CALLIGRAPHY TOOL: Etching function erratic (missing strokes or unsnapping etch circle)

[Troy James Sobotka]

Summary: Occasional use of the "Calligraphy Tool" etching ability to draw concurrent lines (Accessed via CTRL on a given stroke) will occasionally result in one of the two following incorrect responses:
  1) No stroke being drawn at all, despite the appearance that the tool is behaving correctly.
  2) Snapping away from the etching tool 'snap' circle. The net result is that the stroke doesn't contour along the source path and the etch target circle simply turns red.

Frequency: Infrequently (3/5 trials versus manifestations with tablet)

Platform: Linux amd64 (Ubuntu 8.04)

Version: Inkscape 0.46+devel, built May 14 2008

Additional Information: Attaching a screenshot is nigh on impossible as I am using up all of my hands to press the etching CTRL key as well as using my left hand to draw using my stylus. This is an infrequent problem.

[bbyak (buliabyak)]

please try a devel version, it has several fixes in this area

[Alex Valavanis (valavanisalex)]

A request for information has been pending in this report for a long time, so the developers are currently unable to fix the bug. I'll close this report for now, but please feel free to reopen it if anyone is able to provide the requested information.

[Troy James Sobotka (troy-sobotka)]

Closing bugs without even an effort of testing is a bit of a problem in our culture. The numbers game run amok.

It is pretty easy to reproduce.

1) Create a stroke using the calligraphy tool.

2) Hover over (with a tablet in this instance) while pressing control.

3) Press to get a stroke and watch your stroke wander from the path.

[Troy James Sobotka (troy-sobotka)]

SVN 9458

As an added bonus, it now crashes about one in five trials.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

> 3) Press to get a stroke and watch your stroke wander from the path.

not reproduced (with a mouse though, no tablet here) unless either
- the cursor (center of the 'snap' circle) cross the traced path
- the traced path is a calligraphic stroke with intersections (like twisted)

> As an added bonus, it now crashes about one in five trials.

that's most likely bug #284546 “Crash on using calligraphy tracing tool with wacom tablet”

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Reproduced with Inkscape 0.47+devel r9456 on OS X 10.5.8

possibly related console messages when 'etching' unexpectedly fails:
 ** (inkscape-bin:94783): WARNING **: Failed to create path: invalid data in dc->cal1 or dc->cal2

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Increasing the pen mass improves the steadiness of the tracking lines (hint from <http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Paths-Creating.html#Paths-Calligraphy-Hatchings>).

[Troy James Sobotka (troy-sobotka)]

Thanks @~suv. You have been one of the most insightful and responsive people regarding QA for Inkscape. Your efforts do not go unnoticed...

[Beluga (buovjaga)]

Would be cool to get a screen-recorded video of it going crazy.