- Inkscape Users - Inkscape Mailman

My recent experience with Inkscape
by Michael Grosberg 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

I've been working with Inkscape a lot lately, and while it was mostly a lot of fun, I could think of a number of small changes that could make Inkscape even better. Most of them seem to not be so difficult to implement as far as I can tell. I'm not sure if this is the right place, but I didn't want to just post a bunch of enhancement requests - I'd rather get some user and developer feedback first. So, here's my list: The layer window icons are not identical to those on the layer menu. While this makes Inkscape similar to Gimp, it also makes its own visual language inconsistent! I think Inkscape should be consistent with itself first. Plus, the layer icons on the menu are so much better looking. I'd like to see menu items and keyboard shortcuts to globally turn snap on and off. Ideally, they should be similar to Adobe's (with the same keyboard shortcut), and placed in the "View" menu. Yes, these all exist in the document preferences, but I find I turn snap on and off a lot, even while working on a single path (imagine wanting to snap just one or two nodes here and there), and I see a need for something more useable than having a large floating dialog that takes a lot of screen space. Similarly, I'd also like to have menu items to toggle different snap modes on and off. They should be placed in a sub-menu right after the "snap" toggle, and the sub-menu labeled as "Snap To...". If the "global snap" mentioned above is turned off, then (as in Adobe products) these have no effect. Hiding and locking is not very easy right now. For example, I don't see a way to hide or lock multiple selections. There's a need for "Hide selected", "Lock selected", "Unhide All", "Unlock All" menu items in the "Object" menu. Possibly also "Hide" and "Lock" as right-click menu items. Inkscape should remember all floating dialogs' show/hide status on exit so that if they were visible when Inkscape terminates, they are visible in the next session. "Swatches" should probably move from the "Object" menu to the "view" menu as they are not related to objects. I don't think the "Export Bitmap" dialog should switch between "Page", "Drawing" or "selection" when the selection is changed. In my experience, sometimes you export the entire page a number of times, while making small changes here and there. All the while, the export dialog automatically switches to "selection" whenever you do something and then switches back to "drawing". You have to return it to "drawing" all the time. I can see how the current setup is useful - when exporting multiple selections as multiple files - but I think the earlier use pattern I mentioned is more common. At least, a method to turn this behavior off should be supplied. When copying and pasting objects between files, stops in gradients should be automatically renamed so that objects don't accidentally receive the wrong gradient because of two different gradients in the two files having the same name. Yes, this happened to me a number of times! The last one is an important bug fix for us Windows users: make all dialogs and tool windows float above the canvas. I remember this was done in Gimp about a year ago. I think it had something to do with the version of GTK used. I also remember seeing it as an open bug in some previous Inkscape version prior to release - what happened with that? Were there no volounteers found to fix it? I'd like to hear your feedback, especially developers! Michael

5 10

[inkscape] export to AI
by Cedric Sagne 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

Hi to all I need to export to Adobe Illustrator. I understand that I need ghostscript (which is installed on my machine - windows for my scribus build already) but I am not sure if my Inkscape 0.44 has it - where can i check if it's set up properly. I also understand some features will not be supported, such as transparency. Why does AI not appear in my list of file types? Is it because Ghostscript is not properly set up? Thanks for your help. Cedric --------------------------------- Sponsored Link $200,000 mortgage for $660/mo - 30/15 yr fixed, reduce debt, home equity - Click now for info

2 1

getting started editing text
by Seymour Fine 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

I am a novice at Inkscape (0.44.1 with WinXP) and have a problem getting started editing some text. I clicked on the text tool (A) and then on the text but the formatting changes that I try to do, do not happen. What am I missing? I tried in vain clicking the selection (upper left) arrow.

6 9

Stars / polygons - only get polygons.
by Kinsley Turner 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

G'day, I get the feeling this is going to be a stupid question, but the 'polygon' checkbox no longer seems to do anything for the Star tool. I only ever get polygons. Is there something I've done to cause this? thanks, -kt -- Please consider our environment before printing this email. WARNING - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please delete and inform us by return email. Because emails and attachments may be interfered with, may contain computer viruses or other defects and may not be successfully replicated on other systems, you must be cautious. Westpac cannot guarantee that what you receive is what we sent. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of an email by Westpac, please contact us immediately. It is also important to check for viruses and defects before opening or using attachments. Westpac's liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. This email and its attachments are not intended to constitute any form of financial advice or recommendation of, or an offer to buy or offer to sell, any security or other financial product. We recommend that you seek your own independent legal or financial advice before proceeding with any investment decision. Westpac Institutional Bank is a division of Westpac Banking Corporation, a company registered in New South Wales in Australia under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Westpac is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority and is registered at Cardiff in the United Kingdom as Branch No. BR 106. Westpac operates in the United States of America as a federally chartered branch, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141.

