September 2015 - Inkscape Devel

User Help (tutorials)
by Martin Owens 23 Sep '15

23 Sep '15

Dear developers, I was reviewing inkscape on deviantArt and I noticed a theme: www.deviantart.com/browse/all/journals/?order=5&q=inkscape Apart from the odd "I hate Inkscape" etc, there's a big need for tutorials and most are interested in video tutorials. This is probably something we should put together for the website. Something coherent for users. But I'm not exactly sure of the structure we should use. A competition? Scouting for talent? What do you think? Best Regards, Martin Owens

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Choosing an Open Font for Inkscape "Draw Freely".
by C R 23 Sep '15

23 Sep '15

TLDR: We are voting on an Open Font replacement for the "Draw Freely" Tagline. Jump down to the link and click it to see what the options are. Since the feedback so far has been good on the user tutorial thread, I'd like to reach everyone I can to make this decision, in case not everyone is paying attention to the video tutorial stuff, so here's another opportunity to vote! In short: we'd like to replace the "Draw Freely" tagline with a font which we will use as an official font for the Inkscape project. The main reason for this is that the currently used font is proprietary, and the general consensus (via mailing list and #inkscape) is that we'd like to replace it with an open alternative. Reasons for this are: 1. We can not change the font - Thus, we are unable to add extra character support for other languages. 2. We can not use the font elsewhere without paying more license fees, and we would like to be able to use the same font on the website, in tutorial videos, and other user documentation. 3. We can not distribute the font with Inkscape materials without paying license fees. 4. Our users can't use the font in their own materials without paying license fees. 5. Open fonts rock, in all the same ways that Open Source software rocks, and contributes to creative freedom, which is in line with the project's creedo "Draw Freely". Thus, I have pillaged Google's collection of fonts which are composed of fonts with the SIL Open Font license, and Apache Licenses, pulling out all the ones that looked scripty/handwritten. I have written a page that allows a preview of each of them along with the Inkscape logo here: http://www.opendesignstudio.org/inkscape/samples/draw_freely_font_list.html Use keyboard arrow-keys (left and right) to scroll through the fonts, and (up and down) keys to enlarge or decrease the font size to your liking (you can also click a link out of the list on the left to jump to your at-a-glance favs). To vote on your favourites, just reply to this email with the font name(s), number(s), and/or a copy of the share link at the bottom of the page. If you've already voted, you don't need to again. :) Cheers. -C

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] Choosing an Open Font for Inkscape "Draw Freely".
by Jelle Mulder 23 Sep '15

23 Sep '15

Thanks for the good insight CR, # 4 As being the most reflective of the text and balanced Jelle

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How to build lp:inkscape with CMake?
by Olof Bjarnason 22 Sep '15

22 Sep '15

When browsing the wiki for build instructions under Ubuntu, I only found instructions on how to build using autogen.sh. I would prefer building Inkscape with the "new" build system CMake, could some one tell me what steps to follow / the diff from these instructions? (preferably update the wiki page) Specifically: do I need to run autogen.sh and configure? http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/CompilingUbuntu Mvh /Olof ----------------- Trött på virus, seg dator och allmänt Windowsstrul? Pröva något nytt istället - Ubuntu! http://uboot.nu

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save s copy as PDF destroys patterns
by Shai Efrati 21 Sep '15

21 Sep '15

Hello, When trying to save a copy to PDF (and also in print to file) the resulted file are broken. For example: if my pattern is small red dots, the pattern in the PDF are chunks of squares with small red dots. I'm using Inkscape 0.91r on Ubuntu 14.04 and i checked it also on Windows7 with Inkscape 0.91pre3 r13670 Steps to reproduce: 1. Create a simple pattern. 2. Add an objects. 3. Change fill to pattern. 4. Save a copy to PDF. A possible workaround would be to use filter effects on the pattern filled objects and then to save as a PDF. This way Inkscape will rasterize these objects and they will be rendered as they should be, but they won't be kept as vectors anymore. Is there a way to keep them as vectors in the PDF? if not, is it possible to rasterize patterns as Inkscape already does to filters without the need to use filters on them? I opened a relevant question here: http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/60825/inkscape-save-as-pdf… And i see other relevant question here: http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/28849/inkscape-problems-ex… Is there an open bug regarding this issue? Any help would be very appreciated. Thanks! Shai.

