November 2019 - Inkscape Devel

Re: 8 Bugs - 1.0beta1 (32d4812, 2019-09-19) (New User - Mac OS Catalina)
by C R 17 Nov '19

17 Nov '19

Sorry, replied to Ben only. Here's a forwarded reply. On Sun, 17 Nov 2019, 19:47 C R, <cajhne(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, thanks for taki g the time to contact us and share your thoughts. > > > IMO the first four bugs I mention here are so major that many first time >> users will decide not to use InkScape again, which is unfortunate as it’s a >> really great app. >> > > Inkscape is a different program than Illustrator. It's not meant to be a > copy, nor is it designed as a free version of that software. As a long time > Illustrator user myself, I can say that if feature parity is what you seek, > it's going to be a bad time. I feel the same way when forced to use > Illustrator CC, because some problems they have not fixed even after all > these years. Some are things that Inkscape users would certainly miss going > to Illustrator. So with that in mind, let's proceed... > > > Using vanilla 1.0beta1 on MacOS Catalina 10.15.1 (19B88) with default >> preferences set. >> > > >> (1) Surprise Quit >> 1) Open Inkscape. >> 2) Close ‘New document 1’ >> 3) BUG - Inkscape has now quit. There is no reason why the application >> should depend upon the existence of a document window. >> > > This is one thing that's just plain different about Inkscape. There is no > main window which acts as a container for open Inkscape documents. Each > time you open a new Inkscape document it makes a window for it. It would > take a major redesign to have a container window which mirrors how > Illustrator works. So no, unfortunately this is not a bug. :) > > (2) Location of preferences menu item. >> 1) BUG - Preferences is in the Edit menu rather than in the ‘Inkscape’ >> menu >> Actually, many items in the Edit menu, which are to do with application >> level settings, should be in the Inkscape Menu. >> > > Inkscape is cross platform, which means that there may or may not be an > Inkscape menu at all, which is a MacOS convention. This is why those items > are located in the Edit menu, which is a fairly standard place to look for > preferences if you've used Adobe products and most other graphics tools on > Windows and Linux. Hopefully the placement of the preferences item is not > something which will trip you up often. If it is, I recommend learning the > hotkeys to bring it up. > > (3) Surprise Preferences panel dimensions. >> 1) Open Inkscape. >> 2) Open the preferences panel. >> 3) BUG - The panel height stretches across the entire vertical size of >> the screen, with no ‘preference tab’ content that deep. >> The panel width is unusually narrow, with some form elements being >> clipped by the panel. (Eg, System, Interface) >> Moreover, the nested tree is surprising, with the higher nodes (eg >> behaviour) showing minimal details, with no documentation / hints >> whatsoever. >> > > That does sound like a bug. I recommend reporting that one in our GitLab > bug tracker as per the instructions on the website. > > Tracker here: > https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/issues > > Our Mac OS build functions without the need for xquartz now, which was a > universal pain in the ass to install, so please bear with us while we > continue to make the new build better. > > >> (4) Panel/Dialog focus problems. >> 1) Open Inkscape. >> 2) Open the preferences panel. >> 3) Drag the preferences panel so that the traffic light (close / >> minimise / zoom) sit over the centre of ‘New document 1’ >> 4) Click once on the RED (close) traffic light. >> 5) BUG - Focus is transferred to ’New document 1’ and the preference >> panel fades. (See following cropped screenshot). >> > > > Yep, that looks like a bug too. Please report it here so our Mac team can > address it: > https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/issues > > (5) New ellipse uses previous ellipse controls. >> 1) Open Inkscape. >> 2) Give focus to ‘New document 1’ >> 3) Create a ‘pacman’ using the (very cool) pie tool. >> 4) Deselect, and draw a new ellipse. >> 5) BUG- (By default) the new ellipse is the pacman, not a new ellipse. >> 6) BUG- (If you believe that 5 is the correct behaviour) a single click >> with the ’ellipse tool' SHOULD generate the identically dimensioned >> previous shape at the mouse position. >> 7) Both of the above behaviours should be controlled by preferences. >> There is a ’style’ preference available, but default style and default >> shape are different. >> > > 5 is expected behaviour, and 6 is a wishlist item I guess? Anyway not > bugs. If you want to create exact copies of a shape at the mouse cursor, > just drag the original shape around and tap the spacebar while dragging. > This will drop new copes of the original shape. > > Inkscape remembers what shape you last made. If you want a complete circle > back, just click the complete circle button at the top of the screen and it > will be a circle from then on, until next you change it. > > Is it weird to draw multiple pie shapes? Yea, probably. :) However this > behavior is constant with the rectangle tool and star tool which you may > very well want to say, keep making rectangles with the same corner radius > over and over. It would be a pain to keep having to round corners, no? So > yea, it's weird, but it makes sense if you think about it as a unified tool > set. The fix is easy enough too. Single click, sorted. > > > >> (6) Outline Display Mode >> Outline Display should (or should be set by preference) show >> polygon/object centres. >> > > Wishlist item/feature request. I agree this would be a nice feature > though. > > >> (7) Measurement Tool (Language). >> It’s the first time I’ve heard of a starting measurement point being >> called a Knot. >> If you are going to use specialised language, provide a strong hint as to >> what that is. >> > > Well it's not a vertex or a node. We could call them handles perhaps, but > then that might be confused with the handles on bounding boxes etc. At any > rate, this is not a bug so much as a convention of the software. > >> > (8) Font sample text. >> Nearly all fonts include a sample text to show / highlight the font. >> Your font dialog does not use that, doesn’t provide a preference to allow >> for it. >> Many font names are incorrect, and likewise do not always show the >> correct sample (because the InkScape characters are not always represented) >> See ‘Baghdad’ as an example below (with Font Book overlay) >> > > Yes, this is a bug. Please report it in our GitLab bug tracker. > > https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/issues > > Thanks for taking the time to help us make Inkscape better. > > -C.Rogers > > > >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Inkscape Devel mailing list -- inkscape-devel(a)lists.inkscape.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to inkscape-devel-leave(a)lists.inkscape.org >> >

