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Circle animation in SVG
by Johan Engelen 01 Sep '11

01 Sep '11

Hi all, Some animated artwork you may like. I decided to transfer an old Pascal project into SVG. If you use Firefox: http://tostiband.nl/circles_small.svg If you use Chrome or Opera: http://tostiband.nl/circles.svg http://tostiband.nl/circles_bw.svg http://tostiband.nl/circles_rgb.svg http://tostiband.nl/circles_vertical.svg It's my first script attempt/copy-paste-fest, so probably I animate the circles in a dumb way, and that is why it is slow in Firefox. All comments are welcome of course. It is really nice to be able to hit a key to "maintain" the wave it is showing, i.e. all circles start rotating with the same speed but with the current phase difference. Then if you hit the key again, the program continues with the different circle speeds and rotates through all kinds of waves. Maybe if I feel like it, I will add this, but... it would be nifty if someone could give me some code that I could copy-paste for that :P :P Ciao, Johan

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Re: [Inkscape-user] Inkscape-user Digest, Vol 63, Issue 4
by gespertino＠...155... 18 Aug '11

18 Aug '11

Jonat?: Yeah, I know that extension, but it chokes with complex artwork. I tried once to use that extension to export the same flyer I linked in my previous message, and it took forever to complete. Using my hackish method you have your file ready to print in less than five minutes. Converting the exported RGB file to a CMYK tiff takes seconds with imagemagick. You can even use Phatch to create a script. With those options I'd say both ExportTIFFCMYK and ExportCMYKPDF extensions are the least I'd use. The idea is nice, but in practice they're too slow and memory consuming.

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DXF output extension
by Johan Engelen 12 Aug '11

12 Aug '11

Hi all, I just added support for clones in the non-pstoedit DXF output extension in trunk. Would be happy if people could do some testing. I also removed the DXF-comment from the DXF output because KLayout does not support that. Should we not rename this extension from "Desktop Cutting Plotter (AutoCAD DXF R14)" to just "AutoCAD DXF R14" ? There is another pstoedit-based output extension called "AutoCAD DXF R12", but this one is not available by default (and requires some extra work to get it going on Windows), and does not support layers. Ciao, Johan

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Re: [Inkscape-user] Printing separation knockout
by gespertino＠...155... 12 Aug '11

12 Aug '11

I do work for offset printing almost daily and I'm pretty familiar with that problem. You can't set overtprints/knockouts directly from Inkscape, but that probably isn't a big issue, since there is a bigger problem: what format to use when sending that file to the printshop. I wouldn't send an SVG file to a printshop. It's probably a recipe for disaster (although they probably won't accept the file in the first place). You should be sending PDF or TIFF files. Inkscape's PDF output isn't very reliable for print work yet, so you have two options: - Export a high resolution bitmap and export it as TIFF using GIMP - Import the artwork in Scribus and prepare it for print, then export as PDF. You have to keep in mind a couple of things, though: - Scribus SVG import doesn't play well with text, transparency and gradients. And forget about masking and embedded bitmaps. Use Scribus only for plain vector artwork or text converted to curves. The pro about it is that you're keeping vectors, and that's good specially for text. - Creating a TIFF for print from Inkscape and GIMP involves some steps and may look complicated, but it's a reliable method with less chances of screwing it. For two ink works like yours, you can use an old trick: replacing the CMYK plates for spot colors you can create up to 4 inks artwork. So, create your artwork in Inkscape, use spot inks (you can convert any color to spot swatch using the fill dialog). Once you're done and you like the result, edit your two inks and change the to pure RGB magenta (#ffff00) and cyan (#00ffff). Export the result as 600 dpi. Take the result to GIMP, decompose to CMY channels, invert, and save that channels individually as separated files (one for each plate) or paste those plates into a CMYK separation created with Separate+. If you need to overprint the top layer, just export the two plates separated from Inkscape and put them together in GIMP. I know this will sound complicated and tedious, but once you made it a couple of times makes a lot of sense and gives you total control over your separations, and it's relatively fast to compose the file For example, this is a duotone (just two inks) using that method: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/255376/print-tests/Duotone-Print.JPG :-) You can automate most of these procedures using imagemagick, but probably it's a good idea to start doing it visually so you can understand the process and come up with a proper command line version easier.

