April 2007 - Inkscape Devel - Inkscape Mailman

Minimum GTK+ and GTKmm versions
by Jon A. Cruz 16 Apr '07

16 Apr '07

What are our minimum versions currently? Our requirements say gdkmm-2.4 glibmm-2.4 gtkmm-2.4 gtk+-2.0 >= 2.8.0 First I was thinking that the *mm ones should match the GTK+ requirement. Second, I was wondering when we're moving up past 2.8.x?

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] Escaping $ in commandline parameters
by Kees Cook 15 Apr '07

15 Apr '07

Ted wrote: > Kees, is there some way to validate a command line to make sure you're > not causing any security holes by calling shell variables that you don't > mean to? It seems like there should be something generic out there. Sorry, I'm way busy. From the looks of it, glib provides g_shell_quote(), which should be used in a per-argument fasion. e.g. if the extension is running: PROGRAM ARG1 ARG2 SVGPATH via something like: sprintf("%s %s %s %s", program, arg1, arg1, path); Then each element should be quoted: prog_q = g_shell_quote(program); arg1_q = g_shell_quote(arg1); arg2_q = g_shell_quote(arg2); path_q = g_shell_quote(path); sprintf("%s %s %s %s", prog_q, arg1_q, arg2_q, path_q); g_free(prog_q); g_free(arg1_q); g_free(arg2_q); g_free(path_q); However, I much more recommend using arrays for doing execution, since that forces the right arguments and stops any kind of shell expansion. -- Kees Cook @outflux.net

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] NEW: Engraver's Toolbox
by Tom Lechner 15 Apr '07

15 Apr '07

Hi, The new engraver's tool is quite neat! Now what is needed is an engraver's bucket fill by somehow defining a sort of fluid flow direction field to say which direction lines will be laid down, and perhaps then adjust line thickness and/or spacing based on color variations beneath, in order to facilitate making drawings of this (my) sort of style: http://tomlechner.com/cartoons/weakdaze/img-daze-gray0003.html http://tomlechner.com/consumption/cons12/img-messingwiththelights.html Though, I'd probably still use pens and paper since I love drawing so much. But it would make engraved animation much easier! For a really long time, I've wanted to animate something like a Durer print. Tom

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New: grid stuff
by unknown＠example.com 15 Apr '07

15 Apr '07

Hi all, Today I removed all 'old' grid code, and fully enabled the new grid stuff. >From a user perspective this means: ** a new tab in the document properties dialog, solely meant for grids; the former grid/guide tab is now solely for guides. I envision a list of guides there in the future, for easier deletion of guides etc. ** more than one grid can be active at the same time, although i am having trouble in finding a usefull case for this ** multiple views on the same document share the same grids, but the grid can be turned off for each view separately. For example: one could have an overview view without grid enabled. Duplicate that window and zoom in on some detail; then grids can be shown only for that view, and snapping will only happen in those views for which grids are enabled. (sorry i am not able to explain more clearly) ** grid information is now stored in SVG as a child of sodipodi:namedview. Can someone please make an extension that converts an old grid definition to the new format? >From developer perspective: ** implementation of new grids is much easier now; subclassing CanvasGrid and adding an entry in the is enough. Have a peek at how the rectangular grid is implemented (CanvasXYGrid). ** note that there is no longer "the grid", there might be several grids active now! Future plans (i will not be working on this soon, due to GSoC Live effects!): ** possibility of enabling not all but a selection of grids for a view. Eg. when there are 4 grids defined in the document, only enable grid2 for a certain view. ** new grids! ** better snapping mechanism to enable snapping to intersections of guides&grids and grids&grids. A side effect of removal of old gridcode: apparantly the origin of the desktop rules used to be set to the origin of the grid. I find this strange: specifying a grid origin of (2,2) would have me think the origin would be at ruler location (2,2) instead of (0,0) as it is in 0.45.1. I have commented the grid-origin correction to the ruler range, because now there is not a single grid anymore to correct it for. Isn't there a control somewhere to define the documents origin? Now the ruler origin is set to (0,0) Cheers, Johan

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NEW: Engraver's Toolbox
by bulia byak 15 Apr '07

