Inkscape Wiki - User contributions [en]

TestingFramework

2011-02-13T22:42:29Z

Johncoswell: Update URL

== Inkscape Testing Framework ==

In order to detect and identify bugs quickly and reliably, we should set up a testing framework for Inkscape.

There are several different ways to test a desktop Linux application. Each method provides different kinds of
information about the codebase and are each valuable in different ways. A multi-pronged approach that uses
more than one kind of testing is expected to gain the best results.

=== Compile Testing ===

In compile testing, the codebase is repetitively checked out and compiled in one or more different ways.
For example, with different compilers or for different platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac OSX, ...) Errors in
configuration, compilation, linking, or basic executation are detected, collected, and reported on a periodic
basis (such as daily compile reports).

It may be possible to set up compile testing using [[SourceForge]]'s compile farm. Another option to
investigate is the Mozilla project's "Tinderbox".

=== Unit Testing ===

Unit testing is implemented at the file level. Each *.c or *.cpp file is provided with a test file containing
calls for each of the functions, and that exercises the API, including a wide variety of error situations such
as NULL pointers, buffer overflows, very large or very small floating point numbers, zero or negative int's,
uninitialized objects, etc.

The intention of unit tests is to provide sanity checks that the developer can use as they implement the
code. Ideally, when implementing a new code file, the programmer could first implement the unit test
from a spec, and then work on implementing the code to pass the unit test; this is the development
style advocated in the Extreme Programming philosophy.

=== Regression Testing ===

In regression testing, the philosophy is to implement test cases for each bug found, and to run these
test cases against the codebase to determine that bug fixes actually fix the bug, and to ensure in the
future that the bugs do not re-occur.

This can be implemented by assembling a repository of "problem" SVG files that have caused Inkscape
to error in programmatically detectable manners (such as crashes or emission of invalid SVG or PNG's).

=== GUI Testing ===

To eneable a11y in Inkscape for testing with dogtail, start Inkscape with the following command.
* GTK_MODULES=gail:atk-bridge inkscape

=== Fault Response Testing ===

In fault response testing, the application is put into various critical situations and the behavior
detected and compared against expectations. Examples include out-of-disk-space, out-of-memory,
response to different signals, loading and saving very large files, starting up with invalid or unreadible
config files, and so forth.

=== Specification Compliance Testing ===

In spec testing, the application is run against various input cases and caused to generate output that
can be tested against "known" correct data. For instance, the [[W3C]] produces an SVG compliance test
suite with SVG files and the expected rendered output as PNG's. Inkscape can be run on each of the
SVG's from the commandline and caused to save the rendering as a PNG. An image-difference tool
can then be used to calculate a diff-score between the emitted PNG and the [[W3C]] image.

Similarly, this process can be used against other applications such as Batik or librsvg, to check
inter-application conformance on the same SVG files. Ideally, all SVG applications should render
a given SVG file identically.

=== Performance Testing ===

In performance testing the application is measured as to how well it works against various criteria such
as start-up time, output quality, processing speed, etc.

=== Valgrind Memory Leak Testing ===

What I did here is simply ran inkscape through valgrind with the following command:

valgrind -v --leak-check=yes --leak-resolution=high --num-callers=15 --show-reachable=yes --log-file=inkscape.log src/inkscape

I then drew a few objects, edited some points and exit.

What I would like to see is people investigate the memory problems listed here and as they are resolved, we remove them from the list until we don't have any more. Then we can try to find more! :)

Note: Turn off Inkscape's garbage collection before starting valgrind, e.g.
export _INKSCAPE_GC=disable
(As suggested John Bintz)[http://www.coswellproductions.com/quick-drying-paint-profiling-inkscape-using-valgrind]

Release notes/0.47

2008-04-23T12:29:22Z

Johncoswell: /* User interface */

=Inkscape 0.47=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Refactoring effort=
[mention the 'main' goal of 0.47 and list which things have been refactored and the benefits/new features/different workflow? --johan]

