Merge Split Lines¶
When Harmony imports vector art it planar-splits each line — a single source line can explode into dozens of sub-layers and stroke pieces at every self-intersection. Merge split lines rejoins those pieces into one continuous, editable stroke per source line.
What it does¶
- Joins the contiguous pieces of the same source line back into a single stroke — closing the gaps the planar split opened.
- Collapses the hundreds of split sub-layers into one, so the drawing is tidy and much lighter to work with.
- Runs on Apply, once per drawing, before the thickness pass.
The join is by identity — pieces are only merged if they belong to the same source line (a parent vote), so genuine corners between different lines stay separate. A screw next to a line never gets welded to it.
The toggle¶
Merge split lines appears both in the Stroke Thickness card (per art layer, in the Inspector) and as the master toggle on the bottom bar:
- The master checkbox is a tri-state: on = every art layer merges, off = none, blue border = some layers are overridden. Clicking it sets them all.
- Each art layer can override the master in its own card, so you can merge line art but not a colour fill.
- The Preferences → Import default seeds new art layers.
Even without merge, lines look joined
The thickness pass pins shared endpoints to the same width, so split pieces already render as continuous lines. Merge goes further — it makes them a single editable stroke (fewer strokes, cleaner editing in Harmony), which also speeds up heavy art.
When to turn it off
Leave it on for normal line art. Turn it off for a specific drawing only if the rejoin looks wrong on that art, or to shave time on an extremely heavy frame — junction pinning still keeps the lines looking continuous.