15 Apr '07

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic halftone screens. However, line engravings have their characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape. A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on these screenshots: http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png 1. Tracking a guide path with Ctrl One of the most common operations in line engraving is '''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by '''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual control over the process. Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width, angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar message will tell you to select it). Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment, the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the center of the tracking circle, '''not'' by your mouse point. As a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the guide path and always at the same distance from it. When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one, then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill any desired space with uniform hatching. The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red) and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you, for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks, but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter. Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracked stroke will also flip over to follow you. Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also, note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below) will result in gradual change of the hatching shape as you proceed. 2. Tracing background by stroke width There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which set by the Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the Pressure button is also toggled. This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed. 3. Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening function is indispensable. While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected; this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you can change it by changing the Width parameter on the toolbar). Now select some or all of the paths (as with most tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over the paths. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely, '''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places where you touch them. As with the Calligraphy pen itself, the '''size''' of the thinning/thickening area by default depends on zoom; simply zooming in or out is often easier than adjusting the width if you want to cover a smaller or larger area. The '''force''' of the effect also depends on zoom (or in other words, it stays the same when measured by screen pixels, same as when you move and object by Alt+arrow keys). Also, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, the force of thinning/thickening also depends on '''pen pressure'''; tapping slightly produces gradual lightening or darkening of your drawing, while pressing heavily will work as a kind of quick "erasing" (with Alt) or "blackening" (with Alt+Shift). Of course, thinning/thickening is very useful '''not only for calligraphic strokes'''. You can select any simple path (such as an ellipse converted to path) and start '''sculpting''' it, spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Alt+Shift and melting them away with Alt. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes to the shape or selecting any nodes. This new functionality is somewhat similar to the "Pucker" and "Bloat" tools in the latest versions of Adobe Illustrator, except that in Inkscape it works softer and is easier to control. '''Known problems with thinning/thickening:''' (1) it is rather slow; (2) it quickly eats memory; and (3) it is sometimes buggy - thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change their shape drastically as you're Alt+stroking them. For (3), it helps to undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the desired result without the buggy behavior. In general, however, all these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then. 4. Misc features * For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before. * To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.) -- bulia byak Inkscape. Draw Freely. http://www.inkscape.org

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Req.: Clip and mask editing
by Pierre-Luc Auclair 15 Apr '07

15 Apr '07

It would be very much useful if we could access masks and clipping paths without releasing them, cause right now it's a mess, especially when you start doing mask of mask of clip + mask. Would have posted this on the tracker but I wanted people to discuss how you'd want this implemented. Made a mockup here: http://heliosmulti.com/inkscape-clip-mask-access.png Pierre-Luc

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I can't compile SVN
by Tobias Jakobs 15 Apr '07

