Inkscape Wiki - User contributions [en]

Google Summer of Code 2007

2007-03-12T03:02:10Z

AlanHorkan: mention extrude tools of Corel Draw

This year Inkscape is going to participate, yet again, in Google's Summer of Code (SoC) 2007. Help us come up with some solid places to innovate and push forward.

= Student Applications =

* Google program information
** Summer of Code Application form
* Inkscape-specific information
** [[SOC Application Template]]
** [[Roadmap | Inkscape Roadmap]] - to see our overall objectives
** [[SOC Writing Project Proposals]] - some guidelines for proposals
** [[SOC Selection Criteria]] - how we rate applications

= Project Ideas =

== File formats ==

=== Native Import of Encapsulated Poscript (EPS) or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) ===

While SVG is becoming a common format for exchanging data between graphics programs, EPS and PDF are still much more common. Inkscape's current EPS import is brittle, not as well maitained as we might like, and not available for all target platforms as it depends on 3rd party software. The goal is to give Inkscape native EPS or PDF import capability.

Where the code can be borrowed from:

*For EPS: Scribus' EPS Import Library

*For PDF: Poppler library http://poppler.freedesktop.org/

*For both: Ghostscript (though it may be too heavy for us)

The student needs to evaluate these (or other) possibilities, lay out a plan, and implement a native importer in Inkscape, either using an external lib to link to, or just importing the necessary code directly into Inkscape tree (as we did for Potrace). The end result will be Inkscape being able to correctly import a reasonable majority of EPS or PDF files in the wild (we can agree on a more formal conformance test if this idea interests anyone).

Mentor: ???

=== Native Import/Export of Corel Draw (CDR) files ===

Corel Draw was and still is a very popular drawing application and many files exist in the Corel Draw format. The user interface of Corel Draw is more similar in many ways to Inkscape than other graphics software making Inkscape more attractive to Corel Draw artists. We are getting a lot of requests from users to support this format.

While CDR is not an open format, several open source implementations exist, from which you can borrow code:

* Open source [http://xaralx.org/ Xara LX] can import and export CDR files.

* [http://sk1.sourceforge.net sK1] is a Corel Draw lookalike vector editor, at early stages of development but claiming to be able to read CDR files.

* CDR files use [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIFF RIFF metaformat], which means you can easily find an open source library for reading the top layer of the format (try any open source app that can read WAV or AVI, which are also RIFF-based). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.cdr

A student for this project will need to plan the scope of the feature (we do not need to do all the fancy features, but basics need to be covered) and assemble, with the help of the mentor, a library of sample CDR files for testing.

'''Mentor:''' Bulia Byak

== Raster Graphics ==

=== Inkscape / GIMP raster graphics Editing Integration ===

Currently, you can embed raster/bitmap images into Inkscape drawings, but editing them is a bit of a hassle because Inkscape isn't really "aware" of external bitmap editing tools.

This project would seek to correct this by modifying inkscape's image embedding code to interoperate more directly with external bitmap programs. For instance, there would be an "open external editor" command that could be used when one or more bitmap images are selected. Another idea would be to include some common bitmap modification commands from the external program, that can be run entirely within Inkscape. A third idea is drag and drop of selections from the bitmap editor to Inkscape, and SVG selections from Inkscape to the bitmap tool.

As a proof of concept, the result should demonstrate this interoperability with GIMP and/or [http://www.gegl.org/ GeGL]. Note that the code should be developed such that in theory it should work with any bitmap editor, but we would only require demonstration of working with GIMP.

Also see: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=862655&group_id=93438&atid=604309

Mentor: TBD

=== Adding raster capabilities to Inkscape ===

While the purpose of Inkscape is to be a vector editor, design in the real world requires dealing with bitmaps too. Inkscape can import the bitmaps, and have them as full canvas objects, but there is no significant bitmap operations in Inkscape. While there is no reason for Inkscape to replicate the functionality of The GIMP, it would be desirable to have a few simple operations available from Inkscape.

This project will use the Inkscape extensions system to add a series of bitmap effects. The majority of the effects will be achieved through the integration of the ImageMagick bitmap handling libraries. GIMP may be another source. These effects can then be run on bitmap graphics within Inkscape.

The work should be encapsulated in such a way that in theory, other vector graphics applications (such as Xara), could also use the work. However, for the scope of this project we only require demonstration of the capabilities in Inkscape.

There are various requests in the tracker on this topic but they are difficult to identify since a mix of terminology is used, such as bitmap, raster, pixel and other graphics terms. Ask the developers on the mailing lists if in doubt.

== Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) ==

=== SVG Font support ===

We need SVG Font support in order to be able to claim SVG Tiny support. While the occurrence of SVG fonts in the wild seems to be pretty low, we will benefit from this by being able to embed fonts and thus ensure rendering of text without converting it to paths.

Mentor: ???

=== External Cascading Stylesheet (CSS) Support ===

Inkscape currently has good support for inline CSS, and limited read-only support for an internal stylesheet in a <style> element, and no support for external stylesheets. Support for editing non-inline CSS would allow better expressiveness and adaptation, and smaller SVG files, and better support for SVG generated by other programs that use non-inline CSS.

Mentor: Peter Moulder

=== Multi-page Support ===

An often requested feature is for Inkscape to support multi-page editing.
Currently, an Inkscape document is set to correspond to 1 printed page. However, the next version of SVG specification (1.2) includes support for [http://jan.kollhof.net/projects/svg/motjuvie/present.xhtml multi-page documents], and lots of people would like to have this capability in Inkscape as well.

This project would involve several steps: 1) Add internal support for reading and writing SVG 1.2 <pageSet> and <page> elements. 2) When editing a pageSet, create the visual page frames for each <page>. 3) When exporting to Postscript, have it export each <page> as a separate page in the Postscript file.

(Another frequent request is support for a tabbed interface. To be clear a tabbed interface is quite a different request from this one and any such Tabbed interface would need to accomodate the requirement of single documents with multiple pages like those proposed in SVG and already existing in PDF, OpenDocument Draw, and many others.)

=== User Interface for SVG Filters ===

Filters are a very important [http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/filters.html SVG capability].

Inkscape has basic support for filters in general thanks to a couple GSoC students' work last year, and more or less complete support for Gaussian Blur. What is needed: (1) adding support for more filters and making sure they work well in combination; (2) designing a UI that will be able to create, view, and modify arbitrarily complex filter stacks.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

Project Timeline:

* Implement first effect. This involves building Inkscape, linking in ImageMagick and getting one effect written (6 weeks)
* Implement remaining effects within ImageMagick (3 weeks)
* Build a test suite for operations and complete all Doxygen documentation of code (3 weeks)

Mentor: Ted Gould

== General ==

=== 3D capability ===

Inkscape is a 2D drawing tool. However, very often it is used to draw 3D objects. It would be very cool to have more support from the program for doing that, instead of just drawing everything manually. Nothing too fancy - we're not going to compete with Blender; but even simple things can go a long way. What's listed below is just basic ideas; feel free to develop upon them or offer something entirely different in your proposal.

* A '''3D box tool''' would be able to:

:*draw a 3D box;

:*adjust any of its 3 dimensions by handles and numerically;

:*freely move the perspective vanishing point for each dimension;

:*switch any dimension from a vanishing point to direction (point in infinity, lines are parallel) and back;

:*Allow subdivision of each face to create perspective grids;

:*when more than one 3D box is selected and their perspective is compatible, drag their common vanishing points/directions updating all selected boxes;

:*3D-rotate the entire selected 3D box (or several selected 3D boxes if they have a compatible perspective), thus moving all 3 directions/vanishing points in a natural way;

:*remember the last-set directions/vanishing points and create new objects in the same perspective, so you can quickly and easily draw an entire 3D scene with many boxes.

:In SVG, a 3D box will be represented as a group with a special extension attribute; the group would contain the 6 quadrilateral paths representing the sides of the box. Only the 3D box tool would treat this object as a whole; for all other tools it will be just a group, so you can select any of the paths, apply any style to it, delete it, etc. At the same time, the 3D tool would still be able to 3D-rotate and 3D-tweak the box while preserving any changed style and not restoring deleted sides (e.g. if you don't want to see the hidden sides, simply delete them as objects from the group).
: The extrude tool in Macromedia Freehand or the Perspective and Extrude tools of Corel Draw may also be of interest as a way of creating the appearance of 3D.

* '''3D guides''' can be a helpful addition to the 3D box tool. You would be able to create a new set of 3D guides from any 3D box and then use these guides for drawing with any tool that can snap to guides (e.g. the Pen tool). The guides would use different colors for the three dimensions. Ideally the guides should remember which object they were created from and update when that object's perspective (the set of 3 vanishing points or directions) is edited in the 3D tool.

* '''Other primitives''': Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Pyramid ...

* '''Perspective transform tool''' like in the GIMP

* '''Perspective grid tiling''': cloning an object to each field of a grid.

This is a big and infinitely expandable area. We do not expect any single student to cover all of this in a single summer. You can propose a reasonably useful subset of this functionality as your 2007 GSoC project.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

=== Live Path Effects ===

As explained on [[LivePathEffects|this wiki page]], Live Path Effects allow arbitrary path-changing effects to be applied to any path object. Inkscape will remember the original path before the transformation was applied, so you will be able to remove the effect, chain several effects on the same path, adjust their parameters, etc. All the effects metadata will be stored in Inkscape-only attributes. At the same time, the resulting visible path (with the effects applied) is saved using pure SVG elements and attributes and thus visible to all SVG renderers, thus upholding Inkscape's basic principle of operation: drawings must look exactly the same in Inkscape as in any SVG-compliant renderer.

This approach will allow us to make many of the effects currently implemeted as extensions (in the Effects menu) live and interactive. Path randomization, putting pattern along path, blends, envelopes, various distortions - all these can and should be live path effects, not the clunky, slow, and inconvenient Python scripts. Fortunately, Inkscape architecture makes creating live path effects relatively easy.

To complete this project, a student must implement at least several simple effects, propose and create a basic user interface for applying them to paths (Path Effects tool?). Some of the effects that you could start with are:

* '''Filleting''' (corner rounding) is common in technical drawing. While this is a fairly basic drafting task, it's currently not particularly easy to do in Inkscape except for certain cases such as round cornered rectangles. This effect would apply rounding with a given radius to all or some sharp corners of a path. It should also permit creation of '''chamfers''' which are flattened edges at suitable angles.

* '''Fractalize''' is currently a Python effect but would make a great live path effect. It can be useful in mapmaking; maps involve lots of irregular shapes - coastlines, forest boundaries, rivers, etc. that could use fractalization with adjustable level. (As an added bonus, this could be implemented so that the level of fractalization depends on zoom, but preserving this behavior outside of Inkscape would require some smart scripting as explained in this paper: [http://www.svgopen.org/2004/papers/AdaptiveLoD/ Adaptive Level of Detail in SVG].)

Mentor: Aaron Spike

=== Inkboard Portability ===

Last year we had a successful project to integrate the SVG online whiteboard capability, called Inkboard, into Inkscape. Unfortunately, it does not work on Windows, so many users are missing out on this capability.

This work may involve [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/inkscape/inkscape/branches/INKBOARD_PEDRO/src/jabber_whiteboard/protocol/ formalizing and extending the Inkboard communication protocol] and [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/inkscape/inkscape/branches/INKBOARD_PEDRO/src/jabber_whiteboard/ working on the INKBOARD_PEDRO branch])

Mentor: Ted

=== New Grids ===

Inkscape currently has square grids that can be snapped to. Extend this to allow other kinds of grids: Perspective, hex, iso, etc.

This will involve modifying the grid code to support the ability to have multiple kinds of grids, implementing at least 3 new grids, and adding the UI elements to allow users to make use of them.

Requests in tracker:
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1591386&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Perspective Grid: 2 and 3 point with sample Perl script.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1005753&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Perspective Grid: 1, 2, and 3 point.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1418249&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Hex Grid.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1365504&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Isometric Grid.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=900270&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Isometric Grid.]

Mentor: TBD

=== Text Tool Improvements ===

Inkscape's text tool is handy, but still lacks many of the niceties that users would like. This project would seek to address this by implementing various improvements that users have requested.

Some ideas for improvements:
* Make flowed text respect the default style of the text tool (a simple bugfix)
* When flowing a text which already contains line breaks, provide a way for the line breaks to be conserved
* When the style selected in the the Text and Font dialog is applied it erases any other style applied to some part of the text (like italics on some words, bold on others...), it would also be better to keep them where appropriate.
* Support [http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/text.html#TextDecorationProperties text-decoration] (underline, overline, line-through)
* Better respect different faces of fonts (Light, Book, Normal, Black etc.)
* Support justified text - might be some subset of those proposed at http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/; see also http://bowman.csse.monash.edu.au/~pmoulder/text-in-shape.tar.gz as a possible starting point.
* Spellchecking. Inkscape includes limited spellchecking support based on aspell but it is not enabled by default. Spellchecking based on enchant could use a much wider range of spellchecking engines and be made more widely available and be good enough to show prominently and enable by default.
* Search through the Inkscape Request for Enhancement (RFE) list for other text and font improvement ideas.

See also: http://valessio.ul-jb.org/projetos/inkscape/inkscribus.htm

Mentor: TBD

=== ccHost Import/Export ===

Allow exporting to, or importing from, a remote ccHost instance.

In particular, export to the [[OpenClipArtLibrary]], and import from said library (with some search terms, tag words, and perhaps even browsing.)

[[LionKimbro]] can help someone spec out the capabilities, interfaces (both programmatic and GUI), and so on. He's written a little on [[OpenClipArtLibraryIntegration]] already. cell: 206.427.2545.

=== Color Adjustment Dialog ===

Currently, it is possible to select, say, 12 objects in the drawing and set them to the same color/gradient/pattern. This project would go a step further, allowing multiple objects of differing color to have aspects of their color (such as brightness/contrast, HSL, etc.) altered, and to operate on vector objects with different fill styles (flat, gradient, or pattern fills), and to bitmaps.

Note: in 0.45, we have a set of extension effects that do this. But they are clumsy and slow. We need this to be in the core of the program with a good interactive user interface.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

== Your own original ideas ==

Original ideas are also welcome but students stand a better chance of getting selected by choosing from the suggested projects and where a mentor is available to supervise the work. If in doubt contact the developers on the mailing lists.

= Past Years =

* [[Googles Summer of Code 2006]]
* Googles Summer of Code 2005
** [[SOC Accepted Proposals]]
** [[SOC Writing Project Proposals]]
** [[SOC Selection Criteria]]
** [[SOC Original Project Prompts]]

Google Summer of Code 2007

2007-03-12T02:52:32Z

AlanHorkan: attempt to organise and categorise suggestions, needs more work

This year Inkscape is going to participate, yet again, in Google's Summer of Code (SoC) 2007. Help us come up with some solid places to innovate and push forward.

= Student Applications =

* Google program information
** Summer of Code Application form
* Inkscape-specific information
** [[SOC Application Template]]
** [[Roadmap | Inkscape Roadmap]] - to see our overall objectives
** [[SOC Writing Project Proposals]] - some guidelines for proposals
** [[SOC Selection Criteria]] - how we rate applications

= Project Ideas =

== File formats ==

=== Native Import of Encapsulated Poscript (EPS) or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) ===

While SVG is becoming a common format for exchanging data between graphics programs, EPS and PDF are still much more common. Inkscape's current EPS import is brittle, not as well maitained as we might like, and not available for all target platforms as it depends on 3rd party software. The goal is to give Inkscape native EPS or PDF import capability.

Where the code can be borrowed from:

*For EPS: Scribus' EPS Import Library

*For PDF: Poppler library http://poppler.freedesktop.org/

*For both: Ghostscript (though it may be too heavy for us)

The student needs to evaluate these (or other) possibilities, lay out a plan, and implement a native importer in Inkscape, either using an external lib to link to, or just importing the necessary code directly into Inkscape tree (as we did for Potrace). The end result will be Inkscape being able to correctly import a reasonable majority of EPS or PDF files in the wild (we can agree on a more formal conformance test if this idea interests anyone).

Mentor: ???

=== Native Import/Export of Corel Draw (CDR) files ===

Corel Draw was and still is a very popular drawing application and many files exist in the Corel Draw format. The user interface of Corel Draw is more similar in many ways to Inkscape than other graphics software making Inkscape more attractive to Corel Draw artists. We are getting a lot of requests from users to support this format.

While CDR is not an open format, several open source implementations exist, from which you can borrow code:

* Open source [http://xaralx.org/ Xara LX] can import and export CDR files.

* [http://sk1.sourceforge.net sK1] is a Corel Draw lookalike vector editor, at early stages of development but claiming to be able to read CDR files.

* CDR files use [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIFF RIFF metaformat], which means you can easily find an open source library for reading the top layer of the format (try any open source app that can read WAV or AVI, which are also RIFF-based). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.cdr

A student for this project will need to plan the scope of the feature (we do not need to do all the fancy features, but basics need to be covered) and assemble, with the help of the mentor, a library of sample CDR files for testing.

'''Mentor:''' Bulia Byak

== Raster Graphics ==

=== Inkscape / GIMP Bitmap Editing Integration ===

Currently, you can embed raster/bitmap images into Inkscape drawings, but editing them is a bit of a hassle because Inkscape isn't really "aware" of external bitmap editing tools.

This project would seek to correct this by modifying inkscape's image embedding code to interoperate more directly with external bitmap programs. For instance, there would be an "open external editor" command that could be used when one or more bitmap images are selected. Another idea would be to include some common bitmap modification commands from the external program, that can be run entirely within Inkscape. A third idea is drag and drop of selections from the bitmap editor to Inkscape, and SVG selections from Inkscape to the bitmap tool.

As a proof of concept, the result should demonstrate this interoperability with GIMP and/or [http://www.gegl.org/ GeGL]. Note that the code should be developed such that in theory it should work with any bitmap editor, but we would only require demonstration of working with GIMP.

Also see: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=862655&group_id=93438&atid=604309

Mentor: TBD

=== Adding bitmap capabilities to Inkscape ===

While the purpose of Inkscape is to be a vector editor, design in the real world requires dealing with bitmaps too. Inkscape can import the bitmaps, and have them as full canvas objects, but there is no significant bitmap operations in Inkscape. While there is no reason for Inkscape to replicate the functionality of The GIMP, it would be desirable to have a few simple operations available from Inkscape.

This project will use the Inkscape extensions system to add a series of bitmap effects. The majority of the effects will be achieved through the integration of the ImageMagick bitmap handling libraries. GIMP may be another source. These effects can then be run on bitmap graphics within Inkscape.

The work should be encapsulated in such a way that in theory, other vector graphics applications (such as Xara), could also use the work. However, for the scope of this project we only require demonstration of the capabilities in Inkscape.

== Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) ==

=== SVG Font support ===

We need SVG Font support in order to be able to claim SVG Tiny support. While the occurrence of SVG fonts in the wild seems to be pretty low, we will benefit from this by being able to embed fonts and thus ensure rendering of text without converting it to paths.

Mentor: ???

=== External Cascading Stylesheet (CSS) Support ===

Inkscape currently has good support for inline CSS, and limited read-only support for an internal stylesheet in a <style> element, and no support for external stylesheets. Support for editing non-inline CSS would allow better expressiveness and adaptation, and smaller SVG files, and better support for SVG generated by other programs that use non-inline CSS.

Mentor: Peter Moulder

=== Multi-page Support ===

An often requested feature is for Inkscape to support multi-page editing.
Currently, an Inkscape document is set to correspond to 1 printed page. However, the next version of SVG specification (1.2) includes support for [http://jan.kollhof.net/projects/svg/motjuvie/present.xhtml multi-page documents], and lots of people would like to have this capability in Inkscape as well.

This project would involve several steps: 1) Add internal support for reading and writing SVG 1.2 <pageSet> and <page> elements. 2) When editing a pageSet, create the visual page frames for each <page>. 3) When exporting to Postscript, have it export each <page> as a separate page in the Postscript file.

(Another frequent request is support for a tabbed interface. To be clear a tabbed interface is quite a different request from this one and any such Tabbed interface would need to accomodate the requirement of single documents with multiple pages like those proposed in SVG and already existing in PDF, OpenDocument Draw, and many others.)

=== User Interface for SVG Filters ===

Filters are a very important [http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/filters.html SVG capability].

Inkscape has basic support for filters in general thanks to a couple GSoC students' work last year, and more or less complete support for Gaussian Blur. What is needed: (1) adding support for more filters and making sure they work well in combination; (2) designing a UI that will be able to create, view, and modify arbitrarily complex filter stacks.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

Project Timeline:

* Implement first effect. This involves building Inkscape, linking in ImageMagick and getting one effect written (6 weeks)
* Implement remaining effects within ImageMagick (3 weeks)
* Build a test suite for operations and complete all Doxygen documentation of code (3 weeks)

Mentor: Ted Gould

== General ==

=== 3D capability ===

Inkscape is a 2D drawing tool. However, very often it is used to draw 3D objects. It would be very cool to have more support from the program for doing that, instead of just drawing everything manually. Nothing too fancy - we're not going to compete with Blender; but even simple things can go a long way. What's listed below is just basic ideas; feel free to develop upon them or offer something entirely different in your proposal.

* A '''3D box tool''' would be able to:

:*draw a 3D box;

:*adjust any of its 3 dimensions by handles and numerically;

:*freely move the perspective vanishing point for each dimension;

:*switch any dimension from a vanishing point to direction (point in infinity, lines are parallel) and back;

:*Allow subdivision of each face to create perspective grids;

:*when more than one 3D box is selected and their perspective is compatible, drag their common vanishing points/directions updating all selected boxes;

:*3D-rotate the entire selected 3D box (or several selected 3D boxes if they have a compatible perspective), thus moving all 3 directions/vanishing points in a natural way;

:*remember the last-set directions/vanishing points and create new objects in the same perspective, so you can quickly and easily draw an entire 3D scene with many boxes.

:In SVG, a 3D box will be represented as a group with a special extension attribute; the group would contain the 6 quadrilateral paths representing the sides of the box. Only the 3D box tool would treat this object as a whole; for all other tools it will be just a group, so you can select any of the paths, apply any style to it, delete it, etc. At the same time, the 3D tool would still be able to 3D-rotate and 3D-tweak the box while preserving any changed style and not restoring deleted sides (e.g. if you don't want to see the hidden sides, simply delete them as objects from the group).
: The extrude tool in Macromedia Freehand may also be of interest as a way of creating the appearance of 3D.

* '''3D guides''' can be a helpful addition to the 3D box tool. You would be able to create a new set of 3D guides from any 3D box and then use these guides for drawing with any tool that can snap to guides (e.g. the Pen tool). The guides would use different colors for the three dimensions. Ideally the guides should remember which object they were created from and update when that object's perspective (the set of 3 vanishing points or directions) is edited in the 3D tool.

* '''Other primitives''': Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Pyramid ...

* '''Perspective transform tool''' like in the GIMP

* '''Perspective grid tiling''': cloning an object to each field of a grid.

This is a big and infinitely expandable area. We do not expect any single student to cover all of this in a single summer. You can propose a reasonably useful subset of this functionality as your 2007 GSoC project.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

=== Live Path Effects ===

As explained on [[LivePathEffects|this wiki page]], Live Path Effects allow arbitrary path-changing effects to be applied to any path object. Inkscape will remember the original path before the transformation was applied, so you will be able to remove the effect, chain several effects on the same path, adjust their parameters, etc. All the effects metadata will be stored in Inkscape-only attributes. At the same time, the resulting visible path (with the effects applied) is saved using pure SVG elements and attributes and thus visible to all SVG renderers, thus upholding Inkscape's basic principle of operation: drawings must look exactly the same in Inkscape as in any SVG-compliant renderer.

This approach will allow us to make many of the effects currently implemeted as extensions (in the Effects menu) live and interactive. Path randomization, putting pattern along path, blends, envelopes, various distortions - all these can and should be live path effects, not the clunky, slow, and inconvenient Python scripts. Fortunately, Inkscape architecture makes creating live path effects relatively easy.

To complete this project, a student must implement at least several simple effects, propose and create a basic user interface for applying them to paths (Path Effects tool?). Some of the effects that you could start with are:

* '''Filleting''' (corner rounding) is common in technical drawing. While this is a fairly basic drafting task, it's currently not particularly easy to do in Inkscape except for certain cases such as round cornered rectangles. This effect would apply rounding with a given radius to all or some sharp corners of a path. It should also permit creation of '''chamfers''' which are flattened edges at suitable angles.

* '''Fractalize''' is currently a Python effect but would make a great live path effect. It can be useful in mapmaking; maps involve lots of irregular shapes - coastlines, forest boundaries, rivers, etc. that could use fractalization with adjustable level. (As an added bonus, this could be implemented so that the level of fractalization depends on zoom, but preserving this behavior outside of Inkscape would require some smart scripting as explained in this paper: [http://www.svgopen.org/2004/papers/AdaptiveLoD/ Adaptive Level of Detail in SVG].)

Mentor: Aaron Spike

=== Inkboard Portability ===

Last year we had a successful project to integrate the SVG online whiteboard capability, called Inkboard, into Inkscape. Unfortunately, it does not work on Windows, so many users are missing out on this capability.

This work may involve [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/inkscape/inkscape/branches/INKBOARD_PEDRO/src/jabber_whiteboard/protocol/ formalizing and extending the Inkboard communication protocol] and [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/inkscape/inkscape/branches/INKBOARD_PEDRO/src/jabber_whiteboard/ working on the INKBOARD_PEDRO branch])

Mentor: Ted

=== New Grids ===

Inkscape currently has square grids that can be snapped to. Extend this to allow other kinds of grids: Perspective, hex, iso, etc.

This will involve modifying the grid code to support the ability to have multiple kinds of grids, implementing at least 3 new grids, and adding the UI elements to allow users to make use of them.

Requests in tracker:
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1591386&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Perspective Grid: 2 and 3 point with sample Perl script.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1005753&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Perspective Grid: 1, 2, and 3 point.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1418249&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Hex Grid.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1365504&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Isometric Grid.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=900270&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Isometric Grid.]

Mentor: TBD

=== Text Tool Improvements ===

Inkscape's text tool is handy, but still lacks many of the niceties that users would like. This project would seek to address this by implementing various improvements that users have requested.

Some ideas for improvements:
* Make flowed text respect the default style of the text tool (a simple bugfix)
* When flowing a text which already contains line breaks, provide a way for the line breaks to be conserved
* When the style selected in the the Text and Font dialog is applied it erases any other style applied to some part of the text (like italics on some words, bold on others...), it would also be better to keep them where appropriate.
* Support [http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/text.html#TextDecorationProperties text-decoration] (underline, overline, line-through)
* Better respect different faces of fonts (Light, Book, Normal, Black etc.)
* Support justified text - might be some subset of those proposed at http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/; see also http://bowman.csse.monash.edu.au/~pmoulder/text-in-shape.tar.gz as a possible starting point.
* Spellchecking. Inkscape includes limited spellchecking support based on aspell but it is not enabled by default. Spellchecking based on enchant could use a much wider range of spellchecking engines and be made more widely available and be good enough to show prominently and enable by default.
* Search through the Inkscape Request for Enhancement (RFE) list for other text and font improvement ideas.

See also: http://valessio.ul-jb.org/projetos/inkscape/inkscribus.htm

Mentor: TBD

=== ccHost Import/Export ===

Allow exporting to, or importing from, a remote ccHost instance.

In particular, export to the [[OpenClipArtLibrary]], and import from said library (with some search terms, tag words, and perhaps even browsing.)

[[LionKimbro]] can help someone spec out the capabilities, interfaces (both programmatic and GUI), and so on. He's written a little on [[OpenClipArtLibraryIntegration]] already. cell: 206.427.2545.

=== Color Adjustment Dialog ===

Currently, it is possible to select, say, 12 objects in the drawing and set them to the same color/gradient/pattern. This project would go a step further, allowing multiple objects of differing color to have aspects of their color (such as brightness/contrast, HSL, etc.) altered, and to operate on vector objects with different fill styles (flat, gradient, or pattern fills), and to bitmaps.

Note: in 0.45, we have a set of extension effects that do this. But they are clumsy and slow. We need this to be in the core of the program with a good interactive user interface.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

== Your own original ideas ==

Original ideas are also welcome but students stand a better chance of getting selected by choosing from the suggested projects and where a mentor is available to supervise the work. If in doubt contact the developers on the mailing lists.

= Past Years =

* [[Googles Summer of Code 2006]]
* Googles Summer of Code 2005
** [[SOC Accepted Proposals]]
** [[SOC Writing Project Proposals]]
** [[SOC Selection Criteria]]
** [[SOC Original Project Prompts]]

Google Summer of Code 2007

2007-03-12T02:35:00Z

AlanHorkan: and/or is terrible grammar, OR is not XOR it is inclusive

This year Inkscape is going to participate, yet again, in Google's Summer of Code (SoC) 2007. Help us come up with some solid places to innovate and push forward.

= Student Applications =

* Google program information
** Summer of Code Application form
* Inkscape-specific information
** [[SOC Application Template]]
** [[Roadmap | Inkscape Roadmap]] - to see our overall objectives
** [[SOC Writing Project Proposals]] - some guidelines for proposals
** [[SOC Selection Criteria]] - how we rate applications

= Project Ideas =

== 3D capability ==

Inkscape is a 2D drawing tool. However, very often it is used to draw 3D objects. It would be very cool to have more support from the program for doing that, instead of just drawing everything manually. Nothing too fancy - we're not going to compete with Blender; but even simple things can go a long way. What's listed below is just basic ideas; feel free to develop upon them or offer something entirely different in your proposal.

* A '''3D box tool''' would be able to:

:*draw a 3D box;

:*adjust any of its 3 dimensions by handles and numerically;

:*freely move the perspective vanishing point for each dimension;

:*switch any dimension from a vanishing point to direction (point in infinity, lines are parallel) and back;

:*Allow subdivision of each face to create perspective grids;

:*when more than one 3D box is selected and their perspective is compatible, drag their common vanishing points/directions updating all selected boxes;

:*3D-rotate the entire selected 3D box (or several selected 3D boxes if they have a compatible perspective), thus moving all 3 directions/vanishing points in a natural way;

:*remember the last-set directions/vanishing points and create new objects in the same perspective, so you can quickly and easily draw an entire 3D scene with many boxes.

:In SVG, a 3D box will be represented as a group with a special extension attribute; the group would contain the 6 quadrilateral paths representing the sides of the box. Only the 3D box tool would treat this object as a whole; for all other tools it will be just a group, so you can select any of the paths, apply any style to it, delete it, etc. At the same time, the 3D tool would still be able to 3D-rotate and 3D-tweak the box while preserving any changed style and not restoring deleted sides (e.g. if you don't want to see the hidden sides, simply delete them as objects from the group).
: The extrude tool in Macromedia Freehand may also be of interest as a way of creating the appearance of 3D.

* '''3D guides''' can be a helpful addition to the 3D box tool. You would be able to create a new set of 3D guides from any 3D box and then use these guides for drawing with any tool that can snap to guides (e.g. the Pen tool). The guides would use different colors for the three dimensions. Ideally the guides should remember which object they were created from and update when that object's perspective (the set of 3 vanishing points or directions) is edited in the 3D tool.

* '''Other primitives''': Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Pyramid ...

* '''Perspective transform tool''' like in the GIMP

* '''Perspective grid tiling''': cloning an object to each field of a grid.

This is a big and infinitely expandable area. We do not expect any single student to cover all of this in a single summer. You can propose a reasonably useful subset of this functionality as your 2007 GSoC project.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

== Native Import of Encapsulated Poscript (EPS) or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) ==

While SVG is becoming a common format for exchanging data between graphics programs, EPS and PDF are still much more common. Inkscape's current EPS import is brittle, not as well maitained as we might like, and not available for all target platforms as it depends on 3rd party software. The goal is to give Inkscape native EPS or PDF import capability.

Where the code can be borrowed from:

*For EPS: Scribus' EPS Import Library

*For PDF: Poppler library http://poppler.freedesktop.org/

*For both: Ghostscript (though it may be too heavy for us)

The student needs to evaluate these (or other) possibilities, lay out a plan, and implement a native importer in Inkscape, either using an external lib to link to, or just importing the necessary code directly into Inkscape tree (as we did for Potrace). The end result will be Inkscape being able to correctly import a reasonable majority of EPS or PDF files in the wild (we can agree on a more formal conformance test if this idea interests anyone).

Mentor: ???

== Native Import/Export of Corel Draw (CDR) files ==

Corel Draw was and still is a very popular drawing application and many files exist in the Corel Draw format. The user interface of Corel Draw is more similar in many ways to Inkscape than other graphics software making Inkscape more attractive to Corel Draw artists. We are getting a lot of requests from users to support this format.

While CDR is not an open format, several open source implementations exist, from which you can borrow code:

* Open source [http://xaralx.org/ Xara LX] can import and export CDR files.

* [http://sk1.sourceforge.net sK1] is a Corel Draw lookalike vector editor, at early stages of development but claiming to be able to read CDR files.

* CDR files use [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIFF RIFF metaformat], which means you can easily find an open source library for reading the top layer of the format (try any open source app that can read WAV or AVI, which are also RIFF-based).

A student for this project will need to plan the scope of the feature (we do not need to do all the fancy features, but basics need to be covered) and assemble, with the help of the mentor, a library of sample CDR files for testing.

'''Mentor:''' Bulia Byak

== Live Path Effects ==

As explained on [[LivePathEffects|this wiki page]], Live Path Effects allow arbitrary path-changing effects to be applied to any path object. Inkscape will remember the original path before the transformation was applied, so you will be able to remove the effect, chain several effects on the same path, adjust their parameters, etc. All the effects metadata will be stored in Inkscape-only attributes. At the same time, the resulting visible path (with the effects applied) is saved using pure SVG elements and attributes and thus visible to all SVG renderers, thus upholding Inkscape's basic principle of operation: drawings must look exactly the same in Inkscape as in any SVG-compliant renderer.

This approach will allow us to make many of the effects currently implemeted as extensions (in the Effects menu) live and interactive. Path randomization, putting pattern along path, blends, envelopes, various distortions - all these can and should be live path effects, not the clunky, slow, and inconvenient Python scripts. Fortunately, Inkscape architecture makes creating live path effects relatively easy.

To complete this project, a student must implement at least several simple effects, propose and create a basic user interface for applying them to paths (Path Effects tool?). Some of the effects that you could start with are:

* '''Filleting''' (corner rounding) is common in technical drawing. While this is a fairly basic drafting task, it's currently not particularly easy to do in Inkscape except for certain cases such as round cornered rectangles. This effect would apply rounding with a given radius to all or some sharp corners of a path. It should also permit creation of '''chamfers''' which are flattened edges at suitable angles.

* '''Fractalize''' is currently a Python effect but would make a great live path effect. It can be useful in mapmaking; maps involve lots of irregular shapes - coastlines, forest boundaries, rivers, etc. that could use fractalization with adjustable level. (As an added bonus, this could be implemented so that the level of fractalization depends on zoom, but preserving this behavior outside of Inkscape would require some smart scripting as explained in this paper: [http://www.svgopen.org/2004/papers/AdaptiveLoD/ Adaptive Level of Detail in SVG].)

Mentor: Aaron Spike

== Inkboard Portability ==

Last year we had a successful project to integrate the SVG online whiteboard capability, called Inkboard, into Inkscape. Unfortunately, it does not work on Windows, so many users are missing out on this capability.

This work may involve [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/inkscape/inkscape/branches/INKBOARD_PEDRO/src/jabber_whiteboard/protocol/ formalizing and extending the Inkboard communication protocol] and [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/inkscape/inkscape/branches/INKBOARD_PEDRO/src/jabber_whiteboard/ working on the INKBOARD_PEDRO branch])

Mentor: Ted

== New Grids ==

Inkscape currently has square grids that can be snapped to. Extend this to allow other kinds of grids: Perspective, hex, iso, etc.

This will involve modifying the grid code to support the ability to have multiple kinds of grids, implementing at least 3 new grids, and adding the UI elements to allow users to make use of them.

Requests in tracker:
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1591386&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Perspective Grid: 2 and 3 point with sample Perl script.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1005753&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Perspective Grid: 1, 2, and 3 point.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1418249&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Hex Grid.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1365504&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Isometric Grid.]
*[http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=900270&group_id=93438&atid=604309 Isometric Grid.]

Mentor: TBD

== User Interface for SVG Filters ==

Filters are a very important [http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/filters.html SVG capability].

Inkscape has basic support for filters in general thanks to a couple GSoC students' work last year, and more or less complete support for Gaussian Blur. What is needed: (1) adding support for more filters and making sure they work well in combination; (2) designing a UI that will be able to create, view, and modify arbitrarily complex filter stacks.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

Project Timeline:

* Implement first effect. This involves building Inkscape, linking in ImageMagick and getting one effect written (6 weeks)
* Implement remaining effects within ImageMagick (3 weeks)
* Build a test suite for operations and complete all Doxygen documentation of code (3 weeks)

Mentor: Ted Gould

== Inkscape / GIMP Bitmap Editing Integration ==

Currently, you can embed raster/bitmap images into Inkscape drawings, but editing them is a bit of a hassle because Inkscape isn't really "aware" of external bitmap editing tools.

This project would seek to correct this by modifying inkscape's image embedding code to interoperate more directly with external bitmap programs. For instance, there would be an "open external editor" command that could be used when one or more bitmap images are selected. Another idea would be to include some common bitmap modification commands from the external program, that can be run entirely within Inkscape. A third idea is drag and drop of selections from the bitmap editor to Inkscape, and SVG selections from Inkscape to the bitmap tool.

As a proof of concept, the result should demonstrate this interoperability with GIMP and/or [http://www.gegl.org/ GeGL]. Note that the code should be developed such that in theory it should work with any bitmap editor, but we would only require demonstration of working with GIMP.

Also see: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=862655&group_id=93438&atid=604309

Mentor: TBD

== Adding bitmap capabilities to Inkscape ==

While the purpose of Inkscape is to be a vector editor, design in the real world requires dealing with bitmaps too. Inkscape can import the bitmaps, and have them as full canvas objects, but there is no significant bitmap operations in Inkscape. While there is no reason for Inkscape to replicate the functionality of The GIMP, it would be desirable to have a few simple operations available from Inkscape.

This project will use the Inkscape extensions system to add a series of bitmap effects. The majority of the effects will be achieved through the integration of the ImageMagick bitmap handling libraries. GIMP may be another source. These effects can then be run on bitmap graphics within Inkscape.

The work should be encapsulated in such a way that in theory, other vector graphics applications (such as Xara), could also use the work. However, for the scope of this project we only require demonstration of the capabilities in Inkscape.

== Text Tool Improvements ==

Inkscape's text tool is handy, but still lacks many of the niceties that users would like. This project would seek to address this by implementing various improvements that users have requested.

Some ideas for improvements:
* Make flowed text respect the default style of the text tool (a simple bugfix)
* When flowing a text which already contains line breaks, provide a way for the line breaks to be conserved
* When the style selected in the the Text and Font dialog is applied it erases any other style applied to some part of the text (like italics on some words, bold on others...), it would also be better to keep them where appropriate.
* Support [http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/text.html#TextDecorationProperties text-decoration] (underline, overline, line-through)
* Better respect different faces of fonts (Light, Book, Normal, Black etc.)
* Support justified text - might be some subset of those proposed at http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/; see also http://bowman.csse.monash.edu.au/~pmoulder/text-in-shape.tar.gz as a possible starting point.
* Search through the Inkscape RFE list for other text and font improvement ideas

See also: http://valessio.ul-jb.org/projetos/inkscape/inkscribus.htm

Mentor: TBD

== Color Adjustment Dialog ==

Currently, it is possible to select, say, 12 objects in the drawing and set them to the same color/gradient/pattern. This project would go a step further, allowing multiple objects of differing color to have aspects of their color (such as brightness/contrast, HSL, etc.) altered, and to operate on vector objects with different fill styles (flat, gradient, or pattern fills), and to bitmaps.

Note: in 0.45, we have a set of extension effects that do this. But they are clumsy and slow. We need this to be in the core of the program with a good interactive UI.

Mentor: Bulia Byak

== SVG fonts support ==

We need SVG font support in order to be able to claim SVG Tiny support. While the occurrence of SVG fonts in the wild seems to be pretty low, we will benefit from this by being able to embed fonts and thus ensure rendering of text without converting it to paths.

Mentor: ???

== External Cascading Stylesheet (CSS) Support ==

Inkscape currently has good support for inline CSS, and limited read-only support for an internal stylesheet in a <style> element, and no support for external stylesheets. Support for editing non-inline CSS would allow better expressiveness and adaptation, and smaller SVG files, and better support for SVG generated by other programs that use non-inline CSS.

Mentor: Peter Moulder

== Multi-page Support ==

An often requested feature is for Inkscape to support multi-page editing.
Currently, an Inkscape document is set to correspond to 1 printed page. However, the next version of SVG specification (1.2) includes support for [http://jan.kollhof.net/projects/svg/motjuvie/present.xhtml multi-page documents], and lots of people would like to have this capability in Inkscape as well.

This project would involve several steps: 1) Add internal support for reading and writing SVG 1.2 <pageSet> and <page> elements. 2) When editing a pageSet, create the visual page frames for each <page>. 3) When exporting to Postscript, have it export each <page> as a separate page in the Postscript file.

(Another frequent request is support for a tabbed interface. To be clear a tabbed interface is quite a different request from this one and any such Tabbed interface would need to accomodate the requirement of single documents with multiple pages like those proposed in SVG and already existing in PDF, OpenDocument Draw, and many others.)

== ccHost Import/Export ==

Allow exporting to, or importing from, a remote ccHost instance.

In particular, export to the [[OpenClipArtLibrary]], and import from said library (with some search terms, tag words, and perhaps even browsing.)

[[LionKimbro]] can help someone spec out the capabilities, interfaces (both programmatic and GUI), and so on. He's written a little on [[OpenClipArtLibraryIntegration]] already. cell: 206.427.2545.

= Past Years =

* [[Googles Summer of Code 2006]]
* Googles Summer of Code 2005
** [[SOC Accepted Proposals]]
** [[SOC Writing Project Proposals]]
** [[SOC Selection Criteria]]
** [[SOC Original Project Prompts]]

Updating tracker items

2007-02-12T17:43:19Z

AlanHorkan: /* Duplicates */

=== Updating Tracker Items ===

This is the general methodology for dealing with [[SourceForge]] Bug, Feature, and Patch Tracker items:

# Be polite. It takes some effort on the part of the user to come to our site, navigate to the bug report section, and write up a report. If they know their report will be treated seriously and professionally, they'll respect the system and put in extra time to help us solve the issue.
# Do not close an unreproducible bug unless a reasonable amount of effort is put into reproducing it, and let it rot for some time before closing -- someone may come up with a better report in comments. (In a few situations we've not been able to recreate the bug, but due to the involved assistance of the user have been able to narrow down and fix the problem, and the user's been able to do the validation.)
# Clarify. If it took you some time to guess what it's about, take another second to reword the title or add a comment, to make it obvious to whoever will be reading the tracker after you (especially if it's the person who can fix it).
# Document your solution. When closing a bug as fixed, add a comment about how you did it (especially what files changed and what to look for in these files).
# Prioritization: even though SF permits 10 levels of priority per bug, there doesn't seem to be much need for more than four levels: high(9), med(6), low(3), and unprioritized(5). There is no way to predict what features developers will want to work on so prioritization is used to indicate the importance or 'criticality' of an issue rather than when it might be implemented or even how difficult it migth be to do.
## Crash bugs are generally always high(9), as are bugs related to file open/save problems, file corruption, loss of backup, or other things that could cause data loss for users or prevent them from being able to use the application.
## Bugs which affect usability, functionality, behavior, etc. are generally medium(6), although important ones are bumped up to high and unimportant ones are dropped to low.
## Quirks, really obscure things, and minor nit picky things would be low(3).

:The prioritization level isn't used to indicate when the bug will be fixed. Bugs seem to get fixed whenever their time has come. That said, we do try to make an extra effort to address all the critical bugs prior to a release.

=== Duplicates ===

Always search for similar or Duplicate requests before filing new reports.
When choosing which duplicate to close older reports should be given priority over newer reports. Exceptions can be made if one report has signficantly better information provided, and some priority should be given to non-Anonymous reports since there is a better chance of getting followup information from users. When closing a report as a duplicate make sure to include a full hyperlink to the report being left open and preferably the bug title/summary. Where appropriate copy and paste across any relevant extra information to the bug report being left open.

[[Category:Help Wanted]]

Updating tracker items

2007-02-12T17:34:30Z

AlanHorkan: /* Updating Tracker Items */

=== Updating Tracker Items ===

This is the general methodology for dealing with [[SourceForge]] Bug, Feature, and Patch Tracker items:

# Be polite. It takes some effort on the part of the user to come to our site, navigate to the bug report section, and write up a report. If they know their report will be treated seriously and professionally, they'll respect the system and put in extra time to help us solve the issue.
# Do not close an unreproducible bug unless a reasonable amount of effort is put into reproducing it, and let it rot for some time before closing -- someone may come up with a better report in comments. (In a few situations we've not been able to recreate the bug, but due to the involved assistance of the user have been able to narrow down and fix the problem, and the user's been able to do the validation.)
# Clarify. If it took you some time to guess what it's about, take another second to reword the title or add a comment, to make it obvious to whoever will be reading the tracker after you (especially if it's the person who can fix it).
# Document your solution. When closing a bug as fixed, add a comment about how you did it (especially what files changed and what to look for in these files).
# Prioritization: even though SF permits 10 levels of priority per bug, there doesn't seem to be much need for more than four levels: high(9), med(6), low(3), and unprioritized(5). There is no way to predict what features developers will want to work on so prioritization is used to indicate the importance or 'criticality' of an issue rather than when it might be implemented or even how difficult it migth be to do.
## Crash bugs are generally always high(9), as are bugs related to file open/save problems, file corruption, loss of backup, or other things that could cause data loss for users or prevent them from being able to use the application.
## Bugs which affect usability, functionality, behavior, etc. are generally medium(6), although important ones are bumped up to high and unimportant ones are dropped to low.
## Quirks, really obscure things, and minor nit picky things would be low(3).

:The prioritization level isn't used to indicate when the bug will be fixed. Bugs seem to get fixed whenever their time has come. That said, we do try to make an extra effort to address all the critical bugs prior to a release.

=== Duplicates ===

Always search for similar or Duplicate requests before filing new reports.
When choosing which duplicate to close older reports should be given priority over newer reports. Exceptions can be made if one report has signficantly better information provided. When closing a report as a duplicate make sure to include a full hyperlink to the report being left open and where appropriate copy and paste across any relevant extra information.

[[Category:Help Wanted]]

Updating tracker items

2007-02-12T17:30:00Z

AlanHorkan: closing duplicate reports

=== Updating Tracker Items ===

This is the general methodology for dealing with [[SourceForge]] Bug, Feature, and Patch Tracker items:

# Be polite. It takes some effort on the part of the user to come to our site, navigate to the bug report section, and write up a report. If they know their report will be treated seriously and professionally, they'll respect the system and put in extra time to help us solve the issue.
# Do not close an unreproducible bug unless a reasonable amount of effort is put into reproducing it, and let it rot for some time before closing -- someone may come up with a better report in comments. (In a few situations we've not been able to recreate the bug, but due to the involved assistance of the user have been able to narrow down and fix the problem, and the user's been able to do the validation.)
# Clarify. If it took you some time to guess what it's about, take another second to reword the title or add a comment, to make it obvious to whoever will be reading the tracker after you (especially if it's the person who can fix it).
# Document your solution. When closing a bug as fixed, add a comment about how you did it (especially what files changed and what to look for in these files).
# Prioritization: even though SF permits 10 levels of priority per bug, there doesn't seem to be much need for more than four levels: high(9), med(6), low(3), and unprioritized(5). We use the prioritization for 'criticality' rather than implementation order (which is unpredictable).

## Crash bugs are generally always high(9), as are bugs related to file open/save problems, file corruption, loss of backup, or other things that could cause data loss for users or prevent them from being able to use the application.

## Bugs which affect usability, functionality, behavior, etc. are generally medium(6), although important ones are bumped up to high and unimportant ones are dropped to low.

## Quirks, really obscure things, and minor nit picky things would be low(3).

:The prioritization level isn't used to indicate when the bug will be fixed. Bugs seem to get fixed whenever their time has come. That said, we do try to make an extra effort to address all the critical bugs prior to a release.

=== Duplicates ===

Always search for similar or Duplicate requests before filing new reports.
When choosing which duplicate to close older reports should be given priority over newer reports. Exceptions can be made if one report has signficantly better information provided. When closing a report as a duplicate make sure to include a full hyperlink to the report being left open and where appropriate copy and paste across any relevant extra information.

[[Category:Help Wanted]]

Adding interface verbs

2006-11-09T00:49:23Z

AlanHorkan: short repitition of bug contents for convenience

=Introduction to Verbs=

Commands in Inkscape are called 'Verbs'. They permit invoking internal functionality through menus and keyboard shortcuts. For example, they could allow you to assign a shortcut key to a set of actions you use a lot.

Verbs are not terribly difficult to add. You don't need to have much coding know-how in order to add a verb, and only a minimal knowledge of Inkscape internals. The aim of this page is to provide novice coders with a "paint by numbers" process that can be followed to add a new verb to Inkscape.

=How to Add a Verb=

First, add IDs for your new verbs to verbs.h:

[http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/src/verbs.h?r1=13280&r2=13309&sortby=date verbs.h]

The place of the ID in the list determines to which group it belongs
(EditVerbs, FileVerbs, etc) - however, this is pretty arbitrary, so
don't sweat if you can't find a perfect group for your verb, just use
whichever makes most sense.

Then is the meat of the matter. In verbs.cpp, fill in the verb structure with the name,
description, action ID, etc; also in the same file, write the actual
commands that the verb will do, in a switch case in one of ::perform
methods:

[http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/src/verbs.cpp?r1=13281&r2=13311&sortby=date verbs.cpp]

As you see, these verbs do different things depending on which tool
you are in. Before verbification, this was coded into tool context
files, and now we can remove that:

[http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/src/node-context.cpp?r1=13296&r2=13309&sortby=date node-context.cpp]
[http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/src/select-context.cpp?r1=13200&r2=13309&sortby=date select-context.cpp]
[http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/src/draw-context.cpp?r1=13148&r2=13310&sortby=date draw-context.cpp]
[http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/src/draw-context.cpp?r1=13148&r2=13310&sortby=date draw-context.cpp]

(the last one required writing two functions that will be called by the
verb).

Now assign the keys to the newly created verbs:

[http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/share/keys/inkscape.xml?r1=13302&r2=13307&sortby=date inkscape.xml]

and then copy inkscape.xml to default.xml.

Note: even if you are not assigning any key, you MUST list the new
verb in inkscape.xml, using a <bind> without a key. Not only this file
is a keymap, but it's also a reference for keymap writers, so it must
have all verbs, assigned or not.

If you added a shortcut which didn't exist before, update also doc/keys.xml.

If you want the new verb in the menu, edit menus-skeleton.h and
insert it there in an appropriate place.

