Make a line into curve but maintaining the length

[JollyPanda]

Hi there,

Is it possible to turn a line into a curve while maintaining its length? So for e example, I want to draw a curve with total length of 50mm. I can draw a straight line with 50mm first, then use the anchor point to change it to a curve but depending on how the curve is drawn, the length might change. One way that I think I could do is to open Document Info window and monitor the path length as I manipulate the line but I was wondering if there isa a better way to do this.

Thanks

[Kurt Gold]

This may be possible with brush strokes.

[JollyPanda]

Could you elaborate a bit more how brush strokes would work in this scenario?

[Jacob Bugge]

Jack,

It is impossible to work with a fixed length as you describe.

You can draw any number of curved paths with a length of 50 mm, even between to fixed ends (less than 50 mm apart).

Maybe you can obtain the desired result by:

1) Drawing a curved path with a shape to your liking,

2) Using the Window>Document Info panel with Objects ticked to see the actual current length,

3) Changing the size by uniform scaling in Object>Transform/Scale by inserting the % value 5000/L, where L is the actual current Length in mm as seen in the Document Infor panel in 2).

4) Checking the resulting length in the Document to make sure that it is now 50 mm.

Edit; Hi Kurt, I had a safe return to earth ereyesterday; and it is still here to enjoy.

[JollyPanda]

Thanks. This is what I have been doing but I was just wondering if there is a better/easier way. For now, i am going to contin ue using this method.

[Jacob Bugge]

Jack,

Have you tried the workarounds that Kurt shared?

[JollyPanda]

Unfortunately, I have not found an automatic way but I am using workaround as mentioned above and it seems to be working for me.

1. Draw the path in the desired length.

2. Open the Document Info, and enable the Objects view.

3. Manipulate the path and monitor the "Length =" value in the objects view to make sure it's not changing too much.

Hope this helps.

[JollyPanda]

Unfortunately, there isn't enough information on this post about how to actually do it so I haven not been able to test that method. However, I have found a workaround noted in my other post so I have been able to use that for now.

[Kurt Gold]

In an older forum thread you can download a sample file that contains two workarounds to lock the length. It is here:

Lock Path Length

Welcome back, Jacob. I saw your Jellyfish UAP last night for a couple of seconds.

[JollyPanda]

Unfortunately, the replies on this post says to make a feature request on user voice.