- Inkscape Users - Inkscape Mailman

Re: [Inkscape-user] forum?
by Valerie VK 04 Jun '07

04 Jun '07

Aye caramba! We're still on about this forum thing? Well... here are my two cents: Mailing list: It has the advantage of grouping everything together, but it's bad at fostering the "artistic" side because of its limited multimedia support and besides, lots of people find mailing lists to be hard to navigate. And bland. XD Wiki: I'm under the impression that wikis would not be the best for fostering an "interactive" community, but I admit I'm biased because I rarely use wikis except to find information (and not to interact with other people). Povray: I have even Less idea how Povray's community works. After the first hour spent over the manual (time needed to get how to get a sphere in Povray), I had decided that it was easier to draw people manually. XP Galleries: Opencanvas, as I've previously said, managed to get much exposure thanks to its art-based community, but this would not likely be appropriate for Inkscape. However, I think it would be nice if Open Clipart took on a more advanced gallery interface, a bit like Deviantart and co: Creative Common or not, someone who registers would be more likely to contribute if they were filling up "their" gallery (and can get feedback on top of that), and tagging would allow easing search and browsing. There could be entire downloadable "collections" too. On top of that, if it has a big "We recommend Inkscape" (or something in those lines) at the front, so much the better for Inkscape's visibility. No offense, but, I currently do not "get" Open Clipart's interface at all. XD In Deviantart and co by contrast, people browse and submit work practically without thinking. Blogs: Actually, I'd see a few advantages to a blog-based community. How many of you know how blog Communities work? Here's an example from the top of my head: http://community.livejournal.com/icon_tutorial If an Inkscape livejournal community were to be made for example, it'd present the following advantages: - it's as cohesive as mailing lists, really. You only have to check one place. - and for peple who already have their livejournal accounts, when they join, the community posts appear on their "Friends" list, so it's even more accessible to them - there are quite a number of people with their own blogs etc, so they'd be able to join "easily" - people can post questions, tutorials, thoughts and tips much like on the mailing list, albeit with a slightly nicer interface that allows images and such - either the users or a moderator would help "tag" the entries for easy future reference from the "Favorites" section or the "Tutorials (compilation)" section or the "Frequently asked questions" section, all easily accesible from the left bar - the only thing really is that unlike forums, threads can't be "bumped", but with the tagging it shouldn't be much problem. Besides, how often do "very old" topics resurface, anyway? Also, you'd have to revisit a topic to see any new comments, unless you're the one who started it. In practice though, it's not That much a hassle. - some people might also feel a certain reluctance to creating an account, but it's not much more work than signing up to a mailing list or to a forum, really. It's basically a mailing list's cohesiveness with many of a forum's presentation. I'm subscribed to both a few forums and a few livejournal communities of the similar categories, and livejournal communities (I admit, I know little of Blogspot and others) are indeed more cohesive and intimate so to say. Forums are better when the size of the community goes over the top, but blogs can be a good starter. Of course, I'm biased towards something I'm familiar with, but maybe the above explains a few things. In the future, I'd also suggest a more advanced "tutorial" section on the main page (and not just accessible through the wiki. I mean... geez). There are two things I think Inkscape does Very right in regards to documentation: 1. Include a number of tutorials on the basics in the very releases. Those are lifesavers. 2. Include screenshots. I give the Inkscape screenshots section 2 thumbs up because they're Really good at showing off Inkscape's capabilities. Where the suggested tutorial section is concerned, I'd propose advanced tutorials with a nice big-enough preview for advanced styles as well as simpler ones. Categories would include: - make a photorealistic car - make a photorealistic person - various other art styles - advanced technical blueprints (or whatever) - setting up a whole set of icons for webpage usage - the works This would be similar to what Corel Painter does, which is the great thing it does with Its documentation. Painter's documentation basically gives advanced painting tutorials by advanced artists. Inkscape may or may not have such advanced artists willing to contribute for now, but these will be good for exposure when available because when a user browses the webpage, as soon as they see these they'd go "This is what Inkscape is capable of. This is what -I- may be capable of, if I follow these tutorials." Sold! If the examples offered in the tutorials are good enough, the "wow" effect would be as nearly great as an advanced user gallery section with favourites etc. A section underneath would provide smaller tips for various effects. Anyway, those are my 2 cents. ___________________________________________________________________________________ You snooze, you lose. Get messages ASAP with AutoCheck in the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_html.html

