The shape methods

Table of Contents

About the shape methods

Shape methods

About the shape methods

The shape methods listed below are defined in the RVG, RVG::ClipPath, RVG::Group, and RVG::Pattern classes. You can chain the styles method and the transform methods to the shape methods.

shape

circle

obj.circle(radius, cx=0, cy=0) -> aCircle

Description

Adds a circle to the target object. The arc of a circle begins at the "3 o'clock" point on the radius and progresses towards the "9 o'clock" point. The starting point and direction of the arc are affected by the user space transform in the same manner as the geometry of the object.

Arguments
radius
The radius of the circle
cx, cy
The center of the circle
Example

circle example

ellipse

obj.ellipse(rx, ry, cx=0, cy=0) -> anEllipse

Description

Adds an ellipse to the target object. The arc of an ellipse begins at the "3 o'clock" point on the radius and progresses towards the "9 o'clock" point. The starting point and direction of the arc are affected by the user space transform in the same manner as the geometry of the object.

Arguments
rx, ry
The x- and y-radii of the ellipse
cx, cy
The center of the ellipse
Example

ellipse example

line

obj.line(x1=0, y1=0, x2=0, y2=0) -> aLine

Description

Adds a line to the target object. Lines are never filled.

Arguments
x1, y1
The starting point of the line
x2, y2
The ending point of the line
Example

line example

path

obj.path(path_data) -> aPath

Description

Adds a path to the target object.

Arguments

A path string. The path string has the same syntax as the d= attribute on SVG's path element. See the SVG standard for a complete description of the syntax.

Examples

moveto, lineto, and closepath commandstriangle example

simple uses of cubic Bézier commands within a pathcubic Bezier commands example

cubic Bézier commands change their shape according to the position of the control pointscubic Bezier commands example

simple uses of quadratic Bézier commands within a path quadratic Bezier commands example

simple uses of arc commands within a patharc commands example

Elliptical arcs: The following illustrates the four combinations of large-arc-flag and sweep-flag and the four different arcs that will be drawn based on the values of these flags. elliptical arc example

polygon

obj.polygon(x1, y1, x2, y2...) -> aPolygon
obj.polygon(array) -> aPolygon
obj.polygon(array1, array2) -> aPolygon

Description

Adds a closed shape consisting of a series of connected line segments to the target object.

Arguments

The arguments to polygon and polyline can be

  1. At least 4 numbers that describe the [x, y] coordinates of the points of the polygon/polyline.
  2. One array containing at least 4 numbers.
  3. Two arrays. The first array is a list of x-coordinates. The second array is a list of y-coordinates. Both arrays must have at least one element. If one array is shorter than the other, the shorter array is extended by duplicating its elements as necessary. The combined arrays must describe at least 2 pairs of [x,y] coordinates. For example
        x = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
        y = [2,4]
        canvas.polygon(x, y)
        # is equivalent to canvas.polygon(1,2, 3,4, 5,2, 7,4, 9,2)
    

It is an error to specify an odd number of coordinates. Array arguments can be any objects that can be converted to arrays by the Kernel#Array method.

Example

polygon example

polyline

obj.polyline(x1, y1, x2, y2...) -> aPolyline
obj.polyline(array) -> aPolyline
obj.polyline(array1, array2) -> aPolyline

Description

Adds a set of connected lines segments to the target object. Typically a polyline defines an open shape.

Arguments

See polygon

Example

polyline example

rect

obj.rect(width, height, x=0, y=0) -> aRect

Description

Adds a rectangle to the target object.

Arguments
width, height
The width and height of the rectangle
x, y
The x- and y-axis coordinates of the upper-left corner
Example

rect example

Rounded rectangles

You can define a rounded rectangle by chaining the round method to rect:

obj.rect(width, height, x=0, y=0).round(rx[, ry])

The round method accepts two arguments.

rx
The x-axis radius of the ellipse used to round off the corners of the rectangle
ry
The y-axis radius of the ellipse used to round off the corners of the rectangle

If the second argument is omitted it defaults to the value of the first argument.

Example

rect example