How to: Flatten a Curved Path into a Line

A GraphicsPath object stores a sequence of lines and Bézier splines. You can add several types of curves (ellipses, arcs, cardinal splines) to a path, but each curve is converted to a Bézier spline before it is stored in the path. Flattening a path consists of converting each Bézier spline in the path to a sequence of straight lines. The following illustration shows a path before and after flattening.

To Flatten a Path

• call the Flatten method of a GraphicsPath object. The Flatten method receives a flatness argument that specifies the maximum distance between the flattened path and the original path.

See also

• System.Drawing.Drawing2D.GraphicsPath
• Lines, Curves, and Shapes
• Constructing and Drawing Paths