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Students' art
by Victor Domingos 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Hi! I'm sharing with you some works made in Inkscape by my students (12-13 years old), in a Portuguese school. Those were made in a computer class, not in Arts. I hope you like... :-) Victor Domingos http://lojamac.com/blog

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Re: [Inkscape-user] feature idea
by Valerie VK 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

It'd actually be nice to have this feature request applied: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1012134&group_id=9… In the comments section, someone made this example: http://www.yattaweb.it/wrapper-example.png It would kind of be like the node sculpting feature, but with the selector interface, instead of having you select all the nodes. It seems like a neat thing to have to me. It would make perspective transforms much more intuitive, etc, etc. > Node sculpting kind of does that, yes, but it isn't quite the same. > > Here is a link to the Blender wiki to give some idea of what I am > talking about. > Admittedly, this is 3D, but it has the gist of the idea. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with the Yahoo! Search weather shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#loc_weather

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Re: [Inkscape-user] forum?
by Valerie VK 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

> I think that the mailing lists are doing an excellent job on the > techinical side, but they arent generating a users community in terms > of art particularly well. I dont think that having all the devs > reading all the forum is necessary for a forum once we start talking > about it in the context of art rather than technical support. > I think if they were done right, and kept pretty focused, then forums > could be a good way to grow the creative aspect of the community, and > could help tie together and stimulate some of the excellent work that > has been going on with the youtube screencast tutorials etc. > Very much feel they should be something that compiments the mailing > list rather than replaces, as I'd see them performing a dfferent role. > > > > That's the main reason I'd prefer the "official" Inkscape forum to be > an interface to the mailing list over other approaches, even though I > certainly do appreciate the benefits of "real" forums (e.g. being able > to post inline images as examples, more robust threading, etc.). > > > > -mental > > Hmm. If the goal is to develop an effective artistic community, then that's a whole new direction, and one that Open Source hasn't been very good at in my opinion (I view Gimp for example as a failure in terms of developing a cohesive Artistic community. If you want to find One community where there are lots of advanced Gimp artists, you just won't find that. Some Gimp artists would try to gather, but it's never been handled well in my opinion). It's true though that an active, cohesive and visible (artist) community would increase the visibility of Inkscape. Some people like to gather and discuss about their favorite programs just as much as they like using the program (just like how there are fan communities of books etc). It's not easy to obtain though. Photoshop has active communities left and right but that's because it's the industry standard, and since the community is so active (both in producing artwork and in making tutorials), it leads to More people picking it up, much like a viral effect. By contrast, Procreate Painter is also a powerful painting tool, but fewer people pick it up because most people use Photoshop and that's where all the tips and tutorials are. That said, I'm personally neutral on the issue of developing an artistic community for Inkscape. Inkscape can be used for casual art (and the online CG population happens to be quite large - see the size of Deviantart), but it's mostly (?) targeted at productive tasks such as icon or web layout creations, either for personal use or for work. And those people don't need as much of a marketing effect (at least... I don't think so?), because they might pick it up for work might pick it up just because it works fine and is free. It's productive issue. By contrast, casual artists of the Deviantart type for the example, flock towards the program that seems to give the biggest number of pretty results (even if they can't achieve them themselves XD ). If people are still curious though, here's an interesting non-forum community example I know of: a Japanese program known as Opencanvas (which, contrary to its name, is not open source). It started years ago as a free (as in "free beer") version, and subsequent versions had to be paid for, while the free one was no longer offered. Even then, however, it managed to retain a highly dedicated community. You can find it here: http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/ (English main page) http://www.portalgraphics.net/ja/ (Japanese main page, more developed) http://www.portalgraphics.net/oc/en/ (English version of the community page) No, I don't want Inkscape to mimick it (at all :S ). I just think it's an interesting case study. Opencanvas is actually a relatively simple program "that works". One interesting feature (that I don't want in Inkscape though :S ) is the "recording" of "events": basically for any finished work you can playback the whole process. Also interesting is the ability to automatically upload artworks (each process-playbackable) to its community page with just a few commands, where they can be judged and voted on. >From a user point of view: the user is curious as to the capabilities of the program, he goes to the community page, he immediately sees the "best" recent artworks made by the program, said artwork can be downloaded for the user to playback its whole drawing process. Also located on the community page are a number of art tutorials (strange, I can't find them anymore, ah well). The user says "wow" and gets the program for himself. Again, I am not advocating anything like that for Inkscape. I don't think it's possible, either. :S But it's an interesting and unconventional case study on artistic communities. Opencanvas as a result has become Very well known in Japan, and is even being adopted elsewhere. I admit, even I bought it at first (then practically never used it XD ). Oh by the way, can someone tell me just how Do you reply in a way that the message ends in the right thread in the mailing list archive? :S ____________________________________________________________________________________ Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos & more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC