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8 Bugs - 1.0beta1 (32d4812, 2019-09-19) (New User - Mac OS Catalina)
by Ben Griffin 16 Nov '19

16 Nov '19

Being a new user, I’m writing here, as requested by /contribute/report-bugs/ I’m one of what is probably several who have abandoned Adobe Illustrator after Adobe decided not to patch their older versions to work on 64bits. IMO the first four bugs I mention here are so major that many first time users will decide not to use InkScape again, which is unfortunate as it’s a really great app. Using vanilla 1.0beta1 on MacOS Catalina 10.15.1 (19B88) with default preferences set. (1) Surprise Quit 1) Open Inkscape. 2) Close ‘New document 1’ 3) BUG - Inkscape has now quit. There is no reason why the application should depend upon the existence of a document window. (2) Location of preferences menu item. 1) BUG - Preferences is in the Edit menu rather than in the ‘Inkscape’ menu Actually, many items in the Edit menu, which are to do with application level settings, should be in the Inkscape Menu. (3) Surprise Preferences panel dimensions. 1) Open Inkscape. 2) Open the preferences panel. 3) BUG - The panel height stretches across the entire vertical size of the screen, with no ‘preference tab’ content that deep. The panel width is unusually narrow, with some form elements being clipped by the panel. (Eg, System, Interface) Moreover, the nested tree is surprising, with the higher nodes (eg behaviour) showing minimal details, with no documentation / hints whatsoever. (4) Panel/Dialog focus problems. 1) Open Inkscape. 2) Open the preferences panel. 3) Drag the preferences panel so that the traffic light (close / minimise / zoom) sit over the centre of ‘New document 1’ 4) Click once on the RED (close) traffic light. 5) BUG - Focus is transferred to ’New document 1’ and the preference panel fades. (See following cropped screenshot). (5) New ellipse uses previous ellipse controls. 1) Open Inkscape. 2) Give focus to ‘New document 1’ 3) Create a ‘pacman’ using the (very cool) pie tool. 4) Deselect, and draw a new ellipse. 5) BUG- (By default) the new ellipse is the pacman, not a new ellipse. 6) BUG- (If you believe that 5 is the correct behaviour) a single click with the ’ellipse tool' SHOULD generate the identically dimensioned previous shape at the mouse position. 7) Both of the above behaviours should be controlled by preferences. There is a ’style’ preference available, but default style and default shape are different. (6) Outline Display Mode Outline Display should (or should be set by preference) show polygon/object centres. (7) Measurement Tool (Language). It’s the first time I’ve heard of a starting measurement point being called a Knot. If you are going to use specialised language, provide a strong hint as to what that is. (8) Font sample text. Nearly all fonts include a sample text to show / highlight the font. Your font dialog does not use that, doesn’t provide a preference to allow for it. Many font names are incorrect, and likewise do not always show the correct sample (because the InkScape characters are not always represented) See ‘Baghdad’ as an example below (with Font Book overlay)

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8 Bugs - 1.0beta1 (32d4812, 2019-09-19) (New User - Mac OS Catalina)
by Ben Griffin 16 Nov '19