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An users whining. Developer, hear my plea
by Tommy Hjalmarsson 11 Aug '11

11 Aug '11

-*An users whining. Developer, hear my plea-* -*Selecting line width with the Find Dialog, it could bee really god-* In Adobe Illustrator you have the option to select strokes by width, very useful. If you for example do a print and find that the contour line is to weak, you can easily select all contour and change the width. The Find Dialog can do a similarjob in IncScape, but poorly. One of the problem is that in the SVG XLM code for line width 1px is coded as [stroke-width:1], not [stroke-width:1.00], so you get a hit on 1.5 and 1.848854 also, when you type [stroke-width:1] in the Find Dialog/Style text field. In the SVG XLM code the next sign is " after the stroke-width number , [stroke-width:1"] or [stroke-width: 1.848854"]. But you can't use the sign " to narrow the search. /(" defines the end of the ///Attribute, or the beginning of a new code string in XLM code.)//// And when all search field is checked and you search for line width, it's hardly work like the utopia I dreaming of. Not at all. When you have the InkScape Preference option: /I//nkScape Preferences/Tranform..............uncheck "Scale stroke width,/it scale lines anyway. Your 2px line can now be 1.935637 or 2.136549 (the number is just to illustrate) So if you work in discipline manner, it doesn't help. You perhaps dont't get a hit on 2px line width because it's 1.935637 . /Now Geany it's better for batch change the line width than InkScape are./ -*My simple ideas- * ( in this example lines is separate without filling, and filling is without line. Think cartoon with line and color separate ) In Objects Properties you can give a object a Title. Let say you could select a number of lines and give them all a title as "thin line" or "contour". ( Objects Properties can only assign one selection now, but if just Title could do more) And if "Find Dialog" also had the option "search Title" I could search for the contour title and my utopia is nearer. Or... InkScape have defined line width as 0.1...0.25...0.5...0.75...0.1..1.5...2...3 and so on, if you choose that . Let say I could lock InkScape to only use the defined line width for a document or in InkScape preferences. And InkScape also created subgroups as for example stroke-width:1.5, that I could choose and batch change the line width. And perhaps also force InkScape to only write the defined line width, and with only two decimals in the XLM code. Or... It's already there but I don't know it, and someone out there maybe her my plea? -*Origin-* A circle/ellipse should NOT move the center/origin when you shift to segment or arc circle. It's still a object primitive. It's wrong, so wrong. The center/origin disappear from the screen when you move the object, and turn up again when you finish moving, it's to late. The center/origin is GUIDE, so I want to see it. (when you move with the arrow keys I can see it, but........) -*Bounding box-* The bounding box around a ellipse should follow the rotation of the ellipse, when it still is a object primitive (A preference option.......please) /Tommy Hjalmarsson InkScape gallery: http://zombiwoof.deviantart.com/gallery/12392182

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Printing separation knockout
by unknown＠example.com 10 Aug '11

10 Aug '11

Hi I found this thread on a graphic design forum (I edited names out) and I am curious how this specific situation translated for Inkscape users Cedric Sagne Thread below Printing Separations knockout ? Hi, I’m a graphic designer at small printing shop. We have a job with a 2 color logo (which is a black chair with a black pattern on the red upholstery). The press operator has asked that we print black on top of the red field so he doesn’t have to deal with the extra tight registration required in the pattern of the chair. I created the logo in illustrator with a black pattern on a solid red field but when I send the file as separations the red plate has white where the black lays on top. I’m new at pre-press design so my vocabulary is lacking a bit but I think this is a knockout issue. Does that make since? How do I get it to send as a solid red so we can lay black on top? V __________________ reply from k Select your all of the black elements AI and set them to overprint in the attributes panel (kind of surprised it isn't already, as black usually overprints) Is it not standard black (ie rich black or a PMS?) __________________ Reply from C If it's 100% black, a lot of rip softwares (and a lot of design software) will make it overprint automatically. If it's a black spot color (i.e. Pantone Black) it may not automatically overprint, so you may have to tell it to overprint. __________________ Reply from A If you've used a pattern fill, you may have to "Expand Appearance" on the object and make sure it's solid K. there may be some other colour involved in the default illy pattern fills...

