Synopses & Reviews
This is it. The complete and definitive guide to Inkscape, the free, vector-based graphics editor that competes with expensive drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW.
In The Book of Inkscape, core Inkscape developer Dmitry Kirsanov shares his design experience and knowledge of Inkscape's inner workings as he walks you through the basics of using the program: drawing, working with objects, transformations and styling, adding text and shapes, and more. Kirsanov couples his detailed explanations with step-by-step tutorials that show you how to create business cards, animations, and technical and artistic drawings.
In addition to the basics, Kirsanov teaches you how to:
- Navigate the canvas and customize your workspace and views
- Create new objects and then transform, style, clone, and combine them
- Use drawing tools, strokes, and Bézier curves
- Use gradients, patterns, filters, and path effects to liven up your work
- Use the XML Editor to view and manipulate the structure of your artwork
- Work with layers, groups, object order, and locks to control your images
- Export your artwork to various formats
This practical guide will show you how to harness Inkscape's powerful features to produce anything from a child's doodle to high-end, professional design projects. Now go ahead and draw something fun.
Synopsis
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. Kirsanov draws on his experience using Inkscape for design and illustration as well as his extensive knowledge of Inkscape's features, several of which he developed. Following an overview of vector-based graphics in general and SVG in particular, Kirsanov takes the reader from basic techniques-selecting, transforming, styling-to more advanced topics such as gradients and patterns, path editing, artistic drawing, clones and patterns, working with text, exporting bitmaps, and using extensions. "The Book of Inkscape" is a complete guide to Inkscape for every artist, whether amateur or professional.
Synopsis
Inkscape is a powerful, free, cross-platform, vector-based drawing tool similar to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW. Written by Inkscape developer and graphic designer Kirsanov, this in-depth guide offers comprehensive coverage and creative advice on Inkscape's many capabilities.
About the Author
Dmitry Kirsanov is a developer and a graphic designer, specializing in website and logo design. His articles about Inkscape have appeared in Linux Format in the UK and on TuxMagazine.com. Kirsanov also writes the "Design Lab" column teaching creative fundamentals of web design (http://www.webreference.com/dlab/), and is the author of Dmitry Kirsanov's Web Design Book (in Russian). Tim Daniels, one of the founders of the Inkscape project, is the book's technical reviewer.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments; Introduction; What's in This Book?; Who Is This Book For?; Chapter 1: Inkscape and the World; 1.1 1.1 What Vector Graphics Is and Why It Matters; 1.2 1.2 What Can You Do with Inkscape?; 1.3 1.3 Sources of Inkscape Art; 1.4 1.4 A Brief History of SVG; 1.5 1.5 Inkscape and Its Competition; 1.6 1.6 The Life of an Open Source Application; Chapter 2: An Inkscape Primer; 2.1 2.1 Installing Inkscape; 2.2 2.2 Inkscape's "Hello, World!"; 2.3 2.3 Interface Overview; 2.4 2.4 Panning and Zooming; 2.5 2.5 Creating Objects; 2.6 2.6 Selecting; 2.7 2.7 Transforming; 2.8 2.8 Styling; 2.9 2.9 Saving and Exporting; 2.10 2.10 A Final Example; Chapter 3: Setting Up and Moving Around; 3.1 3.1 Preferences; 3.2 3.2 Document Templates; 3.3 3.3 Keyboard Setup; 3.4 3.4 Page Setup; 3.5 3.5 Instances, Documents, Views; 3.6 3.6 The Document Window; 3.7 3.7 Dialogs; 3.8 3.8 Basic Zooming; 3.9 3.9 The Zoom Tool; 3.10 3.10 Panning; 3.11 3.11 Rendering Modes; Chapter 4: Objects; 4.1 4.1 Object Properties; 4.2 4.2 The Bounding Box; 4.3 4.3 Z-Order; 4.4 4.4 Copying, Cutting, Pasting, and Duplicating; 4.5 4.5 Groups; 4.6 4.6 Layers; 4.7 4.7 The XML Editor; Chapter 5: Selecting; 5.1 5.1 The Selection Cue; 5.2 5.2 Selection and the Status Bar; 5.3 5.3 Subselection; 5.4 5.4 Selecting by Clicking: The Selector; 5.5 5.5 Selecting by Clicking: Other Tools; 5.6 5.6 Adding to a Selection; 5.7 5.7 Selecting with the Rubber Band; 5.8 5.8 Touch Selection; 5.9 5.9 Selecting Objects from Underneath; 5.10 5.10 Selecting in Groups; 5.11 5.11 Selecting with Keyboard Shortcuts; 5.12 5.12 Finding Objects; 5.13 5.13 Following Links; 5.14 5.14 Deselecting; 5.15 5.15 Selection Miscellany; Chapter 6: Transforming; 6.1 6.1 The Selector: Moving; 6.2 6.2 The Selector: Scaling; 6.3 6.3 The Selector: Rotating and Skewing; 6.4 6.4 Center of Rotation; 6.5 6.5 Transforming with Keyboard Shortcuts; 6.6 6.6 Transforming with Numbers: X, Y, W, and H; 6.7 6.7 The Transform Dialog; 6.8 6.8 Pasting Sizes; 6.9 6.9 Transforming with the Tweak Tool; 6.10 6.10 What Transformations Affect; Chapter 7: Snapping and Arranging; 7.1 7.1 Guidelines; 7.2 7.2 Grids; 7.3 7.3 Snapping; 7.4 7.4 Aligning; 7.5 7.5 Distributing; Chapter 8: Styling; 8.1 8.1 Style Fundamentals; 8.2 8.2 Color Models; 8.3 8.3 The Palette; 8.4 8.4 The Selected Style Indicator: Paint Commands; 8.5 8.5 The Selected Style Indicator: Color Gestures; 8.6 8.6 The Dropper Tool; 8.7 8.7 Color Tweaking; 8.8 8.8 Color Extensions and Filters; Chapter 9: Stroke and Markers; 9.1 9.1 Stroke Width; 9.2 9.2 Join; 9.3 9.3 Caps; 9.4 9.4 Dash Patterns; 9.5 9.5 Markers; Chapter 10: Gradients and Patterns; 10.1 10.1 The Gradient Tool; 10.2 10.2 Gradient Definition; 10.3 10.3 Gradient Repeat; 10.4 10.4 Handles; 10.5 10.5 Multistage Gradients; 10.6 10.6 Transforming Objects with Gradients; 10.7 10.7 Gradient Tips and Examples; 10.8 10.8 Patterns; Chapter 11: Shapes; 11.1 11.1 Shape Tools; 11.2 11.2 Rectangles; 11.3 11.3 3D Boxes; 11.4 11.4 Ellipses; 11.5 11.5 Stars and Polygons; 11.6 11.6 Spirals; Chapter 12: Editing Paths; 12.1 12.1 The Anatomy of a Path; 12.2 12.2 Boolean Operations; 12.3 12.3 Simplifying; 12.4 12.4 Offsetting; 12.5 12.5 The Node Tool; 12.6 12.6 Path Tweaking; Chapter 13: Path Effects and Extensions; 13.1 13.1 Path Effects; 13.2 13.2 Dynamic and Linked Offsets; 13.3 13.3 Path Extensions; Chapter 14: Drawing; 14.1 14.1 The Pen Tool; 14.2 14.2 The Pencil Tool; 14.3 14.3 The Calligraphic Pen Tool; 14.4 14.4 The Paint Bucket Tool; Chapter 15: Text; 15.1 15.1 Basic Editing; 15.2 15.2 Text Object Types; 15.3 15.3 Text Layout; 15.4 15.4 Styling Text; 15.5 15.5 Text Extensions; 15.6 15.6 Spellcheck; 15.7 15.7 Converting Text to Path; Chapter 16: Clones; 16.1 16.1 Creating a Clone; 16.2 16.2 Transforming Clones; 16.3 16.3 Styling Clones; 16.4 16.4 Chaining Clones; 16.5 16.5 Unlinking and Relinking Clones; 16.6 16.6 Tiling Clones; Chapter 17: Filters; 17.1 17.1 Blur; 17.2 17.2 Blend Modes; 17.3 17.3 Preset Filters; 17.4 17.4 The Filter Editor Dialog; 17.5 17.5 Filter Rendering Options; 17.6 17.6 Exporting Filters to PS and PDF; Chapter 18: Bitmaps; 18.1 18.1 Import; 18.2 18.2 Linking vs. Embedding; 18.3 18.3 Bitmap as Pattern; 18.4 18.4 Clipping and Masking; 18.5 18.5 Retouching and Patching; 18.6 18.6 Bitmap Filters; 18.7 18.7 Bitmap Effects; 18.8 18.8 Tracing; 18.9 18.9 Bitmap Export; 18.10 18.10 Color Management; Chapter 19: Tutorial: Designing a Business Card; 19.1 19.1 Design 1: Template and Text; 19.2 19.2 Design 1: Layout; 19.3 19.3 Design 2: Graphic; 19.4 19.4 Design 2: Layout; 19.5 19.5 Design 2: Texture and Color; 19.6 19.6 Export and Printing; Chapter 20: Tutorial: Creating an Animation; 20.1 20.1 Creating the Template; 20.2 20.2 First Frames; 20.3 20.3 Tweening; 20.4 20.4 Compositing and Creating Frames; 20.5 20.5 Export and Production; 20.6 20.6 Hatching; 20.7 20.7 Text; 20.8 20.8 Background; Chapter 21: Tutorial: Drawing a 3D - Correct Cartoon; 21.1 21.1 The Room; 21.2 21.2 The Furniture; 21.3 21.3 People; 21.4 21.4 Sketching and Coloring; Chapter 22: Tutorial: Artistic Drawing; 22.1 22.1 The First Sketch; 22.2 22.2 Inking; 22.3 22.3 Tweaking; 22.4 22.4 Coloring and Smoothing; 22.5 22.5 Drawing Hair; 22.6 22.6 Finalizing; Chapter 23: Tutorial: Technical Drawing; 23.1 23.1 Setting Up the Grid; 23.2 23.2 Making the Box; 23.3 23.3 Rounding Corners; 23.4 23.4 Making the Top Cylinder; 23.5 23.5 Making the Cutout; Chapter 24: Tutorial: The Rose; 24.1 24.1 Treatment 1: Engraving; 24.2 24.2 Treatment 2: Tessellation; 24.3 24.3 Treatment 3: A Field of Cubes; 24.4 24.4 Treatment 4: A Photorealistic Rendition; 24.5 24.5 Treatment 5: A Map; An SVG Primer; A.1 A Quick Introduction to XML; A.2 Vocabularies and Namespaces; A.3 Root; A.4 Defs, View, and Metadata; A.5 Layers and Groups; A.6 Coordinates and Units; A.7 Transformations; A.8 Style; A.9 Linking; A.10 Object Types; A.11 Inkscape SVG Extensions; Import and Export; B.1 Save vs. Export; B.2 SVG Variants; B.3 PDF (Import, Export); B.4 PostScript and EPS (Import, Export); B.5 Printing; B.6 AI (Import); B.7 CorelDRAW (Import); B.8 EMF (Import/Export), WMF and CGM (Import); B.9 XAML (Import/Export); B.10 WPG (Import); B.11 DXF and HPGL (Export); B.12 JavaFX (Export); B.13 ODG (Export); B.14 POV (Export); B.15 LATEX (Export); B.16 Bitmap Formats (Import/Export); B.17 What's Missing?; The Command Line; C.1 Loading Documents; C.2 Export; C.3 Querying; C.4 Shell Mode; C.5 Verbs; C.6 Getting Help; Keyboard Shortcuts; D.1 Tools; D.2 Dialogs; D.3 The Controls Bar; D.4 The Canvas (2.2); D.5 The Palette (8.3); D.6 Files; D.7 The Document Window (); D.8 Layers (); D.9 Objects (); D.10 Paths (); D.11 The Selector Tool (5.4); D.12 The Node Tool (12.5); D.13 The Tweak Tool (6.9, 8.7, 12.6); D.14 The Rectangle Tool (11.2); D.15 The 3D Box Tool (11.3); D.16 The Ellipse Tool (11.4); D.17 The Star Tool (11.5); D.18 The Spiral Tool (11.6); D.19 The Zoom Tool (3.9); D.20 The Pencil Tool (14.2); D.21 The Pen (Bézier) Tool (14.1); D.22 The Calligraphic Pen Tool (14.3); D.23 The Paint Bucket Tool (14.4); D.24 The Gradient Tool (10.1); D.25 The Dropper Tool (8.6); D.26 The Text Tool ();