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Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program (Digital Short Cut), 3rd Edition

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Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program (Digital Short Cut), 3rd Edition

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Description

  • Copyright 2010
  • Edition: 3rd
  • eBook
  • ISBN-10: 0-13-706134-X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-13-706134-1

Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program, Third Edition, is the guide to the Inkscape program, with coverage of versions 0.46 and 0.47. This authoritative introduction and reference features hundreds of useful illustrations.With Inkscape, you can produce a wide variety of art, from photorealistic 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 viewed directly in 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, and Linux operating systems. Systematic coverage of the entire Inkscape program begins with eleven tutorials ranging in difficulty from very basic to highly complex.

The remainder of the book covers each facet of Inkscape in detail with an emphasis on practical solutions for common problems.The book is filled with valuable tips and warnings about the use of Inkscape and SVG. Find dozens of Inkscape illustrations from the book in the online color supplement found at http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/.

Updated for Inkscape v0.47, this new edition includes complete coverage of new features, including updated Pen and Pencil tools with new spiro, polyline, and sketch modes; the new Eraser tool; and the new Snapping toolbar with improved snapping. Advanced topics include the use of Inkscape’s powerful tiling tool, built-in bitmap tracing, and SVG use on the Web.

Complete Coverage of New and Improved Inkscape 0.47 Features

  • Complete vector drawing program supporting the W3C SVG standard
  • Three path-drawing tools (Pencil, Pen, Calligraphy)
  • Five shape-drawing tools (Rectangles, Ellipses, Stars, Spirals, 3D Boxes)
  • Linear and Radial Gradients
  • Pattern fills
  • Tweak Tool for fine adjustment of paths and colors
  • Eraser Tool with both Vector and Bitmap modes
  • Sophisticated snapping for precision drawing and aligning objects
  • Extendable through scripting; over a hundred scripts included
  • Live Path Effects for tasks such as adding patterns along a path while maintaining complete editability
  • Over 200 pre-built SVG filters for adding textures, manipulating color, and so forth
  • A tiling tool to create complex tilings with thirteen different symmetries
  • Clipping and Masking objects
  • An integrated spell checker
  • Built-in bitmap-to-vector tracing
  • The ability to export to more than a dozen graphics formats, including PDF and PostScript
  • The ability to import from more than two-dozen graphics formats, including PDF, Adobe Illustrator, Coral Draw, AutoCad, and XFig


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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments         x
About the Author        xi
Overview of What Is in This Book        xii
Introduction        xiii

How to Use This Book      xiii
Vector Graphics     xiv
SVG      xvi
The Inkscape Program      xvi
Help       xvi

Chapter 1: Quick Start        1
The Anatomy of the Inkscape Window   1
The Swedish Flag—A Short Example   5
The European Flag—A More Elaborate Example   17
A Hiking Club Logo—An Exercise in Paths   20
The Northern Pacific Railway Logo—A Tracing Example   32
A Box for Cards—An Isometric Projection   39
A Can of Soup—A Three-Dimensional Drawing with Gradients   44
A Vine Design—A Tiling Example   56
A Neon Sign—Animation   66
A Bank Note—Security Features   82
A Bottle—Photorealism   94

Chapter 2: Files         103
Opening and Saving Files   103
Importing Files   104
Exporting Files   107
Printing Files   120
Vacuuming Files   121

Chapter 3: Changing the View          122
Panning the Canvas   122
Zooming the Canvas   122
Miscellaneous View Commands  123

Chapter 4: Editing Basics          126
Undo and Redo   126
Selecting Objects   126
Copying, Pasting, and Deleting Objects   129
Clones   130
Ordering Objects (Z-order)   131
Groups   132
Layers   133

Chapter 5: Positioning and Transforming          136
Inkscape Coordinates   136
Transformations   137
Snapping   144
Alignment and Distribution of Objects   150

Chapter 6: Geometric Shapes          154
Rectangles and Squares   154
3D Boxes   156
Ellipses, Circles, and Arcs   159
Regular Polygons and Stars   160
Spirals   162

