> Am 01.09.2021 um 14:06 schrieb Hans Hagen via ntg-context <ntg-context@ntg.nl>:
> 
> On 9/1/2021 12:48 PM, Henning Hraban Ramm via ntg-context wrote:
>> Hi, since Jacob started the pony mode, here’s one I’d like to ride:
>> MetaPost pens are constant, i.e. they never change over the length of a path.
>> Commercial vector graphics apps have “vector brushes”, e.g. Adobe Fresco:
>> https://helpx.adobe.com/fresco/using/vector-brushes.html
>> The page nicely shows the necessary variables.
>> In Inkscape you can combine “brush images” like
>> https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Paintbrushes-for-Inkscape/86586.html
>> with pen shapes:
>> https://logosbynick.com/custom-brushes-in-inkscape/
>> This stretches the whole shape over the path – not perfect but good enough (and the same what e.g. “my” Affinity Designer does).
>> (https://affinity.serif.com/designer/)
>> Is this possible with MetaFun, i.e. use a closed path and distort/stretch it along an open path?
>> If, how?
> you can try to 'reverse engineer the result' and see what is done by looking at the output

The Inkscape SVG just calls a path-effect "bend_path", see attachment.
If I save a “normal” SVG, the result is “flattened” into a path that looks the same but isn’t changeable any more.

> anyway, i guess it some mix of existing basics, as in
> 
> \starttext
> 
> \startMPcode
>    path p ; p :=
>        (         unitcircle xscaled (5cm randomized 5mm) yscaled (4cm randomized 3mm)) --
>        (reverse (unitcircle xscaled (5cm randomized 3mm) yscaled (4cm randomized 5mm))) -- cycle;
>    draw (p)
> %         withpattern image (fill fullcircle scaled 2mm withcolor "darkyellow" ;)
> %         withpattern image (draw figure "mill.png" ;)
>        withpattern image (draw figure "hacker.jpg" ;)
>        withpatternscale (1/40,1/80)
>    ;
> 
> \stopMPcode
> 
> \stoptext
> 
> so, fills, eofills, patterns and such

I tried to convert my “brush” into MP, but pstoedit fails on either SVG. It worked via an exported EPS though, see attachment.

I could then use the brush as a path, also with "withpattern", but that doesn’t stretch/distort the “pattern” along the path. And I don’t understand how the other fill options would do that.

Yes, I must learn more about MetaPost...

Hraban