Guide · Path operations
Finish geometry with named, reversible commands.
Offsetting, simplification, corner treatment, and stroke conversion are the operations that turn a correct shape into a deliverable one.
Offset a path by a distance.
The offset dialog takes a single distance. A positive value grows the path outward and a negative value shrinks it inward, which is how outlines, insets, and cutting allowances are produced.
Offsetting is a geometric operation on the curves, so the result is a new path you can keep editing rather than a rendering effect that only exists on screen.
- One distance field
- Positive grows outward, negative shrinks inward
- Produces an editable path
A future comparison will show one source path with a positive and a negative offset.
Simplify when there are more nodes than the shape needs.
Simplification reduces the number of nodes while keeping the path recognizable. It is most useful after tracing-style work or after operations that leave dense node runs behind.
Because simplification trades fidelity for fewer nodes, check the result at the size the drawing will actually be used, not only at the magnification you happened to be working at.
Resolve self-intersections before delivery.
A path that crosses itself can fill in ways that surprise the viewer, and it is a common source of disagreement between renderers. Resolving self-intersections rewrites the path so its regions are unambiguous.
Run it as a finishing step on artwork that has been offset, mirrored, or built from many combined pieces, where a crossing is easy to introduce without noticing.
Round or chamfer selected corners.
Round corners takes a radius and replaces the corner with an arc. Chamfer corners takes a distance and replaces it with a straight cut. Both operate on the corners you selected, not on the whole path indiscriminately.
For an icon family, these two commands are what make a set feel consistent: one radius applied deliberately reads better than each shape being softened by hand.
- Round corners with a radius
- Chamfer corners with a distance
Convert a stroke to filled geometry.
Stroke to fill replaces a stroked path with a filled outline of the same visual shape. After the conversion, the appearance no longer depends on stroke width being interpreted the same way by the consumer.
This is the step to take when the drawing has to survive scaling, unusual transforms, or a pipeline that treats stroke width differently. The trade is that the shape can no longer be restyled by changing a width value.