Chapter 7: Paths          165
Bezier Curves   165
Creating Paths   166
Editing Paths   177
Path Operations   186

Chapter 8: Live Path Effects (LPEs)          189
Bend   190
Construct Grid   191
Envelope Deformation   191
Gears   192
Hatches (Rough)   192
Interpolate Sub-Paths   194
Knot   194
Pattern Along Path   195
Ruler   198
Sketch   198
Spiro Spline   200
Stitch Sub-Paths   201
VonKoch   204

Chapter 9: Text   208
Creating Text   208
Selecting Text   209
Editing Text   210
Formatting Text   211
Kerning, Shifting, and Rotating Characters   214
Text on a Path   215
Text in a Shape   216

Chapter 10: Attributes   218
Fill and Stroke Paint   218
Stroke Style  239

Chapter 11: Tweak Tool   244
Tweaking Objects   244
Tweaking Paths   245
Tweaking Colors   246

Chapter 12: Eraser Tool   247
Eraser Touch Mode   247
Eraser Cut-Out Mode   247

Chapter 13: Paint Bucket Tool   248
Simple Use   248
Filling Fidelity   249
Filling Multiple Regions   250
Closing Gaps   250
Adding to a Fill   251

Chapter 14: Clipping and Masking   252
Clipping   253
Masking   253

Chapter 15: Filter Effects—Preset   254
Use of Preset Filters   254
ABCs   255
Bevels   256
Blurs   257
Bumps   258
Color   260
Distort   261
Image Effects   262
Image Effects, Transparent   263
Materials   264
Morphology   265
Non Realistic 3D Shaders   266
Overlays   267
Protrusions   268
Ridges   268
Scatter   269
Shadows and Glows   269
Textures   270
Transparency Utilities   271

Chapter 16: Filter Effects—Custom         272
Basic Use   272
Filter Effects Dialog   273Mini Tutorial—A Drop Shadow   274
Color Filter Primitives   277
Compositing Filter Primitives   279
Fill Filter Primitives   283
Lighting Filters Primitives   287
Pixel Manipulation Filter Primitives   289
Complex Examples   298

Chapter 17: XML Editor        302
Basic Usage   302
Editing XML Nodes   303
Examples   304

Chapter 18: Tiling         306
Symmetry Tab   307
Shift Tab   310
Scale Tab   314
Rotation Tab   316
Blur and Opacity Tab   318
Color Tab   320
Trace   322
Tricks   326

Chapter 19: Tracing Bitmaps          329
Single Scans   331
Multiple Scans   333
Common Options   336
SIOX   337

Chapter 20: Connectors          338
Creating Connectors   338
Modifying Connectors   339
Routing Connectors   339

Chapter 21: Extensions        340
Arrange   341
Color   342
Generate from Path   351
Images   361
Modify Path   361
Raster   370
Render   372
Text   387
Visualize Path   389
Web   391

Chapter 22: SVG and the Web          394
Simple SVG Display   394
Adding Links   397
Using Style Sheets   398
Using JavaScript   400
Simple Animation   401

Chapter 23: Customization          404
Inkscape Preferences Dialog   404
Inkscape Configuration Files   404

Chapter 24: Using the Command Line          408
General Options   409
Export Options   409
Query Options   412

Chapter 25: Challenges          413
Red Spiral   413
Knot   413
Squares   414
Pine Cone   414
Spiral Gyral   415

Appendix A: Inkview          416

Appendix B: File Format          417

Default Template File   417
SVG Groups with Objects   418
Groups of Objects   418
Paths   419
Defs   420

Appendix C: Spheres          421
Sphere with Gradient Shading and Shadow   421
Sphere with Hatched Shading and Shadow   421
Sphere with Dot Shading and Shadow   422
Sphere with Text Shading and Shadow   422

Appendix D: Solutions for Challenges          423
Red Spiral   423
Knot   425
Squares   427
Pine Cone   428
Spiral Gyral   430

Appendix E: List of Dialogs          431

Appendix F: Tips for Illustrator Converts          433
Key Mappings   433
Terminology   433

Glossary          435
Index          439


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