I have a shape that is the result of combining (combine operation) 6 concentric circles. Now I want to fragment it into 8 equal wedges each 60° wide. I drew 4 diagonal lines. (See attachment.)
But when I select it and choose Fragment, it fragments it down to the individual arcs.
How can I get each of the 8 wedges to keep the concentric arcs?
for what you want, here is the recipe (note with shape "algebra", the order of operations is important).
1) draw your circles
2) center and middle them
3) separately, draw your lines
4) center and middle them
5) group the lines
6) center and middle the lines (top shape) and the circles (bottom shape)
7) ungroup lines....and circles as appropriate.
8) select all lines and circles
9) fragment
10) pick a shape fragment in a pie segment
11) hold down shift and pick all fragments of that particular pie segment
12) group the selection
13) either do all other pie sections same way or copy pie segment group and paste then rotate by N degrees (size & position window if precision is key)
Doing these kinds of recipes, leaves you with a static shape
(scales, rotates at group level but editing to group to move arcs or "manifold" is usually tricky)
Also, once you fragment, you lose control handles (yellow circles) and connection points and any color formatting you did
Quote from: vojo on September 08, 2020, 03:33:45 AM
for what you want, here is the recipe (note with shape "algebra", the order of operations is important).
. . .
Doing these kinds of recipes, leaves you with a static shape
(scales, rotates at group level but editing to group to move arcs or "manifold" is usually tricky)
Also, once you fragment, you lose control handles (yellow circles) and connection points and any color formatting you did
That works. Thanks. But it's a lot of work that I think should be unnecessary.
If either the Combine or Join operations really combined or joined anything in any permanent way, the Fragment shouldn't be able to undo them.
Just my opinion...
so you want to remove the "undo" function? seems crazy to me
Quote from: vojo on September 08, 2020, 11:54:39 AM
so you want to remove the "undo" function? seems crazy to me
Huh? I have no idea where you got that idea. Talk about crazy!
My point is that either Combine or Join should convert a multi-shape object into a single shape that cannot be broken apart by Fragment.
Quote from: vojo on September 08, 2020, 11:54:39 AM
so you want to remove the "undo" function? seems crazy to me
I think the word "disconnect" is meant here, rather than undo!
hmm....an "undoable" action....a "one way" function/action....hmm
implications
- means if you don't like what you get out of it, got to start over again...BTW, once the drawing is used on another system
cant undo it if you wanted to. (lost info of the original shapes not present in 2nd system so cant undo it).
- if that is what you want, then after you have your shape then copy/paste as an *.emf image or JPG/PNG into sheet.
- in general, not sure how useful a "one way" function or action is to the developer of the resulting shape.
(only one way I have seen is a bug around playing with pinx, piny, that corrupts the drawing...even if you get the shape under control, the sheet tab at the bottom gets messed up and have to delete entire sheet to get visio corrected)
- I am honestly not sure, but it may mean the resulting shape is treated as a simple "odd" 2d shape so color applies to whole shape. (the union would create a white shape with black edges ....could not change colors of portions of the shape).
with above said, if a legit use for a one way function, maybe could do it via VBA or Macro.
Quote from: vojo on September 08, 2020, 07:03:58 PM
hmm....an "undoable" action....a "one way" function/action....hmm do it via VBA or Macro.
Either I am speaking gibberish or you are not trying to understand. I am perfectly fine with the Undo function. My complaint is that the Fragment operation is also doing an undo, which, IMHO, it should not.
An easy kludge for this shape is to use the Sector Graphical Tool in the Drawing Shape Tool Template under Visio Extras. It is easy to stack the sectors, adjust distance between arcs, group sectors and make 5 copies. (You said you wanted 60 deg sectors, but your drawing showed 45 deg) Recommend watching how you stack sectors on top of each other or turn off shape fill. Recommend moving the group rotation point to the vector for easier alignment. Benefit is shape can be Ungrouped and distance between arcs resized if desired, and you can have different colors between arcs if you leave fill on. Disadvantage is group shape may change sector angle if you resize, so recommend starting off with required size.
Ok, now I have another version of the same problem -- unless I don't understand the solution.
I would like to be able to fragment a shape with text and have the text fragmented in the result. I've tried it with the text as the label of the shape and as a separate text box. In both, the text is lost after the fragmentation, as shown here:
(https://i.postimg.cc/bYgwpdJ0/image.png)
Is there a way I can get the fragment of the text in each box fragment?
To achieve this, you may need to convert the text to outline first IMHO. Not sure if Visio can do that, though.
In some other applications (e.g. Inkscape), this functions is called just that - "convert text to outline".
Here is a (probably) related article by the Visio Guy:
http://www.visguy.com/2015/03/01/text-outlines-in-visio/
First, back to original problem, fragment does not respect either combine or join. It looks at the real shapes and does the fragmenting. So, yes, a lot of steps.
Second problem. Text is not a shape. It may be owned by a shape, but it's behavior is different. As Nikolay indicates, you need to convert the text, i.e., each letter, to a shape. Visio has no direct function to do that. So, you would need to import the text. Nikolay's links are good place to start.
Quote from: Nikolay on April 14, 2021, 09:13:29 AM
To achieve this, you may need to convert the text to outline first IMHO. Not sure if Visio can do that, though.
In some other applications (e.g. Inkscape), this functions is called just that - "convert text to outline".
