Separating one element of an Svg file into multiple elements with Inkscape



Separating one element of an Svg file into multiple elements with Inkscape


Question

I want to edit an svg from wikimedia commons that shows the human arteries to highlite a specific artery in a specific color. Unfortunately multiple arteries in that svg are represented by the same svg object. What's the best way for editing files like that to be able to select different subparts and color them?

2014/09/23
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9/23/2014 4:38:00 PM

Accepted Answer

In Inkscape we can break apart the path at a desired location.

  1. Ungroup all paths from the source SVG

  2. Select nodes from where we wish to break the path

    enter image description here

  3. Tick Break Path at selected nodes enter image description here

  4. Choose Path > Break apart Shift+Ctrl+K

  5. Select the now generated new object to then change it's color (or delete it, move it, etc.)

    enter image description here

In case there are no pre-existing nodes at the location we need to break we can always manually add new ones.

2014/09/23
4
9/23/2014 7:44:00 PM

In Illustrator I would Knife Tool the large artery path to isolate the part I want:

enter image description here

However in Inkscape I don't believe a Knife Tool exists. Here are instructions on doing a Knife Tool like process in Inkscape (which is the Node method Paolo mentioned in comment): http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=961

But at that point it might be easier to just open Inkscape and draw a new path on top instead of cutting the existing path.

Ryan
2014/09/23