Inkscape
Encyclopedia
Inkscape is a free software
vector graphics
editor, licensed under the GNU General Public License
. Its goal is to implement full support for the Scalable Vector Graphics
(SVG) 1.1 standard.
Inkscape is cross-platform
and runs on Mac OS X
(typically under X11
, although the underlying GTK+ toolkit can be compiled to run natively under Quartz
), Unix-like
operating systems, and Microsoft Windows
. Inkscape's implementation of SVG and CSS standards is incomplete. Most notably, it does not yet support animation. Inkscape has multi-lingual support, particularly for complex scripts, something currently lacking in most commercial vector graphics applications. The word Inkscape is a portmanteau of the words ink and landscape.
project. Sodipodi, developed since 1999, was itself based on Raph Levien
's Gill (Gnome
Illustration Application).
The fork was led by a team of four former Sodipodi developers (Ted Gould, Bryce Harrington, Nathan Hurst
, and MenTaLguY) who identified differences over project objectives, openness to third-party contributions, and technical disagreements as their reasons for forking. With Inkscape, they said they would focus development on implementing the complete SVG standard, whereas Sodipodi development emphasized creating a general-purpose vector graphics editor, possibly at the expense of SVG.
Since the fork, Inkscape has changed from using the C programming language
to C++
; changed to the GTK+
toolkit C++ bindings (gtkmm
); redesigned the user interface
and added a number of new features. Its implementation of the SVG standard has shown gradual improvement, but still is incomplete.
Rather than top-down governance, its developers strive to encourage an egalitarian culture where authority stems from an individual developer's abilities and active involvement in the project. As a result, the project places special emphasis on giving full access to its source code repository to all active developers, and on participation in the larger open source community (often in the form of inter-project initiatives such as the Create Project
, Libre Graphics Meeting
and spinoff projects like the Open Clip Art Library
). While the project founders are still well-represented in the decision-making process, many newcomers have also come to play prominent roles.
After Xara
announced plans to release their (Linux version only) drawing application Xara Xtreme
to open source, they expressed interest in working with Inkscape to find ways the two projects can share code, coordinate efforts, and make open source graphics superior to anything available in the proprietary world.
Since 2005, Inkscape has participated in Google
's Summer of Code
program.
Up until the end of November 2007, Inkscape's bug tracking system
was hosted on Sourceforge
. It was announced on 21 November 2007, that they would move to Launchpad
.
Additionally, there are more specialized objects:
Every object in the drawing can be subjected to arbitrary affine transformation
s—moving, rotating, scaling, skewing and a configurable matrix. Transformation parameters can be also specified numerically via the Transform dialog. Transformations can snap to angles, grids, guidelines and nodes of other objects. Grids, guides and snapping properties are defined on a per-document basis. As an alternative to snapping, an Align and Distribute dialog is provided, which can perform common alignment tasks on selected objects—e.g. line them up in a specified direction, space them equally, scatter them at random and remove overlaps between objects.
Objects can be arbitrarily grouped together. Groups of objects behave in many respects like "atomic" objects—for instance, they can be cloned or assigned a paint. Objects making up a group can be edited without having to ungroup it first, via an Enter Group command—the group can then be edited like a temporary layer. Z-order of objects can be managed either using layers, or by manually moving the object up and down in the Z stack. Layers can be locked or hidden, preventing modifying and accidental selection.
A special tool, Create Tiled Clones, is provided to create symmetrical or grid-like drawings using various plane symmetries
.
Objects can be cut, copied and pasted using a clipboard
. However, as of version 0.46, Inkscape uses an internal variable rather than the system clipboard, which limits copy and paste operations to one application instance. Objects can be copied between documents by opening them from the File menu in an already opened window, rather than by opening a second file from the operating system's shell
.
Appearance of objects can be further changed by using masks and clipping path
s, which can be created from arbitrary objects, including groups.
The style attributes are 'attached' to the source object, so after cutting/copying an object into the clipboard, the style's attributes can be pasted to another object as >Paste >Style.
paths or Spiro curves
. Path segments can be adjusted by dragging them. When multiple nodes are selected, they can be moved, scaled and rotated using keyboard shortcut or mouse controls. Additional nodes can be inserted into paths at arbitrary or even placements, and an effect can be used to insert nodes at predefined intervals. When nodes are deleted, the handles on remaining ones are adjusted to preserve the original shape as closely as possible.
