Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

The "basic shapes" Heart shape in Open Office is not the basic heart shape at all but a very distorted heart that does not work for simple usage.

Does anyone know if I can download a simple heart shape from any where that I can manipulate the size as well as use to write inside of.

Can someone please fix it or create one that I can use? I wish I knew some programming!

Thanks
Shalini

DIY: Draw the basic heart shape, then (menu) Modify > Convert > To Curve

Edit > Points: ON

Now you can adjust the shape any way you like.

You can add text to the object (double-click & type), or just overlay a separate text box.

Thanks Acknak. It worked. Only that the lines did not look as smooth anymore. Wish there was some way to smoothen them after editing points. I have used autocad extensively about 14 years ago but don't have it anymore. It kind of reminded me of it.

Best

Note sure what you mean by "smooth" here. You should get a smooth shape. Once you start changing the shape, of course, it may get "lumpy" or distorted, but that's up to you.

Here's what I see with Edit > Points: ON and all the points selected:

You can adjust the exact shape by deleting/adding points or moving the points and/or the control handles.

@acknak

I have the exact same issue as the OP- the included heart shape is so highly stylized as to be in no way what it says it is - a BASIC heart shape - and as such is pretty much unusable for what I'm trying to do with it, which is frame a picture with that shape in OpenOffice Writer. I just want a basic heart shape such as the one you changed the included shape to.

I added the existing included heart shape to my document, then 'Inserted' the photo into it and I do get the photo in my document. However:

1. The shape itself is so resrticted - pinched - toward the bottom that it is unusable and needs to be tweaked; but
2. The photo cannot be sized within the shape, resulting in only a small portion of the photo actually showing; and
3. I can find no way to resize or zoom the photo in or out; and
4. When I drag the shape bigger or smaller it does display more or less of the underlying photo, but the photo is still so huge that it takes up an entire page when I get the shape big enough to show the entire photo; and
5. I can find no way to move the position of the photo or the shape relative to each other; and
6. I do not have any "Points: ON" option in the Edit submenu of Office Writer; and
7. Although I have found many suitable basic heart shapes online, I have not found a way to import any of them into OpenOffice Writer's library of shapes.

As an alternate plan, I have tried to use Paint Shop Pro to create my heart-shaped photo so I can simply import it "ready to go" into my document, but sadly, there is no heart shape available in Paint Shop Pro- the ONLY preset shape is a star!

I know this should be a relatively simple task, but my image software and OpenOffice Writer are conspiring to obfuscate, obstruct, prevent, derail, block and/or hinder me from performing this task, and the only online tutorial Google shows me is how to do it in Photoshop, which I can't afford.

Could someone please take a moment to either explain in detail how to do what I'm trying to do or just post a link to a tutorial?

Thanks in advance for any non-cryptic help.

Vyxenne wrote:... I'm trying to ... frame a picture with that shape in OpenOffice Writer. ...

Sorry you're having so much trouble.

I'm not sure I understand what you're doing/looking for. What does it mean to "frame a picture"?

I suggest that you start a new topic and explain briefly, as clearly as you can what you need to do. It's usually easiest to provide a sample that's similar to what you want.

Also, you mentioned working in OO Writer. I generally avoid this for anything more complex than a very simple shape. Better tools are available in OO Draw.

acknak wrote:

Vyxenne wrote:... I'm trying to ... frame a picture with that shape in OpenOffice Writer. ...

I'm not sure I understand what you're doing/looking for. What does it mean to "frame a picture"?

I just uploaded an explanatory one-page OO Writer document illustrating the problems, but I don't see it anywhere in the forum editor now, nor in the preview pane, and have no idea how to actually attach it to this post. Maybe you can find it.

You can use the "Upload Attachment" link (below the message entry area after you click "POST REPLY"). For tips on posting large or confidential documents, see: [Forum] How to attach a document here

Found the problem- this forum severely restricts attachment size. I did some further converting and reduced my document to an acceptable size.

This should clearly illustrate what I'm trying to do, and what is preventing me from achieving the result I want: I also opened a new thread in the Writer forum, but so far no usable help has surfaced.

Thanks.

shalinisdesk wrote:Does anyone know if I can download a simple heart shape from any where that I can manipulate the size as well as use to write inside of.

See How to use a heart shaped image to frame a picture

Thank you, John, I already found your helpful reply in the other thread.