16 Nov '19

Being a new user, I’m writing here, as requested by /contribute/report-bugs/ I’m one of what is probably several who have abandoned Adobe Illustrator after Adobe decided not to patch their older versions to work on 64bits. IMO the first four bugs I mention here are so major that many first time users will decide not to use InkScape again, which is unfortunate as it’s a really great app. Using vanilla 1.0beta1 on MacOS Catalina 10.15.1 (19B88) with default preferences set. (1) Surprise Quit 1) Open Inkscape. 2) Close ‘New document 1’ 3) BUG - Inkscape has now quit. There is no reason why the application should depend upon the existence of a document window. (2) Location of preferences menu item. 1) BUG - Preferences is in the Edit menu rather than in the ‘Inkscape’ menu Actually, many items in the Edit menu, which are to do with application level settings, should be in the Inkscape Menu. (3) Surprise Preferences panel dimensions. 1) Open Inkscape. 2) Open the preferences panel. 3) BUG - The panel height stretches across the entire vertical size of the screen, with no ‘preference tab’ content that deep. The panel width is unusually narrow, with some form elements being clipped by the panel. (Eg, System, Interface) Moreover, the nested tree is surprising, with the higher nodes (eg behaviour) showing minimal details, with no documentation / hints whatsoever. (4) Panel/Dialog focus problems. 1) Open Inkscape. 2) Open the preferences panel. 3) Drag the preferences panel so that the traffic light (close / minimise / zoom) sit over the centre of ‘New document 1’ 4) Click once on the RED (close) traffic light. 5) BUG - Focus is transferred to ’New document 1’ and the preference panel fades. (See following cropped screenshot). (5) New ellipse uses previous ellipse controls. 1) Open Inkscape. 2) Give focus to ‘New document 1’ 3) Create a ‘pacman’ using the (very cool) pie tool. 4) Deselect, and draw a new ellipse. 5) BUG- (By default) the new ellipse is the pacman, not a new ellipse. 6) BUG- (If you believe that 5 is the correct behaviour) a single click with the ’ellipse tool' SHOULD generate the identically dimensioned previous shape at the mouse position. 7) Both of the above behaviours should be controlled by preferences. There is a ’style’ preference available, but default style and default shape are different. (6) Outline Display Mode Outline Display should (or should be set by preference) show polygon/object centres. (7) Measurement Tool (Language). It’s the first time I’ve heard of a starting measurement point being called a Knot. If you are going to use specialised language, provide a strong hint as to what that is. (8) Font sample text. Nearly all fonts include a sample text to show / highlight the font. Your font dialog does not use that, doesn’t provide a preference to allow for it. Many font names are incorrect, and likewise do not always show the correct sample (because the InkScape characters are not always represented) See ‘Baghdad’ as an example below (with Font Book overlay)

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Bugfest - FIrst week in December.
by Tavmjong Bah 13 Nov '19

13 Nov '19

Hi, We are planning on having a "Bugfest" the first week of December. Mc has reserved a room at his institute outside of Paris where at least he and I will meet. Martin can host a meet up in Boston. Is anybody interested in joining us either in Paris or Boston? If you are, please let us know ASAP as we'll need to organize a board vote to cover travel expenses. (I envision offering up to $1000 for attending.) Remote participation is also highly encouraged! Further details at: https://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php?title=Bugfest2019 Tav

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Inkscape for dinosaur track research, questions
by Jens Lallensack 04 Nov '19

04 Nov '19

Dear all, I am palaeontologist at the University of Bonn, Germany, focusing on fossil dinosaur footprints and trackways. I regularly use Inkscape for my research (for measuring, data extration, and drawing of interpretive outlines), and have cited this software in several of my papers. I am currently working on a methodological paper on how to analyze fossil footprints based on 3D models. The approach I will present in this paper includes Inkscape as an important component. The idea is to import raster images into Inkscape (different graphical 2D representations of the 3D model), align them into an image stack, and draw interpretive outlines on a separate layer. I use the Bezier curves tool to collect a number of landmark coordinates from the separate footprints, which I then export to automatically calculate a large number of measurements for statistical analysis. The paper is to be published in a peer-revied journal (currently, I have the Journal of Palaeontological Techniques in mind, https://www.jpaleontologicaltechniques.org/). I already used this method in a recent paper (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2018.1512501) to rapidly collect measurements of a larger number of trackways. The aim of the new methodological paper is to improve this method and to make it available to our comunity of footprint researchers. However, there are two open issues/questions regarding Inkscape. I was wondering if you could give me some advice here. Export of path node coordinates is, unfortunately, currently possible only via a plugin, which adds an additional hitch (but I understand that research is not the focus of Inkscape). Such a plugin was posted on the Inkscape Forum in 2011, with improvements added by different members (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2018.1512501). I simplified the code so that it returns node coordinates only (and not those of the handles), see code below. Now to my questions: 1) I need to cite the modified coord export script in my paper, and make sure that it stays available. I assume that code published in the forum is not automatically released under a free licence, and that I cannot simply distribute the script together with the paper. A possibility might be to post the modified script to the forum and provide the link in the paper. This is only an option if the link remains available for a longer time (I cannot modify the paper once published). What would be the optimal way? 2) The coordinates given by the script need to be mirrored and translated to match the coordinates displayed within Inkscape itself. I would need to improve the script so that this is done automatically. I'm not into python scripting, but would try to figure this out. Any help/hints with this would be much appreciated. Thank you very much in advance. Kind regards, Jens Lallensack ----- xyexport.py ------- #!/usr/bin/env python import inkex import sys import simpletransform import cubicsuperpath class TemplateEffect(inkex.Effect): def __init__(self): inkex.Effect.__init__(self) def effect(self): for node in self.selected.iteritems(): output_all = output_nodes = "" for id, node in self.selected.iteritems(): if node.tag == inkex.addNS('path','svg'): output_all += "" output_nodes += "" simpletransform.fuseTransform(node) d = node.get('d') p = cubicsuperpath.parsePath(d) for subpath in p: for csp in subpath: output_nodes += str(csp[1][0]) + "\t" + str(csp[1][1]) + "\n" sys.stderr.write(output_nodes) effect = TemplateEffect() effect.affect()

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