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Inkscape official video intro project - Thoughts on the message.
by C R 15 Sep '15

15 Sep '15

So, I was thinking, based on my Initial wip animation of the inkdrop character and the inkscape logo... http://www.opendesignstudio.org/inkscape/samples/inkscape_intro_animation_w… ... that the Inkdrop character is cute and fun and everything, BUT, the intro does not really say anything about what Inkscape actually DOES.. and I think it should. :) This got me thinking about what I personally use Inkscape for... So what if, instead of the 3D animation, we show a single inkdrop splattering onto the whitespace of the screen, the blob can then make a series of transformations through icon shapes that represent the various things people do with Inkscape in the real world. My initial thoughts on the transformation sequence are: 1. Blob/splatter 2. Inkdrop (first hint at the name inkscape) 3. Pentip (represents hand-writing/drawing) 3. Magazine/Book 4. Box and Bottle (to represent package design) 5. Jumping videogame character (for game development) 6. Pair of scissors and jacket template (represents material templates and vector laser cuttings) 7. Folded greeting card 8. Billboard 9. A car blueprint (for product design) 10. The Inkscape logo Then finally, "Draw freely" scribble-animated under it Thinking some modern, energetic minimalist techno to set the beat of the animation to, so the transformations can match up to the beat. Each icon listed above will have the same visual weight and style as the Inkscape logo. And all made in Inkscape, of course. :) I think this would do a better job of instantly explaining what you can use Inkscape for, and also get people a bit excited about using the software. It will also look very modern with a style of animation similar to what large companies are using to pitch their products. I will also finish the original inkdrop 3d animation, and we can add it to the materials for hackfests, conventions, and/or give it out for people to use in their review videos and tutorials for inkscape, etc. Thoughts?

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] Choosing an Open Font for Inkscape "Draw Freely"
by Jelle Mulder 15 Sep '15

15 Sep '15

Hello All, From the list my personal favorites are, "Nothing you could do" At first glance there are quite some flaws to it, kerning isn't all that great for instance and the word spacing needs some toiling. But I like the dynamics of it, the weight goes well with the weight of the INKSCAPE font and logo and the sheer clumsiness of it appeals to the text "Draw Freely" as it expresses the idea of having no strings attached. It is a fairly unkempt handwriting style rough and raw like I could have written myself as a scribbled note. To my idea that is an important message to convey and none of the others make up to that as they are too tidy and constructed. There are some similar fonts that however don't have dynamics compatible with the logo and this one does. "Seaweed Script" A well constructed script, good kerning and as such giving a more professional aura. The weight again is compatible with the current INKSCAPE text and the weight of the logo. The dynamics are also compatible with the composition of the logo, but it lacks the concept of Draw Freely to me, for the fact of being so constructed and slick. In general most of these fonts have rather poor kerning and that is the main difference with many of the proprietary fonts and why people still pay for them. Typography is an art that not that many master and the sometimes years of toiling that goes into getting a font done right isn't often valued. Using proprietary fonts as such isn't quite such an issue to me for that reason, same as using copyrighted images would be. The users of Inkscape do intend to make a living of their creativity as well and are not just creating content under CC license are they? That said however, using proprietary fonts might lead to IP issues and as such using an Open font might be a good idea. My two cents. Cheers, Jelle

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Status: Inkscape-Web to Git
by Martin Owens 13 Sep '15

13 Sep '15

Dear Developers, I'm testing the new launchpad git beta with the inkscape-web branch, to give me a taste of the issues we might have moving inkscape proper. You can find the new git branch here: https://code.launchpad.net/~inkscape-webadmin/inkscape-web/+git/inkscape-web Even with my 1k commits for the website, there was an error with the fast-export | fast-import method when one file 'text.svg' was moved to 'document.svg' and 'plain.svg' was moved to 'text.svg' in the same commit. The order of the move is important in the output and in this case it was wrong. Saving the output of fast-export to a file and then editing the text by swapping the lines was enough to get it working. There was also issues with it's end state. It thought all files had been deleted and also untracked. Adding them all back in fixed it without commit, although there were still some old files it thought had been deleted now when they had been deleted much earlier. You can see the transition commit from the link above. There are some scripts we use in utils which will need porting and the git tree will come into effect when we upgrade the website to 1.4 and the live and staging branches are pulled up to trunk. Then I don't have to somehow transition every branch and I can turn them into git /branches/ and keep it tidy. For now the inkscape-web project will continue to be configured for bzr, but I ask people keep their branching to a minimum until the upgrade. Maren is the only person with an open branch right now other than trunk staging and live. That'll still be accessable, but we should consider closing it one way (merge) or another (close) Any questions about the process? Best Regards, Martin Owens

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Reminder! Last day to Vote
by Tavmjong Bah 12 Sep '15

12 Sep '15

Today is the last day to vote for the new Inkscape board members. Tav

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Gimp Export as SVG as a text layer
by Jabier Arraiza 11 Sep '15

11 Sep '15

Hi to all. Im currently improving the Gimp plugin "Export as SVG" to export layers as text. Attached are two files, one whith a Generated SVG output and the other a log whith a crash when try to select the red string text whith the text tool. Also is more than a crash, because freeze my sistem -debian stable- and force me logout. Maybe could be a header removed from SPItem there is here previously? Thanks in advance for our help, best regards, Jabier.

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