2 1

Blur + L-System pretty screenshot
by ValessioBrito 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

Hi, Blur + L-system = Big lightning, view: http://valessio.ul-jb.org/img/shot/inkscape_0.45_RaiosLsystem.png "0.45" = 0.44+Devel SVG: http://valessio.ul-jb.org/projetos/inkscape/tutoriais/raios/raios_l-system.… Howto in pt_BR: http://twiki.softwarelivre.org/bin/view/InkscapeBrasil/SoltandoRaiosComInks… :-) .ValessioBrito I love everything this...

6 9

(no subject)
by anas emad 08 Nov '06

08 Nov '06

-- with my best weshes Anas Emad www.anas.co.nr

1 0

How to make a contour surface
by Tonny Madsen 08 Nov '06

08 Nov '06

Hi all, I have a small web site (http://rcp-company.com) where I have inherited a number of images. Now I would like to make some changes, but as I would like to keep the basic look and feel I would like to generate a randon "contour surface" as already used on the existing web site. But how can one do that in inkscape? I have tried some of the effects, but not found anything that is usefull. So if anybody knows how to do this, then plase let me know. Alternatively, if anybody just happens to have file handy, then I would be very pleased if I could use it directly /tonny -- Tonny Madsen The RCP Company

4 8

Re: [Inkscape-user] Sidebar with palettes and dialogs instead of scattered
by Johan Engelen 07 Nov '06

07 Nov '06

> Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 09:31:12 -0800 > From: Bryce Harrington <bryce@...983...> > > On Tue, Nov 07, 2006 at 03:01:24PM +0100, Thorsten wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I'm almost certain that I'm not the first person to > ask/request this, > > but I'll dare none-the-less: > > > > How about having a sidebar in Inkscape in which one can > reveal/hide the > > palettes/dialogs like layers, alignment, color swatches, etc.? > > I think JonCruz is working towards this direction. He could probably > use some help if you're interested in learning some gtk. > This is one of the things I hope to work on when I have more time to do so (i.e. from next month)! :D Cheers, Johan

1 0

Getting vector graphic from Corel Draw into Inkscape
by Sebastian Noack 07 Nov '06

07 Nov '06

Hi, I got a CDR file from a customer. I have a copy of Corel Draw 11. So I opened the file in my version of Corel Draw and exported it as CGM, according to the Inkscape FAQ. But I can't open the CGM file generated by Corel Draw 11 in ooimpress. Then I tried to export it as SVG and AI file (Version 7). I had to note that this what Corel calls SVG should rather be called Corel-XML because it is completely incompatible with any other SVG-Viewer/Editor. Firefox just showes an error message about an unknown namespace, Imagemagick could just render aprox. 10% of the graphic, but Inkscape still does a relative good job, by rendering aprox. 85% of the vector graphic. I was already able to open SVG files generated by Corel Draw, which contains just a few trivial objects, in inksape without problems. But if the graphic is a little bit more comlex than just a converted text, you can forget Corel Draw's SVG encoding, if you intend to open it by something else than Corel Draw itself. Inkscape claims to be able to import Adobe Illustrtor. But in my case it failed. I think either Corel Draw generates similar crap when genereating AI files as when generating SVG files or Inkscape is just incompatible with Version 7 of Adobe Illustrator. So, is there any known reliable method, which works to get a vector graphic from Corel Draw into Inkscape? And which version of adobe Illustrtor is supported by Inkscape? Regards Sebastian Noack

2 2

Sidebar with palettes and dialogs instead of scattered windows?
by Thorsten 07 Nov '06

07 Nov '06

Hi, I'm almost certain that I'm not the first person to ask/request this, but I'll dare none-the-less: How about having a sidebar in Inkscape in which one can reveal/hide the palettes/dialogs like layers, alignment, color swatches, etc.? I constantly find myself faced with numerous open palettes/dialogs and the F12 key doesn't really cut it for me in that regard. Any comments?

2 1