Also review the other keymaps to see if you can assign the new verb to
some key that would make sense. So in adobe-illustrator.xml, I
assigned the new verbs to Alt+Ctrl+[], which seems to be the same
thing according to the comments:

[http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/share/keys/adobe-illustrator-cs2.xml?r1=13304&r2=13308&sortby=date adobe-illustrator-cs2.xml]

Finally update the [[ReleaseNotes]] with your new work! :-)

=Candidates for New Verbs=

A couple words on what might be good candidates for verbification:

* anything that all tools do but which is still not a verb, such as Esc for deselection

* anything that is needed for more complete keymaps emulating other editors, for example as listed [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1532158&group_id=93438&atid=604309 in this bug report].
** the bug report requests includes various suggestions including: additional Zoom percentages; increase text, size and decrease text size; bold, italic, underline, text.
**See also the alternate keyboard shortcut layouts found in inkscape/share/keys/ which contain comments about missing features or verbs.

* any global action (i.e. which is not limited to some tool's context) for which it just makes sense to have a quick shortcut, even if it is already available via a dialog, a tool control, or some other more complicated way (example: centering selected objects; increasing/decreasing blur/opacity/stroke width in selection, etc.).

=Requests for New Verbs=

If the above sounds like something you're interested in doing, here is a listing of actions that have been requested, that we'll need verbs for.

* Align-middle-and-center: Need a shortcut key for aligning selected objects to their centers (horizontally and vertically). [https://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=37258028]

If you'd like to see a verb added for a new action, but can't implement it yourself, you can add it to the above list.

Win32 Installer

2006-09-14T02:30:54Z

AlanHorkan: /* new feature request will cause complete rework */

There has been some complaints about the Windows installer and also many ideas has been raised. So I want to bundle all those ideas here on one page.

=== new feature request will cause complete rework ===
There is a request from a professor on the university to have a .msi installer in order to integrate inkscape into the university software distribution system.
This would require a complete rework and an entirely seperate package as NSIS is not compatible with MSI packages. The standard recommendation from NSIS is to use the silent install options they provide to help automate large installations.

=== reported problems ===
* no uninstall option, this is a privilege issue as the user has no rigths to write the necessary reistry strings
* Windows: problems installing as non-priviledged user, same as above. We should help the user selecting the correct settings -- remove the check for all users or shortcuts in general

=== comming up - where you can help ===
* test if the user has pivileges to write registry,
* test if inkscape is installed and the previous installation is done by the same user
* test if the same user uninstalls inkscape

=== status ===
* screenshots [http://www.geocities.com/theAdib current version]
* multi user installation
* optional sets file assoziations for .svg and .svgz
* optional keeps the personal preferences
* selectable components (core, gtk, shortcuts, examples, tutorials, translations)
* show GPL, not need to accept just click next
* added non program files (README, AUTHORS, ...)
* crc validation
* does not show details any more during installation/deinstallation
* silent install, all settings can be done via command line

=== feedback or what users say ===
* the file associacion should go to the toplevel three
* also accociations for other file formats

=== component page ===
* inkscape core files (required)
* gtk files (required)
* shortcuts
*- install for all user
*- desktop icon
*- quick launch icon
*- default SVG editor
*- shell menue integration
* additional Files
*- examples
*- tutorials
* languages
*- English (required)
*- German
*- Frensh
*- ...

=== ideas ===
# (DONE) installer installs everything, I don't need chinese translations
# (DONE) installer translations is bad, I don't understand the sense
* there are descriptions if you select/mouse-over that menue item
# (DONE) crc validation
# custom installations (examples, tutorial, translations)
# (DONE) silent installation
* is by default enables but no other option as [[/D]] directory can be set. Use [[/S]] to switch silent mode.
* now all the Options can be deselected with command line parameters
# use the common/extra gtk-lib as gaim or gimp are doing and only supply extra libs
* (Ishmal) We have talked about this before, and it is something that we need to examine. But
what we need is more of a reason to do this than only download size or disk space. This
would be much more work than just repackaging.
# The individual packages of their existing ports were built individually. This means that
for development, the dev must have the makefile point to all of their individual trees.
The pkg-config information thus also refers to individual trees. This would make development
-much- more difficult than is is now. Remember, the Win32 build is just another build
environment of the Inkscape tree. We can edit/compile/debug on it just as easily as
on Linux. It is -not- a port, where the development is done entirely on Linux.
# We would need for the startup code to look for the location of the Gtk directory in the
registry. We would then either need to add it to the path, or do explicit [[LoadLibrary]]()
calls.
# If the user does not already have the common Gtk directory, then it must be part of our
install process. We cannot ask the user to go to some website, download and install it.
We provide -everything- now. We would need an extremely good reason to stop doing this.
Actually, if you have ever used [[InstallShield]], you would know that it provides all of its
dependencies, too (the huge ODBC or OLE packages within your installer are examples).
I am not against this. We just need to do it a different way. What we have discussed is the
possibility of being able to build the entire set of libraries from source, all of the way from
iconv to Gtkmm and libxslt and beyond. If we could do this, then the build would be clean, and have
valid interdependencies (no missing DLLs or DLLs with the wrong names). A single pkg-config
directory would point to all of the correct places. This would benefit everyone; Gimp, Gaim,
Inkscape, and anyone else who wanted to build a Gtk app on Win32 would find it much easier
this way. We need to talk with the guys doing the porting, about doing something just like this.

There is a promising subproject of [[MinGW]], 'portmaker,' which can maybe allow this to happen.
It is [http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=476731 here].

# (DONE) there is no need to show the GPL just for the usage of the program. Make it not mandatory to accept.
* (Ishmal) I think the GPL is cool. It basically says "Welcome to Open Source," and reminds
the users that it is not a commercial application, but a community effort.
# (DONE) not to show Details by default
# test dependencies before installing extensions
# assoziate more than just .svg
* uh, again how do we test which dependencies are supported uberconverter, ghostscript, etc

=== problems and questions ===
* (DONE) we need to detect, what are the inkscape translations and let the user choose
: how we present the languages?
: In the native one "English, Deutsch, Italiano" or in the language of the installer?
* currently it is presented like that, ordered by ISO code "am Amharic, de German)
: once we detected inkscape translation we can left over the other languages from the gtk package
* how can we put the translations out of the installer so that more people can help translating
* what about let a script write the translation part ?
this script then should access the po files for the translations
Q: does python or perl allow to access the inkscape po files ?
* (DONE) what should a silent installation do, what are the options ?
* all options are supported a /? gives a screen with all possible options
* (DONE) we also need to add some none program-files: license (done), authors, hacking, news (release-notes), readme,

=== more todo ===
* please provide samples or screenshots of a application that you satisfied and think is good
* other ideas

=== screenshots ===
* [[http://www.geocities.com/theAdib screenshots Abiword Blender Gaim Gimp NSIS WinCVS WinMerge installer]]

Adib

Related programs

2006-09-05T03:04:45Z

AlanHorkan: Agave, a simple GNOME application for generating colorschemes.

== Inkscape Plugins, Scripts, and Templates ==
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkboard Inkboard] plans to add a shared whiteboard function to Inkscape via XMPP (used by Jabber). With Inkboard, a local copy of a diagram can be edited "live" by other users you are chatting with.
* [http://www.digitalunleashed.com/giving.php SVGSlice] allows a high-quality SVG image to be directly sliced into bitmap graphics.

== Outside Tutorials and Tips ==
* [http://collou.f2o.org/inkspot/ Spotcolors!] Tutorial to create spotcolor separations using Inkscape
* [http://popolon.org/gblog2/made-business-cards-easily-with-inkscape Make business cards easily with Inkscape] short tutorial and 85×54mm SVGz templates provided [http://popolon.org/gblog2/categorie/didacticiel/didacticiel-graphique/didacticiel-inkscape/ more Inkscape tutorials] are available
* [http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.php A Guide to Inkscape] by Tavmjong Bah
* [http://jimmac.musichall.cz/weblog.php/Inkscape?flav=php Stopped Clock Blog] Has some good Flash tutorials & other Inkscape writings
* [http://www.deviantart.com/view/14703295/ Icons in Inkscape - mini-tut] by Daj
* [http://www.glitchnyc.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/technology/opensource/furboa_tutoria.phblox Tutorial: A Simple Approach to Drawing Complex Characters With Inkscape]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/mi/kevincharles/inkscape/index.html Unofficial Inkscape Documentation] a great work-in-progress by Kevin Charles
* [http://www.coofercat.com/wiki/InkScape Some Inkscape Know-How], a beginner's guide to creating complex shapes and flowing text into them
* [http://blog.vybiral.info/my_files/helps/tutorial.png Text following a circle's curve]
* [http://out-of-order.ca/lo/inktut.php Making Icons With Inkscape] A beginner's guide to creating nice icons in Inkscape.
* [http://www.coswellproductions.org/digital_minicomic_scanning_pasteup.php Using Free Software to Do Inexpensive Digital Paste-Up] A guide to using The GIMP and Inkscape to paste up pages for minicomics.

== Similar Applications ==

=== Free ===
* [[SodiPodi]]
* [[Beez]] SVG animation software for Win32, written in Delphi. "As of 2004-09-30 07:29, this project is no longer under active development."
* [[Cenon]]
* [[Dia]] (more for diagrams, less for illustrations)
* [[Gestalter]]
* [[The Gimp gfig]]
* [[Karbon14]] (Koffice)
* [http://glipssvgeditor.sourceforge.net/ GLIPS Graffiti]
* [[mvComicsMaker]] vector + bitmap animation (not maintened since several years).
* [[OpenDraw]]
* [[Sketch|Skencil (formerly known as Sketch)]]
* [http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/01/17/2056255&from=rss Synfig] Synfig is a two-dimensional vector animation studio, similar to the commercial product [[Moho]].
* [[Tgif]]
* [[Xfig]]
* [[Kivio]] (Koffice)
* [[KToon]]

=== Other ===
* [[AdobeIllustrator]]
* [[CorelDraw]]
* [[MacromediaFreehand]]
* [[JascWebDraw]]
* [[Xara X]]
* [[MicrosoftVisio]]
* [[Expression]]
* [[MacromediaFlash]]
* [[Moho]] Moho is a 2D vector-based cartoon animation application.
* [[theTAB]] The TAB 2.2 Lite is an entry level animation application, intended for creating cartoons.
* [[XStudio]]
* [[Sketsa]]
* [http://www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks/ Macromedia Fireworks] Raster graphics for the web; infrastructure shared with other Macromedia software means it works very much like a Vector Graphics program. More comparable to Adobe [[ImageReady]], but Fireworks is very specifically designed for effecient creation of web graphics.
* [[Beatware Mobile Designer]]
* [[Real Draw Pro]]
* [[Ikivo Animator]] from [[Ikivo]] is an application that enables designing animated content for mobile devices. Most impressive is the integrated device pro-viewing for guaranteed content accuracy.
* [http://home.gna.org/colorscheme/ Agave] A simple GNOME application for generating colorschemes.
* [http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html Color Schemer] A specialized tool for working with colors (for creating color schemes, finding harmonious colors, etc). The link is to an online version of the software.
* [http://www.maa.org/editorial/mathgames/mathgames_08_01_05.html Vector vs Raster] A comprehensive list of 67 Vector-based programs. 32 of the drawing programs support SVG.
* [http://www.imagemagick.org/script/magick-vector-graphics.php Magick Vector Graphics] An interesting suite of programs which handle SVG and have the flavour of Image Magick.

== Viewers ==

=== Adobe SVG Viewer ===

* Website
** [http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html Download Page] updated to v3.03 04/2005

=== Mozilla/Firefox SVG ===

* Website(s)
** [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/svg/ Official Mozilla SVG Project]
** [http://www.croczilla.com/svg/ http://www.croczilla.com/svg/]
* As of 26 April 2005, [http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/chase/archives/2005/04/svg_here_we_com.html SVG is now enabled in the Firefox trunk nightlies] (read comments on activation). To get a Firefox-SVG version, you can:
** [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Get_and_compile_the_source Build directly from CVS source]
** [http://www.mozilla.org/developer/#builds Download automated builds]
** [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=42 Download "Third Party/Unofficial" builds]
* Cairo will [http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=36&search=cairo replace the graphics engine] in 1.9+.
*
* Contact
** irc.mozilla.org #svg

=== Opera Webbrowser SVG Support ===

* Website(s)
** [http://www.opera.com/docs/specs/#graphics "Opera 8 supports an extension of SVG 1.1 Tiny that includes opacity, font handling, and animation."]
** [http://www.opera.com/support/search/supsearch.dml?index=466 Opera KB:Installing the Adobe SVG Viewer plugin]
** [http://my.opera.com/forums/showthread.php?s=680b539088b7de23ad238c32a4303e39&threadid=88098&highlight=svg "[[AdobeSVGViewer]] not working in Version 8"]

* Contact
** http://my.opera.com/forums/

=== Mobile phones ===
There are millions of phones sold with SVGt 1.1 support and the SVGt 1.2 phones will soon hit the market.

* Websites
** [http://www.svg.org/special/svg_phones A growing list at svg.org]
** [http://www.ikivo.com/02player_phones.html Phones with the Ikivo Player]

=== See Also ===

[http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/SVG-Implementations.htm8 SVG Implementations] at the [[W3C]] - Inkscape is not on their list, but Sodipodi is.

[[SVGGeneralInformation]] on a separate page.

== Transcribers[[/Platform]] Optimizers ==

* [http://www.plazmic.com./en/products/index.shtml plazmic] ([[BlackBerry]])

== Co-Projects ==

=== Open Clip Art Library ===
* Website(s)
** [http://www.openclipart.org/ SVG clipart library]
* Contact
** irc.freenode.net #openclipart

=== Cairo ===

* Website(s)
** [http://cairographics.org/ Official Cairo Project]
* Contact
** irc.freenode.net #cairo

=== XSVG ===

* Website(s)
** [http://xsvg.org/ Official XSVG Project]

=== librsvg ===

* Website(s)
** [http://librsvg.sourceforge.net/ Official librsvg Project]
(version >= 2.8 include a good mozilla SVG plugin)
* Contact
** irc.gnome.org #librsvg or irc.gimp.org #librsvg

=== Scribus ===
* Website(s)
** [http://scribus.net/ Scribus Home Page]
* Contact
** irc.freenode.net #scribus

=== [[LittleCMS]] (Color Management System) ===
* Website
** [http://www.littlecms.com/ [[LittleCMS]] Home Page]
* Contact
** mailing list on sourceforge.net

=== ps2svg ===

A nice ps to svg converter written in postscript. Cannot handle text.
http://thunder.prohosting.com/~rshi/svg/

=== libwmf ===
* Website
**[http://wvware.sourceforge.net/libwmf.html Libwmf] provide the wmf2svg script we use for the extension.

=== [[FontForge]] ===
* Website
** [http://fontforge.sourceforge.net FontForge Home Page]
* Description:
** Vector font editor and converter (ps,TTF, ...).
** Interesting feature that could be imported in inkscape: allow to modify curves by draging the curve itself.
**(feature needed - an utility can be distributed with [[FontForge]] - an open .ttf viewer and printer like [[KeyTypeBook]] for MacOS Classic (7.0 to 9.6) )
**(w32 [[MinGW]] version (instead of Cygwin) of [[FontForge]] is missing)

=== [[UberConverter|Uber converter / Vectorstation]] ===
*[http://scratchcomputing.com/projects/vectorsection/ Vectorstation] is an open-source collection of programs which form a universal vector-graphics translation system

== Note ==
(BEN) This page is now rather long, it should be split up ... 
(TomB) agreed; some of the bullet points can be condensed (blank lines removed), & links directly about Inkscape can be put in a new page 
(BEN) Please remove references to Uberconverter soonest

[[Category:Developer Documentation]]
[[Category:Needs Work]]

Release notes/0.45

2006-08-23T01:23:51Z

AlanHorkan: I dont like the abbreviation Misc

= Inkscape 0.45: overview =

= Undo history =
* Inkscape now features a History Dialog accessible through [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + H or Edit→Undo History. All changes to the document since it was opened are recorded here.
** In the dialog, changes are listed from the oldest (top) to the newest (bottom).
** The type of each change is indicated by an icon and a short description.
** For readability, consecutive changes of the same type are placed in a collapsable branch showing a triangle marker and the number of the hidden actions in the branch.
** By clicking on an event event in the list, you can easily move through the undo history, i.e. undo or redo any number of actions with one click.
* The Undo and Redo commands in the Edit menu display the descriptions of the commands to be undone and redone, correspondingly.

= Speed =

* Interruptible display: Previously, Inkscape could not do anything until it finishes the current screen redraw. Now the redraw is made interruptible, so that Inkscape responds to mouse and keyboard input and can abort the current redraw and start over if you do some screen-changing operation. As a result, Inkscape now feels much snappier and more interactive.

* Radial gradients are rendered faster by at least 10%.

* Screen render is faster by 2-3%, up to 5% for complex drawings with transparency.

* Display is more responsive when working at high zoom levels when using a tablet.

* Rendering (compositing) quality has been improved. This is most visible with (partially) transparent gradients, banding is a lot less pronounced now. Speed has also been improved in some cases.

= Command line =

* The new <code>--export-pdf</code> command line parameter allows exporting an SVG image to PDF from command line.

= Keyboard shortcuts =

The previous release allowed sets of keybinding to be created for Inkscape in the style of other applications. Two more sets of keybindings have been added.

* Adobe Illustrator
* Macromedia Freehand

Of course not every feature in these other programs has a direct match to features in Inkscape so if you can please do help us out by reporting any problems you may have or improvements you would like to request.

= Even more improvements =

* [new cursors - scislac]

* Exported PNG images have the correct resolution set in the headers.

* A new Cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.45 can export shapes, strokes, transparency, gradients, patterns, text, and images correctly to Cairo. While clipping paths and masks are known to be faulty or missing. Cairo will write a PDF with vector graphics when possible and fall back to raster graphics when needed. What can be exported as vectors and how much of the image will be rasterized when the fallback kicks in depends on your version of Cairo. Cairo version 1.2 with the pdf backend compiled in is the minimum requirement for any Cairo-based PDF exports.

* The native PDF exporter introduced in Inkscape 0.44 is improved along with the new Cairo-based PDF exporter. Changes since Inkscape 0.44 include: New features: bitmap images can be embedded, pdf files can be exported from commandline. Changed behaviour: the pointless text to path question is gone. Fixed bugs: save failure is now detected, miter limits are now >= 1, pdfs with transparent gradient are now embeddable, eccentric elliptic gradients fixed, dash style inheritance fixed, transparency inheritance fixed.

* [expand/contract selection in node tool, sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* Simplify Path now had two modes when working with a group of paths: the default mode, which treats all of the paths as one large object to simplify, or the new mode, which acts the same as using Simplify on each path in a group separately. In preferences.xml, set '''options.simplifyindividualpaths''' to 1 to get the new mode.

* For long Simplify operations (more than 20 paths at a time), Inkscape provides user feedback via the status bar as to how many paths have been simplified. This change also prevents Inkscape from appearing to have locked up during the operation.

* A fill text extension has been added for improved workflow. The text itself consists of typical latin "lorem ipsum" nonsense. The number of paragraphs, the number of sentences per paragraph and the sentence number fluctuation can be adjusted. If no flowRoot element is selected, a new one in a new layer is created.

= Bugfixes =

* When deleting a node, update neighboring smooth nodes to be cusp nodes because symmetry is broken.

= Tools =

== Dropper ==

* Instead of the confusing toggle button, now the Controls bar for the Dropper tool has two checkboxes, "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha", which work as follows. Suppose you have an object selected and, using Dropper, click on an object which has red (#FF0000) fill and 0.5 opacity (half-transparent).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is off, the selected object will get the fill color #800000 (i.e. faded-out red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0 (opaque).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is on but "Set alpha" is off, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0.
** If both "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha" are on, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 0.5 (half-transparent).
:If you Shift+click instead of click, the same changes will be made to stroke color and stroke opacity, correspondingly. Note that in no situation can Dropper change the master opacity of the selected object(s), although it can pick it just as it does any other kind of opacity.

= Translations =

* Remarkable improvements are the Danish, Finnish, Nepalese and the Vietnamese translation of the user interface. They all jumped from 0 to over 90 percent in a very short timespan.

= Known problems =
==== Problems with some Debian libgc-6.7 packages ====

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with the first Debian packaged version of the Boehm garbage collection library. This problem was fixed in version 1:6.7-2 of the package. If you have libgc 6.7 on your Debian-based system, make sure that you are using that version of the package or later.

==== Beware of defective themes on Linux ====

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem. Update: this bug appears to be fixed in newer versions of gtk-engines. If you are affected by this problem please update to a newer version of gtk-engines. If problems persist then please inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem.

* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

==== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ====

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

=== Previous releases ===

* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.45

2006-08-22T14:22:48Z

AlanHorkan: /* Keyboard shortcuts */

= Inkscape 0.45: overview =

= Undo history =
* Inkscape now features a History Dialog accessible through [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + H or Edit→Undo History. All changes to the document since it was opened are recorded here.
** In the dialog, changes are listed from the oldest (top) to the newest (bottom).
** The type of each change is indicated by an icon and a short description.
** For readability, consecutive changes of the same type are placed in a collapsable branch showing a triangle marker and the number of the hidden actions in the branch.
** By clicking on an event event in the list, you can easily move through the undo history, i.e. undo or redo any number of actions with one click.
* The Undo and Redo commands in the Edit menu display the descriptions of the commands to be undone and redone, correspondingly.

= Speed =

* Interruptible display: Previously, Inkscape could not do anything until it finishes the current screen redraw. Now the redraw is made interruptible, so that Inkscape responds to mouse and keyboard input and can abort the current redraw and start over if you do some screen-changing operation. As a result, Inkscape now feels much snappier and more interactive.

* Radial gradients are rendered faster by at least 10%.

* Screen render is faster by 2-3%, up to 5% for complex drawings with transparency.

* Display is more responsive when working at high zoom levels when using a tablet.

* Rendering (compositing) quality has been improved. This is most visible with (partially) transparent gradients, banding is a lot less pronounced now. Speed has also been improved in some cases.

= Command line =

* The new <code>--export-pdf</code> command line parameter allows exporting an SVG image to PDF from command line.

= Keyboard shortcuts =

The previous release allowed sets of keybinding to be created for Inkscape in the style of other applications. Two more sets of keybindings have been added.

* Adobe Illustrator
* Macromedia Freehand

Of course not every feature in these other programs has a direct match to features in Inkscape so if you can please do help us out by reporting any problems you may have or improvements you would like to request.

= Misc improvements =

* [new cursors - scislac]

* Exported PNG images have the correct resolution set in the headers.

* A new Cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.45 can export shapes, strokes, transparency, gradients, patterns, text, and images correctly to Cairo. While clipping paths and masks are known to be faulty or missing. Cairo will write a PDF with vector graphics when possible and fall back to raster graphics when needed. What can be exported as vectors and how much of the image will be rasterized when the fallback kicks in depends on your version of Cairo. Cairo version 1.2 with the pdf backend compiled in is the minimum requirement for any Cairo-based PDF exports.

* The native PDF exporter introduced in Inkscape 0.44 is improved along with the new Cairo-based PDF exporter. Changes since Inkscape 0.44 include: New features: bitmap images can be embedded, pdf files can be exported from commandline. Changed behaviour: the pointless text to path question is gone. Fixed bugs: save failure is now detected, miter limits are now >= 1, pdfs with transparent gradient are now embeddable, eccentric elliptic gradients fixed, dash style inheritance fixed, transparency inheritance fixed.

* [expand/contract selection in node tool, sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* Simplify Path now had two modes when working with a group of paths: the default mode, which treats all of the paths as one large object to simplify, or the new mode, which acts the same as using Simplify on each path in a group separately. In preferences.xml, set '''options.simplifyindividualpaths''' to 1 to get the new mode.

* For long Simplify operations (more than 20 paths at a time), Inkscape provides user feedback via the status bar as to how many paths have been simplified. This change also prevents Inkscape from appearing to have locked up during the operation.

* A fill text extension has been added for improved workflow. The text itself consists of typical latin "lorem ipsum" nonsense. The number of paragraphs, the number of sentences per paragraph and the sentence number fluctuation can be adjusted. If no flowRoot element is selected, a new one in a new layer is created.

= Bugfixes =

* When deleting a node, update neighboring smooth nodes to be cusp nodes because symmetry is broken.

= Tools =

== Dropper ==

* Instead of the confusing toggle button, now the Controls bar for the Dropper tool has two checkboxes, "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha", which work as follows. Suppose you have an object selected and, using Dropper, click on an object which has red (#FF0000) fill and 0.5 opacity (half-transparent).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is off, the selected object will get the fill color #800000 (i.e. faded-out red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0 (opaque).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is on but "Set alpha" is off, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0.
** If both "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha" are on, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 0.5 (half-transparent).
:If you Shift+click instead of click, the same changes will be made to stroke color and stroke opacity, correspondingly. Note that in no situation can Dropper change the master opacity of the selected object(s), although it can pick it just as it does any other kind of opacity.

= Translations =

* Remarkable improvements are the Danish, Finnish, Nepalese and the Vietnamese translation of the user interface. They all jumped from 0 to over 90 percent in a very short timespan.

= Known problems =
==== Problems with some Debian libgc-6.7 packages ====

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with the first Debian packaged version of the Boehm garbage collection library. This problem was fixed in version 1:6.7-2 of the package. If you have libgc 6.7 on your Debian-based system, make sure that you are using that version of the package or later.

==== Beware of defective themes on Linux ====

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem. Update: this bug appears to be fixed in newer versions of gtk-engines. If you are affected by this problem please update to a newer version of gtk-engines. If problems persist then please inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem.

* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

==== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ====

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

=== Previous releases ===

* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.45

2006-08-22T00:20:28Z

AlanHorkan: /* Keyboard shortcuts */

= Inkscape 0.45: overview =

= Undo history =
* Inkscape now features a History Dialog accessible through [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + H or Edit→Undo History. All changes to the document since it was opened are recorded here.
** In the dialog, changes are listed from the oldest (top) to the newest (bottom).
** The type of each change is indicated by an icon and a short description.
** For readability, consecutive changes of the same type are placed in a collapsable branch showing a triangle marker and the number of the hidden actions in the branch.
** By clicking on an event event in the list, you can easily move through the undo history, i.e. undo or redo any number of actions with one click.
* The Undo and Redo commands in the Edit menu display the descriptions of the commands to be undone and redone, correspondingly.

= Speed =

* Interruptible display: Previously, Inkscape could not do anything until it finishes the current screen redraw. Now the redraw is made interruptible, so that Inkscape responds to mouse and keyboard input and can abort the current redraw and start over if you do some screen-changing operation. As a result, Inkscape now feels much snappier and more interactive.

* Radial gradients are rendered faster by at least 10%.

* Screen render is faster by 2-3%, up to 5% for complex drawings with transparency.

* Display is more responsive when working at high zoom levels when using a tablet.

* Rendering (compositing) quality has been improved. This is most visible with (partially) transparent gradients, banding is a lot less pronounced now. Speed has also been improved in some cases.

= Command line =

* The new <code>--export-pdf</code> command line parameter allows exporting an SVG image to PDF from command line.

= Keyboard shortcuts =

The previous release allowed sets of keybinding to be created for Inkscape in the style of other applications. Two more sets of set of keybindings have been added.

* Adobe Illustrator
* Macromedia Freehand

Of course not every feature in these other programs has a direct match to features in Inkscape so if you can please do help us out by reporting any problems you may have or improvements you would like to request.

= Misc improvements =

* [new cursors - scislac]

* Exported PNG images have the correct resolution set in the headers.

* A new Cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.45 can export shapes, strokes, transparency, gradients, patterns, text, and images correctly to Cairo. While clipping paths and masks are known to be faulty or missing. Cairo will write a PDF with vector graphics when possible and fall back to raster graphics when needed. What can be exported as vectors and how much of the image will be rasterized when the fallback kicks in depends on your version of Cairo. Cairo version 1.2 with the pdf backend compiled in is the minimum requirement for any Cairo-based PDF exports.

* The native PDF exporter introduced in Inkscape 0.44 is improved along with the new Cairo-based PDF exporter. Changes since Inkscape 0.44 include: New features: bitmap images can be embedded, pdf files can be exported from commandline. Changed behaviour: the pointless text to path question is gone. Fixed bugs: save failure is now detected, miter limits are now >= 1, pdfs with transparent gradient are now embeddable, eccentric elliptic gradients fixed, dash style inheritance fixed, transparency inheritance fixed.

* [expand/contract selection in node tool, sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* Simplify Path now had two modes when working with a group of paths: the default mode, which treats all of the paths as one large object to simplify, or the new mode, which acts the same as using Simplify on each path in a group separately. In preferences.xml, set '''options.simplifyindividualpaths''' to 1 to get the new mode.

* For long Simplify operations (more than 20 paths at a time), Inkscape provides user feedback via the status bar as to how many paths have been simplified. This change also prevents Inkscape from appearing to have locked up during the operation.

= Bugfixes =

* When deleting a node, update neighboring smooth nodes to be cusp nodes because symmetry is broken.

= Tools =

== Dropper ==

* Instead of the confusing toggle button, now the Controls bar for the Dropper tool has two checkboxes, "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha", which work as follows. Suppose you have an object selected and, using Dropper, click on an object which has red (#FF0000) fill and 0.5 opacity (half-transparent).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is off, the selected object will get the fill color #800000 (i.e. faded-out red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0 (opaque).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is on but "Set alpha" is off, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0.
** If both "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha" are on, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 0.5 (half-transparent).
:If you Shift+click instead of click, the same changes will be made to stroke color and stroke opacity, correspondingly. Note that in no situation can Dropper change the master opacity of the selected object(s), although it can pick it just as it does any other kind of opacity.

= Translations =

* Remarkable improvements are the Danish, Finnish, Nepalese and the Vietnamese translation of the user interface. They all jumped from 0 to over 90 percent in a very short timespan.

= Known problems =
==== Problems with some Debian libgc-6.7 packages ====

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with the first Debian packaged version of the Boehm garbage collection library. This problem was fixed in version 1:6.7-2 of the package. If you have libgc 6.7 on your Debian-based system, make sure that you are using that version of the package or later.

==== Beware of defective themes on Linux ====

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem. Update: this bug appears to be fixed in newer versions of gtk-engines. If you are affected by this problem please update to a newer version of gtk-engines. If problems persist then please inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem.

* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

==== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ====

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

=== Previous releases ===

* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.45

2006-08-22T00:05:20Z

AlanHorkan: keyboard shortcuts

= Inkscape 0.45: overview =

= Undo history =
* Inkscape now features a History Dialog accessible through [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + H or Edit→Undo History. All changes to the document since it was opened are recorded here.
** In the dialog, changes are listed from the oldest (top) to the newest (bottom).
** The type of each change is indicated by an icon and a short description.
** For readability, consecutive changes of the same type are placed in a collapsable branch showing a triangle marker and the number of the hidden actions in the branch.
** By clicking on an event event in the list, you can easily move through the undo history, i.e. undo or redo any number of actions with one click.
* The Undo and Redo commands in the Edit menu display the descriptions of the commands to be undone and redone, correspondingly.

= Speed =

* Interruptible display: Previously, Inkscape could not do anything until it finishes the current screen redraw. Now the redraw is made interruptible, so that Inkscape responds to mouse and keyboard input and can abort the current redraw and start over if you do some screen-changing operation. As a result, Inkscape now feels much snappier and more interactive.

* Radial gradients are rendered faster by at least 10%.

* Screen render is faster by 2-3%, up to 5% for complex drawings with transparency.

* Display is more responsive when working at high zoom levels when using a tablet.

* Rendering (compositing) quality has been improved. This is most visible with (partially) transparent gradients, banding is a lot less pronounced now. Speed has also been improved in some cases.

= Command line =

* The new <code>--export-pdf</code> command line parameter allows exporting an SVG image to PDF from command line.

= Keyboard shortcuts =

The previous release allowed sets of keybinding to be created for Inkscape in the style of other applications.

* Adobe Illustrator
* Macromedia Freehand

= Misc improvements =

* [new cursors - scislac]

* Exported PNG images have the correct resolution set in the headers.

* A new Cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.45 can export shapes, strokes, transparency, gradients, patterns, text, and images correctly to Cairo. While clipping paths and masks are known to be faulty or missing. Cairo will write a PDF with vector graphics when possible and fall back to raster graphics when needed. What can be exported as vectors and how much of the image will be rasterized when the fallback kicks in depends on your version of Cairo. Cairo version 1.2 with the pdf backend compiled in is the minimum requirement for any Cairo-based PDF exports.

* The native PDF exporter introduced in Inkscape 0.44 is improved along with the new Cairo-based PDF exporter. Changes since Inkscape 0.44 include: New features: bitmap images can be embedded, pdf files can be exported from commandline. Changed behaviour: the pointless text to path question is gone. Fixed bugs: save failure is now detected, miter limits are now >= 1, pdfs with transparent gradient are now embeddable, eccentric elliptic gradients fixed, dash style inheritance fixed, transparency inheritance fixed.

* [expand/contract selection in node tool, sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* Simplify Path now had two modes when working with a group of paths: the default mode, which treats all of the paths as one large object to simplify, or the new mode, which acts the same as using Simplify on each path in a group separately. In preferences.xml, set '''options.simplifyindividualpaths''' to 1 to get the new mode.

* For long Simplify operations (more than 20 paths at a time), Inkscape provides user feedback via the status bar as to how many paths have been simplified. This change also prevents Inkscape from appearing to have locked up during the operation.

= Bugfixes =

* When deleting a node, update neighboring smooth nodes to be cusp nodes because symmetry is broken.

= Tools =

== Dropper ==

* Instead of the confusing toggle button, now the Controls bar for the Dropper tool has two checkboxes, "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha", which work as follows. Suppose you have an object selected and, using Dropper, click on an object which has red (#FF0000) fill and 0.5 opacity (half-transparent).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is off, the selected object will get the fill color #800000 (i.e. faded-out red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0 (opaque).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is on but "Set alpha" is off, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0.
** If both "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha" are on, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 0.5 (half-transparent).
:If you Shift+click instead of click, the same changes will be made to stroke color and stroke opacity, correspondingly. Note that in no situation can Dropper change the master opacity of the selected object(s), although it can pick it just as it does any other kind of opacity.

= Translations =

* Remarkable improvements are the Danish, Finnish, Nepalese and the Vietnamese translation of the user interface. They all jumped from 0 to over 90 percent in a very short timespan.

= Known problems =
==== Problems with some Debian libgc-6.7 packages ====

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with the first Debian packaged version of the Boehm garbage collection library. This problem was fixed in version 1:6.7-2 of the package. If you have libgc 6.7 on your Debian-based system, make sure that you are using that version of the package or later.

==== Beware of defective themes on Linux ====

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem. Update: this bug appears to be fixed in newer versions of gtk-engines. If you are affected by this problem please update to a newer version of gtk-engines. If problems persist then please inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem.

* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

==== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ====

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

=== Previous releases ===

* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.44

2006-08-11T03:44:57Z

AlanHorkan: HIG compliance is ongoing

== Inkscape 0.44.1 changes with respect to 0.44 ==
* fix a crash on Windows ("python.exe can't find msvcrt71.dll") by providing that dll in the package;
* fix hang in page size widget
* on Mac OS X, removed problems with home folder path names containing spaces;
* inkscape now finds libpng include headers on some systems
* several changes to allow compiling on glib-2.4 systems (e.g. RHEL4);
* allow compiling on systems with incomplete boost library headers; recognize if boost is too old
* inkscape now compiles with gcc-4.2.x.
* fixed a bug where stderr output from scripts was not shown
* fixed a bug affecting the recent files menu
* resolution information is now saved in exported PNG files
* fix some ODG export bugs
* fix dia import
* fix several include issues affecting [[CompilingSunSolaris|building on Solaris]] (there are still some more problems, at least under Solaris 8, and similar ones on OpenBSD)
* added missing German version of the advanced tutorial and made corrections to the calligraphy one; added missing Czech, German, and Brazil-Portuguese tutorials to tarball; added missing German keytable to tarball
* applied changes to the German and Spanish translations of Inkscape strings
* interactivity improvements at high zooms
* fix for specifying CSS colors with percentages
* re-enabled old PDF exporter alongside the new one
* minor fixes to new PDF exporter (a major overhaul is still in the works)
* fixup for invalid "s odipodi" namespace which has become widespread in Inkscape documents
* Mac OS X packaging updates
* miscellaneous build fixes

== Inkscape 0.44: overview ==

Inkscape 0.44 is bigger and better than ever. Some highlights:

* Layers dialog

* Outline mode, many performance improvements

* Native PDF export with transparency

* Clipping and masking support

* Configurable keyboard shortcuts, including optional Xara X compatibility

* Docked color palette in the editing window

* Interactive indicator of the style of selection in the statusbar

* Innovative "node sculpting" and other improvements in Node tool

* Extensions are enabled by default and work on all major platforms

* Better SVG support: <switch> element, ICC color profiles for images

* Persistent rotation centers, Paste Size command

* New icons, redesigned preferences dialogs, rearranged menus, many cosmetic improvements

* Hundreds of bugfixes and smaller features

* Not directly related to Inkscape, but important nevertheless: since our last release, [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ Firefox 1.5] was released with SVG support enabled by default. This means that you can now view any Inkscape document right in your Firefox window without any format conversions or installing any plugins!

= Performance =

== Outline mode ==

An Outline ("wireframe") display mode is implemented. Use the View > Display Mode > Outline to activate it. In this mode:

* all paths and shapes are rendered as inverse (black on light background and vice versa) outlines of constant width (1 screen pixel regardless of zoom), without fill;

* text is painted by inverse fill, without stroke;

* bitmaps are shown as is;

* any opacity and gradients are ignored.

The outline mode is usually not drastically faster than regular mode (usually 10% to 50% faster), and in some special cases it may even be slower. However, the value of the outline mode is not only in its speed; it is a good way to get an idea of the structure and objects of your document, and it is convenient for precision node editing and for finding "stray objects".

== Speed ==

In addition to the Outline mode which makes it much easier to work with complex drawings, this version of Inkscape also provides significant speed improvements in many areas.

* Thanks to optimizations in the renderer, Inkscape's screen redraw is faster by at least 10%, and in some cases (such as complex stroked/dashed paths at high zooms) up to three times faster.

* Optimizations in the Node tool resulted in noticeable speed gains for node editing. Thus, switching to and from the Node tool (with a path selected), as well as selecting nodes in that tool, are now at least ten times faster than before. Other operations, including curve and node dragging and move/scale/rotate operations on multiple selected nodes, are much faster as well. This is especially important when working with complex paths; with these optimizations, paths containing several thousand nodes, though still slow, are much more usable.

* An optimization in the attribute setting method made operations such as moving multiple objects with arrow keys at least 30% faster compared to 0.43. This is especially noticeable when you are moving clones selected together with their original (e.g. a clone tiling), in which case Inkscape now works three to four times faster.

* Interface icons are now rendered in the background (from SVG source in <code>share/icons/icons.svg</code>) when Inkscape is idle, rather than waiting for all the icons in a menu to render the first time you pull it up. This eliminates the annoying delay when opening menus for the first time.

* Previously, zooming in to view a small portion of a path (especially big and complex path), there was a very noticeable slowdown and memory use increased dramatically. We optimized the renderer to only process the visible part of a path, and as a result the rendering speed is now almost the same at any zoom up to the maximum, providing up to 10-40 times speedup compared to the previous version (the closer is the zoom, the greater is the gain).

* The Path > Break Apart command is now dozens of times (up to 100x) faster for complex paths with thousands of subpaths.

= SVG conformance =

== Color profile support ==

Inkscape now includes base ICC profile functionality. If compiled with LittleCMS support (if you run <code>configure</code> with <code>--enable-lcms</code> switch), Inkscape passes the [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-color-prof-01-f.html ICC color profile test] by W3C. The <color-profile> element has been implemented along with the "color-profile" attribute for <image> elements.

== <switch> support ==

Rendering support for SVG 1.1's '''Conditional Processing Module''' has been implemented, including ''switch'' element, ''requiredFeatures'', ''requiredExtensions'', ''systemLanguage'' attributes. Inkscape passes the Conditional processing tests ([http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-01-t.html] and [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-02-t.html]) by W3C.

== SVG output ==

* In Inkscape's SVG documents, colors are now expressed by name (‘white’) or three-digit form (‘<tt>#f3c</tt>’) when possible.

* The numeric values in <code>transform</code> attributes are written without insignificant trailing zeros, and anything less than that 1e-8 by absolute value (usually caused by rounding errors) is written as 0 to reduce clutter.

= Interface =

== Layers dialog ==

A Layers dialog (Ctrl+Shift+L) is implemented in this version. It works in parallel with the quick layer selector in the statusbar, so you can use whichever is more convenient for you.

* In the dialog, you can click on a layer to make it current, as well as toggle layers visible/hidden and locked/unlocked. You don't need to make a layer current to toggle its visibility or lock status.

* A hierarchical tree of layers is represented by a tree-like display in the dialog. You can expand or collapse branches of the tree to make the layer structure of a document easier to navigate.

* At the bottom of the dialog, there are buttons for adding a new layer, moving the current layer up or down (either one step or all the way to top or bottom), and deleting the current layer.

* Below the buttons, there's a slider and a spinbutton for adjusting the opacity of the current layer. A layer's opacity affects all objects in that layer in the same way as opacity of a group.

== Selected style indicator ==

A new control in the left end of the statusbar lets you quickly view and change the fill and stroke of the selected objects. When you have a text selection in Text tool or a gradient handle selected in the Gradient tool, this indicator displays and changes the style of the text fragment or gradient stop, instead of the entire object (it's the same behavior as the Fill&Stroke dialog.)

* The two indicators, labelled F: (top) and S: (bottom), display fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. (For gradient handles, they always display the same style.)

* Each fill/stroke indicator can display either a color+opacity swatch (the opacity shown here is the fill opacity or stroke opacity, not the master opacity) or a text label specifying N/A (nothing selected), None (no fill/stroke), Unset (unset fill/stroke), L Gradient, R Gradient, Pattern (corresponding fill/stroke types), or Different (selected objects have different fill/stroke types).

* Additionally, each indicator may be accompanied by one of two flags, m ("multiple", meaning there are two or more objects all with the same fill/stroke) or a ("averaged", meaning there are two or more objects with different flat colors in fill/stroke, and the indicator shows the average of these colors).

* Left-click on an indicator opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab (Fill or Stroke) active.

* Right-click on an indicator opens a popup menu with the following items:
** Edit fill/stroke...: Opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab selected. (Same as left-click.)
** Last set color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last applied to anything.
** Last selected color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last displayed in this indicator. (Allows you to easily copy fill/stroke color between objects: select source, select destination, apply "last selected color".)
** Invert: Sets the fill or stroke to the inverse of the current color (does not affect opacity).
** White, Black: Sets the fill or stroke to the corresponding color (fully opaque).
** Copy color, Paste color: Copies or pastes the fill or stroke color (when it's color) to/from the system clipboard, as text in the <code>#rrggbb</code> hex format.
** Swap fill and stroke: Exchanges fill and stroke (both their types and colors, if any).
** Make fill/stroke opaque: Removes fill or stroke transparency (not master transparency!).
** Unset fill/stroke: Unsets fill or stroke from selected objects.
** Remove fill/stroke: Removes fill or stroke from the selected objects.

* Middle-click on a fill/stroke indicator removes fill/stroke from selected objects; if it is already removed (i.e. if the indicator displays "None"), it does the same as the "Last set color" command from the popup menu.

* Drag and Drop of colors onto a fill/stroke indicator sets the fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly.

* The Stroke indicator also displays the stroke width of selection (averaged if there are multiple objects selected with different stroke widths), located to the right of the stroke color/transparency swatch. Left-clicking on it opens the Fill&Stroke dialog with the Stroke Style tab selected. Right-clicking on it opens a popup menu which allows you to choose the units for displaying the stroke width, as well as choose one of the presets to assign to selection.

* To the right of the fill/stroke indicators, the Opacity numeric field (labelled "O:") shows and allows you to change the master opacity of the selected object (or the averaged opacity of several selected objects). Right-clicking the numeric field opens a popup menu with preset opacity levels. Middle-clicking on the "O:" label cycles the opacity through the values of 0 (transparent), 0.5, and 1 (opaque).

The zoom field and the cursor coordinates indicator have been rearranged for compactness and moved to the right end of the statusbar. There's also a window resize handle added at the very end of the statusbar.

== Tool style indicators ==

For each object-creating tool (shapes, Pen/Pencil, Calligraphic, Text), the Controls bar (above the canvas) now includes a style indicator on the right. This indicator shows you which style the newly created object will have.

* The indicator correctly displays whichever style the tool is set to use - the global "last set" style or that tool's fixed style. For example, clicking on a palette swatch (even with nothing selected) changes the "last set" color and, if your tool is set to use the last set color, its indicator is updated, giving you an idea of your "brush" before you start to draw.

== Controls bar for the Text tool ==

* This version adds the beginnings of a Controls Bar for the Text tool (previously empty). Now you can select the font family, size, apply bold and italic styles, change alignment and text orientation without opening the Text and Font dialog.

* All controls are instant-apply and work on the entire text object (if nothing selected) or text selection. They can also apply to multiple text objects (though you would need to switch to Selector to select multiple text objects, then switch back to Text tool for its controls).

* The font-family drop-down contains names and previews of all fonts; unlike other programs, we didn't apply each font to its name, but added a separate preview string displayed with gray color after each font's name. This design ensures readability of font family names and provides maximum useful information in a limited space.

* We will be adding more controls (including spacing and kerning) to this bar for the next versions.

== Docked color palette ==

* Previously, color swatches could only be used from a floating palette (Ctrl+Shift+W). Now the color swatches palette is embedded in the main UI, at the bottom of the window between the canvas and the statusbar. It is enabled by default; use View > Show/Hide > Palette to enable or disable it. The docked palette has the same functionality as the floating one; use a button in the top right corner to access the swatches menu.

* The Wrap option (off by default) in the swatches menu converts the palette from a single row into a frame 2 or 3 rows high, for better access to colors in large palettes.

* Drag and Drop of colors has been enabled.
** Dragging colors from a palette shows a live swatch of the color being dragged under cursor.
** Drag and Drop of colors onto the selected style indicator in the statusbar sets the fill or stroke of the selected object(s).
** Colors can be dropped directly on to objects on canvas to set their fill, or shift+dropped to set their stroke. This affects only the object you drop the color on, regardless of whether that object is selected or not.
** Colors can be dragged to and from other applications.

* The new Inkscape default color palette was added. It contains a range of grays, standard HTML named colors, and a full range of colors sorted by their HSL values (475 colors overall). It is generated by a Python script which is available from Inkscape SVN in share/palettes.

* Several specialized color palettes, useful in color-coordinated projects, were created or borrowed from GIMP: Grays, Reds, Greens, Blues, Gold, Royal, Khaki, Hilite, and Topographic.

* All standard sizes of the swatches (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge) are made smaller overall.

== Inkscape Preferences dialog ==

Not only was the Inkscape Preferences dialog completely rewritten and redesigned, with numerous bugs fixed in the rewrite.

* The old tabbed dialog is gone; the new dialog fits much better with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines.

* As a new feature, the Simplify threshold can now be set with more precision.

== Document Properties / Metadata dialogs ==

* The Document Preferences dialog is now named Document Properties, and it was split in two: metadata were extracted into the Document Metadata dialog; metadata widgets are now also spread over two pages.

* A button was added to fit the page to the current selection or, if there's no selection, to the entire drawing. The button resizes the page and, if necessary, moves the drawing into place. It is now very easy to size a page to an illustration after it is ready.

* New controls: the new object snapping features required their own property widgets, and you can set the snapping sensitivity with a slider, or let it snap regardless of distance (grid only).

* Rearrangements within Document Properties: everything snapping-related was collected on one page; Grid and Guide widgets are on their own, the same page. For better HIG compliance, all widgets were categorized; especially the widgets on the Page page were completely rearranged in the General/Format/Border categories.

* Bug fixes: grayed out license URI had too low contrast, so it's no longer grayed out; the proprietary license didn't clean the license URI; spinbuttons had no tooltips, and minor grid quirks were removed; data was not updated when a new file replaced another in the same window.

* HIG compliance: much work went into improving GNOME HIG compliance but usability it is always an ongoing process.

* Updated Creative Commons Licenses: Updated CC licenses to the latest 2.5 versions by default in the license tab of the metadata dialog.

== Configurable keyboard ==

Inkscape's keyboard shortcuts are now configurable!

There is no graphical users interface at this time, and not all Inkscape actions can have their shortcuts customized. However, if you do not mind editing a configuration file, the majority of actions, including everything you see in the menus, can already have their keys changed. We're working on making more actions configurable.

On startup, Inkscape reads its keyboard shortcuts from <code>share/keys/default.xml</code>. That file is a copy of <code>inkscape.xml</code> in the same directory, which also contains keyboard emulation profiles for other vector editors:

*<code>xara.xml</code>: Xara X/Xara Xtreme/Xara LX keys

You can copy any of these over default.xml to use that profile. In all profiles, those keys which are not used by the corresponding program still have their Inkscape bindings. If you can contribute a profile for some vector editor that we don't yet have, we will appreciate that. The files have a simple XML-based format described in <code>inkscape.xml</code>.

You can also customize some of your keybindings without overwriting the main <code>default.xml</code>. If your profile directory (<code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux) contains a <code>keys</code> subdirectory with a <code>default.xml</code> file, the keybindings from that file will overlay (i.e. add to, and override in case of a conflict) the default bindings. The format of your own <code>default.xml</code> is the same as that of the main <code>default.xml</code>.

== Menus ==

* Zoom commands in the View menu are moved to a submenu; the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands are added to that submenu.

* Clone commands are moved into a submenu in Edit menu and given more descriptive names and tips.

* Pattern commands (Objects to Pattern and Pattern to Objects) are moved into a submenu in Object menu, under the new Clip and Mask submenus.

* The contents of the Effects menu are categorized into submenus, and several effects are renamed to use more intuitive names.

== Statusbar ==

* In Selector, for multiple selected objects, the statusbar now reports their types. For example, if 5 groups are selected, it displays

::5 objects of type Group in layer LayerName.

:instead of just "5 objects selected" as before. If there are up to 3 types in the selection, they will be listed, for example:

::5 objects of types Group, Path, Rectangle in layer LayerName.

:The order of the list will correspond to the order in which the objects were added to selection. If there are 4 or more types in selection, only the number of types is reported, for example:

::5 objects of 4 types in layer LayerName.

* In Selector, objects selected in groups are now identified as such, and the group ID is given, for example:

::Rectangle in group g212 (layer content)

:If selected objects have different parents within one layer (for example, if one is selected in a group and another outside it), the number of parents is reported:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 parents (layer content)

:If objects are in different layers, only the number of layers is reported since this also implies different parents:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 layers

* In Node tool, if your node selection includes nodes from different subpaths, statusbar reports the number of subpaths with selection and the total number of subpaths, for example:

::2 of 195 nodes selected in 2 of 36 subpaths.