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Re: [Inkscape-user] forum?
by gri3f on 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Valerie VK wrote: > No, I don't want Inkscape to mimick it (at all :S ). I just think it's an > interesting case study. Opencanvas is actually a relatively simple program > "that works". One interesting feature (that I don't want in Inkscape > though :S ) is the "recording" of "events": basically for any finished > work you can playback the whole process. Also interesting is the ability > to automatically upload artworks (each process-playbackable) to its > community page with just a few commands, where they can be judged and > voted on. Don't be surprised if you see event recording and playback in Inkscape someday. Mental and a few others have been building the necessary infrastructure to support this and a few other uses. Aaron Spike is this going to be something like the "action" on photoshop? where you can record series of process. and applied the same process onto different object? gri3fon ____________________________________________________________________________________ Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow

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Inkscape 0.45 text dialogue
by Claus Cyrny 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Hi, after selecting some text & selecting the 'text and fonts' dialogue in the menu, my newly installed Inkscape 0.45 (autopakage; Ubuntu "Breezy"; xorg) freezes. Did anyone else experience this, and is there some kind of workaround for this? I have to admit that my PC is very slow (350 MHz). TIA, Claus -- Home Page - http://home.arcor.de/ccyrny/ [in English] graf-o-matic 2.0 - http://grafomatic01.twoday.net/ [in German]

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There is a forum interface to this mailing list.
by MenTaLguY 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Not to discourage all the Inkscape forums people have been starting, but since it seems to get missed a lot, there's a forum interface to this very mailing list: http://inkscape-forum.andreas-s.net/forum/8 (I posted this message using it.) -mental -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

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Re: [Inkscape-user] Inkscape-user Digest, Vol 12, Issue 62
by Tony Vigil 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Elwin, Not exactly. You can run SwishMax just fine via CrossOver (Wine) in Linux. SwishMax is only $99.00, which is quite a bit less than the $$$ price tag for Adobe's Flash. - Tony ----- Original Message ---- From: Elwin Estle <chrysalis_reborn@...12...> Subject: Re: [Inkscape-user] Draw a web site using only Inkscape Yes, but isn't content creation for Flash pretty much tied to either Windows or a Mac (no linux...unless you want to jump through a buncha hoops), and the $$$ for buying Flash from Macromedia?

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Inkscape Crashing
by Aaron Elmquist 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Whenever I start working with an object that contains 500+ nodes inkscape will crash and does not perform an autosave. I also experience the same issue when I do a rapid succession of undos from the keyboard. Is this a known bug? I'm running 0.45.1 on windows xp with 660 MB of memory. Generally, don't have anything else open beside Firefox.

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Linux VM
by Benjamin Huot 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

This is a great idea to ease development of Linux applications for other platforms. It is like Java but the VM is Linux based and it is open source. http://www.openlina.com/

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Inkscape splash screen (question)
by Claus Cyrny 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

Hi, I just installed Inkscape 0.45 as an autopackage. Wow! Congrats!!! This is really so amazing for me, to see the development of Inkscape over the last years! One question: I would like to write a post on Inkscape 0.45 in my blog. May I post a scaled-down version of the splash screen there (of course with appropriate copyright remark)? Claus -- Home Page - http://home.arcor.de/ccyrny/ [in English] graf-o-matic 2.0 - http://grafomatic01.twoday.net/ [in German]

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custom extension
by Stéphane ANCELOT 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

Hi , I would like to know, if it is possible to setup new custom icons in inkscape in order to call custom python extension ? and how ? Best Regards Steph

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Positioning guides in inkscape
by D. Jones 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

Is there more than one way to position guides in Inkscape? I know that I can drag them and then see where their position and then move again to desired position. But I was wondering is there a way to just say position guide say 50% of horizontal or vertical without having to just keep dragging and positioning until I get it right. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7

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Re: On Forums
by Valerie VK 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

