WT Centroid Tool Bug?


 
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enderw88



Joined: 23 Jun 2009
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:36 pm    Post subject: WT Centroid Tool Bug? Reply with quoteFind all posts by enderw88

I split this out from the "lines to polygons" thread for ease of search in the future.


The centroid tool works on a rounded rectangle. It does not work on a rounded polygon. (polygon tool with the rounded corners option selected.)

To repeat this:

1. Place three or four points at random
2. Option click the WT polygon tool
a. Select the far right button for rounded corners
b. Select "lines and arcs"
c. OK
3. Draw a closed polygon around the points laid out before (I have tried clockwise and counter clockwise sense, with no difference in behavior).
4. Select the centroid tool. You will not be able to highlight the new polygon just drawn.
5. Select the polygon, the "ungroup" it.
6. With all of the arcs and segments still selected, "attach" the elements.
7. The centroid tool will now work as expected.
8. Delete the polygon just drawn
9. Option click the WT polygon tool and select "bezier"
10. Using the points laid out in step one, draw the new polygon
11. The centroid tool will now work on the polygon but will complain "includes open shapes" The numerical values are equal to two decimal places.

For completeness I also laid out the points on the corners of a rectangle and made equivalent "rounded rectangle" and 4 sided "rounded polygon" the centroid tool need this coercion to work with the polygon, but worked flawlessly on the rectangle.



polyarc-bezier.png

This rounded polygon was made using the "bezier" option
 

 Filesize:  52.54 KB
 Filename:  polyarc-bezier.png
 Viewed:  68 Time(s)

polyarc-centroid.png

This polygon was made using the "lines and arc" option, but had to be ungrouped and attached to get the centroid tool to work.
 

 Filesize:  52.48 KB
 Filename:  polyarc-centroid.png
 Viewed:  68 Time(s)

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Craig
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Alfred Scott



Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 749
Location: Richmond, VA

PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quoteFind all posts by Alfred Scott

Craig,

There is no such thing in PowerCADD as a 'rounded polygon'. You're looking at a group object with lines and arcs. You can also have the tool place it as a single Bezier, as I recall.

And when you use Attach with lines, polygons and arcs, you get an "Attach Object" which is a group with individual unfilled lines, arcs and polygons, and then another polygon around the whole thing, so if it's filled with a color, the one big polygon has a fill but a 'nonePat' for the line, while the individual objects have lines but no fills.

When I work on something like the Centroid tool, I go into a 'hole in the ground' and work on it to the exclusion of everything else. When I finish, I write down all of my notes of what I did and put that in the documentation. And with the scope of things that are in WildTools, I often have almost no memory at all of what I did. But from your desciption, you're throwing groups at the Centroid tool and not having a good day. Break it down to individual objects (select the object and look in the Edit Window to see what the object is) and you should be able to get along with the Centroid tool okay. If you're trying to find ways to break it, that won't be hard because it only does some things, but it shouldn't take you long to figure out how to get the result you want. The WildTools Join tool will attach lines, arcs, polygons, beziers, etc. into a single bezier, and I think you will always get a good result with you get it into a single closed shape.

But that's from memory, and your mind is the second thing that goes.

Alfred
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enderw88



Joined: 23 Jun 2009
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quoteFind all posts by enderw88

Thanks! Not trying to break things, just noticed a behavior that seemed counter intuitive.
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Craig
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Derek



Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 598
Location: Melbourne, Australia

PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quoteFind all posts by Derek

There appear to be two separate things going on here.

The first is the discrepancy between the values calculated by the Centroid Tool. I've traced these back to be subtle differences in the two objects that are created, one a polygon and one a bezier. Before using the Centroid Tool, check the area of the two objects and you will find they are different. That isn't unexpected when you think about it. I think this is where the discrepancy is coming from rather than in the Centroid Tool itself.

The second issue is the warning regarding 'including open shapes' which looks like a bug in the Centroid Tool as the bezier is closed. It doesn't appear to have an effect on the calculations so I think it is just a reporting error generated during the workings of the tool.

Derek

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