* The contents of the statusbar message are now duplicated as a tooltip that is shown when you hover the mouse over the statusbar.

* The statusbar text is now no longer just cut off if there is insufficient room, but an ellipsis (...) is inserted at the end to show there's more (only with Gtk 2.6 and newer).

== Theme ==

* Inkscape has a new default icon set titled "Crispy" provided by Andre Sousa. The new icons are intended to add a more professional and cohesive look to our application, as well as to make the functions the icons represent more self-evident.

= Tools =

== Node tool ==

=== Node sculpting ===

An entirely new way of manipulating paths in Node tool is added in this version: Node sculpting. Normally, when you have several nodes selected and you drag one of them, all selected nodes move by the same amount. Now, if you Alt-drag one of the selected nodes, only that node is fully displaced; other selected nodes are moved less than the full amount, so that those farthest from the drag point remain stationary. This is similar to "proportional editing" or "soft selection" in 3D editors such as Blender.

So, for example, if you select several nodes on a straight line and Alt+drag the middle selected node, the path will bend into a smooth bell-like curve. Nodes' handles are also adjusted correspondingly to keep the overall shape smooth and natural. (If you don't have enough nodes on a path fragment that you want to reshape in this way, just select the end nodes of that fragment and press Ins a few times to populate it with nodes.)

Moreover, node sculpting is pressure-sensitive when you are using a tablet pen. If you press slightly, your curve will have a narrow sharp tip (i.e. the nearest neighbors of your dragged node will move only a bit); if you press hard, the curve's tip will be wide and blunt (i.e. the nearest neighbors will move almost as much as the dragged node). (Hint: to stop dragging without losing your shape, first release Alt and then lift the tip of the pen.)

There are many possible applications of the sculpting technique. To take a simple example, selecting all nodes of an ellipse-like shape and Alt+dragging one of them will smoothly and naturally stretch and skew the entire shape in any direction. Doing the same to a complex path, such as star or spiral, will twist and punch it without destroying its intricate structure - this is the way to get squashed or self-intersecting stars, eccentric spirals and other shapes not easily doable before. Selecting only part of all nodes allows you to smoothly reshape parts of the figure without disturbing the rest.

When applied to text converted to path, node sculpting is a fun and easy way to twist, bend and distort it, achieving effects similar to "perspective envelope" or "curvilinear envelope" in other programs - but in a more powerful and flexible way. For example, by selecting all or part of the text's nodes and Alt-dragging, you can not only make a wavy banner out of a paragraph of text, but also apply a "magnifying lens"-like effect to any word in the middle.

Especially useful node sculpting is for complex natural paths, such as calligraphic strokes or bitmap traces, where you often want to do large-scale pushes and bends without destroying the small-scale features. Things like making a calligraphic stroke narrower in one place and wider in another, or changing the proportions, extending the ear or flattening the nose of a head - all this is now much faster and more natural to do using sculpting. It is also a new way to create new paths, too - starting from en ellipse with added nodes, it takes just a few Alt+drags to tweak it into a silhouette of a head, or a map of Australia, or an Inkscape logo!

Some examples are shown on the screenshot: [http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png].

=== "Show handles" toggle ===

The Controls bar for the Nodes tool now includes a toggle button which controls whether Bezier handles are shown on selected nodes (on by default). Selecting and dragging nodes on node-dense paths in zoom-out (e.g. for node sculpting) may be extremely difficult without hiding the handles, as it's hard to pick a node and not a handle when handles are shown.

=== New deletion behavior ===

* In Node tool, deleting node(s) by Del/Backspace keys or by Ctrl+Alt+clicking a node now tries to preserve, as much as possible, the current shape of the path. This means that the nodes adjacent to those being deleted have their handles adjusted to approximate the form that the path had before deletion. For example, if you Ctrl+Alt+click a path twice, once to add a new node and then to delete it, the path will not change at all (or change very slightly). The old deletion behavior without adjusting handles is still available via Ctrl+Del or Ctrl+Backspace.

=== Preserving positions of nodes and handles ===

* When you switch the type of the selected node to Smooth or Symmetric by pressing Shift+S/Shift+Y, you can now preserve the position of one of the two handles by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other handle is rotated/scaled to match.

* Similarly, when you join endnodes by pressing Shift+J, you can preserve the position of one of the two nodes by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other node is moved.

=== Miscellaneous ===

* The ! key inverts node selection in the current subpath(s) (i.e. subpaths with at least one selected node); Alt+! inverts in the entire path. (This is similar to how these keys work in Selector, with current subpath(s) instead of the current layer.)

* The keyboard shortcut for "Make selected segments curves" in Node tool is changed from Shift+K to Shift+U for better mnemonics.

== Calligraphic pen ==

=== Tremor ===

* Even when using a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity, the Calligraphy pen's strokes often look too smooth and artificial. To enable a more natural look, the new Tremor parameter is added to the Calligraphy tool in this version. Adjustable in the Controls bar from 0.0 to 1.0, it will affect your strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

=== Pen width ===

* In all previous versions, pen width depended on zoom in such a way that the strokes appeared the same visible width at any zoom, but were in fact narrower at zoom-in and wider at zoom-out. This behavior makes sense if you want to keep the same "feel" of the pen regardless of zoom; for example, if you zoomed in to make a small fix to your drawing, it's natural that your pen becomes physically smaller but feels the same to you. So, this behavior is kept as the default, but now we also added an alternative mode where your pen width is constant in absolute units regardless of zoom. To switch to this mode, use the checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by double-clicking the tool button).

* The Width field in the tool's controls bar now changes from 1 to 100, which corresponds to the range from 0.01 to 1.0 in the previous version. If the "width in absolute units" mode is turned on, the value in this fields gives the width of the stroke in px units. In the default mode, the value of 100 gives 100px wide strokes only at 100% zoom, and strokes are correspondingly narrower or wider at other zoom levels.

=== Selection ===

* A new preferences option for the Calligraphic tool, Keep selected, controls whether the newly created object remains selected after you finish drawing it. If you turn it off (by default it's on) and set the tool to using Last Set color, you can easily choose a new color by clicking on the palette without having to worry if this will change the color of the stroke you just created. (Watch the tool style indicator at the right end of the Controls bar for the style of the next stroke you will draw.)

* Esc deselects selected objects in Calligraphic, as in most other tools.

=== Style ===

* The stroke you're drawing is now shown, while you're drawing it, with the correct color and opacity that it will eventually have, instead of always black as before.

* On a new Inkscape installation, this tool now uses the last set style by default instead of the fixed black as before (this is changeable in the Inkscape Preferences for the tool).

== Pen tool ==

* While drawing a path, you can now move the last node you created by the same keys as in Node tool - that is, arrows, with Shift (for 10x displacement) or Alt (screen pixel displacement) modifiers.

* Also, you can switch the not-yet-finalized (red) segment of the path being drawn from curve to line (Shift+L) or back to curve (Shift+U), again the same shortcuts as in the Node tool.

* By popular demand, if a new path is being drawn but not yet finished, Ctrl+Z cancels that unfinished path (i.e. does the same as Esc), instead of undoing the previous action.

* In Pen tool, Del works the same as Backspace to delete the last created point on the unfinished path.

= Clipping and masking =

Inkscape now provides some UI for using clipping paths and masks.

* Any object can be non-destructively intersected with a path (called a clipping path) so that only the intersected portion of the object is visible.
** To apply clipping, select the objects to be clipped and the clipping path object, make sure the clipping path is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Clip > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the clipped objects as usual. The clipping remains applied and transforms together with each clipped object.
** To remove the clipping, do Object > Clip > Release. The clipping path is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unclipped object in z-order.

* Any object can be non-destructively masked by another object (called mask) so that: the mask's black or transparent areas become fully transparent in the masked object; mask's opaque white areas become fully opaque; and all intermediate colors translate into intermediate levels of opacity in the masked object. This allows you to apply, for example, arbitrary transparency gradients to objects.
** To apply a mask, select the objects to be masked and the mask object, make sure the mask is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Mask > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the masked objects as usual. The mask remains applied and transforms together with each masked object.
** To remove the masking, do Object > Mask > Release. The mask is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unmasked object in z-order.

* Objects with clippath show their bounding box intersected with the bounding box of the clippath, instead of the original unclipped bbox as before. (However, this does not apply to objects without clippath of their own which are clipped by being inside a clipped group.)

* Clipped or masked objects display "clipped" or "masked", correspondingly, in their statusbar descriptions.

* Although Inkscape had render-only support for clipping paths and masks for quite some time, in this release we fixed a number of bugs which may affect the display of your documents using clippaths or masks.
** Clippaths and masks with objectBoundingBox units are now shown correctly upon loading of the document.
** Clippaths without fill didn't work, this is now fixed.
** Objects with clippaths or masks are correctly copied/pasted between documents.

= Transformations =

== Transform dialog ==

Fixes and improvements in the Transform dialog (Ctrl+Shift+M):

* The Apply to each object separately checkbox is added, allowing you to scale/rotate/skew each selected object by the same amount, around that object's center. When off (by default), the selection is transformed as a whole. The status of this checkbox is remembered across sessions. (It has no effect on Move and Matrix tabs).

* The Clear button resets the values on the current tab to defaults.

* The Scale tab now allows you to specify horizontal or vertical size increments in percentage or absolute units. Also, there's a Scale proportionally checkbox which ensures that scaling preserves the width/height ratio. (If you are scaling several objects proportionally with "Apply to each object separately", you can only use the % unit to specify the scaling; otherwise each object's scale increments will have the width/height ratio of the entire selection, not of that specific object.)

* The Skew tab can now specify the skew as an absolute displacement (e.g. for horizontal skewing of a rectangle, that means the shift of the top rectangle side relative to the bottom), as percentage displacement (e.g. a 1% horizontal skew of a rectangle means shifting the top side by 1% of the rectangle height), or as an angle (e.g. horizontal skew by 15 degrees results in the sides of a rectangle being rotated to that angle, while the top and bottom remain horizontal).

* The Matrix tab (previously called "Transform") can either edit the current <code>transform=</code> matrix of an object, or post-multiply the <code>transform=</code> with the matrix you specify, depending on the Edit current matrix checkbox. (As it is now redundant, the transformation matrix in the Object Properties dialog is removed.)

* The dialog now correctly watches selection changes in the active document window and updates its values accordingly.

* The layout of the dialog is simplified, tooltips and mnemonics added for better usability.

* Many bugs are fixed, especially in value conversions between units.

== Persistent rotation centers ==

* The position of the center (axis) of rotation and skewing used by Selector is now remembered for all objects and restored when you select those objects again (even after saving and reopening the document). When you move or scale an object, its rotation center is moved or scaled too, so its position relative to the object always remains the same unless you move it explicitly.

* When you have several objects selected, they use the rotation center of the first selected object. If the first object does not have center set (i.e. if it's in a default central position), then several objects will rotate around the geometric center of their common bounding box (as before).

* Shift+click on the rotation center resets it back to the center of the object's box.

* Consequently, dragging the rotation center is now an undoable action; you can press Ctrl+Z to undo the drag.

* Keyboard rotation by [, ] keys with various modifiers, as well as the Rotate tab in the Transform dialog, work around the selected object's rotation center (for multi-object selection, the rotation center of the first selected object).

* Rotation centers are preserved when duplicating, cloning (including clone tiler), grouping/ungrouping, and converting to path.

== Pasting size ==

A number of commands are added to easily scale selected objects to match the size of the object(s) previously copied to the clipboard. They are all in the Paste Size submenu in Edit menu:

* Paste Size scales the whole selection to match the overall size of the clipboard object(s).

* Paste Width/Paste Height scale the whole selection horizontally/vertically so that it matches the width/height of the clipboard object(s). These commands honor the scale ratio lock on the Selector controls bar (between W and H fields), so that when that lock is pressed, the other dimension of the selected object is scaled in the same proportion; otherwise the other dimension is unchanged.

* Paste Size Separately, Paste Width Separately and Paste Height Separately work similarly to the above described commands, except that they scale each selected object separately to make it match the size/width/height of the clipboard object(s).

= Connectors and automatic layout =

* There have been numerous bugfixes and several improvements to the behaviour of connectors and the connector tool:
** Connectors moved as part of a selection will now stay attached to other objects in the selection, rather than becoming detached from them.
** By default, the Connector tool will not attach connectors to text objects. There is a new checkbox in the connector preferences to control this setting.
** The margins around avoided shapes (used for autorouting connectors) can now be adjusted via the "Spacing" control on the controls bar.

* Automatic Diagram Layout: A new button is available in the Align and Distribute dialog that performs automatic layout of diagrams involving a network of shapes and connectors. Layout is accomplished using force-directed graph layout based on the Kamada-Kawai algorithm. This algorithm treats edges as if they are springs such that the distance between nodes will be proportional to the path length - number of connectors - between them. Disconnected components (where not every shape is connected) will be arranged around the circumference of a circle.

* There is a new Remove Overlaps button to move the selected objects enough that they don't overlap each other. A minimum spacing between the boundaries of objects can be specified. Together with the automatic layout tool, described above, this should be a significant addition to Inkscape's usability for diagramming. Removing overlaps is different from the "Unclump" button in that the former is completely deterministic and guarantees removing overlaps on the first application, but is not concerned with visual perceptive distances between objects. Unclumping, on the other hand, attempts to equalize perceptive distances between objects and can be applied repeatedly for gradual effect.

= Selective tracing with SIOX =

* Inkscape 0.44 has an early version of the Simple Interactive Object Extraction (SIOX) algorithm (see [http://www.siox.org siox.org]) implemented in its bitmap tracing code. For a quick reference on how this is used, please see [http://inkscape.org/win32/siox/howto.svg this file]. This clever algorithm from the realm of Image Recognition allows you to select areas of similar color, with the goal of extracting a foreground area from the background. To use:
** Enable the SIOX checkbox in addition to your usual tracing options.
** Select both the bitmap and an object that covers the foreground and part of background, leaving only background areas of the image uncovered.
** Hit OK. SIOX will now analyze and attempt to pull out the foreground-colored areas you want, and trace only those parts of the image.

* The full SIOX selection mechanism (e.g. the ability to identify foreground and background areas separately) is not implemented yet, but is planned for a future release.

= Snapping =

* In addition to snapping to guides and grids, you can now snap to other objects' paths and/or nodes. As with grid and guide snapping, you can separately enable snapping of bboxes to objects and/or snapping of nodes to objects. Be aware, however, that this is experimental code - there may be surprises. It may also be slow in large documents with thousands of objects.

* In addition to the snap sensitivity sliders in Document Preferences (which set snap distances in px), there are Always snap checkboxes (separately for object, grid and guide snapping) which force snapping at any distance.

* Grid snapping now applies only to the visible grid lines. For example, if you have zoomed out so that only every 10th grid line is visible, snapping will only apply to these visible lines. In addition, default grid snap sensitivity is set to "Always snap". This will hopefully reduce the number of "snapping does not work" complaints from users who didn't zoom in close enough to see that snapping does in fact work, but only at sub-px distances to the 1px-spaced grid. At the same time, you can still snap to finely grained distances if you zoom in.

* Guidelines are made easier to pick. Now you don't need to position mouse exactly over a guideline to activate it; instead there's a small position tolerance (1 screen pixel on each side of the guideline).

= Sublayers =

Previously, it was only possible to make a group a temporary sublayer by entering that group. Now Inkscape supports creating and using true persistent sublayers within a layer.

* The Add layer dialog allows you to place the new layer above, below, or inside the current layer.

* In Preferences (Selecting tab), options are added allowing the "Select All" command and Tab key selection to work either in the current layer only or in the current layer and its sublayers.

= Markers =

* Converting stroke to path now correctly processes dashed strokes. For paths with markers, this command now creates a group containing the stroke converted to path and all its markers as independent objects (i.e. they are not markers anymore, but instead you can easily transform them or paint them any color, as a workaround for the "markers don't take the color of the stroke" bug; to be properly fixed, this bug requires implementing some SVG 1.2 features).

* The DimensionIn and DimensionOut markers are changed so that the arrow tips exactly correspond to node positions. It is now very easy to make dimension lines that correspond to drawn objects. The dimension specifications can now easily be chained by splitting a straight line at a point and assigning DimensionIn/Out markers to the resulting smaller paths whose endpoints coincide.

* All arrow markers in the standard set are moved on the path so that their tips are as close as possible to the corresponding node of the path. Complete coincidence is not possible, because it would cause the blunt end of the stroke itself to be visible under the sharp tip of the arrow, distorting its shape. However, now the arrow tips are much closer to their nodes than before, and probably sufficiently close for many practical situations.

* A new RazorWire path marker was added. By applying it as a mid-marker you can get a good approximation of a razor wire.

= Extension effects =

* The Effects menu is now officially on and no longer an optional "experimental feature" as in past versions. The preference setting to enable the menu has been removed. Inkscape 0.44 comes with about 30 effects that perform a variety of useful tasks, such as path blending, randomization, function plotting etc.

* Python effects (which includes almost all currently available effects) work on Windows out of the box, using a copy of Python shipping with Inkscape. The only minor inconvenience is that when an effect is launched, you get an empty console window that stays on while the effect is doing its work. (Don't close that window, it will disappear by itself when the effect is finished.)

* A new Python effect, Render > LaTeX formula, allows you to type in any LaTeX formula and get a vector object with the TeX rendition of this formula inserted into your document. You need to have latex, dvips, and pstoedit installed and in PATH for this to work.

* A new Python effect, Flatten Path, flattens paths in the current selection, approximating each path with a polyline whose segments meet the specified criteria for flatness.

* A new Python effect, Measure Path, attaches a text label to each path in the selection giving the length of that path (in px units).

* The Radius Randomize effect has a new parameter which enables normal distribution of random displacements instead of uniform as before, which gives a more natural feel to the randomized path.

* The Render > L-system (formerly "Fractal (Lindenmayer)") effect is improved in this version. Now you can specify different angle values for turning left and right, which makes it possible to smoothly bend some L-systems sideways. Also, you can separately randomize the step length and the angles by a given percent for more natural look (this works especially well with plant-like branching shapes). This effect can be used to create Penrose tiling, Sierpinsky triangle, Dragon curve and other famous mathematical artefacts, as well as various meanders, friezes, patterns, and trees. Some examples can be seen on this screenshot: [http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png] as well as in the new example file <code>share/examples/l-systems.svg</code>.

* The Interpolate Path, Random Tree, and L-system effects are fixed to place their result on the current layer instead of document root and in the center of the (last-saved) document view instead of 0,0 as before.

* INX files now have the ability to hold more information. This includes tooltips and descriptions of the extensions. These are all also translatable.

* Thanks to keyboard configurability, it is now possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to those effects you use most often, so you can activate them without going into the menu.

= Formats =

* Inkscape's PDF export is now native (i.e. does not require any external applications) and supports transparency, including gradients with transparency. This replaced the old export extension that required Ghostscript and worked via Postscript, losing any transparency. The new PDF export is still immature; in particular it does not handle text, so you should check "Convert text to path" on the export options dialog. Other things not yet supported include: gradients on stroke; eccentric elliptic gradients; patterns, masks, and clipping paths; embedded images.

* You can now Save as Compressed Inkscape SVG with media.This save option collects the svg file and all linked images into a zip archive for distribution. Although you cannot open the resulting archive directly with inkscape, the media is linked such that after unzipping you can open the SVG file immediately.

* An output format for desktop cutting plotters, such as the Wishblade and Craftrobo, was added. This format is a very minimalist DXF file with appropriate scaling and translation applied. This output format should not be expected to operate as a generalized DXF output.

* Inkscape can open/import default files generated by the Xfig vector graphics editor. This requires that the fig2dev command (transfig) is in your PATH.

* Starting with this version, there is a limited ability to export Inkscape drawing shapes as Open Document Format drawings (.odg files). Currently the export is limited to text, shapes, and solid fill and strokes. This output will be improved in the coming months. In the meantime, however, ODG output is already useful for getting your SVG drawings into the Open Document world, in particular into an office suite such as OpenOffice.org.

* The new XCF output extension exports all top-level elements (i.e. layers and objects directly under root) as PNGs and assembles them into an XCF for procesing in GIMP. Requires Python, PyXML and GIMP. GIMP 2.2.x or above must be in the path and be named <code>gimp</code>. A version of Inkscape 0.44 or above must be accessible from the path. Does not function in Windows yet.

= Miscellaneous shortcuts =

* Now you can use Shift+middle button drag, in any tool, to zoom into an area. This works the same as simple drag in Zoom tool, but is faster because it does not require switching away from your current tool. Together with middle button drag (panning), middle button click (zoom in) and Shift+middle button click (zoom out), this completes the set of canvas navigation shortcuts available in any tool or context.

* In Gradient tool, Shift+R reverses the gradient definition (i.e. mirrors the stop positions) without moving the gradient handles. For example, an elliptic gradient with blue center and red periphery becomes red in the center and blue in the periphery. This works on the gradient(s) of the currently selected gradient handle or, if no handle is selected, on all selected objects' gradients. (Compare with the Node tool where Shift+R reverses the direction of the selected path.) This is especially convenient for elliptic gradients which, unlike linear, you cannot simply rotate by 180 degrees for the same result.

* In Selector, Ctrl+Enter enters the selected group (making it a temporary layer). Ctrl+Backspace leaves the current layer and goes one layer up in the hierarchy (but not to root).

= Miscellaneous improvements =

* Document templates (listed in File > New) are now first searched in the <code>templates</code> subdirectory of the user's profile directory (on Linux it's <code>~/.inkscape/templates</code>), then in the system-wide Inkscape templates directory. This allows you to add your own templates on top of the list of standard templates, as well as override the default template with your own one (the <code>default.svg</code> in the profile directory has priority over the system-wide one).

* When toggling one of the "transform with object" buttons (for stroke width, rounded rectangle corners, gradients, or patterns), a message is displayed in the statusbar explaining what has changed in the program's behavior. Hopefully this will reduce the number of complaints from users who had accidentally toggled one of these and were surprised by the result.

* Whole thousands above 2000 in the rulers are now displayed as 2k, 3k, 4k etc.

* In the Inkscape Preferences dialog, the new object style for each tool is now shown as a style swatch (displaying fill/stroke colors and opacity, stroke width, and master opacity), similar in design to the selected style indicator in the statusbar.

* In the Grid Arrange dialog, row/column spacing can now be negative.

* The installation default is now to scale the rounded rectangle corners with the rectangles themselves (the previous default mode, still available as an option, was to keep rounding radii unchanged when scaling rectangles).

* Added a new <code>--export-area-canvas</code> command line parameter that causes the exported PNG to contain the full canvas. This option as well as <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-area</code> can now be used along with <code>--export-id</code> and <code>--export-id-only</code> for greater flexibility.

* The <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters now return the true SVG bounding box of the object instead of the Inkscape coordinate system bbox (with inverted Y axis). The new behavior makes more sense for scripting use of Inkscape.

* The dpi value in the Export dialog has had its range extended; now possible values are from 0.01 to 100000.

* Individual <tspan>s within text objects (including line tspans) can now be selected via the XML editor to view their bounding boxes (though per SVG, you cannot transform them). Also, you can use the <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters to find out the bounding boxes of tspans from a script. (Individual strings within or between tspans are still not selectable, and they cannot have an ID for querying anyway.)

* The placeholder image which is shown when a bitmap file was no longer accessible reads now "Linked image not found" instead of the confusing "Broken image".

* Cloning multiple selected objects now works as expected (i.e. each selected object is cloned separately, similar to the Duplicate command). Previously you could only clone a single selected object.

* The separate "license" and "contributors" dialogs have been merged into tabs on the About dialog. The about dialog now correctly sizes itself to fit the size of the splash SVG (while remaining resizable), and the rendering area is now cropped to the correct aspect ratio when the dialog is resized. The dialog also now displays the build information in the upper right corner.

* In the Transform dialog / Rotate tab, the icon was flipped horizontally to be in line with the direction of positive rotation; the change was applied to the default (now crispy) and legacy icon sets.

* The scale ratio lock button on the Selector controls bar shows a closed lock when pressed and open lock otherwise (same as the layer lock in the statusbar).

* The Browse button on Export dialog now opens the new file chooser, same as those used by Open and Save.

= Miscellaneous bugfixes =

* Reading a document with an incorrect namespace URI not only did not cause Inkscape to complain, but could also "pollute" Inkscape's internal namespace table, resulting in an "infection" of subsequently saved documents by the incorrect namespace. This is now fixed, but as a result, documents with incorrect namespace URIs will no longer load. You will have to edit them in a text editor to fix the namespaces.

* With newer versions of GTK, dragging with graphics tablet pen did not work in some tools and contexts (in particular, in Node and Rectangle tools). This is fixed.

* Scaling of objects with stroke in Selector used to cause undesired shifts of the scaled object, as well as scaling it in the dimension which was intended to remain untouched (e.g. slight change in width when you scale only height). All these problems are now fixed, both for interactive scaling by mouse and for numeric scaling via the Controls bar, and for both values of the "Scale stroke with objects" option. Among other things, this means that stroked objects no longer lose snapping on scale, and that the "Default scale origin" option in the Selector tool preferences finally works as designed. Caveat: There may still be problems if you scale a selection that contains objects with different stroke widths.

* Scaling of stroke now works for objects that didn't specify stroke-width; before, they always ended up with the default 1px stroke.

* The bounding box for text and flowed text objects did not include stroke width. This has been fixed.

* Stroke miterlimit on text objects was misinterpreted in absolute units instead of multiplies of stroke width (resulting in miter joins rendered as bevel).

* The unfinished path in Pen tool is now cancelled, not finalized, when you switch away from the Pen tool. Apart from being more intuitively correct, this also fixes a crash when you quit Inkscape with the unfinished path in Pen tool.

* Fonts on Win32 now use the native font mapper, meaning that Inkscape's font list is the same as other Windows programs, and the (potentially) very long delay experienced when using fonts for the first time in each session is gone.

* Setting dash pattern was broken for transformed objects, and copy/paste of style with dash pattern did not apply correctly to objects with transforms.

* An error caused a complete extra screen redraw after each zoom operation. That is, after you press "+" in a complex drawing, Inkscape redraws, but for some time after that it remains still unresponsive because it does that second redraw (invisibly for you, i.e. nothing changes on the screen). This is fixed.

* Gradient rendering was off by one pixel, which often resulted in visibly wrong gradient rendering for small objects or in zoom-out.

* The SVG path parser could not handle fractional numbers with the initial dot.

* Several pattern rendering bugs are fixed, discovered by working with SVG files exported from Adobe Illustrator.

* Inkscape on Mac OS X will now notice fonts in your ~/Library/Fonts directory, in addition to the other standard places.

* Inkscape couldn't be compiled with libxml versions <= 2.6.9, and we now bumped the requirements from 2.6.0 up to libxml >= 2.6.11, which is the earliest you can get officially, anyway.

* Inkscape no longer crashes when presented with a defective inx file for extensions.

* More document memory is now freed when documents are closed.

* EPS output now correctly includes an %%EOF footer.

* There was a regression in 0.43 that caused several minor, though annoying bugs; knots and handles remained highlighted after the mouse was released, and the rubberband selection rectangle stayed visible if the selection was ended over a node while in the node tool. This regression has been fixed.

* The connector routing code would previously sometimes confuse objects between multiple documents resulting in strange routing behaviour. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that allowed a malicious outsider to very easily disrupt an Inkboard session. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause deadlocks in the case that two users attempted to invite each other at the same time (see bug #[https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=604306&aid=1352522&group_id=93438 1352522] for further details). This should be fixed, although the fix has not been widely tested.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause session invitations to not appear on the invitee's screen. This was the result of a mistake in handling GDK modifier flags, and has been fixed.

= Translations =

* INX files (containing the UI of the external effects) now allow the user visible strings to be translated. This means that effect dialogs, file type selections, and extension names can all be translated by translators.

* Inkscape is now significantly translated to 18 languages: Basque, Catalan, Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Norwegian (Bokmål dialect), Polish, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic and Latin), Simplified Chinese, Slovenian, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese. Additionally, 21 more languages have some level of translation. Average translation ratio has increased from 49% to 61% in this release.

* Some new translations of tutorials have been brought by contributors: Czech, Portuguese (Brazilian) and Russian.

= Internal =

* The Document Properties Dialog code was completely gtkmmified, which lead to dramatic reduction of code size due to usage of widget objects. The used widget objects should be reusable by other dialogs, too, and the code is much more readable.

* Work on optimizing includes in all cpp files started, using the purgeincludes tool specifically written for that purpose, and ended with 40% of include lines removed!

= Known problems =
=== SVG files saved using previous version don't display font correctly ===

* You may find that fonts don't correctly display when opening a file from a previous version (eg 0.43). This can be fixed by simply reapplying the font. However, bringing up the font dialog doesn't acquire the font size from the document and so the actual size may be lost. If you select the text, then check using the XML viewer what the original font and size were you can then input this via the font dialog and restore your document to it's original glory! [ pbhj ]

=== Problems with some Debian libgc-6.7 packages ===

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with the first Debian packaged version of the Boehm garbage collection library. This problem was fixed in version 1:6.7-2 of the package. If you have libgc 6.7 on your Debian-based system, make sure that you are using that version of the package or later.

=== Problems with "Composite" option of X.org ===

* Some prereleases of inkscape-0.44 could crash if the "Composite" option were enabled in X.org's configuration. This is not a problem in the final release.

=== Namespaces may need fixing ===

* Previous versions of inkscape sometimes silently saved documents with wrong namespace URIs. This has been fixed, but such corrupted documents will no longer load successfully. Such documents may require their namespace declarations to be fixed by hand. Correct namespace URLs are as follows, with typical namespace prefixes given in parenthesis:
** [http://sodipodi.sourceforge.net/DTD/sodipodi-0.dtd '''Sodipodi''']
** [http://www.inkscape.org/namespaces/inkscape '''Inkscape''']
** [http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink '''XLink''']
** [http://www.w3.org/2000/svg '''SVG''']
** [http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns# '''RDF''']
** [http://web.resource.org/cc/ '''Creative Commons''']
** [http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/ '''Dublin Core Metadata''']

=== Beware of defective themes on Linux ===

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem. Update: this bug appears to be fixed in newer versions of gtk-engines. If you are affected by this problem please update to a newer version of gtk-engines. If problems persist then please inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem.

* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

=== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ===

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.45

2006-08-11T03:40:20Z

AlanHorkan: capitilise language names, more respectful

= Inkscape 0.45: overview =

= Undo history =
* Inkscape now features a History Dialog accessible through [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + H or Edit→Undo History. All changes to the document since it was opened are recorded here.
** In the dialog, changes are listed from the oldest (top) to the newest (bottom).
** The type of each change is indicated by an icon and a short description.
** For readability, consecutive changes of the same type are placed in a collapsable branch showing a triangle marker and the number of the hidden actions in the branch.
** By clicking on an event event in the list, you can easily move through the undo history, i.e. undo or redo any number of actions with one click.
* The Undo and Redo commands in the Edit menu display the descriptions of the commands to be undone and redone, correspondingly.

= Speed =

* Interruptible display: Previously, Inkscape could not do anything until it finishes the current screen redraw. Now the redraw is made interruptible, so that Inkscape responds to mouse and keyboard input and can abort the current redraw and start over if you do some screen-changing operation. As a result, Inkscape now feels much snappier and more interactive.

* Radial gradients are rendered faster by at least 10%.

* Screen render is faster by 2-3%, up to 5% for complex drawings with transparency.

* Display is more responsive when working at high zoom levels when using a tablet.

* Rendering (compositing) quality has been improved. This is most visible with (partially) transparent gradients, banding is a lot less pronounced now. Speed has also been improved in some cases.

= Command line =

* The new <code>--export-pdf</code> command line parameter allows exporting an SVG image to PDF from command line.

= Misc improvements =

* [new cursors - scislac]

* [PDF/EPS export improvements - Ulf Erikson]

* Exported PNG images have the correct resolution set in the headers.

* [New PDF export via Cairo - ???]

* [expand/contract selection in node tool, sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* Simplify Path now had two modes when working with a group of paths: the default mode, which treats all of the paths as one large object to simplify, or the new mode, which acts the same as using Simplify on each path in a group separately. In preferences.xml, set '''options.simplifyindividualpaths''' to 1 to get the new mode.

= Bugfixes =

* When deleting a node, update neighboring smooth nodes to be cusp nodes because symmetry is broken.

= Tools =

== Dropper ==

* Instead of the confusing toggle button, now the Controls bar for the Dropper tool has two checkboxes, "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha", which work as follows. Suppose you have an object selected and, using Dropper, click on an object which has red (#FF0000) fill and 0.5 opacity (half-transparent).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is off, the selected object will get the fill color #800000 (i.e. faded-out red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0 (opaque).
** If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is on but "Set alpha" is off, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 1.0.
** If both "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha" are on, the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity will be at 0.5 (half-transparent).
:If you Shift+click instead of click, the same changes will be made to stroke color and stroke opacity, correspondingly. Note that in no situation can Dropper change the master opacity of the selected object(s), although it can pick it just as it does any other kind of opacity.

= Translations =

* Remarkable improvements are the Danish, Finnish, Nepalese and the Vietnamese translation of the user interface. They all jumped from 0 to 100 percent in a very short timespan.

= Known problems =
==== Problems with some Debian libgc-6.7 packages ====

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with the first Debian packaged version of the Boehm garbage collection library. This problem was fixed in version 1:6.7-2 of the package. If you have libgc 6.7 on your Debian-based system, make sure that you are using that version of the package or later.

==== Beware of defective themes on Linux ====

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem. Update: this bug appears to be fixed in newer versions of gtk-engines. If you are affected by this problem please update to a newer version of gtk-engines. If problems persist then please inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem.

* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

==== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ====

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

=== Previous releases ===

* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

SodiPodi

2006-08-11T03:16:16Z

AlanHorkan: /* Inkscape Sodipodi Comparison */

=== Inkscape Sodipodi Comparison ===

Inkscape started as a fork of Sodipodi and Inkscape would not be where it is today without having had the base of Sodipodi to build on. As the two programs evolve it becomes increasingly useful to compare the two so that the developers of each can consider what features to copy from each other, and so that users can which program is useful for which drawing task or suits them best.

* Overall, Inkscape progresses faster and has more developers working on it. Inkscape's developer and user lists are currently more active.

* Sodipodi's renderer is noticeably faster, but less correct (often has artifacts with complex self-intersecting paths).

* Sodipodi's freehand tool is different from Inkscape's. Inkscape and Sodipodi have improved different aspects of the freehand tool since the fork. Sodipodi uses for the freehand tool an algorithm similar to that of the calligraphic tool, with parameters like drag and mass (not adjustable, however, as of 0.34); this makes the tool seem to adapt how closely the curve should match the mouse's path, whereas in Inkscape one must choose a fixed tolerance in advance.

:Situation as of Inkscape 0.40: Some people prefer the behavior of Sodipodi's freehand, while others prefer Inkscape. See [[FreehandComparison]] page for example screenshots from both categories of users. After 0.40, Inkscape CVS will experiment with incorporating sodipodi's improvements.

* For documentation, Inkscape has a detailed manpage, several big SVG tutorials and a complete shortcuts reference in SVG and HTML. The Sodipodi documentation is limited to a brief text-only shortcuts list and various web pages. (Some of Inkscape's documentation could be helpful for Sodipodi use too.)

* Inkscape fixed scores of bugs that Sodipodi has not yet fixed. Most applicable fixes from Sodipodi since the fork have been ported to Inkscape. On the other hand, the tons of new features in Inkscape undoubtedly introduced their own bugs. Inkscape employs a very intensive bug tracking process, that seems to help stabilize new features, though. Overall, people seem to agree that Inkscape is more robust and crashes less.

* Inkscape's package for Microsoft Windows is self-contained and easy to install. A single package makes things simpler and more convenient for testers and ordinary users.
: Sodipodi requires a separate installation of GTK libraries which although more complicated can be helpful if you wish to use less diskspace/bandwidth by sharing the same version of GTK (and settings) with other applictions GTK applications such as the GIMP, GAIM and more.
Inkscape may in future try to also provide this kind of split package but given how rapidly Inkscape changes the most up to date version of GTK is almost always required anyway. To save bandwith the file inkscape.exe has been offered to testers allowing them to avoid a full upgrade every time but it would not be recommended for ordinary users.

* Opinion is mixed as to which interface is better. Overall, most people seem to prefer Inkscape's use of a Single Document Interface (SDI) to the use of a Controlled Single Document Interface (CSDI) in Sodipodi where to the Toolbox is the main window and the panels are all in other seperate windows.

** Inkscape has tools and tool controls attached to each editing window as toolbars. This seeks to minimize the need for floating windows and makes the most important controls more predictably positioned and faster to reach. Sodipodi has one big floating toolbox shared by all document windows.

::Sodipodi's interface has been described as more [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP]-like. Inkscape's interface, on the other hand, resembles some of the commercial vector applications, most notably [[Xara X]].

:: Users with dual-screen setups and complex Window manager software tend to be those most likely to prefer the Sodipodi style interface as it allows/requires them to organise everything themselves.

:: One disadvantage to Inkscape's approach is that toolbars may either be partially cut off when the editing window is too small, or prevent the window from getting as small as possible. Inkscape toolbars are, in theory, detachable, so they can be removed from the editing window and float freely as separate windows. In practice, however, this is hardly usable because GTK does not make such detached toolbars stay on top, so they sink to the bottom very soon and are rather cumbersome to dig up again, especially if you have many windows. Let's hope GTK will fix this one day. (Windows need to set the correct hint to let the window manager know they are utility windows, the proceeding point may already be out of date and the following comments seem to confirm it).

::Also, any Inkscape toolbar can be permanently hidden; you can easily make a "bare" window without any buttons, if you are willing to use keyboard shortcuts instead of toolbar buttons.

** Inkscape's dialogs by default stay on top of the currently active document window. Sodipodi's dialogs (including the toolbox) sink.
:: Not anymore, recent version of Sodipodi has the same "problem" as Inkscape - dialogs stay on top. --[[HandgranatSandra]]
:: Do they stay on top of all editing windows (as in Inkscape), or only over the original one from which they were called? --bb

** Inkscape remembers the size and position of dialogs across sessions, Sodipodi does not.

* Inkscape has a lead in usability:

** Inkscape has many more keyboard and mouse shortcuts (but arguably this is greater flexibility not necessarily better usability, and accidentally hitting the wrong keybinding can waste time). Compare [http://inkscape.org/doc/keys.html Inkscape list] and [http://www.sodipodi.com/index.php3?section=documentation/usage/keybindings Sodipodi list]. Inkscape has a unique focus on keyboard accessibility of basic editing operations (move, transform, z-order, etc.)

** Inkscape remembers the zoom and view and window geometry of saved files.

** Selecting objects in Inkscape is much easier (select in groups, select under, forced rubberband, settable drag and grab tolerances, canvas autoscrolls when you drag objects or do a rubberband selection).

** Consistent treatment of stroke width, patterns, and gradients, which are either transformed in sync with their objects or stay unchanged in transformation, depending on a user setting.

** Inkscape has many more statusbar tips, tooltips, and other runtime verbiage. The size of an average .po file (containing all the interface strings) of Inkscape is more than twice that of Sodipodi.

** In Inkscape Exporting to bitmap (PNG) repeatedly is much more convenient since the filename and resolution are remembered, selected objects only export, more command line export options.

** Inkscape has made many usability enhancements, too many to list here. See [[ReleaseNotes]] for the past versions for a complete list.

* Features of Sodipodi not currently in Inkscape (possibly incomplete; please add if you know of others):

** The "Apply to duplicate" checkbox in the Transformations dialog. However, in Inkscape 0.41 most if not all effects achievable by this checkbox can be replicated using the Tile Clones dialog that creates clones (which can then be unlinked to become regular duplicates).

** The "Repeat" command to repeat the last command.

* Features in Inkscape but not currently in Sodipodi:

** Layers.

** Manual and automatic kerning and letterspacing in text.

** Text on path, flowed text.

** Editing of SVG markers (e.g. arrowheads). Sodipodi has only a limited display support for markers.

** Much more convenient on-canvas gradient editing.

** Creation and editing of clones (SVG <use> element). Sodipodi only has limited display support for <use>.

** Clone tiling (arranging multiple clones with various symmetries, shifts, rotations, randomization, etc).

** Creation and editing of pattern fills. Sodipodi has only display support.

** Editing multi-stop gradients. Sodipodi has only display support.

** Intergration with Potrace, for tracing bitmap images to vectors. Sodipodi users can only use Potrace from the command line.

** Inkscape uses Pango for text and therefore better supports right-to-left and other non-Western scripts.

** Inkscape has more import and export formats, although many of them rely on external applications and are not available on all platforms.

** Inkscape has a usable (but still unfinished) plugins and extensions support. Python extensions that are shipped with Inkscape do a lot of fun things.

** Inkscape shapes and shape tools have more options and controls.

** More path operations (Simplify, Cut path, Division).

** Offset (inset or outset) paths, including dynamic and linked offsets.

=== History ===

Inkscape forked from SodiPodi in late 2003. See [[InkscapeHistory]] for more information.

=== Screenshots ===

[http://www.sodipodi.com/index.php3?section=screenshots Sodipodi screenshots]

=== Links ===

[http://www.sodipodi.com/ Sodipodi Official site]

=== License ===

GNU General Public License (GPL)

Release notes/0.44

2006-06-10T18:06:44Z

AlanHorkan: now they call it GIMP, no "the" anymore apparently

== Inkscape 0.44: overview ==

Inkscape 0.44 is bigger and better than ever. Some highlights:

* Layers dialog

* Outline mode, many performance improvements

* Native PDF export with transparency

* Clipping and masking support

* Configurable keyboard shortcuts, including optional Xara X compatibility

* Docked color palette in the editing window

* Interactive indicator of the style of selection in the statusbar

* Innovative "node sculpting" and other improvements in Node tool

* Extensions are enabled by default and work on all major platforms

* Better SVG support: <switch> element, ICC color profiles for images

* Persistent rotation centers, Paste Size command

* New icons, redesigned preferences dialogs, rearranged menus, many cosmetic improvements

* Hundreds of bugfixes and smaller features

* Not directly related to Inkscape, but important nevertheless: since our last release, [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ Firefox 1.5] was released with SVG support enabled by default. This means that you can now view any Inkscape document right in your Firefox window without any format conversions or installing any plugins!

= Performance =

== Outline mode ==

An Outline ("wireframe") display mode is implemented. Use the View > Display Mode > Outline to activate it. In this mode:

* all paths and shapes are rendered as inverse (black on light background and vice versa) outlines of constant width (1 screen pixel regardless of zoom), without fill;

* text is painted by inverse fill, without stroke;

* bitmaps are shown as is;

* any opacity and gradients are ignored.

The outline mode is usually not drastically faster than regular mode (usually 10% to 50% faster), and in some special cases it may even be slower. However, the value of the outline mode is not only in its speed; it is a good way to get an idea of the structure and objects of your document, and it is convenient for precision node editing and for finding "stray objects".

== Speed ==

In addition to the Outline mode which makes it much easier to work with complex drawings, this version of Inkscape also provides significant speed improvements in many areas.

* Thanks to optimizations in the renderer, Inkscape's screen redraw is faster by at least 10%, and in some cases (such as complex stroked/dashed paths at high zooms) up to three times faster.

* Optimizations in the Node tool resulted in noticeable speed gains for node editing. Thus, switching to and from the Node tool (with a path selected), as well as selecting nodes in that tool, are now at least ten times faster than before. Other operations, including curve and node dragging and move/scale/rotate operations on multiple selected nodes, are much faster as well. This is especially important when working with complex paths; with these optimizations, paths containing several thousand nodes, though still slow, are much more usable.

* An optimization in the attribute setting method made operations such as moving multiple objects with arrow keys at least 30% faster compared to 0.43. This is especially noticeable when you are moving clones selected together with their original (e.g. a clone tiling), in which case Inkscape now works three to four times faster.

* Interface icons are now rendered in the background (from SVG source in <code>share/icons/icons.svg</code>) when Inkscape is idle, rather than waiting for all the icons in a menu to render the first time you pull it up. This eliminates the annoying delay when opening menus for the first time.

* Previously, zooming in to view a small portion of a path (especially big and complex path), there was a very noticeable slowdown and memory use increased dramatically. We optimized the renderer to only process the visible part of a path, and as a result the rendering speed is now almost the same at any zoom up to the maximum, providing up to 10-40 times speedup compared to the previous version (the closer is the zoom, the greater is the gain).

* The Path > Break Apart command is now dozens of times (up to 100x) faster for complex paths with thousands of subpaths.

= SVG conformance =

== Color profile support ==

Inkscape now includes base ICC profile functionality. If compiled with LittleCMS support (if you run <code>configure</code> with <code>--enable-lcms</code> switch), Inkscape passes the [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-color-prof-01-f.html ICC color profile test] by W3C. The <color-profile> element has been implemented along with the "color-profile" attribute for <image> elements.

== <switch> support ==

Rendering support for SVG 1.1's '''Conditional Processing Module''' has been implemented, including ''switch'' element, ''requiredFeatures'', ''requiredExtensions'', ''systemLanguage'' attributes. Inkscape passes the Conditional processing tests ([http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-01-t.html] and [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-02-t.html]) by W3C.

== SVG output ==

* In Inkscape's SVG documents, colors are now expressed by name (‘white’) or three-digit form (‘<tt>#f3c</tt>’) when possible.

* The numeric values in <code>transform</code> attributes are written without insignificant trailing zeros, and anything less than that 1e-8 by absolute value (usually caused by rounding errors) is written as 0 to reduce clutter.

= Interface =

== Layers dialog ==

A Layers dialog (Ctrl+Shift+L) is implemented in this version. It works in parallel with the quick layer selector in the statusbar, so you can use whichever is more convenient for you.

* In the dialog, you can click on a layer to make it current, as well as toggle layers visible/hidden and locked/unlocked. You don't need to make a layer current to toggle it visibility or lock status.

* A hierarchical tree of layers is represented by a tree-like display in the dialog. You can expand or collapse branches of the tree to make the layer structure of a document easier to navigate.

* At the bottom of the dialog, there are buttons for adding a new layer, moving the current layer up or down (either one step or all the way to top or bottom), and deleting the current layer.

* Below the buttons, there's a slider and a spinbutton for adjusting the opacity of the current layer. A layer's opacity affects all objects in that layer in the same way as opacity of a group.

== Selected style indicator ==

A new control in the left end of the statusbar lets you quickly view and change the fill and stroke of the selected objects. When you have a text selection in Text tool or a gradient handle selected in the Gradient tool, this indicator displays and changes the style of the text fragment or gradient stop, instead of the entire object (it's the same behavior as the Fill&Stroke dialog.)

* The two indicators, labelled F: (top) and S: (bottom), display fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. (For gradient handles, they always display the same style.)

* Each fill/stroke indicator can display either a color+opacity swatch (the opacity shown here is the fill opacity or stroke opacity, not the master opacity) or a text label specifying N/A (nothing selected), None (no fill/stroke), Unset (unset fill/stroke), L Gradient, R Gradient, Pattern (corresponding fill/stroke types), or Different (selected objects have different fill/stroke types).

* Additionally, each indicator may be accompanied by one of two flags, m ("multiple", meaning there are two or more objects all with the same fill/stroke) or a ("averaged", meaning there are two or more objects with different flat colors in fill/stroke, and the indicator shows the average of these colors).

* Left-click on an indicator opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab (Fill or Stroke) active.

* Right-click on an indicator opens a popup menu with the following items:
** Edit fill/stroke...: Opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab selected. (Same as left-click.)
** Last set color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last applied to anything.
** Last selected color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last displayed in this indicator. (Allows you to easily copy fill/stroke color between objects: select source, select destination, apply "last selected color".)
** Invert: Sets the fill or stroke to the inverse of the current color (does not affect opacity).
** White, Black: Sets the fill or stroke to the corresponding color (fully opaque).
** Copy color, Paste color: Copies or pastes the fill or stroke color (when it's color) to/from the system clipboard, as text in the <code>#rrggbb</code> hex format.
** Swap fill and stroke: Exchanges fill and stroke (both their types and colors, if any).
** Make fill/stroke opaque: Removes fill or stroke transparency (not master transparency!).
** Unset fill/stroke: Unsets fill or stroke from selected objects.
** Remove fill/stroke: Removes fill or stroke from the selected objects.

* Middle-click on a fill/stroke indicator removes fill/stroke from selected objects; if it is already removed (i.e. if the indicator displays "None"), it does the same as the "Last set color" command from the popup menu.

* Drag and Drop of colors onto a fill/stroke indicator sets the fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly.

* The Stroke indicator also displays the stroke width of selection (averaged if there are multiple objects selected with different stroke widths), located to the right of the stroke color/transparency swatch. Left-clicking on it opens the Fill&Stroke dialog with the Stroke Style tab selected. Right-clicking on it opens a popup menu which allows you to choose the units for displaying the stroke width, as well as choose one of the presets to assign to selection.

* To the right of the fill/stroke indicators, the Opacity numeric field (labelled "O:") shows and allows you to change the master opacity of the selected object (or the averaged opacity of several selected objects). Right-clicking the numeric field opens a popup menu with preset opacity levels. Middle-clicking on the "O:" label cycles the opacity through the values of 0 (transparent), 0.5, and 1 (opaque).

The zoom field and the cursor coordinates indicator have been rearranged for compactness and moved to the right end of the statusbar. There's also a window resize handle added at the very end of the statusbar.

== Tool style indicators ==

For each object-creating tool (shapes, Pen/Pencil, Calligraphic, Text), the Controls bar (above the canvas) now includes a style indicator on the right. This indicator shows you which style the newly created object will have.

* The indicator correctly displays whichever style the tool is set to use - the global "last set" style or that tool's fixed style. For example, clicking on a palette swatch (even with nothing selected) changes the "last set" color and, if your tool is set to use the last set color, its indicator is updated, giving you an idea of your "brush" before you start to draw.

== Controls bar for the Text tool ==

* This version adds the beginnings of a Controls Bar for the Text tool (previously empty). Now you can select the font family, size, apply bold and italic styles, change alignment and text orientation without opening the Text and Font dialog.

* All controls are instant-apply and work on the entire text object (if nothing selected) or text selection. They can also apply to multiple text objects (though you would need to switch to Selector to select multiple text objects, then switch back to Text tool for its controls).

* The font-family drop-down contains names and previews of all fonts; unlike other programs, we didn't apply each font to its name, but added a separate preview string displayed with gray color after each font's name. This design ensures readability of font family names and provides maximum useful information in a limited space.

* We will be adding more controls (including spacing and kerning) to this bar for the next versions.

== Docked color palette ==

* Previously, color swatches could only be used from a floating palette (Ctrl+Shift+W). Now the color swatches palette is embedded in the main UI, at the bottom of the window between the canvas and the statusbar. It is enabled by default; use View > Show/Hide > Palette to enable or disable it. The docked palette has the same functionality as the floating one; use a button in the top right corner to access the swatches menu.

