed for tracing freeform paths. Quote Link to comment
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