This is a read-only archive of the inkscapeforum.com site. You can search for info here or post new questions and comments at I'm new to inkscape, and am trying to draw freehand, but the box(/es) that attach to what I draw are preventing me from drawing anything well. Two problems... 1) the horrible little box that appears automatically at the beginning of whatever I draw and 2) the dotted-line box around the whole object I just drew. I really, really need to get rid of both of these things, but have no idea how to do that.
All I want to see are the lines I'm drawing. Nothing else. (Because otherwise I can't even see the line I'm trying to connect to, in order to draw properly.) Can someone tell me how to get rid of these major annoyances?
Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
Hello,
I think the dotted boxes you are referencing are called 'bounding boxes' I have not read the manual (>help>inkscape manual) to see if one can get rid of the bounding boxes. But here is a work-around I just verified.
1. Create a 'frame rectangle/square' (picture frame) around the area you want to draw in.
2. Create a rough/scratch object you want to eliminate the bounding boxes for.
3. Select both the frame and the rough object then combine the two objects >Path >Combine.
4. Now click the combined object and edit the rough object, the bounding box is now restricted to the picture frame and not the object you want to manipulate.
Like I mentioned this is a work-around and it would be nice if Inkscape had an option to eliminate bounding boxes from the canvas. I agree with you that sometimes the dashed lines can be annoying, but other times I find them very useful.
-vw
I think the dotted boxes you are referencing are called 'bounding boxes' I have not read the manual (>help>inkscape manual) to see if one can get rid of the bounding boxes. But here is a work-around I just verified.
1. Create a 'frame rectangle/square' (picture frame) around the area you want to draw in.
2. Create a rough/scratch object you want to eliminate the bounding boxes for.
3. Select both the frame and the rough object then combine the two objects >Path >Combine.
4. Now click the combined object and edit the rough object, the bounding box is now restricted to the picture frame and not the object you want to manipulate.
Like I mentioned this is a work-around and it would be nice if Inkscape had an option to eliminate bounding boxes from the canvas. I agree with you that sometimes the dashed lines can be annoying, but other times I find them very useful.
-vw
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
2) the surrounding box is here to indicate the currently selected object.
hit esc to unselect the object you just drew or
go to preferences (shift+ctrl+p) / tools / selection(?) / indicator(?) set it to none
? = not sure about the EN names, I run a FR version
hit esc to unselect the object you just drew or
go to preferences (shift+ctrl+p) / tools / selection(?) / indicator(?) set it to none
? = not sure about the EN names, I run a FR version
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
v1nce wrote:2) the surrounding box is here to indicate the currently selected object.
hit esc to unselect the object you just drew or
go to preferences (shift+ctrl+p) / tools / selection(?) / indicator(?) set it to none
Inkscape allows to disable the selection cue per tool (no need to disable it globally to just have it not shown with the pencil (freehand) & pen (bezier) tool - see screenshot).
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- turn-off-selection-cue-for-freehand-tool-1.png (51.69 KiB) Viewed 4203 times
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
~suv wrote:v1nce wrote:2) the surrounding box is here to indicate the currently selected object.
hit esc to unselect the object you just drew or
go to preferences (shift+ctrl+p) / tools / selection(?) / indicator(?) set it to none
Inkscape allows to disable the selection cue per tool (no need to disable it globally to just have it not shown with the pencil (freehand) & pen (bezier) tool - see screenshot).
Why the pencil/pen shows a box where you start to draw ? (Unlike the rect or calligraphic)
As OP I think it's more an annoyance (it hides what's behind) that something usefull. If I want to close the path I see where it started so there's no need for a box.
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
v1nce wrote:Why the pencil/pen shows a box where you start to draw ?
The start and end nodes of paths selected|drawn the pencil or pen tool allow to close a shape as well as to join a newly drawn path with earlier ones (if those are selected). The special end nodes highlight when hovered (and a message in the status bar explains), and if clicked the path ends will be joined automatically (i.e. it allows to create closed shapes or continuous freehand lines as well as bezier curves).
