The Book of Inkscape

Book description

Inkscape is a powerful, free, cross-platform, vector-based drawing tool similar to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW. The Book of Inkscape, written by Inkscape developer and graphic designer Dmitry Kirsanov, is an in-depth guide to Inkscape, offering comprehensive coverage and creative advice on Inkscape's many capabilities.

Table of contents

  1. The Book of™ Inkscape: The Definitive Guide to the Free Graphics Editor
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Introduction
    1. What’s in This Book?
    2. Who Is This Book For?
  4. 1. Inkscape and the World
    1. 1.1 What Vector Graphics Is and Why It Matters
    2. 1.2 What Can You Do with Inkscape?
    3. 1.3 Sources of Inkscape Art
    4. 1.4 A Brief History of SVG
    5. 1.5 Inkscape and Its Competition
      1. 1.5.1 Adobe Illustrator
        1. 1.5.1.1 Adobe’s Vector Formats
      2. 1.5.2 CorelDRAW
      3. 1.5.3 Xara
      4. 1.5.4 . . . and Inkscape
    6. 1.6 The Life of an Open Source Application
  5. 2. An Inkscape Primer
    1. 2.1 Installing Inkscape
    2. 2.2 Inkscape’s “Hello, World!”
    3. 2.3 Interface Overview
    4. 2.4 Panning and Zooming
    5. 2.5 Creating Objects
    6. 2.6 Selecting
    7. 2.7 Transforming
    8. 2.8 Styling
    9. 2.9 Saving and Exporting
    10. 2.10 A Final Example
  6. 3. Setting Up and Moving Around
    1. 3.1 Preferences
      1. 3.1.1 Inkscape Preferences
      2. 3.1.2 Document Properties
    2. 3.2 Document Templates
    3. 3.3 Keyboard Setup
    4. 3.4 Page Setup
      1. 3.4.1 Document Units
      2. 3.4.2 Background
      3. 3.4.3 Page Size
    5. 3.5 Instances, Documents, Views
    6. 3.6 The Document Window
      1. 3.6.1 Window Geometry
    7. 3.7 Dialogs
    8. 3.8 Basic Zooming
    9. 3.9 The Zoom Tool
    10. 3.10 Panning
    11. 3.11 Rendering Modes
  7. 4. Objects
    1. 4.1 Object Properties
    2. 4.2 The Bounding Box
    3. 4.3 Z-Order
    4. 4.4 Copying, Cutting, Pasting, and Duplicating
    5. 4.5 Groups
      1. 4.5.1 Uses of Grouping
      2. 4.5.2 Groups and Z-Order
    6. 4.6 Layers
      1. 4.6.1 Layer Hierarchy
      2. 4.6.2 The Layer Menu
      3. 4.6.3 The Current Layer Indicator
      4. 4.6.4 The Layers Dialog
    7. 4.7 The XML Editor
  8. 5. Selecting
    1. 5.1 The Selection Cue
    2. 5.2 Selection and the Status Bar
    3. 5.3 Subselection
    4. 5.4 Selecting by Clicking: The Selector
    5. 5.5 Selecting by Clicking: Other Tools
    6. 5.6 Adding to a Selection
    7. 5.7 Selecting with the Rubber Band
    8. 5.8 Touch Selection
    9. 5.9 Selecting Objects from Underneath
    10. 5.10 Selecting in Groups
    11. 5.11 Selecting with Keyboard Shortcuts
    12. 5.12 Finding Objects
    13. 5.13 Following Links
    14. 5.14 Deselecting
    15. 5.15 Selection Miscellany
  9. 6. Transforming
    1. 6.1 The Selector: Moving
