I think I'm confused about "Copy Along Path"

[Hank (Hank Morgan)]

I’d never used the Copy Along Path tool, so I thought I’d mess with it for a minute.
I didn’t get what I expected…

Using LightBurns shape tools, I drew a circle, a rectangle, and a polygon. I converted each shape to a path. Then I created a small circle, stuck it on the large circle and requested 12 copies. Yup, works great.
So I did the same for the rectangle and the polygon and also requested 12 copies. I did NOT get what I was expecting…

Screenshot attached. The red arrows point to the original circle that I wanted copied.
Is this normal behavior?

Linux Mint 19.3
LightBurn 0.9.19

[rojhan (Rick)]

I haven’t played with it that much, but Copy Along Path somehow takes the relative location of the copied object and the destination path.

In your example, the source circle is offset to the left of the square, and the copy along path is affected by the offset. It works on the original circle because it’s essentially zero offset.

How to Use "Copy Along Path"

‘Copy Along Path’ allows you to select an object (circle) and a path, then specify to number of copies or the distance between each copy to be duplicated along that selected path object. [image] [image]

[Hank (Hank Morgan)]

Hmm. Well, that was an interesting thought so I started a new file and drew just the square and tried it.
Got the exact same weird result.

[Stroonzo (Jeff)]

You need to identify the starting point of the object to copy along and paste your object to copy near or on it. (I think).

Applying shapes to path

It’s worth noting that Copy Along Path uses the first node in the path as the starting point for the copies, and the difference between that first point and the shape you’re duplicating is maintained. For example, if I create this shape by node-editing a circle, then try to copy a smaller circle around it, the results look weird: [image] [image] But here’s why: If I node-edit the path, I can see the first node highlighted in green: [image] Drawing a line from the circle to the starting p…

[Hank (Hank Morgan)]

Sigh.
Thanks Jeff, the starting point was the problem.
And the sad part is that apparently I already knew that months ago because I posted in the thread that you linked! What a joy it is to get old and senile…

Thanks!

[Stroonzo (Jeff)]

Don’t feel old and senile (unless we both are). I was making an ornament design last week where I was creating a ring of circles on a path, and I ran into the same issue. I searched the forum and found a thread that I posted in (and was reminded of the starting point).

Placing items equidistant on an arc

How do I create 6 of the rectangles and place them equidistant on the arc with each being perpendicular to the arc. Like the red lines I drew manually. Start with this [image] I end up with this [image] I thought the array would follow the path of the arc. I know it works with circles.