is there a way to edit the glyph symmetrically? Say, how does it work in 3D editors when you edit one part and the changes are immediately visible on the other part?
Something like the mirror modifier if you used Blender
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That is not possible directly. There are some things that can help.
- Use the Fit Curve panel to make the curves equal. (you need to set up the angles of the handles first). (when you make curves from lines by clicking it with the Option key, try Shift+Option).
- for more complex shapes, draw one half, put it in the background (Command+J) and mirror it and make sure the start point and path direction is the same as in the foreground. Then you can select the paths that you didn’t draw and use Path > Interpolate with Background with 100%. Or one by one select a node and hit Command+Shift+A to align it with the nearest node in the background.
- Add an extra glyph that only contains one half and add it twice as a component, one mirrored.
In addition to what Georg mentioned, I would like to give a quick shoutout to the Mask to Master script (Plugin Manager > Scripts > Freemix)
This script is has saved me countless hours. Enjoy!
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I’d really like to understand Georg’s second point (the one about using the background), but all my attempts have failed.
Here’s what I’m doing:
- I draw half of a shape.
- I copy it to the background.
- I mirror it.
- I reverse the path direction.
- I go back to the foreground and choose Interpolate with Background at 100%.
Should this result in a closed shape that I can edit in the foreground, while the mirrored half in the background changes accordingly? In my case, I still end up with two separate contours. What am I doing wrong?
you can also try the Show Rotated plugin for such things, which shows a rotated or flipped version of the path in your background. It can also be set to only flip the selected path parts.
There’s also Freemix Symmetrify script
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The “one half” was maybe not the best wording. What I meant is that you draw the full shape (e.g. a “§”). Then put the whole shape in the background. Then follow the steps I mentioned above.
Not in my Mac but I wonder if you could add the glyph as a component to its own background. Then you could align points with the background. The mekkablue Populate Backgrounds script would help with the alignment of many nodes at once.
I think the “Show Rotated” Plugin is still the easiest and quickest solution.
I can also add a “Show Nodes” to it, I think this is on my list since a while.
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