Tweak tool is provided for more high-level, whole object(s) or node editing regions (parts) of an object. It can push, repel/attract, randomize positioning, shrink/enlarge, rotate, copy/delete selected whole objects. With parts of a path you can push, shrink/enlarge, repel/attract, roughen edges, blur and color. Nodes are dynamically created and deleted when needed while using this tool, so it can also be used on simple paths without pre-processing.
Other possible high-level operations on paths include offsetting or insetting a path by a fixed amount. Creating an unlinked dynamic offset of a path which can be fine tuned using the Node tool. Creating a linked offset of a path will update whenever the original is modified. Object converting another shape like a spiral or text into a path, converting the stroke of a shape to a path. Simplifying a path to contain less nodes while preserving the shape, or performing Boolean operations like union, difference, intersection or exclusion on them.
Recent releases include a feature called Live Path Effects, which can apply various modifiers to a path. Envelope Deformation is available via the Path Effects and provides a perspective effect. There are more than a dozen of these live path effects. LPE can be stacked onto a single object and have interactive live on canvas and menu based editing of the effects.
library, which allows Inkscape to support several complex scripts including Hebrew, Arabic, Thai
, Tibetan
, etc. Kerning
and letter-spacing can be adjusted on a per-glyph
basis using keyboard shortcuts. Putting text on path is also supported, and both the text and the path remain editable.
There are alternative outline and no filter viewer modes which can considerably increase responsiveness when working with complex drawings. Inkscape uses Cairo
to render in outline mode (as of version 0.46).
. This includes efforts to follow the GNOME Human interface guidelines
, universal keyboard accessibility, and convenient on-canvas editing. Inkscape has achieved significant progress in usability since the project started.
The number of floating dialog boxes has been reduced, with their functions available using keyboard shortcuts or in the docked toolbars in the editing window. The tool bar controls at the top of the window always displays the controls relevant to the current tool.
All vector transformations, scale, rotation and positioning (minus skewing) have keyboard shortcuts with consistent modifiers (e.g. Alt transforms by 1 screen pixel at the current zoom, Shift multiplies the transformation by 10, etc.); these keys work on nodes in Node tool as well as on objects in the Selector Tool. The most common operations (such as transformations, zooming, z-order) have convenient one-key shortcuts.
Inkscape provides floating tool-tips and status bar hints for all buttons, controls, commands, keys, and on-canvas handles. The hint messages are dynamic, a given object can display up to four hints while editing it with just one tool. The hints update based on two items: the tool being used, and the type of object/node/handle being edited (text, shapes, paths, node types, etc.). It comes with a complete keyboard and mouse reference (in HTML and SVG) and several interactive tutorials in SVG.
The interface of Sodipodi (Inkscape's predecessor) was based on those of CorelDRAW
and GIMP
. The Inkscape interface has been influenced by that of Xara Xtreme.
: Inkscape's native format is SVG, and it's also a format supported by AI, but the two implementations are not 100% compatible. Inkscape can also export into PS, EPS and PDF.
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
editor, licensed under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
. Its goal is to implement full support for the Scalable Vector Graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
(SVG) 1.1 standard.
Inkscape is cross-platform
Cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...
and runs on Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
(typically under X11
X11.app
XQuartz is Apple Inc.'s version of the X server, a component of the X Window System, for Mac OS X. The current version of XQuartz is a DDX included in the X.Org Server and implements support for hardware-accelerated 2D graphics , hardware OpenGL acceleration and integration with Aqua, the Mac OS...
, although the underlying GTK+ toolkit can be compiled to run natively under Quartz
Quartz (graphics layer)
Quartz specifically refers to a pair of Mac OS X technologies, each part of the Core Graphics framework: Quartz 2D and Quartz Compositor. It includes both a 2D renderer in Core Graphics and the composition engine that sends instructions to the graphics card...
), Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
operating systems, and Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. Inkscape's implementation of SVG and CSS standards is incomplete. Most notably, it does not yet support animation. Inkscape has multi-lingual support, particularly for complex scripts, something currently lacking in most commercial vector graphics applications. The word Inkscape is a portmanteau of the words ink and landscape.
History
Inkscape began in 2003 as a code fork of the SodipodiSodipodi
Sodipodi is an open source vector graphics editor, discontinued in 2004, which is the predecessor to Inkscape.-Development:Sodipodi started as a fork of Gill, a vector-graphics program written by Raph Levien. The main author is Lauris Kaplinski, and several other people have contributed to the...
project. Sodipodi, developed since 1999, was itself based on Raph Levien
Raph Levien
Raphael Levien is an influential member of the free software developer community, through his creation of the Advogato virtual community and his work with the free software branch of Ghostscript. He is currently employed by Google...
's Gill (Gnome
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
Illustration Application).
The fork was led by a team of four former Sodipodi developers (Ted Gould, Bryce Harrington, Nathan Hurst
Nathan Hurst
Nathan Hurst is an Australian programmer. He currently works as a software engineer at Google. Among the founders of the Inkscape project, he also contributes to projects such as gtkmathview, matplotlib, and the organ simulator aeolus. He maintains The Circle and libaffa, a C++ library for...
, and MenTaLguY) who identified differences over project objectives, openness to third-party contributions, and technical disagreements as their reasons for forking. With Inkscape, they said they would focus development on implementing the complete SVG standard, whereas Sodipodi development emphasized creating a general-purpose vector graphics editor, possibly at the expense of SVG.
Since the fork, Inkscape has changed from using the C programming language
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
to C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
; changed to the GTK+
GTK+
GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
toolkit C++ bindings (gtkmm
Gtkmm
gtkmm is the official C++ interface for the popular GUI library GTK+. gtkmm is free software distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License ....
); redesigned the user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
and added a number of new features. Its implementation of the SVG standard has shown gradual improvement, but still is incomplete.
Rather than top-down governance, its developers strive to encourage an egalitarian culture where authority stems from an individual developer's abilities and active involvement in the project. As a result, the project places special emphasis on giving full access to its source code repository to all active developers, and on participation in the larger open source community (often in the form of inter-project initiatives such as the Create Project
Create Project
The Create Project is a web-based community focused on communication and sharing between Free and Open Source Creative applications.Initially the project was created by FreeDesktop.org as a space for collaboration between free software creative projects, since then the project has become a full...
, Libre Graphics Meeting
Libre Graphics Meeting
The Libre Graphics Meeting is an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software used with graphics; The first Libre Graphics Meeting was held in May 2006. Communities from Inkscape, GIMP, Krita, Scribus, sK1, Blender, Open Clip Art Library, Open Font Library, and more come...
and spinoff projects like the Open Clip Art Library
Open Clip Art Library
The Open Clip Art Library project aims to create a collection of vector clip art that is free content.- History :The project started in early 2004 by Inkscape developers Jon Phillips and Bryce Harrington to collect designs of flags from all around the world, having been inspired by the efforts to...
). While the project founders are still well-represented in the decision-making process, many newcomers have also come to play prominent roles.
After Xara
Xara
Xara is a UK-based software company founded in 1981. It has developed software for a variety of computer platforms, in chronological order: The Acorn Atom, BBC Micro, Z88, Atari ST, Acorn Archimedes, Microsoft Windows and Linux. It was originally called Computer Concepts, Ltd.; the company name...
announced plans to release their (Linux version only) drawing application Xara Xtreme
Xara Xtreme
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is a 2D vector graphics editor created by the British software company Xara, which was acquired by German company MAGIX AG in 2007, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary. It was previously sold under the names Xara Studio, Xara X and Xara Xtreme...
to open source, they expressed interest in working with Inkscape to find ways the two projects can share code, coordinate efforts, and make open source graphics superior to anything available in the proprietary world.
Since 2005, Inkscape has participated in Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
's Summer of Code
Google Summer of Code
The Google Summer of Code is an annual program, first held from May to August 2005, in which Google awards stipends to hundreds of students who successfully complete a requested free or open-source software coding project during the summer...
program.
