Arrows/markers and connectors cause unwanted overlap

Bug #171284 reported by Estape
32
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Inkscape
Invalid
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

Inkscape is nearly perfect, put I think that arrows
need some improvements (I use Inkscape for drawing
diagrams).

- ((Duplicate part||Currently the arrows can only be black and you can
only change the color of the line (stroke) but you
cannot change the head or the tail of the arrow
(markers). It would be nice that the head and the tail
of the arrow could change (all the arrow should be the
same color). In OpenOffice Draw arrows work like this
and I think that is the way most users think that
arrows should work.|| https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/165865 ))

- Using connectors, usually those black arrow markers
overlap with the object, because the connector's end is
in the center of the marker, instead of being at the
tip of the arrow. In OOo Draw it works the way I mean.

- Finally, it would be nice that the connectors ended
touching the object, not the "bounding box" of the
object. Try using a connector on a circle, you will
notice that when the connector is diagonal it doesn't
touch the circle. This feature, would be nice but I
think that is not so important than the previous two,
and maybe is more difficult to do.

by the way, I think that Inkscape is much better than
OOo Draw, even for drawing diagrams. I know that maybe
drawing diagrams is not the purpose of Inkscape, but I
use it and I prefer it to other options!

Thanks for this great program!

Octavi

Revision history for this message
Horkana-users (horkana-users) wrote :

added the word markers to the summary for easier searching

there are a few duplicate reports for Arrows and markers but
I dont have time to sort them out at the moment. Your help
would be appreciated.

in future try to keep to one request per report, makes it
easier to manage especially if developers fix one part of
the report and wish to close the bug.

Revision history for this message
Ch-r (ch-r) wrote :

Originator: NO

I agree. The inevitable black arrows are the only thing that really annoys
me while using Inkscape.
In every other aspect the program is really great and comfortable to use.

BTW, There are *several* Entrys for this Topic. See:

[ 1368309 ] arrows/Markers should inherit path color
[ 1511904 ] Color arrows/markers with stroke color
[ 1490188 ] Color Arrows/markers and other improvements

Revision history for this message
Hans Ulrich Niedermann (ndim) wrote :

Collecting all related (or potentially identical) bug tickets after the SF->launchpad migration:

markers must take object color (SVG 1.2 feature)
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/165865

arrows/Markers should inherit path color
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171015

Color Arrows/markers and other improvements
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171284

Color arrows/markers with stroke color
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171361

Revision history for this message
Hans Ulrich Niedermann (ndim) wrote :

I am NOT marking this as a duplicate of

markers must take object color (SVG 1.2 feature)
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/165865

because of the "other improvements" regarding the two aspects about the interaction between arrow heads (markers) and connectors.

description: updated
Hystrix (hystrix-)
Changed in inkscape:
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Jelle Haandrikman (jhaand) wrote : Re: Arrows/markers and connectors cause unwanted overlap or gap

The Arrowhead still goes through the end of a path.

This is very annoying when drawing mechanical diagrams.
I want to tell the measurements. It looks a lot more professional if no point is sticking out of the line.
See the attached examples.

I want to set the tip of the arrow on the path not across the path.
Finally I resorted to drawing the arrowheads myself.

Revision history for this message
Jelle Haandrikman (jhaand) wrote :

This is how XFig does it.

Revision history for this message
Jelle Haandrikman (jhaand) wrote :

This feature is also requested with the
Blueprint for "Geometric & tech Drawing"
Although the current status is unclear

https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171284

Revision history for this message
Jelle Haandrikman (jhaand) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Jelle Haandrikman (jhaand) wrote :

Ok.

After looking at the SVG specification for markers. This problem won't be solved easily by using plain SVG.

However, I have found a solution that might work.
The drawing package from our supplier uses rounded arrowheads. So the endpoint of the arrowhead won't go through the line anymore. It even looks half decent this way. I imported the PDF and pulled everything apart.

See attachment.

After checking with other CAD drawings. I see they use somewhat the same method.

