On Fri, 30 Mar 2007, cartoons wrote:
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:46:28 -0700 (PDT) From: cartoons <doc-x@...99...> Reply-To: Inkscape User Community inkscape-user@lists.sourceforge.net To: inkscape-user@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [Inkscape-user] getting started
Can someone on this list help me get started with Inkscape. I have release 0.43. I really like the program's drawing functionalities; however, so far I
0.43 is quite old
As a general rule it is a good idea to upgrade to the latest version before asking questions or pointing out problems in the older versions but in youre case the problems seem more general than that.
have not been able to figure out how to create and use .svg files (which I understand is the program's main file type).
SVG files can be created using Inkscape and viewed using the Adobe SVG Viewer. Most users of Microsoft Windows with a recent version of Adobe Acrobat reader will also have the Adobe SVG Viewer installed (as it is often included with Acrobat). Users with Adobe Illustrator can edit as well as view SVG files.
There are many other programs capable of viewing and editing SVG files, for a list of just a few see the Inkscape wiki http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/OtherProjects
Based on this question active contributors might want to expand the Inkscape Frequently Asked Questions and perhaps explain in more detail what Scalable Vector Graphics are. http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/FAQ#What_is_.27Scalable_Vector_Graph...
(And a link to "What are Scalable Vector Graphics" because I'm sure someone will correct the grammar sooner or later:) http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/FAQ#What_are_.27Scalable_Vector_Grap...
I draw cartoons and, no matter how good the program is, it is of no use to me if I cannot figure out how to share the stuff I create and post to websites, etc.
Converting from SVG to PNG (Portable Network Graphics, see Export) should work for most users with a web browser but with the warning that Microsoft have utterly failed to provide adequate support for transparency in their half assed version of PNG support.
So far I have figured how to create a basic .svg file and also I've manage to import a .bmp into MS Powerpoint.
presumably you got that far by converting an Inkscape PNG to BMP files using another program
there is experimental work to add WMF support (Windows Metafile) which might benefit you in future but in your case I'd recommend you just update regulary and keep an eye out for that feature.
I created the .bmp by 'exporting to .bmp'.
Inkscape includes a built in option to export to PNG and Powerpoint should be able to understand PNG files just as well as BMP files and PNG files have the advantage of being much much smaller
But I cannot just 'copy and paste' images that I create into other programs. Why is this?
Inkscape does not yet support copy and paste between programs (or even copy and paste between different copies of Inkscape). That would require work to understand the native clipboard, and at present other tasks are considered more important by developers but I'm sure they will get round to it sooner or later. With open source you can only encourage, you cannot dictate what developer priorities should be (unless you pay a developer to work on the features you are most intersted in but that only helps a little).