Inkscape Tutorial
v2.0
Simon Andrews
[email protected]
What is Inkscape?
Vector Graphics Editor
Free Software www.inkscape.org
Cross Platform
Easy to use
Good for:
Compositing
Drawing
Not for:
Bitmap editing
Vector Graphics
Description of a scene
No inherent resolution
Fully editable
Setting up a canvas
File > Document Properties
Shows page in view
Doesnt restrict drawing
Useful as a guide
Moving around
Panning
Scroll bars on bottom / right
Scroll up/down, Shift+scroll for left/right
Zooming in / out
Click to zoom in, shift+click to zoom out
Control + Scroll Up/Down to zoom in/out to cursor
Shortcuts
Fit page, drawing, selection in window
The main toolbar
Selection tool
Edit nodes tool
Sculpt tool
Zoom tool
Shortcuts
Measurement tool F1 Selection tool
Make rectangles
Make 3D boxes F2 Edit nodes tool
Make ellipses / arcs
Make polygons / stars F3 Zoom tool
Make spirals
Draw freehand lines
F4 Rectangles
Draw straight lines / curves
Calligraphy tool
F5 Ellipses
Add text F6 Freehand lines
Sculpt with spray
Erase F8 Text
Fill
Edit gradients F9 Spirals
Creating basic shapes
Select tool from toolbar
Click and drag on canvas
Box selects the bounds of the new shape
Colours are remembered from the last shape
Basic options appear in top toolbar
Number of spokes on stars
Rounded corners on rectangles
Circle vs segment vs arc
Creating basic shapes
Creating basic shapes
Modifiers press keys whilst drawing
Control = Constrain height/width ratio
Easiest way to make circles / squares
Shift = grow from centre not edge
Help appears at the bottom of the screen
Control nodes
Use the Edit Nodes tool
Two types of control points, squares and circles
Squares generally change the size of the shape
Circles change the appearance
General Transformations
Select the Selection tool
Moving Click and drag an object
Duplicating Select object and press Ctrl+D
Resizing / Rotating
Click on object
Click again to change control arrow type
Click and drag arrows to resize / rotate
Resize / Rotate
Resize Rotate
Can use shift/control keyboard modifiers as
before
For rotation you can move the crosshair to
change the centre of rotation
Transform Shortcuts
Rotate 90 degrees anticlockwise
Rotate 90 degrees clockwise
Mirror object around the vertical axis
Mirror object around the horizontal axis
Selecting and Grouping
Selecting multiple objects
Drag a box to cover multiple objects
Shift+click to add an object to a selection
Shift+click on a selected object to remove it from
the selection
Grouping
Combine multiple objects into a single object
Reversible
Grouping
Select Multiple Objects
Object > Group (Control+G)
Multiple Levels
Object > Ungroup (Control+Shift+G)
Fill and Stroke
Fill = Colour/Gradient/Pattern within a shape
Stroke = The line around a shape
Object > Fill and Stroke (Shift+Ctrl+F)
Edit
Colours
Opacity
Blur
Fill and Stoke
Fill types
Flat colour
Linear gradient
Circular gradient
Pattern fill
Swatch (bitmap) fill
Specify colour and alpha (opacity)
Stroke Options
Width of line
Shape of corners
Shape of line ends
Dashes
Arrowheads
Opacity / Blur
Applies to whole object
Separate from alpha in colours
Works on all Objects
Gradients
Standard colour option
Set multiple colours / opacities to go through
Set the direction and extent of the gradient
Aligning and Distributing
Object > Align and Distribute
Align = Give objects the same centre/edge position
Distribute = Space objects evenly
Align relative to
First/Last selected object in group
Largest/Smallest object in group
Page
Drawing
Never align anything by eye!
Aligning and Distributing
Align top edges Align centres (horizontal)
Align centres (vertical) Even spaces between objects
Z axis - Ordering
New objects sit over the top of old objects
Objects obscure those underneath them
(except for transparency)
Z-axis Ordering
Send object to bottom of z-stack
Lower object one level
Raise object one level
Bring object to top
Working with bitmaps (photos)
Inkscape can include bitmaps in images
Appear as objects alongside vector objects
Cant edit the images
Cant increase the resolution of the image
Transparency (from PNG etc) is preserved
File > Import
PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF etc. etc.
Working with bitmaps (photos)
Embed
Large file sizes
No updating image
Portable file
Link
Small file sizes
Need to keep original
Can update original
Cant (easily) move file
Creating and Editing Paths
Created using freehand or line tool
Can convert other objects to become a path
Paths are composed of nodes and segments
There are different types of node and segment
Nodes and Segments
3 3
Segment types
Lines (1) 2 2
Curves (2)
5
Node types 1
2
End (3)
Corner (4) 4
Smooth (5)
Normal
Symmetric
Auto
Editing nodes
Use nodes toolbar to add, remove or convert
nodes or segments
Select nodes or segments to make their
handles visible
Drag handles to change the arc of curves
Freehand drawing
Freehand drawings tend to have large numbers
of nodes, and be quite messy
Can use simplification (Path > Simplify, Ctl+L)
Can finally edit nodes on the simplified version
Combining paths
Often want to add or subtract objects from
each other
Have to do this as paths (Path > Object to Path)
Lots of options for joining paths together
Combining Paths
Union Difference
Intersection Exclusion
Adding Text
Use the text tool to add text.
Click and type to generate text
Text can be scaled or rotated as any other
object
Always hold Ctrl when scaling otherwise the
aspect ratio will be messed up
Text options
Text toolbar
Text and font settings
Font
Alignment
Spacing
Saving
Saving
File > Save (As)
Default is Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
Adds custom extensions to SVG standard
Can select plain SVG for maximum compatibility
Can compress SVG (svgz) for disk space saving
Exporting
Vector
Can export as a PDF
File > Save (As), select PDF
Bitmap
Can render high quality PNGs
File > Export PNG Image
