Bob the Sign Guy wrote:

 

Emil, the solution is not so simple. While computers are very precise at doing certain things, they're incredibly dumb when it comes to subjective decision making.

Yes, of course,  that's why I suggested a feature tool that works with user defined input. My suggestions are based on my experience with using bends. When a blend doesn't work as expected adding points on a proper places of the paths gives the desired result, I don't see how creating a brand new path can make a difference. The tool I suggested can make the segments as short as necessary to define the desired result. The open path needed and etc, that you are concerned with should happen behind the scenes and in the front end it should remain as one path, similar to the Width tool which behind the scene is creating a filled path identical to the path when expanded, but in the front end it is just one stroke. I'm not suggesting some magical decision maker tool, what I'm suggesting is automation of all the tedious work you are doing that doesn't require decision making like disassembling of the paths into pieces and then assembling it together. The decision making is defining the segments and points needed which you still have to do but with less effort.

emil emil wrote:

 

I don't see how creating a brand new path can make a difference. The tool I suggested can make the segments as short as necessary to define the desired result. The open path needed and etc, that you are concerned with should happen behind the scenes and in the front end it should remain as one path, similar to the Width tool which behind the scene is creating a filled path identical to the path when expanded, but in the front end it is just one stroke. I'm not suggesting some magical decision maker tool, what I'm suggesting is automation of all the tedious work you are doing that doesn't require decision making like disassembling of the paths into pieces and then assembling it together.

The problem is it is impossible to perform the blends I did without both breaking apart the path into individual segments and creating some new parts that were not originally part of the letter.

Notice the curved black path segments. I had to create these new paths as a blend source target in order to make the lines inside the letters follow the curve more naturally. The new black paths extend the natural curve of the outer loops well into territory consumed by the join in the original letter form. Computer filters up to this point have never been able to do this because some subjective human choices are involved in making those new path segments. The "B" was particularly complicated because I had to create the center line first and then create 3 step blends between it and the inner and outer loop segments to get all 7 lines established.

If a computer filter, even one that involves human input, could do this sort of thing without breaking apart the letter form I would be really amazed.