The Stroke Path command strokes a path in
the image. There are two ways you can stroke the path, either by using
a paint tool, or without using one. There are various options which you
can use to specify how this stroke should look.
Note
This command is active only if there is a path in your image.
6.17.1.
Activating the Command
You can access this command from the image menubar through
Edit->Stroke Path.
You can also access it by clicking on the button with the same name
in the Path dialog.
6.17.2.
Description of the Dialog Window
Figure 10.33.
The “Choose Stroke Style” dialog window
The Choose Stroke Style dialog box allows you to
choose between stroking the path with the options you specify or
stroking it with a paint tool. If you stroke the path with a paint
tool, the current paint tool options are used to draw the stroke.
Stroke line
The stroke is drawn with the current foreground color,
set in the Toolbox. By clicking on the triangle next to
Line Style however, the dialog expands
and you can set several additional options:
Line Width
You can set the width of the stroke using the text box.
The default unit is pixels, but you can choose another
unit with the arrow buttons.
Cap Style
You can choose the shape of the ends of an unclosed path,
which can be Butt,
Round
or Square.
Join Style
You can choose the shape of the path corners by
clicking on Miter,
Round
or Bevel.
Miter limit
When two segments of a path come together, the mitering
of the corner is determined by the Miter Limit.
If the strokes were wide, and no mitering were done, there
would be pointed ends sticking out at the corner.
The Miter Limit setting determines how the gap,
formed when the outer edges of the two lines are extended,
will be filled. You can set it to a value between 0.0
and 100.0, by using the slider or the associated text box
and its arrows.
Figure 10.34.
Example of miter limit
Left: Limit=0; Right: Limit=5;
Dash Pattern
On the pixel level, a dashed line is drawn as a series of
tiny boxes. You can modify the pattern of these boxes. The
black area with thin vertical lines represents the pixels
of the dash. If you click on a black pixel, you remove
it from the dash. If you click on a white pixel, you add
it to the dash. The gray areas indicate how the
pattern will be repeated when a dashed line is drawn.
Dash Preset
Instead of making your own dash pattern, you can choose
one from the drop-down box. This pattern will
then be displayed in the Dash pattern
area, so you can get an idea of how it will look.
Anti-aliasing
Curved strokes or strokes drawn at an angle may look
jagged or stair-stepped. The anti-aliasing option
smoothes them out.
Style
You can choose whether the line is drawn in the
Solid or the
Pattern style.
Here, Solid and Pattern are distinct from the dash
pattern. If you select a Solid line with no dash pattern,
an unbroken line is drawn in the foreground color set in
the Toolbox. If you select a Patterned line with no dash
pattern, an unbroken line is drawn with the pattern set in
the Toolbox. If you select a line with a dash pattern, the
color or pattern is still determined by the foreground
color or pattern set in the Toolbox. That is, if you
select a marbled pattern and Patterned, dashed lines, the
dashes are drawn in the marbled pattern.
Stroking with a Paint Tool
Paint Tool
You can select a paint tool to use to draw the stroke
from the drop-down box. If you do that, the
currently-selected options of the paint tool are
used, rather than the settings in the dialog.
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