* The Wrap option (off by default) in the swatches menu converts the palette from a single row into a frame 2 or 3 rows high, for better access to colors in large palettes.

* Drag and Drop of colors has been enabled.
** Dragging colors from a palette shows a live swatch of the color being dragged under cursor.
** Drag and Drop of colors onto the selected style indicator in the statusbar sets the fill or stroke of the selected object(s).
** Colors can be dropped directly on to objects on canvas to set their fill, or shift+dropped to set their stroke. This affects only the object you drop the color on, regardless of whether that object is selected or not.
** Colors can be dragged to and from other applications.

* The new Inkscape default color palette was added. It contains a range of grays, standard HTML named colors, and a full range of colors sorted by their HSL values (475 colors overall). It is generated by a Python script which is available from Inkscape SVN in share/palettes.

* Several specialized color palettes, useful in color-coordinated projects, were created or borrowed from GIMP: Grays, Reds, Greens, Blues, Gold, Royal, Khaki, Hilite, and Topographic.

* All standard sizes of the swatches (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge) are made smaller overall.

== Inkscape Preferences dialog ==

Not only was the Inkscape Preferences dialog completely rewritten and redesigned, with numerous bugs fixed in the rewrite.

* The old tabbed dialog is gone; the new dialog fits much betters with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines.

* As a new feature, the Simplify threshold can now be set with more precision.

== Document Properties / Metadata dialogs ==

* The Document Preferences dialog is now named Document Properties, and it was split in two: metadata were extracted into the Document Metadata dialog; metadata widgets are now also spread over two pages.

* A button was added to fit the canvas to the current selection or, if there's no selection, to the entire drawing. The button resizes the canvas and, if necessary, moves the drawing into place. It is now very easy to size the canvas to an illustration after it is ready.

* New controls: the new object snapping features required their own property widgets, and you can set the snapping sensitivity with a slider, or let it snap regardless of distance (grid only).

* Rearrangements within Document Properties: everything snapping-related was collected on one page; Grid and Guide widgets are on their own, the same page. For better HIG compliance, all widgets were categorized; especially the widgets on the Page page were completely rearranged in the General/Format/Border categories.

* Bug fixes: grayed out license URI had too low contrast, so it's no longer grayed out; the proprietary license didn't clean the license URI; spinbuttons had no tooltips, and minor grid quirks were removed; data was not updated when a new file replaced another in the same window.

* HIG compliance: much work went into that, and now only a few details are missing from full Gnome-HIG compliance.

* Updated Creative Commons Licenses: Updated CC licenses to the latest 2.5 versions by default in the license tab of the metadata dialog.

== Configurable keyboard ==

Inkscape's keyboard shortcuts are now configurable!

There is no graphical users interface at this time, and not all Inkscape actions can have their shortcuts customized. However, if you do not mind editing a configuration file, the majority of actions, including everything you see in the menus, can already have their keys changed. We're working on making more actions configurable.

On startup, Inkscape reads its keyboard shortcuts from <code>share/keys/default.xml</code>. That file is a copy of <code>inkscape.xml</code> in the same directory, which also contains keyboard emulation profiles for other vector editors:

*<code>xara.xml</code>: Xara X/Xara Xtreme/Xara LX keys

You can copy any of these over default.xml to use that profile. In all profiles, those keys which are not used by the corresponding program still have their Inkscape bindings. If you can contribute a profile for some vector editor that we don't yet have, we will appreciate that. The files have a simple XML-based format described in <code>inkscape.xml</code>.

You can also customize some of your keybindings without overwriting the main <code>default.xml</code>. If your profile directory (<code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux) contains a <code>keys</code> subdirectory with a <code>default.xml</code> file, the keybindings from that file will overlay (i.e. add to, and override in case of a conflict) the default bindings. The format of your own <code>default.xml</code> is the same as that of the main <code>default.xml</code>.

== Menus ==

* Zoom commands in the View menu are moved to a submenu; the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands are added to that submenu.

* Clone commands are moved into a submenu in Edit menu and given more descriptive names and tips.

* Pattern commands (Objects to Pattern and Pattern to Objects) are moved into a submenu in Object menu, under the new Clip and Mask submenus.

* The contents of the Effects menu are categorized into submenus, and several effects are renamed to use more intuitive names.

== Statusbar ==

* In Selector, for multiple selected objects, the statusbar now reports their types. For example, if 5 groups are selected, it displays

::5 objects of type Group in layer LayerName.

:instead of just "5 objects selected" as before. If there are up to 3 types in the selection, they will be listed, for example:

::5 objects of types Group, Path, Rectangle in layer LayerName.

:The order of the list will correspond to the order in which the objects were added to selection. If there are 4 or more types in selection, only the number of types is reported, for example:

::5 objects of 4 types in layer LayerName.

* In Selector, objects selected in groups are now identified as such, and the group ID is given, for example:

::Rectangle in group g212 (layer content)

:If selected objects have different parents within one layer (for example, if one is selected in a group and another outside it), the number of parents is reported:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 parents (layer content)

:If objects are in different layers, only the number of layers is reported since this also implies different parents:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 layers

* In Node tool, if your node selection includes nodes from different subpaths, statusbar reports the number of subpaths with selection and the total number of subpaths, for example:

::2 of 195 nodes selected in 2 of 36 subpaths.

* The contents of the statusbar message are now duplicated as a tooltip that is shown when you hover the mouse over the statusbar.

* The statusbar text is now no longer just cut off if there is insufficient room, but an ellipsis (...) is inserted at the end to show there's more (only with Gtk 2.6 and newer).

== Theme ==

* Inkscape has a new default icon set titled "Crispy" provided by Andre Sousa. The new icons are intended to add a more professional and cohesive look to our application, as well as to make the functions the icons represent more self-evident.

= Tools =

== Node tool ==

=== Node sculpting ===

An entirely new way of manipulating paths in Node tool is added in this version: Node sculpting. Normally, when you have several nodes selected and you drag one of them, all selected nodes move by the same amount. Now, if you Alt-drag one of the selected nodes, only that node is fully displaced; other selected nodes are moved less than the full amount, so that those farthest from the drag point remain stationary. This is similar to "proportional editing" or "soft selection" in 3D editors such as Blender.

So, for example, if you select several nodes on a straight line and Alt+drag the middle selected node, the path will bend into a smooth bell-like curve. Nodes' handles are also adjusted correspondingly to keep the overall shape smooth and natural. (If you don't have enough nodes on a path fragment that you want to reshape in this way, just select the end nodes of that fragment and press Ins a few times to populate it with nodes.)

Moreover, node sculpting is sensitive to pressure of your tablet pen. If you press slightly, your curve will have a narrow sharp tip (i.e. the nearest neighbors of your dragged node will move only a bit); if you press hard, the curve's tip will be wide and blunt (i.e. the nearest neighbors will move almost as much as the dragged node). (Hint: to stop dragging without losing your shape, first release Alt and then lift the tip of the pen.)

There are many possible applications of the sculpting technique. To take a simple example, selecting all nodes of an ellipse-like shape and Alt+dragging one of them will smoothly and naturally stretch and skew the entire shape in any direction. Doing the same to a complex path, such as star or spiral, will twist and punch it without destroying its intricate structure - this is the way to get squashed or self-intersecting stars, eccentric spirals and other shapes not easily doable before. Selecting only part of all nodes allows you to smoothly reshape parts of the figure without disturbing the rest.

When applied to text converted to path, node sculpting is a fun and easy way to twist, bend and distort it, achieving effects similar to "perspective envelope" or "curvilinear envelope" in other programs - but in a more powerful and flexible way. For example, by selecting all or part of the text's nodes and Alt-dragging, you can not only make a wavy banner out of a paragraph of text, but also apply a "magnifying lens"-like effect to any word in the middle.

Especially useful node sculpting is for complex natural paths, such as calligraphic strokes or bitmap traces, where you often want to do large-scale pushes and bends without destroying the small-scale features. Things like making a calligraphic stroke narrower in one place and wider in another, or changing the proportions, extending the ear or flattening the nose of a head - all this is now much faster and more natural to do using sculpting. It is also a new way to create new paths, too - starting from en ellipse with added nodes, it takes just a few Alt+drags to tweak it into a silhouette of a head, or a map of Australia, or an Inkscape logo!

Some examples are shown on the screenshot: [[http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png]].

=== "Show handles" toggle ===

The Controls bar for the Nodes tool now includes a toggle button which controls whether Bezier handles are shown on selected nodes (on by default). Selecting and dragging nodes on node-dense paths in zoom-out (e.g. for node sculpting) may be extremely difficult without hiding the handles, as it's hard to pick a node and not a handle when handles are shown.

=== New deletion behavior ===

* In Node tool, deleting node(s) by Del/Backspace keys or by Ctrl+Alt+clicking a node now tries to preserve, as much as possible, the current shape of the path. This means that the nodes adjacent to those being deleted have their handles adjusted to approximate the form that the path had before deletion. For example, if you Ctrl+Alt+click a path twice, once to add a new node and then to delete it, the path will not change at all (or change very slightly). The old deletion behavior without adjusting handles is still available via Ctrl+Del or Ctrl+Backspace.

=== Preserving positions of nodes and handles ===

* When you switch the type of the selected node to Smooth or Symmetric by pressing Shift+S/Shift+Y, you can now preserve the position of one of the two handles by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other handle is rotated/scaled to match.

* Similarly, when you join endnodes by pressing Shift+J, you can preserve the position of one of the two nodes by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other node is moved.

=== Miscellaneous ===

* The ! key inverts node selection in the current subpath(s) (i.e. subpaths with at least one selected node); Alt+! inverts in the entire path. (This is similar to how these keys work in Selector, with current subpath(s) instead of the current layer.)

* The keyboard shortcut for "Make selected segments curves" in Node tool is changed from Shift+K to Shift+U for better mnemonics.

== Calligraphic pen ==

=== Tremor ===

* Even when using a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity, the Calligraphy pen's strokes often look too smooth and artificial. To enable a more natural look, the new Tremor parameter is added to the Calligraphy tool in this version. Adjustable in the Controls bar from 0.0 to 1.0, it will affect your strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

=== Pen width ===

* In all previous versions, pen width depended on zoom in such a way that the strokes appeared the same visible width at any zoom, but were in fact narrower at zoom-in and wider at zoom-out. This behavior makes sense if you want to keep the same "feel" of the pen regardless of zoom; for example, if you zoomed in to make a small fix to your drawing, it's natural that your pen becomes physically smaller but feels the same to you. So, this behavior is kept as the default, but now we also added an alternative mode where your pen width is constant in absolute units regardless of zoom. To switch to this mode, use the checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by double-clicking the tool button).

* The Width field in the tool's controls bar now changes from 1 to 100, which corresponds to the range from 0.01 to 1.0 in the previous version. If the "width in absolute units" mode is turned on, the value in this fields gives the width of the stroke in px units. In the default mode, the value of 100 gives 100px wide strokes only at 100% zoom, and strokes are correspondingly narrower or wider at other zoom levels.

=== Selection ===

* A new preferences option for the Calligraphic tool, Keep selected, controls whether the newly created object remains selected after you finish drawing it. If you turn it off (by default it's on) and set the tool to using Last Set color, you can easily choose a new color by clicking on the palette without having to worry if this will change the color of the stroke you just created. (Watch the tool style indicator at the right end of the Controls bar for the style of the next stroke you will draw.)

* Esc deselects selected objects in Calligraphic, as in most other tools.

=== Style ===

* The stroke you're drawing is now shown, while you're drawing it, with the correct color and opacity that it will eventually have, instead of always black as before.

* On a new Inkscape installation, this tool now uses the last set style by default instead of the fixed black as before (this is changeable in the Inkscape Preferences for the tool).

== Pen tool ==

* While drawing a path, you can now move the last node you created by the same keys as in Node tool - that is, arrows, with Shift (for 10x displacement) or Alt (screen pixel displacement) modifiers.

* Also, you can switch the not-yet-finalized (red) segment of the path being drawn from curve to line (Shift+L) or back to curve (Shift+U), again the same shortcuts as in the Node tool.

* By popular demand, if a new path is being drawn but not yet finished, Ctrl+Z cancels that unfinished path (i.e. does the same as Esc), instead of undoing the previous action.

* In Pen tool, Del works the same as Backspace to delete the last created point on the unfinished path.

= Clipping and masking =

Inkscape now provides some UI for using clipping paths and masks.

* Any object can be non-destructively intersected with a path (called a clipping path) so that only the intersected portion of the object is visible.
** To apply clipping, select the objects to be clipped and the clipping path object, make sure the clipping path is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Clip > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the clipped objects as usual. The clipping remains applied and transforms together with each clipped object.
** To remove the clipping, do Object > Clip > Release. The clipping path is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unclipped object in z-order.

* Any object can be non-destructively masked by another object (called mask) so that: the mask's black or transparent areas become fully transparent in the masked object; mask's opaque white areas become fully opaque; and all intermediate colors translate into intermediate levels of opacity in the masked object. This allows you to apply, for example, arbitrary transparency gradients to objects.
** To apply a mask, select the objects to be masked and the mask object, make sure the mask is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Mask > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the masked objects as usual. The mask remains applied and transforms together with each masked object.
** To remove the masking, do Object > Mask > Release. The mask is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unmasked object in z-order.

* Objects with clippath show their bounding box intersected with the bounding box of the clippath, instead of the original unclipped bbox as before. (However, this does not apply to objects without clippath of their own which are clipped by being inside a clipped group.)

* Clipped or masked objects display "clipped" or "masked", correspondingly, in their statusbar descriptions.

* Although Inkscape had render-only support for clipping paths and masks for quite some time, in this release we fixed a number of bugs which may affect the display of your documents using clippaths or masks.
** Clippaths and masks with objectBoundingBox units are now shown correctly upon loading of the document.
** Clippaths without fill didn't work, this is now fixed.
** Objects with clippaths or masks are correctly copied/pasted between documents.

= Transformations =

== Transform dialog ==

Fixes and improvements in the Transform dialog (Ctrl+Shift+M):

* The Apply to each object separately checkbox is added, allowing you to scale/rotate/skew each selected object by the same amount, around that object's center. When off (by default), the selection is transformed as a whole. The status of this checkbox is remembered across sessions. (It has no effect on Move and Matrix tabs).

* The Clear button resets the values on the current tab to defaults.

* The Scale tab now allows you to specify horizontal or vertical size increments in percentage or absolute units. Also, there's a Scale proportionally checkbox which ensures that scaling preserves the width/height ratio. (If you are scaling several objects proportionally with "Apply to each object separately", you can only use the % unit to specify the scaling; otherwise each object's scale increments will have the width/height ratio of the entire selection, not of that specific object.)

* The Skew tab can now specify the skew as an absolute displacement (e.g. for horizontal skewing of a rectangle, that means the shift of the top rectangle side relative to the bottom), as percentage displacement (e.g. a 1% horizontal skew of a rectangle means shifting the top side by 1% of the rectangle height), or as an angle (e.g. horizontal skew by 15 degrees results in the sides of a rectangle being rotated to that angle, while the top and bottom remain horizontal).

* The Matrix tab (previously called "Transform") can either edit the current <code>transform=</code> matrix of an object, or post-multiply the <code>transform=</code> with the matrix you specify, depending on the Edit current matrix checkbox. (As it is now redundant, the transformation matrix in the Object Properties dialog is removed.)

* The dialog now correctly watches selection changes in the active document window and updates its values accordingly.

* The layout of the dialog is simplified, tooltips and mnemonics added for better usability.

* Many bugs are fixed, especially in value conversions between units.

== Persistent rotation centers ==

* The position of the center (axis) of rotation and skewing used by Selector is now remembered for all objects and restored when you select those objects again (even after saving and reopening the document). When you move or scale an object, its rotation center is moved or scaled too, so its position relative to the object always remains the same unless you move it explicitly.

* When you have several objects selected, they use the rotation center of the first selected object. If the first object does not have center set (i.e. if it's in a default central position), then several objects will rotate around the geometric center of their common bounding box (as before).

* Shift+click on the rotation center resets it back to the center of the object's box.

* Consequently, dragging the rotation center is now an undoable action; you can press Ctrl+Z to undo the drag.

* Keyboard rotation by [, ] keys with various modifiers, as well as the Rotate tab in the Transform dialog, work around the selected object's rotation center (for multi-object selection, the rotation center of the first selected object).

* Rotation centers are preserved when duplicating, cloning (including clone tiler), grouping/ungrouping, and converting to path.

== Pasting size ==

A number of commands are added to easily scale selected objects to match the size of the object(s) previously copied to the clipboard. They are all in the Paste Size submenu in Edit menu:

* Paste Size scales the whole selection to match the overall size of the clipboard object(s).

* Paste Width/Paste Height scale the whole selection horizontally/vertically so that it matches the width/height of the clipboard object(s). These commands honor the scale ratio lock on the Selector controls bar (between W and H fields), so that when that lock is pressed, the other dimension of the selected object is scaled in the same proportion; otherwise the other dimension is unchanged.

* Paste Size Separately, Paste Width Separately and Paste Height Separately work similarly to the above described commands, except that they scale each selected object separately to make it match the size/width/height of the clipboard object(s).

= Connectors and automatic layout =

* There have been numerous bugfixes and several improvements to the behaviour of connectors and the connector tool:
** Connectors moved as part of a selection will now stay attached to other objects in the selection, rather than becoming detached from them.
** By default, the Connector tool will not attach connectors to text objects. There is a new checkbox in the connector preferences to control this setting.
** The margins around avoided shapes (used for autorouting connectors) can now be adjusted via the "Spacing" control on the controls bar.

* Automatic Diagram Layout: A new button is available in the Align and Distribute dialog that performs automatic layout of diagrams involving a network of shapes and connectors. Layout is accomplished using force-directed graph layout based on the Kamada-Kawai algorithm. This algorithm treats edges as if they are springs such that the distance between nodes will be proportional to the path length - number of connectors - between them. Disconnected components (where not every shape is connected) will be arranged around the circumference of a circle.

* There is a new Remove Overlaps button to move the selected objects enough that they don't overlap each other. A minimum spacing between the boundaries of objects can be specified. Together with the automatic layout tool, described above, this should be a significant addition to Inkscape's usability for diagramming. Removing overlaps is different from the "Unclump" button in that the former is completely deterministic and guarantees removing overlaps on the first application, but is not concerned with visual perceptive distances between objects. Unclumping, on the other hand, attempts to equalize perceptive distances between objects and can be applied repeatedly for gradual effect.

= Selective tracing with SIOX =

* Inkscape 0.44 has an early version of the Simple Interactive Object Extraction (SIOX) algorithm (see [http://www.siox.org siox.org]) implemented in its bitmap tracing code. For a quick reference on how this is used, please see [http://inkscape.org/win32/siox/howto.svg this file]. This clever algorithm from the realm of Image Recognition allows you to select areas of similar color, with the goal of extracting a foreground area from the background. To use:
** Enable the SIOX checkbox in addition to your usual tracing options.
** Select both the bitmap and an object that covers the foreground and part of background, leaving only background areas of the image uncovered.
** Hit OK. SIOX will now analyze and attempt to pull out the foreground-colored areas you want, and trace only those parts of the image.

* The full SIOX selection mechanism (e.g. the ability to identify foreground and background areas separately) is not implemented yet, but is planned for a future release.

= Snapping =

* In addition to snapping to guides and grids, you can now snap to other objects' paths and/or nodes. As with grid and guide snapping, you can separately enable snapping of bboxes to objects and/or snapping of nodes to objects. Be aware, however, that this is experimental code - there may be surprises. It may also be slow in large documents with thousands of objects.

* In addition to the snap sensitivity sliders in Document Preferences (which set snap distances in px), there are Always snap checkboxes (separately for object, grid and guide snapping) which force snapping at any distance.

* Grid snapping now applies only to the visible grid lines. For example, if you have zoomed out so that only every 10th grid line is visible, snapping will only apply to these visible lines. In addition, default grid snap sensitivity is set to "Always snap". This will hopefully reduce the number of "snapping does not work" complaints from users who didn't zoom in close enough to see that snapping does in fact work, but only at sub-px distances to the 1px-spaced grid. At the same time, you can still snap to finely grained distances if you zoom in.

* Guidelines are made easier to pick. Now you don't need to position mouse exactly over a guideline to activate it; instead there's a small position tolerance (1 screen pixel on each side of the guideline).

= Sublayers =

Previously, it was only possible to make a group a temporary sublayer by entering that group. Now Inkscape supports creating and using true persistent sublayers within a layer.

* The Add layer dialog allows you to place the new layer above, below, or inside the current layer.

* In Preferences (Selecting tab), options are added allowing the "Select All" command and Tab key selection to work either in the current layer only or in the current layer and its sublayers.

= Markers =

* Converting stroke to path now correctly processes dashed strokes. For paths with markers, this command now creates a group containing the stroke converted to path and all its markers as independent objects (i.e. they are not markers anymore, but instead you can easily transform them or paint them any color, as a workaround for the "markers don't take the color of the stroke" bug; to be properly fixed, this bug requires implementing some SVG 1.2 features).

* The DimensionIn and DimensionOut markers are changed so that the arrow tips exactly correspond to node positions. It is now very easy to make dimension lines that correspond to drawn objects. The dimension specifications can now easily be chained by splitting a straight line at a point and assigning DimensionIn/Out markers to the resulting smaller paths whose endpoints coincide.

* All arrow markers in the standard set are moved on the path so that their tips are as close as possible to the corresponding node of the path. Complete coincidence is not possible, because it would cause the blunt end of the stroke itself to be visible under the sharp tip of the arrow, distorting its shape. However, now the arrow tips are much closer to their nodes than before, and probably sufficiently close for many practical situations.

* A new RazorWire path marker was added. By applying it as a mid-marker you can get a good approximation of a razor wire.

= Extensions =

* The Effects menu is now always on. The preference setting to enable the menu has been removed. Effects are good enough for regular use.

* Python extensions (which includes almost all currently available extensions) work on Windows out of the box, using a copy of Python shipping with Inkscape. The only minor inconvenience is that when an effect is launched, you get an empty console window that stays on while the effect is doing its work. (Don't close that window, it will disappear by itself when the effect is finished.)

* A new Python effect, Render > LaTeX formula, allows you to type in any LaTeX formula and get a vector object with the TeX rendition of this formula inserted into your document. You need to have latex, dvips, and pstoedit installed and in PATH for this to work.

* A new Python effect, Flatten Path, flattens paths in the current selection, approximating each path with a polyline whose segments meet the specified criteria for flatness.

* A new Python effect, Measure Path, attaches a text label to each path in the selection giving the length of that path (in px units).

* The Radius Randomize effect has a new parameter which enables normal distribution of random displacements instead of uniform as before, which gives a more natural feel to the randomized path.

* The Render > L-system (formerly "Fractal (Lindenmayer)") effect is improved in this version. Now you can specify different angle values for turning left and right, which makes it possible to smoothly bend some L-systems sideways. Also, you can separately randomize the step length and the angles by a given percent for more natural look (this works especially well with plant-like branching shapes). This effect can be used to create Penrose tiling, Sierpinsky triangle, Dragon curve and other famous mathematical artefacts, as well as various meanders, friezes, patterns, and trees. Some examples can be seen on this screenshot: [http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png] as well as in the new example file <code>share/examples/l-systems.svg</code>.

* The Interpolate Path, Random Tree, and L-system effects are fixed to place their result on the current layer instead of document root and in the center of the (last-saved) document view instead of 0,0 as before.

* INX files now have the ability to hold more information. This includes tooltips and descriptions of the extensions. These are all also translatable.

* Thanks to keyboard configurability, it is now possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to those effects you use most often, so you can activate them without going into the menu.

= Formats =

* Inkscape's PDF export is now native (i.e. does not require any external applications) and supports transparency, including gradients with transparency. This replaced the old export extension that required Ghostscript and worked via Postscript, losing any transparency. The new PDF export is still immature; in particular it does not handle text, so you should check "Convert text to path" on the export options dialog. Other things not yet supported include: gradients on stroke; eccentric elliptic gradients; patterns, masks, and clipping paths; embedded images.

* You can now Save as Compressed Inkscape SVG with media.This save option collects the svg file and all linked images into a zip archive for distribution. Although you cannot open the resulting archive directly with inkscape, the media is linked such that after unzipping you can open the SVG file immediately.

* An output format for desktop cutting plotters, such as the Wishblade and Craftrobo, was added. This format is a very minimalist DXF file with appropriate scaling and translation applied. This output format should not be expected to operate as a generalized DXF output.

* Inkscape can open/import default files generated by the Xfig vector graphics editor. This requires that the fig2dev command (transfig) is in your PATH.

* Starting with this version, there is a limited ability to export Inkscape drawing shapes as Open Document Format drawings (.odg files). Currently the export is limited to text, shapes, and solid fill and strokes. This output will be improved in the coming months. In the meantime, however, ODG output is already useful for getting your SVG drawings into the Open Document world, in particular into an office suite such as OpenOffice.org.

* The new XCF output extension exports all top-level elements (i.e. layers and objects directly under root) as PNGs and assembles them into an XCF for procesing in GIMP. Requires Python, PyXML and GIMP. GIMP 2.2.x or above must be in the path and be named <code>gimp</code>. A version of Inkscape 0.44 or above must be accessible from the path. Does not function in Windows yet.

= Miscellaneous shortcuts =

* Now you can use Shift+middle button drag, in any tool, to zoom into an area. This works the same as simple drag in Zoom tool, but is faster because it does not require switching away from your current tool. Together with middle button drag (panning), middle button click (zoom in) and Shift+middle button click (zoom out), this completes the set of canvas navigation shortcuts available in any tool or context.

* In Gradient tool, Shift+R reverses the gradient definition (i.e. mirrors the stop positions) without moving the gradient handles. For example, an elliptic gradient with blue center and red periphery becomes red in the center and blue in the periphery. This works on the gradient(s) of the currently selected gradient handle or, if no handle is selected, on all selected objects' gradients. (Compare with the Node tool where Shift+R reverses the direction of the selected path.) This is especially convenient for elliptic gradients which, unlike linear, you cannot simply rotate by 180 degrees for the same result.

* In Selector, Ctrl+Enter enters the selected group (making it a temporary layer). Ctrl+Backspace leaves the current layer and goes one layer up in the hierarchy (but not to root).

= Miscellaneous improvements =

* Document templates (listed in File > New) are now first searched in the <code>templates</code> subdirectory of the user's profile directory (on Linux it's <code>~/.inkscape/templates</code>), then in the system-wide Inkscape templates directory. This allows you to add your own templates on top of the list of standard templates, as well as override the default template with your own one (the <code>default.svg</code> in the profile directory has priority over the system-wide one).

* When toggling one of the "transform with object" buttons (for stroke width, rounded rectangle corners, gradients, or patterns), a message is displayed in the statusbar explaining what has changed in the program's behavior. Hopefully this will reduce the number of complaints from users who had accidentally toggled one of these and were surprised by the result.

* Whole thousands above 2000 in the rulers are now displayed as 2k, 3k, 4k etc.

* In the Document Preferences dialog, the new object style for each tool is now shown as a style swatch (displaying fill/stroke colors and opacity, stroke width, and master opacity), similar in design to the selected style indicator in the statusbar.

* In the Grid Arrange dialog, row/column spacing can now be negative.

* The installation default is now to scale the rounded rectangle corners with the rectangles themselves (the previous default mode, still available as an option, was to keep rounding radii unchanged when scaling rectangles).

* Added a new <code>--export-area-canvas</code> command line parameter that causes the exported PNG to contain the full canvas. This option as well as <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-area</code> can now be used along with <code>--export-id</code> and <code>--export-id-only</code> for greater flexibility.

* The <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters now return the true SVG bounding box of the object instead of the Inkscape coordinate system bbox (with inverted Y axis). The new behavior makes more sense for scripting use of Inkscape.

* The dpi value in the Export dialog has had its range extended; now possible values are from 0.01 to 100000.

* Individual <tspan>s within text objects (including line tspans) can now be selected via the XML editor to view their bounding boxes (though per SVG, you cannot transform them). Also, you can use the <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters to find out the bounding boxes of tspans from a script. (Individual strings within or between tspans are still not selectable, and they cannot have an ID for querying anyway.)

* The placeholder image which is shown when a bitmap file was no longer accessible reads now "Linked image not found" instead of the confusing "Broken image".

* Cloning multiple selected objects now works as expected (i.e. each selected object is cloned separately, similar to the Duplicate command). Previously you could only clone a single selected object.

* The separate "license" and "contributors" dialogs have been merged into tabs on the About dialog. The about dialog now correctly sizes itself to fit the size of the splash SVG (while remaining resizable), and the rendering area is now cropped to the correct aspect ratio when the dialog is resized. The dialog also now displays the build information in the upper right corner.

* In the Transform dialog / Rotate tab, the icon was flipped horizontally to be in line with the direction of positive rotation; the change was applied to the default (now crispy) and legacy icon sets.

* The scale ratio lock button on the Selector controls bar shows a closed lock when pressed and open lock otherwise (same as the layer lock in the statusbar).

* The Browse button on Export dialog now opens the new file chooser, same as those used by Open and Save.

= Miscellaneous bugfixes =

* Reading a document with an incorrect namespace URI not only did not cause Inkscape to complain, but could also "pollute" Inkscape's internal namespace table, resulting in an "infection" of subsequently saved documents by the incorrect namespace. This is now fixed, but as a result, documents with incorrect namespace URIs will no longer load. You will have to edit them in a text editor to fix the namespaces.

* With newer versions of GTK, dragging with graphics tablet pen did not work in some tools and contexts (in particular, in Node and Rectangle tools). This is fixed.

* Scaling of objects with stroke in Selector used to cause undesired shifts of the scaled object, as well as scaling it in the dimension which was intended to remain untouched (e.g. slight change in width when you scale only height). All these problems are now fixed, both for interactive scaling by mouse and for numeric scaling via the Controls bar, and for both values of the "Scale stroke with objects" option. Among other things, this means that stroked objects no longer lose snapping on scale, and that the "Default scale origin" option in the Selector tool preferences finally works as designed. Caveat: There may still be problems if you scale a selection that contains objects with different stroke widths.

* Scaling of stroke now works for objects that didn't specify stroke-width; before, they always ended up with the default 1px stroke.

* The bounding box for text and flowed text objects did not include stroke width. This has been fixed.

* Stroke miterlimit on text objects was misinterpreted in absolute units instead of multiplies of stroke width (resulting in miter joins rendered as bevel).

* The unfinished path in Pen tool is now cancelled, not finalized, when you switch away from the Pen tool. Apart from being more intuitively correct, this also fixes a crash when you quit Inkscape with the unfinished path in Pen tool.

* Fonts on Win32 now use the native font mapper, meaning that Inkscape's font list is the same as other Windows programs, and the (potentially) very long delay experienced when using fonts for the first time in each session is gone.

* Setting dash pattern was broken for transformed objects, and copy/paste of style with dash pattern did not apply correctly to objects with transforms.

* An error caused a complete extra screen redraw after each zoom operation. That is, after you press "+" in a complex drawing, Inkscape redraws, but for some time after that it remains still unresponsive because it does that second redraw (invisibly for you, i.e. nothing changes on the screen). This is fixed.

* Gradient rendering was off by one pixel, which often resulted in visibly wrong gradient rendering for small objects or in zoom-out.

* The SVG path parser could not handle fractional numbers with the initial dot.

* Several pattern rendering bugs are fixed, discovered by working with SVG files exported from Adobe Illustrator.

* Inkscape on Mac OS X will now notice fonts in your ~/Library/Fonts directory, in addition to the other standard places.

* Inkscape couldn't be compiled with libxml versions <= 2.6.9, and we now bumped the requirements from 2.6.0 up to libxml >= 2.6.11, which is the earliest you can get officially, anyway.

* Inkscape no longer crashes when presented with a defective inx file for extensions.

* More document memory is now freed when documents are closed.

* EPS output now correctly includes an %%EOF footer.

* There was a regression in 0.43 that caused several minor, though annoying bugs; knots and handles remained highlighted after the mouse was released, and the rubberband selection rectangle stayed visible if the selection was ended over a node while in the node tool. This regression has been fixed.

* The connector routing code would previously sometimes confuse objects between multiple documents resulting in strange routing behaviour. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that allowed a malicious outsider to very easily disrupt an Inkboard session. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause deadlocks in the case that two users attempted to invite each other at the same time (see bug #[https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=604306&aid=1352522&group_id=93438 1352522] for further details). This should be fixed, although the fix has not been widely tested.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause session invitations to not appear on the invitee's screen. This was the result of a mistake in handling GDK modifier flags, and has been fixed.

= Translations =

* INX files (containing the UI of the external effects) now allow the user visible strings to be translated. This means that effect dialogs, file type selections, and extension names can all be translated by translators.

* Now, 38 languages are translated, of which 14 significantly: Catalan, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Lituanian, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Latine Serbian, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Average translation ratio has increased from 49% to 57%.

* Some new translations of tutorials have been brought by contributors : Czech, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian.

= Internal =

* The Document Properties Dialog code was completely gtkmmified, which lead to dramatic reduction of code size due to usage of widget objects. The used widget objects should be reusable by other dialogs, too, and the code is much more readable.

* Work on optimizing includes in all cpp files started, using the purgeincludes tool specifically written for that purpose, and ended with 40% of include lines removed!

= Known problems =
=== Problems with libgc-6.7 ===

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with this (newest) version of the Boehm garbage collection library. Make sure you use libgc-6.5 or 6.6 until this is sorted out.

=== Problems with "Composite" option of X.org ===

* On Linux, Inkscape may crash if you have the "Composite" option enabled in your X.org configuration. To disable this option, comment out this line in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option "Composite" "Enable"

:so it becomes

#Option "Composite" "Enable"

:and restart X.

=== Namespaces may need fixing ===

* Previous versions of inkscape sometimes silently saved documents with wrong namespace URIs. This has been fixed, but such corrupted documents will no longer load successfully. Such documents may require their namespace declarations to be fixed by hand.

=== Beware of defective themes on Linux ===

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem, however, but it would be nice if you as affected user would inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem. See especially http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312115 (thanks to Thomas Wood)
* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

=== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ===

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

= Previous releases =

* ReleaseNotes043 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes043)
* ReleaseNotes042 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes042)
* ReleaseNotes041 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes041)
* ReleaseNotes040 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes040)
* ReleaseNotes039 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes039)
* ReleaseNotes038 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes038)
* ReleaseNotes037 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes037)
* ReleaseNotes036 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes036)
* ReleaseNotes035 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes035)

Release notes/0.44

2006-06-10T18:04:41Z

AlanHorkan: effects may not be "experimental" but are still improving

== Inkscape 0.44: overview ==

Inkscape 0.44 is bigger and better than ever. Some highlights:

* Layers dialog

* Outline mode, many performance improvements

* Native PDF export with transparency

* Clipping and masking support

* Configurable keyboard shortcuts, including optional Xara X compatibility

* Docked color palette in the editing window

* Interactive indicator of the style of selection in the statusbar

* Innovative "node sculpting" and other improvements in Node tool

* Extensions are enabled by default and work on all major platforms

* Better SVG support: <switch> element, ICC color profiles for images

* Persistent rotation centers, Paste Size command

* New icons, redesigned preferences dialogs, rearranged menus, many cosmetic improvements

* Hundreds of bugfixes and smaller features

* Not directly related to Inkscape, but important nevertheless: since our last release, [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ Firefox 1.5] was released with SVG support enabled by default. This means that you can now view any Inkscape document right in your Firefox window without any format conversions or installing any plugins!

= Performance =

== Outline mode ==

An Outline ("wireframe") display mode is implemented. Use the View > Display Mode > Outline to activate it. In this mode:

* all paths and shapes are rendered as inverse (black on light background and vice versa) outlines of constant width (1 screen pixel regardless of zoom), without fill;

* text is painted by inverse fill, without stroke;

* bitmaps are shown as is;

* any opacity and gradients are ignored.

The outline mode is usually not drastically faster than regular mode (usually 10% to 50% faster), and in some special cases it may even be slower. However, the value of the outline mode is not only in its speed; it is a good way to get an idea of the structure and objects of your document, and it is convenient for precision node editing and for finding "stray objects".

== Speed ==

In addition to the Outline mode which makes it much easier to work with complex drawings, this version of Inkscape also provides significant speed improvements in many areas.

* Thanks to optimizations in the renderer, Inkscape's screen redraw is faster by at least 10%, and in some cases (such as complex stroked/dashed paths at high zooms) up to three times faster.

* Optimizations in the Node tool resulted in noticeable speed gains for node editing. Thus, switching to and from the Node tool (with a path selected), as well as selecting nodes in that tool, are now at least ten times faster than before. Other operations, including curve and node dragging and move/scale/rotate operations on multiple selected nodes, are much faster as well. This is especially important when working with complex paths; with these optimizations, paths containing several thousand nodes, though still slow, are much more usable.

* An optimization in the attribute setting method made operations such as moving multiple objects with arrow keys at least 30% faster compared to 0.43. This is especially noticeable when you are moving clones selected together with their original (e.g. a clone tiling), in which case Inkscape now works three to four times faster.

* Interface icons are now rendered in the background (from SVG source in <code>share/icons/icons.svg</code>) when Inkscape is idle, rather than waiting for all the icons in a menu to render the first time you pull it up. This eliminates the annoying delay when opening menus for the first time.

* Previously, zooming in to view a small portion of a path (especially big and complex path), there was a very noticeable slowdown and memory use increased dramatically. We optimized the renderer to only process the visible part of a path, and as a result the rendering speed is now almost the same at any zoom up to the maximum, providing up to 10-40 times speedup compared to the previous version (the closer is the zoom, the greater is the gain).

* The Path > Break Apart command is now dozens of times (up to 100x) faster for complex paths with thousands of subpaths.

= SVG conformance =

== Color profile support ==

Inkscape now includes base ICC profile functionality. If compiled with LittleCMS support (if you run <code>configure</code> with <code>--enable-lcms</code> switch), Inkscape passes the [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-color-prof-01-f.html ICC color profile test] by W3C. The <color-profile> element has been implemented along with the "color-profile" attribute for <image> elements.

== <switch> support ==

Rendering support for SVG 1.1's '''Conditional Processing Module''' has been implemented, including ''switch'' element, ''requiredFeatures'', ''requiredExtensions'', ''systemLanguage'' attributes. Inkscape passes the Conditional processing tests ([http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-01-t.html] and [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-02-t.html]) by W3C.

== SVG output ==

* In Inkscape's SVG documents, colors are now expressed by name (‘white’) or three-digit form (‘<tt>#f3c</tt>’) when possible.

* The numeric values in <code>transform</code> attributes are written without insignificant trailing zeros, and anything less than that 1e-8 by absolute value (usually caused by rounding errors) is written as 0 to reduce clutter.

= Interface =

== Layers dialog ==

A Layers dialog (Ctrl+Shift+L) is implemented in this version. It works in parallel with the quick layer selector in the statusbar, so you can use whichever is more convenient for you.

* In the dialog, you can click on a layer to make it current, as well as toggle layers visible/hidden and locked/unlocked. You don't need to make a layer current to toggle it visibility or lock status.

* A hierarchical tree of layers is represented by a tree-like display in the dialog. You can expand or collapse branches of the tree to make the layer structure of a document easier to navigate.

* At the bottom of the dialog, there are buttons for adding a new layer, moving the current layer up or down (either one step or all the way to top or bottom), and deleting the current layer.

* Below the buttons, there's a slider and a spinbutton for adjusting the opacity of the current layer. A layer's opacity affects all objects in that layer in the same way as opacity of a group.

== Selected style indicator ==

A new control in the left end of the statusbar lets you quickly view and change the fill and stroke of the selected objects. When you have a text selection in Text tool or a gradient handle selected in the Gradient tool, this indicator displays and changes the style of the text fragment or gradient stop, instead of the entire object (it's the same behavior as the Fill&Stroke dialog.)

* The two indicators, labelled F: (top) and S: (bottom), display fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. (For gradient handles, they always display the same style.)

* Each fill/stroke indicator can display either a color+opacity swatch (the opacity shown here is the fill opacity or stroke opacity, not the master opacity) or a text label specifying N/A (nothing selected), None (no fill/stroke), Unset (unset fill/stroke), L Gradient, R Gradient, Pattern (corresponding fill/stroke types), or Different (selected objects have different fill/stroke types).

* Additionally, each indicator may be accompanied by one of two flags, m ("multiple", meaning there are two or more objects all with the same fill/stroke) or a ("averaged", meaning there are two or more objects with different flat colors in fill/stroke, and the indicator shows the average of these colors).

* Left-click on an indicator opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab (Fill or Stroke) active.

* Right-click on an indicator opens a popup menu with the following items:
** Edit fill/stroke...: Opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab selected. (Same as left-click.)
** Last set color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last applied to anything.
** Last selected color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last displayed in this indicator. (Allows you to easily copy fill/stroke color between objects: select source, select destination, apply "last selected color".)
** Invert: Sets the fill or stroke to the inverse of the current color (does not affect opacity).
** White, Black: Sets the fill or stroke to the corresponding color (fully opaque).
** Copy color, Paste color: Copies or pastes the fill or stroke color (when it's color) to/from the system clipboard, as text in the <code>#rrggbb</code> hex format.
** Swap fill and stroke: Exchanges fill and stroke (both their types and colors, if any).
** Make fill/stroke opaque: Removes fill or stroke transparency (not master transparency!).
** Unset fill/stroke: Unsets fill or stroke from selected objects.
** Remove fill/stroke: Removes fill or stroke from the selected objects.

* Middle-click on a fill/stroke indicator removes fill/stroke from selected objects; if it is already removed (i.e. if the indicator displays "None"), it does the same as the "Last set color" command from the popup menu.

* Drag and Drop of colors onto a fill/stroke indicator sets the fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly.

* The Stroke indicator also displays the stroke width of selection (averaged if there are multiple objects selected with different stroke widths), located to the right of the stroke color/transparency swatch. Left-clicking on it opens the Fill&Stroke dialog with the Stroke Style tab selected. Right-clicking on it opens a popup menu which allows you to choose the units for displaying the stroke width, as well as choose one of the presets to assign to selection.

* To the right of the fill/stroke indicators, the Opacity numeric field (labelled "O:") shows and allows you to change the master opacity of the selected object (or the averaged opacity of several selected objects). Right-clicking the numeric field opens a popup menu with preset opacity levels. Middle-clicking on the "O:" label cycles the opacity through the values of 0 (transparent), 0.5, and 1 (opaque).

The zoom field and the cursor coordinates indicator have been rearranged for compactness and moved to the right end of the statusbar. There's also a window resize handle added at the very end of the statusbar.

== Tool style indicators ==

For each object-creating tool (shapes, Pen/Pencil, Calligraphic, Text), the Controls bar (above the canvas) now includes a style indicator on the right. This indicator shows you which style the newly created object will have.

* The indicator correctly displays whichever style the tool is set to use - the global "last set" style or that tool's fixed style. For example, clicking on a palette swatch (even with nothing selected) changes the "last set" color and, if your tool is set to use the last set color, its indicator is updated, giving you an idea of your "brush" before you start to draw.

== Controls bar for the Text tool ==

* This version adds the beginnings of a Controls Bar for the Text tool (previously empty). Now you can select the font family, size, apply bold and italic styles, change alignment and text orientation without opening the Text and Font dialog.

* All controls are instant-apply and work on the entire text object (if nothing selected) or text selection. They can also apply to multiple text objects (though you would need to switch to Selector to select multiple text objects, then switch back to Text tool for its controls).

* The font-family drop-down contains names and previews of all fonts; unlike other programs, we didn't apply each font to its name, but added a separate preview string displayed with gray color after each font's name. This design ensures readability of font family names and provides maximum useful information in a limited space.

* We will be adding more controls (including spacing and kerning) to this bar for the next versions.

== Docked color palette ==

* Previously, color swatches could only be used from a floating palette (Ctrl+Shift+W). Now the color swatches palette is embedded in the main UI, at the bottom of the window between the canvas and the statusbar. It is enabled by default; use View > Show/Hide > Palette to enable or disable it. The docked palette has the same functionality as the floating one; use a button in the top right corner to access the swatches menu.

* The Wrap option (off by default) in the swatches menu converts the palette from a single row into a frame 2 or 3 rows high, for better access to colors in large palettes.

* Drag and Drop of colors has been enabled.
** Dragging colors from a palette shows a live swatch of the color being dragged under cursor.
** Drag and Drop of colors onto the selected style indicator in the statusbar sets the fill or stroke of the selected object(s).
** Colors can be dropped directly on to objects on canvas to set their fill, or shift+dropped to set their stroke. This affects only the object you drop the color on, regardless of whether that object is selected or not.
** Colors can be dragged to and from other applications.

* The new Inkscape default color palette was added. It contains a range of grays, standard HTML named colors, and a full range of colors sorted by their HSL values (475 colors overall). It is generated by a Python script which is available from Inkscape SVN in share/palettes.

* Several specialized color palettes, useful in color-coordinated projects, were created or borrowed from GIMP: Grays, Reds, Greens, Blues, Gold, Royal, Khaki, Hilite, and Topographic.

* All standard sizes of the swatches (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge) are made smaller overall.

== Inkscape Preferences dialog ==

Not only was the Inkscape Preferences dialog completely rewritten and redesigned, with numerous bugs fixed in the rewrite.

* The old tabbed dialog is gone; the new dialog fits much betters with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines.

* As a new feature, the Simplify threshold can now be set with more precision.

== Document Properties / Metadata dialogs ==

* The Document Preferences dialog is now named Document Properties, and it was split in two: metadata were extracted into the Document Metadata dialog; metadata widgets are now also spread over two pages.

* A button was added to fit the canvas to the current selection or, if there's no selection, to the entire drawing. The button resizes the canvas and, if necessary, moves the drawing into place. It is now very easy to size the canvas to an illustration after it is ready.

* New controls: the new object snapping features required their own property widgets, and you can set the snapping sensitivity with a slider, or let it snap regardless of distance (grid only).

* Rearrangements within Document Properties: everything snapping-related was collected on one page; Grid and Guide widgets are on their own, the same page. For better HIG compliance, all widgets were categorized; especially the widgets on the Page page were completely rearranged in the General/Format/Border categories.

* Bug fixes: grayed out license URI had too low contrast, so it's no longer grayed out; the proprietary license didn't clean the license URI; spinbuttons had no tooltips, and minor grid quirks were removed; data was not updated when a new file replaced another in the same window.

* HIG compliance: much work went into that, and now only a few details are missing from full Gnome-HIG compliance.

* Updated Creative Commons Licenses: Updated CC licenses to the latest 2.5 versions by default in the license tab of the metadata dialog.

== Configurable keyboard ==

Inkscape's keyboard shortcuts are now configurable!

There is no graphical users interface at this time, and not all Inkscape actions can have their shortcuts customized. However, if you do not mind editing a configuration file, the majority of actions, including everything you see in the menus, can already have their keys changed. We're working on making more actions configurable.

On startup, Inkscape reads its keyboard shortcuts from <code>share/keys/default.xml</code>. That file is a copy of <code>inkscape.xml</code> in the same directory, which also contains keyboard emulation profiles for other vector editors:

*<code>xara.xml</code>: Xara X/Xara Xtreme/Xara LX keys

You can copy any of these over default.xml to use that profile. In all profiles, those keys which are not used by the corresponding program still have their Inkscape bindings. If you can contribute a profile for some vector editor that we don't yet have, we will appreciate that. The files have a simple XML-based format described in <code>inkscape.xml</code>.

You can also customize some of your keybindings without overwriting the main <code>default.xml</code>. If your profile directory (<code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux) contains a <code>keys</code> subdirectory with a <code>default.xml</code> file, the keybindings from that file will overlay (i.e. add to, and override in case of a conflict) the default bindings. The format of your own <code>default.xml</code> is the same as that of the main <code>default.xml</code>.

== Menus ==

* Zoom commands in the View menu are moved to a submenu; the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands are added to that submenu.

* Clone commands are moved into a submenu in Edit menu and given more descriptive names and tips.

* Pattern commands (Objects to Pattern and Pattern to Objects) are moved into a submenu in Object menu, under the new Clip and Mask submenus.

* The contents of the Effects menu are categorized into submenus, and several effects are renamed to use more intuitive names.

== Statusbar ==

* In Selector, for multiple selected objects, the statusbar now reports their types. For example, if 5 groups are selected, it displays

::5 objects of type Group in layer LayerName.

:instead of just "5 objects selected" as before. If there are up to 3 types in the selection, they will be listed, for example:

::5 objects of types Group, Path, Rectangle in layer LayerName.

:The order of the list will correspond to the order in which the objects were added to selection. If there are 4 or more types in selection, only the number of types is reported, for example:

::5 objects of 4 types in layer LayerName.

* In Selector, objects selected in groups are now identified as such, and the group ID is given, for example:

::Rectangle in group g212 (layer content)

:If selected objects have different parents within one layer (for example, if one is selected in a group and another outside it), the number of parents is reported:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 parents (layer content)

:If objects are in different layers, only the number of layers is reported since this also implies different parents:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 layers

* In Node tool, if your node selection includes nodes from different subpaths, statusbar reports the number of subpaths with selection and the total number of subpaths, for example:

::2 of 195 nodes selected in 2 of 36 subpaths.

* The contents of the statusbar message are now duplicated as a tooltip that is shown when you hover the mouse over the statusbar.

* The statusbar text is now no longer just cut off if there is insufficient room, but an ellipsis (...) is inserted at the end to show there's more (only with Gtk 2.6 and newer).

== Theme ==

* Inkscape has a new default icon set titled "Crispy" provided by Andre Sousa. The new icons are intended to add a more professional and cohesive look to our application, as well as to make the functions the icons represent more self-evident.

= Tools =

== Node tool ==

=== Node sculpting ===

An entirely new way of manipulating paths in Node tool is added in this version: Node sculpting. Normally, when you have several nodes selected and you drag one of them, all selected nodes move by the same amount. Now, if you Alt-drag one of the selected nodes, only that node is fully displaced; other selected nodes are moved less than the full amount, so that those farthest from the drag point remain stationary. This is similar to "proportional editing" or "soft selection" in 3D editors such as Blender.

So, for example, if you select several nodes on a straight line and Alt+drag the middle selected node, the path will bend into a smooth bell-like curve. Nodes' handles are also adjusted correspondingly to keep the overall shape smooth and natural. (If you don't have enough nodes on a path fragment that you want to reshape in this way, just select the end nodes of that fragment and press Ins a few times to populate it with nodes.)

Moreover, node sculpting is sensitive to pressure of your tablet pen. If you press slightly, your curve will have a narrow sharp tip (i.e. the nearest neighbors of your dragged node will move only a bit); if you press hard, the curve's tip will be wide and blunt (i.e. the nearest neighbors will move almost as much as the dragged node). (Hint: to stop dragging without losing your shape, first release Alt and then lift the tip of the pen.)