    2. 6.2 The Selector: Scaling
    3. 6.3 The Selector: Rotating and Skewing
    4. 6.4 Center of Rotation
    5. 6.5 Transforming with Keyboard Shortcuts
      1. 6.5.1 Moving
      2. 6.5.2 Scaling
      3. 6.5.3 Rotating and Flipping
    6. 6.6 Transforming with Numbers: X, Y, W, and H
    7. 6.7 The Transform Dialog
      1. 6.7.1 The Move Tab
        1. 6.7.1.1 Moving to Adjust Intervals
      2. 6.7.2 The Scale Tab
      3. 6.7.3 The Rotate Tab
      4. 6.7.4 The Skew Tab
      5. 6.7.5 The Matrix Tab
    8. 6.8 Pasting Sizes
    9. 6.9 Transforming with the Tweak Tool
    10. 6.10 What Transformations Affect
  10. 7. Snapping and Arranging
    1. 7.1 Guidelines
      1. 7.1.1 The Guideline Dialog
      2. 7.1.2 Guideline Properties
      3. 7.1.3 Guides from Objects
    2. 7.2 Grids
      1. 7.2.1 Grid Options
    3. 7.3 Snapping
      1. 7.3.1 The Snap Controls Bar
      2. 7.3.2 Bounding Box Snapping
      3. 7.3.3 Node and Handle Snapping
      4. 7.3.4 Snapping Preferences
    4. 7.4 Aligning
    5. 7.5 Distributing
      1. 7.5.1 Randomizing, Unclumping, and Removing Overlaps
      2. 7.5.2 Arranging Objects in a Table
  11. 8. Styling
    1. 8.1 Style Fundamentals
      1. 8.1.1 Paint
      2. 8.1.2 Opacity
    2. 8.2 Color Models
      1. 8.2.1 RGB
      2. 8.2.2 CMYK
      3. 8.2.3 HSL
    3. 8.3 The Palette
    4. 8.4 The Selected Style Indicator: Paint Commands
    5. 8.5 The Selected Style Indicator: Color Gestures
    6. 8.6 The Dropper Tool
      1. 8.6.1 Sampling
      2. 8.6.2 Assigning
      3. 8.6.3 Opacity
    7. 8.7 Color Tweaking
      1. 8.7.1 Color Paint
      2. 8.7.2 Color Jitter
      3. 8.7.3 Channels
      4. 8.7.4 Usage Notes
    8. 8.8 Color Extensions and Filters
  12. 9. Stroke and Markers
    1. 9.1 Stroke Width
    2. 9.2 Join
    3. 9.3 Caps
    4. 9.4 Dash Patterns
    5. 9.5 Markers
      1. 9.5.1 Mid Markers and Nodes
      2. 9.5.2 Coloring Markers
      3. 9.5.3 Creating New Markers
      4. 9.5.4 Markers Miscellany
  13. 10. Gradients and Patterns
    1. 10.1 The Gradient Tool
      1. 10.1.1 Linear Gradients
      2. 10.1.2 Elliptic Gradients
    2. 10.2 Gradient Definition
      1. 10.2.1 Sharing Gradient Definitions
    3. 10.3 Gradient Repeat
    4. 10.4 Handles
      1. 10.4.1 Selecting
      2. 10.4.2 Painting
      3. 10.4.3 Moving, Merging, and Snapping
    5. 10.5 Multistage Gradients
      1. 10.5.1 Creating Middle Stops
      2. 10.5.2 Moving Middle Stops
    6. 10.6 Transforming Objects with Gradients
    7. 10.7 Gradient Tips and Examples
    8. 10.8 Patterns
      1. 10.8.1 Creating Patterns
      2. 10.8.2 Editing Patterns
      3. 10.8.3 Stock Patterns
  14. 11. Shapes
    1. 11.1 Shape Tools
      1. 11.1.1 Shape Parameters
      2. 11.1.2 The Style of New Shapes
    2. 11.2 Rectangles
      1. 11.2.1 Sizing
      2. 11.2.2 Rounding
    3. 11.3 3D Boxes
      1. 11.3.1 Why Use 3D Boxes?