> Two things... > > First, it sounds that there are some strong feelings on both sides here > - for having more forums as well as for keeping things unified. While > passion can be good, please let's try to ensure discussions remain > civil and polite. I'm sure with friendly discussion, good compromises > can be found on this topic. > > Second, regarding forums, this topic comes up from time to time. Our > official position has been if someone wishes to set up and maintain an > independent forum, it's cool by us. However, we've been down this road > a few times and there's been some good observations made in this and > past threads: > > * It's better for the community as a whole to have just a few > forums, since it consolidates the knowledge to one place. > > * As a project, Inkscape is open to setting up an official > http://forums.inkscape.org site, but we'd need volunteers to be > committed to setting up and maintaining it on an ongoing basis. > We'd also be open to hosting it on the same machine as > inkscape.org, PROVIDED that the selected forum software is a) > available in Gentoo, and b) is reasonably free from security > issues. > > * Some people prefer mailing lists, others prefer forums. There are > some mailing-list-to-forum gateways that some people find adequate, > but others don't. There are a lot of different opinions on which > is the best forum software to use. Thus, obviously our choices are > to either have a lot of different forums, none of which are very > heavily used, or a small number of forums (perhaps just one) that > are heavily used but that some proportion of people dislike. > > * While open to having forums, most of the currently active Inkscape > contributors are okay with mailing lists. Thus, if we as a > community are to have an Inkscape forum beyond the mailing lists, > and if we want it to be an official central unified forum, the > effort is going to need to be driven by the larger Inkscape > community. In other words, what we need are some new folks to join > in on this challenge, get it all organized, and help maintain it > going forward. > > Bryce Now that's an answer! May I suggest changing the "Mailing-list" section name on the main page to "Mailing lists and forums" and adding at the top of the page something in the lines of the following? "You can currently access the contents of the mailing list in forum format through [insert the url of that forum interface. I forgot what it is]. We currently do not have plans for a separate "official" forum. If you have any questions on this, please read the following: [insert link to the above]." Provide an answer people can easily see and find, and maybe they'll stop asking. :) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7

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Inkscape and FontForge
by Jeffrey Brent McBeth 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

So, I spent last night figuring out how to make fonts using Inkscape, there have been several messages on this before, so they probably know this already. Fontforge does things in terms of sub-em units. Traditionally, TrueType fonts are 1024/2048/4096 sub-em units, and when FontForge reads SVG, it uses the pixel as one sub-em unit. Since I was creating a mono-spaced font with 4096 sub-em units, I created a canvas that was 4096 pixels high, and my fixed width wide. I placed guides at the baseline, x-height, and capital height to allow easy repeatable placement of the letters. From that point on it was easy copying from my source file, saving the individual glyph and importing it to FontForge. As far as things in Inkscape go, one thing stung me several times. I expected Center on Drawing to remove the current selected objects from consideration prior to computing the center. I can't imagine why you would want any other behavior? -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hofstadter's Law states: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Inkscape for bitmap editing
by Claus Cyrny 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

Hi all, I don't know if anyone has tried this, yet, but I just starting using Inkscape as a bitmap (!) editor. The main reason for this was the task to isolate a (bitmap) object against its background. I've e basically used the Gimp until now, but my main problem was aliasing (or bad anti-aliasing) at the edges of the object(s). Now I discovered that if the new background is just one color, Inkscape can be of tremendous help. Particularly the splines are amazingly easy to use, and if I am using the proper zoom factor, the results are way better than when using the Gimp. (I guess this technique is basically called "vector painting", and a few years ago there was an app from the now defunct company 'discreet' called 'paint*', which did just that, but 'paint*' was much more high-end than Inkscape, and you could even animate the splines.) In addition, due to the incredible ease of use of Inkscape, the work flow is really a breeze! ;-) I can pan using the middle mouse button, maybe zoom in or out using '+' or '-', draw, pan again, and so forth. Greetings, Claus -- Home Page - http://home.arcor.de/ccyrny/ [in English] graf-o-matic 2.0 - http://grafomatic01.twoday.net/ [in German]

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Re: Inkscape a giant killer !
by Valerie VK 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

