Hi there,
I have a special task where I'd like to use my Corel Draw for: I have to "simulate" a bended wire. Let me explain it a bit better. I have nearly a half circle, more a not-perfect U. And I have to "bend" it, so that one end, along with all nodes up to the "bowl" of that circle is moved to the left. The opening of the circle will get wider and that bended end will end up lower as before. Similar to a thin U-shaped wire that is pulled on one end, but not on the other.
As in reality the length of the curve mustn't change, only the shape itself.
Is there a possibility to do that in Draw?
Thanks in advance
Manuela
ElaMela said:the length of the curve mustn't change
I don't think there is an "easy" answer to this one -- at least, not via the user interface.
The only option I can think of that preserves length is rotate. You could break your U shape into two or more pieces, move the rotation point to where they join and rotate to a new position. That would preserve the length, but the bend would not be smooth and any attempt to smooth it would change the length.
But you could possibly create a VBA macro. VBA can measure the length of a curve, but cannot directly set it. So, it could perhaps determine that the curve is now 1% too long and scale the whole curve down by the corresponding amount to restore the overall length.
Thanks HarryLondon, I was "afraid" of that answer.
I'm able to write macros, that's no problem for me and I did so in the past. But - the not-stretched part (let's say the right half of the U is fix) would be affected by the scaling which mustn't do that. But I'll give it a try with rotating and redrawing the curve, maybe this'll be enough. I hoped for a simplier answer. I'll also give the elastic mode a try.
I am correct ? I can remember one of the CorelDraw version where you were able to rotate saveral nodes
would that have done the job.
Well, I can split the curve on the "bowl" and move the rotation point to that split point. When rotating one part the new curve will resemble more to a w (well, not that much), but I think you'll understand what I mean. I need a smooth curve, that is after the bending it's still a U, but the opening is wider now than before and one leg is lower. So rotation alone isn't exactly doing the job.
In reality, Yes, I guess, but there are workarounds that will get you exactly there. You can rotate nodes with the"Rotate Nodes" tool after clicking the shape tool. The end result of course will stretch the line slightly. From there, just scale the bounding box in small increments. Here is a result, jpeg here and CDR file attached. This is saved as version x6, I can save to an older version if need be.