Inkscape Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Get the book. Program English, Française, Español Inkscape Guide to a Vector Drawing Program 2nd Edition Tavmjong Bah 0.14 (Documenting version 0.46) http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.php (1 of 3)8/2/08 1:04 PM Inkscape Available in PDF form from SourceForge Community Press. This book has a website with additional material. Go to: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/. Suggestions and corrections are welcome and can be sent to tavmjong @ free . fr. Copyright © 2006-2009 Tavmjong Bah This book in HTML form is available for personal use only. It may not be reproduced and distributed in any form without the consent of the author. Abstract Inkscape, Guide to a Vector Drawing Program is THE GUIDE to the Inkscape program. The web-based version is linked directly to under the program's Help menu. This book is both an introduction and reference for the Inkscape drawing program. With Inkscape, one can produce a wide variety of art, from photo-realistic drawings to organizational charts. Inkscape uses SVG, a powerful vector-based drawing language and W3C web standard, as its native format. SVG drawings can be directly viewed by web browsers such as Firefox and Opera. A subset of SVG has been adopted by the mobile phone market. Inkscape is available free for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Solaris operating systems. The first third of the book is devoted to eight tutorials that progress in difficulty from very basic to very complex (three additional tutorials were written explicitly for the PDF version). The remainder of the book covers each facet of Inkscape in detail. Updated for Inkscape v0.46, the book includes complete coverage of new features including: SVG filters, "Live Path Effects", the 3D box tool, and the Tweak Tool. Advance topics covered include the use of Inkscape's powerful tiling tool, built-in bitmap tracing, and SVG use on the web. The book includes plenty of tips (and warnings) about the use of Inkscape and SVG. Table of Contents ● Acknowledgments ● Introduction ● 1. Quick Start ● 2. Files ● 3. Changing the View ● 4. Editing Basics http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.php (2 of 3)8/2/08 1:04 PM Inkscape ● 5. Positioning and Transforming ● 6. Geometric Shapes ● 7. Paths ● 8. Text ● 9. Attributes ● 10. Tweak Tool ● 11. Paint Bucket Tool ● 12. Clipping and Masking ● 13. Filter Effects ● 14. XML Editor ● 15. Tiling ● 16. Tracing Bitmaps ● 17. Connectors ● 18. Effects ● 19. SVG and the Web ● 20. Customization ● 21. Using the Command Line ● 22. Challenges ● A. Inkview ● B. File Format ● C. Spheres ● D. List of Dialogs ● E. Tips for Illustrator Converts ● Glossary ● Index Acknowledgments © 2005-2008 Tavmjong Bah. Get the book. http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.php (3 of 3)8/2/08 1:04 PM Chapter 1. Quick Start Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Get the book. Program Inkscape » Quick Start Chapter 1. Quick Start Table of Contents ● The Anatomy of the Inkscape Window ● The Swedish Flag - A Short Example ● The European Flag - A More Elaborate Example ● A Hiking Club Logo - An Exercise in Paths ● The Northern Pacific Railway Logo - A Tracing Example ● A Box for Cards - An Isometric Projection ● A Can of Soup - A Three-Dimension Drawing with Gradients ● A Vine Design - A Tiling Example ● A Neon Sign - Animation ● A Bank Note - Security Features ● A Bottle - Photorealism Let's get started. Inkscape is a very powerful program. However, you need to understand only a small part of it to begin drawing. This section gives you an overview of parts of the Inkscape user interface and then leads you through the creation of a few drawings. We will use a number of examples: ● Swedish Flag: A basic introduction to Inkscape using simple rectangles. ● European Flag: Includes drawing stars and precisely placing objects. ● Hiking Club Logo: Introduces text and is a serious foray into paths. ● Northern Pacific Railway Logo: Shows how to create a drawing from a photograph with http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/QuickStart.html (1 of 2)8/2/08 1:05 PM Chapter 1. Quick Start the help of the auto-tracing routine. Layers are also introduced. ● Box of Playing Cards: Shows how to use Inkscape to draw a simple isometric projection of a three-dimensional object. It utilizes precise transformations of objects. ● Can of Soup: Another demonstration of how to simulate a 3D object in a 2D drawing. It introduces gradients. ● Vine Design: Demonstrates how to create a pattern that can be used as a base tile for a repeating pattern. It introduces the powerful Create Tiled Clones feature of Inkscape. ● Neon Sign: Introduces using Inkscape for animation. ● Bank Note: Uses a variety of Inkscape features to produce a "secure" bank note. Patterns and scroll work are featured. ● Bottle: Creates a photorealistic drawing of a spritzer bottle. Tracing, gradients, and blurring are used. Help The Anatomy of the Inkscape Window © 2005-2008 Tavmjong Bah. Get the book. http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/QuickStart.html (2 of 2)8/2/08 1:05 PM Chapter 2. Files Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Get the book. Program Inkscape » Files Chapter 2. Files Table of Contents ● Opening and Saving Files ● Importing Files ● Exporting Files ● Printing Files ● Vacuuming Files This section covers the manipulation of the files that are used by Inkscape. This includes the files for storing your drawings in the Inkscape format, and for importing and exporting drawings in other formats. All the commands to manipulate files can be found under the File menu. Several of the commands can be also be found in the Command Bar (New-default, Open, Save, Print, Import and Export Bitmap). A Bottle - Photorealism Opening and Saving Files © 2005-2008 Tavmjong Bah. Get the book. http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/File.html8/2/08 1:05 PM Chapter 3. Changing the View Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Get the book. Program Inkscape » Changing the View Chapter 3. Changing the View Table of Contents ● Panning the Canvas ● Zooming the Canvas ● Miscellaneous View Commands The view presented by the Inkscape window can be changed in many ways. The changes can be divided into two types: those that change the way drawings appear and those that change how the Inkscape interface appears. A few of the latter type of changes are covered in other chapters such as Chapter 5, Positioning and Transforming, for Grids and Guide Lines, and Chapter 20, Customization, for changing parts of the GUI. An Inkscape drawing can be viewed in many different ways. The view can be changed by panning and by zooming the canvas. The Inkscape window can be made full screen. Multiple views of the same canvas are possible. An Outline or Wire-frame mode is available as well as a Icon Preview window. Vacuuming Files Panning the Canvas http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/View.html (1 of 2)8/2/08 1:05 PM Chapter 3. Changing the View © 2005-2008 Tavmjong Bah. Get the book. http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/View.html (2 of 2)8/2/08 1:05 PM Chapter 4. Editing Basics Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Get the book. Program Inkscape » Editing Basics Chapter 4. Editing Basics Table of Contents ● Undo and Redo ● Selecting Objects ● Copying, Pasting, and Deleting Objects ● Clones ● Ordering Objects (Z-order) ● Groups ● Layers We discuss here some of the basic editing concepts of Inkscape, including: undoing and redoing changes, selecting objects, copying and deleting objects, and grouping objects. It is assumed that you have some familiarity with Inkscape by having worked through some of the examples in Chapter 1, Quick Start, or through the tutorials included with Inkscape (Help → Tutorials). Miscellaneous View Commands Undo and Redo http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Basics.html (1 of 2)8/2/08 1:05 PM Chapter 4. Editing Basics © 2005-2008 Tavmjong Bah. Get the book. http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Basics.html (2 of 2)8/2/08 1:05 PM