=Tools=

==Node tool==

* [helper path display, flashing - johan]
* The Node tool can now edit '''clipping paths''' and '''masks''' of objects on canvas, without releasing them. If the selected object has a clipping path and mask, the corresponding buttons on the controls bar of the tool will be enabled; pressing these buttons will display the editable paths or handles of the clippath or mask. A clipping path is stroked green, a mask is stroked blue (the same colors as those used for them in Outline mode).
* Snapping has been improved (more details in Snapping below)
* When dragging a node '''handle with Ctrl''', it now snaps not only to the 15 degree increments starting from 0 and to the original handle direction, but also to the direction of the '''opposite handle''' (if it exists) or of the '''opposite line segment''' (if it is a straight line).
* The behavior of the buttons/shortucts that make a node smooth or cusp has been improved:
:* If a node is already cusp (diamond shaped), pressing Shift+C again on it will retract both its handles. As this works for any number of selected nodes, you can always retract all handles in all nodes by selecting all nodes and pressing Shift+C twice.
:* If a non-smooth node is next to a straight line segment, pressing Shift+S once makes it ''half-smooth'': it now has one handle aligned with that line segment. Another press of Shift+S will expand the second handle as well turning it into a full smooth node. If a node is between two curve segments, Shift+S will expand both handles as before.

==Calligraphy tool ==
Added 4 preset buttons for dip, pen, brush and reed in the toolbox. Clicking one button sets the calligraphic tool with the matching presets.

==Paint Bucket tool==
* Paint Bucket is now more tightly integrated with potrace. As a result, memory and CPU usage on each fill operation have been reduced significantly.

=Live path effects=
== Notable bug fixes and effect changes==
We try to refrain from changing the behavior of LPE's, because it will change appearance in old files when opened in Inkscape¹. But when an effect is really broken, we have to fix it.

[¹ fixme: Shouldn't the above say "it will change editing behaviour in old files" ? If it changes the appearance, then that's a bug: inkscape should always save SVG that represents the appearance, and should display according to the SVG rather than any inkscape:blah annotations. --pjrm 
What is meant is the following. Files with LPEs opened in a random viewer will always look the same, regardless of Inkscape version. However, when viewed in Inkscape, the LPE is recalculated. When LPE behavior changes, the appearance will change. --johan]

* The Pattern Along Path effect used to stretch the pattern across discontinuities. This has been fixed; now it treats a discontinuous path as a group of continuous paths and applied the effect separately to each.

==New effects==
[new: sketch, von koch, knot]

* Perspective paths: Draw an arbitrary path as if viewed in perspective. This is work in progress. Known limitations (among others): It can only use the first perspective that exists in the document defs, and the perspective cannot be adapted interactively yet (the effect must be removed and reapplied after modifying the perspective).

* '''Spiro splines''' are a novel way of defining curvilinear paths [http://www.levien.com/spiro/ developed by Raph Levien]. It takes some getting used to, but for certain tasks (such as lettershape design) Spiros have a clear advantage over Bezier curves. Recently, Spiro support was added to the FontForge font editor; now it is available in Inkscape too, which means you can use all the convenient Inkscape path tools (moving and transforming groups of nodes, node sculpting, etc.) on Spiro paths.

:A Spiro path is defined by a sequence of points, but unlike a regular path with Bezier curves, all Spiro points lie on the path and there are no off-path handles. The curvature of the path is defined entirely by the positions of the points and their types. The path behaves very similar to a springy rod which is forced to pass through the given points and which uses the minimum possible curvature to satisfy the requirement. As such, it feels quite natural and the resulting path is very smooth - not just superficially smooth (i.e. having no cusps), but smooth at a deeper level, which you can achieve with Beziers only after a lot of laborious tweaking.

:To create a Spiro path, select any path and assign the "Spiro spline" path effect to it. There are no parameters. Each node of your path becomes a point of a Spiro path, depending on the type of node:

:* Smooth nodes (those with two collinear Bezier handles; use Shift+S to make a node smooth) become smooth curve points of the Spiro path. Note that the length or direction of the Bezier handles of the source path is ignored; the only thing that matters is their collinearity.

:* Cusp nodes of the source path become corner points of the Spiro path, like free hinges on the springy rod. Between two corner points, the path is always a straight line. To make a node cusp, retract its Bezier handles by Ctrl+click, or press Shift+C and move one of the handles so they are no longer collinear.

:* Half-smooth nodes - those with one Bezier handle collinear with a straight line segment on the other hand - become "left" or "right" points on the Spiro path which behave exactly the same: they sit between a straight line and a curve and enforce that these two segments join smoothly without a cusp. To create such a node, make sure one of the segments is a line (select its ends and press Shift+L), then Ctrl+drag the remaining handle to make it snap to the direction of the straight line segment on the other side, or press Shift+S to lock it to that direction.