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Re: [Inkscape-user] Inkscape-user Digest, Vol 63, Issue 1
by Cedric Sagne 10 Aug '11

10 Aug '11

Hi I found this thread on a graphic design forum (I edited names out) and I am curious how this specific situation translated for Inkscape users Cedric Sagne Thread below Printing Separations knockout ? Hi, I’m a graphic designer at small printing shop. We have a job with a 2 color logo (which is a black chair with a black pattern on the red upholstery). The press operator has asked that we print black on top of the red field so he doesn’t have to deal with the extra tight registration required in the pattern of the chair. I created the logo in illustrator with a black pattern on a solid red field but when I send the file as separations the red plate has white where the black lays on top. I’m new at pre-press design so my vocabulary is lacking a bit but I think this is a knockout issue. Does that make since? How do I get it to send as a solid red so we can lay black on top? V __________________ reply from k Select your all of the black elements AI and set them to overprint in the attributes panel (kind of surprised it isn't already, as black usually overprints) Is it not standard black (ie rich black or a PMS?) __________________ Reply from C If it's 100% black, a lot of rip softwares (and a lot of design software) will make it overprint automatically. If it's a black spot color (i.e. Pantone Black) it may not automatically overprint, so you may have to tell it to overprint. __________________ Reply from A If you've used a pattern fill, you may have to "Expand Appearance" on the object and make sure it's solid K. there may be some other colour involved in the default illy pattern fills...

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Linking SVG files
by Terry Brown 10 Aug '11

10 Aug '11

I'm curious about the current state / roadmap / priority for linking SVG files in Inkscape. This seems to be a reasonable summary of the current state: https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/97946 In brief: 1) <use xlink:href='file:///path/to/foo.svg#thing'/> gives an "Unsupported URI" warning, and no content. I think a <use/> linked to the whole doc. would be invalid, but targeting an element should work / works in Batik? 2) <image xlink:href='file:///path/to/foo.svg'/> gives the foo.svg page rasterized at 90 dpi according to the inches in foo.svg 3) <image xlink:href='file:///path/to/foo.svg#thing'/> gives nothing, perhaps it's invalid anyway. 4) there's no UI for creating <image/> links to .svg files, or for setting the aspect ratio to match the source, except the XML editor For (2) keeping the vector data instead of rasterizing is a wishlist bug from 2008-1-5 (171795), and I'm not aware of any wishlist items for UI elements. It seems to me that allowing links to other SVG files in this way would be really useful in many cases, but there seems to be little interest from users or developers, and I wonder why. Is there some obvious alternate mechanism I'm overlooking? One use case which would make Inkscape particularly useful to the open-source map community would be linking to generated SVG map content so post GIS enhancements could be made and the underlying map(s) automagically updated. But I think there must be countless cases where this functionality would be helpful. Is it just a case of so many things to do and so little time? Cheers -Terry

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Last call for GSoC Doc Camp
by Jon Cruz 02 Aug '11

02 Aug '11

In case we have people interested, the GSoC applications for Doc Camp end this Friday https://sites.google.com/site/docsprintsummit/

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Distorting text with Inkscape
by Tavmjong Bah 21 Jul '11

21 Jul '11

Hi, At last week's SVG Working Group meeting[1] we discussed textPath method="stretch". This value tells the renderer to distort the text along a path so it better fills up the space between glyphs. Only Opera seems to have implemented this and it does it by making a "trapezoid" like distortion. The actual method for distorting the glyphs is not defined in the spec. Israel Eisenberg has proposed that glyphs be distorted so that horizontal lines are "offset mapped" to (bent to follow the curve of) the path and he provided some compelling examples. I mentioned that Inkscape has some general path distortion functionality. The question was raised as to how the distortions are done so I've prepared a web page to demonstrate some of the ways one can distort paths in Inkscape. You can find the page at: http://tavmjong.free.fr/SVG/TEXT_PATH/TextPath.html The methods were designed for generic paths and have a few drawbacks when applied to text. The drawback include using the bounding box rather than the base-line and ascent in calculating the distortion, not always preserving straight vertical lines as straight lines, and the obvious one, that the semantic content of the text is lost. I imagine, someone versed in the LPE code could easily remedy the first two. Tav [1] http://www.w3.org/2011/07/14-svg-minutes.html

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