CorelDRAW - contour offset too large

[Frog]

Why would I get this on only one of five letters that I traced? What determines "too large"?

[mk162]

make sure the contour is set to "outside"

[inkman996]

The error is basically telling you that the distance set would exceed itself on an inside contour. The best thing I figured out when dealing with contours is to increase the size of the art to something pretty big, this way you are not dealing with the minute adjustments as much.

[Frog]

Brad, it is set to outside. It also only happened after I cleaned up the trace.
I try to do a .1" offset, and until I go down to .06", the one letter won't take it.


Inkman, in a related attempt, I increased the size of the object, applied a contour, but two things:
 1. It would still screw up when I got to the proportionately larger offending size, and
2. reducing the enlarged object, brings it right back to where I was, with the missing piece.

My work-around is to apply the contour before I manipulate nodes, seems to work, but I'm still curious.

[inkman996]

Would love to have the piece that is offending to check out. My thought is there must be a hinky node somewhere, traces can definitely give you some weird problems. One area Corel struggles is dealing with the shape commands such as trims and welds, so often when using those commands either a full crash happens or you get some very odd results.

I am auto tuned to hit the save button these days before i do any complex command in Corel just in case I get the Not Responding crap or a full out crash.

[Frog]

I also asked Diane CYW about this and she responded:

The contour glitch happens all the time
it's usually one of 2 things
 
1] too many nodes
[2] a node or 2 that's a little wacky that causes the error
 
First line of attack is to select the object, switch to your Shape tool and hit the Reduce nodes button
Most of the time,  that will fix the issue
(that's what I did in the attached file, open it and compare to your original)
 
If reducing nodes doesn't immediately help, with your Shape tool selected, zoom in and look for the offending node/nodes
If they still aren't apparent, start manually deleting the excessive nodes
 
Another trick I use is after using the Reduce nodes option, I also change all the nodes to curves............it will usually smooth out anything causing problems

As I told her, I am weak on nodes and contours.That's why, like today,  I often fool around (more stumble around) in the early morning hours on this type of thing
 

[Frog]

I almost forgot to thank Inkman as well, who also came up with the node report, two specifically offensive offending nodes!

[Command-Z]

Similar things happen in Illustrator too. Extra nodes will give you spikes and gaps.

[inkman996]

I found the two nodes causing the issue strangely they did not look to be causing issues yet when deleted things worked fine. I do as Diane mentioned as well by reducing nodes, reversing direction and changing node shapes, sometimes that works but more often than not you have to go in there and manually root out the issue. What I do a lot of today is use the fill tool and delete the bad object or I use the boundary tool and delete the bad object, a lot of times those two tools do not pick up the offending node issue.

[Fluid]

Why would I get this on only one of five letters that I traced? What determines "too large"?

Frog you are getting that error due to a funky node. Convert the font to curves and check all the nodes. I bet there is one with some funky direction to it causing the error. 

When you find the issue node, you might have to add a new node (a little bit away from the bad node) on both sides and delete the bad node in the middle)

Depending on how some fonts are made you will come across this error.  You will also see this error on any object with these funky nodes.

[Frog]

Yep, thanks, but since it was a trace, no need to convert to curves, but both the trace, and my tweaking definitely funkified the nodes.
Nodes, (and cusps and their handles) are still something I haven't quite got a handle on myself, even after using CorelDRAW since v3.

[mk162]

tracing always tosses in more nodes than needed.

[Fluid]

tracing always tosses in more nodes than needed.

Yes it does yet you can adjust the smoothness settings and get a workable trace with fewer nodes.  Most use the default settings and do not scan in correctly from the get go. 

[Chadwick]

Frog,
When you have alot of compound paths 'combined' together,
the contour function seems to hit a brick wall in the math.

Break your 'text' ( graphic ) apart, which is already curves.
In this case, letters ( the graphic ) have an inside piece and an outside piece.

Likely, one of the inside pieces needs the node direction reversed, or perhaps 2 nodes overlap, or a few other things.

Finding that one element is a pita.

So, combine all the single element letters, apply the contour, and that should be good.
If not, do it individually until you find the culprit.
Then combine the 2 or 3 piece letters individually and apply the contour to each as you go.

You'll spot the troublemaker(s) quick, and with time you just know which one it will be.

If I remember, next time I run into this bs, I'll make some screenshots.


The contour function is wonderful on simple, precise, and properly created vector graphics.
I spend alot of time fixing sh*t graphics, and as such, I have other methods.

Auto-tracing is something I use everyday, but it only produces a rough draft, as it's supposed to.
Even precise inkwork needs some fixin'.

.02 for the post.
Hope something there helped.

Hey...it's finally Friday!
Cheers.
 

 * and apparently I'm buzzed cause everything I said was already mentioned...( read the full post before posting, haha )... oh well.

[Frog]

Thanks all, this thread seems to have attracted a lot of help.
As I said, I reserved this one for my 6:00 am learning time, the time that I often putz around, off the clock, and at my own pace try things out, so when the job didn't materialize, I didn't feel too cheated.
I just need a lot more practice with nodes.