Up until the end of November 2007, Inkscape's bug tracking system
Bug tracking system
A bug tracking system is a software application that is designed to help quality assurance and programmers keep track of reported software bugs in their work. It may be regarded as a type of issue tracking system....
was hosted on Sourceforge
SourceForge
SourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
. It was announced on 21 November 2007, that they would move to Launchpad
Launchpad (website)
Launchpad is a web application and website that allow users to develop and maintain software, particularly free software. Launchpad is developed and maintained by Canonical Ltd....
.
Object creation
The basic objects in Inkscape are:- Paths—made with the Pencil tool, which allows freehand drawing of paths; the Pen tool, which allows the user to create a Bezier splineBézier splineIn the mathematical field of numerical analysis and in computer graphics, a Bézier spline is a spline curve where each polynomial of the spline is in Bézier form....
node-by-node curves and lines in the same path; the Calligraphy tool, which can be used to draw freehand calligraphic or brush-like strokes, or the Paint Bucket tool, which fills bounded areas of the image. The Calligraphy tool optionally can use pressure and tilt readings from graphic tablets. The Paint Bucket tool works optically rather than geometrically and can assist image tracing. The Spray Tool creates copies or clones of one or several items, select the item(s), then to Spray click on the canvas, move the mouse or scroll the mouse wheel. - Rectangles—created using the Rectangle tool. Corners of rectangles can be rounded.
- 3D Boxes—created using the 3D Box tool. The boxes have adjustable XYZ perspectives and configurable values for vanishing points. 3D boxes are in fact groups of paths and after ungrouping can be further modified.
- Ellipses—created using the Ellipse tool. Ellipses and Circles can be transformed into arcs (i.e.,open half circles) and segments (i.e., closed half circle).
- Stars/polygons—created using the Star and Polygon tool. Multi-pointed (3 to 1,024 points) stars with two control (base and tip) handles can be used to emulate spirographSpirographSpirograph is a geometric drawing toy that produces mathematical curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The term has also been used to describe a variety of software applications that display similar curves, and applied to the class of curves that can be produced...
s. Polygons with one control (base) handle can be used to create items based on the number of sides hexagons, pentagons, etc. - Spirals—created using the Spiral tool, have a configurable number of turns (revolutions), divergence (density/sparseness of outer turns), inner radius (roll out from center)
- Clones— Clones are child objects of an Original (parent) object(s) which can have different transformations applied than the original object. Clones can be created via Copies, the Spray tool or a Menu interface. Transformations include; size, position, rotation, blur, opacity, color and symmetry (layout). Clones are updated live whenever the original object changes.
- Text—created with the Text tool. Texts can use any of the system fonts, and can be converted to paths, Unicode characters fonts are supported. Bold, Oblique (Italic), Alignments (left, right, center, full), Superscript, Subscript, Vertical and Horizontal text are implemented. All text objects can be transformed via Line Spacing, Letter Spacing, Word Spacing, Horizontal Kerning, Vertical Shift and Character Rotation either manually or via menu settings. Text can be put along a path, flowed into a shape or spell checked. Bulleted lists, numbered lists, indentations, and underlined text are not available as of version 0.48.
- Raster/bitmapBitmapIn computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a map of bits, a spatially mapped array of bits. Now, along with pixmap, it commonly refers to...
images—Inkscape supports the export of bitmap images (via PNG formatting) of the whole drawing (all objects),the current selection, objects within the page outline and custom coordinates. Imports bitmap images, >File >Import allows the user to select either 'embedd' or 'link' the image into the file. Pasting (v0.48) images into inkscape automatically embedds images into the file. Inkscape supports importing and pasting of PNG, JPEGJPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
and BMP. (See com:Cat:SVG/raster for examples of embedded images on Wikimedia CommonsWikimedia CommonsWikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation....
). Images can also be traced (bitmap to vector) using the PotracePotracePotrace is an open-source, cross-platform computer program which converts bitmapped images into vector graphics. It is written and maintained by Peter Selinger....
>Path >Trace Bitmap... feature.
Additionally, there are more specialized objects:
- Spiro Splines (Swirls), This type of path creates very nice silky smooth curves, similar to what you see in gothic, floral, desktop and tattoo designs.