There are many possible applications of the sculpting technique. To take a simple example, selecting all nodes of an ellipse-like shape and Alt+dragging one of them will smoothly and naturally stretch and skew the entire shape in any direction. Doing the same to a complex path, such as star or spiral, will twist and punch it without destroying its intricate structure - this is the way to get squashed or self-intersecting stars, eccentric spirals and other shapes not easily doable before. Selecting only part of all nodes allows you to smoothly reshape parts of the figure without disturbing the rest.

When applied to text converted to path, node sculpting is a fun and easy way to twist, bend and distort it, achieving effects similar to "perspective envelope" or "curvilinear envelope" in other programs - but in a more powerful and flexible way. For example, by selecting all or part of the text's nodes and Alt-dragging, you can not only make a wavy banner out of a paragraph of text, but also apply a "magnifying lens"-like effect to any word in the middle.

Especially useful node sculpting is for complex natural paths, such as calligraphic strokes or bitmap traces, where you often want to do large-scale pushes and bends without destroying the small-scale features. Things like making a calligraphic stroke narrower in one place and wider in another, or changing the proportions, extending the ear or flattening the nose of a head - all this is now much faster and more natural to do using sculpting. It is also a new way to create new paths, too - starting from en ellipse with added nodes, it takes just a few Alt+drags to tweak it into a silhouette of a head, or a map of Australia, or an Inkscape logo!

Some examples are shown on the screenshot: [[http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png]].

=== "Show handles" toggle ===

The Controls bar for the Nodes tool now includes a toggle button which controls whether Bezier handles are shown on selected nodes (on by default). Selecting and dragging nodes on node-dense paths in zoom-out (e.g. for node sculpting) may be extremely difficult without hiding the handles, as it's hard to pick a node and not a handle when handles are shown.

=== New deletion behavior ===

* In Node tool, deleting node(s) by Del/Backspace keys or by Ctrl+Alt+clicking a node now tries to preserve, as much as possible, the current shape of the path. This means that the nodes adjacent to those being deleted have their handles adjusted to approximate the form that the path had before deletion. For example, if you Ctrl+Alt+click a path twice, once to add a new node and then to delete it, the path will not change at all (or change very slightly). The old deletion behavior without adjusting handles is still available via Ctrl+Del or Ctrl+Backspace.

=== Preserving positions of nodes and handles ===

* When you switch the type of the selected node to Smooth or Symmetric by pressing Shift+S/Shift+Y, you can now preserve the position of one of the two handles by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other handle is rotated/scaled to match.

* Similarly, when you join endnodes by pressing Shift+J, you can preserve the position of one of the two nodes by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other node is moved.

=== Miscellaneous ===

* The ! key inverts node selection in the current subpath(s) (i.e. subpaths with at least one selected node); Alt+! inverts in the entire path. (This is similar to how these keys work in Selector, with current subpath(s) instead of the current layer.)

* The keyboard shortcut for "Make selected segments curves" in Node tool is changed from Shift+K to Shift+U for better mnemonics.

== Calligraphic pen ==

=== Tremor ===

* Even when using a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity, the Calligraphy pen's strokes often look too smooth and artificial. To enable a more natural look, the new Tremor parameter is added to the Calligraphy tool in this version. Adjustable in the Controls bar from 0.0 to 1.0, it will affect your strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

=== Pen width ===

* In all previous versions, pen width depended on zoom in such a way that the strokes appeared the same visible width at any zoom, but were in fact narrower at zoom-in and wider at zoom-out. This behavior makes sense if you want to keep the same "feel" of the pen regardless of zoom; for example, if you zoomed in to make a small fix to your drawing, it's natural that your pen becomes physically smaller but feels the same to you. So, this behavior is kept as the default, but now we also added an alternative mode where your pen width is constant in absolute units regardless of zoom. To switch to this mode, use the checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by double-clicking the tool button).

* The Width field in the tool's controls bar now changes from 1 to 100, which corresponds to the range from 0.01 to 1.0 in the previous version. If the "width in absolute units" mode is turned on, the value in this fields gives the width of the stroke in px units. In the default mode, the value of 100 gives 100px wide strokes only at 100% zoom, and strokes are correspondingly narrower or wider at other zoom levels.

=== Selection ===

* A new preferences option for the Calligraphic tool, Keep selected, controls whether the newly created object remains selected after you finish drawing it. If you turn it off (by default it's on) and set the tool to using Last Set color, you can easily choose a new color by clicking on the palette without having to worry if this will change the color of the stroke you just created. (Watch the tool style indicator at the right end of the Controls bar for the style of the next stroke you will draw.)

* Esc deselects selected objects in Calligraphic, as in most other tools.

=== Style ===

* The stroke you're drawing is now shown, while you're drawing it, with the correct color and opacity that it will eventually have, instead of always black as before.

* On a new Inkscape installation, this tool now uses the last set style by default instead of the fixed black as before (this is changeable in the Inkscape Preferences for the tool).

== Pen tool ==

* While drawing a path, you can now move the last node you created by the same keys as in Node tool - that is, arrows, with Shift (for 10x displacement) or Alt (screen pixel displacement) modifiers.

* Also, you can switch the not-yet-finalized (red) segment of the path being drawn from curve to line (Shift+L) or back to curve (Shift+U), again the same shortcuts as in the Node tool.

* By popular demand, if a new path is being drawn but not yet finished, Ctrl+Z cancels that unfinished path (i.e. does the same as Esc), instead of undoing the previous action.

* In Pen tool, Del works the same as Backspace to delete the last created point on the unfinished path.

= Clipping and masking =

Inkscape now provides some UI for using clipping paths and masks.

* Any object can be non-destructively intersected with a path (called a clipping path) so that only the intersected portion of the object is visible.
** To apply clipping, select the objects to be clipped and the clipping path object, make sure the clipping path is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Clip > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the clipped objects as usual. The clipping remains applied and transforms together with each clipped object.
** To remove the clipping, do Object > Clip > Release. The clipping path is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unclipped object in z-order.

* Any object can be non-destructively masked by another object (called mask) so that: the mask's black or transparent areas become fully transparent in the masked object; mask's opaque white areas become fully opaque; and all intermediate colors translate into intermediate levels of opacity in the masked object. This allows you to apply, for example, arbitrary transparency gradients to objects.
** To apply a mask, select the objects to be masked and the mask object, make sure the mask is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Mask > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the masked objects as usual. The mask remains applied and transforms together with each masked object.
** To remove the masking, do Object > Mask > Release. The mask is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unmasked object in z-order.

* Objects with clippath show their bounding box intersected with the bounding box of the clippath, instead of the original unclipped bbox as before. (However, this does not apply to objects without clippath of their own which are clipped by being inside a clipped group.)

* Clipped or masked objects display "clipped" or "masked", correspondingly, in their statusbar descriptions.

* Although Inkscape had render-only support for clipping paths and masks for quite some time, in this release we fixed a number of bugs which may affect the display of your documents using clippaths or masks.
** Clippaths and masks with objectBoundingBox units are now shown correctly upon loading of the document.
** Clippaths without fill didn't work, this is now fixed.
** Objects with clippaths or masks are correctly copied/pasted between documents.

= Transformations =

== Transform dialog ==

Fixes and improvements in the Transform dialog (Ctrl+Shift+M):

* The Apply to each object separately checkbox is added, allowing you to scale/rotate/skew each selected object by the same amount, around that object's center. When off (by default), the selection is transformed as a whole. The status of this checkbox is remembered across sessions. (It has no effect on Move and Matrix tabs).

* The Clear button resets the values on the current tab to defaults.

* The Scale tab now allows you to specify horizontal or vertical size increments in percentage or absolute units. Also, there's a Scale proportionally checkbox which ensures that scaling preserves the width/height ratio. (If you are scaling several objects proportionally with "Apply to each object separately", you can only use the % unit to specify the scaling; otherwise each object's scale increments will have the width/height ratio of the entire selection, not of that specific object.)

* The Skew tab can now specify the skew as an absolute displacement (e.g. for horizontal skewing of a rectangle, that means the shift of the top rectangle side relative to the bottom), as percentage displacement (e.g. a 1% horizontal skew of a rectangle means shifting the top side by 1% of the rectangle height), or as an angle (e.g. horizontal skew by 15 degrees results in the sides of a rectangle being rotated to that angle, while the top and bottom remain horizontal).

* The Matrix tab (previously called "Transform") can either edit the current <code>transform=</code> matrix of an object, or post-multiply the <code>transform=</code> with the matrix you specify, depending on the Edit current matrix checkbox. (As it is now redundant, the transformation matrix in the Object Properties dialog is removed.)

* The dialog now correctly watches selection changes in the active document window and updates its values accordingly.

* The layout of the dialog is simplified, tooltips and mnemonics added for better usability.

* Many bugs are fixed, especially in value conversions between units.

== Persistent rotation centers ==

* The position of the center (axis) of rotation and skewing used by Selector is now remembered for all objects and restored when you select those objects again (even after saving and reopening the document). When you move or scale an object, its rotation center is moved or scaled too, so its position relative to the object always remains the same unless you move it explicitly.

* When you have several objects selected, they use the rotation center of the first selected object. If the first object does not have center set (i.e. if it's in a default central position), then several objects will rotate around the geometric center of their common bounding box (as before).

* Shift+click on the rotation center resets it back to the center of the object's box.

* Consequently, dragging the rotation center is now an undoable action; you can press Ctrl+Z to undo the drag.

* Keyboard rotation by [, ] keys with various modifiers, as well as the Rotate tab in the Transform dialog, work around the selected object's rotation center (for multi-object selection, the rotation center of the first selected object).

* Rotation centers are preserved when duplicating, cloning (including clone tiler), grouping/ungrouping, and converting to path.

== Pasting size ==

A number of commands are added to easily scale selected objects to match the size of the object(s) previously copied to the clipboard. They are all in the Paste Size submenu in Edit menu:

* Paste Size scales the whole selection to match the overall size of the clipboard object(s).

* Paste Width/Paste Height scale the whole selection horizontally/vertically so that it matches the width/height of the clipboard object(s). These commands honor the scale ratio lock on the Selector controls bar (between W and H fields), so that when that lock is pressed, the other dimension of the selected object is scaled in the same proportion; otherwise the other dimension is unchanged.

* Paste Size Separately, Paste Width Separately and Paste Height Separately work similarly to the above described commands, except that they scale each selected object separately to make it match the size/width/height of the clipboard object(s).

= Connectors and automatic layout =

* There have been numerous bugfixes and several improvements to the behaviour of connectors and the connector tool:
** Connectors moved as part of a selection will now stay attached to other objects in the selection, rather than becoming detached from them.
** By default, the Connector tool will not attach connectors to text objects. There is a new checkbox in the connector preferences to control this setting.
** The margins around avoided shapes (used for autorouting connectors) can now be adjusted via the "Spacing" control on the controls bar.

* Automatic Diagram Layout: A new button is available in the Align and Distribute dialog that performs automatic layout of diagrams involving a network of shapes and connectors. Layout is accomplished using force-directed graph layout based on the Kamada-Kawai algorithm. This algorithm treats edges as if they are springs such that the distance between nodes will be proportional to the path length - number of connectors - between them. Disconnected components (where not every shape is connected) will be arranged around the circumference of a circle.

* There is a new Remove Overlaps button to move the selected objects enough that they don't overlap each other. A minimum spacing between the boundaries of objects can be specified. Together with the automatic layout tool, described above, this should be a significant addition to Inkscape's usability for diagramming. Removing overlaps is different from the "Unclump" button in that the former is completely deterministic and guarantees removing overlaps on the first application, but is not concerned with visual perceptive distances between objects. Unclumping, on the other hand, attempts to equalize perceptive distances between objects and can be applied repeatedly for gradual effect.

= Selective tracing with SIOX =

* Inkscape 0.44 has an early version of the Simple Interactive Object Extraction (SIOX) algorithm (see [http://www.siox.org siox.org]) implemented in its bitmap tracing code. For a quick reference on how this is used, please see [http://inkscape.org/win32/siox/howto.svg this file]. This clever algorithm from the realm of Image Recognition allows you to select areas of similar color, with the goal of extracting a foreground area from the background. To use:
** Enable the SIOX checkbox in addition to your usual tracing options.
** Select both the bitmap and an object that covers the foreground and part of background, leaving only background areas of the image uncovered.
** Hit OK. SIOX will now analyze and attempt to pull out the foreground-colored areas you want, and trace only those parts of the image.

* The full SIOX selection mechanism (e.g. the ability to identify foreground and background areas separately) is not implemented yet, but is planned for a future release.

= Snapping =

* In addition to snapping to guides and grids, you can now snap to other objects' paths and/or nodes. As with grid and guide snapping, you can separately enable snapping of bboxes to objects and/or snapping of nodes to objects. Be aware, however, that this is experimental code - there may be surprises. It may also be slow in large documents with thousands of objects.

* In addition to the snap sensitivity sliders in Document Preferences (which set snap distances in px), there are Always snap checkboxes (separately for object, grid and guide snapping) which force snapping at any distance.

* Grid snapping now applies only to the visible grid lines. For example, if you have zoomed out so that only every 10th grid line is visible, snapping will only apply to these visible lines. In addition, default grid snap sensitivity is set to "Always snap". This will hopefully reduce the number of "snapping does not work" complaints from users who didn't zoom in close enough to see that snapping does in fact work, but only at sub-px distances to the 1px-spaced grid. At the same time, you can still snap to finely grained distances if you zoom in.

* Guidelines are made easier to pick. Now you don't need to position mouse exactly over a guideline to activate it; instead there's a small position tolerance (1 screen pixel on each side of the guideline).

= Sublayers =

Previously, it was only possible to make a group a temporary sublayer by entering that group. Now Inkscape supports creating and using true persistent sublayers within a layer.

* The Add layer dialog allows you to place the new layer above, below, or inside the current layer.

* In Preferences (Selecting tab), options are added allowing the "Select All" command and Tab key selection to work either in the current layer only or in the current layer and its sublayers.

= Markers =

* Converting stroke to path now correctly processes dashed strokes. For paths with markers, this command now creates a group containing the stroke converted to path and all its markers as independent objects (i.e. they are not markers anymore, but instead you can easily transform them or paint them any color, as a workaround for the "markers don't take the color of the stroke" bug; to be properly fixed, this bug requires implementing some SVG 1.2 features).

* The DimensionIn and DimensionOut markers are changed so that the arrow tips exactly correspond to node positions. It is now very easy to make dimension lines that correspond to drawn objects. The dimension specifications can now easily be chained by splitting a straight line at a point and assigning DimensionIn/Out markers to the resulting smaller paths whose endpoints coincide.

* All arrow markers in the standard set are moved on the path so that their tips are as close as possible to the corresponding node of the path. Complete coincidence is not possible, because it would cause the blunt end of the stroke itself to be visible under the sharp tip of the arrow, distorting its shape. However, now the arrow tips are much closer to their nodes than before, and probably sufficiently close for many practical situations.

* A new RazorWire path marker was added. By applying it as a mid-marker you can get a good approximation of a razor wire.

= Extensions =

* The Effects menu is now always on. The preference setting to enable the menu has been removed. Effects are good enough for regular use.

* Python extensions (which includes almost all currently available extensions) work on Windows out of the box, using a copy of Python shipping with Inkscape. The only minor inconvenience is that when an effect is launched, you get an empty console window that stays on while the effect is doing its work. (Don't close that window, it will disappear by itself when the effect is finished.)

* A new Python effect, Render > LaTeX formula, allows you to type in any LaTeX formula and get a vector object with the TeX rendition of this formula inserted into your document. You need to have latex, dvips, and pstoedit installed and in PATH for this to work.

* A new Python effect, Flatten Path, flattens paths in the current selection, approximating each path with a polyline whose segments meet the specified criteria for flatness.

* A new Python effect, Measure Path, attaches a text label to each path in the selection giving the length of that path (in px units).

* The Radius Randomize effect has a new parameter which enables normal distribution of random displacements instead of uniform as before, which gives a more natural feel to the randomized path.

* The Render > L-system (formerly "Fractal (Lindenmayer)") effect is improved in this version. Now you can specify different angle values for turning left and right, which makes it possible to smoothly bend some L-systems sideways. Also, you can separately randomize the step length and the angles by a given percent for more natural look (this works especially well with plant-like branching shapes). This effect can be used to create Penrose tiling, Sierpinsky triangle, Dragon curve and other famous mathematical artefacts, as well as various meanders, friezes, patterns, and trees. Some examples can be seen on this screenshot: [http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png] as well as in the new example file <code>share/examples/l-systems.svg</code>.

* The Interpolate Path, Random Tree, and L-system effects are fixed to place their result on the current layer instead of document root and in the center of the (last-saved) document view instead of 0,0 as before.

* INX files now have the ability to hold more information. This includes tooltips and descriptions of the extensions. These are all also translatable.

* Thanks to keyboard configurability, it is now possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to those effects you use most often, so you can activate them without going into the menu.

= Formats =

* Inkscape's PDF export is now native (i.e. does not require any external applications) and supports transparency, including gradients with transparency. This replaced the old export extension that required Ghostscript and worked via Postscript, losing any transparency. The new PDF export is still immature; in particular it does not handle text, so you should check "Convert text to path" on the export options dialog. Other things not yet supported include: gradients on stroke; eccentric elliptic gradients; patterns, masks, and clipping paths; embedded images.

* You can now Save as Compressed Inkscape SVG with media.This save option collects the svg file and all linked images into a zip archive for distribution. Although you cannot open the resulting archive directly with inkscape, the media is linked such that after unzipping you can open the SVG file immediately.

* An output format for desktop cutting plotters, such as the Wishblade and Craftrobo, was added. This format is a very minimalist DXF file with appropriate scaling and translation applied. This output format should not be expected to operate as a generalized DXF output.

* Inkscape can open/import default files generated by the Xfig vector graphics editor. This requires that the fig2dev command (transfig) is in your PATH.

* Starting with this version, there is a limited ability to export Inkscape drawing shapes as Open Document Format drawings (.odg files). Currently the export is limited to text, shapes, and solid fill and strokes. This output will be improved in the coming months. In the meantime, however, ODG output is already useful for getting your SVG drawings into the Open Document world, in particular into an office suite such as OpenOffice.org.

* The new XCF output extension exports all top-level elements (i.e. layers and objects directly under root) as PNGs and assembles them into an XCF for procesing in the Gimp. Requires Python, PyXML and Gimp. Gimp 2.2.x or above must be in the path and be named <code>gimp</code>. A version of Inkscape 0.44 or above must be accessible from the path. Does not function in Windows.

= Miscellaneous shortcuts =

* Now you can use Shift+middle button drag, in any tool, to zoom into an area. This works the same as simple drag in Zoom tool, but is faster because it does not require switching away from your current tool. Together with middle button drag (panning), middle button click (zoom in) and Shift+middle button click (zoom out), this completes the set of canvas navigation shortcuts available in any tool or context.

* In Gradient tool, Shift+R reverses the gradient definition (i.e. mirrors the stop positions) without moving the gradient handles. For example, an elliptic gradient with blue center and red periphery becomes red in the center and blue in the periphery. This works on the gradient(s) of the currently selected gradient handle or, if no handle is selected, on all selected objects' gradients. (Compare with the Node tool where Shift+R reverses the direction of the selected path.) This is especially convenient for elliptic gradients which, unlike linear, you cannot simply rotate by 180 degrees for the same result.

* In Selector, Ctrl+Enter enters the selected group (making it a temporary layer). Ctrl+Backspace leaves the current layer and goes one layer up in the hierarchy (but not to root).

= Miscellaneous improvements =

* Document templates (listed in File > New) are now first searched in the <code>templates</code> subdirectory of the user's profile directory (on Linux it's <code>~/.inkscape/templates</code>), then in the system-wide Inkscape templates directory. This allows you to add your own templates on top of the list of standard templates, as well as override the default template with your own one (the <code>default.svg</code> in the profile directory has priority over the system-wide one).

* When toggling one of the "transform with object" buttons (for stroke width, rounded rectangle corners, gradients, or patterns), a message is displayed in the statusbar explaining what has changed in the program's behavior. Hopefully this will reduce the number of complaints from users who had accidentally toggled one of these and were surprised by the result.

* Whole thousands above 2000 in the rulers are now displayed as 2k, 3k, 4k etc.

* In the Document Preferences dialog, the new object style for each tool is now shown as a style swatch (displaying fill/stroke colors and opacity, stroke width, and master opacity), similar in design to the selected style indicator in the statusbar.

* In the Grid Arrange dialog, row/column spacing can now be negative.

* The installation default is now to scale the rounded rectangle corners with the rectangles themselves (the previous default mode, still available as an option, was to keep rounding radii unchanged when scaling rectangles).

* Added a new <code>--export-area-canvas</code> command line parameter that causes the exported PNG to contain the full canvas. This option as well as <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-area</code> can now be used along with <code>--export-id</code> and <code>--export-id-only</code> for greater flexibility.

* The <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters now return the true SVG bounding box of the object instead of the Inkscape coordinate system bbox (with inverted Y axis). The new behavior makes more sense for scripting use of Inkscape.

* The dpi value in the Export dialog has had its range extended; now possible values are from 0.01 to 100000.

* Individual <tspan>s within text objects (including line tspans) can now be selected via the XML editor to view their bounding boxes (though per SVG, you cannot transform them). Also, you can use the <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters to find out the bounding boxes of tspans from a script. (Individual strings within or between tspans are still not selectable, and they cannot have an ID for querying anyway.)

* The placeholder image which is shown when a bitmap file was no longer accessible reads now "Linked image not found" instead of the confusing "Broken image".

* Cloning multiple selected objects now works as expected (i.e. each selected object is cloned separately, similar to the Duplicate command). Previously you could only clone a single selected object.

* The separate "license" and "contributors" dialogs have been merged into tabs on the About dialog. The about dialog now correctly sizes itself to fit the size of the splash SVG (while remaining resizable), and the rendering area is now cropped to the correct aspect ratio when the dialog is resized. The dialog also now displays the build information in the upper right corner.

* In the Transform dialog / Rotate tab, the icon was flipped horizontally to be in line with the direction of positive rotation; the change was applied to the default (now crispy) and legacy icon sets.

* The scale ratio lock button on the Selector controls bar shows a closed lock when pressed and open lock otherwise (same as the layer lock in the statusbar).

* The Browse button on Export dialog now opens the new file chooser, same as those used by Open and Save.

= Miscellaneous bugfixes =

* Reading a document with an incorrect namespace URI not only did not cause Inkscape to complain, but could also "pollute" Inkscape's internal namespace table, resulting in an "infection" of subsequently saved documents by the incorrect namespace. This is now fixed, but as a result, documents with incorrect namespace URIs will no longer load. You will have to edit them in a text editor to fix the namespaces.

* With newer versions of GTK, dragging with graphics tablet pen did not work in some tools and contexts (in particular, in Node and Rectangle tools). This is fixed.

* Scaling of objects with stroke in Selector used to cause undesired shifts of the scaled object, as well as scaling it in the dimension which was intended to remain untouched (e.g. slight change in width when you scale only height). All these problems are now fixed, both for interactive scaling by mouse and for numeric scaling via the Controls bar, and for both values of the "Scale stroke with objects" option. Among other things, this means that stroked objects no longer lose snapping on scale, and that the "Default scale origin" option in the Selector tool preferences finally works as designed. Caveat: There may still be problems if you scale a selection that contains objects with different stroke widths.

* Scaling of stroke now works for objects that didn't specify stroke-width; before, they always ended up with the default 1px stroke.

* The bounding box for text and flowed text objects did not include stroke width. This has been fixed.

* Stroke miterlimit on text objects was misinterpreted in absolute units instead of multiplies of stroke width (resulting in miter joins rendered as bevel).

* The unfinished path in Pen tool is now cancelled, not finalized, when you switch away from the Pen tool. Apart from being more intuitively correct, this also fixes a crash when you quit Inkscape with the unfinished path in Pen tool.

* Fonts on Win32 now use the native font mapper, meaning that Inkscape's font list is the same as other Windows programs, and the (potentially) very long delay experienced when using fonts for the first time in each session is gone.

* Setting dash pattern was broken for transformed objects, and copy/paste of style with dash pattern did not apply correctly to objects with transforms.

* An error caused a complete extra screen redraw after each zoom operation. That is, after you press "+" in a complex drawing, Inkscape redraws, but for some time after that it remains still unresponsive because it does that second redraw (invisibly for you, i.e. nothing changes on the screen). This is fixed.

* Gradient rendering was off by one pixel, which often resulted in visibly wrong gradient rendering for small objects or in zoom-out.

* The SVG path parser could not handle fractional numbers with the initial dot.

* Several pattern rendering bugs are fixed, discovered by working with SVG files exported from Adobe Illustrator.

* Inkscape on Mac OS X will now notice fonts in your ~/Library/Fonts directory, in addition to the other standard places.

* Inkscape couldn't be compiled with libxml versions <= 2.6.9, and we now bumped the requirements from 2.6.0 up to libxml >= 2.6.11, which is the earliest you can get officially, anyway.

* Inkscape no longer crashes when presented with a defective inx file for extensions.

* More document memory is now freed when documents are closed.

* EPS output now correctly includes an %%EOF footer.

* There was a regression in 0.43 that caused several minor, though annoying bugs; knots and handles remained highlighted after the mouse was released, and the rubberband selection rectangle stayed visible if the selection was ended over a node while in the node tool. This regression has been fixed.

* The connector routing code would previously sometimes confuse objects between multiple documents resulting in strange routing behaviour. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that allowed a malicious outsider to very easily disrupt an Inkboard session. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause deadlocks in the case that two users attempted to invite each other at the same time (see bug #[https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=604306&aid=1352522&group_id=93438 1352522] for further details). This should be fixed, although the fix has not been widely tested.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause session invitations to not appear on the invitee's screen. This was the result of a mistake in handling GDK modifier flags, and has been fixed.

= Translations =

* INX files (containing the UI of the external effects) now allow the user visible strings to be translated. This means that effect dialogs, file type selections, and extension names can all be translated by translators.

* Now, 38 languages are translated, of which 14 significantly: Catalan, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Lituanian, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Latine Serbian, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Average translation ratio has increased from 49% to 57%.

* Some new translations of tutorials have been brought by contributors : Czech, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian.

= Internal =

* The Document Properties Dialog code was completely gtkmmified, which lead to dramatic reduction of code size due to usage of widget objects. The used widget objects should be reusable by other dialogs, too, and the code is much more readable.

* Work on optimizing includes in all cpp files started, using the purgeincludes tool specifically written for that purpose, and ended with 40% of include lines removed!

= Known problems =
=== Problems with libgc-6.7 ===

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with this (newest) version of the Boehm garbage collection library. Make sure you use libgc-6.5 or 6.6 until this is sorted out.

=== Problems with "Composite" option of X.org ===

* On Linux, Inkscape may crash if you have the "Composite" option enabled in your X.org configuration. To disable this option, comment out this line in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option "Composite" "Enable"

:so it becomes

#Option "Composite" "Enable"

:and restart X.

=== Namespaces may need fixing ===

* Previous versions of inkscape sometimes silently saved documents with wrong namespace URIs. This has been fixed, but such corrupted documents will no longer load successfully. Such documents may require their namespace declarations to be fixed by hand.

=== Beware of defective themes on Linux ===

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem, however, but it would be nice if you as affected user would inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem. See especially http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312115 (thanks to Thomas Wood)
* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

=== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ===

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

= Previous releases =

* ReleaseNotes043 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes043)
* ReleaseNotes042 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes042)
* ReleaseNotes041 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes041)
* ReleaseNotes040 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes040)
* ReleaseNotes039 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes039)
* ReleaseNotes038 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes038)
* ReleaseNotes037 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes037)
* ReleaseNotes036 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes036)
* ReleaseNotes035 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes035)

Release notes/0.44

2006-06-10T16:50:17Z

AlanHorkan: no GUI, requires editing a configuration file

== Inkscape 0.44: overview ==

Inkscape 0.44 is bigger and better than ever. Some highlights:

* Layers dialog

* Outline mode, many performance improvements

* Native PDF export with transparency

* Clipping and masking support

* Configurable keyboard shortcuts, including optional Xara X compatibility

* Docked color palette in the editing window

* Interactive indicator of the style of selection in the statusbar

* Innovative "node sculpting" and other improvements in Node tool

* Extensions are enabled by default and work on all major platforms

* Better SVG support: <switch> element, ICC color profiles for images

* Persistent rotation centers, Paste Size command

* New icons, redesigned preferences dialogs, rearranged menus, many cosmetic improvements

* Hundreds of bugfixes and smaller features

* Not directly related to Inkscape, but important nevertheless: since our last release, [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ Firefox 1.5] was released with SVG support enabled by default. This means that you can now view any Inkscape document right in your Firefox window without any format conversions or installing any plugins!

= Performance =

== Outline mode ==

An Outline ("wireframe") display mode is implemented. Use the View > Display Mode > Outline to activate it. In this mode:

* all paths and shapes are rendered as inverse (black on light background and vice versa) outlines of constant width (1 screen pixel regardless of zoom), without fill;

* text is painted by inverse fill, without stroke;

* bitmaps are shown as is;

* any opacity and gradients are ignored.

The outline mode is usually not drastically faster than regular mode (usually 10% to 50% faster), and in some special cases it may even be slower. However, the value of the outline mode is not only in its speed; it is a good way to get an idea of the structure and objects of your document, and it is convenient for precision node editing and for finding "stray objects".

== Speed ==

In addition to the Outline mode which makes it much easier to work with complex drawings, this version of Inkscape also provides significant speed improvements in many areas.

* Thanks to optimizations in the renderer, Inkscape's screen redraw is faster by at least 10%, and in some cases (such as complex stroked/dashed paths at high zooms) up to three times faster.

* Optimizations in the Node tool resulted in noticeable speed gains for node editing. Thus, switching to and from the Node tool (with a path selected), as well as selecting nodes in that tool, are now at least ten times faster than before. Other operations, including curve and node dragging and move/scale/rotate operations on multiple selected nodes, are much faster as well. This is especially important when working with complex paths; with these optimizations, paths containing several thousand nodes, though still slow, are much more usable.

* An optimization in the attribute setting method made operations such as moving multiple objects with arrow keys at least 30% faster compared to 0.43. This is especially noticeable when you are moving clones selected together with their original (e.g. a clone tiling), in which case Inkscape now works three to four times faster.

* Interface icons are now rendered in the background (from SVG source in <code>share/icons/icons.svg</code>) when Inkscape is idle, rather than waiting for all the icons in a menu to render the first time you pull it up. This eliminates the annoying delay when opening menus for the first time.

* Previously, zooming in to view a small portion of a path (especially big and complex path), there was a very noticeable slowdown and memory use increased dramatically. We optimized the renderer to only process the visible part of a path, and as a result the rendering speed is now almost the same at any zoom up to the maximum, providing up to 10-40 times speedup compared to the previous version (the closer is the zoom, the greater is the gain).

* The Path > Break Apart command is now dozens of times (up to 100x) faster for complex paths with thousands of subpaths.

= SVG conformance =

== Color profile support ==

Inkscape now includes base ICC profile functionality. If compiled with LittleCMS support (if you run <code>configure</code> with <code>--enable-lcms</code> switch), Inkscape passes the [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-color-prof-01-f.html ICC color profile test] by W3C. The <color-profile> element has been implemented along with the "color-profile" attribute for <image> elements.

== <switch> support ==

Rendering support for SVG 1.1's '''Conditional Processing Module''' has been implemented, including ''switch'' element, ''requiredFeatures'', ''requiredExtensions'', ''systemLanguage'' attributes. Inkscape passes the Conditional processing tests ([http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-01-t.html] and [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-02-t.html]) by W3C.

== SVG output ==

* In Inkscape's SVG documents, colors are now expressed by name (‘white’) or three-digit form (‘<tt>#f3c</tt>’) when possible.

* The numeric values in <code>transform</code> attributes are written without insignificant trailing zeros, and anything less than that 1e-8 by absolute value (usually caused by rounding errors) is written as 0 to reduce clutter.

= Interface =

== Layers dialog ==

A Layers dialog (Ctrl+Shift+L) is implemented in this version. It works in parallel with the quick layer selector in the statusbar, so you can use whichever is more convenient for you.

* In the dialog, you can click on a layer to make it current, as well as toggle layers visible/hidden and locked/unlocked. You don't need to make a layer current to toggle it visibility or lock status.

* A hierarchical tree of layers is represented by a tree-like display in the dialog. You can expand or collapse branches of the tree to make the layer structure of a document easier to navigate.

* At the bottom of the dialog, there are buttons for adding a new layer, moving the current layer up or down (either one step or all the way to top or bottom), and deleting the current layer.

* Below the buttons, there's a slider and a spinbutton for adjusting the opacity of the current layer. A layer's opacity affects all objects in that layer in the same way as opacity of a group.

== Selected style indicator ==

A new control in the left end of the statusbar lets you quickly view and change the fill and stroke of the selected objects. When you have a text selection in Text tool or a gradient handle selected in the Gradient tool, this indicator displays and changes the style of the text fragment or gradient stop, instead of the entire object (it's the same behavior as the Fill&Stroke dialog.)

* The two indicators, labelled F: (top) and S: (bottom), display fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. (For gradient handles, they always display the same style.)

* Each fill/stroke indicator can display either a color+opacity swatch (the opacity shown here is the fill opacity or stroke opacity, not the master opacity) or a text label specifying N/A (nothing selected), None (no fill/stroke), Unset (unset fill/stroke), L Gradient, R Gradient, Pattern (corresponding fill/stroke types), or Different (selected objects have different fill/stroke types).

* Additionally, each indicator may be accompanied by one of two flags, m ("multiple", meaning there are two or more objects all with the same fill/stroke) or a ("averaged", meaning there are two or more objects with different flat colors in fill/stroke, and the indicator shows the average of these colors).

* Left-click on an indicator opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab (Fill or Stroke) active.

* Right-click on an indicator opens a popup menu with the following items:
** Edit fill/stroke...: Opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab selected. (Same as left-click.)
** Last set color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last applied to anything.
** Last selected color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last displayed in this indicator. (Allows you to easily copy fill/stroke color between objects: select source, select destination, apply "last selected color".)
** Invert: Sets the fill or stroke to the inverse of the current color (does not affect opacity).
** White, Black: Sets the fill or stroke to the corresponding color (fully opaque).
** Copy color, Paste color: Copies or pastes the fill or stroke color (when it's color) to/from the system clipboard, as text in the <code>#rrggbb</code> hex format.
** Swap fill and stroke: Exchanges fill and stroke (both their types and colors, if any).
** Make fill/stroke opaque: Removes fill or stroke transparency (not master transparency!).
** Unset fill/stroke: Unsets fill or stroke from selected objects.
** Remove fill/stroke: Removes fill or stroke from the selected objects.

* Middle-click on a fill/stroke indicator removes fill/stroke from selected objects; if it is already removed (i.e. if the indicator displays "None"), it does the same as the "Last set color" command from the popup menu.

* Drag and Drop of colors onto a fill/stroke indicator sets the fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly.

* The Stroke indicator also displays the stroke width of selection (averaged if there are multiple objects selected with different stroke widths), located to the right of the stroke color/transparency swatch. Left-clicking on it opens the Fill&Stroke dialog with the Stroke Style tab selected. Right-clicking on it opens a popup menu which allows you to choose the units for displaying the stroke width, as well as choose one of the presets to assign to selection.

* To the right of the fill/stroke indicators, the Opacity numeric field (labelled "O:") shows and allows you to change the master opacity of the selected object (or the averaged opacity of several selected objects). Right-clicking the numeric field opens a popup menu with preset opacity levels. Middle-clicking on the "O:" label cycles the opacity through the values of 0 (transparent), 0.5, and 1 (opaque).

The zoom field and the cursor coordinates indicator have been rearranged for compactness and moved to the right end of the statusbar. There's also a window resize handle added at the very end of the statusbar.

== Tool style indicators ==

For each object-creating tool (shapes, Pen/Pencil, Calligraphic, Text), the Controls bar (above the canvas) now includes a style indicator on the right. This indicator shows you which style the newly created object will have.

* The indicator correctly displays whichever style the tool is set to use - the global "last set" style or that tool's fixed style. For example, clicking on a palette swatch (even with nothing selected) changes the "last set" color and, if your tool is set to use the last set color, its indicator is updated, giving you an idea of your "brush" before you start to draw.

== Controls bar for the Text tool ==

* This version adds the beginnings of a Controls Bar for the Text tool (previously empty). Now you can select the font family, size, apply bold and italic styles, change alignment and text orientation without opening the Text and Font dialog.

* All controls are instant-apply and work on the entire text object (if nothing selected) or text selection. They can also apply to multiple text objects (though you would need to switch to Selector to select multiple text objects, then switch back to Text tool for its controls).

* The font-family drop-down contains names and previews of all fonts; unlike other programs, we didn't apply each font to its name, but added a separate preview string displayed with gray color after each font's name. This design ensures readability of font family names and provides maximum useful information in a limited space.

* We will be adding more controls (including spacing and kerning) to this bar for the next versions.

== Docked color palette ==

* Previously, color swatches could only be used from a floating palette (Ctrl+Shift+W). Now the color swatches palette is embedded in the main UI, at the bottom of the window between the canvas and the statusbar. It is enabled by default; use View > Show/Hide > Palette to enable or disable it. The docked palette has the same functionality as the floating one; use a button in the top right corner to access the swatches menu.

* The Wrap option (off by default) in the swatches menu converts the palette from a single row into a frame 2 or 3 rows high, for better access to colors in large palettes.

* Drag and Drop of colors has been enabled.
** Dragging colors from a palette shows a live swatch of the color being dragged under cursor.
** Drag and Drop of colors onto the selected style indicator in the statusbar sets the fill or stroke of the selected object(s).
** Colors can be dropped directly on to objects on canvas to set their fill, or shift+dropped to set their stroke. This affects only the object you drop the color on, regardless of whether that object is selected or not.
** Colors can be dragged to and from other applications.

* The new Inkscape default color palette was added. It contains a range of grays, standard HTML named colors, and a full range of colors sorted by their HSL values (475 colors overall). It is generated by a Python script which is available from Inkscape SVN in share/palettes.

* Several specialized color palettes, useful in color-coordinated projects, were created or borrowed from GIMP: Grays, Reds, Greens, Blues, Gold, Royal, Khaki, Hilite, and Topographic.

* All standard sizes of the swatches (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge) are made smaller overall.

== Inkscape Preferences dialog ==

Not only was the Inkscape Preferences dialog completely rewritten and redesigned, with numerous bugs fixed in the rewrite.

* The old tabbed dialog is gone; the new dialog fits much betters with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines.

* As a new feature, the Simplify threshold can now be set with more precision.

== Document Properties / Metadata dialogs ==

* The Document Preferences dialog is now named Document Properties, and it was split in two: metadata were extracted into the Document Metadata dialog; metadata widgets are now also spread over two pages.

* A button was added to fit the canvas to the current selection or, if there's no selection, to the entire drawing. The button resizes the canvas and, if necessary, moves the drawing into place. It is now very easy to size the canvas to an illustration after it is ready.

* New controls: the new object snapping features required their own property widgets, and you can set the snapping sensitivity with a slider, or let it snap regardless of distance (grid only).

* Rearrangements within Document Properties: everything snapping-related was collected on one page; Grid and Guide widgets are on their own, the same page. For better HIG compliance, all widgets were categorized; especially the widgets on the Page page were completely rearranged in the General/Format/Border categories.

* Bug fixes: grayed out license URI had too low contrast, so it's no longer grayed out; the proprietary license didn't clean the license URI; spinbuttons had no tooltips, and minor grid quirks were removed; data was not updated when a new file replaced another in the same window.

* HIG compliance: much work went into that, and now only a few details are missing from full Gnome-HIG compliance.

* Updated Creative Commons Licenses: Updated CC licenses to the latest 2.5 versions by default in the license tab of the metadata dialog.

== Configurable keyboard ==

Inkscape's keyboard shortcuts are now configurable!

There is no graphical users interface at this time, and not all Inkscape actions can have their shortcuts customized but if you do not mind manually editing a configuration file the majority of actions, including everything you see in the menus, can already be configured. We're working on making more actions configurable.

On startup, Inkscape reads its keyboard shortcuts from <code>share/keys/default.xml</code>. That file is a copy of <code>inkscape.xml</code> in the same directory, which also contains keyboard emulation profiles for other vector editors:

*<code>xara.xml</code>: Xara X/Xara Xtreme/Xara LX keys

You can copy any of these over default.xml to use that profile. In all profiles, those keys which are not used by the corresponding program still have their Inkscape bindings. If you can contribute a profile for some vector editor that we don't yet have, we will appreciate that. The files have a simple XML-based format described in <code>inkscape.xml</code>.

You can also customize some of your keybindings without overwriting the main <code>default.xml</code>. If your profile directory (<code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux) contains a <code>keys</code> subdirectory with a <code>default.xml</code> file, the keybindings from that file will overlay (i.e. add to, and override in case of a conflict) the default bindings. The format of your own <code>default.xml</code> is the same as that of the main <code>default.xml</code>.

== Menus ==

* Zoom commands in the View menu are moved to a submenu; the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands are added to that submenu.

* Clone commands are moved into a submenu in Edit menu and given more descriptive names and tips.

* Pattern commands (Objects to Pattern and Pattern to Objects) are moved into a submenu in Object menu, under the new Clip and Mask submenus.

* The contents of the Effects menu are categorized into submenus, and several effects are renamed to use more intuitive names.

== Statusbar ==

* In Selector, for multiple selected objects, the statusbar now reports their types. For example, if 5 groups are selected, it displays

::5 objects of type Group in layer LayerName.

:instead of just "5 objects selected" as before. If there are up to 3 types in the selection, they will be listed, for example:

::5 objects of types Group, Path, Rectangle in layer LayerName.

:The order of the list will correspond to the order in which the objects were added to selection. If there are 4 or more types in selection, only the number of types is reported, for example:

::5 objects of 4 types in layer LayerName.

* In Selector, objects selected in groups are now identified as such, and the group ID is given, for example:

::Rectangle in group g212 (layer content)

:If selected objects have different parents within one layer (for example, if one is selected in a group and another outside it), the number of parents is reported:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 parents (layer content)

:If objects are in different layers, only the number of layers is reported since this also implies different parents:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 layers

* In Node tool, if your node selection includes nodes from different subpaths, statusbar reports the number of subpaths with selection and the total number of subpaths, for example:

::2 of 195 nodes selected in 2 of 36 subpaths.

* The contents of the statusbar message are now duplicated as a tooltip that is shown when you hover the mouse over the statusbar.

* The statusbar text is now no longer just cut off if there is insufficient room, but an ellipsis (...) is inserted at the end to show there's more (only with Gtk 2.6 and newer).

== Theme ==

* Inkscape has a new default icon set titled "Crispy" provided by Andre Sousa. The new icons are intended to add a more professional and cohesive look to our application, as well as to make the functions the icons represent more self-evident.

= Tools =

== Node tool ==

=== Node sculpting ===

An entirely new way of manipulating paths in Node tool is added in this version: Node sculpting. Normally, when you have several nodes selected and you drag one of them, all selected nodes move by the same amount. Now, if you Alt-drag one of the selected nodes, only that node is fully displaced; other selected nodes are moved less than the full amount, so that those farthest from the drag point remain stationary. This is similar to "proportional editing" or "soft selection" in 3D editors such as Blender.

So, for example, if you select several nodes on a straight line and Alt+drag the middle selected node, the path will bend into a smooth bell-like curve. Nodes' handles are also adjusted correspondingly to keep the overall shape smooth and natural. (If you don't have enough nodes on a path fragment that you want to reshape in this way, just select the end nodes of that fragment and press Ins a few times to populate it with nodes.)

Moreover, node sculpting is sensitive to pressure of your tablet pen. If you press slightly, your curve will have a narrow sharp tip (i.e. the nearest neighbors of your dragged node will move only a bit); if you press hard, the curve's tip will be wide and blunt (i.e. the nearest neighbors will move almost as much as the dragged node). (Hint: to stop dragging without losing your shape, first release Alt and then lift the tip of the pen.)

There are many possible applications of the sculpting technique. To take a simple example, selecting all nodes of an ellipse-like shape and Alt+dragging one of them will smoothly and naturally stretch and skew the entire shape in any direction. Doing the same to a complex path, such as star or spiral, will twist and punch it without destroying its intricate structure - this is the way to get squashed or self-intersecting stars, eccentric spirals and other shapes not easily doable before. Selecting only part of all nodes allows you to smoothly reshape parts of the figure without disturbing the rest.

When applied to text converted to path, node sculpting is a fun and easy way to twist, bend and distort it, achieving effects similar to "perspective envelope" or "curvilinear envelope" in other programs - but in a more powerful and flexible way. For example, by selecting all or part of the text's nodes and Alt-dragging, you can not only make a wavy banner out of a paragraph of text, but also apply a "magnifying lens"-like effect to any word in the middle.

Especially useful node sculpting is for complex natural paths, such as calligraphic strokes or bitmap traces, where you often want to do large-scale pushes and bends without destroying the small-scale features. Things like making a calligraphic stroke narrower in one place and wider in another, or changing the proportions, extending the ear or flattening the nose of a head - all this is now much faster and more natural to do using sculpting. It is also a new way to create new paths, too - starting from en ellipse with added nodes, it takes just a few Alt+drags to tweak it into a silhouette of a head, or a map of Australia, or an Inkscape logo!

Some examples are shown on the screenshot: [[http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png]].

=== "Show handles" toggle ===

The Controls bar for the Nodes tool now includes a toggle button which controls whether Bezier handles are shown on selected nodes (on by default). Selecting and dragging nodes on node-dense paths in zoom-out (e.g. for node sculpting) may be extremely difficult without hiding the handles, as it's hard to pick a node and not a handle when handles are shown.

=== New deletion behavior ===

* In Node tool, deleting node(s) by Del/Backspace keys or by Ctrl+Alt+clicking a node now tries to preserve, as much as possible, the current shape of the path. This means that the nodes adjacent to those being deleted have their handles adjusted to approximate the form that the path had before deletion. For example, if you Ctrl+Alt+click a path twice, once to add a new node and then to delete it, the path will not change at all (or change very slightly). The old deletion behavior without adjusting handles is still available via Ctrl+Del or Ctrl+Backspace.

=== Preserving positions of nodes and handles ===

* When you switch the type of the selected node to Smooth or Symmetric by pressing Shift+S/Shift+Y, you can now preserve the position of one of the two handles by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other handle is rotated/scaled to match.

* Similarly, when you join endnodes by pressing Shift+J, you can preserve the position of one of the two nodes by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other node is moved.

=== Miscellaneous ===

* The ! key inverts node selection in the current subpath(s) (i.e. subpaths with at least one selected node); Alt+! inverts in the entire path. (This is similar to how these keys work in Selector, with current subpath(s) instead of the current layer.)

* The keyboard shortcut for "Make selected segments curves" in Node tool is changed from Shift+K to Shift+U for better mnemonics.

== Calligraphic pen ==

=== Tremor ===

* Even when using a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity, the Calligraphy pen's strokes often look too smooth and artificial. To enable a more natural look, the new Tremor parameter is added to the Calligraphy tool in this version. Adjustable in the Controls bar from 0.0 to 1.0, it will affect your strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

=== Pen width ===

* In all previous versions, pen width depended on zoom in such a way that the strokes appeared the same visible width at any zoom, but were in fact narrower at zoom-in and wider at zoom-out. This behavior makes sense if you want to keep the same "feel" of the pen regardless of zoom; for example, if you zoomed in to make a small fix to your drawing, it's natural that your pen becomes physically smaller but feels the same to you. So, this behavior is kept as the default, but now we also added an alternative mode where your pen width is constant in absolute units regardless of zoom. To switch to this mode, use the checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by double-clicking the tool button).

* The Width field in the tool's controls bar now changes from 1 to 100, which corresponds to the range from 0.01 to 1.0 in the previous version. If the "width in absolute units" mode is turned on, the value in this fields gives the width of the stroke in px units. In the default mode, the value of 100 gives 100px wide strokes only at 100% zoom, and strokes are correspondingly narrower or wider at other zoom levels.

=== Selection ===

* A new preferences option for the Calligraphic tool, Keep selected, controls whether the newly created object remains selected after you finish drawing it. If you turn it off (by default it's on) and set the tool to using Last Set color, you can easily choose a new color by clicking on the palette without having to worry if this will change the color of the stroke you just created. (Watch the tool style indicator at the right end of the Controls bar for the style of the next stroke you will draw.)

* Esc deselects selected objects in Calligraphic, as in most other tools.

=== Style ===

* The stroke you're drawing is now shown, while you're drawing it, with the correct color and opacity that it will eventually have, instead of always black as before.

* On a new Inkscape installation, this tool now uses the last set style by default instead of the fixed black as before (this is changeable in the Inkscape Preferences for the tool).

== Pen tool ==

* While drawing a path, you can now move the last node you created by the same keys as in Node tool - that is, arrows, with Shift (for 10x displacement) or Alt (screen pixel displacement) modifiers.

* Also, you can switch the not-yet-finalized (red) segment of the path being drawn from curve to line (Shift+L) or back to curve (Shift+U), again the same shortcuts as in the Node tool.

* By popular demand, if a new path is being drawn but not yet finished, Ctrl+Z cancels that unfinished path (i.e. does the same as Esc), instead of undoing the previous action.

* In Pen tool, Del works the same as Backspace to delete the last created point on the unfinished path.

= Clipping and masking =

Inkscape now provides some UI for using clipping paths and masks.

* Any object can be non-destructively intersected with a path (called a clipping path) so that only the intersected portion of the object is visible.
** To apply clipping, select the objects to be clipped and the clipping path object, make sure the clipping path is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Clip > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the clipped objects as usual. The clipping remains applied and transforms together with each clipped object.
** To remove the clipping, do Object > Clip > Release. The clipping path is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unclipped object in z-order.

* Any object can be non-destructively masked by another object (called mask) so that: the mask's black or transparent areas become fully transparent in the masked object; mask's opaque white areas become fully opaque; and all intermediate colors translate into intermediate levels of opacity in the masked object. This allows you to apply, for example, arbitrary transparency gradients to objects.
** To apply a mask, select the objects to be masked and the mask object, make sure the mask is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Mask > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the masked objects as usual. The mask remains applied and transforms together with each masked object.
** To remove the masking, do Object > Mask > Release. The mask is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unmasked object in z-order.

* Objects with clippath show their bounding box intersected with the bounding box of the clippath, instead of the original unclipped bbox as before. (However, this does not apply to objects without clippath of their own which are clipped by being inside a clipped group.)

* Clipped or masked objects display "clipped" or "masked", correspondingly, in their statusbar descriptions.

* Although Inkscape had render-only support for clipping paths and masks for quite some time, in this release we fixed a number of bugs which may affect the display of your documents using clippaths or masks.
** Clippaths and masks with objectBoundingBox units are now shown correctly upon loading of the document.
** Clippaths without fill didn't work, this is now fixed.
** Objects with clippaths or masks are correctly copied/pasted between documents.

