Controlling Combine Path ... ?

kolyana

So I am drawing a partial coast line, with the western, souther and eastern edges of the map being the map border; the section from left to right edges is the coast line and it is made up from 3 separate fractal lines, with single line tracing the map border (3 sides) to complete - what is meant to be - a polygon which will then be filled.

EXCEPT, when trying to use the COMBINE command (to join the seperate paths) it is doing all sorts of weird things and nothing that I actually want, regardless of how I use the F and S followup commands.

For instance, if I COMBINE and then I click the straight line that makes up the right, bottom and left straight edges, and then the right most fractal path, the COMBINE draws a straight line from either the left edge all the way across the map, or the left edge of the first fractal and across the map to the right edge; nothing I do will join the two nearest edges into one path, and that's ultimately what I want. Heck, sometimes the COMBINE even nukes an entire section that is completely unrelated and not clicked on. I don't get it.

How can I join two paths at their nearest edge, ultimately creating a single polygon that can be filled?

Joachim de Ravenbel

I see two possibilities

i) Trace a line where you want to close and multipoly.
ii) Trace a line where you want to close, explode both paths, select all the small bits thus created and use Line To Path and/or Path To Polygon.

I think ii) is best. Be sure to work on a sheet and/or layer with only the paths and the line showing.

jaerdaph

When drawing your individual lines or paths (whatever style - straight, smooth or fractal) to combine into a poly, you want to use the Endpoint modifier so the start of one line begins exactly where the last one left off and the last line ends where the first one started. Once you have the shape you want to convert into a poly, I've found that using Multipoly is a much better option (and quicker) to create a poly than trying to go through Line to Path and Path to Poly type conversions to get a poly. You can select that poly and change the color, fill style etc. as a single object. The Endpoint modifier is very powerful, as are the other modifiers like On and Midpoint.

More on Endpoint modifiers here: http://www.profantasy.com/cchelp/hlp_cmd_ept.htm More on Multipoly here: http://www.profantasy.com/cchelp/hlp_cmd_mpoly2.htm Explains the process much better than I could.

Joachim de Ravenbel

Posted By: jaerdaphI've found that using Multipoly is a much better option (and quicker)

Yes but a lot of multipolies can get tricky. I once got trouble with multipolies and the Tech kindly told me that they be best kept for last resort, ie entities including arcs or holes that you can't get otherwise.

kolyana

Posted By: jaerdaphWhen drawing your individual lines or paths (whatever style - straight, smooth or fractal) to combine into a poly, you want to use the Endpoint modifier so the start of one line begins exactly where the last one left off and the last line ends where the first one started. Once you have the shape you want to convert into a poly, I've found that using Multipoly is a much better option (and quicker) to create a poly than trying to go through Line to Path and Path to Poly type conversions to get a poly. You can select that poly and change the color, fill style etc. as a single object. The Endpoint modifier is very powerful, as are the other modifiers like On and Midpoint. More on Endpoint modifiers here:http://www.profantasy.com/cchelp/hlp_cmd_ept.htmMore on Multipoly here:http://www.profantasy.com/cchelp/hlp_cmd_mpoly2.htmExplains the process much better than I could.

the endpoint modifier I think was key for me here. I redrew several of my lines using endpoint to ensure that they were joining perfectly, then did line to path on them and they automatically 'joined' into one entity which I could then use path to poly on. Thank you.

The trace option I think was defintively worth considering also - I keep forgetting about trace altogether and it may have been useful here, I just got distracted by the 'odd' joining behavior!

jaerdaph

Glad to hear the Endpoint modifier helped you out - all those attachment modifiers are pretty powerful, useful drawing tools.

As for multipoly, I personally wouldn't categorize it as a last resort - it's been a key tool and concept since I started using CC2 software over a decade ago and one I use quite frequently. I rely on multipolys not just for landmasses, but dungeon floors where there are elaborate combinations of lines, paths, fractal paths, arcs etc. that sometimes need donut holes or other shapes cut out. Folks, especially beginners, can certainly run into problems with "leaky" multipolys because the parts they wish to make into a poly out of lines that aren't truly closed (not using the Endpoint modifier, for example), or unintentionally including things in their selection that shouldn't be included in the multipoly. Once a person has mastered CC3 selection, modifiers and sheets/layers concepts, multipoly is not difficult to use at all, but I can rightly see why a Profantasy tech might steer a beginner calling tech support away from them.

Multipolys get a bad, mostly undeserved rap, but they're a powerful tool worth looking into once you feel a little more comfortable with CC3. I highly encourage everyone to play around with them and add them to their CC3 mapping bag of tricks.

Best wishes and happy mapping!

jaerdaph