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 November
14, 1999
Stroke Placement Fix
How to keep a thick stroked shape's size
FreeHand has this way of drawing thick
strokes over a shape's path. You'll notice it when you draw a precisely
measured shape, then give it a 10 pt. stroke. Visually, the shape
is now larger than the original size.
I came up with a Feature Missed
(called Stroke Placement Feature) that shows how I think this
could be fixed, but until then, I've come up with this quick fix below.
Version: 7 and above
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Above is a simple rectangle. By
looking at the Object Inspector, you can see that it is
exactly 2 x 2 inches and has a corner radius of 1/8 of
an inch.
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As you can see above, when I give
this shape a Stroke width of 12 pts., it visually "bleeds"
out of the 2 x 2 inch boundaries layed out by the guides.
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Now if you watch the animation above,
you'll see how it works. FreeHand places the stroke directly over
the center of the object's path. When viewed in Keyline mode,
you'll see that the path is still over the guidelines.
I added a 12 pt. stroke to
the object, so this means that the stroke bleeds out from the
path exactly 6 pts. in each direction.
This could be very confusing if
you want to line things up in precise layouts. There is a workaround,
and it involves using the Inset Path Operation.
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Before we use the Inset Path operation
on the object, let me first explain a little formula to use in figuring
out how much you need to inset a path.
| 12 |
÷ 2 |
= |
6 |
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stroke width
(value in Points)
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Inset Path value
(value in Points)
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This is the basic formula. Depending on
what measurement system you're using, you take the stroke width
(here I'm using my 12 pt. stroke) and divide it in half. This
gives me a measurement of 6 pts. to use in the Inset Path dialog box.
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So now while the shape is still
selected, I go to the Modify menu -> Alter Path -> Inset
Path. In the dialog box shown above, I enter 1 for
the number of Steps and 6 as the Inset amount.
The value of the Inset is based
on the current document measurement system. If you have it set
to inches, make sure you're entering a value in inches.
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After you hit OK, the shape will
now shrink 6 pts. in all directions. It will now fit to the exact
2 x 2 inch space again, keeping the original 12 pt stroke width,
and even the rounded corners.
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Notice above how the path is now
inset from the guides in Keyline mode.
Be warned, however, that by doing
the Inset Path operation to certain shapes, the object will be
converted to a regular path.
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As I mentioned before, I've setup my idea
of how a Stroke Placement feature may be incorporated into FreeHand.
Look at the Features Missed page and see for yourself how it
could really make life easier for things like this. 
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