> I have worked as a proffessional Graphic Artist for 30 years and > specialize in illustration. > I also run my own Sublimation printing and embroidery business as well > as teaching and writing. > I have used both Illustrator and Corel Draw since their introduction and > have taught them both and written published training manuals on all the > major desktop publishing packages. I have been a big supporter of The > Gimp and have written a book that has been published on that too.I am > very impressed with Inkscape and the approach that has been taken to > user ergonomics. > I am now using Inkscape professionally and actually prefer to use it > over all other packages for many illustration tasks. > The programmers should be very proud of what they have done because I > regard Inkscape as a superior Illustration package to Illustrator and > equal if not better than Corel Draw for many Illustration tasks. In > particular the ease of use and control over the drawing tools is > fantastic. I have timed myself over specific illustration tasks (Like > illustrating a racing car for instance). I can work considerably faster > in Inkscape. This relates directly to productivity. I think the design > team at Adobe should take a good look at Inkscape AND ACTUALLY DO > SOMETHING ABOUT THE TRAGIC ERGONOMICS of their so called industry > standard program. Far more professionals use Corel Draw for serious > illustration work than people think, they just don't tell anyone because > of that Mac - Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark express standard in the > industry rubbish. This has far more to do with the conservative nature > of Graphic designers and the inability of training organizations and > tertiary institutions t > o provide alternative training. IGNORANCE IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR SHEER > LAZINESS. I constantly monitor and test new programs and will provide > training and support for any one of them that proves to be useful. > SCRIBUS, THE GIMP and INKSCAPE have at last provided a serious working > solution for desktop publishers. Linux is at last a viable alternative > to the Mac or Windows. (Not that these programs don't work well on the > Mac or Windows). > And all this for free !!!!!!!!! > I do a lot of consultancy work for printing organisations and will be > pushing Inkscape and it relative merits extensively. > I will also provide support and training to any of the organizations I > train for or deal with. > WELL DONE INKSCAPE!!!!!! Wow, that's quite a background. :) I had never used Illustrator before, and the first time I tried out Inkscape several years back, I couldn't figure it out (that and... it kept crashing. It was a long time ago XD ). I've only rediscovered Inkscape recently, and damn I'm also impressed now. I must admit I'm impressed to hear that it's faster to illustrate a racing car in Inkscape than in most commercial softwares. XD Just out of curiosity, what features in Corel Draw do you think are missing in Inkscape? I'm not a programmer, but it'd be interesting to hear the opinion of a professional. :) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/

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Inkscape for bitmap editing
by Tony Vigil 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

Claus, Is Discreet Paint the same thing as Satori Paint? http://www.satoripaint.com/ I've never used Discreet or Satori Paint, but my google search for "Discreet Paint" came up with some hits for "Satori Paint" as well. It seems to do what you describe, including the spline animation. Same product maybe? - Tony

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Inkscape a giant killer !
by Rod Taylor 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

I have worked as a proffessional Graphic Artist for 30 years and specialize in illustration. I also run my own Sublimation printing and embroidery business as well as teaching and writing. I have used both Illustrator and Corel Draw since their introduction and have taught them both and written published training manuals on all the major desktop publishing packages. I have been a big supporter of The Gimp and have written a book that has been published on that too.I am very impressed with Inkscape and the approach that has been taken to user ergonomics. I am now using Inkscape professionally and actually prefer to use it over all other packages for many illustration tasks. The programmers should be very proud of what they have done because I regard Inkscape as a superior Illustration package to Illustrator and equal if not better than Corel Draw for many Illustration tasks. In particular the ease of use and control over the drawing tools is fantastic. I have timed myself over specific illustration tasks (Like illustrating a racing car for instance). I can work considerably faster in Inkscape. This relates directly to productivity. I think the design team at Adobe should take a good look at Inkscape AND ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE TRAGIC ERGONOMICS of their so called industry standard program. Far more professionals use Corel Draw for serious illustration work than people think, they just don't tell anyone because of that Mac - Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark express standard in the industry rubbish. This has far more to do with the conservative nature of Graphic designers and the inability of training organizations and tertiary institutions to provide alternative training. IGNORANCE IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR SHEER LAZINESS. I constantly monitor and test new programs and will provide training and support for any one of them that proves to be useful. SCRIBUS, THE GIMP and INKSCAPE have at last provided a serious working solution for desktop publishers. Linux is at last a viable alternative to the Mac or Windows. (Not that these programs don't work well on the Mac or Windows). And all this for free !!!!!!!!! I do a lot of consultancy work for printing organisations and will be pushing Inkscape and it relative merits extensively. I will also provide support and training to any of the organizations I train for or deal with. WELL DONE INKSCAPE!!!!!!

