Help with the bend tool

[lefteris.lydios]

I'm using Inkscape as a tool to create VideoScribe animations. I'm doing fine with the basic stuff but now it's time for something more complicated.
I have a healthy plant in svg format (left) and I'm trying to morph it into a dead plant (right).
All Ι want to do is to bend the stem clockwise by the pivot points (shown in red) to look like the poor plant is dying of drought.
Any ideas?


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IMPORTANT NOTE: I cannot create it from scratch because I suspect VideoScribe needs the original path IDs in order to morph it correcrtly.

I hope this makes sense ...

[Moini]

Maybe like this:

https://framadrive.org/s/E8tAgwLYEW5fAKm (video)

(there's a problem with the bend lpe that makes it be very sensitive to rotation... That's why I rotated first, before I applied the LPE, and then, only back again after flattening the LPE with Object to Path - else you can get all kind of weird behaviour, this is the safest way I found)

[lefteris.lydios]

Good tip. But your bend path is a straight, well defined horizontal line. Why am I getting this L shaped path?

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[Moini]

Mmh, somehow it looks like you don't need to rotate the plant by 90° first. Or maybe you've checked the box that says something about it being vertical.

The top left line is for the width handle for the path effect. If you drag on the circle shape at its end, it's going to  squeeze or stretch the plant.

[lefteris.lydios]

No way I can figure this out. 
I have a link to my file here https://www.dropbox.com/s/g0qv2ebyclle43k/bend%20problem.svg?dl=0
Soil is in a hidden layer. If you could take a look I'd appreciate

[Lazur]

Groups have their own transformations.

By default the bend lpe's trajectory path is horizontal.
Once you added the bending to the path and rotated the group, the effect inherited the transformation.

What to do?

Start over:
remove lpe, ungroup object
rotate path by 90°
add bend lpe
group object
rotate group in the opposite direction by 90°
enter the group (Ctrl+Enter)
use the node tool to adjust the trajectory path

in a nutshell.
But there is also an option to tick in pattern is vertical somewhere?
Hang on, making some screen captures.

[Lazur]

Ok, you had some multiple grouping going on and/or additional transformations (resized paper at some point etc.)
So ended up drawing on a new -fresh- layer (which doesn't inherit the transformations by default).

Anyway, here goes nothing:

[Moini]

Lazur, does it always take so long for you until the LPE dialog opens? It all seems really very laggy.

It works fine for me with the file, after ungrouping and reapplying the effect.... :-/ I can't tell what's different... Jabier has made /some/ LPE fixes in the code branch that my Inkscape is based on, but they were related to a different LPE.

https://framadrive.org/s/BWzTjNgQtAS2CYP

[Lazur]

Yes, it always take that long. Was just about to restart the recording at this point. Still it is a good sign opening the panel didn't resize the window.

[Moini]

Ugh... Doesn't sound too good :/ Do you think that's worth a bug report?

[Moini]

lefteris, where do you get stuck?

[lefteris.lydios]

Hey guys, THANK YOU
I have made some progress thanks to you. It seems I had to ungroup and rotate.
Now I want to tweak the leaves and stem a little more in this new position but nodes maintain their pre-bend position . How do I fix that?
BTW my LPE dialog opens in a split second.


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[Moini]

If you want to tweak the /bent/ path, you need to convert it into a path first (this will remove the bend options). Path > Object to Path. This is for any final editing.

You could use the tweak tool for that, or the node tool, in sculpting mode.

https://inkscape.org/en/doc/keys092.html#idm1874 , http://write.flossmanuals.net/inkscape/tweak-tool/

[lefteris.lydios]

Understood....
Inkscape is powerful. Can't argue with that. The problem is with VideoScribe. Morph is a mess
chech this out (low res) https://www.dropbox.com/s/x08uvokaitrolrm/MORPH.avi?dl=0

Anyway. I guess it's OK for a simple irrigation explainer video.

[Moini]

We have a similar issue in Inkscape's interpolation tool, where the node numbers and positions need to be matched exactly between the two paths that are interpolated.

I think it's not the morphing that is broken, but suspect that the path effect changes the image's structure so much that the morph algorithm doesn't know what part of the plant corresponds to what other part in the other image.

In that case, it makes more sense to move those nodes manually to get a good result. For your plant, this should still be doable within a couple of minutes with the node tool.

[lefteris.lydios]

Do Bezier curves have a direction? And if they do, how do I flip?

[brynn]

Yes, Path menu > Reverse.  That reverses the path direction.

I was wondering what about using Lattice Deformation LPE for this.  To be honest, I've never used it, but what it sounds like it must do, sound like might be helpful.  Although if the LPE is giving trouble for VideoScribe, then.... 

Well, after you use the LPE, you can use Path menu > Object to Path, and make the LPE back into a regular path.  Then maybe VS would not have the same kind of trouble?

[lefteris.lydios]

Thanks brynn. I'll keep that in mind.