= Transformations =

== Transform dialog ==

Fixes and improvements in the Transform dialog (Ctrl+Shift+M):

* The Apply to each object separately checkbox is added, allowing you to scale/rotate/skew each selected object by the same amount, around that object's center. When off (by default), the selection is transformed as a whole. The status of this checkbox is remembered across sessions. (It has no effect on Move and Matrix tabs).

* The Clear button resets the values on the current tab to defaults.

* The Scale tab now allows you to specify horizontal or vertical size increments in percentage or absolute units. Also, there's a Scale proportionally checkbox which ensures that scaling preserves the width/height ratio. (If you are scaling several objects proportionally with "Apply to each object separately", you can only use the % unit to specify the scaling; otherwise each object's scale increments will have the width/height ratio of the entire selection, not of that specific object.)

* The Skew tab can now specify the skew as an absolute displacement (e.g. for horizontal skewing of a rectangle, that means the shift of the top rectangle side relative to the bottom), as percentage displacement (e.g. a 1% horizontal skew of a rectangle means shifting the top side by 1% of the rectangle height), or as an angle (e.g. horizontal skew by 15 degrees results in the sides of a rectangle being rotated to that angle, while the top and bottom remain horizontal).

* The Matrix tab (previously called "Transform") can either edit the current <code>transform=</code> matrix of an object, or post-multiply the <code>transform=</code> with the matrix you specify, depending on the Edit current matrix checkbox. (As it is now redundant, the transformation matrix in the Object Properties dialog is removed.)

* The dialog now correctly watches selection changes in the active document window and updates its values accordingly.

* The layout of the dialog is simplified, tooltips and mnemonics added for better usability.

* Many bugs are fixed, especially in value conversions between units.

== Persistent rotation centers ==

* The position of the center (axis) of rotation and skewing used by Selector is now remembered for all objects and restored when you select those objects again (even after saving and reopening the document). When you move or scale an object, its rotation center is moved or scaled too, so its position relative to the object always remains the same unless you move it explicitly.

* When you have several objects selected, they use the rotation center of the first selected object. If the first object does not have center set (i.e. if it's in a default central position), then several objects will rotate around the geometric center of their common bounding box (as before).

* Shift+click on the rotation center resets it back to the center of the object's box.

* Consequently, dragging the rotation center is now an undoable action; you can press Ctrl+Z to undo the drag.

* Keyboard rotation by [, ] keys with various modifiers, as well as the Rotate tab in the Transform dialog, work around the selected object's rotation center (for multi-object selection, the rotation center of the first selected object).

* Rotation centers are preserved when duplicating, cloning (including clone tiler), grouping/ungrouping, and converting to path.

== Pasting size ==

A number of commands are added to easily scale selected objects to match the size of the object(s) previously copied to the clipboard. They are all in the Paste Size submenu in Edit menu:

* Paste Size scales the whole selection to match the overall size of the clipboard object(s).

* Paste Width/Paste Height scale the whole selection horizontally/vertically so that it matches the width/height of the clipboard object(s). These commands honor the scale ratio lock on the Selector controls bar (between W and H fields), so that when that lock is pressed, the other dimension of the selected object is scaled in the same proportion; otherwise the other dimension is unchanged.

* Paste Size Separately, Paste Width Separately and Paste Height Separately work similarly to the above described commands, except that they scale each selected object separately to make it match the size/width/height of the clipboard object(s).

= Connectors and automatic layout =

* There have been numerous bugfixes and several improvements to the behaviour of connectors and the connector tool:
** Connectors moved as part of a selection will now stay attached to other objects in the selection, rather than becoming detached from them.
** By default, the Connector tool will not attach connectors to text objects. There is a new checkbox in the connector preferences to control this setting.
** The margins around avoided shapes (used for autorouting connectors) can now be adjusted via the "Spacing" control on the controls bar.

* Automatic Diagram Layout: A new button is available in the Align and Distribute dialog that performs automatic layout of diagrams involving a network of shapes and connectors. Layout is accomplished using force-directed graph layout based on the Kamada-Kawai algorithm. This algorithm treats edges as if they are springs such that the distance between nodes will be proportional to the path length - number of connectors - between them. Disconnected components (where not every shape is connected) will be arranged around the circumference of a circle.

* There is a new Remove Overlaps button to move the selected objects enough that they don't overlap each other. A minimum spacing between the boundaries of objects can be specified. Together with the automatic layout tool, described above, this should be a significant addition to Inkscape's usability for diagramming. Removing overlaps is different from the "Unclump" button in that the former is completely deterministic and guarantees removing overlaps on the first application, but is not concerned with visual perceptive distances between objects. Unclumping, on the other hand, attempts to equalize perceptive distances between objects and can be applied repeatedly for gradual effect.

= Selective tracing with SIOX =

* Inkscape 0.44 has an early version of the Simple Interactive Object Extraction (SIOX) algorithm (see [http://www.siox.org siox.org]) implemented in its bitmap tracing code. For a quick reference on how this is used, please see [http://inkscape.org/win32/siox/howto.svg this file]. This clever algorithm from the realm of Image Recognition allows you to select areas of similar color, with the goal of extracting a foreground area from the background. To use:
** Enable the SIOX checkbox in addition to your usual tracing options.
** Select both the bitmap and an object that covers the foreground and part of background, leaving only background areas of the image uncovered.
** Hit OK. SIOX will now analyze and attempt to pull out the foreground-colored areas you want, and trace only those parts of the image.

* The full SIOX selection mechanism (e.g. the ability to identify foreground and background areas separately) is not implemented yet, but is planned for a future release.

= Snapping =

* In addition to snapping to guides and grids, you can now snap to other objects' paths and/or nodes. As with grid and guide snapping, you can separately enable snapping of bboxes to objects and/or snapping of nodes to objects. Be aware, however, that this is experimental code - there may be surprises. It may also be slow in large documents with thousands of objects.

* In addition to the snap sensitivity sliders in Document Preferences (which set snap distances in px), there are Always snap checkboxes (separately for object, grid and guide snapping) which force snapping at any distance.

* Grid snapping now applies only to the visible grid lines. For example, if you have zoomed out so that only every 10th grid line is visible, snapping will only apply to these visible lines. In addition, default grid snap sensitivity is set to "Always snap". This will hopefully reduce the number of "snapping does not work" complaints from users who didn't zoom in close enough to see that snapping does in fact work, but only at sub-px distances to the 1px-spaced grid. At the same time, you can still snap to finely grained distances if you zoom in.

* Guidelines are made easier to pick. Now you don't need to position mouse exactly over a guideline to activate it; instead there's a small position tolerance (1 screen pixel on each side of the guideline).

= Sublayers =

Previously, it was only possible to make a group a temporary sublayer by entering that group. Now Inkscape supports creating and using true persistent sublayers within a layer.

* The Add layer dialog allows you to place the new layer above, below, or inside the current layer.

* In Preferences (Selecting tab), options are added allowing the "Select All" command and Tab key selection to work either in the current layer only or in the current layer and its sublayers.

= Markers =

* Converting stroke to path now correctly processes dashed strokes. For paths with markers, this command now creates a group containing the stroke converted to path and all its markers as independent objects (i.e. they are not markers anymore, but instead you can easily transform them or paint them any color, as a workaround for the "markers don't take the color of the stroke" bug; to be properly fixed, this bug requires implementing some SVG 1.2 features).

* The DimensionIn and DimensionOut markers are changed so that the arrow tips exactly correspond to node positions. It is now very easy to make dimension lines that correspond to drawn objects. The dimension specifications can now easily be chained by splitting a straight line at a point and assigning DimensionIn/Out markers to the resulting smaller paths whose endpoints coincide.

* All arrow markers in the standard set are moved on the path so that their tips are as close as possible to the corresponding node of the path. Complete coincidence is not possible, because it would cause the blunt end of the stroke itself to be visible under the sharp tip of the arrow, distorting its shape. However, now the arrow tips are much closer to their nodes than before, and probably sufficiently close for many practical situations.

* A new RazorWire path marker was added. By applying it as a mid-marker you can get a good approximation of a razor wire.

= Extensions =

* The Effects menu is now always on, it's no longer an "experimental feature". The preference setting to enable the menu has been removed.

* Python extensions (which includes almost all currently available extensions) work on Windows out of the box, using a copy of Python shipping with Inkscape. The only minor inconvenience is that when an effect is launched, you get an empty console window that stays on while the effect is doing its work. (Don't close that window, it will disappear by itself when the effect is finished.)

* A new Python effect, Render > LaTeX formula, allows you to type in any LaTeX formula and get a vector object with the TeX rendition of this formula inserted into your document. You need to have latex, dvips, and pstoedit installed and in PATH for this to work.

* A new Python effect, Flatten Path, flattens paths in the current selection, approximating each path with a polyline whose segments meet the specified criteria for flatness.

* A new Python effect, Measure Path, attaches a text label to each path in the selection giving the length of that path (in px units).

* The Radius Randomize effect has a new parameter which enables normal distribution of random displacements instead of uniform as before, which gives a more natural feel to the randomized path.

* The Render > L-system (formerly "Fractal (Lindenmayer)") effect is improved in this version. Now you can specify different angle values for turning left and right, which makes it possible to smoothly bend some L-systems sideways. Also, you can separately randomize the step length and the angles by a given percent for more natural look (this works especially well with plant-like branching shapes). This effect can be used to create Penrose tiling, Sierpinsky triangle, Dragon curve and other famous mathematical artefacts, as well as various meanders, friezes, patterns, and trees. Some examples can be seen on this screenshot: [http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png] as well as in the new example file <code>share/examples/l-systems.svg</code>.

* The Interpolate Path, Random Tree, and L-system effects are fixed to place their result on the current layer instead of document root and in the center of the (last-saved) document view instead of 0,0 as before.

* INX files now have the ability to hold more information. This includes tooltips and descriptions of the extensions. These are all also translatable.

* Thanks to keyboard configurability, it is now possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to those effects you use most often, so you can activate them without going into the menu.

= Formats =

* Inkscape's PDF export is now native (i.e. does not require any external applications) and supports transparency, including gradients with transparency. This replaced the old export extension that required Ghostscript and worked via Postscript, losing any transparency. The new PDF export is still immature; in particular it does not handle text, so you should check "Convert text to path" on the export options dialog. Other things not yet supported include: gradients on stroke; eccentric elliptic gradients; patterns, masks, and clipping paths; embedded images.

* You can now Save as Compressed Inkscape SVG with media.This save option collects the svg file and all linked images into a zip archive for distribution. Although you cannot open the resulting archive directly with inkscape, the media is linked such that after unzipping you can open the SVG file immediately.

* An output format for desktop cutting plotters, such as the Wishblade and Craftrobo, was added. This format is a very minimalist DXF file with appropriate scaling and translation applied. This output format should not be expected to operate as a generalized DXF output.

* Inkscape can open/import default files generated by the Xfig vector graphics editor. This requires that the fig2dev command (transfig) is in your PATH.

* Starting with this version, there is a limited ability to export Inkscape drawing shapes as Open Document Format drawings (.odg files). Currently the export is limited to text, shapes, and solid fill and strokes. This output will be improved in the coming months. In the meantime, however, ODG output is already useful for getting your SVG drawings into the Open Document world, in particular into an office suite such as OpenOffice.org.

* The new XCF output extension exports all top-level elements (i.e. layers and objects directly under root) as PNGs and assembles them into an XCF for procesing in the Gimp. Requires Python, PyXML and Gimp. Gimp 2.2.x or above must be in the path and be named <code>gimp</code>. A version of Inkscape 0.44 or above must be accessible from the path. Does not function in Windows.

= Miscellaneous shortcuts =

* Now you can use Shift+middle button drag, in any tool, to zoom into an area. This works the same as simple drag in Zoom tool, but is faster because it does not require switching away from your current tool. Together with middle button drag (panning), middle button click (zoom in) and Shift+middle button click (zoom out), this completes the set of canvas navigation shortcuts available in any tool or context.

* In Gradient tool, Shift+R reverses the gradient definition (i.e. mirrors the stop positions) without moving the gradient handles. For example, an elliptic gradient with blue center and red periphery becomes red in the center and blue in the periphery. This works on the gradient(s) of the currently selected gradient handle or, if no handle is selected, on all selected objects' gradients. (Compare with the Node tool where Shift+R reverses the direction of the selected path.) This is especially convenient for elliptic gradients which, unlike linear, you cannot simply rotate by 180 degrees for the same result.

* In Selector, Ctrl+Enter enters the selected group (making it a temporary layer). Ctrl+Backspace leaves the current layer and goes one layer up in the hierarchy (but not to root).

= Miscellaneous improvements =

* Document templates (listed in File > New) are now first searched in the <code>templates</code> subdirectory of the user's profile directory (on Linux it's <code>~/.inkscape/templates</code>), then in the system-wide Inkscape templates directory. This allows you to add your own templates on top of the list of standard templates, as well as override the default template with your own one (the <code>default.svg</code> in the profile directory has priority over the system-wide one).

* When toggling one of the "transform with object" buttons (for stroke width, rounded rectangle corners, gradients, or patterns), a message is displayed in the statusbar explaining what has changed in the program's behavior. Hopefully this will reduce the number of complaints from users who had accidentally toggled one of these and were surprised by the result.

* Whole thousands above 2000 in the rulers are now displayed as 2k, 3k, 4k etc.

* In the Document Preferences dialog, the new object style for each tool is now shown as a style swatch (displaying fill/stroke colors and opacity, stroke width, and master opacity), similar in design to the selected style indicator in the statusbar.

* In the Grid Arrange dialog, row/column spacing can now be negative.

* The installation default is now to scale the rounded rectangle corners with the rectangles themselves (the previous default mode, still available as an option, was to keep rounding radii unchanged when scaling rectangles).

* Added a new <code>--export-area-canvas</code> command line parameter that causes the exported PNG to contain the full canvas. This option as well as <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-area</code> can now be used along with <code>--export-id</code> and <code>--export-id-only</code> for greater flexibility.

* The <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters now return the true SVG bounding box of the object instead of the Inkscape coordinate system bbox (with inverted Y axis). The new behavior makes more sense for scripting use of Inkscape.

* The dpi value in the Export dialog has had its range extended; now possible values are from 0.01 to 100000.

* Individual <tspan>s within text objects (including line tspans) can now be selected via the XML editor to view their bounding boxes (though per SVG, you cannot transform them). Also, you can use the <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters to find out the bounding boxes of tspans from a script. (Individual strings within or between tspans are still not selectable, and they cannot have an ID for querying anyway.)

* The placeholder image which is shown when a bitmap file was no longer accessible reads now "Linked image not found" instead of the confusing "Broken image".

* Cloning multiple selected objects now works as expected (i.e. each selected object is cloned separately, similar to the Duplicate command). Previously you could only clone a single selected object.

* The separate "license" and "contributors" dialogs have been merged into tabs on the About dialog. The about dialog now correctly sizes itself to fit the size of the splash SVG (while remaining resizable), and the rendering area is now cropped to the correct aspect ratio when the dialog is resized. The dialog also now displays the build information in the upper right corner.

* In the Transform dialog / Rotate tab, the icon was flipped horizontally to be in line with the direction of positive rotation; the change was applied to the default (now crispy) and legacy icon sets.

* The scale ratio lock button on the Selector controls bar shows a closed lock when pressed and open lock otherwise (same as the layer lock in the statusbar).

* The Browse button on Export dialog now opens the new file chooser, same as those used by Open and Save.

= Miscellaneous bugfixes =

* Reading a document with an incorrect namespace URI not only did not cause Inkscape to complain, but could also "pollute" Inkscape's internal namespace table, resulting in an "infection" of subsequently saved documents by the incorrect namespace. This is now fixed, but as a result, documents with incorrect namespace URIs will no longer load. You will have to edit them in a text editor to fix the namespaces.

* With newer versions of GTK, dragging with graphics tablet pen did not work in some tools and contexts (in particular, in Node and Rectangle tools). This is fixed.

* Scaling of objects with stroke in Selector used to cause undesired shifts of the scaled object, as well as scaling it in the dimension which was intended to remain untouched (e.g. slight change in width when you scale only height). All these problems are now fixed, both for interactive scaling by mouse and for numeric scaling via the Controls bar, and for both values of the "Scale stroke with objects" option. Among other things, this means that stroked objects no longer lose snapping on scale, and that the "Default scale origin" option in the Selector tool preferences finally works as designed. Caveat: There may still be problems if you scale a selection that contains objects with different stroke widths.

* Scaling of stroke now works for objects that didn't specify stroke-width; before, they always ended up with the default 1px stroke.

* The bounding box for text and flowed text objects did not include stroke width. This has been fixed.

* Stroke miterlimit on text objects was misinterpreted in absolute units instead of multiplies of stroke width (resulting in miter joins rendered as bevel).

* The unfinished path in Pen tool is now cancelled, not finalized, when you switch away from the Pen tool. Apart from being more intuitively correct, this also fixes a crash when you quit Inkscape with the unfinished path in Pen tool.

* Fonts on Win32 now use the native font mapper, meaning that Inkscape's font list is the same as other Windows programs, and the (potentially) very long delay experienced when using fonts for the first time in each session is gone.

* Setting dash pattern was broken for transformed objects, and copy/paste of style with dash pattern did not apply correctly to objects with transforms.

* An error caused a complete extra screen redraw after each zoom operation. That is, after you press "+" in a complex drawing, Inkscape redraws, but for some time after that it remains still unresponsive because it does that second redraw (invisibly for you, i.e. nothing changes on the screen). This is fixed.

* Gradient rendering was off by one pixel, which often resulted in visibly wrong gradient rendering for small objects or in zoom-out.

* The SVG path parser could not handle fractional numbers with the initial dot.

* Several pattern rendering bugs are fixed, discovered by working with SVG files exported from Adobe Illustrator.

* Inkscape on Mac OS X will now notice fonts in your ~/Library/Fonts directory, in addition to the other standard places.

* Inkscape couldn't be compiled with libxml versions <= 2.6.9, and we now bumped the requirements from 2.6.0 up to libxml >= 2.6.11, which is the earliest you can get officially, anyway.

* Inkscape no longer crashes when presented with a defective inx file for extensions.

* More document memory is now freed when documents are closed.

* EPS output now correctly includes an %%EOF footer.

* There was a regression in 0.43 that caused several minor, though annoying bugs; knots and handles remained highlighted after the mouse was released, and the rubberband selection rectangle stayed visible if the selection was ended over a node while in the node tool. This regression has been fixed.

* The connector routing code would previously sometimes confuse objects between multiple documents resulting in strange routing behaviour. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that allowed a malicious outsider to very easily disrupt an Inkboard session. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause deadlocks in the case that two users attempted to invite each other at the same time (see bug #[https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=604306&aid=1352522&group_id=93438 1352522] for further details). This should be fixed, although the fix has not been widely tested.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause session invitations to not appear on the invitee's screen. This was the result of a mistake in handling GDK modifier flags, and has been fixed.

= Translations =

* INX files (containing the UI of the external effects) now allow the user visible strings to be translated. This means that effect dialogs, file type selections, and extension names can all be translated by translators.

* Now, 38 languages are translated, of which 14 significantly: Catalan, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Lituanian, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Latine Serbian, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Average translation ratio has increased from 49% to 57%.

* Some new translations of tutorials have been brought by contributors : Czech, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian.

= Internal =

* The Document Properties Dialog code was completely gtkmmified, which lead to dramatic reduction of code size due to usage of widget objects. The used widget objects should be reusable by other dialogs, too, and the code is much more readable.

* Work on optimizing includes in all cpp files started, using the purgeincludes tool specifically written for that purpose, and ended with 40% of include lines removed!

= Known problems =
=== Problems with libgc-6.7 ===

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with this (newest) version of the Boehm garbage collection library. Make sure you use libgc-6.5 or 6.6 until this is sorted out.

=== Problems with "Composite" option of X.org ===

* On Linux, Inkscape may crash if you have the "Composite" option enabled in your X.org configuration. To disable this option, comment out this line in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option "Composite" "Enable"

:so it becomes

#Option "Composite" "Enable"

:and restart X.

=== Namespaces may need fixing ===

* Previous versions of inkscape sometimes silently saved documents with wrong namespace URIs. This has been fixed, but such corrupted documents will no longer load successfully. Such documents may require their namespace declarations to be fixed by hand.

=== Beware of defective themes on Linux ===

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem, however, but it would be nice if you as affected user would inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem. See especially http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312115 (thanks to Thomas Wood)
* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

=== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ===

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

= Previous releases =

* ReleaseNotes043 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes043)
* ReleaseNotes042 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes042)
* ReleaseNotes041 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes041)
* ReleaseNotes040 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes040)
* ReleaseNotes039 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes039)
* ReleaseNotes038 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes038)
* ReleaseNotes037 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes037)
* ReleaseNotes036 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes036)
* ReleaseNotes035 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes035)

Release notes/0.44

2006-06-10T15:12:34Z

AlanHorkan: more HIG compliant

== Inkscape 0.44: overview ==

Inkscape 0.44 is bigger and better than ever. Some highlights:

* Layers dialog

* Outline mode, many performance improvements

* Native PDF export with transparency

* Clipping and masking support

* Configurable keyboard shortcuts, including Xara X style shortcuts

* Docked color palette in the editing window

* Interactive indicator of the style of selection in the statusbar

* Improvements in Node tool including new "node sculpting" feature

* Extensions are enabled by default and work on all major platforms

* Better SVG support: <switch> element, ICC color profiles for images

* Persistent rotation centers, Paste Size command

* New icons, redesigned preferences dialogs, rearranged menus, many cosmetic improvements

* Hundreds of bugfixes and smaller features

* Not directly related to Inkscape, but important nevertheless: since our last release, [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ Firefox 1.5] was released with SVG support enabled by default. This means that you can now view any Inkscape document right in your Firefox window without any format conversions or installing any plugins!

= Performance =

== Outline mode ==

An Outline ("wireframe") display mode is implemented. Use the View > Display Mode > Outline to activate it. In this mode:

* all paths and shapes are rendered as inverse (black on light background and vice versa) outlines of constant width (1 screen pixel regardless of zoom), without fill;

* text is painted by inverse fill, without stroke;

* bitmaps are shown as is;

* any opacity and gradients are ignored.

The outline mode is usually not drastically faster than regular mode (usually 10% to 50% faster), and in some special cases it may even be slower. However, the value of the outline mode is not only in its speed; it is a good way to get an idea of the structure and objects of your document, and it is convenient for precision node editing and for finding "stray objects".

== Speed ==

In addition to the Outline mode which makes it much easier to work with complex drawings, this version of Inkscape also provides significant speed improvements in many areas.

* Thanks to optimizations in the renderer, Inkscape's screen redraw is faster by at least 10%, and in some cases (such as complex stroked/dashed paths at high zooms) up to three times faster.

* Optimizations in the Node tool resulted in noticeable speed gains for node editing. Thus, switching to and from the Node tool (with a path selected), as well as selecting nodes in that tool, are now at least ten times faster than before. Other operations, including curve and node dragging and move/scale/rotate operations on multiple selected nodes, are much faster as well. This is especially important when working with complex paths; with these optimizations, paths containing several thousand nodes, though still slow, are much more usable.

* An optimization in the attribute setting method made operations such as moving multiple objects with arrow keys at least 30% faster compared to 0.43. This is especially noticeable when you are moving clones selected together with their original (e.g. a clone tiling), in which case Inkscape now works three to four times faster.

* Interface icons are now rendered in the background (from SVG source in <code>share/icons/icons.svg</code>) when Inkscape is idle, rather than waiting for all the icons in a menu to render the first time you pull it up. This eliminates the annoying delay when opening menus for the first time.

* Previously, zooming in to view a small portion of a path (especially big and complex path), there was a very noticeable slowdown and memory use increased dramatically. We optimized the renderer to only process the visible part of a path, and as a result the rendering speed is now almost the same at any zoom up to the maximum, providing up to 10-40 times speedup compared to the previous version (the closer is the zoom, the greater is the gain).

* The Path > Break Apart command is now dozens of times (up to 100x) faster for complex paths with thousands of subpaths.

= SVG conformance =

== Color profile support ==

Inkscape now includes base ICC profile functionality. If compiled with LittleCMS support (if you run <code>configure</code> with <code>--enable-lcms</code> switch), Inkscape passes the [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-color-prof-01-f.html ICC color profile test] by W3C. The <color-profile> element has been implemented along with the "color-profile" attribute for <image> elements.

== <switch> support ==

Rendering support for SVG 1.1's '''Conditional Processing Module''' has been implemented, including ''switch'' element, ''requiredFeatures'', ''requiredExtensions'', ''systemLanguage'' attributes. Inkscape passes the Conditional processing tests ([http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-01-t.html] and [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-02-t.html]) by W3C.

== SVG output ==

* In Inkscape's SVG documents, colors are now expressed by name (‘white’) or three-digit form (‘<tt>#f3c</tt>’) when possible.

* The numeric values in <code>transform</code> attributes are written without insignificant trailing zeros, and anything less than that 1e-8 by absolute value (usually caused by rounding errors) is written as 0 to reduce clutter.

= Interface =

== Layers dialog ==

A Layers dialog (Ctrl+Shift+L) is implemented in this version. It works in parallel with the quick layer selector in the statusbar, so you can use whichever is more convenient for you.

* In the dialog, you can click on a layer to make it current, as well as toggle layers visible/hidden and locked/unlocked. You don't need to make a layer current to toggle it visibility or lock status.

* A hierarchical tree of layers is represented by a tree-like display in the dialog. You can expand or collapse branches of the tree to make the layer structure of a document easier to navigate.

* At the bottom of the dialog, there are buttons for adding a new layer, moving the current layer up or down (either one step or all the way to top or bottom), and deleting the current layer.

* Below the buttons, there's a slider and a spinbutton for adjusting the opacity of the current layer. A layer's opacity affects all objects in that layer in the same way as opacity of a group.

== Selected style indicator ==

A new control in the left end of the statusbar lets you quickly view and change the fill and stroke of the selected objects. When you have a text selection in Text tool or a gradient handle selected in the Gradient tool, this indicator displays and changes the style of the text fragment or gradient stop, instead of the entire object (it's the same behavior as the Fill&Stroke dialog.)

* The two indicators, labelled F: (top) and S: (bottom), display fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. (For gradient handles, they always display the same style.)

* Each fill/stroke indicator can display either a color+opacity swatch (the opacity shown here is the fill opacity or stroke opacity, not the master opacity) or a text label specifying N/A (nothing selected), None (no fill/stroke), Unset (unset fill/stroke), L Gradient, R Gradient, Pattern (corresponding fill/stroke types), or Different (selected objects have different fill/stroke types).

* Additionally, each indicator may be accompanied by one of two flags, m ("multiple", meaning there are two or more objects all with the same fill/stroke) or a ("averaged", meaning there are two or more objects with different flat colors in fill/stroke, and the indicator shows the average of these colors).

* Left-click on an indicator opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab (Fill or Stroke) active.

* Right-click on an indicator opens a popup menu with the following items:
** Edit fill/stroke...: Opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab selected. (Same as left-click.)
** Last set color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last applied to anything.
** Last selected color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last displayed in this indicator. (Allows you to easily copy fill/stroke color between objects: select source, select destination, apply "last selected color".)
** Invert: Sets the fill or stroke to the inverse of the current color (does not affect opacity).
** White, Black: Sets the fill or stroke to the corresponding color (fully opaque).
** Copy color, Paste color: Copies or pastes the fill or stroke color (when it's color) to/from the system clipboard, as text in the <code>#rrggbb</code> hex format.
** Swap fill and stroke: Exchanges fill and stroke (both their types and colors, if any).
** Make fill/stroke opaque: Removes fill or stroke transparency (not master transparency!).
** Unset fill/stroke: Unsets fill or stroke from selected objects.
** Remove fill/stroke: Removes fill or stroke from the selected objects.

* Middle-click on a fill/stroke indicator removes fill/stroke from selected objects; if it is already removed (i.e. if the indicator displays "None"), it does the same as the "Last set color" command from the popup menu.

* Drag and Drop of colors onto a fill/stroke indicator sets the fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly.

* The Stroke indicator also displays the stroke width of selection (averaged if there are multiple objects selected with different stroke widths), located to the right of the stroke color/transparency swatch. Left-clicking on it opens the Fill&Stroke dialog with the Stroke Style tab selected. Right-clicking on it opens a popup menu which allows you to choose the units for displaying the stroke width, as well as choose one of the presets to assign to selection.

* To the right of the fill/stroke indicators, the Opacity numeric field (labelled "O:") shows and allows you to change the master opacity of the selected object (or the averaged opacity of several selected objects). Right-clicking the numeric field opens a popup menu with preset opacity levels. Middle-clicking on the "O:" label cycles the opacity through the values of 0 (transparent), 0.5, and 1 (opaque).

The zoom field and the cursor coordinates indicator have been rearranged for compactness and moved to the right end of the statusbar. There's also a window resize handle added at the very end of the statusbar.

== Tool style indicators ==

For each object-creating tool (shapes, Pen/Pencil, Calligraphic, Text), the Controls bar (above the canvas) now includes a style indicator on the right. This indicator shows you which style the newly created object will have.

* The indicator correctly displays whichever style the tool is set to use - the global "last set" style or that tool's fixed style. For example, clicking on a palette swatch (even with nothing selected) changes the "last set" color and, if your tool is set to use the last set color, its indicator is updated, giving you an idea of your "brush" before you start to draw.

== Controls bar for the Text tool ==

* This version adds the beginnings of a Controls Bar for the Text tool (previously empty). Now you can select the font family, size, apply bold and italic styles, change alignment and text orientation without opening the Text and Font dialog.

* All controls are instant-apply and work on the entire text object (if nothing selected) or text selection. They can also apply to multiple text objects (though you would need to switch to Selector to select multiple text objects, then switch back to Text tool for its controls).

* The font-family drop-down contains names and previews of all fonts; unlike other programs, we didn't apply each font to its name, but added a separate preview string displayed with gray color after each font's name. This design ensures readability of font family names and provides maximum useful information in a limited space.

* We will be adding more controls (including spacing and kerning) to this bar for the next versions.

== Docked color palette ==

* Previously, color swatches could only be used from a floating palette (Ctrl+Shift+W). Now the color swatches palette is embedded in the main UI, at the bottom of the window between the canvas and the statusbar. It is enabled by default; use View > Show/Hide > Palette to enable or disable it. The docked palette has the same functionality as the floating one; use a button in the top right corner to access the swatches menu.

* The Wrap option (off by default) in the swatches menu converts the palette from a single row into a frame 2 or 3 rows high, for better access to colors in large palettes.

* Drag and Drop of colors has been enabled.
** Dragging colors from a palette shows a live swatch of the color being dragged under cursor.
** Drag and Drop of colors onto the selected style indicator in the statusbar sets the fill or stroke of the selected object(s).
** Colors can be dropped directly on to objects on canvas to set their fill, or shift+dropped to set their stroke. This affects only the object you drop the color on, regardless of whether that object is selected or not.
** Colors can be dragged to and from other applications.

* The new Inkscape default color palette was added. It contains a range of grays, standard HTML named colors, and a full range of colors sorted by their HSL values (475 colors overall). It is generated by a Python script which is available from Inkscape SVN in share/palettes.

* Several specialized color palettes, useful in color-coordinated projects, were created or borrowed from GIMP: Grays, Reds, Greens, Blues, Gold, Royal, Khaki, Hilite, and Topographic.

* All standard sizes of the swatches (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge) are made smaller overall.

== Inkscape Preferences dialog ==

Not only was the Inkscape Preferences dialog completely rewritten and redesigned, with numerous bugs fixed in the rewrite.

* The dialog old tabbed dialog is gone and the new dialog fits much betters with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines.

* As a new feature, the Simplify threshold can now be set with more precision.

== Document Properties / Metadata dialogs ==

* The Document Preferences dialog is now named Document Properties, and it was split in two: metadata were extracted into the Document Metadata dialog; metadata widgets are now also spread over two pages.

* A button was added to fit the canvas to the current selection or, if there's no selection, to the entire drawing. The button resizes the canvas and, if necessary, moves the drawing into place. It is now very easy to size the canvas to an illustration after it is ready.

* New controls: the new object snapping features required their own property widgets, and you can set the snapping sensitivity with a slider, or let it snap regardless of distance (grid only).

* Rearrangements within Document Properties: everything snapping-related was collected on one page; Grid and Guide widgets are on their own, the same page. For better HIG compliance, all widgets were categorized; especially the widgets on the Page page were completely rearranged in the General/Format/Border categories.

* Bug fixes: grayed out license URI had too low contrast, so it's no longer grayed out; the proprietary license didn't clean the license URI; spinbuttons had no tooltips, and minor grid quirks were removed; data was not updated when a new file replaced another in the same window.

* HIG compliance: much work went into that, and now only a few details are missing from full Gnome-HIG compliance.

* Updated Creative Commons Licenses: Updated CC licenses to the latest 2.5 versions by default in the license tab of the metadata dialog.

== Configurable keyboard ==

Inkscape's keyboard shortcuts are now configurable!

At this time, not all Inkscape actions can have their shortcuts customized. However, the majority of actions, including everything you see in the menus, are already configurable, and we're working on making more actions configurable.

On startup, Inkscape reads its keyboard shortcuts from <code>share/keys/default.xml</code>. That file is a copy of <code>inkscape.xml</code> in the same directory, which also contains keyboard emulation profiles for other vector editors:

*<code>xara.xml</code>: Xara X/Xara Xtreme/Xara LX keys

You can copy any of these over default.xml to use that profile. In all profiles, those keys which are not used by the corresponding program still have their Inkscape bindings. If you can contribute a profile for some vector editor that we don't yet have, we will appreciate that. The files have a simple XML-based format described in <code>inkscape.xml</code>.

You can also customize some of your keybindings without overwriting the main <code>default.xml</code>. If your profile directory (<code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux) contains a <code>keys</code> subdirectory with a <code>default.xml</code> file, the keybindings from that file will overlay (i.e. add to, and override in case of a conflict) the default bindings. The format of your own <code>default.xml</code> is the same as that of the main <code>default.xml</code>.

== Menus ==

* Zoom commands in the View menu are moved to a submenu; the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands are added to that submenu.

* Clone commands are moved into a submenu in Edit menu and given more descriptive names and tips.

* Pattern commands (Objects to Pattern and Pattern to Objects) are moved into a submenu in Object menu, under the new Clip and Mask submenus.

* The contents of the Effects menu are categorized into submenus, and several effects are renamed to use more intuitive names.

== Statusbar ==

* In Selector, for multiple selected objects, the statusbar now reports their types. For example, if 5 groups are selected, it displays

::5 objects of type Group in layer LayerName.

:instead of just "5 objects selected" as before. If there are up to 3 types in the selection, they will be listed, for example:

::5 objects of types Group, Path, Rectangle in layer LayerName.

:The order of the list will correspond to the order in which the objects were added to selection. If there are 4 or more types in selection, only the number of types is reported, for example:

::5 objects of 4 types in layer LayerName.

* In Selector, objects selected in groups are now identified as such, and the group ID is given, for example:

::Rectangle in group g212 (layer content)

:If selected objects have different parents within one layer (for example, if one is selected in a group and another outside it), the number of parents is reported:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 parents (layer content)

:If objects are in different layers, only the number of layers is reported since this also implies different parents:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 layers

* In Node tool, if your node selection includes nodes from different subpaths, statusbar reports the number of subpaths with selection and the total number of subpaths, for example:

::2 of 195 nodes selected in 2 of 36 subpaths.

* The contents of the statusbar message are now duplicated as a tooltip that is shown when you hover the mouse over the statusbar.

* The statusbar text is now no longer just cut off if there is insufficient room, but an ellipsis (...) is inserted at the end to show there's more (only with Gtk 2.6 and newer).

== Theme ==

* Inkscape has a new default icon set titled "Crispy" provided by Andre Sousa. The new icons are intended to add a more professional and cohesive look to our application, as well as to make the functions the icons represent more self-evident.

= Tools =

== Node tool ==

=== Node sculpting ===

An entirely new way of manipulating paths in Node tool is added in this version: Node sculpting. Normally, when you have several nodes selected and you drag one of them, all selected nodes move by the same amount. Now, if you Alt-drag one of the selected nodes, only that node is fully displaced; other selected nodes are moved less than the full amount, so that those farthest from the drag point remain stationary. This is similar to "proportional editing" or "soft selection" in 3D editors such as Blender.

So, for example, if you select several nodes on a straight line and Alt+drag the middle selected node, the path will bend into a smooth bell-like curve. Nodes' handles are also adjusted correspondingly to keep the overall shape smooth and natural. (If you don't have enough nodes on a path fragment that you want to reshape in this way, just select the end nodes of that fragment and press Ins a few times to populate it with nodes.)

Moreover, node sculpting is sensitive to pressure of your tablet pen. If you press slightly, your curve will have a narrow sharp tip (i.e. the nearest neighbors of your dragged node will move only a bit); if you press hard, the curve's tip will be wide and blunt (i.e. the nearest neighbors will move almost as much as the dragged node). (Hint: to stop dragging without losing your shape, first release Alt and then lift the tip of the pen.)

There are many possible applications of the sculpting technique. To take a simple example, selecting all nodes of an ellipse-like shape and Alt+dragging one of them will smoothly and naturally stretch and skew the entire shape in any direction. Doing the same to a complex path, such as star or spiral, will twist and punch it without destroying its intricate structure - this is the way to get squashed or self-intersecting stars, eccentric spirals and other shapes not easily doable before. Selecting only part of all nodes allows you to smoothly reshape parts of the figure without disturbing the rest.

When applied to text converted to path, node sculpting is a fun and easy way to twist, bend and distort it, achieving effects similar to "perspective envelope" or "curvilinear envelope" in other programs - but in a more powerful and flexible way. For example, by selecting all or part of the text's nodes and Alt-dragging, you can not only make a wavy banner out of a paragraph of text, but also apply a "magnifying lens"-like effect to any word in the middle.

Especially useful node sculpting is for complex natural paths, such as calligraphic strokes or bitmap traces, where you often want to do large-scale pushes and bends without destroying the small-scale features. Things like making a calligraphic stroke narrower in one place and wider in another, or changing the proportions, extending the ear or flattening the nose of a head - all this is now much faster and more natural to do using sculpting. It is also a new way to create new paths, too - starting from en ellipse with added nodes, it takes just a few Alt+drags to tweak it into a silhouette of a head, or a map of Australia, or an Inkscape logo!

Some examples are shown on the screenshot: [[http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png]].

=== "Show handles" toggle ===

The Controls bar for the Nodes tool now includes a toggle button which controls whether Bezier handles are shown on selected nodes (on by default). Selecting and dragging nodes on node-dense paths in zoom-out (e.g. for node sculpting) may be extremely difficult without hiding the handles, as it's hard to pick a node and not a handle when handles are shown.

=== New deletion behavior ===

* In Node tool, deleting node(s) by Del/Backspace keys or by Ctrl+Alt+clicking a node now tries to preserve, as much as possible, the current shape of the path. This means that the nodes adjacent to those being deleted have their handles adjusted to approximate the form that the path had before deletion. For example, if you Ctrl+Alt+click a path twice, once to add a new node and then to delete it, the path will not change at all (or change very slightly). The old deletion behavior without adjusting handles is still available via Ctrl+Del or Ctrl+Backspace.

=== Preserving positions of nodes and handles ===

* When you switch the type of the selected node to Smooth or Symmetric by pressing Shift+S/Shift+Y, you can now preserve the position of one of the two handles by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other handle is rotated/scaled to match.

* Similarly, when you join endnodes by pressing Shift+J, you can preserve the position of one of the two nodes by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other node is moved.

=== Miscellaneous ===

* The ! key inverts node selection in the current subpath(s) (i.e. subpaths with at least one selected node); Alt+! inverts in the entire path. (This is similar to how these keys work in Selector, with current subpath(s) instead of the current layer.)

* The keyboard shortcut for "Make selected segments curves" in Node tool is changed from Shift+K to Shift+U for better mnemonics.

== Calligraphic pen ==

=== Tremor ===

* Even when using a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity, the Calligraphy pen's strokes often look too smooth and artificial. To enable a more natural look, the new Tremor parameter is added to the Calligraphy tool in this version. Adjustable in the Controls bar from 0.0 to 1.0, it will affect your strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

=== Pen width ===

* In all previous versions, pen width depended on zoom in such a way that the strokes appeared the same visible width at any zoom, but were in fact narrower at zoom-in and wider at zoom-out. This behavior makes sense if you want to keep the same "feel" of the pen regardless of zoom; for example, if you zoomed in to make a small fix to your drawing, it's natural that your pen becomes physically smaller but feels the same to you. So, this behavior is kept as the default, but now we also added an alternative mode where your pen width is constant in absolute units regardless of zoom. To switch to this mode, use the checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by double-clicking the tool button).

* The Width field in the tool's controls bar now changes from 1 to 100, which corresponds to the range from 0.01 to 1.0 in the previous version. If the "width in absolute units" mode is turned on, the value in this fields gives the width of the stroke in px units. In the default mode, the value of 100 gives 100px wide strokes only at 100% zoom, and strokes are correspondingly narrower or wider at other zoom levels.

=== Selection ===

* A new preferences option for the Calligraphic tool, Keep selected, controls whether the newly created object remains selected after you finish drawing it. If you turn it off (by default it's on) and set the tool to using Last Set color, you can easily choose a new color by clicking on the palette without having to worry if this will change the color of the stroke you just created. (Watch the tool style indicator at the right end of the Controls bar for the style of the next stroke you will draw.)

* Esc deselects selected objects in Calligraphic, as in most other tools.

=== Style ===

* The stroke you're drawing is now shown, while you're drawing it, with the correct color and opacity that it will eventually have, instead of always black as before.

* On a new Inkscape installation, this tool now uses the last set style by default instead of the fixed black as before (this is changeable in the Inkscape Preferences for the tool).

== Pen tool ==

* While drawing a path, you can now move the last node you created by the same keys as in Node tool - that is, arrows, with Shift (for 10x displacement) or Alt (screen pixel displacement) modifiers.

* Also, you can switch the not-yet-finalized (red) segment of the path being drawn from curve to line (Shift+L) or back to curve (Shift+U), again the same shortcuts as in the Node tool.

* By popular demand, if a new path is being drawn but not yet finished, Ctrl+Z cancels that unfinished path (i.e. does the same as Esc), instead of undoing the previous action.

* In Pen tool, Del works the same as Backspace to delete the last created point on the unfinished path.

= Clipping and masking =

Inkscape now provides some UI for using clipping paths and masks.

* Any object can be non-destructively intersected with a path (called a clipping path) so that only the intersected portion of the object is visible.
** To apply clipping, select the objects to be clipped and the clipping path object, make sure the clipping path is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Clip > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the clipped objects as usual. The clipping remains applied and transforms together with each clipped object.
** To remove the clipping, do Object > Clip > Release. The clipping path is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unclipped object in z-order.

* Any object can be non-destructively masked by another object (called mask) so that: the mask's black or transparent areas become fully transparent in the masked object; mask's opaque white areas become fully opaque; and all intermediate colors translate into intermediate levels of opacity in the masked object. This allows you to apply, for example, arbitrary transparency gradients to objects.
** To apply a mask, select the objects to be masked and the mask object, make sure the mask is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Mask > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the masked objects as usual. The mask remains applied and transforms together with each masked object.
** To remove the masking, do Object > Mask > Release. The mask is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unmasked object in z-order.

* Objects with clippath show their bounding box intersected with the bounding box of the clippath, instead of the original unclipped bbox as before. (However, this does not apply to objects without clippath of their own which are clipped by being inside a clipped group.)

* Clipped or masked objects display "clipped" or "masked", correspondingly, in their statusbar descriptions.

* Although Inkscape had render-only support for clipping paths and masks for quite some time, in this release we fixed a number of bugs which may affect the display of your documents using clippaths or masks.
** Clippaths and masks with objectBoundingBox units are now shown correctly upon loading of the document.
** Clippaths without fill didn't work, this is now fixed.
** Objects with clippaths or masks are correctly copied/pasted between documents.

= Transformations =

== Transform dialog ==

Fixes and improvements in the Transform dialog (Ctrl+Shift+M):

* The Apply to each object separately checkbox is added, allowing you to scale/rotate/skew each selected object by the same amount, around that object's center. When off (by default), the selection is transformed as a whole. The status of this checkbox is remembered across sessions. (It has no effect on Move and Matrix tabs).

* The Clear button resets the values on the current tab to defaults.

* The Scale tab now allows you to specify horizontal or vertical size increments in percentage or absolute units. Also, there's a Scale proportionally checkbox which ensures that scaling preserves the width/height ratio. (If you are scaling several objects proportionally with "Apply to each object separately", you can only use the % unit to specify the scaling; otherwise each object's scale increments will have the width/height ratio of the entire selection, not of that specific object.)

* The Skew tab can now specify the skew as an absolute displacement (e.g. for horizontal skewing of a rectangle, that means the shift of the top rectangle side relative to the bottom), as percentage displacement (e.g. a 1% horizontal skew of a rectangle means shifting the top side by 1% of the rectangle height), or as an angle (e.g. horizontal skew by 15 degrees results in the sides of a rectangle being rotated to that angle, while the top and bottom remain horizontal).

* The Matrix tab (previously called "Transform") can either edit the current <code>transform=</code> matrix of an object, or post-multiply the <code>transform=</code> with the matrix you specify, depending on the Edit current matrix checkbox. (As it is now redundant, the transformation matrix in the Object Properties dialog is removed.)

* The dialog now correctly watches selection changes in the active document window and updates its values accordingly.

* The layout of the dialog is simplified, tooltips and mnemonics added for better usability.

* Many bugs are fixed, especially in value conversions between units.

== Persistent rotation centers ==

* The position of the center (axis) of rotation and skewing used by Selector is now remembered for all objects and restored when you select those objects again (even after saving and reopening the document). When you move or scale an object, its rotation center is moved or scaled too, so its position relative to the object always remains the same unless you move it explicitly.

* When you have several objects selected, they use the rotation center of the first selected object. If the first object does not have center set (i.e. if it's in a default central position), then several objects will rotate around the geometric center of their common bounding box (as before).

* Shift+click on the rotation center resets it back to the center of the object's box.

* Consequently, dragging the rotation center is now an undoable action; you can press Ctrl+Z to undo the drag.

* Keyboard rotation by [, ] keys with various modifiers, as well as the Rotate tab in the Transform dialog, work around the selected object's rotation center (for multi-object selection, the rotation center of the first selected object).

* Rotation centers are preserved when duplicating, cloning (including clone tiler), grouping/ungrouping, and converting to path.

== Pasting size ==

A number of commands are added to easily scale selected objects to match the size of the object(s) previously copied to the clipboard. They are all in the Paste Size submenu in Edit menu:

* Paste Size scales the whole selection to match the overall size of the clipboard object(s).

* Paste Width/Paste Height scale the whole selection horizontally/vertically so that it matches the width/height of the clipboard object(s). These commands honor the scale ratio lock on the Selector controls bar (between W and H fields), so that when that lock is pressed, the other dimension of the selected object is scaled in the same proportion; otherwise the other dimension is unchanged.

* Paste Size Separately, Paste Width Separately and Paste Height Separately work similarly to the above described commands, except that they scale each selected object separately to make it match the size/width/height of the clipboard object(s).

= Connectors and automatic layout =

* There have been numerous bugfixes and several improvements to the behaviour of connectors and the connector tool:
** Connectors moved as part of a selection will now stay attached to other objects in the selection, rather than becoming detached from them.
** By default, the Connector tool will not attach connectors to text objects. There is a new checkbox in the connector preferences to control this setting.
** The margins around avoided shapes (used for autorouting connectors) can now be adjusted via the "Spacing" control on the controls bar.

* Automatic Diagram Layout: A new button is available in the Align and Distribute dialog that performs automatic layout of diagrams involving a network of shapes and connectors. Layout is accomplished using force-directed graph layout based on the Kamada-Kawai algorithm. This algorithm treats edges as if they are springs such that the distance between nodes will be proportional to the path length - number of connectors - between them. Disconnected components (where not every shape is connected) will be arranged around the circumference of a circle.

* There is a new Remove Overlaps button to move the selected objects enough that they don't overlap each other. A minimum spacing between the boundaries of objects can be specified. Together with the automatic layout tool, described above, this should be a significant addition to Inkscape's usability for diagramming. Removing overlaps is different from the "Unclump" button in that the former is completely deterministic and guarantees removing overlaps on the first application, but is not concerned with visual perceptive distances between objects. Unclumping, on the other hand, attempts to equalize perceptive distances between objects and can be applied repeatedly for gradual effect.

= Selective tracing with SIOX =

* Inkscape 0.44 has an early version of the Simple Interactive Object Extraction (SIOX) algorithm (see [http://www.siox.org siox.org]) implemented in its bitmap tracing code. For a quick reference on how this is used, please see [http://inkscape.org/win32/siox/howto.svg this file]. This clever algorithm from the realm of Image Recognition allows you to select areas of similar color, with the goal of extracting a foreground area from the background. To use:
** Enable the SIOX checkbox in addition to your usual tracing options.
** Select both the bitmap and an object that covers the foreground and part of background, leaving only background areas of the image uncovered.
** Hit OK. SIOX will now analyze and attempt to pull out the foreground-colored areas you want, and trace only those parts of the image.

* The full SIOX selection mechanism (e.g. the ability to identify foreground and background areas separately) is not implemented yet, but is planned for a future release.

= Snapping =

* In addition to snapping to guides and grids, you can now snap to other objects' paths and/or nodes. As with grid and guide snapping, you can separately enable snapping of bboxes to objects and/or snapping of nodes to objects. Be aware, however, that this is experimental code - there may be surprises. It may also be slow in large documents with thousands of objects.

* In addition to the snap sensitivity sliders in Document Preferences (which set snap distances in px), there are Always snap checkboxes (separately for object, grid and guide snapping) which force snapping at any distance.

* Grid snapping now applies only to the visible grid lines. For example, if you have zoomed out so that only every 10th grid line is visible, snapping will only apply to these visible lines. In addition, default grid snap sensitivity is set to "Always snap". This will hopefully reduce the number of "snapping does not work" complaints from users who didn't zoom in close enough to see that snapping does in fact work, but only at sub-px distances to the 1px-spaced grid. At the same time, you can still snap to finely grained distances if you zoom in.

* Guidelines are made easier to pick. Now you don't need to position mouse exactly over a guideline to activate it; instead there's a small position tolerance (1 screen pixel on each side of the guideline).

= Sublayers =

Previously, it was only possible to make a group a temporary sublayer by entering that group. Now Inkscape supports creating and using true persistent sublayers within a layer.

* The Add layer dialog allows you to place the new layer above, below, or inside the current layer.

* In Preferences (Selecting tab), options are added allowing the "Select All" command and Tab key selection to work either in the current layer only or in the current layer and its sublayers.

= Markers =

* Converting stroke to path now correctly processes dashed strokes. For paths with markers, this command now creates a group containing the stroke converted to path and all its markers as independent objects (i.e. they are not markers anymore, but instead you can easily transform them or paint them any color, as a workaround for the "markers don't take the color of the stroke" bug; to be properly fixed, this bug requires implementing some SVG 1.2 features).

