3. Shape, Object - Terminology Clarification

Shape, Object - Terminology Clarification


  • Hello,
    @vectoradmin I have a sincere question about terminology.
    I have been reading the manual and hovering over tools and menus to invoke tooltips, and I am trying to determine if the words shape and object are used interchangeably, or do they have distinct meanings?

    For example:

    • if I hover over a shape tool (Rectangle, Ellipse, Star, etc.) the tool tip refers to these as shapes.
    • If I hover over the "Convert to Curves", the tool tip says: "Convert the select object shapes to curve shapes".
    • Hovering over each of the Boolean tools in the Context toolbar yields many tooltips with explanations using the terminologies of object and shape, but I have not been able determine the distinction between the two.
    • I have looked in the documentation for a glossary of terms, but there is not one.

    So I ask these questions NOT to be glib, or draw attention to something that is minor in comparison to critical bugs or crucial features, but to clearly understand VectorStyler.

    1. What is the definition of shape?
    2. What is the definition of object?
    3. What is the definition of path?
    4. What do you call an open spline consisting of 2 or more nodes?
    5. What do you call a closed spline?
    6. What do you call the result of two distinct closed splines that are combined into one path?
    7. What do you call one of the two distinct closed splines within that path?
    1 2 Replies

  • @Victor-Vector An object can be a shape (open or closed path, or spline as you say), a text object (different types), a bitmap image, a blend object (two or more objects and their interpolated shapes).

    'Convert to Curves' works on both shapes and text objects.

    And objects reside on layers, so 'object' ≠ .'layer'.

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  • administrators

    @Victor-Vector Let me have a bit more complicated explanation, in order of importance:

    1. Object: is the main component of a design, can be selected individually, with some of the tools, it has a set of attributes that can be modified. In order for something to be visible on the canvas, it must be an "object" (except guides, artboards). So everything is an object.

    In VS, layers are "extended objects": they are "open" for selection, by the default transform tool.
    They are also different in that their main purpose is to "contain" regular objects (but this can be edited, see below).

    And objects (or Layers) may contain other objects (as groups), but Objects cannot contain Layers!
    Also: the Layers panel differentiates between layers/objects, as it can only create "Layers".

    BTW: any attribute that can be applied to an object, can also be applied to a layer, this includes opacity, transparency, image or shape effects, adjustment effects, shape (see next). (see the similarity of "Object Options" and "Layer Options" views)

    1. Shape: the object may have a shape. Consider the "shape" as an attribute of an object, that can be changed at any time.

    When drawing with the shape tool an "object" is created that as a "shape" and a fill (or outline) content (see Appearance panel).
    Some "objects" have no "shapes", for example "groups" and "layers" are without a shape by default, they contain other objects that may (or may not) have shapes.

    Shapes can be removed (if allowed), assigned and changed on an object without changing any other attribute (fill, stroke, transparency, etc).
    For example, it is easy to assign a "shape" to an object that is a group (and has no shape by default).
    Trick: since Layers can also behave as objects, it is possible to assign a shape to a Layer, and with this clipping the layer content, but also leaving the layer "open" for selecting its content.

    1. Path: is a shape type. Other shape types are: rectangles, ellipses, polygons, etc. The type of the shape determines its form, "parameters", and how it is edited.

    2. and 5. Spline: I tried to avoid this term in the docs, a spline is basically a curve, paths consist of sequences of splines of degree 1, 2 or 3, where degree 1 is line, degree 2 is the quadratic curve with 1 control point (OTF/TTF fonts use this), and degree 3 is the regular curve with 2 controls.

    A path (or shape) can be Open or Closed, where closed means that it ends where it started and this start/end link is kept, while open means that the start/end are not linked.

    1. These are composite shapes. VS has both destructive (converted to path) composite shapes (this will be a path) and "non-destructive" composite shapes.

    2. I used the term "sub-path" in a few places for this. (internally) a path is made up by one or more sub-paths where each can be open or closed independently.

    3 1 Reply

  • @vectoradmin
    This is awesome! There is a lot to unpack here so I will save questions until I have a chance to thoroughly go through this. Thank you for taking the time to document it.
    @b77 Your explanation was a great primer to the subject. Thank you as well.

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