GIMP - Interesting roads between cities

[Torq]

I have been trying to work out an effective way (using the GIMP) to draw interesting and stylised roads between major towns. For exmaple I want a red line with a very thin black border at its edges. I also need an alternating white and red dashed path with a similar border.

If there are any GIMP wizards out there who know how to achieve this please let me know.

Torq

[HandsomeRob]

I don't know the GIMP, but in Illustrator this is best done by having a black line, for the road casing, at say 1.2 pts, and then copying it and pasting above on a new layer, coloring it red, and making it 0.6 pts. This would give you a red road with a black casing.

For a red-white dash with a black casing, simply copy your red line and paste it above on a new layer, and set it to white and dash it.

-Rob

[Torq]

Thanks HR I'll give it a try.

Torq

[Istarlome]

use the path tool to creat a path. then edit>stroke path. you will get options as to width and style (dashed lines etc.)

to outline the road. select it using the fuzzy select tool. create a new layer. grow selection by one then fill with the desired color. move the layer down and you will have the road outlined with the new color.

the key is to use lots of layers, you can always merge them down when they look right.

[Torq]

Thanks to you both for the suggestions. I'm getting the effect that I was hoping for. I do have another question about paths in GIMP though. How to I get nice smooth curves to my roads. Whenever I use the path tool it creates fairly sharp angles. What have I missed?

Torq

[torstan]

Have you got ythe polygon button checked in the create path dialogue?

If so, uncheck it. Now after designing the path you want, change the tool from Design to Edit (there are three radio buttons for the path tool in your toolbox). Now go to the point you want to smooth out, click and drag. This pulls out a handle, which controls the curvature of the path in one direction. Move this until you get a smooth enough curve. Then click and drag the point again in the other direction. This should pull out a second handle to smoth the corner in the other direction. It's a bit fidly to start with but it gets easier with a little practice.