* The DimensionIn and DimensionOut markers are changed so that the arrow tips exactly correspond to node positions. It is now very easy to make dimension lines that correspond to drawn objects. The dimension specifications can now easily be chained by splitting a straight line at a point and assigning DimensionIn/Out markers to the resulting smaller paths whose endpoints coincide.

* All arrow markers in the standard set are moved on the path so that their tips are as close as possible to the corresponding node of the path. Complete coincidence is not possible, because it would cause the blunt end of the stroke itself to be visible under the sharp tip of the arrow, distorting its shape. However, now the arrow tips are much closer to their nodes than before, and probably sufficiently close for many practical situations.

* A new RazorWire path marker was added. By applying it as a mid-marker you can get a good approximation of a razor wire.

= Extensions =

* The Effects menu is now always on, it's no longer an "experimental feature". The preference setting to enable the menu has been removed.

* Python extensions (which includes almost all currently available extensions) work on Windows out of the box, using a copy of Python shipping with Inkscape. The only minor inconvenience is that when an effect is launched, you get an empty console window that stays on while the effect is doing its work. (Don't close that window, it will disappear by itself when the effect is finished.)

* A new Python effect, Render > LaTeX formula, allows you to type in any LaTeX formula and get a vector object with the TeX rendition of this formula inserted into your document. You need to have latex, dvips, and pstoedit installed and in PATH for this to work.

* A new Python effect, Flatten Path, flattens paths in the current selection, approximating each path with a polyline whose segments meet the specified criteria for flatness.

* A new Python effect, Measure Path, attaches a text label to each path in the selection giving the length of that path (in px units).

* The Radius Randomize effect has a new parameter which enables normal distribution of random displacements instead of uniform as before, which gives a more natural feel to the randomized path.

* The Render > L-system (formerly "Fractal (Lindenmayer)") effect is improved in this version. Now you can specify different angle values for turning left and right, which makes it possible to smoothly bend some L-systems sideways. Also, you can separately randomize the step length and the angles by a given percent for more natural look (this works especially well with plant-like branching shapes). This effect can be used to create Penrose tiling, Sierpinsky triangle, Dragon curve and other famous mathematical artefacts, as well as various meanders, friezes, patterns, and trees. Some examples can be seen on this screenshot: [http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png] as well as in the new example file <code>share/examples/l-systems.svg</code>.

* The Interpolate Path, Random Tree, and L-system effects are fixed to place their result on the current layer instead of document root and in the center of the (last-saved) document view instead of 0,0 as before.

* INX files now have the ability to hold more information. This includes tooltips and descriptions of the extensions. These are all also translatable.

* Thanks to keyboard configurability, it is now possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to those effects you use most often, so you can activate them without going into the menu.

= Formats =

* Inkscape's PDF export is now native (i.e. does not require any external applications) and supports transparency, including gradients with transparency. This replaced the old export extension that required Ghostscript and worked via Postscript, losing any transparency. The new PDF export is still immature; in particular it does not handle text, so you should check "Convert text to path" on the export options dialog. Other things not yet supported include: gradients on stroke; eccentric elliptic gradients; patterns, masks, and clipping paths; embedded images.

* You can now Save as Compressed Inkscape SVG with media.This save option collects the svg file and all linked images into a zip archive for distribution. Although you cannot open the resulting archive directly with inkscape, the media is linked such that after unzipping you can open the SVG file immediately.

* An output format for desktop cutting plotters, such as the Wishblade and Craftrobo, was added. This format is a very minimalist DXF file with appropriate scaling and translation applied. This output format should not be expected to operate as a generalized DXF output.

* Inkscape can open/import default files generated by the Xfig vector graphics editor. This requires that the fig2dev command (transfig) is in your PATH.

* Starting with this version, there is a limited ability to export Inkscape drawing shapes as Open Document Format drawings (.odg files). Currently the export is limited to text, shapes, and solid fill and strokes. This output will be improved in the coming months. In the meantime, however, ODG output is already useful for getting your SVG drawings into the Open Document world, in particular into an office suite such as OpenOffice.org.

* The new XCF output extension exports all top-level elements (i.e. layers and objects directly under root) as PNGs and assembles them into an XCF for procesing in the Gimp. Requires Python, PyXML and Gimp. Gimp 2.2.x or above must be in the path and be named <code>gimp</code>. A version of Inkscape 0.44 or above must be accessible from the path. Does not function in Windows.

= Miscellaneous shortcuts =

* Now you can use Shift+middle button drag, in any tool, to zoom into an area. This works the same as simple drag in Zoom tool, but is faster because it does not require switching away from your current tool. Together with middle button drag (panning), middle button click (zoom in) and Shift+middle button click (zoom out), this completes the set of canvas navigation shortcuts available in any tool or context.

* In Gradient tool, Shift+R reverses the gradient definition (i.e. mirrors the stop positions) without moving the gradient handles. For example, an elliptic gradient with blue center and red periphery becomes red in the center and blue in the periphery. This works on the gradient(s) of the currently selected gradient handle or, if no handle is selected, on all selected objects' gradients. (Compare with the Node tool where Shift+R reverses the direction of the selected path.) This is especially convenient for elliptic gradients which, unlike linear, you cannot simply rotate by 180 degrees for the same result.

* In Selector, Ctrl+Enter enters the selected group (making it a temporary layer). Ctrl+Backspace leaves the current layer and goes one layer up in the hierarchy (but not to root).

= Miscellaneous improvements =

* Document templates (listed in File > New) are now first searched in the <code>templates</code> subdirectory of the user's profile directory (on Linux it's <code>~/.inkscape/templates</code>), then in the system-wide Inkscape templates directory. This allows you to add your own templates on top of the list of standard templates, as well as override the default template with your own one (the <code>default.svg</code> in the profile directory has priority over the system-wide one).

* When toggling one of the "transform with object" buttons (for stroke width, rounded rectangle corners, gradients, or patterns), a message is displayed in the statusbar explaining what has changed in the program's behavior. Hopefully this will reduce the number of complaints from users who had accidentally toggled one of these and were surprised by the result.

* Whole thousands above 2000 in the rulers are now displayed as 2k, 3k, 4k etc.

* In the Document Preferences dialog, the new object style for each tool is now shown as a style swatch (displaying fill/stroke colors and opacity, stroke width, and master opacity), similar in design to the selected style indicator in the statusbar.

* In the Grid Arrange dialog, row/column spacing can now be negative.

* The installation default is now to scale the rounded rectangle corners with the rectangles themselves (the previous default mode, still available as an option, was to keep rounding radii unchanged when scaling rectangles).

* Added a new <code>--export-area-canvas</code> command line parameter that causes the exported PNG to contain the full canvas. This option as well as <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-area</code> can now be used along with <code>--export-id</code> and <code>--export-id-only</code> for greater flexibility.

* The <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters now return the true SVG bounding box of the object instead of the Inkscape coordinate system bbox (with inverted Y axis). The new behavior makes more sense for scripting use of Inkscape.

* The dpi value in the Export dialog has had its range extended; now possible values are from 0.01 to 100000.

* Individual <tspan>s within text objects (including line tspans) can now be selected via the XML editor to view their bounding boxes (though per SVG, you cannot transform them). Also, you can use the <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters to find out the bounding boxes of tspans from a script. (Individual strings within or between tspans are still not selectable, and they cannot have an ID for querying anyway.)

* The placeholder image which is shown when a bitmap file was no longer accessible reads now "Linked image not found" instead of the confusing "Broken image".

* Cloning multiple selected objects now works as expected (i.e. each selected object is cloned separately, similar to the Duplicate command). Previously you could only clone a single selected object.

* The separate "license" and "contributors" dialogs have been merged into tabs on the About dialog. The about dialog now correctly sizes itself to fit the size of the splash SVG (while remaining resizable), and the rendering area is now cropped to the correct aspect ratio when the dialog is resized. The dialog also now displays the build information in the upper right corner.

* In the Transform dialog / Rotate tab, the icon was flipped horizontally to be in line with the direction of positive rotation; the change was applied to the default (now crispy) and legacy icon sets.

* The scale ratio lock button on the Selector controls bar shows a closed lock when pressed and open lock otherwise (same as the layer lock in the statusbar).

* The Browse button on Export dialog now opens the new file chooser, same as those used by Open and Save.

= Miscellaneous bugfixes =

* Reading a document with an incorrect namespace URI not only did not cause Inkscape to complain, but could also "pollute" Inkscape's internal namespace table, resulting in an "infection" of subsequently saved documents by the incorrect namespace. This is now fixed, but as a result, documents with incorrect namespace URIs will no longer load. You will have to edit them in a text editor to fix the namespaces.

* With newer versions of GTK, dragging with graphics tablet pen did not work in some tools and contexts (in particular, in Node and Rectangle tools). This is fixed.

* Scaling of objects with stroke in Selector used to cause undesired shifts of the scaled object, as well as scaling it in the dimension which was intended to remain untouched (e.g. slight change in width when you scale only height). All these problems are now fixed, both for interactive scaling by mouse and for numeric scaling via the Controls bar, and for both values of the "Scale stroke with objects" option. Among other things, this means that stroked objects no longer lose snapping on scale, and that the "Default scale origin" option in the Selector tool preferences finally works as designed. Caveat: There may still be problems if you scale a selection that contains objects with different stroke widths.

* Scaling of stroke now works for objects that didn't specify stroke-width; before, they always ended up with the default 1px stroke.

* The bounding box for text and flowed text objects did not include stroke width. This has been fixed.

* Stroke miterlimit on text objects was misinterpreted in absolute units instead of multiplies of stroke width (resulting in miter joins rendered as bevel).

* The unfinished path in Pen tool is now cancelled, not finalized, when you switch away from the Pen tool. Apart from being more intuitively correct, this also fixes a crash when you quit Inkscape with the unfinished path in Pen tool.

* Fonts on Win32 now use the native font mapper, meaning that Inkscape's font list is the same as other Windows programs, and the (potentially) very long delay experienced when using fonts for the first time in each session is gone.

* Setting dash pattern was broken for transformed objects, and copy/paste of style with dash pattern did not apply correctly to objects with transforms.

* An error caused a complete extra screen redraw after each zoom operation. That is, after you press "+" in a complex drawing, Inkscape redraws, but for some time after that it remains still unresponsive because it does that second redraw (invisibly for you, i.e. nothing changes on the screen). This is fixed.

* Gradient rendering was off by one pixel, which often resulted in visibly wrong gradient rendering for small objects or in zoom-out.

* The SVG path parser could not handle fractional numbers with the initial dot.

* Several pattern rendering bugs are fixed, discovered by working with SVG files exported from Adobe Illustrator.

* Inkscape on Mac OS X will now notice fonts in your ~/Library/Fonts directory, in addition to the other standard places.

* Inkscape couldn't be compiled with libxml versions <= 2.6.9, and we now bumped the requirements from 2.6.0 up to libxml >= 2.6.11, which is the earliest you can get officially, anyway.

* Inkscape no longer crashes when presented with a defective inx file for extensions.

* More document memory is now freed when documents are closed.

* EPS output now correctly includes an %%EOF footer.

* There was a regression in 0.43 that caused several minor, though annoying bugs; knots and handles remained highlighted after the mouse was released, and the rubberband selection rectangle stayed visible if the selection was ended over a node while in the node tool. This regression has been fixed.

* The connector routing code would previously sometimes confuse objects between multiple documents resulting in strange routing behaviour. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that allowed a malicious outsider to very easily disrupt an Inkboard session. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause deadlocks in the case that two users attempted to invite each other at the same time (see bug #[https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=604306&aid=1352522&group_id=93438 1352522] for further details). This should be fixed, although the fix has not been widely tested.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause session invitations to not appear on the invitee's screen. This was the result of a mistake in handling GDK modifier flags, and has been fixed.

= Translations =

* INX files (containing the UI of the external effects) now allow the user visible strings to be translated. This means that effect dialogs, file type selections, and extension names can all be translated by translators.

* Now, 38 languages are translated, of which 14 significantly: Catalan, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Lituanian, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Latine Serbian, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Average translation ratio has increased from 49% to 57%.

* Some new translations of tutorials have been brought by contributors : Czech, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian.

= Internal =

* The Document Properties Dialog code was completely gtkmmified, which lead to dramatic reduction of code size due to usage of widget objects. The used widget objects should be reusable by other dialogs, too, and the code is much more readable.

* Work on optimizing includes in all cpp files started, using the purgeincludes tool specifically written for that purpose, and ended with 40% of include lines removed!

= Known problems =
=== Problems with libgc-6.7 ===

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with this (newest) version of the Boehm garbage collection library. Make sure you use libgc-6.5 or 6.6 until this is sorted out.

=== Problems with "Composite" option of X.org ===

* On Linux, Inkscape may crash if you have the "Composite" option enabled in your X.org configuration. To disable this option, comment out this line in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option "Composite" "Enable"

:so it becomes

#Option "Composite" "Enable"

:and restart X.

=== Namespaces may need fixing ===

* Previous versions of inkscape sometimes silently saved documents with wrong namespace URIs. This has been fixed, but such corrupted documents will no longer load successfully. Such documents may require their namespace declarations to be fixed by hand.

=== Beware of defective themes on Linux ===

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem, however, but it would be nice if you as affected user would inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem. See especially http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312115 (thanks to Thomas Wood)
* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

=== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ===

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

= Previous releases =

* ReleaseNotes043 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes043)
* ReleaseNotes042 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes042)
* ReleaseNotes041 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes041)
* ReleaseNotes040 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes040)
* ReleaseNotes039 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes039)
* ReleaseNotes038 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes038)
* ReleaseNotes037 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes037)
* ReleaseNotes036 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes036)
* ReleaseNotes035 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes035)

Release notes/0.44

2006-06-10T14:14:03Z

AlanHorkan: "innovative" is too subjective, let users make up their own minds

== Inkscape 0.44: overview ==

Inkscape 0.44 is bigger and better than ever. Some highlights:

* Layers dialog

* Outline mode, many performance improvements

* Native PDF export with transparency

* Clipping and masking support

* Configurable keyboard shortcuts, including Xara X style shortcuts

* Docked color palette in the editing window

* Interactive indicator of the style of selection in the statusbar

* Improvements in Node tool including new "node sculpting" feature

* Extensions are enabled by default and work on all major platforms

* Better SVG support: <switch> element, ICC color profiles for images

* Persistent rotation centers, Paste Size command

* New icons, redesigned preferences dialogs, rearranged menus, many cosmetic improvements

* Hundreds of bugfixes and smaller features

* Not directly related to Inkscape, but important nevertheless: since our last release, [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ Firefox 1.5] was released with SVG support enabled by default. This means that you can now view any Inkscape document right in your Firefox window without any format conversions or installing any plugins!

= Performance =

== Outline mode ==

An Outline ("wireframe") display mode is implemented. Use the View > Display Mode > Outline to activate it. In this mode:

* all paths and shapes are rendered as inverse (black on light background and vice versa) outlines of constant width (1 screen pixel regardless of zoom), without fill;

* text is painted by inverse fill, without stroke;

* bitmaps are shown as is;

* any opacity and gradients are ignored.

The outline mode is usually not drastically faster than regular mode (usually 10% to 50% faster), and in some special cases it may even be slower. However, the value of the outline mode is not only in its speed; it is a good way to get an idea of the structure and objects of your document, and it is convenient for precision node editing and for finding "stray objects".

== Speed ==

In addition to the Outline mode which makes it much easier to work with complex drawings, this version of Inkscape also provides significant speed improvements in many areas.

* Thanks to optimizations in the renderer, Inkscape's screen redraw is faster by at least 10%, and in some cases (such as complex stroked/dashed paths at high zooms) up to three times faster.

* Optimizations in the Node tool resulted in noticeable speed gains for node editing. Thus, switching to and from the Node tool (with a path selected), as well as selecting nodes in that tool, are now at least ten times faster than before. Other operations, including curve and node dragging and move/scale/rotate operations on multiple selected nodes, are much faster as well. This is especially important when working with complex paths; with these optimizations, paths containing several thousand nodes, though still slow, are much more usable.

* An optimization in the attribute setting method made operations such as moving multiple objects with arrow keys at least 30% faster compared to 0.43. This is especially noticeable when you are moving clones selected together with their original (e.g. a clone tiling), in which case Inkscape now works three to four times faster.

* Interface icons are now rendered in the background (from SVG source in <code>share/icons/icons.svg</code>) when Inkscape is idle, rather than waiting for all the icons in a menu to render the first time you pull it up. This eliminates the annoying delay when opening menus for the first time.

* Previously, zooming in to view a small portion of a path (especially big and complex path), there was a very noticeable slowdown and memory use increased dramatically. We optimized the renderer to only process the visible part of a path, and as a result the rendering speed is now almost the same at any zoom up to the maximum, providing up to 10-40 times speedup compared to the previous version (the closer is the zoom, the greater is the gain).

* The Path > Break Apart command is now dozens of times (up to 100x) faster for complex paths with thousands of subpaths.

= SVG conformance =

== Color profile support ==

Inkscape now includes base ICC profile functionality. If compiled with LittleCMS support (if you run <code>configure</code> with <code>--enable-lcms</code> switch), Inkscape passes the [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-color-prof-01-f.html ICC color profile test] by W3C. The <color-profile> element has been implemented along with the "color-profile" attribute for <image> elements.

== <switch> support ==

Rendering support for SVG 1.1's '''Conditional Processing Module''' has been implemented, including ''switch'' element, ''requiredFeatures'', ''requiredExtensions'', ''systemLanguage'' attributes. Inkscape passes the Conditional processing tests ([http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-01-t.html] and [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-02-t.html]) by W3C.

== SVG output ==

* In Inkscape's SVG documents, colors are now expressed by name (‘white’) or three-digit form (‘<tt>#f3c</tt>’) when possible.

* The numeric values in <code>transform</code> attributes are written without insignificant trailing zeros, and anything less than that 1e-8 by absolute value (usually caused by rounding errors) is written as 0 to reduce clutter.

= Interface =

== Layers dialog ==

A Layers dialog (Ctrl+Shift+L) is implemented in this version. It works in parallel with the quick layer selector in the statusbar, so you can use whichever is more convenient for you.

* In the dialog, you can click on a layer to make it current, as well as toggle layers visible/hidden and locked/unlocked. You don't need to make a layer current to toggle it visibility or lock status.

* A hierarchical tree of layers is represented by a tree-like display in the dialog. You can expand or collapse branches of the tree to make the layer structure of a document easier to navigate.

* At the bottom of the dialog, there are buttons for adding a new layer, moving the current layer up or down (either one step or all the way to top or bottom), and deleting the current layer.

* Below the buttons, there's a slider and a spinbutton for adjusting the opacity of the current layer. A layer's opacity affects all objects in that layer in the same way as opacity of a group.

== Selected style indicator ==

A new control in the left end of the statusbar lets you quickly view and change the fill and stroke of the selected objects. When you have a text selection in Text tool or a gradient handle selected in the Gradient tool, this indicator displays and changes the style of the text fragment or gradient stop, instead of the entire object (it's the same behavior as the Fill&Stroke dialog.)

* The two indicators, labelled F: (top) and S: (bottom), display fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. (For gradient handles, they always display the same style.)

* Each fill/stroke indicator can display either a color+opacity swatch (the opacity shown here is the fill opacity or stroke opacity, not the master opacity) or a text label specifying N/A (nothing selected), None (no fill/stroke), Unset (unset fill/stroke), L Gradient, R Gradient, Pattern (corresponding fill/stroke types), or Different (selected objects have different fill/stroke types).

* Additionally, each indicator may be accompanied by one of two flags, m ("multiple", meaning there are two or more objects all with the same fill/stroke) or a ("averaged", meaning there are two or more objects with different flat colors in fill/stroke, and the indicator shows the average of these colors).

* Left-click on an indicator opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab (Fill or Stroke) active.

* Right-click on an indicator opens a popup menu with the following items:
** Edit fill/stroke...: Opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab selected. (Same as left-click.)
** Last set color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last applied to anything.
** Last selected color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last displayed in this indicator. (Allows you to easily copy fill/stroke color between objects: select source, select destination, apply "last selected color".)
** Invert: Sets the fill or stroke to the inverse of the current color (does not affect opacity).
** White, Black: Sets the fill or stroke to the corresponding color (fully opaque).
** Copy color, Paste color: Copies or pastes the fill or stroke color (when it's color) to/from the system clipboard, as text in the <code>#rrggbb</code> hex format.
** Swap fill and stroke: Exchanges fill and stroke (both their types and colors, if any).
** Make fill/stroke opaque: Removes fill or stroke transparency (not master transparency!).
** Unset fill/stroke: Unsets fill or stroke from selected objects.
** Remove fill/stroke: Removes fill or stroke from the selected objects.

* Middle-click on a fill/stroke indicator removes fill/stroke from selected objects; if it is already removed (i.e. if the indicator displays "None"), it does the same as the "Last set color" command from the popup menu.

* Drag and Drop of colors onto a fill/stroke indicator sets the fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly.

* The Stroke indicator also displays the stroke width of selection (averaged if there are multiple objects selected with different stroke widths), located to the right of the stroke color/transparency swatch. Left-clicking on it opens the Fill&Stroke dialog with the Stroke Style tab selected. Right-clicking on it opens a popup menu which allows you to choose the units for displaying the stroke width, as well as choose one of the presets to assign to selection.

* To the right of the fill/stroke indicators, the Opacity numeric field (labelled "O:") shows and allows you to change the master opacity of the selected object (or the averaged opacity of several selected objects). Right-clicking the numeric field opens a popup menu with preset opacity levels. Middle-clicking on the "O:" label cycles the opacity through the values of 0 (transparent), 0.5, and 1 (opaque).

The zoom field and the cursor coordinates indicator have been rearranged for compactness and moved to the right end of the statusbar. There's also a window resize handle added at the very end of the statusbar.

== Tool style indicators ==

For each object-creating tool (shapes, Pen/Pencil, Calligraphic, Text), the Controls bar (above the canvas) now includes a style indicator on the right. This indicator shows you which style the newly created object will have.

* The indicator correctly displays whichever style the tool is set to use - the global "last set" style or that tool's fixed style. For example, clicking on a palette swatch (even with nothing selected) changes the "last set" color and, if your tool is set to use the last set color, its indicator is updated, giving you an idea of your "brush" before you start to draw.

== Controls bar for the Text tool ==

* This version adds the beginnings of a Controls Bar for the Text tool (previously empty). Now you can select the font family, size, apply bold and italic styles, change alignment and text orientation without opening the Text and Font dialog.

* All controls are instant-apply and work on the entire text object (if nothing selected) or text selection. They can also apply to multiple text objects (though you would need to switch to Selector to select multiple text objects, then switch back to Text tool for its controls).

* The font-family drop-down contains names and previews of all fonts; unlike other programs, we didn't apply each font to its name, but added a separate preview string displayed with gray color after each font's name. This design ensures readability of font family names and provides maximum useful information in a limited space.

* We will be adding more controls (including spacing and kerning) to this bar for the next versions.

== Docked color palette ==

* Previously, color swatches could only be used from a floating palette (Ctrl+Shift+W). Now the color swatches palette is embedded in the main UI, at the bottom of the window between the canvas and the statusbar. It is enabled by default; use View > Show/Hide > Palette to enable or disable it. The docked palette has the same functionality as the floating one; use a button in the top right corner to access the swatches menu.

* The Wrap option (off by default) in the swatches menu converts the palette from a single row into a frame 2 or 3 rows high, for better access to colors in large palettes.

* Drag and Drop of colors has been enabled.
** Dragging colors from a palette shows a live swatch of the color being dragged under cursor.
** Drag and Drop of colors onto the selected style indicator in the statusbar sets the fill or stroke of the selected object(s).
** Colors can be dropped directly on to objects on canvas to set their fill, or shift+dropped to set their stroke. This affects only the object you drop the color on, regardless of whether that object is selected or not.
** Colors can be dragged to and from other applications.

* The new Inkscape default color palette was added. It contains a range of grays, standard HTML named colors, and a full range of colors sorted by their HSL values (475 colors overall). It is generated by a Python script which is available from Inkscape SVN in share/palettes.

* Several specialized color palettes, useful in color-coordinated projects, were created or borrowed from GIMP: Grays, Reds, Greens, Blues, Gold, Royal, Khaki, Hilite, and Topographic.

* All standard sizes of the swatches (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge) are made smaller overall.

== Inkscape Preferences dialog ==

Not only was the Inkscape Preferences dialog completely rewritten and redesigned, with numerous bugs fixed in the rewrite.

* The dialog is now fully GNOME-HIG compliant.

* As a new feature, the Simplify threshold can now be set with more precision.

== Document Properties / Metadata dialogs ==

* The Document Preferences dialog is now named Document Properties, and it was split in two: metadata were extracted into the Document Metadata dialog; metadata widgets are now also spread over two pages.

* A button was added to fit the canvas to the current selection or, if there's no selection, to the entire drawing. The button resizes the canvas and, if necessary, moves the drawing into place. It is now very easy to size the canvas to an illustration after it is ready.

* New controls: the new object snapping features required their own property widgets, and you can set the snapping sensitivity with a slider, or let it snap regardless of distance (grid only).

* Rearrangements within Document Properties: everything snapping-related was collected on one page; Grid and Guide widgets are on their own, the same page. For better HIG compliance, all widgets were categorized; especially the widgets on the Page page were completely rearranged in the General/Format/Border categories.

* Bug fixes: grayed out license URI had too low contrast, so it's no longer grayed out; the proprietary license didn't clean the license URI; spinbuttons had no tooltips, and minor grid quirks were removed; data was not updated when a new file replaced another in the same window.

* HIG compliance: much work went into that, and now only a few details are missing from full Gnome-HIG compliance.

* Updated Creative Commons Licenses: Updated CC licenses to the latest 2.5 versions by default in the license tab of the metadata dialog.

== Configurable keyboard ==

Inkscape's keyboard shortcuts are now configurable!

At this time, not all Inkscape actions can have their shortcuts customized. However, the majority of actions, including everything you see in the menus, are already configurable, and we're working on making more actions configurable.

On startup, Inkscape reads its keyboard shortcuts from <code>share/keys/default.xml</code>. That file is a copy of <code>inkscape.xml</code> in the same directory, which also contains keyboard emulation profiles for other vector editors:

*<code>xara.xml</code>: Xara X/Xara Xtreme/Xara LX keys

You can copy any of these over default.xml to use that profile. In all profiles, those keys which are not used by the corresponding program still have their Inkscape bindings. If you can contribute a profile for some vector editor that we don't yet have, we will appreciate that. The files have a simple XML-based format described in <code>inkscape.xml</code>.

You can also customize some of your keybindings without overwriting the main <code>default.xml</code>. If your profile directory (<code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux) contains a <code>keys</code> subdirectory with a <code>default.xml</code> file, the keybindings from that file will overlay (i.e. add to, and override in case of a conflict) the default bindings. The format of your own <code>default.xml</code> is the same as that of the main <code>default.xml</code>.

== Menus ==

* Zoom commands in the View menu are moved to a submenu; the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands are added to that submenu.

* Clone commands are moved into a submenu in Edit menu and given more descriptive names and tips.

* Pattern commands (Objects to Pattern and Pattern to Objects) are moved into a submenu in Object menu, under the new Clip and Mask submenus.

* The contents of the Effects menu are categorized into submenus, and several effects are renamed to use more intuitive names.

== Statusbar ==

* In Selector, for multiple selected objects, the statusbar now reports their types. For example, if 5 groups are selected, it displays

::5 objects of type Group in layer LayerName.

:instead of just "5 objects selected" as before. If there are up to 3 types in the selection, they will be listed, for example:

::5 objects of types Group, Path, Rectangle in layer LayerName.

:The order of the list will correspond to the order in which the objects were added to selection. If there are 4 or more types in selection, only the number of types is reported, for example:

::5 objects of 4 types in layer LayerName.

* In Selector, objects selected in groups are now identified as such, and the group ID is given, for example:

::Rectangle in group g212 (layer content)

:If selected objects have different parents within one layer (for example, if one is selected in a group and another outside it), the number of parents is reported:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 parents (layer content)

:If objects are in different layers, only the number of layers is reported since this also implies different parents:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 layers

* In Node tool, if your node selection includes nodes from different subpaths, statusbar reports the number of subpaths with selection and the total number of subpaths, for example:

::2 of 195 nodes selected in 2 of 36 subpaths.

* The contents of the statusbar message are now duplicated as a tooltip that is shown when you hover the mouse over the statusbar.

* The statusbar text is now no longer just cut off if there is insufficient room, but an ellipsis (...) is inserted at the end to show there's more (only with Gtk 2.6 and newer).

== Theme ==

* Inkscape has a new default icon set titled "Crispy" provided by Andre Sousa. The new icons are intended to add a more professional and cohesive look to our application, as well as to make the functions the icons represent more self-evident.

= Tools =

== Node tool ==

=== Node sculpting ===

An entirely new way of manipulating paths in Node tool is added in this version: Node sculpting. Normally, when you have several nodes selected and you drag one of them, all selected nodes move by the same amount. Now, if you Alt-drag one of the selected nodes, only that node is fully displaced; other selected nodes are moved less than the full amount, so that those farthest from the drag point remain stationary. This is similar to "proportional editing" or "soft selection" in 3D editors such as Blender.

So, for example, if you select several nodes on a straight line and Alt+drag the middle selected node, the path will bend into a smooth bell-like curve. Nodes' handles are also adjusted correspondingly to keep the overall shape smooth and natural. (If you don't have enough nodes on a path fragment that you want to reshape in this way, just select the end nodes of that fragment and press Ins a few times to populate it with nodes.)

Moreover, node sculpting is sensitive to pressure of your tablet pen. If you press slightly, your curve will have a narrow sharp tip (i.e. the nearest neighbors of your dragged node will move only a bit); if you press hard, the curve's tip will be wide and blunt (i.e. the nearest neighbors will move almost as much as the dragged node). (Hint: to stop dragging without losing your shape, first release Alt and then lift the tip of the pen.)

There are many possible applications of the sculpting technique. To take a simple example, selecting all nodes of an ellipse-like shape and Alt+dragging one of them will smoothly and naturally stretch and skew the entire shape in any direction. Doing the same to a complex path, such as star or spiral, will twist and punch it without destroying its intricate structure - this is the way to get squashed or self-intersecting stars, eccentric spirals and other shapes not easily doable before. Selecting only part of all nodes allows you to smoothly reshape parts of the figure without disturbing the rest.

When applied to text converted to path, node sculpting is a fun and easy way to twist, bend and distort it, achieving effects similar to "perspective envelope" or "curvilinear envelope" in other programs - but in a more powerful and flexible way. For example, by selecting all or part of the text's nodes and Alt-dragging, you can not only make a wavy banner out of a paragraph of text, but also apply a "magnifying lens"-like effect to any word in the middle.

Especially useful node sculpting is for complex natural paths, such as calligraphic strokes or bitmap traces, where you often want to do large-scale pushes and bends without destroying the small-scale features. Things like making a calligraphic stroke narrower in one place and wider in another, or changing the proportions, extending the ear or flattening the nose of a head - all this is now much faster and more natural to do using sculpting. It is also a new way to create new paths, too - starting from en ellipse with added nodes, it takes just a few Alt+drags to tweak it into a silhouette of a head, or a map of Australia, or an Inkscape logo!

Some examples are shown on the screenshot: [[http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png]].

=== "Show handles" toggle ===

The Controls bar for the Nodes tool now includes a toggle button which controls whether Bezier handles are shown on selected nodes (on by default). Selecting and dragging nodes on node-dense paths in zoom-out (e.g. for node sculpting) may be extremely difficult without hiding the handles, as it's hard to pick a node and not a handle when handles are shown.

=== New deletion behavior ===

* In Node tool, deleting node(s) by Del/Backspace keys or by Ctrl+Alt+clicking a node now tries to preserve, as much as possible, the current shape of the path. This means that the nodes adjacent to those being deleted have their handles adjusted to approximate the form that the path had before deletion. For example, if you Ctrl+Alt+click a path twice, once to add a new node and then to delete it, the path will not change at all (or change very slightly). The old deletion behavior without adjusting handles is still available via Ctrl+Del or Ctrl+Backspace.

=== Preserving positions of nodes and handles ===

* When you switch the type of the selected node to Smooth or Symmetric by pressing Shift+S/Shift+Y, you can now preserve the position of one of the two handles by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other handle is rotated/scaled to match.

* Similarly, when you join endnodes by pressing Shift+J, you can preserve the position of one of the two nodes by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other node is moved.

=== Miscellaneous ===

* The ! key inverts node selection in the current subpath(s) (i.e. subpaths with at least one selected node); Alt+! inverts in the entire path. (This is similar to how these keys work in Selector, with current subpath(s) instead of the current layer.)

* The keyboard shortcut for "Make selected segments curves" in Node tool is changed from Shift+K to Shift+U for better mnemonics.

== Calligraphic pen ==

=== Tremor ===

* Even when using a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity, the Calligraphy pen's strokes often look too smooth and artificial. To enable a more natural look, the new Tremor parameter is added to the Calligraphy tool in this version. Adjustable in the Controls bar from 0.0 to 1.0, it will affect your strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

=== Pen width ===

* In all previous versions, pen width depended on zoom in such a way that the strokes appeared the same visible width at any zoom, but were in fact narrower at zoom-in and wider at zoom-out. This behavior makes sense if you want to keep the same "feel" of the pen regardless of zoom; for example, if you zoomed in to make a small fix to your drawing, it's natural that your pen becomes physically smaller but feels the same to you. So, this behavior is kept as the default, but now we also added an alternative mode where your pen width is constant in absolute units regardless of zoom. To switch to this mode, use the checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by double-clicking the tool button).

* The Width field in the tool's controls bar now changes from 1 to 100, which corresponds to the range from 0.01 to 1.0 in the previous version. If the "width in absolute units" mode is turned on, the value in this fields gives the width of the stroke in px units. In the default mode, the value of 100 gives 100px wide strokes only at 100% zoom, and strokes are correspondingly narrower or wider at other zoom levels.

=== Selection ===

* A new preferences option for the Calligraphic tool, Keep selected, controls whether the newly created object remains selected after you finish drawing it. If you turn it off (by default it's on) and set the tool to using Last Set color, you can easily choose a new color by clicking on the palette without having to worry if this will change the color of the stroke you just created. (Watch the tool style indicator at the right end of the Controls bar for the style of the next stroke you will draw.)

* Esc deselects selected objects in Calligraphic, as in most other tools.

=== Style ===

* The stroke you're drawing is now shown, while you're drawing it, with the correct color and opacity that it will eventually have, instead of always black as before.

* On a new Inkscape installation, this tool now uses the last set style by default instead of the fixed black as before (this is changeable in the Inkscape Preferences for the tool).

== Pen tool ==

* While drawing a path, you can now move the last node you created by the same keys as in Node tool - that is, arrows, with Shift (for 10x displacement) or Alt (screen pixel displacement) modifiers.

* Also, you can switch the not-yet-finalized (red) segment of the path being drawn from curve to line (Shift+L) or back to curve (Shift+U), again the same shortcuts as in the Node tool.

* By popular demand, if a new path is being drawn but not yet finished, Ctrl+Z cancels that unfinished path (i.e. does the same as Esc), instead of undoing the previous action.

* In Pen tool, Del works the same as Backspace to delete the last created point on the unfinished path.

= Clipping and masking =

Inkscape now provides some UI for using clipping paths and masks.

* Any object can be non-destructively intersected with a path (called a clipping path) so that only the intersected portion of the object is visible.
** To apply clipping, select the objects to be clipped and the clipping path object, make sure the clipping path is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Clip > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the clipped objects as usual. The clipping remains applied and transforms together with each clipped object.
** To remove the clipping, do Object > Clip > Release. The clipping path is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unclipped object in z-order.

* Any object can be non-destructively masked by another object (called mask) so that: the mask's black or transparent areas become fully transparent in the masked object; mask's opaque white areas become fully opaque; and all intermediate colors translate into intermediate levels of opacity in the masked object. This allows you to apply, for example, arbitrary transparency gradients to objects.
** To apply a mask, select the objects to be masked and the mask object, make sure the mask is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Mask > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the masked objects as usual. The mask remains applied and transforms together with each masked object.
** To remove the masking, do Object > Mask > Release. The mask is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unmasked object in z-order.

* Objects with clippath show their bounding box intersected with the bounding box of the clippath, instead of the original unclipped bbox as before. (However, this does not apply to objects without clippath of their own which are clipped by being inside a clipped group.)

* Clipped or masked objects display "clipped" or "masked", correspondingly, in their statusbar descriptions.

* Although Inkscape had render-only support for clipping paths and masks for quite some time, in this release we fixed a number of bugs which may affect the display of your documents using clippaths or masks.
** Clippaths and masks with objectBoundingBox units are now shown correctly upon loading of the document.
** Clippaths without fill didn't work, this is now fixed.
** Objects with clippaths or masks are correctly copied/pasted between documents.

= Transformations =

== Transform dialog ==

Fixes and improvements in the Transform dialog (Ctrl+Shift+M):

* The Apply to each object separately checkbox is added, allowing you to scale/rotate/skew each selected object by the same amount, around that object's center. When off (by default), the selection is transformed as a whole. The status of this checkbox is remembered across sessions. (It has no effect on Move and Matrix tabs).

* The Clear button resets the values on the current tab to defaults.

* The Scale tab now allows you to specify horizontal or vertical size increments in percentage or absolute units. Also, there's a Scale proportionally checkbox which ensures that scaling preserves the width/height ratio. (If you are scaling several objects proportionally with "Apply to each object separately", you can only use the % unit to specify the scaling; otherwise each object's scale increments will have the width/height ratio of the entire selection, not of that specific object.)

* The Skew tab can now specify the skew as an absolute displacement (e.g. for horizontal skewing of a rectangle, that means the shift of the top rectangle side relative to the bottom), as percentage displacement (e.g. a 1% horizontal skew of a rectangle means shifting the top side by 1% of the rectangle height), or as an angle (e.g. horizontal skew by 15 degrees results in the sides of a rectangle being rotated to that angle, while the top and bottom remain horizontal).

* The Matrix tab (previously called "Transform") can either edit the current <code>transform=</code> matrix of an object, or post-multiply the <code>transform=</code> with the matrix you specify, depending on the Edit current matrix checkbox. (As it is now redundant, the transformation matrix in the Object Properties dialog is removed.)

* The dialog now correctly watches selection changes in the active document window and updates its values accordingly.

* The layout of the dialog is simplified, tooltips and mnemonics added for better usability.

* Many bugs are fixed, especially in value conversions between units.

== Persistent rotation centers ==

* The position of the center (axis) of rotation and skewing used by Selector is now remembered for all objects and restored when you select those objects again (even after saving and reopening the document). When you move or scale an object, its rotation center is moved or scaled too, so its position relative to the object always remains the same unless you move it explicitly.

* When you have several objects selected, they use the rotation center of the first selected object. If the first object does not have center set (i.e. if it's in a default central position), then several objects will rotate around the geometric center of their common bounding box (as before).

* Shift+click on the rotation center resets it back to the center of the object's box.

* Consequently, dragging the rotation center is now an undoable action; you can press Ctrl+Z to undo the drag.

* Keyboard rotation by [, ] keys with various modifiers, as well as the Rotate tab in the Transform dialog, work around the selected object's rotation center (for multi-object selection, the rotation center of the first selected object).

* Rotation centers are preserved when duplicating, cloning (including clone tiler), grouping/ungrouping, and converting to path.

== Pasting size ==

A number of commands are added to easily scale selected objects to match the size of the object(s) previously copied to the clipboard. They are all in the Paste Size submenu in Edit menu:

* Paste Size scales the whole selection to match the overall size of the clipboard object(s).

* Paste Width/Paste Height scale the whole selection horizontally/vertically so that it matches the width/height of the clipboard object(s). These commands honor the scale ratio lock on the Selector controls bar (between W and H fields), so that when that lock is pressed, the other dimension of the selected object is scaled in the same proportion; otherwise the other dimension is unchanged.

* Paste Size Separately, Paste Width Separately and Paste Height Separately work similarly to the above described commands, except that they scale each selected object separately to make it match the size/width/height of the clipboard object(s).

= Connectors and automatic layout =

* There have been numerous bugfixes and several improvements to the behaviour of connectors and the connector tool:
** Connectors moved as part of a selection will now stay attached to other objects in the selection, rather than becoming detached from them.
** By default, the Connector tool will not attach connectors to text objects. There is a new checkbox in the connector preferences to control this setting.
** The margins around avoided shapes (used for autorouting connectors) can now be adjusted via the "Spacing" control on the controls bar.

* Automatic Diagram Layout: A new button is available in the Align and Distribute dialog that performs automatic layout of diagrams involving a network of shapes and connectors. Layout is accomplished using force-directed graph layout based on the Kamada-Kawai algorithm. This algorithm treats edges as if they are springs such that the distance between nodes will be proportional to the path length - number of connectors - between them. Disconnected components (where not every shape is connected) will be arranged around the circumference of a circle.

* There is a new Remove Overlaps button to move the selected objects enough that they don't overlap each other. A minimum spacing between the boundaries of objects can be specified. Together with the automatic layout tool, described above, this should be a significant addition to Inkscape's usability for diagramming. Removing overlaps is different from the "Unclump" button in that the former is completely deterministic and guarantees removing overlaps on the first application, but is not concerned with visual perceptive distances between objects. Unclumping, on the other hand, attempts to equalize perceptive distances between objects and can be applied repeatedly for gradual effect.

= Selective tracing with SIOX =

* Inkscape 0.44 has an early version of the Simple Interactive Object Extraction (SIOX) algorithm (see [http://www.siox.org siox.org]) implemented in its bitmap tracing code. For a quick reference on how this is used, please see [http://inkscape.org/win32/siox/howto.svg this file]. This clever algorithm from the realm of Image Recognition allows you to select areas of similar color, with the goal of extracting a foreground area from the background. To use:
** Enable the SIOX checkbox in addition to your usual tracing options.
** Select both the bitmap and an object that covers the foreground and part of background, leaving only background areas of the image uncovered.
** Hit OK. SIOX will now analyze and attempt to pull out the foreground-colored areas you want, and trace only those parts of the image.

* The full SIOX selection mechanism (e.g. the ability to identify foreground and background areas separately) is not implemented yet, but is planned for a future release.

= Snapping =

* In addition to snapping to guides and grids, you can now snap to other objects' paths and/or nodes. As with grid and guide snapping, you can separately enable snapping of bboxes to objects and/or snapping of nodes to objects. Be aware, however, that this is experimental code - there may be surprises. It may also be slow in large documents with thousands of objects.

* In addition to the snap sensitivity sliders in Document Preferences (which set snap distances in px), there are Always snap checkboxes (separately for object, grid and guide snapping) which force snapping at any distance.

* Grid snapping now applies only to the visible grid lines. For example, if you have zoomed out so that only every 10th grid line is visible, snapping will only apply to these visible lines. In addition, default grid snap sensitivity is set to "Always snap". This will hopefully reduce the number of "snapping does not work" complaints from users who didn't zoom in close enough to see that snapping does in fact work, but only at sub-px distances to the 1px-spaced grid. At the same time, you can still snap to finely grained distances if you zoom in.

* Guidelines are made easier to pick. Now you don't need to position mouse exactly over a guideline to activate it; instead there's a small position tolerance (1 screen pixel on each side of the guideline).

= Sublayers =

Previously, it was only possible to make a group a temporary sublayer by entering that group. Now Inkscape supports creating and using true persistent sublayers within a layer.

* The Add layer dialog allows you to place the new layer above, below, or inside the current layer.

* In Preferences (Selecting tab), options are added allowing the "Select All" command and Tab key selection to work either in the current layer only or in the current layer and its sublayers.

= Markers =

* Converting stroke to path now correctly processes dashed strokes. For paths with markers, this command now creates a group containing the stroke converted to path and all its markers as independent objects (i.e. they are not markers anymore, but instead you can easily transform them or paint them any color, as a workaround for the "markers don't take the color of the stroke" bug; to be properly fixed, this bug requires implementing some SVG 1.2 features).

* The DimensionIn and DimensionOut markers are changed so that the arrow tips exactly correspond to node positions. It is now very easy to make dimension lines that correspond to drawn objects. The dimension specifications can now easily be chained by splitting a straight line at a point and assigning DimensionIn/Out markers to the resulting smaller paths whose endpoints coincide.

* All arrow markers in the standard set are moved on the path so that their tips are as close as possible to the corresponding node of the path. Complete coincidence is not possible, because it would cause the blunt end of the stroke itself to be visible under the sharp tip of the arrow, distorting its shape. However, now the arrow tips are much closer to their nodes than before, and probably sufficiently close for many practical situations.

* A new RazorWire path marker was added. By applying it as a mid-marker you can get a good approximation of a razor wire.

= Extensions =

* The Effects menu is now always on, it's no longer an "experimental feature". The preference setting to enable the menu has been removed.

* Python extensions (which includes almost all currently available extensions) work on Windows out of the box, using a copy of Python shipping with Inkscape. The only minor inconvenience is that when an effect is launched, you get an empty console window that stays on while the effect is doing its work. (Don't close that window, it will disappear by itself when the effect is finished.)

* A new Python effect, Render > LaTeX formula, allows you to type in any LaTeX formula and get a vector object with the TeX rendition of this formula inserted into your document. You need to have latex, dvips, and pstoedit installed and in PATH for this to work.

* A new Python effect, Flatten Path, flattens paths in the current selection, approximating each path with a polyline whose segments meet the specified criteria for flatness.

* A new Python effect, Measure Path, attaches a text label to each path in the selection giving the length of that path (in px units).

* The Radius Randomize effect has a new parameter which enables normal distribution of random displacements instead of uniform as before, which gives a more natural feel to the randomized path.

* The Render > L-system (formerly "Fractal (Lindenmayer)") effect is improved in this version. Now you can specify different angle values for turning left and right, which makes it possible to smoothly bend some L-systems sideways. Also, you can separately randomize the step length and the angles by a given percent for more natural look (this works especially well with plant-like branching shapes). This effect can be used to create Penrose tiling, Sierpinsky triangle, Dragon curve and other famous mathematical artefacts, as well as various meanders, friezes, patterns, and trees. Some examples can be seen on this screenshot: [http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png] as well as in the new example file <code>share/examples/l-systems.svg</code>.

* The Interpolate Path, Random Tree, and L-system effects are fixed to place their result on the current layer instead of document root and in the center of the (last-saved) document view instead of 0,0 as before.

* INX files now have the ability to hold more information. This includes tooltips and descriptions of the extensions. These are all also translatable.

* Thanks to keyboard configurability, it is now possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to those effects you use most often, so you can activate them without going into the menu.

= Formats =

* Inkscape's PDF export is now native (i.e. does not require any external applications) and supports transparency, including gradients with transparency. This replaced the old export extension that required Ghostscript and worked via Postscript, losing any transparency. The new PDF export is still immature; in particular it does not handle text, so you should check "Convert text to path" on the export options dialog. Other things not yet supported include: gradients on stroke; eccentric elliptic gradients; patterns, masks, and clipping paths; embedded images.

* You can now Save as Compressed Inkscape SVG with media.This save option collects the svg file and all linked images into a zip archive for distribution. Although you cannot open the resulting archive directly with inkscape, the media is linked such that after unzipping you can open the SVG file immediately.

* An output format for desktop cutting plotters, such as the Wishblade and Craftrobo, was added. This format is a very minimalist DXF file with appropriate scaling and translation applied. This output format should not be expected to operate as a generalized DXF output.

* Inkscape can open/import default files generated by the Xfig vector graphics editor. This requires that the fig2dev command (transfig) is in your PATH.

* Starting with this version, there is a limited ability to export Inkscape drawing shapes as Open Document Format drawings (.odg files). Currently the export is limited to text, shapes, and solid fill and strokes. This output will be improved in the coming months. In the meantime, however, ODG output is already useful for getting your SVG drawings into the Open Document world, in particular into an office suite such as OpenOffice.org.

* The new XCF output extension exports all top-level elements (i.e. layers and objects directly under root) as PNGs and assembles them into an XCF for procesing in the Gimp. Requires Python, PyXML and Gimp. Gimp 2.2.x or above must be in the path and be named <code>gimp</code>. A version of Inkscape 0.44 or above must be accessible from the path. Does not function in Windows.

= Miscellaneous shortcuts =

* Now you can use Shift+middle button drag, in any tool, to zoom into an area. This works the same as simple drag in Zoom tool, but is faster because it does not require switching away from your current tool. Together with middle button drag (panning), middle button click (zoom in) and Shift+middle button click (zoom out), this completes the set of canvas navigation shortcuts available in any tool or context.

* In Gradient tool, Shift+R reverses the gradient definition (i.e. mirrors the stop positions) without moving the gradient handles. For example, an elliptic gradient with blue center and red periphery becomes red in the center and blue in the periphery. This works on the gradient(s) of the currently selected gradient handle or, if no handle is selected, on all selected objects' gradients. (Compare with the Node tool where Shift+R reverses the direction of the selected path.) This is especially convenient for elliptic gradients which, unlike linear, you cannot simply rotate by 180 degrees for the same result.

* In Selector, Ctrl+Enter enters the selected group (making it a temporary layer). Ctrl+Backspace leaves the current layer and goes one layer up in the hierarchy (but not to root).

= Miscellaneous improvements =

* Document templates (listed in File > New) are now first searched in the <code>templates</code> subdirectory of the user's profile directory (on Linux it's <code>~/.inkscape/templates</code>), then in the system-wide Inkscape templates directory. This allows you to add your own templates on top of the list of standard templates, as well as override the default template with your own one (the <code>default.svg</code> in the profile directory has priority over the system-wide one).

* When toggling one of the "transform with object" buttons (for stroke width, rounded rectangle corners, gradients, or patterns), a message is displayed in the statusbar explaining what has changed in the program's behavior. Hopefully this will reduce the number of complaints from users who had accidentally toggled one of these and were surprised by the result.

* Whole thousands above 2000 in the rulers are now displayed as 2k, 3k, 4k etc.

* In the Document Preferences dialog, the new object style for each tool is now shown as a style swatch (displaying fill/stroke colors and opacity, stroke width, and master opacity), similar in design to the selected style indicator in the statusbar.

* In the Grid Arrange dialog, row/column spacing can now be negative.

* The installation default is now to scale the rounded rectangle corners with the rectangles themselves (the previous default mode, still available as an option, was to keep rounding radii unchanged when scaling rectangles).

* Added a new <code>--export-area-canvas</code> command line parameter that causes the exported PNG to contain the full canvas. This option as well as <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-area</code> can now be used along with <code>--export-id</code> and <code>--export-id-only</code> for greater flexibility.

* The <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters now return the true SVG bounding box of the object instead of the Inkscape coordinate system bbox (with inverted Y axis). The new behavior makes more sense for scripting use of Inkscape.

* The dpi value in the Export dialog has had its range extended; now possible values are from 0.01 to 100000.