To quote the manual:
- To extend a previously drawn path, select the path, then click or click-drag on an end point.
- To close a path, click on the first endpoint when placing the last endpoint.
(Note: the next major version will allow to adapt the size of the those start/end node handles, but not to disable them completely).
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
v1nce wrote:If I want to close the path I see where it started so there's no need for a box.
If you are only interested in approximately but not really closed shapes, you probably could do without that feature of the pen/pencil tool (i.e. by clicking near the start of the path, possibly after having zoomed in closer). With the special handles, Inkscape actually "closes" the path for you.
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
~suv wrote:The start and end nodes of paths selected|drawn the pencil or pen tool allow to close a shape as well as to join a newly drawn path with earlier ones (if those are selected).
What do you mean by earlier oneS ?
I can only continue one shape : the one that is currently drawn
start to draw with pen
release MB
don't move (or go back to start)
click MB and start to draw again => the path continues from where you stopped
(or switch to beziers and you can restart from both end)
I tried to continue many with no success :
draw many path with pen
select all.
hover the selection so that handle appear = > no luck
ok the nodes are usefull to continue (or close) a (implicitly) selected path
or to close the portion of path being drawn
I think permanent handles on selected / previously drawn path are ok but I think hovered only would be fine for starting node of the portion of path being drawn.
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
~suv wrote:v1nce wrote:If I want to close the path I see where it started so there's no need for a box.
If you are only interested in approximately but not really closed shapes, you probably could do without that feature of the pen/pencil tool (i.e. by clicking near the start of the path, possibly after having zoomed in closer). With the special handles, Inkscape actually "closes" the path for you.
I should have written "there's no need for a permanent box". Of course an hovering box and inkscape closing the path for you is highly wanted
Re: Help getting rid of dotted boxes...
Sorry, poor English skills, and sloppy proof-reading (you can continue any existing path as long as it is open and selected, and as long as you have only one selected (you can however continue on all open sub-paths of that single selected path). Here's the description by someone who knows Inkscape and its tools better than me (and why they had been designed and implemented the way they are):v1nce wrote:~suv wrote:The start and end nodes of paths selected|drawn the pencil or pen tool allow to close a shape as well as to join a newly drawn path with earlier ones (if those are selected).
What do you mean by earlier oneS ?
In The Book of Inkscape, Dmitry Kirsanov wrote: With the Pen tool, any single selected path displays its end nodes, if it has any (i.e., is open), as little squares called anchors. (This applies to any path you just created with this tool itself—after finalizing, it remains selected.) These anchors allow you to continue adding to the selected path (by placing your first node in the anchor) or to close it (by penning from one anchor to the other).
You can also add a new subpath to the selected path. To do this, just hold down while you click to create the first node. After that, create and finalize the path as usual; your path will be added as a subpath to the selected path. All open subpaths of the selected path show anchors, which means you can close them or connect them to one another:
(…)
Similar to the Pen tool, in the Pencil tool any selected path displays anchors on the open end nodes of all its subpaths. You can continue, close, and connect subpaths by drawing from one such anchor to another, and you can add new subpaths to the selected shape by beginning to draw with held down.
In a modestly complex line drawing or design, if one draws paths on-top, along, nearby or across existing paths, how would it then be possible to actually find the other open end of the one you are currently drawing? Or the ends of sub-paths of the path you just had selected to continue - hover randomly across the canvas until the pointer happens to pass nearby a start/end node and triggers the node handle to be shown and highlighted?v1nce wrote:I think permanent handles on selected / previously drawn path are ok but I think hovered only would be fine for starting node of the portion of path being drawn.
Off topic:
I'm not an UX expert myself and won't further discuss a redesign of the path tools here - I do know though that there have been feature requests in either direction ("Get rid of those squares, they obscure too much because they are too big", "They are too tiny, I can't properly select them - please make them bigger").