      2. 11.3.2 Drawing
      3. 11.3.3 Perspective and Vanishing Points
      4. 11.3.4 Handles
      5. 11.3.5 Styling
    4. 11.4 Ellipses
      1. 11.4.1 Drawing
      2. 11.4.2 Handles
    5. 11.5 Stars and Polygons
      1. 11.5.1 Drawing
      2. 11.5.2 Handles
      3. 11.5.3 Rounding
      4. 11.5.4 Randomizing
    6. 11.6 Spirals
  15. 12. Editing Paths
    1. 12.1 The Anatomy of a Path
      1. 12.1.1 Subpaths
      2. 12.1.2 Filling Paths
      3. 12.1.3 Stroking Paths
      4. 12.1.4 Bézier Curves
    2. 12.2 Boolean Operations
    3. 12.3 Simplifying
    4. 12.4 Offsetting
    5. 12.5 The Node Tool
      1. 12.5.1 Path Display
      2. 12.5.2 Selecting Nodes
      3. 12.5.3 Deleting and Creating Nodes
      4. 12.5.4 Joining and Breaking
      5. 12.5.5 Node Types
      6. 12.5.6 Moving Handles
      7. 12.5.7 Moving Nodes
        1. 12.5.7.1 Aligning Nodes
        2. 12.5.7.2 Node Sculpting
        3. 12.5.7.3 Transforming Nodes
    6. 12.6 Path Tweaking
      1. 12.6.1 Width and Force
      2. 12.6.2 Fidelity
      3. 12.6.3 Push Mode
      4. 12.6.4 Shrink/Grow Mode
      5. 12.6.5 Attract/Repel Mode
      6. 12.6.6 Roughen Mode
  16. 13. Path Effects and Extensions
    1. 13.1 Path Effects
      1. 13.1.1 How Path Effects Work
      2. 13.1.2 The Path Effect Editor Dialog
      3. 13.1.3 Pattern Along Path and Bend
      4. 13.1.4 Stitch Sub-Paths
      5. 13.1.5 Knot
      6. 13.1.6 Sketch
      7. 13.1.7 Spiro Spline
      8. 13.1.8 Envelope Deformation
      9. 13.1.9 VonKoch
    2. 13.2 Dynamic and Linked Offsets
    3. 13.3 Path Extensions
  17. 14. Drawing
    1. 14.1 The Pen Tool
      1. 14.1.1 Node Types
      2. 14.1.2 Going Back
      3. 14.1.3 Continuing a Path
      4. 14.1.4 Modes
      5. 14.1.5 Stroke Shapes
      6. 14.1.6 Style
    2. 14.2 The Pencil Tool
    3. 14.3 The Calligraphic Pen Tool
      1. 14.3.1 Width
        1. 14.3.1.1 Pressure Sensitivity
        2. 14.3.1.2 Tracing Background
        3. 14.3.1.3 Thinning by Speed
      2. 14.3.2 Angle
      3. 14.3.3 Caps
      4. 14.3.4 Tremor, Wiggle, and Mass
      5. 14.3.5 Calligraphic Presets
      6. 14.3.6 Adding and Subtracting
      7. 14.3.7 Tracking a Guide Path
    4. 14.4 The Paint Bucket Tool
      1. 14.4.1 Filling Techniques
      2. 14.4.2 Filling by Channel
      3. 14.4.3 Threshold
      4. 14.4.4 Growing and Shrinking
      5. 14.4.5 Closing Gaps
      6. 14.4.6 Style
  18. 15. Text
    1. 15.1 Basic Editing
      1. 15.1.1 Selecting
    2. 15.2 Text Object Types
      1. 15.2.1 Regular Text
      2. 15.2.2 Flowed Text
        1. 15.2.2.1 Internal Frame
        2. 15.2.2.2 External Frame
        3. 15.2.2.3 SVG Compatibility
      3. 15.2.3 Text on a Path
    3. 15.3 Text Layout
      1. 15.3.1 Direction
      2. 15.3.2 Alignment
      3. 15.3.3 Kerning
      4. 15.3.4 Letter Spacing and Line Spacing
    4. 15.4 Styling Text
      1. 15.4.1 Non-Text Style Properties
      2. 15.4.2 Fonts and Variants
      3. 15.4.3 Font Size
    5. 15.5 Text Extensions
    6. 15.6 Spellcheck
      1. 15.6.1 Special Characters
    7. 15.7 Converting Text to Path
  19. 16. Clones
