Node Editing Mode

[ezurick]

Need some help or advice. I am working on this project that imported a really weird vector group. It is made up of a bunch of little crooked rectangles. Zooming in on them I was going to attempt to straighten them out, or at least see what I could do to make them more carvable. So I zoomed in and selected a group of vectors and hit the Node Editing Mode and it turned those vectors into a big black fat line. I've never seen anything like that before and I am not sure how to fix them, or make them normal vector lines. There are thousands, so editing each individual one would be too tedious. But again, I am not sure what to do to make them normal. See my attached picture. I drew a normal vector line below the weird one. Any help or advice?

https://ibb.co/1QSXS96

[mezalick]

Sorry to see the issue you're up against.
For me, trying to use the "Fit curves to selected vectors" icon would be my first attempt.
But my instincts tell me that it would be better to just redraw them.

Michael

[ezurick]

Sorry to see the issue you're up against.
For me, trying to use the "Fit curves to selected vectors" icon would be my first attempt.
But my instincts tell me that it would be better to just redraw them.

Michael

You are correct Michael. After more research and searching... I found it is just thousands of Node Points. I did try to use the Fit to Curves to Selected Vectors and it pretty much ruined the drawing vectors. Back to the drawing board on this. Thanks for replying tho...

[litzluth]

Well, I thought maybe I had a potential solution, but then I tried it. Took a bitmap trace vector that had hundreds of nodes and tried using "create vector boundary around selected vector" with a small offset boundary set. Produced, unfortunately, a plethora of nodes, maybe more than the original trace! In the past (working from bitmap traces) I've also found redrawing to be the most efficient solution.

I'm looking at a drawing tablet as a potential solution:
https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-VEIKK-Gr ... =8-13&th=1
Here is a Wacom with some free software
https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Drawing-So ... 827&sr=8-4

I see some posts on using drawing tablets with Aspire, but nothing about the quantity of nodes you get when you draw lines directly from the tablet into Aspire or create in another program and import the vectors. When you draw something fairly smoothly freehand, do you tend to get normal looking lines without hundreds of nodes?

[Adrian]

There's a difference between a vector with lots of nodes and a "line" that is made up of hundreds of rectangle vectors (usually the result of a trace of a too low-res bitmap). The former is definitely the territory of the Fit Curves to Selected Vectors tool which will clean it up in short order. For the latter the easiest thing in the long run is to manually trace it over the bitmap using the drawing tools. Once you've got the hang of drawing point to point and then using the smooth command in node editing it takes only a few minutes even on pretty complex bitmaps.

If you're drawing using the drawing tools in Aspire/VCarve you shouldn't be getting excessive nodes.

[ezurick]

Well, I thought maybe I had a potential solution, but then I tried it. Took a bitmap trace vector that had hundreds of nodes and tried using "create vector boundary around selected vector" with a small offset boundary set. Produced, unfortunately, a plethora of nodes, maybe more than the original trace! In the past (working from bitmap traces) I've also found redrawing to be the most efficient solution.

I'm looking at a drawing tablet as a potential solution:
https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-VEIKK-Gr ... =8-13&th=1
Here is a Wacom with some free software
https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Drawing-So ... 827&sr=8-4

I see some posts on using drawing tablets with Aspire, but nothing about the quantity of nodes you get when you draw lines directly from the tablet into Aspire or create in another program and import the vectors. When you draw something fairly smoothly freehand, do you tend to get normal looking lines without hundreds of nodes?

You make a good point about the drawing tablets. I've been pondering to get one of those also. However, my drawing skills are definitely low grade. And I keep thinking that a drawing tablet will not do my drawing skills any justice. But that is me being pessimistic. I would also like to know more details of personal experience with them. When I was researching the drawing tablets, I was planning to do my drawing in photoshop and only 2D stuff. So a cheapy tablet would be fine. I did note that to be careful of the drawing area on some of the cheaper ones. Of course the Wacom come with good reviews.

I never thought that multiple nodes would be an issue until I started carving this latest drawing w/ the thousands of nodes. It made my machine look like woody woodpecker, which of course added on a longer time to finish.

[TReischl]

I am a complete and utter failure when it comes to using a tablet. Bought a Wacom a few years ago, it is a decent piece of kit. The problem is me.

The trouble I have is with using it as a mouse in addition to drawing. The little itty bitty buttons on the stylus are just too weird for me. I tried also having a mouse connected at the same time, that worked but was also a bit strange putting the stylus down, use the mouse for something, pick up stylus, etc.

I am in awe of the artists who use them like they are a part of their hands.

Even tried my usual tactic, forced myself to use it for a whole week, no backsliding. . . . ::::sigh:::: didn't work.

Now that I think about it part of my problem is that putting the pen down to do some typing and then picking it up again is not as 'intuitive" as reaching for the mouse. I would really like to use it but. . . . .