can you recurve a line and keep it the same length?

[Peter Normington]

Micky
A picture would help me get my head round it..
post in the off topic section, a mod will move it here if they see it.
I think I know what you are trying to achieve, not sure if it can be done though.

Peter

[Chris Wool]

can only think of some laser – router software works out lengths.

might be time for a bit of string, how big is the artwork could it be printed the line measured by some string and the bit of string made to the new shape, = same length.

chris

[Michael Dunn]

its 1000 by 500 so yes its probably going to be print, measure and draw
it is destined to be printed on to paper using the cutter as a plotter,
pity though as i’d like to have it finished and saved as a cdr file

thanks anyway

[Hugh Potter]

i think Chris is right,

use a large sheet of graph paper (print or draw one) and a piece of string the correct length, then photograph it and draw it onto a duplicate graph on the pc,

can’t see a way of doing it without the length of the line increasing or decreasing, in physical terms it’s possible but, with the usual tools in corel etc, i doubt it’s gonna happen.

[Phill Fenton]

The only way I can think of to do this is to draw your shape as a series of small circles each touching at the edges. Then when you re-arrange the layout you know the length will remain unchanged

[Michael Dunn]

in case its of use to anyone else heres an update on what i found,

"Corel does allow you to measure the length of
compound curves if you don’t mind doing a bit of work. Enter a line of
periods with the text tool that is estimated to be several inches
longer than your curve. Select the text (periods) and the curve then
use the fit text to path. Corel will fit all the periods it can around
the edge of the curve at their actual kerned spacing, it will truncate
or remove any excess periods. Count the periods. Now enter two
seperate periods at the same point size as the originals, select them
and use the object parameter box (width-height) to see the length
(width). Multiply this times the number that it took to fit on the
curve"

not really what i want to be doing

so i downloaded this (free file) and it works fine
i will just have to measure the original line, make a note, reposition, and tweak it till it is the same length 🙄
but it’s easier than printing out for a physical measure etc at least i will remain within x3

http://www.macromonster.com/index.php?m … &Submit=Go

there is a feature in this that would do the job (i fact until activated the curve length calculater would still work) from a russian developer

http://eng.plotcalc.com/learning.php

and also this one, i think a 14 day trial

http://www.oberonplace.com/products/cur … m#Features

both of the above are about $50, and i might consider one of them when i have chance to look at them closer.
the oberon one looks like it might have a few interesting additions – and i’d appreciate any thoughts as i spend a lot of time connecting lines and breaking them apart

[Chris Wool]

like the idea of using stops.
i don’t know how accurate you need to be, but using text length has a flaw , as it uses the before space in its calculation.
convert it to curves and the length alters. even in a straight line.

chris

[David Rowland]

hi, i have a little program that is part of IsoCalc called "Measure Perimeter", however the website seems to be down however Jeff Harrisons MacroMonser / has this Curve program (which i think has been mentioned above)

http://www.macromonster.com/index.php?m … &Submit=Go

I just ran it and a requester appears showing the length, however Jeff has password protected the program so I cant see what it really is doing, I suspect it is the same as the program I have, I was thinking that it could be modified to show on the Info bar the current length of the curve as you are moving it, I think that is possible.

However if you are going to be doing a lot of this and you really dont need graphics (bitmaps and design) the you should be using Autocad or varients, you can do this sort of thing quite easily within CAD.