- Connector based paths, often used in Flow Charts, Diagrams or Schematics.
- There is a Render Extension that will render objects onto your file via menu settings, examples include barcodes, calendars, grids, gears, spirographs, spheres and more.
Object manipulation
Affine transformation
In geometry, an affine transformation or affine map or an affinity is a transformation which preserves straight lines. It is the most general class of transformations with this property...
s—moving, rotating, scaling, skewing and a configurable matrix. Transformation parameters can be also specified numerically via the Transform dialog. Transformations can snap to angles, grids, guidelines and nodes of other objects. Grids, guides and snapping properties are defined on a per-document basis. As an alternative to snapping, an Align and Distribute dialog is provided, which can perform common alignment tasks on selected objects—e.g. line them up in a specified direction, space them equally, scatter them at random and remove overlaps between objects.
Objects can be arbitrarily grouped together. Groups of objects behave in many respects like "atomic" objects—for instance, they can be cloned or assigned a paint. Objects making up a group can be edited without having to ungroup it first, via an Enter Group command—the group can then be edited like a temporary layer. Z-order of objects can be managed either using layers, or by manually moving the object up and down in the Z stack. Layers can be locked or hidden, preventing modifying and accidental selection.
A special tool, Create Tiled Clones, is provided to create symmetrical or grid-like drawings using various plane symmetries
Wallpaper group
A wallpaper group is a mathematical classification of a two-dimensional repetitive pattern, based on the symmetries in the pattern. Such patterns occur frequently in architecture and decorative art...
.
Objects can be cut, copied and pasted using a clipboard
Clipboard (software)
The clipboard is a software facility that can be used for short-term data storage and/or data transfer between documents or applications, via copy and paste operations...
. However, as of version 0.46, Inkscape uses an internal variable rather than the system clipboard, which limits copy and paste operations to one application instance. Objects can be copied between documents by opening them from the File menu in an already opened window, rather than by opening a second file from the operating system's shell
Shell (computing)
A shell is a piece of software that provides an interface for users of an operating system which provides access to the services of a kernel. However, the term is also applied very loosely to applications and may include any software that is "built around" a particular component, such as web...
.
Styling objects
Each object in Inkscape has several attributes which determine its style. All of the attributes can generally be set for any object:- Fill—can be a solid color, a linear or radial gradient, a pattern, custom swatch, inherited from a parent object. The color selector has RGBA, HSL, Wheel and CMYK color options available, but all selected colors are currently converted to RGBA. Gradients can have multiple stops, radial supports optional direct or reflected gradients. All colors can have an alpha valueAlpha compositingIn computer graphics, alpha compositing is the process of combining an image with a background to create the appearance of partial or full transparency. It is often useful to render image elements in separate passes, and then combine the resulting multiple 2D images into a single, final image in a...
specified. Patterns can be constructed from any collection of objects, or one of the several supplied stock patterns can be used. - Stroke fill—can have the same values as fill, but is applied to the object's stroke.
- Stroke style—can vary in width, join styles of miter (configurable limit), rounded or bevel, cap styles of offset, round or full. Dashed strokes with configurable offsets are supported. Start, mid and end markers, of various types (arrows, dots, diamonds, etc...) are supported.
- OpacityOpacity (optics)Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shielding material, glass, etc...
—specifies alpha value for all fill colors. Each object has a distinct opacity value, which e.g. can be used to make groups transparent. - Filters—there is an easy-to-use slider for Gaussian blurGaussian blurA Gaussian blur is the result of blurring an image by a Gaussian function. It is a widely used effect in graphics software, typically to reduce image noise and reduce detail...
for each object. Categorized filter stacks using the SVG filtersSVG filter effectsSVG filter effects are effects applied to Scalable Vector Graphics files. SVG is an open-standard XML format for two-dimensional vector graphics as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium...
can be constructed using the Filters dialog.
Appearance of objects can be further changed by using masks and clipping path
Clipping path
A clipping path is a closed vector path, or shape, used to cut out a 2D image in image editing software. Anything inside the path will be included after the clipping path is applied; anything outside the path will be omitted from the output...
s, which can be created from arbitrary objects, including groups.
