shapes overlapping onto subsequent pages

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Karela

I am doing a 90 page programme book, and I have a very gently curved line on some of the pages to divide a sidebar off from the main text.  I am still experimenting with the exact details of this line/lines, but my solution until now is to create a rather large ellipse and place it so that only part of it is visible on the page.

Unfortunately, in order to have the gentle curve that I want, the box for the ellipse is so large that it is overlapping onto the next/previous page.

Is there any way to create a smaller box and paste the part of the shape I want INSIDE it? That would help so much because I also need to visualize it all the time in preview mode, otherwise it looks messy.

Marikus

My first idea is to edit the path of the ellipse so that it would not exceed the page. For this use the path tool.

utnik

hi karela

you could place a rectangle over the part of the ellipse you need and cut off the rest of it with 'item' → 'path tools' → 'path operations' → 'intersection of the shapes'.

utnik

Karela

Utnik, that works really well until I put two ellipses that I need to trim....

utnik

hi karela

you have to trim them separately...

utnik

Karela

Ok, no problem to trim it twice.

I don't completely understand the logic behind it: my ellipse is an outline with no fill and the rectangle that I am placing on top has NO outline no fill. Sometimes I intersect it and it disappears, sometimes I intersect it and it gives me a straight edge from the rectangle in addition to the curved ellipse. Sometimes it does exactly what I want- snips out a part of the ellipse with no straight lines added.

I guess it chooses the characteristics of one of the shapes, but I don't understand which one or how to change it to get part of an ellipse and no straight lines consistently.

GarryP

It depends on the order in which the shapes were selected. You can change the order using the "Swap Shapes" checkbox.

If you drag-select the shapes you don't have any real control over the initial order - Scribus chooses - but you can use the preview at the top-right of the dialog to see what will happen. Try swapping the shapes while you change the path operation to see the various operations at work.

The box at the bottom-right of the dialog tells Scribus which formatting - first or second shape - to use for the resulting shape.

Successful path operations are a result of getting the shapes in the correct order and choosing the correct result format options. It just takes a bit of time to get used to how they work. A little experimentation with different settings should give you a better idea.

Basically, if the preview at the top-right doesn't look correct then start changing the settings until it is.