    1. 16.1 Creating a Clone
    2. 16.2 Transforming Clones
    3. 16.3 Styling Clones
    4. 16.4 Chaining Clones
    5. 16.5 Unlinking and Relinking Clones
    6. 16.6 Tiling Clones
      1. 16.6.1 Size and Bounding Box
      2. 16.6.2 Symmetry
      3. 16.6.3 Shift, Scale, and Rotation
      4. 16.6.4 Blur and Opacity
      5. 16.6.5 Color
      6. 16.6.6 Tracing
  20. 17. Filters
    1. 17.1 Blur
      1. 17.1.1 Blur and Transformations
      2. 17.1.2 Tweaking for Blur
    2. 17.2 Blend Modes
    3. 17.3 Preset Filters
    4. 17.4 The Filter Editor Dialog
      1. 17.4.1 The Filters List
      2. 17.4.2 The Stack of Primitives
      3. 17.4.3 The Parameters of a Primitive
      4. 17.4.4 The Filter Area
    5. 17.5 Filter Rendering Options
    6. 17.6 Exporting Filters to PS and PDF
  21. 18. Bitmaps
    1. 18.1 Import
    2. 18.2 Linking vs. Embedding
    3. 18.3 Bitmap as Pattern
    4. 18.4 Clipping and Masking
    5. 18.5 Retouching and Patching
    6. 18.6 Bitmap Filters
    7. 18.7 Bitmap Effects
    8. 18.8 Tracing
      1. 18.8.1 Manual Tracing
      2. 18.8.2 The Trace Bitmap Dialog
        1. 18.8.2.1 Brightness Cutoff
        2. 18.8.2.2 Tracing Quality
        3. 18.8.2.3 Other Single-Scan Modes
        4. 18.8.2.4 Multiple-Scan Modes
    9. 18.9 Bitmap Export
      1. 18.9.1 The Export Bitmap Dialog
        1. 18.9.1.1 Export Hints
      2. 18.9.2 Exporting via the Command Line
      3. 18.9.3 Icon Preview
      4. 18.9.4 Make a Bitmap Copy
    10. 18.10 Color Management
      1. 18.10.1 ICC Color Profiles
      2. 18.10.2 Screen Proofing
      3. 18.10.3 Separating and Embedding
  22. 19. Tutorial: Designing a Business Card
    1. 19.1 Design 1: Template and Text
    2. 19.2 Design 1: Layout
    3. 19.3 Design 2: Graphic
    4. 19.4 Design 2: Layout
    5. 19.5 Design 2: Texture and Color
    6. 19.6 Export and Printing
      1. 19.6.1 PostScript
      2. 19.6.2 PDF
      3. 19.6.3 Bitmap Output
      4. 19.6.4 Using Device Colors
      5. 19.6.5 Tiled Output
  23. 20. Tutorial: Creating an Animation
    1. 20.1 Creating the Template
    2. 20.2 First Frames
    3. 20.3 Tweening
    4. 20.4 Compositing and Creating Frames
    5. 20.5 Export and Production
    6. 20.6 Hatching
    7. 20.7 Text
    8. 20.8 Background
  24. 21. Tutorial: Drawing a 3D - Correct Cartoon
    1. 21.1 The Room
    2. 21.2 The Furniture
    3. 21.3 People
    4. 21.4 Sketching and Coloring
  25. 22. Tutorial: Artistic Drawing
    1. 22.1 The First Sketch
    2. 22.2 Inking
    3. 22.3 Tweaking
    4. 22.4 Coloring and Smoothing
    5. 22.5 Drawing Hair
    6. 22.6 Finalizing
  26. 23. Tutorial: Technical Drawing
    1. 23.1 Setting Up the Grid
    2. 23.2 Making the Box
    3. 23.3 Rounding Corners
    4. 23.4 Making the Top Cylinder
    5. 23.5 Making the Cutout
  27. 24. Tutorial: The Rose
    1. 24.1 Treatment 1: Engraving
    2. 24.2 Treatment 2: Tessellation
    3. 24.3 Treatment 3: A Field of Cubes
    4. 24.4 Treatment 4: A Photorealistic Rendition
    5. 24.5 Treatment 5: A Map
  28. A. An SVG Primer
    1. A.1 A Quick Introduction to XML
    2. A.2 Vocabularies and Namespaces
