User testimonials

From: Grant

Date: August 16, 2006 Subject: Inkscape has promise but I can't use it

I had very high hopes for Inkscape 0.44 installed on my new MacBook (MacOSX 10.4.7) as I had hoped to avoid having to buy a copy of Illustrator for it. Unfortunately, though I can import and edit my existing SVG files from Illustrator (on another machine) without serious problems, I have been unable to export them as correct EPS or PDF, which I require for a book I'm working on. The EPS files display dashed lines as solid, and the PDF files, though they are non-empty (about the same size as the EPS files) don't display at all in MacOS Previewer -- I get a blank page. In short, I simply can't use it for the purpose I had in mind. I'm sure it's fine if you can live with SVG-only format files and/or print directly from Inkscape. It's possible that there's something wrong with my installation, but I've reinstalled it a couple of times from different sites and I've verified that I have the latest versions of gs, pstoedit, and similar utilities.

Also, although the docs allude to the capability of importing AI or EPS under certain circumstances, I have been absolutely unable to figure out from the information on line how to make this actually work. SVG seems to be my only current option for importing existing files.

I'm posting this not to discourage people from trying out Inkscape but rather to caution those who might view its current implementation as a reasonable working substitute for a commercial package like AI. Maybe I'm just unlucky, or maybe it's just a MacOSX problem. If there's something wrong with my installation, then it's clearly something that the average user (like me) won't easily be able to debug without a lot of effort and outside guidance. Questions or comments may be sent to gpetty @ aos.wisc.edu

From: Proxi

Date: August 2006 Subject: Inkscape rocks !

Hello, Inkscape is a very good vector software with amazing possibilities. Congratulations to the Inkscape Team.

From: User Bats

Date: March 2006 Subject: Notes from a recent job using Inkscape.

Hey, Please go to my user page where I have a write-up about Inkscape 0.43 and my recent thoughts and comments written just after I had finished the job.

Inkscapes makes Linux really cool (from my perspective), keep it up!

From: Gab Studio

Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 Subject: Great software !!!

Hi;

I'm just trying *INSKCAPE* and would like to *congratulate you all*.

I join my first work... if you want to add it in the galery :)

BRAVO again from France for this great software have fun

regards

Gab

From: Jared Thompson

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 Subject: awesome program

I know this may not be according to the purposes of this list,

but I just wanted to say that I recently discovered inkscape and I think it is quite an impressive program so far. I have been playing with it non stop for the past few days and love it, the website is also nice and clean. there are plenty of tips and in the program a help file that gives a good overview to get beginners started

I will be looking forward to contribute what I can as time goes forward.

again, just wanted to say thanks for an awesome program

-jared

From: Artemio

Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 Subject: thank you

Dear Inkscape developers,

at first, please take my sincere congratulations - Inkscape is on the 3rd place in my top 5 list of most used applications! :-)

You have made possible what I have dreamt for over two years since I started using Linux (I use ONLY Linux since that time). You have done a really great work. Inkscape has absolutely everything I need from a vector editor and even more. It's very light, fast and the interface is very straightforward and intuitive. Thank you, thank you very much!

Frankly, you have blown all my expectations away - I didn't think someone would do font->path thing possible, this is amazing! Now I can bring my SVGs _anywhere_ and they will be read just as I made them (already tested this).

Please excuse me for talking too much, it's just that I really respect your work and wish you all the best! I do have some little suggestions to you, but I will write them in my next message :-)

Good luck to you all and thanks so much again!

Artemio.

From: Charles Goodwin

Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 Subject: Re: wow, this is amazing!

Everything about Inkscape has been impressive thus far, not least of which the speed with which action is taken to address any issue.

- Charlie

From: Trent Buck

Date: Tue, Jun 8, 2004 Subject: Re: new illustrator screenshots

Quoth Alan Horkan on or about 2004-06-08:

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004, Trent Buck wrote:
FWIW, I think inkscape's UI is already better than AI's.

You said Inkscape is better so I make it a challenge to you to list more ways, and maybe we can start a comparision chart in the Wiki which would be useful for promoting Inkscape.

