: Outlining a group of movable objects in Inkscape So I have a group of completely arbitrary objects in Inkscape that I want an outline around. Not around each individual object, but around the
So I have a group of completely arbitrary objects in Inkscape that I want an outline around.
Not around each individual object, but around the group as a whole.
So I convert to paths, do a Union, and set my Stroke. Success!
....Except I forgot to mention that I want the component objects to be autonomously movable for the sake of reuse and animation.
The process I just detailed leaves everything as one consolidated image, defeating the reuse purpose.
Now, I obviously can't set a stroke on the group itself. That just sets the stroke on the components. But wait! Inkscape has cloning, right? So if I clone and Union the clones....
Oh.
Now, I suppose I could just eternally destroy my work and do it all over again. That is always an option. A horrible, horrible, option, but an option. All the possible workarounds I've seen or come up with myself in a day of searching fail at the point of remaining linked to the original, and some also eliminate the path that lets me do fun things like Path Effects. I do like playing with line width, but I suppose I could get over its loss if that's the only way to save time.
Are there any tricks I'm overlooking to be able to link an outline to a dynamic group of shapes?
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A lightweight workaround: Have 2 copies of the shapes in different layers.
add a new top layer
select all shapes
duplicate your shapes
remove the strokes
move the selection to the layer above
In the upper layer the shapes have only the fills, but no strokes. In the lower layer the shapes have both. A little practicing makes it easy to select simultaneously the same limb in both layers (Alt +Shift +2 clicks)
Toggle the selection mode between resize and rotate as usually with a click.
ADDENDUM: You cannot group the stroked and unstroked versions of the same limb because they jump to the same layer and same level in a layer.
This might suffice as a kind of workaround. This is for Inkscape 0.92.1
Group the objects you want to outline.
Click Filters > Bevels > Jigsaw piece
Open the filter editor
Set it up as follows:
Click on the Morphology Effect and set it up as follows. You can somewhat adjust the outline thickness using the radius slider.
The effect applies to the group. Each object within the group is still an independent object. Double click inside the group to enter it, and you can move rescale or edit each object.
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