Hi All,

I am using the pattern tool, and I am sure it works well for filled objects with no stroke, but when I try to tile a pattern which uses stroke, it treats as a visual bounding box, not a geometric one (even though I have setting Preferences > Tools > Geometric bounding box enabled).

What this means is instead of the pattern tiling correctly, there are gaps at the joins, as shown by the red circle below:

Notice how instead of the centre of the strokes touching, the outside or the strokes touch, hence the lines do not line up perfectly.

A workaround would be to convert the stroke to paths, and clip the edges, that makes the image larger, and is move of a hack than a fix. I have also tried changing the stroke caps, which did not help.

I'm not sure if I completely understand your problem, or what you're trying to do. Possibly this FAQ will give you some ideas. I'm not sure if your problem is exactly the same, but some of the "fixes" it offers might help.

HI Brynn, I read the FAQ in your signature, it does not offer any insight to this problem, it only covers the basics. Thanks.

Oh sorry! I forgot to paste in the link. Here it is: https://inkscape.org/en/learn/faq/#ther ... n-patterns

I think the issue here is that you're using the 'Tiled clones' dialog, and that clones do not *have* that distinction between geometrical and visual bounding box. It's either the whole clone, or not a clone.

Some workarounds there are for your problem but easier to explain if the file you post

The “tile” size of the Pattern is the total bounding box of the objects in the Pattern. If space is required around the objects, a non-visible rectangle object can be added or the Pattern size can be edited with the XML Editor dialog.

(Emphasis mine)

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL ... s-Patterns

This looks worth filing a bug report... I can confirm the setting for bounding box is ignored.

Any chance of getting the SVG file for this? I still don't completely understand the problem.

Here's an example:


If the geometric BB were considered when making object to pattern, the endcaps would not be in the pattern.

So you're thinking that the Pattern is supposed to respect whether the user has chosen the geometric or visual bounding box?

If this is a bug, it certainly has been around for a long time. I'm not a frequent user of the round cap style (or even occasional, really), but I've always seen patterns act like this, with strokes. So I always avoid using strokes in a pattern.

(I was asking for the SVG file only because I can't tell enough from the screenshot provided by the op, whether this is indeed the same problem. I wasn't questioning your comments.)

I guess it depends on how you read the quote you offered from the manual, though. He doesn't say it uses the visual bounding box. Instead, he says "total bounding box". But in a few tests I just made, it does appear to use the visual bounding box. (I'm set for geometric bb.)

The reason I came across this, is because I made a website with a pattern stroke background, and in CSS it tiles perfectly (geometrically box).
However when I tried to make a PDF out of it, and use inkscape to tile the pattern, I encountered these problems when repeating the pattern (visual bounding box).

tylerdurden wrote:Here's an example:


If the geometric BB were considered when making object to pattern, the endcaps would not be in the pattern.

Thanks for making it clear for brynn!

brynn wrote: (I'm set for geometric bb.)

Agreed, the reason one is using a pattern in the first place is you are creating a repeated aligned pattern. Visual bounding box hinders accomplishing this.

I guess we'll need to ask developers if patterns are supposed to respect the choice of bounding box. (Inkscape developers generally don't visit forums.) Since I've seen this problem myself (although not exactly in the same way as you presented) for years, I don't think it's new. Of course I could always, always be wrong!

But for me, the next step is either to file a bug report (or possibly even feature request??), to get developers involved, or post on the devel or user mailing list, or possibly the dev IRC (although the person with the answer might not necessarily be logged on when you post). Here's info on mailing list and IRC https://inkscape.org/en/community/. And here's info on filing a bug report: https://inkscape.org/en/contribute/report-bugs/

Not unless someone else might already know whether Inkscape is supposed to respect the choice of bb, for patterns?

Based on the activity in this thread, it looks like we'd all be interested to learn whether it's a bug or expected behavior. If you want to try the mailing list, but don't want to subscribe for just one question, I'd be glad to post for you, and relay the response (or else you could use the archives to see the response). But whatever else you decide to use, please let us know what you learn