Inkscape

Newbie needs definitions

Asked by A. D. Clark

Need to know what a path is. Have finished the Basic Tutorial but would like a glossary and the ability to search for terms in the tutorials. Going through Shapes Tutorial now and it doesn't make sense that a shape can become a path, but not vice-versa. Afraid that other issues will also "appear" with this new terminology.

Thanks in advance for the help with these three issues.

2014-01-19 Update
   "Path means what?" is the first issue. Not defined in the material I've seen. Is it a complete circuit? May it just be a line? In real life, a path can be a gravel, well-trod area between two buildings. It is not intuitive was "path" is in InkScape. Do help, if possible.

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Edouard (edouardst) said : 		#1

Hi,

A shape is a special kind of path, like a star or a rectangle. So a shape is a path, but not all paths are shapes. Think of a losange : it's a path (it has nodes in it) though it's not a "shape" as it's not a rectangle, nor a circle or star.

Shapes are "special" paths that can have more options, like rounded angles for rectangles, or number of spikes for a star. Note how, when you move one point of a rectangle, the other nodes move too to keep it a rectangle ? It won't happen if you convert your rectangle to a path first, as it loses it's special properties.

Hope I was clear, regards

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Mc (mc...) said : 		#2

A path can be anything: it is defined by a set of "path segments", which can be straight segments, bezier curves, arcs, or jumps[going from a point to another with no fill] (or some more).

Try to think of a path like "something i can do with a pencil" : you trace a line, straight or not, you can lift the pencil, start something elsewhere, and at some point you stop.

It can be closed or not (if not, and you try to fill it, the last segment is assumed to be straight line with no stroke).

Can you help with this problem?

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