The style attributes are 'attached' to the source object, so after cutting/copying an object into the clipboard, the style's attributes can be pasted to another object as >Paste >Style.
Operations on paths
Inkscape has a comprehensive tool set to edit paths, as they are the basic element of a vector file. The Node tool allows editing single or multiple paths on single or multiple node levels by editing the position of nodes and control points of BezierBézier curve
A Bézier curve is a parametric curve frequently used in computer graphics and related fields. Generalizations of Bézier curves to higher dimensions are called Bézier surfaces, of which the Bézier triangle is a special case....
paths or Spiro curves
Euler spiral
An Euler spiral is a curve whose curvature changes linearly with its curve length . Euler spirals are also commonly referred to as spiros, clothoids or Cornu spirals....
. Path segments can be adjusted by dragging them. When multiple nodes are selected, they can be moved, scaled and rotated using keyboard shortcut or mouse controls. Additional nodes can be inserted into paths at arbitrary or even placements, and an effect can be used to insert nodes at predefined intervals. When nodes are deleted, the handles on remaining ones are adjusted to preserve the original shape as closely as possible.
Tweak tool is provided for more high-level, whole object(s) or node editing regions (parts) of an object. It can push, repel/attract, randomize positioning, shrink/enlarge, rotate, copy/delete selected whole objects. With parts of a path you can push, shrink/enlarge, repel/attract, roughen edges, blur and color. Nodes are dynamically created and deleted when needed while using this tool, so it can also be used on simple paths without pre-processing.
Other possible high-level operations on paths include offsetting or insetting a path by a fixed amount. Creating an unlinked dynamic offset of a path which can be fine tuned using the Node tool. Creating a linked offset of a path will update whenever the original is modified. Object converting another shape like a spiral or text into a path, converting the stroke of a shape to a path. Simplifying a path to contain less nodes while preserving the shape, or performing Boolean operations like union, difference, intersection or exclusion on them.
Recent releases include a feature called Live Path Effects, which can apply various modifiers to a path. Envelope Deformation is available via the Path Effects and provides a perspective effect. There are more than a dozen of these live path effects. LPE can be stacked onto a single object and have interactive live on canvas and menu based editing of the effects.
Text support
Inkscape supports text editing for both regular multi-line text (SVG's <text> element) and flowed text (the non-standard <flowRoot> element, formerly proposed for SVG 1.2). As of version 0.47, flowed text is not rendered by other applications, due to a lack of an appropriate parallel <switch> structure in the SVG document. The SVG 1.2 Tiny <textArea> element is not supported. All text is directly editable on canvas. Text rendering is based on the PangoPango
Pango is an LGPL licensed open source computing library used by software developers for laying out and rendering text in high quality, emphasising support for multilingual text...
library, which allows Inkscape to support several complex scripts including Hebrew, Arabic, Thai
Thai alphabet
Thai script , is used to write the Thai language and other, minority, languages in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants , fifteen vowel symbols that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks ....
, Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
, etc. Kerning
Kerning
In typography, kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. Kerning is the adjustment of the space between individual letter forms vs. tracking which is the uniform adjustment of spacing applied over a...
and letter-spacing can be adjusted on a per-glyph
Glyph
A glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....
basis using keyboard shortcuts. Putting text on path is also supported, and both the text and the path remain editable.
Rendering
Unlike many other GTK+ applications, Inkscape uses its own rendering library to create graphics, called libnr. libnr can render images at up to 256x zoom with anti-aliasing, and update graphics during transformations.There are alternative outline and no filter viewer modes which can considerably increase responsiveness when working with complex drawings. Inkscape uses Cairo
Cairo (graphics)
cairo is a software library used to provide a vector graphics-based, device-independent API for software developers. It is designed to provide primitives for 2-dimensional drawing across a number of different backends...
to render in outline mode (as of version 0.46).
Miscellaneous
- XML GUI Tree Editor, user-friendly menu provides an easy to use direct manipulation of the SVG XML structure.
- Editing of RDFResource Description FrameworkThe Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
(Resource Description Framework) a W3C metadata information model - Command-line interface, exposes format conversion functions and full-featured GUI scripting.
- More than forty interface languages.
- Extensible to new file formats, effects and other features.
