This effect draws a series of Stroke paths between points on sub-paths. Some of the things it is useful for are drawing hatched shading and for drawing hair.
To stitch a sub-path:
Draw the sub-paths: Draw two simple paths. Combine into a compound path consisting of two sub-paths using → ( Ctrl+K ). The two sub-paths should be drawn in the same direction. If not, use the → ( Shift+R ) command on one of the sub-paths (prior to combining) to reverse its direction.
Apply the effect to compound path: In the Path Effect Editor dialog, select Stitch Sub-Paths from the Apply new effect menu and click on the Add button.
Adjust Stroke path: Click on the node editing icon ( ) to edit the Stroke path.
The Stitch Sub-Paths effect can be used to create the hatchings typically used in engravings as shown in the following example. While the Interpolate Extensions could be used to created some of the shadings, it cannot create the horizontal shadings on the cylinder below (likewise, the Stitch Sub-Paths effect cannot easily create the precise circular hatching inside the cylinder).
By varying both the sub-paths and the Stroke path quite complicated hatchings can be created. The hatchings can be clipped to limit their range. The Tweak Tool could also be used to refine the hatchings if the hatchings are converted to stroked paths (see Chapter 11, Tweak Tool).
The Stroke Sub-Paths LPE has options that add random shifts to the start and end of each stitching path. The “variance” options can be used to draw hair as shown below. Each variance has a dice icon ( ) next to it which, if clicked, sets a new starting random number seed. This will change the random shifts but keep the average shift the same.
Interesting geometric patterns can be created with this effect as shown next.
What if multiple sub-paths are used? Each sub-path will be connected to every other sub-path by the specified Number of paths. This can be used to created some interesting patterns.
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