[Ipe-discuss] ipe features

[Dmitriy Morozov]

> I had to draw a simpler, but essentially the same figure before.  I
> think "the IPE way"(TM) to do this would be use snapping to
> intersections, cut each of the circles at their intersection points,
> then select the parts of the circles that form the boundary of the
> "union" of the circles and join them into one path.

What do you mean by cut? I can see how you could first draw the
circles, and then trace out only their outside boundaries (if snapping
to intersections of circles worked), and then join a bunch of arcs
into one path, but I don't quite understand how you cut the circles. I
agree that this is a possible solution (although probably more
labor-intensive --- drawing two sets of circles and then copy and
pasting them is really simple). The Inkscape solution of unions is
also intriguing, and having various boolean operations would be a neat
feature. I also agree that snapping to all intersections (circles,
splines, etc) would be a very useful thing to have. However, I don't
think that this invalidates the need for more flexible depth model. A
lot of things become cleaner and simpler to execute by exploiting the
varying depths of different objects; you can call it the "the
vector-graphics way". So I think options for more precise manipulation
of depths are needed.