    3. A.3 Root
    4. A.4 Defs, View, and Metadata
    5. A.5 Layers and Groups
    6. A.6 Coordinates and Units
    7. A.7 Transformations
    8. A.8 Style
    9. A.9 Linking
    10. A.10 Object Types
    11. A.11 Inkscape SVG Extensions
  29. B. Import and Export
    1. B.1 Save vs. Export
    2. B.2 SVG Variants
    3. B.3 PDF (Import, Export)
      1. B.3.1 PDF Text
      2. B.3.2 PDF Export
    4. B.4 PostScript and EPS (Import, Export)
    5. B.5 Printing
    6. B.6 AI (Import)
    7. B.7 CorelDRAW (Import)
    8. B.8 EMF (Import/Export), WMF and CGM (Import)
    9. B.9 XAML (Import/Export)
    10. B.10 WPG (Import)
    11. B.11 DXF and HPGL (Export)
    12. B.12 JavaFX (Export)
    13. B.13 ODG (Export)
    14. B.14 POV (Export)
    15. B.15 LATEX (Export)
    16. B.16 Bitmap Formats (Import/Export)
    17. B.17 What’s Missing?
  30. C. The Command Line
    1. C.1 Loading Documents
    2. C.2 Export
      1. C.2.1 Area
      2. C.2.2 Size and Resolution
      3. C.2.3 Background
      4. C.2.4 Export Hints
      5. C.2.5 Vector Export Options
    3. C.3 Querying
    4. C.4 Shell Mode
    5. C.5 Verbs
    6. C.6 Getting Help
  31. D. Keyboard Shortcuts
    1. D.1 Tools
    2. D.2 Dialogs
      1. D.2.1 Open
      2. D.2.2 Toggle Visibility
      3. D.2.3 Within a Dialog
    3. D.3 The Controls Bar
      1. D.3.1 Access
      2. D.3.2 Navigate
    4. D.4 The Canvas (2.2)
      1. D.4.1 Zoom (3.8)
      2. D.4.2 Preset Zooms (3.9)
      3. D.4.3 Zoom History (3.9)
      4. D.4.4 Scroll (Pan, 3.10)
      5. D.4.5 Guides, Grids, and Snapping (Chapter 7)
      6. D.4.6 Display Mode (3.11)
    5. D.5 The Palette (8.3)
    6. D.6 Files
    7. D.7 The Document Window (3.6 The Document Window)
    8. D.8 Layers (4.6 Layers)
    9. D.9 Objects (Chapter 4)
      1. D.9.1 Undo/Redo
      2. D.9.2 The Clipboard (4.4)
      3. D.9.3 Duplicate (4.4)
      4. D.9.4 Clone (Chapter 16)
      5. D.9.5 Bitmaps (Chapter 18)
      6. D.9.6 Patterns (10.8)
      7. D.9.7 Group (4.5)
      8. D.9.8 Z-Order (4.3)
    10. D.10 Paths (Chapter 12)
      1. D.10.1 Object to Path
      2. D.10.2 Boolean Operations (12.2)
      3. D.10.3 Offsets (12.4)
      4. D.10.4 Combine (12.1.1)
      5. D.10.5 Simplify (12.3)
    11. D.11 The Selector Tool (5.4)
      1. D.11.1 Select (Mouse, 5.4)
      2. D.11.2 Rubber Band (5.7), Touch Selection (5.8)
      3. D.11.3 Select (Keyboard, 5.11)
      4. D.11.4 Select Within Group (5.10), Select Under (5.9)
      5. D.11.5 Move (Mouse, 6.1)
      6. D.11.6 Move (Keyboard, 6.1)
      7. D.11.7 Transform (Mouse, 6.2, 6.3)
      8. D.11.8 Scale with Handles (6.2)
      9. D.11.9 Scale (Keyboard, 6.5.2)
      10. D.11.10 Rotate/Skew with Handles (6.3)
      11. D.11.11 Rotate (Keyboard, 6.5.3)
      12. D.11.12 Flip (6.5.3)
      13. D.11.13 The Rotation Center (6.4)
      14. D.11.14 Cancel
    12. D.12 The Node Tool (12.5)
      1. D.12.1 Select Objects (Mouse)
      2. D.12.2 Select Nodes (Mouse)
      3. D.12.3 Rubber Band Selection (12.5.2)
      4. D.12.4 Select Nodes (Keyboard, 12.5.2)
      5. D.12.5 Grow/Shrink Node Selection (12.5.2)