OK, I'll confess, I haven't used AI for than about half-an-hour, because I couldn't get the hang of the interface. Let me itemize my reasons for using Inkscape.

Bear in mind that these are my *opinions*, not necessarily *right* in a technical sense. I'll put a '+' in front of things that are actually UI.

Inkscape beats AI

 + As a newbie, I found the Inkscape (well, sodipodi) interface to be
   pretty self-explanatory.  Using AI I get the feeling I should take a
   3-day course just to learn how to use it.
   (Maybe this is just because of all the extra features, I don't know.)

   It's free.  When something happens I can check the source.  It is
   also far easier to add or request features.

   It works on linux.  Enough said.

   The GTK toolkit is relatively clean, customizable and robust.

Inkscape beats Sodipodi

   The larger community results in faster growth in all areas.

   Boolean operations.  Miscellaneous tweaks make Inkscape more
   comfortable.

Inkscape beats both of them

 + Buttons are around the edge.  It has been shown by HCI folks that
   this is a far better design than the toolkit approach.  Fitts' Law
   states that you can click screen corners and edges far faster than, 
   say, 10px in from the edge.
   http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Fitts'%20law

 + Likewise, this means everthing is in one window, which works much
   better with my windowmanager (http://ratpoison.sf.net).

 + Keybindings for everything.  I don't normally even have a rodent
   plugged into my system, so being able to stay keyboard-centered is a
   major advantage.

I should also point out that I'm not really an artistic person, my strengths are more oriented in mathematics, english and science. I am a CS student by profession. I mostly use Inkscape when I need an image and there isn't a specialized tool to draw it.

It could well be that I don't see Inkscape's deficiencies because my drawings aren't complicated enough to need them.

-trent

From: Richard MacIntyre

Unless they've already mentioned it hereon, Julian MacDonald has kindly written a script, and Francois Guillet has just begun work on an SVG plugin, respectively, for SVG import into Art of Illusion- a 3D program- from Inkscape. see: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1117167&forum_id=47782

I have so far successfully done some stuff to test Julian's script, which I might post- er, that is if I can recusitate my hard disk :/ .

Nice work on Inkscape, btw: A very informative/transparent/diligent process; crisp tool icons with high-contrast; a well-done tutorial/manual, and an aesthetically-pleasing ink-droplet for the About screen. (I got a couple of kids at a cafe playing with Inks weird & wonderful calligraphy tool on my laptop :)

I look forward to R.1 or sooner, when I can leave Illustrator behind!

As a footnote:

A few years ago, when I had a contract that required the use of my legitimately-purchased copy of Illustrator, I called Adobe to get a replacement registration/re-installation number for the one I had lost. Even though I jumped through every one of their hoops- both at the time of purchase, as well as at the time of the request- they ultimately refused to issue a new one, and I lost the contract.

Richard

From: Henry House

Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 Subject: New user happy with inkscape!

I used to use A. Illustrator years ago before I used Linux. Ever since then I have been dissatisfied with the various Free vector drawing applications available for Linux. I just started using Inkscape yeterday and I am very impressed! There are keyboard shortcuts for most operations! The boolean operations (union, divide, etc) work! (The lack of such has been a major impediment to my use of other vector drawing applications.) My only major problem so far has been that the selected object is difficult to see because the selection indicators do not contrast strongly with their object or follow their object's path outline.

Henry House

From: Jose Hevia

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 Subject: About DATA and METADATA

Oh, I'm very excited about the little big improvements of inkscape 0.39: In ex.You could go to Object-> Object Properties and ...Change an object identifier!!! This was in previous versions but didn't seem to work for me.

So now we could have info not only of the sorting of objects but for the objects itselfs(multiple in a file) ,so I could make a map of Africa an name Angola,Rwanda...,summit to open clipart,search in google :

Rwanda+africa+svg and, there it is!.The bad news is that if I'm not an english speaker I don't know that "Marruecos" name from my Atlas is Morocco in english word.(Yes there are a lot of people that have not thought about that ever).

