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I want to draw a very simple, but unrotated star, exactly like this.

'unrotated star'

But I can't get it rotated exactly like the image. Even using Ctrl while drawing (with the default angle of 15°) doesn't help. I have been using Inkscape for more than a year, and I do a lot of work using it, but I can't find a simple solution to this simple problem!

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  • I don't know about Inkscape, but you may be interested by drawing a "perfect/regular pentagone". There is a technique with a compass and a ruler in a "maths way" that may be replicated in Inkscape.
    – Larme
    Commented May 27, 2016 at 10:01
  • Thanks for your comment, Larme. Inkscape has a star tool that can draw every kind of a star easily. The problem is that I can't adjust its rotation properly to make it exactly like the image.
    – Noureddin
    Commented May 27, 2016 at 10:14
  • maybe something in this thread would help you?
    – Luciano
    Commented May 27, 2016 at 12:08
  • Object > Transform > Rotate goinkscape.com/3-ways-to-rotate-in-inkscape ?
    – Larme
    Commented May 27, 2016 at 13:52
  • Thanks, @Luciano. Yes, it helped me! In fact it inspired me to try some ways and reach an easy way. I'll post it as an answer in minutes.
    – Noureddin
    Commented May 27, 2016 at 15:42

4 Answers 4

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Easiest way: As you drag the star point while creating the star, hold control and move the mouse to the top so that the point of the star that the mouse cursor points to is oriented at the top. The top point will then lock to the correct position. Presumably it wasn't working for you because you were trying to drag the star point to one of the positions other than the top.

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    Why no one has told me this before? :D Thanks a lot!
    – Noureddin
    Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 19:45
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I found an even easier way:

  1. Turn on snap to cusp nodes and snap to object centers.
  2. Grab vertical guide.
  3. Snap star center to vertical guide.
  4. Rotate until the top node of star snaps to vertical guide.

It should be perfectly aligned now.

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    It's definitely much easier and better than my iterative way. Thanks a lot. But SubOne's answer is the long-awaited answer to the question. :)
    – Noureddin
    Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 19:50
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Inspired by @Luciano's comment and this thread, I found an easy way to adjust it. Thanks for everyone tried to help.

  1. Turn on the snap cusp nodes button.
  2. Grab a horizontal guide.
  3. Draw the star or polygon near the guide (with the lower vertices either on or below the guide, to be near enough).
  4. Press space and click on the object to show the rotating handles.
  5. Rotate each lower corner of the bounding box with shift, until the vertex is snapped to the guide. Repeat until the shape is perfectly horizontal.

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This is the easiest solution I've found... When you create your star, don't release your left mouse button right away. You will notice that as you move the mouse left and right, the star will change size, and as you move the mouse up and down, the star will rotate. Press and hold ctrl as you rotate the star around until one of the top points is pointing strait up. Release the left mouse button, and voila!

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