- Mathematical diagramming, with various uses of LaTeXLaTeXLaTeX is a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The term LaTeX refers only to the language in which documents are written, not to the editor used to write those documents. In order to...
. - Experimental support for scripting.
Interface and usability
One of the main priorities of the Inkscape project is interface consistency and usabilityUsability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
. This includes efforts to follow the GNOME Human interface guidelines
Human Interface Guidelines
Human interface guidelines are software development documents which offer application developers a set of recommendations. Their aim is to improve the experience for the users by making application interfaces more intuitive, learnable, and consistent. Most guides limit themselves to defining a...
, universal keyboard accessibility, and convenient on-canvas editing. Inkscape has achieved significant progress in usability since the project started.
The number of floating dialog boxes has been reduced, with their functions available using keyboard shortcuts or in the docked toolbars in the editing window. The tool bar controls at the top of the window always displays the controls relevant to the current tool.
All vector transformations, scale, rotation and positioning (minus skewing) have keyboard shortcuts with consistent modifiers (e.g. Alt transforms by 1 screen pixel at the current zoom, Shift multiplies the transformation by 10, etc.); these keys work on nodes in Node tool as well as on objects in the Selector Tool. The most common operations (such as transformations, zooming, z-order) have convenient one-key shortcuts.
Inkscape provides floating tool-tips and status bar hints for all buttons, controls, commands, keys, and on-canvas handles. The hint messages are dynamic, a given object can display up to four hints while editing it with just one tool. The hints update based on two items: the tool being used, and the type of object/node/handle being edited (text, shapes, paths, node types, etc.). It comes with a complete keyboard and mouse reference (in HTML and SVG) and several interactive tutorials in SVG.
The interface of Sodipodi (Inkscape's predecessor) was based on those of CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is also the name of Corel's Graphics Suite...
and GIMP
GIMP
GIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...
. The Inkscape interface has been influenced by that of Xara Xtreme.
Compatibility
With Adobe IllustratorAdobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
: Inkscape's native format is SVG, and it's also a format supported by AI, but the two implementations are not 100% compatible. Inkscape can also export into PS, EPS and PDF.
Version history
- Version 0.48.2 (September 6, 2011) was a bugfix release.
- Version 0.48.1 (March 2, 2011) was a bugfix release.
- Version 0.48 (August 23, 2010) The highlights of this release are: multipath node editing, improved text tool: subscript, superscript, numerical and preset inputs for text kerning, tracking and more text enhancements, new Airbrush (Spray) tool, LaTeX export with PDF/PS/EPSEncapsulated PostScriptEncapsulated PostScript, or EPS, is a DSC-conforming PostScript document with additional restrictions which is intended to be usable as a graphics file format...
, JessyInk extension for creating presentations viewable in SVG-enabled web browsers - Version 0.47 (November 24, 2009) added an eraser tool (can slice paths), timed autosave, spiro splines interface for paths, auto-smooth nodes for paths, spellchecker for the text tool, new path effects like "sketch" and "hatches", new Python extensions like "alphabet soup" and "convert to BrailleBrailleThe Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
", some basic support for SVG fontsWeb typographyWeb typography refers to the use of fonts on the World Wide Web. When HTML was first created, font faces and styles were controlled exclusively by the settings of each Web browser. There was no mechanism for individual Web pages to control font display until Netscape introduced the tag in 1995,...
, improved PostScript support, and other minor modifications. - Version 0.46 (March 24, 2008) added new docks based user interface, Paint Bucket, Tweak and 3D Box tools, Live Path Effects, support for most SVG filters, the ability to open PDF files, and OpenType/PostScript and Type1 font support fixed.
- Version 0.45.1 (March 23, 2007) was a bugfix release.
- Version 0.45 (February 5, 2007) has support for Gaussian blur, pattern along path, new Undo History dialog, improved bitmap tracing using Simple Interactive Object ExtractionSimple Interactive Object ExtractionSimple interactive object extraction is an algorithm for extracting foreground objects from color images and videos with very little user interaction. It has been implemented as "foreground selection" tool in the GIMP , as part of the tracer tool in Inkscape , and as function in ImageJ and Fiji...