Is Inkscape the best alternative to Visio for general drawing in your opinion? Or is there something better?
Thanks
Inkscape is basically a tool more suitable to designers IMHO.
I mean, you could use it create vector images (such as logo images, vector icons, vector drawings, etc), not business diagrams.
In other words (IMHO):
If you want to build business diagrams, such as org charts, flowcharts, business processes, floor plans, etc using ready-to-use smart shapes, then Visio is great.
If you want to build shapes/designs, such as logo images, generic pictures, paintings, art works, site designs, etc then probably Visio is a wrong tool.
If you don't mind spending a little money, take a look at Affinity Designer.
Quote from: Nikolay on April 15, 2021, 02:39:35 PM
Inkscape is basically a tool more suitable to designers IMHO.
I mean, you could use it create vector images (such as logo images, vector icons, vector drawings, etc), not business diagrams.
In other words (IMHO):
If you want to build business diagrams, such as org charts, flowcharts, business processes, floor plans, etc using ready-to-use smart shapes, then Visio is great.
If you want to build shapes/designs, such as logo images, generic pictures, paintings, art works, site designs, etc then probably Visio is a wrong tool.
Totally agree. When I needed to make flowcharts and a few floor plans, Visio is perfect. But I have also needed to do things that haven't worked wsell in Visio, so I am looking for another tool. Thanks.
Quote from: wapperdude on April 15, 2021, 03:15:06 PM
If you don't mind spending a little money, take a look at Affinity Designer.
I am absolutely happy to pay for quality. I do not want to pay steep prices such as for professional software like PhotoShop as I will never use more than 2-3% of its features. But I would be happy to pay at least $30-$50. It looks like Affinity Designer is about $40
My immediate need is to create a series of images showing a column (probably concrete) having forces applied to both sides with the forces on one side gradually overwhelming the one on the other side and the column cracking and then crumbling. The column will have a few words on it, which I want to have preserved in each of the fragments.
Here's what I started in Visio, but this is a s far as I got:
(https://i.postimg.cc/ncgR4xrv/image.png)
Is this something that Affinity Designer can do?
Thanks
I haven't actually used it. I believe there's a free trial period, plus lots of video tutorials.
Curious...your Visio example looks fine, where's the problem?
Quote from: wapperdude on April 15, 2021, 10:24:16 PM
Curious...your Visio example looks fine, where's the problem?
That's just the first 2 stages.
Stage 3: The block separates a bit at the crack and maybe more cracks appear.
Stage 4: The cracks widen,
Stage 5: The whole thing breaks into pieces on the ground.
...or something like that. ;)
...and so, as the paradigm crumbles, you'd like the text to crumble... or at least have bits of text associated with the pieces. A.D. can do a lot with text...I think even convert it to graphic (bit map???). That might allow you to fracture the text. That just a vague recollection, so, don't hold me to it.
Edit: quick Google search yielded this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xJIMyIaa9pw. Look seem to be exactly what you want!
Quote from: wapperdude on April 16, 2021, 12:02:41 AM
...and so, as the paradigm crumbles, you'd like the text to crumble... or at least have bits of text associated with the pieces. A.D. can do a lot with text...I think even convert it to graphic (bit map???). That might allow you to fracture the text. That just a vague recollection, so, don't hold me to it.
Edit: quick Google search yielded this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xJIMyIaa9pw. Look seem to be exactly what you want!
That look pretty good. I'm sold. And they have a fairly active user forum.
Thanks!
PS: I just checked several graphic design software reviews. Adobe products are always at the top, but I am not spending that kind of money and I do not like Adobe, the company. But Affinity Design (~$40) and InkSpace (free) are within the next few and get very good reviews. So thanks for the tip. Where do I send your beer?
Great. Hope AD works out well. As for the beer, well, just keep it refrigerated. Which reminds me, what do you have when you place a hotdog in a German beer mug? Wait for it..... Frank in stein.
Say "Good night, Gracie".
Cheers
Well curiousity got the better of me. This is doable within Visio. But it is quite painful.
Back in 2009, JuneTheSecond did a Word Art development. It is quite an amazing development. The resulting text is, indeed, shape objects. That means, you can do something similar to what Affinity Design does, only not nearly as straight forward, nor as efficient.
The process is essentially (somewhat over-simplified) run the WordArt feature, copy the text onto the shape to be broken, then, thru a series of fragment, combine, union steps, and group, you eventually obtain the desired result. See attached.
Quote from: wapperdude on April 16, 2021, 04:22:31 PM
Well curiousity got the better of me. This is doable within Visio. But it is quite painful.
Back in 2009, JuneTheSecond did a Word Art development. It is quite an amazing development. The resulting text is, indeed, shape objects. That means, you can do something similar to what Affinity Design does, only not nearly as straight forward, nor as efficient.
The process is essentially (somewhat over-simplified) run the WordArt feature, copy the text onto the shape to be broken, then, thru a series of fragment, combine, union steps, and group, you eventually obtain the desired result. See attached.
Very nice. I am definitely going to have to try and spark your curiosity again in the future. ;D You are not a cat, I presume... ::)
Well, I do like cats...
On the interwebs, everyone is a cat.
Quote from: wapperdude on April 16, 2021, 08:08:26 PM
Well, I do like cats...
You do know what curiosity does to them, right? But then they have 9 lives! 8)
My cat is giving me this frowny face...😾