I will start hacking on the markers definition shortly.

summary: - Arrows/markers and connectors cause unwanted overlap or gap
+ Arrows/markers and connectors cause unwanted overlap
Revision history for this message
Jelle Haandrikman (jhaand) wrote :

Hi,

I've finally been able to find some time to design the new markers. I started by using the rounded tips displayed in the picture I attached before.

The attached drawing defines 2 markers which have rounded tips. The tips of the markers won't go beyond the line they come across. As long as the crossing line has at least the same width as the arrow itself.

You can copy the line with the markers into your own drawing and go from there. You can also include the marker definition into the local markers.svg.

I have the following questions:
- Do these markers give a good solution to this bug?

- Do we want to have this included with inkscape?

- What next?

jazzynico (jazzynico)
tags: added: markers
removed: objects-markers other
Revision history for this message
periodic (periodic) wrote :

I agree with this, having arrowheads extend longer than the line is very annoying. I guess it is a miss from the SVG specification and if anyone has a saying there the SVG specification needs to be enhanced, the same goes for marker color.

Revision history for this message
Arcadie M. Cracan (acracan) wrote :

Actually, the problem is with the way current Inkscape markers (or at least the part of them I'm aware of) have been created. The current markers are filled paths that have a non-zero width path stroke. When the markers are alined to path endpoints, its tip is alined to the endpoint. What extends other the endpoint is the part of the marker that is due to the marker path stroke width. If the markers are recreated with null path stroke width and only with filling inside, they won't extend longer than the line. In this case another problem appears and that is that the connector tip gets outside the marker if the connector is too wide (this is why the markers were created with non-zero stroke width in the first place).
You can try this yourself if you use the XML editor (Ctrl+Shift+X) and in the defs section of the SVG you edit the marker path to have a 0px width stroke.
A better way to solve this problem would be to design markers with the arrow tip "cut", so that it doesn't stick out (similar to the above solution with rounded tips).
I don't think there is a general solution for this and I can't see a better specification for the SVG that would solve this problem (the path should somehow be trimmed so that it ends before reaching the tip of the marker and that would depend on the shape of the marker, which would be even more difficult in the case of curved paths). I am curious how was this problem solved in XFig and does their solution support any type of marker and curved paths?

Revision history for this message
Papy Octet (guy-wallon) wrote :

Hello,
I want to add markers to several curves and lines. That is OK.
I put the same markers on each drawing line.
But if I want to change its color of the markers to adjust it at the color of the line, at the first time I do it, the markers of that first line are well chaged in the right color but Inkscape craches immediately (make a copy of the drawing ant shut down).
I restart Inkscape and re-open the drawing Inkscape has saved. And now it is impossible to change the color of the markers. Inkscape crashes immediately without appliing the color I want.

If I wanted tu use other colors for the other markers on other lines, I must use XML editor and make copies of the markers I want to use and than edit the styles of each type of marker I want to use.
So it run fine but ... wat a work for these who do'nt know haw to write in XML and use XML editor !
A+

Revision history for this message
su_v (suv-lp) wrote :

@Papy Octet - the crash you describe when running an extension sounds familiar, and is probably bug #944077. Please see comment #11 there for a workaround with affected files:
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/944077>

Revision history for this message
Igi (igilama) wrote :

the bugs described in this report seem to be fixed, shouldn't it be closed? However the diagram connectors still are unusable for me mainly because of bug #1447303

Revision history for this message
phiscribe (dcbevins) wrote :

All of the problems with color I have no comment on. However, 0.92.3 (2405546, 2018-03-11) still does this when trying to snap markers, (attached image.) The snapping occurs in the middle of the marker, note the tip of the arrow.

Revision history for this message
Jonathan Hofinger (jhofinger) wrote :

The first bullet point is fixed (see https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/165865), the second bullet point has been migrated to https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/issues/1980 and the third bullet point seems to be fixed.

Closed by: https://gitlab.com/jhofinger

Changed in inkscape:
status: Confirmed → Invalid
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.