* Individual <tspan>s within text objects (including line tspans) can now be selected via the XML editor to view their bounding boxes (though per SVG, you cannot transform them). Also, you can use the <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters to find out the bounding boxes of tspans from a script. (Individual strings within or between tspans are still not selectable, and they cannot have an ID for querying anyway.)

* The placeholder image which is shown when a bitmap file was no longer accessible reads now "Linked image not found" instead of the confusing "Broken image".

* Cloning multiple selected objects now works as expected (i.e. each selected object is cloned separately, similar to the Duplicate command). Previously you could only clone a single selected object.

* The separate "license" and "contributors" dialogs have been merged into tabs on the About dialog. The about dialog now correctly sizes itself to fit the size of the splash SVG (while remaining resizable), and the rendering area is now cropped to the correct aspect ratio when the dialog is resized. The dialog also now displays the build information in the upper right corner.

* In the Transform dialog / Rotate tab, the icon was flipped horizontally to be in line with the direction of positive rotation; the change was applied to the default (now crispy) and legacy icon sets.

* The scale ratio lock button on the Selector controls bar shows a closed lock when pressed and open lock otherwise (same as the layer lock in the statusbar).

* The Browse button on Export dialog now opens the new file chooser, same as those used by Open and Save.

= Miscellaneous bugfixes =

* Reading a document with an incorrect namespace URI not only did not cause Inkscape to complain, but could also "pollute" Inkscape's internal namespace table, resulting in an "infection" of subsequently saved documents by the incorrect namespace. This is now fixed, but as a result, documents with incorrect namespace URIs will no longer load. You will have to edit them in a text editor to fix the namespaces.

* With newer versions of GTK, dragging with graphics tablet pen did not work in some tools and contexts (in particular, in Node and Rectangle tools). This is fixed.

* Scaling of objects with stroke in Selector used to cause undesired shifts of the scaled object, as well as scaling it in the dimension which was intended to remain untouched (e.g. slight change in width when you scale only height). All these problems are now fixed, both for interactive scaling by mouse and for numeric scaling via the Controls bar, and for both values of the "Scale stroke with objects" option. Among other things, this means that stroked objects no longer lose snapping on scale, and that the "Default scale origin" option in the Selector tool preferences finally works as designed. Caveat: There may still be problems if you scale a selection that contains objects with different stroke widths.

* Scaling of stroke now works for objects that didn't specify stroke-width; before, they always ended up with the default 1px stroke.

* The bounding box for text and flowed text objects did not include stroke width. This has been fixed.

* Stroke miterlimit on text objects was misinterpreted in absolute units instead of multiplies of stroke width (resulting in miter joins rendered as bevel).

* The unfinished path in Pen tool is now cancelled, not finalized, when you switch away from the Pen tool. Apart from being more intuitively correct, this also fixes a crash when you quit Inkscape with the unfinished path in Pen tool.

* Fonts on Win32 now use the native font mapper, meaning that Inkscape's font list is the same as other Windows programs, and the (potentially) very long delay experienced when using fonts for the first time in each session is gone.

* Setting dash pattern was broken for transformed objects, and copy/paste of style with dash pattern did not apply correctly to objects with transforms.

* An error caused a complete extra screen redraw after each zoom operation. That is, after you press "+" in a complex drawing, Inkscape redraws, but for some time after that it remains still unresponsive because it does that second redraw (invisibly for you, i.e. nothing changes on the screen). This is fixed.

* Gradient rendering was off by one pixel, which often resulted in visibly wrong gradient rendering for small objects or in zoom-out.

* The SVG path parser could not handle fractional numbers with the initial dot.

* Several pattern rendering bugs are fixed, discovered by working with SVG files exported from Adobe Illustrator.

* Inkscape on Mac OS X will now notice fonts in your ~/Library/Fonts directory, in addition to the other standard places.

* Inkscape couldn't be compiled with libxml versions <= 2.6.9, and we now bumped the requirements from 2.6.0 up to libxml >= 2.6.11, which is the earliest you can get officially, anyway.

* Inkscape no longer crashes when presented with a defective inx file for extensions.

* More document memory is now freed when documents are closed.

* EPS output now correctly includes an %%EOF footer.

* There was a regression in 0.43 that caused several minor, though annoying bugs; knots and handles remained highlighted after the mouse was released, and the rubberband selection rectangle stayed visible if the selection was ended over a node while in the node tool. This regression has been fixed.

* The connector routing code would previously sometimes confuse objects between multiple documents resulting in strange routing behaviour. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that allowed a malicious outsider to very easily disrupt an Inkboard session. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause deadlocks in the case that two users attempted to invite each other at the same time (see bug #[https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=604306&aid=1352522&group_id=93438 1352522] for further details). This should be fixed, although the fix has not been widely tested.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause session invitations to not appear on the invitee's screen. This was the result of a mistake in handling GDK modifier flags, and has been fixed.

= Translations =

* INX files (containing the UI of the external effects) now allow the user visible strings to be translated. This means that effect dialogs, file type selections, and extension names can all be translated by translators.

* Now, 38 languages are translated, of which 14 significantly: Catalan, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Lituanian, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Latine Serbian, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Average translation ratio has increased from 49% to 57%.

* Some new translations of tutorials have been brought by contributors : Czech, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian.

= Internal =

* The Document Properties Dialog code was completely gtkmmified, which lead to dramatic reduction of code size due to usage of widget objects. The used widget objects should be reusable by other dialogs, too, and the code is much more readable.

* Work on optimizing includes in all cpp files started, using the purgeincludes tool specifically written for that purpose, and ended with 40% of include lines removed!

= Known problems =
=== Problems with libgc-6.7 ===

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with this (newest) version of the Boehm garbage collection library. Make sure you use libgc-6.5 or 6.6 until this is sorted out.

=== Problems with "Composite" option of X.org ===

* On Linux, Inkscape may crash if you have the "Composite" option enabled in your X.org configuration. To disable this option, comment out this line in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option "Composite" "Enable"

:so it becomes

#Option "Composite" "Enable"

:and restart X.

=== Namespaces may need fixing ===

* Previous versions of inkscape sometimes silently saved documents with wrong namespace URIs. This has been fixed, but such corrupted documents will no longer load successfully. Such documents may require their namespace declarations to be fixed by hand.

=== Beware of defective themes on Linux ===

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem, however, but it would be nice if you as affected user would inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem. See especially http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312115 (thanks to Thomas Wood)
* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

=== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ===

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

= Previous releases =

* ReleaseNotes043 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes043)
* ReleaseNotes042 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes042)
* ReleaseNotes041 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes041)
* ReleaseNotes040 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes040)
* ReleaseNotes039 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes039)
* ReleaseNotes038 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes038)
* ReleaseNotes037 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes037)
* ReleaseNotes036 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes036)
* ReleaseNotes035 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes035)

Release notes/0.44

2006-06-10T14:12:26Z

AlanHorkan: xara style shortcuts

== Inkscape 0.44: overview ==

Inkscape 0.44 is bigger and better than ever. Some highlights:

* Layers dialog

* Outline mode, many performance improvements

* Native PDF export with transparency

* Clipping and masking support

* Configurable keyboard shortcuts, including Xara X style shortcuts

* Docked color palette in the editing window

* Interactive indicator of the style of selection in the statusbar

* Innovative "node sculpting" and other improvements in Node tool

* Extensions are enabled by default and work on all major platforms

* Better SVG support: <switch> element, ICC color profiles for images

* Persistent rotation centers, Paste Size command

* New icons, redesigned preferences dialogs, rearranged menus, many cosmetic improvements

* Hundreds of bugfixes and smaller features

* Not directly related to Inkscape, but important nevertheless: since our last release, [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ Firefox 1.5] was released with SVG support enabled by default. This means that you can now view any Inkscape document right in your Firefox window without any format conversions or installing any plugins!

= Performance =

== Outline mode ==

An Outline ("wireframe") display mode is implemented. Use the View > Display Mode > Outline to activate it. In this mode:

* all paths and shapes are rendered as inverse (black on light background and vice versa) outlines of constant width (1 screen pixel regardless of zoom), without fill;

* text is painted by inverse fill, without stroke;

* bitmaps are shown as is;

* any opacity and gradients are ignored.

The outline mode is usually not drastically faster than regular mode (usually 10% to 50% faster), and in some special cases it may even be slower. However, the value of the outline mode is not only in its speed; it is a good way to get an idea of the structure and objects of your document, and it is convenient for precision node editing and for finding "stray objects".

== Speed ==

In addition to the Outline mode which makes it much easier to work with complex drawings, this version of Inkscape also provides significant speed improvements in many areas.

* Thanks to optimizations in the renderer, Inkscape's screen redraw is faster by at least 10%, and in some cases (such as complex stroked/dashed paths at high zooms) up to three times faster.

* Optimizations in the Node tool resulted in noticeable speed gains for node editing. Thus, switching to and from the Node tool (with a path selected), as well as selecting nodes in that tool, are now at least ten times faster than before. Other operations, including curve and node dragging and move/scale/rotate operations on multiple selected nodes, are much faster as well. This is especially important when working with complex paths; with these optimizations, paths containing several thousand nodes, though still slow, are much more usable.

* An optimization in the attribute setting method made operations such as moving multiple objects with arrow keys at least 30% faster compared to 0.43. This is especially noticeable when you are moving clones selected together with their original (e.g. a clone tiling), in which case Inkscape now works three to four times faster.

* Interface icons are now rendered in the background (from SVG source in <code>share/icons/icons.svg</code>) when Inkscape is idle, rather than waiting for all the icons in a menu to render the first time you pull it up. This eliminates the annoying delay when opening menus for the first time.

* Previously, zooming in to view a small portion of a path (especially big and complex path), there was a very noticeable slowdown and memory use increased dramatically. We optimized the renderer to only process the visible part of a path, and as a result the rendering speed is now almost the same at any zoom up to the maximum, providing up to 10-40 times speedup compared to the previous version (the closer is the zoom, the greater is the gain).

* The Path > Break Apart command is now dozens of times (up to 100x) faster for complex paths with thousands of subpaths.

= SVG conformance =

== Color profile support ==

Inkscape now includes base ICC profile functionality. If compiled with LittleCMS support (if you run <code>configure</code> with <code>--enable-lcms</code> switch), Inkscape passes the [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-color-prof-01-f.html ICC color profile test] by W3C. The <color-profile> element has been implemented along with the "color-profile" attribute for <image> elements.

== <switch> support ==

Rendering support for SVG 1.1's '''Conditional Processing Module''' has been implemented, including ''switch'' element, ''requiredFeatures'', ''requiredExtensions'', ''systemLanguage'' attributes. Inkscape passes the Conditional processing tests ([http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-01-t.html] and [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/20030813/htmlframe/full-struct-cond-02-t.html]) by W3C.

== SVG output ==

* In Inkscape's SVG documents, colors are now expressed by name (‘white’) or three-digit form (‘<tt>#f3c</tt>’) when possible.

* The numeric values in <code>transform</code> attributes are written without insignificant trailing zeros, and anything less than that 1e-8 by absolute value (usually caused by rounding errors) is written as 0 to reduce clutter.

= Interface =

== Layers dialog ==

A Layers dialog (Ctrl+Shift+L) is implemented in this version. It works in parallel with the quick layer selector in the statusbar, so you can use whichever is more convenient for you.

* In the dialog, you can click on a layer to make it current, as well as toggle layers visible/hidden and locked/unlocked. You don't need to make a layer current to toggle it visibility or lock status.

* A hierarchical tree of layers is represented by a tree-like display in the dialog. You can expand or collapse branches of the tree to make the layer structure of a document easier to navigate.

* At the bottom of the dialog, there are buttons for adding a new layer, moving the current layer up or down (either one step or all the way to top or bottom), and deleting the current layer.

* Below the buttons, there's a slider and a spinbutton for adjusting the opacity of the current layer. A layer's opacity affects all objects in that layer in the same way as opacity of a group.

== Selected style indicator ==

A new control in the left end of the statusbar lets you quickly view and change the fill and stroke of the selected objects. When you have a text selection in Text tool or a gradient handle selected in the Gradient tool, this indicator displays and changes the style of the text fragment or gradient stop, instead of the entire object (it's the same behavior as the Fill&Stroke dialog.)

* The two indicators, labelled F: (top) and S: (bottom), display fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. (For gradient handles, they always display the same style.)

* Each fill/stroke indicator can display either a color+opacity swatch (the opacity shown here is the fill opacity or stroke opacity, not the master opacity) or a text label specifying N/A (nothing selected), None (no fill/stroke), Unset (unset fill/stroke), L Gradient, R Gradient, Pattern (corresponding fill/stroke types), or Different (selected objects have different fill/stroke types).

* Additionally, each indicator may be accompanied by one of two flags, m ("multiple", meaning there are two or more objects all with the same fill/stroke) or a ("averaged", meaning there are two or more objects with different flat colors in fill/stroke, and the indicator shows the average of these colors).

* Left-click on an indicator opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab (Fill or Stroke) active.

* Right-click on an indicator opens a popup menu with the following items:
** Edit fill/stroke...: Opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog with the corresponding tab selected. (Same as left-click.)
** Last set color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last applied to anything.
** Last selected color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke color that was last displayed in this indicator. (Allows you to easily copy fill/stroke color between objects: select source, select destination, apply "last selected color".)
** Invert: Sets the fill or stroke to the inverse of the current color (does not affect opacity).
** White, Black: Sets the fill or stroke to the corresponding color (fully opaque).
** Copy color, Paste color: Copies or pastes the fill or stroke color (when it's color) to/from the system clipboard, as text in the <code>#rrggbb</code> hex format.
** Swap fill and stroke: Exchanges fill and stroke (both their types and colors, if any).
** Make fill/stroke opaque: Removes fill or stroke transparency (not master transparency!).
** Unset fill/stroke: Unsets fill or stroke from selected objects.
** Remove fill/stroke: Removes fill or stroke from the selected objects.

* Middle-click on a fill/stroke indicator removes fill/stroke from selected objects; if it is already removed (i.e. if the indicator displays "None"), it does the same as the "Last set color" command from the popup menu.

* Drag and Drop of colors onto a fill/stroke indicator sets the fill and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly.

* The Stroke indicator also displays the stroke width of selection (averaged if there are multiple objects selected with different stroke widths), located to the right of the stroke color/transparency swatch. Left-clicking on it opens the Fill&Stroke dialog with the Stroke Style tab selected. Right-clicking on it opens a popup menu which allows you to choose the units for displaying the stroke width, as well as choose one of the presets to assign to selection.

* To the right of the fill/stroke indicators, the Opacity numeric field (labelled "O:") shows and allows you to change the master opacity of the selected object (or the averaged opacity of several selected objects). Right-clicking the numeric field opens a popup menu with preset opacity levels. Middle-clicking on the "O:" label cycles the opacity through the values of 0 (transparent), 0.5, and 1 (opaque).

The zoom field and the cursor coordinates indicator have been rearranged for compactness and moved to the right end of the statusbar. There's also a window resize handle added at the very end of the statusbar.

== Tool style indicators ==

For each object-creating tool (shapes, Pen/Pencil, Calligraphic, Text), the Controls bar (above the canvas) now includes a style indicator on the right. This indicator shows you which style the newly created object will have.

* The indicator correctly displays whichever style the tool is set to use - the global "last set" style or that tool's fixed style. For example, clicking on a palette swatch (even with nothing selected) changes the "last set" color and, if your tool is set to use the last set color, its indicator is updated, giving you an idea of your "brush" before you start to draw.

== Controls bar for the Text tool ==

* This version adds the beginnings of a Controls Bar for the Text tool (previously empty). Now you can select the font family, size, apply bold and italic styles, change alignment and text orientation without opening the Text and Font dialog.

* All controls are instant-apply and work on the entire text object (if nothing selected) or text selection. They can also apply to multiple text objects (though you would need to switch to Selector to select multiple text objects, then switch back to Text tool for its controls).

* The font-family drop-down contains names and previews of all fonts; unlike other programs, we didn't apply each font to its name, but added a separate preview string displayed with gray color after each font's name. This design ensures readability of font family names and provides maximum useful information in a limited space.

* We will be adding more controls (including spacing and kerning) to this bar for the next versions.

== Docked color palette ==

* Previously, color swatches could only be used from a floating palette (Ctrl+Shift+W). Now the color swatches palette is embedded in the main UI, at the bottom of the window between the canvas and the statusbar. It is enabled by default; use View > Show/Hide > Palette to enable or disable it. The docked palette has the same functionality as the floating one; use a button in the top right corner to access the swatches menu.

* The Wrap option (off by default) in the swatches menu converts the palette from a single row into a frame 2 or 3 rows high, for better access to colors in large palettes.

* Drag and Drop of colors has been enabled.
** Dragging colors from a palette shows a live swatch of the color being dragged under cursor.
** Drag and Drop of colors onto the selected style indicator in the statusbar sets the fill or stroke of the selected object(s).
** Colors can be dropped directly on to objects on canvas to set their fill, or shift+dropped to set their stroke. This affects only the object you drop the color on, regardless of whether that object is selected or not.
** Colors can be dragged to and from other applications.

* The new Inkscape default color palette was added. It contains a range of grays, standard HTML named colors, and a full range of colors sorted by their HSL values (475 colors overall). It is generated by a Python script which is available from Inkscape SVN in share/palettes.

* Several specialized color palettes, useful in color-coordinated projects, were created or borrowed from GIMP: Grays, Reds, Greens, Blues, Gold, Royal, Khaki, Hilite, and Topographic.

* All standard sizes of the swatches (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge) are made smaller overall.

== Inkscape Preferences dialog ==

Not only was the Inkscape Preferences dialog completely rewritten and redesigned, with numerous bugs fixed in the rewrite.

* The dialog is now fully GNOME-HIG compliant.

* As a new feature, the Simplify threshold can now be set with more precision.

== Document Properties / Metadata dialogs ==

* The Document Preferences dialog is now named Document Properties, and it was split in two: metadata were extracted into the Document Metadata dialog; metadata widgets are now also spread over two pages.

* A button was added to fit the canvas to the current selection or, if there's no selection, to the entire drawing. The button resizes the canvas and, if necessary, moves the drawing into place. It is now very easy to size the canvas to an illustration after it is ready.

* New controls: the new object snapping features required their own property widgets, and you can set the snapping sensitivity with a slider, or let it snap regardless of distance (grid only).

* Rearrangements within Document Properties: everything snapping-related was collected on one page; Grid and Guide widgets are on their own, the same page. For better HIG compliance, all widgets were categorized; especially the widgets on the Page page were completely rearranged in the General/Format/Border categories.

* Bug fixes: grayed out license URI had too low contrast, so it's no longer grayed out; the proprietary license didn't clean the license URI; spinbuttons had no tooltips, and minor grid quirks were removed; data was not updated when a new file replaced another in the same window.

* HIG compliance: much work went into that, and now only a few details are missing from full Gnome-HIG compliance.

* Updated Creative Commons Licenses: Updated CC licenses to the latest 2.5 versions by default in the license tab of the metadata dialog.

== Configurable keyboard ==

Inkscape's keyboard shortcuts are now configurable!

At this time, not all Inkscape actions can have their shortcuts customized. However, the majority of actions, including everything you see in the menus, are already configurable, and we're working on making more actions configurable.

On startup, Inkscape reads its keyboard shortcuts from <code>share/keys/default.xml</code>. That file is a copy of <code>inkscape.xml</code> in the same directory, which also contains keyboard emulation profiles for other vector editors:

*<code>xara.xml</code>: Xara X/Xara Xtreme/Xara LX keys

You can copy any of these over default.xml to use that profile. In all profiles, those keys which are not used by the corresponding program still have their Inkscape bindings. If you can contribute a profile for some vector editor that we don't yet have, we will appreciate that. The files have a simple XML-based format described in <code>inkscape.xml</code>.

You can also customize some of your keybindings without overwriting the main <code>default.xml</code>. If your profile directory (<code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux) contains a <code>keys</code> subdirectory with a <code>default.xml</code> file, the keybindings from that file will overlay (i.e. add to, and override in case of a conflict) the default bindings. The format of your own <code>default.xml</code> is the same as that of the main <code>default.xml</code>.

== Menus ==

* Zoom commands in the View menu are moved to a submenu; the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands are added to that submenu.

* Clone commands are moved into a submenu in Edit menu and given more descriptive names and tips.

* Pattern commands (Objects to Pattern and Pattern to Objects) are moved into a submenu in Object menu, under the new Clip and Mask submenus.

* The contents of the Effects menu are categorized into submenus, and several effects are renamed to use more intuitive names.

== Statusbar ==

* In Selector, for multiple selected objects, the statusbar now reports their types. For example, if 5 groups are selected, it displays

::5 objects of type Group in layer LayerName.

:instead of just "5 objects selected" as before. If there are up to 3 types in the selection, they will be listed, for example:

::5 objects of types Group, Path, Rectangle in layer LayerName.

:The order of the list will correspond to the order in which the objects were added to selection. If there are 4 or more types in selection, only the number of types is reported, for example:

::5 objects of 4 types in layer LayerName.

* In Selector, objects selected in groups are now identified as such, and the group ID is given, for example:

::Rectangle in group g212 (layer content)

:If selected objects have different parents within one layer (for example, if one is selected in a group and another outside it), the number of parents is reported:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 parents (layer content)

:If objects are in different layers, only the number of layers is reported since this also implies different parents:

::2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 layers

* In Node tool, if your node selection includes nodes from different subpaths, statusbar reports the number of subpaths with selection and the total number of subpaths, for example:

::2 of 195 nodes selected in 2 of 36 subpaths.

* The contents of the statusbar message are now duplicated as a tooltip that is shown when you hover the mouse over the statusbar.

* The statusbar text is now no longer just cut off if there is insufficient room, but an ellipsis (...) is inserted at the end to show there's more (only with Gtk 2.6 and newer).

== Theme ==

* Inkscape has a new default icon set titled "Crispy" provided by Andre Sousa. The new icons are intended to add a more professional and cohesive look to our application, as well as to make the functions the icons represent more self-evident.

= Tools =

== Node tool ==

=== Node sculpting ===

An entirely new way of manipulating paths in Node tool is added in this version: Node sculpting. Normally, when you have several nodes selected and you drag one of them, all selected nodes move by the same amount. Now, if you Alt-drag one of the selected nodes, only that node is fully displaced; other selected nodes are moved less than the full amount, so that those farthest from the drag point remain stationary. This is similar to "proportional editing" or "soft selection" in 3D editors such as Blender.

So, for example, if you select several nodes on a straight line and Alt+drag the middle selected node, the path will bend into a smooth bell-like curve. Nodes' handles are also adjusted correspondingly to keep the overall shape smooth and natural. (If you don't have enough nodes on a path fragment that you want to reshape in this way, just select the end nodes of that fragment and press Ins a few times to populate it with nodes.)

Moreover, node sculpting is sensitive to pressure of your tablet pen. If you press slightly, your curve will have a narrow sharp tip (i.e. the nearest neighbors of your dragged node will move only a bit); if you press hard, the curve's tip will be wide and blunt (i.e. the nearest neighbors will move almost as much as the dragged node). (Hint: to stop dragging without losing your shape, first release Alt and then lift the tip of the pen.)

There are many possible applications of the sculpting technique. To take a simple example, selecting all nodes of an ellipse-like shape and Alt+dragging one of them will smoothly and naturally stretch and skew the entire shape in any direction. Doing the same to a complex path, such as star or spiral, will twist and punch it without destroying its intricate structure - this is the way to get squashed or self-intersecting stars, eccentric spirals and other shapes not easily doable before. Selecting only part of all nodes allows you to smoothly reshape parts of the figure without disturbing the rest.

When applied to text converted to path, node sculpting is a fun and easy way to twist, bend and distort it, achieving effects similar to "perspective envelope" or "curvilinear envelope" in other programs - but in a more powerful and flexible way. For example, by selecting all or part of the text's nodes and Alt-dragging, you can not only make a wavy banner out of a paragraph of text, but also apply a "magnifying lens"-like effect to any word in the middle.

Especially useful node sculpting is for complex natural paths, such as calligraphic strokes or bitmap traces, where you often want to do large-scale pushes and bends without destroying the small-scale features. Things like making a calligraphic stroke narrower in one place and wider in another, or changing the proportions, extending the ear or flattening the nose of a head - all this is now much faster and more natural to do using sculpting. It is also a new way to create new paths, too - starting from en ellipse with added nodes, it takes just a few Alt+drags to tweak it into a silhouette of a head, or a map of Australia, or an Inkscape logo!

Some examples are shown on the screenshot: [[http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png]].

=== "Show handles" toggle ===

The Controls bar for the Nodes tool now includes a toggle button which controls whether Bezier handles are shown on selected nodes (on by default). Selecting and dragging nodes on node-dense paths in zoom-out (e.g. for node sculpting) may be extremely difficult without hiding the handles, as it's hard to pick a node and not a handle when handles are shown.

=== New deletion behavior ===

* In Node tool, deleting node(s) by Del/Backspace keys or by Ctrl+Alt+clicking a node now tries to preserve, as much as possible, the current shape of the path. This means that the nodes adjacent to those being deleted have their handles adjusted to approximate the form that the path had before deletion. For example, if you Ctrl+Alt+click a path twice, once to add a new node and then to delete it, the path will not change at all (or change very slightly). The old deletion behavior without adjusting handles is still available via Ctrl+Del or Ctrl+Backspace.

=== Preserving positions of nodes and handles ===

* When you switch the type of the selected node to Smooth or Symmetric by pressing Shift+S/Shift+Y, you can now preserve the position of one of the two handles by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other handle is rotated/scaled to match.

* Similarly, when you join endnodes by pressing Shift+J, you can preserve the position of one of the two nodes by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the other node is moved.

=== Miscellaneous ===

* The ! key inverts node selection in the current subpath(s) (i.e. subpaths with at least one selected node); Alt+! inverts in the entire path. (This is similar to how these keys work in Selector, with current subpath(s) instead of the current layer.)

* The keyboard shortcut for "Make selected segments curves" in Node tool is changed from Shift+K to Shift+U for better mnemonics.

== Calligraphic pen ==

=== Tremor ===

* Even when using a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity, the Calligraphy pen's strokes often look too smooth and artificial. To enable a more natural look, the new Tremor parameter is added to the Calligraphy tool in this version. Adjustable in the Controls bar from 0.0 to 1.0, it will affect your strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

=== Pen width ===

* In all previous versions, pen width depended on zoom in such a way that the strokes appeared the same visible width at any zoom, but were in fact narrower at zoom-in and wider at zoom-out. This behavior makes sense if you want to keep the same "feel" of the pen regardless of zoom; for example, if you zoomed in to make a small fix to your drawing, it's natural that your pen becomes physically smaller but feels the same to you. So, this behavior is kept as the default, but now we also added an alternative mode where your pen width is constant in absolute units regardless of zoom. To switch to this mode, use the checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by double-clicking the tool button).

* The Width field in the tool's controls bar now changes from 1 to 100, which corresponds to the range from 0.01 to 1.0 in the previous version. If the "width in absolute units" mode is turned on, the value in this fields gives the width of the stroke in px units. In the default mode, the value of 100 gives 100px wide strokes only at 100% zoom, and strokes are correspondingly narrower or wider at other zoom levels.

=== Selection ===

* A new preferences option for the Calligraphic tool, Keep selected, controls whether the newly created object remains selected after you finish drawing it. If you turn it off (by default it's on) and set the tool to using Last Set color, you can easily choose a new color by clicking on the palette without having to worry if this will change the color of the stroke you just created. (Watch the tool style indicator at the right end of the Controls bar for the style of the next stroke you will draw.)

* Esc deselects selected objects in Calligraphic, as in most other tools.

=== Style ===

* The stroke you're drawing is now shown, while you're drawing it, with the correct color and opacity that it will eventually have, instead of always black as before.

* On a new Inkscape installation, this tool now uses the last set style by default instead of the fixed black as before (this is changeable in the Inkscape Preferences for the tool).

== Pen tool ==

* While drawing a path, you can now move the last node you created by the same keys as in Node tool - that is, arrows, with Shift (for 10x displacement) or Alt (screen pixel displacement) modifiers.

* Also, you can switch the not-yet-finalized (red) segment of the path being drawn from curve to line (Shift+L) or back to curve (Shift+U), again the same shortcuts as in the Node tool.

* By popular demand, if a new path is being drawn but not yet finished, Ctrl+Z cancels that unfinished path (i.e. does the same as Esc), instead of undoing the previous action.

* In Pen tool, Del works the same as Backspace to delete the last created point on the unfinished path.

= Clipping and masking =

Inkscape now provides some UI for using clipping paths and masks.

* Any object can be non-destructively intersected with a path (called a clipping path) so that only the intersected portion of the object is visible.
** To apply clipping, select the objects to be clipped and the clipping path object, make sure the clipping path is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Clip > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the clipped objects as usual. The clipping remains applied and transforms together with each clipped object.
** To remove the clipping, do Object > Clip > Release. The clipping path is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unclipped object in z-order.

* Any object can be non-destructively masked by another object (called mask) so that: the mask's black or transparent areas become fully transparent in the masked object; mask's opaque white areas become fully opaque; and all intermediate colors translate into intermediate levels of opacity in the masked object. This allows you to apply, for example, arbitrary transparency gradients to objects.
** To apply a mask, select the objects to be masked and the mask object, make sure the mask is above the other objects in z-order, and do Object > Mask > Set.
** You can transform, edit, or style the masked objects as usual. The mask remains applied and transforms together with each masked object.
** To remove the masking, do Object > Mask > Release. The mask is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on top of the unmasked object in z-order.

* Objects with clippath show their bounding box intersected with the bounding box of the clippath, instead of the original unclipped bbox as before. (However, this does not apply to objects without clippath of their own which are clipped by being inside a clipped group.)

* Clipped or masked objects display "clipped" or "masked", correspondingly, in their statusbar descriptions.

* Although Inkscape had render-only support for clipping paths and masks for quite some time, in this release we fixed a number of bugs which may affect the display of your documents using clippaths or masks.
** Clippaths and masks with objectBoundingBox units are now shown correctly upon loading of the document.
** Clippaths without fill didn't work, this is now fixed.
** Objects with clippaths or masks are correctly copied/pasted between documents.

= Transformations =

== Transform dialog ==

Fixes and improvements in the Transform dialog (Ctrl+Shift+M):

* The Apply to each object separately checkbox is added, allowing you to scale/rotate/skew each selected object by the same amount, around that object's center. When off (by default), the selection is transformed as a whole. The status of this checkbox is remembered across sessions. (It has no effect on Move and Matrix tabs).

* The Clear button resets the values on the current tab to defaults.

* The Scale tab now allows you to specify horizontal or vertical size increments in percentage or absolute units. Also, there's a Scale proportionally checkbox which ensures that scaling preserves the width/height ratio. (If you are scaling several objects proportionally with "Apply to each object separately", you can only use the % unit to specify the scaling; otherwise each object's scale increments will have the width/height ratio of the entire selection, not of that specific object.)

* The Skew tab can now specify the skew as an absolute displacement (e.g. for horizontal skewing of a rectangle, that means the shift of the top rectangle side relative to the bottom), as percentage displacement (e.g. a 1% horizontal skew of a rectangle means shifting the top side by 1% of the rectangle height), or as an angle (e.g. horizontal skew by 15 degrees results in the sides of a rectangle being rotated to that angle, while the top and bottom remain horizontal).

* The Matrix tab (previously called "Transform") can either edit the current <code>transform=</code> matrix of an object, or post-multiply the <code>transform=</code> with the matrix you specify, depending on the Edit current matrix checkbox. (As it is now redundant, the transformation matrix in the Object Properties dialog is removed.)

* The dialog now correctly watches selection changes in the active document window and updates its values accordingly.

* The layout of the dialog is simplified, tooltips and mnemonics added for better usability.

* Many bugs are fixed, especially in value conversions between units.

== Persistent rotation centers ==

* The position of the center (axis) of rotation and skewing used by Selector is now remembered for all objects and restored when you select those objects again (even after saving and reopening the document). When you move or scale an object, its rotation center is moved or scaled too, so its position relative to the object always remains the same unless you move it explicitly.

* When you have several objects selected, they use the rotation center of the first selected object. If the first object does not have center set (i.e. if it's in a default central position), then several objects will rotate around the geometric center of their common bounding box (as before).

* Shift+click on the rotation center resets it back to the center of the object's box.

* Consequently, dragging the rotation center is now an undoable action; you can press Ctrl+Z to undo the drag.

* Keyboard rotation by [, ] keys with various modifiers, as well as the Rotate tab in the Transform dialog, work around the selected object's rotation center (for multi-object selection, the rotation center of the first selected object).

* Rotation centers are preserved when duplicating, cloning (including clone tiler), grouping/ungrouping, and converting to path.

== Pasting size ==

A number of commands are added to easily scale selected objects to match the size of the object(s) previously copied to the clipboard. They are all in the Paste Size submenu in Edit menu:

* Paste Size scales the whole selection to match the overall size of the clipboard object(s).

* Paste Width/Paste Height scale the whole selection horizontally/vertically so that it matches the width/height of the clipboard object(s). These commands honor the scale ratio lock on the Selector controls bar (between W and H fields), so that when that lock is pressed, the other dimension of the selected object is scaled in the same proportion; otherwise the other dimension is unchanged.

* Paste Size Separately, Paste Width Separately and Paste Height Separately work similarly to the above described commands, except that they scale each selected object separately to make it match the size/width/height of the clipboard object(s).

= Connectors and automatic layout =

* There have been numerous bugfixes and several improvements to the behaviour of connectors and the connector tool:
** Connectors moved as part of a selection will now stay attached to other objects in the selection, rather than becoming detached from them.
** By default, the Connector tool will not attach connectors to text objects. There is a new checkbox in the connector preferences to control this setting.
** The margins around avoided shapes (used for autorouting connectors) can now be adjusted via the "Spacing" control on the controls bar.

* Automatic Diagram Layout: A new button is available in the Align and Distribute dialog that performs automatic layout of diagrams involving a network of shapes and connectors. Layout is accomplished using force-directed graph layout based on the Kamada-Kawai algorithm. This algorithm treats edges as if they are springs such that the distance between nodes will be proportional to the path length - number of connectors - between them. Disconnected components (where not every shape is connected) will be arranged around the circumference of a circle.

* There is a new Remove Overlaps button to move the selected objects enough that they don't overlap each other. A minimum spacing between the boundaries of objects can be specified. Together with the automatic layout tool, described above, this should be a significant addition to Inkscape's usability for diagramming. Removing overlaps is different from the "Unclump" button in that the former is completely deterministic and guarantees removing overlaps on the first application, but is not concerned with visual perceptive distances between objects. Unclumping, on the other hand, attempts to equalize perceptive distances between objects and can be applied repeatedly for gradual effect.

= Selective tracing with SIOX =

* Inkscape 0.44 has an early version of the Simple Interactive Object Extraction (SIOX) algorithm (see [http://www.siox.org siox.org]) implemented in its bitmap tracing code. For a quick reference on how this is used, please see [http://inkscape.org/win32/siox/howto.svg this file]. This clever algorithm from the realm of Image Recognition allows you to select areas of similar color, with the goal of extracting a foreground area from the background. To use:
** Enable the SIOX checkbox in addition to your usual tracing options.
** Select both the bitmap and an object that covers the foreground and part of background, leaving only background areas of the image uncovered.
** Hit OK. SIOX will now analyze and attempt to pull out the foreground-colored areas you want, and trace only those parts of the image.

* The full SIOX selection mechanism (e.g. the ability to identify foreground and background areas separately) is not implemented yet, but is planned for a future release.

= Snapping =

* In addition to snapping to guides and grids, you can now snap to other objects' paths and/or nodes. As with grid and guide snapping, you can separately enable snapping of bboxes to objects and/or snapping of nodes to objects. Be aware, however, that this is experimental code - there may be surprises. It may also be slow in large documents with thousands of objects.

* In addition to the snap sensitivity sliders in Document Preferences (which set snap distances in px), there are Always snap checkboxes (separately for object, grid and guide snapping) which force snapping at any distance.

* Grid snapping now applies only to the visible grid lines. For example, if you have zoomed out so that only every 10th grid line is visible, snapping will only apply to these visible lines. In addition, default grid snap sensitivity is set to "Always snap". This will hopefully reduce the number of "snapping does not work" complaints from users who didn't zoom in close enough to see that snapping does in fact work, but only at sub-px distances to the 1px-spaced grid. At the same time, you can still snap to finely grained distances if you zoom in.

* Guidelines are made easier to pick. Now you don't need to position mouse exactly over a guideline to activate it; instead there's a small position tolerance (1 screen pixel on each side of the guideline).

= Sublayers =

Previously, it was only possible to make a group a temporary sublayer by entering that group. Now Inkscape supports creating and using true persistent sublayers within a layer.

* The Add layer dialog allows you to place the new layer above, below, or inside the current layer.

* In Preferences (Selecting tab), options are added allowing the "Select All" command and Tab key selection to work either in the current layer only or in the current layer and its sublayers.

= Markers =

* Converting stroke to path now correctly processes dashed strokes. For paths with markers, this command now creates a group containing the stroke converted to path and all its markers as independent objects (i.e. they are not markers anymore, but instead you can easily transform them or paint them any color, as a workaround for the "markers don't take the color of the stroke" bug; to be properly fixed, this bug requires implementing some SVG 1.2 features).

* The DimensionIn and DimensionOut markers are changed so that the arrow tips exactly correspond to node positions. It is now very easy to make dimension lines that correspond to drawn objects. The dimension specifications can now easily be chained by splitting a straight line at a point and assigning DimensionIn/Out markers to the resulting smaller paths whose endpoints coincide.

* All arrow markers in the standard set are moved on the path so that their tips are as close as possible to the corresponding node of the path. Complete coincidence is not possible, because it would cause the blunt end of the stroke itself to be visible under the sharp tip of the arrow, distorting its shape. However, now the arrow tips are much closer to their nodes than before, and probably sufficiently close for many practical situations.

* A new RazorWire path marker was added. By applying it as a mid-marker you can get a good approximation of a razor wire.

= Extensions =

* The Effects menu is now always on, it's no longer an "experimental feature". The preference setting to enable the menu has been removed.

* Python extensions (which includes almost all currently available extensions) work on Windows out of the box, using a copy of Python shipping with Inkscape. The only minor inconvenience is that when an effect is launched, you get an empty console window that stays on while the effect is doing its work. (Don't close that window, it will disappear by itself when the effect is finished.)

* A new Python effect, Render > LaTeX formula, allows you to type in any LaTeX formula and get a vector object with the TeX rendition of this formula inserted into your document. You need to have latex, dvips, and pstoedit installed and in PATH for this to work.

* A new Python effect, Flatten Path, flattens paths in the current selection, approximating each path with a polyline whose segments meet the specified criteria for flatness.

* A new Python effect, Measure Path, attaches a text label to each path in the selection giving the length of that path (in px units).

* The Radius Randomize effect has a new parameter which enables normal distribution of random displacements instead of uniform as before, which gives a more natural feel to the randomized path.

* The Render > L-system (formerly "Fractal (Lindenmayer)") effect is improved in this version. Now you can specify different angle values for turning left and right, which makes it possible to smoothly bend some L-systems sideways. Also, you can separately randomize the step length and the angles by a given percent for more natural look (this works especially well with plant-like branching shapes). This effect can be used to create Penrose tiling, Sierpinsky triangle, Dragon curve and other famous mathematical artefacts, as well as various meanders, friezes, patterns, and trees. Some examples can be seen on this screenshot: [http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png] as well as in the new example file <code>share/examples/l-systems.svg</code>.

* The Interpolate Path, Random Tree, and L-system effects are fixed to place their result on the current layer instead of document root and in the center of the (last-saved) document view instead of 0,0 as before.

* INX files now have the ability to hold more information. This includes tooltips and descriptions of the extensions. These are all also translatable.

* Thanks to keyboard configurability, it is now possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to those effects you use most often, so you can activate them without going into the menu.

= Formats =

* Inkscape's PDF export is now native (i.e. does not require any external applications) and supports transparency, including gradients with transparency. This replaced the old export extension that required Ghostscript and worked via Postscript, losing any transparency. The new PDF export is still immature; in particular it does not handle text, so you should check "Convert text to path" on the export options dialog. Other things not yet supported include: gradients on stroke; eccentric elliptic gradients; patterns, masks, and clipping paths; embedded images.

* You can now Save as Compressed Inkscape SVG with media.This save option collects the svg file and all linked images into a zip archive for distribution. Although you cannot open the resulting archive directly with inkscape, the media is linked such that after unzipping you can open the SVG file immediately.

* An output format for desktop cutting plotters, such as the Wishblade and Craftrobo, was added. This format is a very minimalist DXF file with appropriate scaling and translation applied. This output format should not be expected to operate as a generalized DXF output.

* Inkscape can open/import default files generated by the Xfig vector graphics editor. This requires that the fig2dev command (transfig) is in your PATH.

* Starting with this version, there is a limited ability to export Inkscape drawing shapes as Open Document Format drawings (.odg files). Currently the export is limited to text, shapes, and solid fill and strokes. This output will be improved in the coming months. In the meantime, however, ODG output is already useful for getting your SVG drawings into the Open Document world, in particular into an office suite such as OpenOffice.org.

* The new XCF output extension exports all top-level elements (i.e. layers and objects directly under root) as PNGs and assembles them into an XCF for procesing in the Gimp. Requires Python, PyXML and Gimp. Gimp 2.2.x or above must be in the path and be named <code>gimp</code>. A version of Inkscape 0.44 or above must be accessible from the path. Does not function in Windows.

= Miscellaneous shortcuts =

* Now you can use Shift+middle button drag, in any tool, to zoom into an area. This works the same as simple drag in Zoom tool, but is faster because it does not require switching away from your current tool. Together with middle button drag (panning), middle button click (zoom in) and Shift+middle button click (zoom out), this completes the set of canvas navigation shortcuts available in any tool or context.

* In Gradient tool, Shift+R reverses the gradient definition (i.e. mirrors the stop positions) without moving the gradient handles. For example, an elliptic gradient with blue center and red periphery becomes red in the center and blue in the periphery. This works on the gradient(s) of the currently selected gradient handle or, if no handle is selected, on all selected objects' gradients. (Compare with the Node tool where Shift+R reverses the direction of the selected path.) This is especially convenient for elliptic gradients which, unlike linear, you cannot simply rotate by 180 degrees for the same result.

* In Selector, Ctrl+Enter enters the selected group (making it a temporary layer). Ctrl+Backspace leaves the current layer and goes one layer up in the hierarchy (but not to root).

= Miscellaneous improvements =

* Document templates (listed in File > New) are now first searched in the <code>templates</code> subdirectory of the user's profile directory (on Linux it's <code>~/.inkscape/templates</code>), then in the system-wide Inkscape templates directory. This allows you to add your own templates on top of the list of standard templates, as well as override the default template with your own one (the <code>default.svg</code> in the profile directory has priority over the system-wide one).

* When toggling one of the "transform with object" buttons (for stroke width, rounded rectangle corners, gradients, or patterns), a message is displayed in the statusbar explaining what has changed in the program's behavior. Hopefully this will reduce the number of complaints from users who had accidentally toggled one of these and were surprised by the result.

* Whole thousands above 2000 in the rulers are now displayed as 2k, 3k, 4k etc.

* In the Document Preferences dialog, the new object style for each tool is now shown as a style swatch (displaying fill/stroke colors and opacity, stroke width, and master opacity), similar in design to the selected style indicator in the statusbar.

* In the Grid Arrange dialog, row/column spacing can now be negative.

* The installation default is now to scale the rounded rectangle corners with the rectangles themselves (the previous default mode, still available as an option, was to keep rounding radii unchanged when scaling rectangles).

* Added a new <code>--export-area-canvas</code> command line parameter that causes the exported PNG to contain the full canvas. This option as well as <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-area</code> can now be used along with <code>--export-id</code> and <code>--export-id-only</code> for greater flexibility.

* The <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters now return the true SVG bounding box of the object instead of the Inkscape coordinate system bbox (with inverted Y axis). The new behavior makes more sense for scripting use of Inkscape.

* The dpi value in the Export dialog has had its range extended; now possible values are from 0.01 to 100000.

* Individual <tspan>s within text objects (including line tspans) can now be selected via the XML editor to view their bounding boxes (though per SVG, you cannot transform them). Also, you can use the <code>--query-*</code> command line parameters to find out the bounding boxes of tspans from a script. (Individual strings within or between tspans are still not selectable, and they cannot have an ID for querying anyway.)

* The placeholder image which is shown when a bitmap file was no longer accessible reads now "Linked image not found" instead of the confusing "Broken image".

* Cloning multiple selected objects now works as expected (i.e. each selected object is cloned separately, similar to the Duplicate command). Previously you could only clone a single selected object.

* The separate "license" and "contributors" dialogs have been merged into tabs on the About dialog. The about dialog now correctly sizes itself to fit the size of the splash SVG (while remaining resizable), and the rendering area is now cropped to the correct aspect ratio when the dialog is resized. The dialog also now displays the build information in the upper right corner.

* In the Transform dialog / Rotate tab, the icon was flipped horizontally to be in line with the direction of positive rotation; the change was applied to the default (now crispy) and legacy icon sets.

* The scale ratio lock button on the Selector controls bar shows a closed lock when pressed and open lock otherwise (same as the layer lock in the statusbar).

* The Browse button on Export dialog now opens the new file chooser, same as those used by Open and Save.

= Miscellaneous bugfixes =

* Reading a document with an incorrect namespace URI not only did not cause Inkscape to complain, but could also "pollute" Inkscape's internal namespace table, resulting in an "infection" of subsequently saved documents by the incorrect namespace. This is now fixed, but as a result, documents with incorrect namespace URIs will no longer load. You will have to edit them in a text editor to fix the namespaces.

* With newer versions of GTK, dragging with graphics tablet pen did not work in some tools and contexts (in particular, in Node and Rectangle tools). This is fixed.

* Scaling of objects with stroke in Selector used to cause undesired shifts of the scaled object, as well as scaling it in the dimension which was intended to remain untouched (e.g. slight change in width when you scale only height). All these problems are now fixed, both for interactive scaling by mouse and for numeric scaling via the Controls bar, and for both values of the "Scale stroke with objects" option. Among other things, this means that stroked objects no longer lose snapping on scale, and that the "Default scale origin" option in the Selector tool preferences finally works as designed. Caveat: There may still be problems if you scale a selection that contains objects with different stroke widths.

* Scaling of stroke now works for objects that didn't specify stroke-width; before, they always ended up with the default 1px stroke.

* The bounding box for text and flowed text objects did not include stroke width. This has been fixed.

* Stroke miterlimit on text objects was misinterpreted in absolute units instead of multiplies of stroke width (resulting in miter joins rendered as bevel).

* The unfinished path in Pen tool is now cancelled, not finalized, when you switch away from the Pen tool. Apart from being more intuitively correct, this also fixes a crash when you quit Inkscape with the unfinished path in Pen tool.

* Fonts on Win32 now use the native font mapper, meaning that Inkscape's font list is the same as other Windows programs, and the (potentially) very long delay experienced when using fonts for the first time in each session is gone.

* Setting dash pattern was broken for transformed objects, and copy/paste of style with dash pattern did not apply correctly to objects with transforms.

* An error caused a complete extra screen redraw after each zoom operation. That is, after you press "+" in a complex drawing, Inkscape redraws, but for some time after that it remains still unresponsive because it does that second redraw (invisibly for you, i.e. nothing changes on the screen). This is fixed.

* Gradient rendering was off by one pixel, which often resulted in visibly wrong gradient rendering for small objects or in zoom-out.

* The SVG path parser could not handle fractional numbers with the initial dot.

* Several pattern rendering bugs are fixed, discovered by working with SVG files exported from Adobe Illustrator.

* Inkscape on Mac OS X will now notice fonts in your ~/Library/Fonts directory, in addition to the other standard places.

* Inkscape couldn't be compiled with libxml versions <= 2.6.9, and we now bumped the requirements from 2.6.0 up to libxml >= 2.6.11, which is the earliest you can get officially, anyway.

* Inkscape no longer crashes when presented with a defective inx file for extensions.

* More document memory is now freed when documents are closed.

* EPS output now correctly includes an %%EOF footer.

* There was a regression in 0.43 that caused several minor, though annoying bugs; knots and handles remained highlighted after the mouse was released, and the rubberband selection rectangle stayed visible if the selection was ended over a node while in the node tool. This regression has been fixed.

* The connector routing code would previously sometimes confuse objects between multiple documents resulting in strange routing behaviour. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that allowed a malicious outsider to very easily disrupt an Inkboard session. This has been fixed.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause deadlocks in the case that two users attempted to invite each other at the same time (see bug #[https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=604306&aid=1352522&group_id=93438 1352522] for further details). This should be fixed, although the fix has not been widely tested.

* There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause session invitations to not appear on the invitee's screen. This was the result of a mistake in handling GDK modifier flags, and has been fixed.

= Translations =

* INX files (containing the UI of the external effects) now allow the user visible strings to be translated. This means that effect dialogs, file type selections, and extension names can all be translated by translators.

* Now, 38 languages are translated, of which 14 significantly: Catalan, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Lituanian, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Latine Serbian, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Average translation ratio has increased from 49% to 57%.

* Some new translations of tutorials have been brought by contributors : Czech, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian.

= Internal =

* The Document Properties Dialog code was completely gtkmmified, which lead to dramatic reduction of code size due to usage of widget objects. The used widget objects should be reusable by other dialogs, too, and the code is much more readable.

* Work on optimizing includes in all cpp files started, using the purgeincludes tool specifically written for that purpose, and ended with 40% of include lines removed!

= Known problems =
=== Problems with libgc-6.7 ===

* Inkscape will hang or crash when linked with this (newest) version of the Boehm garbage collection library. Make sure you use libgc-6.5 or 6.6 until this is sorted out.

=== Problems with "Composite" option of X.org ===

* On Linux, Inkscape may crash if you have the "Composite" option enabled in your X.org configuration. To disable this option, comment out this line in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option "Composite" "Enable"

:so it becomes

#Option "Composite" "Enable"

:and restart X.

=== Namespaces may need fixing ===

* Previous versions of inkscape sometimes silently saved documents with wrong namespace URIs. This has been fixed, but such corrupted documents will no longer load successfully. Such documents may require their namespace declarations to be fixed by hand.

=== Beware of defective themes on Linux ===

* Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. Removing the package resolves the problem, however, but it would be nice if you as affected user would inform the gtk-engines maintainers of the problem. See especially http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312115 (thanks to Thomas Wood)
* A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems also affect older versions of Inkscape.

=== Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it ===

* If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may have the file <code>menus.xml</code> hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. <code>~/.inkscape</code> on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be disabled. Make sure to delete <code>menus.xml</code> to fix this.

= Previous releases =

* ReleaseNotes043 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes043)
* ReleaseNotes042 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes042)
* ReleaseNotes041 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes041)
* ReleaseNotes040 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes040)
* ReleaseNotes039 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes039)
* ReleaseNotes038 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes038)
* ReleaseNotes037 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes037)
* ReleaseNotes036 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes036)
* ReleaseNotes035 (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes035)