      6. D.12.6 Move Nodes (Mouse, 12.5.7)
      7. D.12.7 Move Nodes (Keyboard, 12.5.7)
      8. D.12.8 Move Node Handle (Mouse, 12.5.7)
      9. D.12.9 Scale Handle (One Node Selected, 12.5.6)
      10. D.12.10 Rotate Handle (One Node Selected, 12.5.6)
      11. D.12.11 Scale Nodes (Two or More Nodes Selected, 12.5.7.3)
      12. D.12.12 Rotate Nodes (Two or More Nodes Selected, 12.5.7.3)
      13. D.12.13 Flip Nodes (Two or More Nodes Selected, 12.5.7.3)
      14. D.12.14 Change Segments (12.5.6)
      15. D.12.15 Change Node Type (12.5.5)
      16. D.12.16 Join/Break (12.5.4)
      17. D.12.17 Delete, Create, and Duplicate (12.5.3)
      18. D.12.18 Reverse (12.1.1)
      19. D.12.19 Edit Shapes
      20. D.12.20 Edit Fills and Path Effects
      21. D.12.21 Cancel
    13. D.13 The Tweak Tool (6.9, 8.7, 12.6)
      1. D.13.1 Operation
      2. D.13.2 Modes
      3. D.13.3 Parameters (12.6.1)
    14. D.14 The Rectangle Tool (11.2)
      1. D.14.1 Draw
      2. D.14.2 Select
      3. D.14.3 Resize with Handles (11.2.1)
      4. D.14.4 Round Corners with Handles (11.2.2)
    15. D.15 The 3D Box Tool (11.3)
      1. D.15.1 Draw (11.3.2)
      2. D.15.2 Select
      3. D.15.3 Edit with Handles (11.3.4)
      4. D.15.4 Edit Perspectives (11.3.3)
    16. D.16 The Ellipse Tool (11.4)
      1. D.16.1 Draw (11.4.1)
      2. D.16.2 Select
      3. D.16.3 Edit with Handles (11.4.2)
    17. D.17 The Star Tool (11.5)
      1. D.17.1 Draw (11.5.1)
      2. D.17.2 Select
      3. D.17.3 Edit with Handles (11.5.2)
    18. D.18 The Spiral Tool (11.6)
      1. D.18.1 Draw
      2. D.18.2 Select
      3. D.18.3 Edit with Handles
    19. D.19 The Zoom Tool (3.9)
    20. D.20 The Pencil Tool (14.2)
    21. D.21 The Pen (Bézier) Tool (14.1)
      1. D.21.1 Create Nodes (14.1.1)
      2. D.21.2 Move Last Node (14.1.2)
      3. D.21.3 Create/Modify Segments
      4. D.21.4 Create Dots (14.1.4)
      5. D.21.5 Finish
      6. D.21.6 Cancel
    22. D.22 The Calligraphic Pen Tool (14.3)
    23. D.23 The Paint Bucket Tool (14.4)
    24. D.24 The Gradient Tool (10.1)
      1. D.24.1 Select Objects
      2. D.24.2 Create Gradients
      3. D.24.3 Select Handles
      4. D.24.4 Create/Delete Intermediate Stops (10.5.1)
      5. D.24.5 Move Handles/Stops (10.5.2)
      6. D.24.6 Reverse (10.2)
      7. D.24.7 Gradient Editor
    25. D.25 The Dropper Tool (8.6)
    26. D.26 The Text Tool (Chapter 15)
      1. D.26.1 Select/Create
      2. D.26.2 Navigate in Text
      3. D.26.3 Flowed Text (Internal Frame, 15.2.2)
      4. D.26.4 Flowed Text (External Frame, 15.2.2.2)
      5. D.26.5 Text on a Path (15.2.3)
      6. D.26.6 Edit Text
      7. D.26.7 Select Text (15.1.1)
      8. D.26.8 Style Selection (15.4.2)
      9. D.26.9 Letter Spacing (15.3.4)
      10. D.26.10 Line Spacing (15.3.4)
      11. D.26.11 Kerning and Shifting (15.3.3)
      12. D.26.12 Rotate (15.3.3)
  32. Index
  33. About the Author
  34. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: The Book of Inkscape
  • Author(s): Dmitry Kirsanov
  • Release date: September 2009
  • Publisher(s): No Starch Press
  • ISBN: 9781593271817