Drawing wavy, wiggly lines in QGIS?

Is there a QGIS function or plugin to draw wiggly line?

I have used Spline Tool to manually draw some waves, but it is time consuming. If possible, I would like to draw something like:

Inkscape Function Plotter ( sin(x) curve).

Answer

I propose a solution using PyQGIS. It should work both for Linestring and MultiLineString layers.

This solution is based on the creation of semicircular rings, so you need to set a value for the diameter (i.e. the step variable in the code below). The step you choose won't be the real step used because it is adjusted on the basis of the line length (but it would be really similar to the value initially set). You need to do some attempts before finding the best value for the step variable.

The code also requires a second (optional) parameter (called crv_angle), which helps for decreasing or increasing the curvature for the rings (I performed a few tests for it, so I suggest leaving 45 degrees as default angle since it would lead to real circular rings).

You only need to run this code from the Python Console:

from math import sin, cos, radians

step = 3 # choose the proper value (e.g. meters or degrees) with reference to the CRS used
crv_angle = 45 # degrees

def segment(polyline):
    for x in range(0, len(polyline) - 1):
        first_point = polyline[x]

        second_point = polyline[x +1]
        seg = QgsGeometry.fromPolyline([first_point, second_point])
        tmp_azim = first_point.azimuth(second_point)
        len_feat = seg.length()
        parts = int(len_feat/step)
        real_step = len_feat/parts # this is the real step applied

        points = []
        current = 0
        up = True


        while current < len_feat:
            if up:
                round_angle = radians(90 - (tmp_azim - crv_angle))
                up = False
            else:
                round_angle = radians(90 - (tmp_azim + crv_angle))
                up = True
            first = seg.interpolate(current)
            coord_x, coord_y = (first.asPoint().x(), first.asPoint().y())

            p1=QgsPointV2(coord_x, coord_y)
            dist_x, dist_y = ((real_step*sin(rad_crv_angle))* cos(round_angle), (real_step*sin(rad_crv_angle)) * sin(round_angle))
            p2 = QgsPointV2(coord_x + dist_x, coord_y + dist_y)
            points.extend([p1, p2])
            current += real_step

        second = seg.interpolate(current + real_step)
        p3=QgsPointV2(second.asPoint().x(), second.asPoint().y())
        points.append(p3)


        circularRing = QgsCircularStringV2()
        circularRing.setPoints(points) # set points for circular rings
        fet = QgsFeature()
        fet.setGeometry(QgsGeometry(circularRing))
        prov.addFeatures([fet])

layer = iface.activeLayer() # load the input layer as you want
crs = layer.crs().toWkt()
rad_crv_angle = radians(crv_angle)


# Create the output layer
outLayer = QgsVectorLayer('Linestring?crs='+ crs, 'wiggly_line' , 'memory')
prov = outLayer.dataProvider()
fields = layer.pendingFields()
prov.addAttributes(fields)
outLayer.updateFields()

for feat in layer.getFeatures():
    geom = feat.geometry()
    polyline = geom.asPolyline()

    segment(polyline)

# Add the layer to the Layers panel
QgsMapLayerRegistry.instance().addMapLayer(outLayer)

and it will create a new line memory layer with the expected result: