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Improved performance of the object snapper
by Diederik van Lierop 06 Sep '07

06 Sep '07

Hello, The last few days I've spent on improving the performance of the object snapper. It used to take ages (e.g about 6 seconds on my machine) to move a simple rectangle over a large text box, but I've managed to reduce this significantly (i.e. < 1 sec.!). This was with both snapping to paths and snapping to nodes turned on. For this I had to refactor the object snapper code significantly, so I might have introduced new bugs or regressions. Please be aware of this and report any suspicious behavior, so we can have both fast and robust snapping in v0.46! Please note that the performance has only increased when using the selector tool for transforming a number of points, e.g. when dragging a selection. Using the node tool to drag a single node will not benefit from this. Now for those of you interested in some technical details: Before, for _every_ point in the selection being transformed (using the selector tool), Inkscape would search for snapping candidates, build a list of nodes and paths, and finally call convertWithBackData(). Only then would it snap this single point and start all over again for the next point in the selection. Now we only do this collecting and converting stuff once, store the results, and then snap all points in the selection (using the stored data). Not having to call convertWithBackData really helps a lot! I think that in many common cases this improves the performance dramatically. However, there might also be some (rare?) cases showing a performance decrease, because the number of candidates might be higher. Before we would search for candidates within range of a single point. Now we search for candidates within range of any of the snappoints in the selection, so our list of candidates is longer which gives us more combinations to check. I do think that this will not really be an issue, as this use case is less common and there's still a performance gain at the same time. Any feedback is appreciated! Regards, Diederik

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displaying blur effect
by Adam Pearson 06 Sep '07

06 Sep '07

Hi all Sorry to be a pain, I am sure this must have been asked before but can you tell me why my svg files with blur effect do not show the blur in e.g. Firefox 2.0.0.6? I uploaded a bit of clipart (of a crab) to the open clip art library and lost the blur, although it is preserved in an exported png file. You can see both here: http://openclipart.org/media/files/addon/4258 Just left-click the appropriate buttons to see the file, no need to download .... Comments will be very welcome! Adam

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Compiling on Win32
by Docsonic 06 Sep '07

06 Sep '07

I followed the directions from JonY to compile the SVN on Win32 (I know I don't really need to as the new win builds are perfect but I enjoy the challenge) and I keep hitting the same problem. When I run 'g++ buildtool.cpp -o btool' I get a string of errors starting with - buildtool.cpp:53:18: error: string: No such file or directory buildtool.cpp:53:18: error: string: No such file or directory buildtool.cpp:53:18: error: string: No such file or directory

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Adobe Illustrator Export Option
by Joseph Pender 05 Sep '07

05 Sep '07

According to Inkscape 0.45 release notes: "We only support AI import and export for Adobe Illustrator 8.0 and older. This has been clarified in the Open and Save As lists" The menu option does not appear under Windows. Any tips? I'm using inkscape 0.45.1

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ANN: EmfPrinter 0.2.0
by Francesco Montorsi 04 Sep '07

04 Sep '07

Hi all, this is not directly related to InkScape but I think is a news which will interest many people doing vector graphics on Windows. EmfPrinter 0.2.0 is out: http://emfprinter.sourceforge.net/ What is it? EmfPrinter is a virtual printer driver for Windows 2000 and higher (tested only on Windows XP so far), which allows you to create EMF (Enhanced Meta File) vector images from any Windows application which supports printing. The nice things about this virtual printer are: 1. it's Open Source: free as in freedom! 2. it exports data directly in a vector format, without rasterizations; for more info about raster vs vector formats, please see the Wikipedia 3. very easy to install and use (and also to uninstall actually!) =============================== Why EMF? Why export printed data in EMF instead of another vector format, much more widespread like SVG? It's simple: the Windows GDI printing system provides data to the printer drivers directly in EMF format; thus it's "easy" to extract EMFs from printed data using a virtual printer driver. EMF is a undocumented format (for the few reverse-engineered infos look here) which however is very easy to render on Windows and is supported by all programs of the Microsoft Office suite and many others. Unfortunately it's also very difficult to edit preserving its "vectorness". =============================== Regards, Francesco Montorsi

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Problems with gcc from modevia
by JonY 04 Sep '07

04 Sep '07

Hi, I noticed a problem with the MingW package (mingw-4.2.0-070518.7z) provided by inkscape.modevia.com. The MingW with gcc 4.1.2 (zip package) didn't have this problem. =================================================================== F:\mingw\bin>echo "#include <stdio.h>"|gcc -v -E - -o nul Using built-in specs. Target: i686-pc-mingw32 Configured with: ../configure --target=i686-pc-mingw32 --prefix=/mingw --enable- sjlj-exceptions --enable-threads=win32 --disable-win32-registry --enable-win32-r elocatable --enable-languages=c,c++ Thread model: win32 gcc version 4.2.0 f:/mingw/bin/../libexec/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.2.0/cc1.exe -E -quiet -v -iprefix f:\mingw\bin\../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.2.0/ - -o nul.exe -mtune=generic ignoring nonexistent directory "c:/mingw/lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.2.0/include" ignoring nonexistent directory "c:/mingw/i686-pc-mingw32/include" #include "..." search starts here: #include <...> search starts here: f:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.2.0/include c:/mingw/include /mingw/include /mingw/include End of search list. F:\mingw\bin> =================================================================== As you can see, gcc searches for C:\mingw\includes for headers even if executed on F:\mingw. This also happens if gcc is executed from places other than C:\mingw. This may introduce serious inconsistencies for Windows SVN testers with previously installed MinGW while debugging new builds. Before the bashing begins, I already RTFM and written an ugly patch for it which involves passing -nostdinc -nostdinc++ to workaround drive space limitations on my machine. It would probably break automated builds, so I would avoid posting the patch here unless requested. Any advice for better workarounds?

