Tutorial: Tips and Tricks. Home This tutorial will demonstrate various tips and tricks that users have learned through the use of Inkscape and some “hidden” features that can help you speed up production tasks. Radial placement with Tile Clones It's easy to see how to use the Tile Clones dialog for rectangular grids and patterns. But what if you need radial placement, where objects share a common center of rotation? It's possible too! If your radial pattern need only have 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12 elements, then you can try the P3, P31M, P3M1, P4, P4M, P6, or P6M symmetries. Choose the P1 symmetry (simple translation) and then compensate for that translation by going to the Shift tab and setting Per row/Shift Y and Per column/Shift X both to -100%.
To get a clock dial out of this, all you need to do is cut out or simply overlay the central part by a white circle (to do boolean operations on clones, unlink them first). More interesting effects can be created by using both rows and columns. Inkscape -i area-id -t filename.svg. Keys and mouse reference. Home This document describes the default keyboard and mouse shortcuts of Inkscape, corresponding to the share/keys/default.xml file in Inkscape distribution.
Most (but not all) of these keys are configurable by the user; see the default.xml file for details on how to do that. Unless noted otherwise, keypad keys (such as arrows, Home, End, +, -, digits) are supposed to work the same as corresponding regular keys. If you have a new shortcut idea, please contact the developers (by writing to the devel mailing list or by submitting an RFE). Tutorial: Shapes. Home This tutorial covers the four shape tools: Rectangle, Ellipse, Star, and Spiral. We will demonstrate the capabilities of Inkscape shapes and show examples of how and when they could be used. Use Ctrl+Arrows, mousewheel, or middle button drag to scroll the page down. For basics of object creation, selection, and transformation, see the Basic tutorial in Help > Tutorials. Inkscape has four versatile shape tools, each tool capable of creating and editing its own type of shapes. A shape is an object which you can modify in ways unique to this shape type, using draggable handles and numeric parameters that determine the shape's appearance.
For example, with a star you can alter the number of tips, their length, angle, rounding, etc. — but a star remains a star. The shape tools are Rectangle, Ellipse, Star, and Spiral. General tips A new shape is created by dragging on canvas with the corresponding tool. When in a shape tool, selecting an object can be done by clicking on it. Rectangles Stars. Tutorial: Tracing. Home One of the features in Inkscape is a tool for tracing a bitmap image into a <path> element for your SVG drawing. These short notes should help you become acquainted with how it works. Currently Inkscape employs the Potrace bitmap tracing engine (potrace.sourceforge.net) by Peter Selinger. In the future we expect to allow alternate tracing programs; for now, however, this fine tool is more than sufficient for our needs.
Keep in mind that the Tracer's purpose is not to reproduce an exact duplicate of the original image; nor is it intended to produce a final product. No autotracer can do that. What it does is give you a set of curves which you can use as a resource for your drawing. Potrace interprets a black and white bitmap, and produces a set of curves. Generally the more dark pixels in the intermediate bitmap, the more tracing that Potrace will perform. To use the tracer, load or import an image, select it, and select the Path > Trace Bitmap item, or Shift+Alt+B. Brightness Threshold. Planet Inkscape. Tutorial: Interpolate. Home Ryan Lerch, ryanlerch at gmail dot com This document explains how to use Inkscape's Interpolate extension Introduction Interpolate does a linear interpolation between two or more selected paths. It basically means that it “fills in the gaps” between the paths and transforms them according to the number of steps given.
To use the Interpolate effect, select the paths that you wish to transform, and choose Effects > Generate From Path > Interpolate from the menu. Before invoking the effect, the objects that you are going to transform need to be paths. Interpolation between two of the same path The simplest use of the Interpolate effect is to interpolate between two paths that are identical. For example, take the following two paths: Now, select the two paths, and run the Interpolate effect with the settings shown in the following image. Interpolation between two different paths Now, select the two paths, and run the Interpolate effect.
Interpolation Method Exponent with an exponent of 2: Tutorial: Calligraphy. Home bulia byak, buliabyak@users.sf.net and josh andler, scislac@users.sf.net One of the many great tools available in Inkscape is the Calligraphy tool. This tutorial will help you become acquainted with how that tool works, as well as demonstrate some basic techniques of the art of Calligraphy. Use Ctrl+arrows, mouse wheel, or middle button drag to scroll the page down. For basics of object creation, selection, and transformation, see the Basic tutorial in Help > Tutorials. History and Styles Going by the dictionary definition, calligraphy means “beautiful writing” or “fair or elegant penmanship”. The earliest forms of calligraphy date back to cave-man paintings. There are three main styles of calligraphy: Western or Roman Arabic Chinese or Oriental This tutorial focuses mainly on Western calligraphy, as the other two styles tend to use a brush (instead of a pen with nib), which is not how our Calligraphy tool currently functions.
Hardware Calligraphy Tool Options Width & Thinning Tremor. Tutorial: Basic. Home This tutorial demonstrates the basics of using Inkscape. This is a regular Inkscape document that you can view, edit, copy from, or save. The Basic Tutorial covers canvas navigation, managing documents, shape tool basics, selection techniques, transforming objects with selector, grouping, setting fill and stroke, alignment, and z-order. For more advanced topics, check out the other tutorials in the Help menu. Panning the canvas There are many ways to pan (scroll) the document canvas.
Zooming in or out The easiest way to zoom is by pressing - and + (or =) keys. Inkscape also keeps a history of the zoom levels you've used in this work session. Inkscape tools The vertical toolbar on the left shows Inkscape's drawing and editing tools. Many operations are available through keyboard shortcuts. Creating and managing documents To create a new empty document, use File > New or press Ctrl+N.
Inkscape uses the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format for its files. Creating shapes Transforming by keys. Tutorial: Advanced. Home bulia byak, buliabyak@users.sf.net and josh andler, scislac@users.sf.net This tutorial covers copy/paste, node editing, freehand and bezier drawing, path manipulation, booleans, offsets, simplification, and text tool. Use Ctrl+arrows, mouse wheel, or middle button drag to scroll the page down. For basics of object creation, selection, and transformation, see the Basic tutorial in Help > Tutorials. Pasting techniques After you copy some object(s) by Ctrl+C or cut by Ctrl+X, the regular Paste command (Ctrl+V) pastes the copied object(s) right under the mouse cursor or, if the cursor is outside the window, to the center of the document window.
However, the object(s) in the clipboard still remember the original place from which they were copied, and you can paste back there by Paste in Place (Ctrl+Alt+V). Another command, Paste Style (Shift+Ctrl+V), applies the style of the (first) object on the clipboard to the current selection. Drawing freehand and regular paths Editing paths XML editor. Tutorial: Elements. Home This tutorial will demonstrate the elements and principles of design which are normally taught to early art students in order to understand various properties used in art making. This is not an exhaustive list, so please add, subtract, and combine to make this tutorial more comprehensive.
Elements of Design The following elements are the building blocks of design. Line A line is defined as a mark with length and direction, created by a point that moves across a surface. Shape A flat figure, shape is created when actual or implied lines meet to surround a space. Size This refers to variations in the proportions of objects, lines or shapes. Space Space is the empty or open area between, around, above, below, or within objects.
Color Color is the perceived character of a surface according to the wavelength of light reflected from it. Texture Texture is the way a surface feels (actual texture) or how it may look (implied texture). Value Value is how dark or how light something looks. Balance. Draw Freely.