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Howto build flash tutorials.
by John R. Culleton 31 May '07

31 May '07

I am fascinated by the Inkscape Flash tutorials. I would like to know in general at least: 1. Can these be created using Linux? 2. If so, what (extra) hardware is required? 3. What software is required? 4. Where is the howto on this process (if any)? -- John Culleton Able Indexing and Typesetting Precision typesetting (tm) at reasonable cost. Satisfaction guaranteed. http://wexfordpress.com

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Image attachments
by Stathis Sideris 31 May '07

31 May '07

Hello everyone, I just wanted to know what the policy is for attaching images to emails to this list. Are we allowed to attach images under a certain size, or not at all? I have a suggestion for a GUI enhancement and I have prepared a mock-up to explain it and hopefully get some useful feedback from here. Thanks, Stathis

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inkscape young artists
by artur coelho 31 May '07

31 May '07

Showcasing a work done by one of my young pupils using inkscape. I'm a portuguese schoolteacher who has found in inkscape an invaluable tool in the classroom. The pupils are very young, and have fallen in love with the program. http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/55573407/ I apologize if this list is not the place to publicize, but i have not found another way. -- <i>nulla dies sine linea</i>

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Equivalent to Illustrator's Gradient Mesh?
by Kat Tanaka Okopnik 31 May '07

31 May '07

Hi - I've finally gotten more comfortable with Inkscape's gradient tool (although I miss the interface of Illustrator's gradient editor), but I'm wondering if there's any equivalent in Inkscape to Illustrator's gradient mesh tool? For more explanation of the mesh tool, see here: http://www.magicalbutterfly.com/tutorials/meshtutorial/meshtutpage3.htm -- Kat Tanaka Okopnik Linux Gazette Mailbag Editor kat@...2161...

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Possible to reference external svg images?
by Nick Daly 31 May '07

31 May '07

Question:Is it possible to reference (not import/embed) one SVG image within another?A little bit of background:A few years ago, I used Flash 6 (I think) on a vector animation project and came out with a nice little animation. In an effort to teach myself the ins and outs of Inkscape, I tried to rebuild several memorable stills from the old flash animation in Inkscape and ran into a bit of trouble. The flash file contains references to objects within the file, making it straightforward work to refer to an object in the movie (an image of a car, for example).In my case, I've created a major file to hold all the sub-objects (backgrounds, cars, trees, people, and so forth), and would like to be able to reference them in the main (completed file). The closest functionality I can find to this that Inkscape offers is importing another svg image. Unfortunately, this is insufficient for my purposes, as import results in one file being copied into the other. Thus, the original image becomes completely independent of the copy in the other file, requiring an annoying process of reimporting and correctly transforming every time you update the original image. This also duplicates the file data, effectively doubling the size of whatever you're trying to create.So, my question is, is it possible to simply reference one file within another, to say "this file exists here, load the data, but don't save it in this file" (the equivalent of "include" directives in C and HTML, or Inkscape's own "Clone" command)? In theory, if Inkscape preserved the location and the transformation matrix of the object, along with the reference, it would have all the information necessary to reconstruct the external image in the document. Thus, any modifications to the external image would be reflected whenever the main image was updated.If this doesn't exist in Inkscape, is it possible in standard SVG? If so, I'll make a feature request out of it, if not, are there any other methods that you can use to accomplish this task?Thanks,Nick _________________________________________________________________ Change is good. See what’s different about Windows Live Hotmail. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/learnmore/default.html?locale=en-us&ocid…

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Illustrate screenshots (bitmap) with vector objects and export at 100% (1:1 ratio)
by Jean-Marc Molina 31 May '07

31 May '07

I would like to use Inkscape as a screenshot illustrator (image editor). I have a bitmap, a software interface capture for example, and would like to draw some vector objects over it. However I can't find the proper zoom level to display the bitmap properly (at 100% or 200% it randomly works, it depends of the screenshot size) and more important, export it so the result is not "jagged". The zoom level, even at 100% (1:1) is never correct as Inkscape doesn't consider the canvas as a bitmap, as The GIMP does for example, but as vector. The only solution I found is to set the exported bitmap dimensions to 90 ppp but I'm not sure it works in all cases. I don't even know why 90 works, I suppose it balances the bitmap/vector ratio. I guess I'm looking for some sort of hybrid mode between bitmap and vector image editing.

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