:Note that what matters is the actual collinearity of a node's handles, regardless of the node type that the node has in the Node tool; for example, if a node designated as cusp (diamond-shaped) has collinear handles, it will become a smooth curve point of the Spiro path.

:Some configurations of points do not converge and produce wild loops and spirals instead of a smooth curve. According to Raph, "The spline solver in this release is _not_ numerically robust. When you start drawing random points, you'll quickly run into divergence. However, "sensible" plates based on real fonts usually converge." Avoid too sharp changes in direction between points to prevent divergence. Hopefully, the robustness of the algorithm will be improved in future releases.

:For now, to edit Spiro paths viewing the result in real time, you have to use the Node tool; it is recommended to turn off the red highlight of the source path as it is a distraction. The Pen tool does not yet allow you to preview a Spiro as you draw, although you can paste the Spiro effect on the path and see the result as soon as the path is finalized.

:You can always use the Node tool to continue a Spiro path by duplicating and dragging away its end nodes. Also, when you have a Spiro path selected, you can add a new subpath to it with Pen or Pencil if you start drawing with Shift.

==New features==
* The '''Paste Path Effect''' command is enabled to assign the path effect of the clipboard to any number of paths, going recursively into groups if necessary.

* A new command, '''Remove path effect''' removes any path effects from all selected objects, going recursively into groups if necessary.

* Along with the commands to open the path effects dialog and to paste path effects, the three commands were collected in a submenu under Path menu.

* Live path effects can now be assigned to the sides of a 3D box (use Ctrl+click to select individual sides).

* The Pen and Pencil tools now correctly work with paths with LPEs: you can continue such a path or add a new subpath to it by drawing with Shift, all preserving the effect applied to it.

* Path type parameters can now link to existing shapes and text, like clones do. Now it is possible to use text as input for the Pattern Along Path effect for example!

* Lib2geom now has an implementation for SVGEllipticalArc. For Inkscape, this means that it is now possible to directly copy-paste ellipse shapes on path parameters (e.g. 'pattern' in Pattern along Path), without the need to convert the ellipse object to path first. [needs coding and checking]

==Live Path Effect for groups==

LPE can now be assigned to a group. For most LPE, the effect is applied recursively but for Bend Path the result is more powerful : the distortion applies on the whole group.

*Original path of the group can as usual be edited by double-clicking.
*It applies recursively, this means that a LPE can be assigned to groups of groups
*The Effect can be applied definitively with "Convert Object to path"

=Import/Export=
==Corel DRAW files import==

Now Inkscape can import more Corel DRAW files of following types:

* Corel DRAW Compressed Exchange files (CCX)
* Corel DRAW 7-X4 Template files (CDT)
* Corel DRAW Presentation Exchange files (CMX)

Text objects are not supported as of UniConvertor 1.1.1.

==sK1 files import==

Inkscape uses UniConvertor to import sK1 files. Text objects are not supported as of UniConvertor 1.1.1.

==CGM import==

Inkscape uses UniConvertor to import Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) files. Text objects are not supported as of UniConvertor 1.1.1.

==PDF export==

With PDF export, it is now possible to make the PDF page the size of the entire drawing, instead of the same as SVG page as before by the "Export drawing, not page" checkbox in PDF export options. Also, you can export a single object from a complex document to PDF if you specify the ID of that object in the "Limit export to the object with ID" field; the page of such PDF will be the same size as the bounding box of that object and will show only that object (all others will be hidden).

The same capabilities are available from the command line by using <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-id=ID</code> parameters with <code>--export-pdf</code> (previously, they only worked for PNG export).

=Extension effects=
==New and improved effects==

* The new '''Text > Convert to Braille''' extension recodes English (or just Latin letters) text to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille Braille] code created for visually impaired people.
* The new '''Render > Alphabet Soup''' extension is a vector rework of Matt Chrisholm's GPLed script [http://www.theory.org/artprojects/alphabetsoup/main.html]. Alphabet Soup randomly mashes glyph-elements together to make exotic looking text.
* The new '''Arrange > Restack''' extension restacks selected objects Z-order, from left to right, top to bottom (or vice versa), with radial outward or inward or by an arbitrary angle, specifying the base point for comparison (top, left, middle, etc.).

==API changes==

While the "Live preview" checkbox is useful for most effects, for some it just does not make sense. Now, you can add the attribute <code>needs-live-preview="false"</code> in the <code>effect</code> element in the .inx file of the effect to suppress this checkbox for your effect.

