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I have opened an image with LibreOffice Draw. I would like to draw a free line on that image, that is to push the mouse button, drag the mouse around, and have the computer track my movements and draw a curve on the image accordingly, until I release the button. Everywhere I search I see "use the curve tool" (or specifically its "freeform line" sub-tool), but the curve tool smoothes my curve, so that I end up with something quite different to what I actually draw. It makes it quite difficult to draw letter shapes, for example.

Is there a way to have Draw just draw what I draw, without any smoothing or other effects?

2 Answers 2

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Using the Freeform Line tool sound like the best tool in Libreoffice for what you want to do, whilst the Curve tool may be more precise but slower to use. If you want to edit the curve after adding it, use the Edit points tool.

You may want to use a program designed more for this called Inkscape, which has more tools available. You can then use the resulting SVG file and edit it within Draw, or insert a exported image (e.g. PNG) version.

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    As I explained in the original question (now edited to be clearer on that), the "freeform" line tool isn't really freeform. It smoothes my curve, changing it considerably (when dealing with complicated curves on a small area, such as letters). In addition, all the control squares that appear when I finish drawing make it impossible to start another curve unless I click somewhere else first - which unchooses the curve tool forcing me to click it again. All in all an extremely inconvenient experience.
    – Tom
    Apr 7, 2015 at 23:58
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    @Tom thats why I suggested Inkscape, which then exports a SVG file which draw can easily import. Draw is not the best of drawing programs, but it is more useful from the point of view of laying out text and documents
    – Wilf
    Apr 8, 2015 at 1:03
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    Thanks @Wilf, so basically the answer is it can't be done in Draw?
    – Tom
    Apr 8, 2015 at 11:56
  • You can use the Curve tool or edit the line to refine it, but at that point it may be easier to use Inkscape. If you don;t want to edit the lines and want them permanently pixelated (so a raster image) you can use GIMP or similar.
    – Wilf
    Dec 2, 2018 at 11:13
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    The secret here is to not try to do an entire signature. Just aim to do the first letter of your first and last times in a cursive like manner. Took me about 20 tries but I managed to get something that resembled a signature when all was said and done. Definitely didn't look anything like my written signature but it looked close enough to those signatures you scribble in lazily at the grocery store and other places. Aug 20, 2019 at 18:38
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The quickest solution I found was thanks to anon58192932's comment here below. I'm quoting it here and making it an 'answer' since it is just that.

anon58192932 wrote:

"The secret here is to not try to do an entire signature. Just aim to do the first letter of your first and last times in a cursive like manner. Took me about 20 tries but I managed to get something that resembled a signature when all was said and done. Definitely didn't look anything like my written signature but it looked close enough to those signatures you scribble in lazily at the grocery store and other places."

It was even easier for me, I managed to make something resembling a handwritten signature in only 3 or 4 tries, using the first letters of my first name and middle name, then wrote out my last name and copied and pasted the handwriting of the last name onto the next signature line on the form so that it wouldn't look too different from the first signature line.

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