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Converting a Path or Text-Path into a Pattern

A path or text-path can be converted into a pattern using Transform->Pattern. You need to specify the number of replicates and whether or not the original path or text-path should be displayed. For example, if you specify 4 replicates and show the original, there will be 5 versions of the shape: the original and the 4 replicas. The following pattern types are available:

Rotational

The replicates will be rotated around the original shape. For example, if you specify an angle of 90° and 4 replicas, the first replicate with be created by rotating a copy of the original by 90°, the second replicate by 180°, the third by 270° and the fourth replicate by 360°, which will superimpose it over the original.

The point of rotation is initially set to the centre of the original shape, but can be moved to a different location when the shape is in edit mode. (See Figure 8.44.)

patternrota

(a)

patternrotb

(b)

patternrotc

(c)

patternrotd

(d)

Figure 8.44: A rotational pattern: (a) original path; (b) the path in (a) has a rotational pattern applied with 3 replicas, 90° angle of rotation, with the original path visible; (c) the pattern in (b) in edit path mode: the green control indicates the point of rotation; (d) the point of rotation has been move to the right, changing the shape of the pattern.

Scaled

The replicates will be scaled versions of the original shape. There are two control points that govern the pattern: the anchor, which can be freely moved, and the offset, which is constrained to lie along the scaling axis. (See Figure 8.45.)

patternscalea

(a)

patternscaleb

(b)

patternscalec

(c)

Figure 8.45: A scaled pattern. The original path is the same as in Figure 8.44(a): (a) the path has a scaled pattern applied with two replicas, the horizontal scale factor set to 2 and the vertical scale factor set to 1.5; (b) the pattern in (a) in edit path mode: the green control is the anchor and the cyan control is the offset; (c) the anchor has been moved to the left.

Spiral

The replicates will be placed in a spiral around the original with the given incremental angle. There are again two control points that govern the pattern: the anchor and offset, which can both be moved freely. (See Figure 8.46.)

patternspirala

(a)

patternspiralb

(b)

patternspiralc

(c)

Figure 8.46: A spiral pattern. The original path is the same as in Figure 8.44(a): (a) the path has a spiral pattern applied with ten replicas, the increment angle set to 60° and a gap of 50bp; (b) the pattern in (a) in edit path mode: the green control is the anchor and the cyan control is the offset; (c) the anchor has been moved down.

All patterns have two modes:

Single: the pattern is drawn as a single path (see Figure 8.47(b)).
Multi: the original and each replicate are drawn as separate independent shapes (see Figure 8.47(c)).

patternmodea patternmodeb patternmodec

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 8.47: Patterns can either be single or multi-mode: (a) original path has a bar start marker, a triangle end-marker and a gradient fill paint; (b) the path in (a) has a rotational pattern applied with single mode set; (c) the same pattern as (b) but with multi-mode.

Note that a text-path created by applying text to a multi-mode pattern produces a different result to applying the same multi-mode pattern to a text-path. (See Figure 8.48.)

patterntextpatha

(a)

patterntextpathb

(b)

patterntextpathc

(c)

patterntextpathd

(d)

patterntextpathe

(e)

patterntextpathf

(f)

Figure 8.48: Text-path multi-mode patterns: (a) original text area and path; (b) text area and path in (a) combined to form a text-path; (c) a scaled multi-mode pattern is applied to the text-path with 2 replicas and scale factors 2.0 and 1.5; (d) the path in (a) has the same scaled multi-mode pattern applied; (e) the text area and pattern in (d) have been combined to form a text-path; (f) the pattern in (b) has been changed from multi-mode to single-mode.