=SVG output=

==Optimized CSS properties==

As a file size optimization, Inkscape does not write into SVG some of the stroke properties if the object has stroke:none and some of the fill properties when it has fill:none. The only situation where this might affect you is if you remove stroke from an object and then turn it back on - the object will get the default stroke instead of the same it had before.

Also, in manually-edited SVG where a parent group has no stroke but sets some stroke properties to be inherited by its descendants, you will need to set stroke property to other than none on the group, and suppress inheritance with stroke:none on those children that don't need it.

Specifically, if stroke:none, the following properties do not get written to SVG:

stroke-width
stroke-linecap
stroke-linejoin
stroke-miterlimit
stroke-opacity
stroke-dasharray
stroke-dashoffset

Note that this does not include marker properties, which means you can still have markers on a path without visible stroke.

If fill:none, the following properties do not get written to SVG:

fill-opacity
fill-rule

==Optimized path data==

In this version, the size of the path data written in the <code>d=</code> attribute of <code>path</code> elements is reduced by about 10%. Inkscape generates the shortest possible path strings by avoiding repeated operators and using relative coordinates (when it helps).

This is controlled by the following attributes in <code>group id="svgoutput"</code> in your preferences.xml file:

* allowrelativecoordinates (default 1) to switch relative coordinates on (1) or off (0)
* forcerepeatcommands (default 0) to force repeating operators (1) or allow use of the more compact representation without repeated operators (0)

=User interface=
==Filters can be disabled==
In order to facilitate editing documents that use lots of SVG filter effects, filter effects can now be disabled for a particular document window by selecting '''View|Display mode|No Filters''' from its menu. This provides an intermediate step between "normal" and "outline" view modes.

The Toggle view command in the Display mode submenu (Ctrl+keypad 5) toggles between the outline view and either regular or no-filters view, depending on which was used most recent.

==Native file dialogs for Windows==
The windows builds of inkscape now have Windows-native file dialogs to keep consistency with other windows applications.

==Clipboard enhancements==

The clipboard used by Inkscape is now system-wide instead of being confined to a single instance of the application. Copied elements are exported to the clipboard using all the available output formats. SVG data can be pasted into other applications supporting one of Inkscape's output formats, and SVG data provided by other applications can be pasted into Inkscape.

If you copy a string that can be interpreted as a hexadecimal color specification, i.e. 2f7ab4 or #014522b0, and then paste it into Inkscape, the fill of the selected objects will change to the given color. This is especially useful when working with HTML pages.

==Masks and clipping paths==

[editable in node tool - johan]

==Stroke width changeable by dragging==

[bbyak]

==Enhanced Tablet Support==

===Input device tool switching===

Tablets and other input devices that report separate hardware are now recognized and current tool and/or settings can be set to switch in response to the physical tool being used.

===Extended input device configuration===

The stock Input Devices dialog has been replaced with a completely redone version that provides a more useful representation of settings. It also contains a simple area for testing different inputs of different devices.

Additionally hardware setup itself has been separated from general settings to allow for easier dynamic switching of settings appropriate to the task at hand.

==Dropper tool==

The confusing icons on buttons in the controls bar of the Dropper tool (pick/assign opacity) are replaced by text labels.

==Swatches==

Hovering over a swatch now shows the name of the swatch in the status bar. This makes it easier for tablet users to identify a swatch by name, as holding a stylus still enough to show a tool tip is difficult.

=Grids, guides, snapping=

==Guides==

There is now an option to treat groups as single objects during conversion to guides (as opposed to converting each object inside the group separately).

==Snapping==
Snapping has been implemented or improved in these areas:
* The '''node tool''' now snaps to any unselected node (cusp or smooth) within the path that's being edited, and to cusp nodes of other paths. It also snaps to the path itself, but only to the stationary segments in between two unselected nodes.
* The object snapper now also allows to snap to the '''page border'''

==Snap indicator==
[mention that it exist, and the different snaps that are indicated]

=Notable bug fixes=

* The '''visual bounding box''' (which is the default bounding box type used by Inkscape) of an object with a filter applied now includes the expanded area of the filter. For '''single blur filter''' (such as the blur you apply with a slider in the Fill and Stroke dialog), this expands the bounding box by 2.4*radius; although theoretically, blur is infinite, this is the distance at which the opacity of the object drops below the perceptibility threshold of our renderer. For all other filters, the area is expanded by the relative amounts you specify on the "Filter general settings" tab of the Filter Effects dialog.