, a set of color effects, and many other minor modifications to existing features. - Version 0.44.1 was a bugfix release.
- Version 0.44 (June 24, 2006) added a Layers dialog, support for clipping and masking, improved PDF export with transparency, and performance improvements.
- Version 0.43 (November 19, 2005) added Connector tool, collaborative editingCollaborative editingCollaborative editing is the practice of groups producing works together through individual contributions. Effective choices in group awareness, participation, and coordination are critical to successful collaborative writing outcomes. Most usually it is applied to textual documents or...
, tablet pressure/angle sensitivity, and Node tool enhancements. - Version 0.42 (July 26, 2005) added flowed text support, styling text spans, enhanced effects support, and the new gradient tool.
- Version 0.41 (February 10, 2005) added the clone tiler tool and color tracing, plus many bugfixes.
- Version 0.40 added support for layers, bitmap tracing, and text on path.
- Version 0.39 was the first release to use the Pango library, bringing better support for more languages, as well as support for markers, clones, and pattern fills.
- Version 0.38 was a bug fix release, but it also featured text kerning and letterspacing, multistage gradients, and many usability enhancements.
- Version 0.37 saw the addition of boolean path operations and path inset/outset.
- Version 0.36 was the first release with the reorganized UI using a menu bar and docked context-sensitive toolbars in the document window.
- Version 0.35 (November 2, 2003) was the first release of Inkscape, very similar to Sodipodi version 0.32.
See also
- Comparison of vector graphics editorsComparison of vector graphics editorsA number of vector graphics editors for various platforms exist. Potential users of these editors will make a decision based on factors such as the availability for the user's platform, the feature set, usability of the user interface and the focus of the program. Some programs are more suitable...
- Create ProjectCreate ProjectThe Create Project is a web-based community focused on communication and sharing between Free and Open Source Creative applications.Initially the project was created by FreeDesktop.org as a space for collaboration between free software creative projects, since then the project has become a full...
- Libre Graphics MeetingLibre Graphics MeetingThe Libre Graphics Meeting is an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software used with graphics; The first Libre Graphics Meeting was held in May 2006. Communities from Inkscape, GIMP, Krita, Scribus, sK1, Blender, Open Clip Art Library, Open Font Library, and more come...
- List of vector graphics editors
- Open Clip Art LibraryOpen Clip Art LibraryThe Open Clip Art Library project aims to create a collection of vector clip art that is free content.- History :The project started in early 2004 by Inkscape developers Jon Phillips and Bryce Harrington to collect designs of flags from all around the world, having been inspired by the efforts to...
- Open Font LibraryOpen Font LibraryThe Open Font Library is a project devoted to hosting, and encouraging the creation of fonts released under Free Licenses. It is a sister project to the Open Clip Art Library and has hosted over one hundred fonts...
- sK1SK1 (program)sK1 is an open-source illustration program for the Linux platform that can be used as a substitute for professional proprietary software like CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator...
- SkencilSkencilSkencil, formerly called Sketch, is a free software vector graphics editor, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License. Its first public version, Sketch 0.5.0, was released on October 31, 1998....
- SodipodiSodipodiSodipodi is an open source vector graphics editor, discontinued in 2004, which is the predecessor to Inkscape.-Development:Sodipodi started as a fork of Gill, a vector-graphics program written by Raph Levien. The main author is Lauris Kaplinski, and several other people have contributed to the...
- Xara XtremeXara XtremeXara Photo & Graphic Designer is a 2D vector graphics editor created by the British software company Xara, which was acquired by German company MAGIX AG in 2007, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary. It was previously sold under the names Xara Studio, Xara X and Xara Xtreme...
External links
- Inkscape official website.
- Inkscape review: It's all in the UI
- Inkscape on fossfor.us
- FLOSS WeeklyFLOSS WeeklyFLOSS Weekly is a free software / open source themed podcast from the TWiT Network. The show premiered on April 7, 2006, and features prominent guests from the free software/open source community. It was originally hosted by Leo Laporte; his cohost for the first seventeen episodes was Chris DiBona...
– 76: Inkscape – Podcast with Jon A. Cruz, core developer and board member, and Ted Gould, one of the founding developers of the Inkscape project.