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Need help using Render Gears tool
by JonY 03 Sep '07

03 Sep '07

Hi, I've been using a r15987 svn build on Windows. What i've done is: 1. Use Bezier tool to draw some straight lines with a few 90(more or less) degree turns. 2. Convert to path. 3. Effects --> Render --> Gear So far, it only creates one "gear" from the selected set of path. I may be doing it wrong, if so, how should I use the gears tool?

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Tweak tool: soften mode
by Facundo Casco 02 Sep '07

02 Sep '07

Hi, I've just downloaded the 20070830 windows build of Inkscape and while playing with the tweak tool the first thing I wanted after using the roughen mode was a soften mode, something like a localized simplify path. The only problem I see with simplify path is that used after roughen leaves some disconnected nodes, like speckels. Anyway, great tool and excellent work yo're doing with Inkscape. Thanks for a great software. Facundo -- =,=

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Perspective effect fix for openSUSE 10.2 users
by heathenx 02 Sep '07

02 Sep '07

Awhile back I posted about not being able to get the perspective effect working on my openSUSE 10.2 system. No one replied back to me. Probably because it didn't look like an easy fix or perhaps I'm the only opneSUSE user. Anyway, I stumbled across a post somewhere on the Internet and turned up a repo specifically for openSUSE 10.2 users with the required packages to get the perspective effect to work. This is the error that I was getting when trying to use the perspective effect with python-numpy, blas, and lapack that was installed on my system: File “”, line 1, in File “/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/numpy/__init__.py”, line 43, in import linalg File “/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/numpy/linalg/__init__.py”, line 4, in from linalg import * File “/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/numpy/linalg/linalg.py”, line 25, in from numpy.linalg import lapack_lite ImportError: /usr/lib/libblas.so.3: undefined symbol: _gfortran_st_write_done Here’s the issue: “This is certainly because of a mismatch the compiler used for numpy and blas/lapack. I checked the rpm you are using, and it looks like whereas blas and lapack are compiled with gfortran, python-numpy is compiled with g77. I do not use opensuse myself, but started a project to provide binaries for numpy/scipy for this distribution: most of the packages like blas and lapack are broken on this platform (I really wonder if there was any testing of those packages by the packagers).” This was posted by a fellow name “David”. This guy has a repo with blas, lapack, and numpy specifically for openSUSE 10.2 users. Here is his repository: http://software.opensuse.org/download/home:/ashigabou/openSUSE_10.2/ Anyway, I installed his packages and now perspective works in Inkacape v0.45-1. I don’t know who “David” is but he has been a life saver for me. I just wanted to pass along this information in case other opneSUSE users are having trouble. heathenx

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The STC Chapter Technical Communications Competitions, Washington DC
by TERRY REECE 01 Sep '07

01 Sep '07

Hi everyone, I have an announcement. Besides being an Inkscape user, I'm also a technical writer. As such, I'm also a member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), a nonprofit organization. I belong to their Washington, DC Chapter. It just so happens that the DC Chapter of the STC is looking for submissions to their annual Technical Communications Competitions. Actually, there are three competitions in all: Online Communication Technical Art Technical Publications For each competition there are a number of categories in which you can enter your artwork (more than one if you wish). For the Technical Art Competition, there are 17 categories. They range from Mechanical Illustration to Interpretative Illustration to Promotional Materials Design. As you can see, for Inkscape users, this is right up our alley as long as the entry is technical in nature. There are three levels of awards in each category: Distinguished Technical Communication (DTC) Excellence Merit In addition, one DTC winner in each competition wins Best Of Show. So, there are many chances to win. Also, you don't have to be a member of STC or its DC chapter to enter. In fact, you don't even have to live in the US. The chapter frequently receives entries from other countries. The main deal is that they must be written in English. In any case, if you think you have a design, illustration, poster, or other artwork you think is award quality, think about submitting it. You'll get to see what others are doing and receive valuable feedback from our expert judges. You could say that this your chance to grab your fifteen minutes of fame, and have something to brag about back at the office. Entries to the STC Washington, DC Chapter Technical Communications Competitions must be submitted on or before 16 October 2007. For more details, go to the link below <http://www.stcwdc.org/compete.shtml> http://www.stcwdc.org/compete.shtml P.S. All entrants and those interested in seeing the winning entries are invited to an awards banquet on 9 February 2008 in Washington, DC. The banquet will be held at the historic DACOR-Bacon house - a beautiful example of Federalist architecture. The house is outfitted in authentic furnishings of the period when it served as hearth and home to some of the notables of US jurisprudence and politics. (see photos here: <http://www.dacorbacon.org/DACOR/DACOR_MAIN.htm> http://www.dacorbacon.org/DACOR/DACOR_MAIN.htm) See your there, Terry Reece

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