:Only visual bounding box is affected; if you use geometric bounding box, you will notice no change in most cases. However, the Export bitmap dialog always uses the visual bbox for selection export area; this means that you can now export a blurred object to bitmap without any clipping of the blur.

* Several fixes allowed Inkscape to correctly render and edit SVG files that use <code>currentColor</code> in objects' style (this includes files created by gnulpot).

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes046]]
* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.47

2008-04-23T12:27:44Z

Johncoswell: /* Tools */

=Inkscape 0.47=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Refactoring effort=
[mention the 'main' goal of 0.47 and list which things have been refactored and the benefits/new features/different workflow? --johan]

=Tools=

==Node tool==

* [helper path display, flashing - johan]
* The Node tool can now edit '''clipping paths''' and '''masks''' of objects on canvas, without releasing them. If the selected object has a clipping path and mask, the corresponding buttons on the controls bar of the tool will be enabled; pressing these buttons will display the editable paths or handles of the clippath or mask. A clipping path is stroked green, a mask is stroked blue (the same colors as those used for them in Outline mode).
* Snapping has been improved (more details in Snapping below)
* When dragging a node '''handle with Ctrl''', it now snaps not only to the 15 degree increments starting from 0 and to the original handle direction, but also to the direction of the '''opposite handle''' (if it exists) or of the '''opposite line segment''' (if it is a straight line).
* The behavior of the buttons/shortucts that make a node smooth or cusp has been improved:
:* If a node is already cusp (diamond shaped), pressing Shift+C again on it will retract both its handles. As this works for any number of selected nodes, you can always retract all handles in all nodes by selecting all nodes and pressing Shift+C twice.
:* If a non-smooth node is next to a straight line segment, pressing Shift+S once makes it ''half-smooth'': it now has one handle aligned with that line segment. Another press of Shift+S will expand the second handle as well turning it into a full smooth node. If a node is between two curve segments, Shift+S will expand both handles as before.

==Calligraphy tool ==
Added 4 preset buttons for dip, pen, brush and reed in the toolbox. Clicking one button sets the calligraphic tool with the matching presets.

==Paint Bucket tool==
* Paint Bucket is now more tightly integrated with potrace. As a result, memory and CPU usage on each fill operation have been reduced significantly.

=Live path effects=
== Notable bug fixes and effect changes==
We try to refrain from changing the behavior of LPE's, because it will change appearance in old files when opened in Inkscape¹. But when an effect is really broken, we have to fix it.

[¹ fixme: Shouldn't the above say "it will change editing behaviour in old files" ? If it changes the appearance, then that's a bug: inkscape should always save SVG that represents the appearance, and should display according to the SVG rather than any inkscape:blah annotations. --pjrm 
What is meant is the following. Files with LPEs opened in a random viewer will always look the same, regardless of Inkscape version. However, when viewed in Inkscape, the LPE is recalculated. When LPE behavior changes, the appearance will change. --johan]

* The Pattern Along Path effect used to stretch the pattern across discontinuities. This has been fixed; now it treats a discontinuous path as a group of continuous paths and applied the effect separately to each.

==New effects==
[new: sketch, von koch, knot]

* Perspective paths: Draw an arbitrary path as if viewed in perspective. This is work in progress. Known limitations (among others): It can only use the first perspective that exists in the document defs, and the perspective cannot be adapted interactively yet (the effect must be removed and reapplied after modifying the perspective).

* '''Spiro splines''' are a novel way of defining curvilinear paths [http://www.levien.com/spiro/ developed by Raph Levien]. It takes some getting used to, but for certain tasks (such as lettershape design) Spiros have a clear advantage over Bezier curves. Recently, Spiro support was added to the FontForge font editor; now it is available in Inkscape too, which means you can use all the convenient Inkscape path tools (moving and transforming groups of nodes, node sculpting, etc.) on Spiro paths.

:A Spiro path is defined by a sequence of points, but unlike a regular path with Bezier curves, all Spiro points lie on the path and there are no off-path handles. The curvature of the path is defined entirely by the positions of the points and their types. The path behaves very similar to a springy rod which is forced to pass through the given points and which uses the minimum possible curvature to satisfy the requirement. As such, it feels quite natural and the resulting path is very smooth - not just superficially smooth (i.e. having no cusps), but smooth at a deeper level, which you can achieve with Beziers only after a lot of laborious tweaking.