15 Apr '07

Hi, I can't compile SVN. I have this errors: $ make make all-recursive make[1]: Entering directory `/home/tobias/cvs/inkscape' Making all in src make[2]: Entering directory `/home/tobias/cvs/inkscape/src' if g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -I/usr/lib/perl/5.8/CORE -I/usr/include/python2.5 -I/usr/include/freetype2 -pthread -DORBIT2=1 -I/usr/include/gnome-vfs-2.0 -I/usr/lib/gnome-vfs-2.0/include -I/usr/include/gconf/2 -I/usr/include/orbit-2.0 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -DRELAYTOOL_CRYPTO='static const int libcrypto_is_present = 1; static int __attribute__((unused)) libcrypto_symbol_is_present(char *m) { return 1; }' -DRELAYTOOL_SSL='static const int libssl_is_present = 1; static int __attribute__((unused)) libssl_symbol_is_present(char *m) { return 1; }' -DHAVE_SSL -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/gtk-unix-print-2.0 -I/usr/include/gtk-2.0 -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/include -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -DPOTRACE=\"potrace\" -pthread -I/usr/include/gdkmm-2.4 -I/usr/lib/gdkmm-2.4/include -I/usr/include/glibmm-2.4 -I/usr/lib/glibmm-2.4/include -I/usr/include/pangomm-1.4 -I/usr/include/gtk-2.0 -I/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/include -I/usr/include/cairomm-1.0 -I/usr/include/sigc++-2.0 -I/usr/lib/sigc++-2.0/include -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -I/usr/include/gtkmm-2.4 -I/usr/lib/gtkmm-2.4/include -I/usr/include/atkmm-1.6 -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/libxml2 -I../cxxtest -Wall -Wformat-security -W -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Wsign-compare -Woverloaded-virtual -Wswitch -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -Wno-unused-parameter -g -O2 -MT extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.o -MD -MP -MF "extension/script/.deps/inkscape_py_wrap.Tpo" \ -c -o extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.o `test -f 'extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp' || echo './'`extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp; \ then mv -f "extension/script/.deps/inkscape_py_wrap.Tpo" "extension/script/.deps/inkscape_py_wrap.Po"; \ else rm -f "extension/script/.deps/inkscape_py_wrap.Tpo"; exit 1; \ fi extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'int SWIG_Python_ConvertPtr(PyObject*, void**, swig_type_info*, int)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:795: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:805: error: invalid conversion from 'const char*' to 'char*' extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* SWIG_Python_NewPointerObj(void*, swig_type_info*, int)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:910: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'void SWIG_Python_FixMethods(PyMethodDef*, swig_const_info*, swig_type_info**, swig_type_info**)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:980: error: invalid conversion from 'const char*' to 'char*' extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_delete_Inkscape(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1123: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_Inkscape_getDesktop(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1141: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_Inkscape_getDialogManager(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1159: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_delete_DialogManager(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1183: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_DialogManager_showAbout(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1200: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_delete_Desktop(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1224: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_Desktop_getDocument(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1242: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_delete_Document(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1266: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: In function 'PyObject* _wrap_Document_hello(PyObject*, PyObject*)': extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:1283: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp: At global scope: extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:233: warning: 'swig_type_info* SWIG_TypeDynamicCast(swig_type_info*, void**)' defined but not used extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:271: warning: 'swig_type_info* SWIG_TypeQuery(const char*)' defined but not used extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:346: warning: 'void SWIG_PropagateClientData(swig_type_info*)' defined but not used extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:619: warning: 'void SWIG_Python_addvarlink(PyObject*, char*, PyObject* (*)(), int (*)(PyObject*))' defined but not used extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:829: warning: 'void* SWIG_Python_MustGetPtr(PyObject*, swig_type_info*, int, int)' defined but not used extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.cpp:843: warning: 'int SWIG_Python_ConvertPacked(PyObject*, void*, size_t, swig_type_info*, int)' defined but not used make[2]: *** [extension/script/inkscape_py_wrap.o] Error 1 make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/tobias/cvs/inkscape/src' make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tobias/cvs/inkscape' make: *** [all] Error 2

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] Req.: Clip and mask editing
by Juan Miguel Ramirez 15 Apr '07

15 Apr '07

I think we need the option to edit the clipped (or masked) object on live. For example I think the clip for a specific graphic is the correct but later I want to change the dimensions on this graphics but not the clip (or the mask) itself. Right now, I have to release, made the changes and clip(or mask) again. Maybe I have to do it 3 times to obtain the right results or even more times. I think the best way is to have an option to edit the clipped(or masked) object/graphic without to release it and clipped(or masked) again. I know that, for example, Freehand has got a similar option when you use "paste inside"(is similar to clip) and you can modify the "inside" graphic or object.

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NEW: touch selection
by bulia byak 13 Apr '07

13 Apr '07

In Selector tool, a new object selection mode is available: selecting by touch. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious. To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press Alt to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red touch path will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press Alt first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press Shift+Alt and then start to drag. Comments: I'm not too fond of the name "touch selection"; naming suggestions are welcome. Note however that this is not a "lasso" because you don't need to enclose objects, just touch them; and it is not "magic wand" because it does not try to select similar-styled objects. Some Adobe Illustrator users have requested a support for an AI-like selection mode where any object _touched_ by the selection rectangle is selected. Inkscape's new touch selection mode should satisfy them - it is a superset of AI's functionality because a touch path can be arbitrary and not only a box. Note, however, that AI gets this exactly backwards: in it, a rectangle selection selects by touching, whereas a freehand "lasso tool" needs to enclose objects to select them (although its definition of "enclosing" is rather strange - I was able to get very difficult to explain results with that tool). -- bulia byak Inkscape. Draw Freely. http://www.inkscape.org

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Snapping bbox or nodes
by unknown＠example.com 13 Apr '07

13 Apr '07

The options "snap to bbox" and "snap to nodes" have been removed, but now I find gridsnapping to be very very difficult. For my drawings I always use snap to nodes, with snap to bbox turned off. Now it snaps to both, which is imho extremely inconvenient. For example, it means that you can never be sure to which point a rectangle has snapped (bbox snapping and node snapping is often a 1/100 pixel difference); so for each rectangle I draw I have to zoom in to check whether it snapped according to what I want (nodes) :( Can we please have these options back? Thanks! Johan

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