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I would like to create a path in Inkscape, snapping some of its nodes to itself while drawing it. As an example, in the image below, I would like D, E and F to be snapped to the segment AB,BC,CD, respectively. I need to do this multiple times,so I would prefer not to subdivide segment, or use grid/handle tools. Any suggestion?Example

At this stage, the fastest way I've found is to draw the segments AB BC and CD, then duplicate and convert them to guides, then draw DE and EF snapped to the guides. However, since I want to do this iteratively, in order to obtain shapes like this Shapes it is still quite a slow procedure.

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  • Have you tried setting snapping options?
    – Cai
    Apr 14, 2016 at 8:14
  • Yes, I tried it. It is actually possible to snap a path to another one previously created, but not to itself neither building it nor later modifying it.
    – Riccardo Buscicchio
    Apr 14, 2016 at 9:58
  • Using @CAI suggestion, I can actually activate "Snap to path" option, draw some segments, then deselect them all (Esc), then continue drawing some others. By the way, the overall figure is still a superposition of many paths, not just one.
    – Riccardo Buscicchio
    Apr 15, 2016 at 9:28
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    Probably better to submit this issue as a feature request to the development team. (bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1570856)
    – Riccardo Buscicchio
    Apr 15, 2016 at 13:19
  • It is possible to snap nodes to it's own path, but only in the node tool, not in the Bezier or Freehand tool (i.e. when creating new paths). So you create the path coarsly first, without snapping, and then switch to the node tool to do the snapping
    – Diederik
    Mar 9, 2022 at 21:18

1 Answer 1

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You can actually use a clone to improve your workflow here, as the path tool will snap to a clone of the path you are editing.

so you just need to create a simple path, then clone it. then just use the path tool to extend the original path. Note that you will need to end the path drawing periodically to make the clone update, but then just extend the path again further with the path tool. Of course when you are done, just remove the clone :)

gif of inkscape snapping to path while drawing using clones

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