:To create a Spiro path, select any path and assign the "Spiro spline" path effect to it. There are no parameters. Each node of your path becomes a point of a Spiro path, depending on the type of node:

:* Smooth nodes (those with two collinear Bezier handles; use Shift+S to make a node smooth) become smooth curve points of the Spiro path. Note that the length or direction of the Bezier handles of the source path is ignored; the only thing that matters is their collinearity.

:* Cusp nodes of the source path become corner points of the Spiro path, like free hinges on the springy rod. Between two corner points, the path is always a straight line. To make a node cusp, retract its Bezier handles by Ctrl+click, or press Shift+C and move one of the handles so they are no longer collinear.

:* Half-smooth nodes - those with one Bezier handle collinear with a straight line segment on the other hand - become "left" or "right" points on the Spiro path which behave exactly the same: they sit between a straight line and a curve and enforce that these two segments join smoothly without a cusp. To create such a node, make sure one of the segments is a line (select its ends and press Shift+L), then Ctrl+drag the remaining handle to make it snap to the direction of the straight line segment on the other side, or press Shift+S to lock it to that direction.

:Note that what matters is the actual collinearity of a node's handles, regardless of the node type that the node has in the Node tool; for example, if a node designated as cusp (diamond-shaped) has collinear handles, it will become a smooth curve point of the Spiro path.

:Some configurations of points do not converge and produce wild loops and spirals instead of a smooth curve. According to Raph, "The spline solver in this release is _not_ numerically robust. When you start drawing random points, you'll quickly run into divergence. However, "sensible" plates based on real fonts usually converge." Avoid too sharp changes in direction between points to prevent divergence. Hopefully, the robustness of the algorithm will be improved in future releases.

:For now, to edit Spiro paths viewing the result in real time, you have to use the Node tool; it is recommended to turn off the red highlight of the source path as it is a distraction. The Pen tool does not yet allow you to preview a Spiro as you draw, although you can paste the Spiro effect on the path and see the result as soon as the path is finalized.

:You can always use the Node tool to continue a Spiro path by duplicating and dragging away its end nodes. Also, when you have a Spiro path selected, you can add a new subpath to it with Pen or Pencil if you start drawing with Shift.

==New features==
* The '''Paste Path Effect''' command is enabled to assign the path effect of the clipboard to any number of paths, going recursively into groups if necessary.

* A new command, '''Remove path effect''' removes any path effects from all selected objects, going recursively into groups if necessary.

* Along with the commands to open the path effects dialog and to paste path effects, the three commands were collected in a submenu under Path menu.

* Live path effects can now be assigned to the sides of a 3D box (use Ctrl+click to select individual sides).

* The Pen and Pencil tools now correctly work with paths with LPEs: you can continue such a path or add a new subpath to it by drawing with Shift, all preserving the effect applied to it.

* Path type parameters can now link to existing shapes and text, like clones do. Now it is possible to use text as input for the Pattern Along Path effect for example!

* Lib2geom now has an implementation for SVGEllipticalArc. For Inkscape, this means that it is now possible to directly copy-paste ellipse shapes on path parameters (e.g. 'pattern' in Pattern along Path), without the need to convert the ellipse object to path first. [needs coding and checking]

==Live Path Effect for groups==

LPE can now be assigned to a group. For most LPE, the effect is applied recursively but for Bend Path the result is more powerful : the distortion applies on the whole group.

*Original path of the group can as usual be edited by double-clicking.
*It applies recursively, this means that a LPE can be assigned to groups of groups
*The Effect can be applied definitively with "Convert Object to path"

=Import/Export=
==Corel DRAW files import==

Now Inkscape can import more Corel DRAW files of following types:

* Corel DRAW Compressed Exchange files (CCX)
* Corel DRAW 7-X4 Template files (CDT)
* Corel DRAW Presentation Exchange files (CMX)

Text objects are not supported as of UniConvertor 1.1.1.

==sK1 files import==

Inkscape uses UniConvertor to import sK1 files. Text objects are not supported as of UniConvertor 1.1.1.

==CGM import==

Inkscape uses UniConvertor to import Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) files. Text objects are not supported as of UniConvertor 1.1.1.