From: Phil Shapiro

Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 Subject: heartfelt thanks for creating inkscape

thanks a megabyte for your visionary work in creating inkscape. i discovered this amazing software last week and have been talking it up on various national email lists i'm on. (see below a message i sent this evening to the list of Community Technology Centers' Network - CTCNet), one of the largest nonprofit organizations working to bridge the digital divide.)

CTCNet's annual conference is going to be in cleveland in june, 2005, in case you (or any of the othe inkscape developers) might be in the area at that time. it's likely more than 1000 technology access activists will be attending this conference. stephen quinn is the wonderful person organizing this conference. squinn@ctcnet.org

thanks again. you've inspired many by creating inkscape and your creation will unleash a river of artistic creativity by many who cannot afford a commercial vector drawing program.

                    - phil shapiro
                     arlington, virginia

Just want to add my appreciation of the work done on Inkscape. Very impressive!

shic (309152) on Monday December 20, 2004

Thank you! I'm by no means a graphic artist, but every few months I find I need to draw a diagram for a document, or a simple logo, or a form of some sort or other. Back in the late 80s/early 90s I used RISCOS and "!Draw" which I found to be awesome. I move to SUNOS, then SOLARIS, then Linux before finally requiring Windows (don't ask) as my primary platform - and until today I have been extremely unimpressed with the options for vector graphics. Until you mentioned Inkscape I'd done everything from battling with XFig and Latex to being confused by Adobe Illustrator - which was serious overkill for a simple letterhead design. Inkscape already seems to meet my needs - the first program, commercial or otherwise, I've found in the last 15 years since !Draw which deserves this acolade. I think Sourceforge should promote this project more actively - it deserves to be project of the month or something in order to raise awareness.

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=133308&cid=11135973

I am not a visual person.

I am not a designer, not a drawer, not a painter, not a photographer.

I'm a man of words, really, if I need to be creative, it's words.

Having said that, can I sue you for the time I've lost playing with Inkscape? No? Goddamnit.

It's wonderful. Intuitive. The 'everything should be keyboard accessible' philosophy rocks. It has everything.

Yesterday I tried, to amuse myself, making a mockup panelling for a comic that I'm working on with a visual artist (you guessed it - I mostly do the words :P).. it's incredible how painful proper layout with CSS can be. As these things go, 'to amuse myself' turned into a holy crusade and I would not rest until I could churn out professional layout mockups by the dozen. So I got Inkscape.

The next 2 hours were spent rotating and resizing stars and occasionally saying 'wow'. I shake my angry fist at you all.

Daniel

Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 16:14:27 +0100 Subject: [Inkscape-user] Presentations with Inkscape

Hello,

I'm currently preparing a talk and thus looking for a presentation software. The following criterias have to be met:

• open source software
• should either run on my Apple iBook, a NetBSD system, or both

I've been toying with Inkscape lately, and I enjoyed drawing some figure for the talk. It's real fun to use all the nice features like rounded boxes, transparency, etc. Inkscape provides.

So while I was at it, I just went ahead and created the correspondent presentation slide. It took some time until I actually discovered "inkview" -- you should definitely place a note somewhere, so people will find it! But this is just the thing I was looking for. No fancy transitions and other useless stuff, but clean font rendering and nice figures. Fonts actually render much cleaner than in Apple Works' presentations. It's a lot faster than batik-slideshow, plus it scales the slide down, so you don't have to worry about that when you draw it.

So, I just wanted to thank you for this great piece of software, and keep it up!

Just as a side note: I installed Inkscape 0.40 and all its dependencies from The NetBSD Packages Collection [1] both on NetBSD and Mac OS X 10.3, and it works like a charm. (Except that I cant get fullscreen output from inkview, but that may be related to Apple's X11 implementation.)

[1] <http://www.pkgsrc.org/>

Regards, Christoph

---

Inscape is a free, cross-platform SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format program that lets you create logos, illustrations and other drawings like commercial packages such as Macromedia Freehand or Adobe Illustrator.

http://ltc.smm.org/visualize/toolkit - Science Museum of Minnesota (3D Visulation toolkit)