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312 Chapter 5: Creating Geometry
• Subtraction—Subtracts the overlapping portion
of the second spline from the first spline, and
deletes the remainder of the second spline.
•
Intersection—Leaves only the overlapping
portions of the two splines, deleting the
non-overlapping portion of both.
Original splines (left), Boolean Union, Boolean Subtraction,
and Boolean Intersection, respectively
Mirror—Mirrors splines along the length, width, or
diagonally. Click the direction you want to mirror
first so it is active, then click Mirror.
•
Co py—When selected, copies rather than moves
thesplineasitismirrored.
•
About Pi vot—When on, mirrors the spline
about the spline object’s pivot point (see Pivot
(page 2–487)). When off, mirrors the spline
about its geometric center.
Mirrored splines
Tri m—Use Tr im to clean up overlapping seg ments
in a shape so that ends meet at a single point.
To trim, you need intersecting splines. Click the
portion of the spline you want to remove. The
spline is searched in both directions along its
lengthuntilithitsanintersectingspline,and
deleted up to the intersection. If the section
intersects at two points, the entire sec tion is
deleteduptothetwointersections.Ifthesection
is open on one end and intersects at the other, the
entire section is deleted up to the intersection and
the open end. If the section is not intersected, or
ifthesplineisclosedandonlyoneintersectionis
found, nothing happens.
Ex tend—Use Extend to clean up open segments in
a shape so that ends meet at a single point.
To extend, you need an open spline. The end of
thesplinenearestthepickedpointisextended
until it reaches an intersecting spline. If there is
no intersecting spline, nothing happens. Curved
splines extend in a direction tangent to the end of
the spline. If the end of a spline lies directly on a
boundary (an intersecting spline), then it looks for
an intersection further along.
Infinite B ounds—For the purposes of calculating
intersections, turn this on to treat open splines as
infinite in length. For example, this lets you trim
onelinearsplineagainsttheextendedlengthof
another line that it doesn’t actua lly intersect.
Hide—Hides selected splines. Sele ct one or more
splines, and then click Hide.
Unhide A ll—Displays any hidden sub-objects.
Delete—Deletes the selected spline.
Clo se—Closes the selected spline by joining its end
vertices w ith a new segment.