Hi,
It’s great that OmniGraffle has the double-stroke feature, but this does not work (at least how I want it to work) when using arrowheads.
In a future update, it would be great if there was an option that the double-stroke applied to the arrow-head itself, and not just the line. Here’s an example of what I get and what I want.
Thanks!
Looking at your example to see what is missing. Are you using white (chalk) stroke color and and obsidian gap color?
It seems to be behaving properly since the white (chalk) arrow head is part of the stroke and not the gap.
Maybe using a filled arrow shape will do what you want. Below on top is shape and below is a line (similar to what you did)
I am using lines, not shapes, because I need complete curved/bezier lines with arrowheads (and not just that one example arrowhead). Using the arrow shape wouldn’t work.
And yes, I’m using white stroke and black gap.
In general, I’ve got a case where callout lines point from an object on the background to an object within a dark background, and the dark line gets lost once it hits the background.
Okay. Tried another way. I used the line on the top and duplicated it. Then did an Edit -> Obect -> Convert Line to Shape and altered the fill and stroke properties and got the bottom example.
Granted, it will be hard to move things after the conversion but it does seem to be at least close to what your seeking:
Thanks for the idea. What I’m currently doing is duplicating the line and setting the bottom version to double the weight and adjusting the size and location of the arrowhead so that it about looks correct. Your idea takes less futzing.
When I tried it, I didn’t get the extra lines at the intersection of the line and head.
Something weird came out on my conversion. I sent it to tech support to see if they an locate oddness. Might be the beta I use or operator issue!
FYI. I have been doing that for decades, ever since OG V4. Works perfectly, with any LineType. Looks great. The new features (in the newer releases) do not make it easier, or make the finished article look any better.
I do not see how ConvertLineToShape and then mucking with the shape can be better, it is more, not less, futzing.
Neither option is perfect if you need to modify the line. Assuming the line is “final”
Converting to a shape and setting the stroke on that shape is not futzing; operations are exact.
Duplicating the line, making the arrow head just the right amount smaller and then adjusting the line endpoint’s position so the inner head is perfectly aligned within the outer head, and then worst case having to adjust the position of midpoints are all inexact operations – i.e., futzing.
The downside to converting to shape is that it’s irreversible. If you’ve got to adjust the line itself, you need effectively need to start over. If you duplicated the line, you need to delete the duplicate, but you at least have the original one to adjust. So no solution is perfect.
Agreed. It works for me because (a) I am used to it, and (b) I mostly use “orthogonal” lines. It is a disaster with Bezier lines.
My previous post was an interim work-around.
Ok, I interpreted that work as falling into the category of futzing.
Agreed now.
You are right, this is a feature request. Double-stroke lines are not properly implemented.
