Too many shapes in one object

SpaceBoy64 · Post by **SpaceBoy64** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:34 am

I was having difficulty with objects with multiple shapes associated with them.

Say I have a simple circle. It can have both a fill and stroke associated with the whole object, but it can also have a separate "shape" on just the line, which is very confusing and hard to detect. This line shape might have a very wide pink stroke, while the other shape might have a thin blue stroke on the same line.

I would like to know when this has happened. How many "shapes" do I have in this single object? How many points do I have? Are there hidden points that are just overlapping?

Thanks.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:07 am

Shapes (fills and outlines) are separated objects from construction curves. You can have multiple instances of each on the same physical place.A construction curve doesn't imply a shape. A Shape needs a construction curve. Shapes can share construction curves. That's the way it works.
-G

SpaceBoy64 · Post by **SpaceBoy64** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:54 am

I realize that. It's annoying.

But, what I am asking is some way to know how many "shapes" I have when some of them can't be seen.

I was using a hand from the default character and it has multiple curves, points welded across fingers and such. These can all have their own fill, but the whole hand shape could also have it's own fill, and they could all have multiple line strokes all on top of each other. It's difficult to know how many I'm dealing with, and almost impossible to select ones underneath.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:13 pm

It's difficult to know how many I'm dealing with, and almost impossible to select ones underneath.

Yeah, it is difficult to know how many shapes are below but you can always select the non visible by first click on the visible and then using the up and down arrows to navigate through the shapes stack.
Giving names to the shapes (once you know which is which) is also a good idea for complex designs. Later you can select a shape by its name in the Style dialog.
Autoname shapes and bones is always your friend with your own designs.

-G

SpaceBoy64 · Post by **SpaceBoy64** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:10 pm

Thanks. I didn't know about the up and down arrow keys. There is no indication of that in the menu.

I would like key commands to raise and lower shapes in the stack, or even better, a way to assign layer order to them.

Finkdaddy · Post by **Finkdaddy** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:53 pm

Hey Don,

If you have more than one object in a stack, you can select a visible object with the select shape tool and then change it's order in the stack by pressing the up or down arrow keys.

To select an object that is hidden in the stack you do the same except you hold down the control key when you hit the arrow keys. Then the program picks the next object in the order.

Is that what you were looking for?

SpaceBoy64 · Post by **SpaceBoy64** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:27 pm

Yes, I realized this after I wrote that. Thanks. It helps, along with naming the shapes.

I was working on a cat character last night, and I ended up having about five shapes layered on top of each other. I'm not sure how that happened, but I wanted to eliminate the stroke on the outline and it wouldn't go away. Finally, after naming each shape and lowering it, I was able to delete the unnecessary shapes, but it took awhile.

Also of great help, I downloaded Fazek's tools from here:
https://sites.google.com/site/synthsin/ ... edirects=0
They work much better, much more intuitively.
Many of the things I was asking for are solved with these tools, except the re-scaling from alternate origin point.