==PDF export==

With PDF export, it is now possible to make the PDF page the size of the entire drawing, instead of the same as SVG page as before by the "Export drawing, not page" checkbox in PDF export options. Also, you can export a single object from a complex document to PDF if you specify the ID of that object in the "Limit export to the object with ID" field; the page of such PDF will be the same size as the bounding box of that object and will show only that object (all others will be hidden).

The same capabilities are available from the command line by using <code>--export-area-drawing</code> and <code>--export-id=ID</code> parameters with <code>--export-pdf</code> (previously, they only worked for PNG export).

=Extension effects=
==New and improved effects==

* The new '''Text > Convert to Braille''' extension recodes English (or just Latin letters) text to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille Braille] code created for visually impaired people.
* The new '''Render > Alphabet Soup''' extension is a vector rework of Matt Chrisholm's GPLed script [http://www.theory.org/artprojects/alphabetsoup/main.html]. Alphabet Soup randomly mashes glyph-elements together to make exotic looking text.
* The new '''Arrange > Restack''' extension restacks selected objects Z-order, from left to right, top to bottom (or vice versa), with radial outward or inward or by an arbitrary angle, specifying the base point for comparison (top, left, middle, etc.).

==API changes==

While the "Live preview" checkbox is useful for most effects, for some it just does not make sense. Now, you can add the attribute <code>needs-live-preview="false"</code> in the <code>effect</code> element in the .inx file of the effect to suppress this checkbox for your effect.

=SVG output=

==Optimized CSS properties==

As a file size optimization, Inkscape does not write into SVG some of the stroke properties if the object has stroke:none and some of the fill properties when it has fill:none. The only situation where this might affect you is if you remove stroke from an object and then turn it back on - the object will get the default stroke instead of the same it had before.

Also, in manually-edited SVG where a parent group has no stroke but sets some stroke properties to be inherited by its descendants, you will need to set stroke property to other than none on the group, and suppress inheritance with stroke:none on those children that don't need it.

Specifically, if stroke:none, the following properties do not get written to SVG:

stroke-width
stroke-linecap
stroke-linejoin
stroke-miterlimit
stroke-opacity
stroke-dasharray
stroke-dashoffset

Note that this does not include marker properties, which means you can still have markers on a path without visible stroke.

If fill:none, the following properties do not get written to SVG:

fill-opacity
fill-rule

==Optimized path data==

In this version, the size of the path data written in the <code>d=</code> attribute of <code>path</code> elements is reduced by about 10%. Inkscape generates the shortest possible path strings by avoiding repeated operators and using relative coordinates (when it helps).

This is controlled by the following attributes in <code>group id="svgoutput"</code> in your preferences.xml file:

* allowrelativecoordinates (default 1) to switch relative coordinates on (1) or off (0)
* forcerepeatcommands (default 0) to force repeating operators (1) or allow use of the more compact representation without repeated operators (0)

=User interface=
==Filters can be disabled==
In order to facilitate editing documents that use lots of SVG filter effects, filter effects can now be disabled for a particular document window by selecting '''View|Display mode|No Filters''' from its menu. This provides an intermediate step between "normal" and "outline" view modes.

The Toggle view command in the Display mode submenu (Ctrl+keypad 5) toggles between the outline view and either regular or no-filters view, depending on which was used most recent.

==Native file dialogs for Windows==
The windows builds of inkscape now have Windows-native file dialogs to keep consistency with other windows applications.

==Clipboard enhancements==

The clipboard used by Inkscape is now system-wide instead of being confined to a single instance of the application. Copied elements are exported to the clipboard using all the available output formats. SVG data can be pasted into other applications supporting one of Inkscape's output formats, and SVG data provided by other applications can be pasted into Inkscape.

If you copy a string that can be interpreted as a hexadecimal color specification, i.e. 2f7ab4 or #014522b0, and then paste it into Inkscape, the fill of the selected objects will change to the given color. This is especially useful when working with HTML pages.

==Masks and clipping paths==

[editable in node tool - johan]

==Stroke width changeable by dragging==

[bbyak]

==Enhanced Tablet Support==

===Input device tool switching===

Tablets and other input devices that report separate hardware are now recognized and current tool and/or settings can be set to switch in response to the physical tool being used.

===Extended input device configuration===

The stock Input Devices dialog has been replaced with a completely redone version that provides a more useful representation of settings. It also contains a simple area for testing different inputs of different devices.

Additionally hardware setup itself has been separated from general settings to allow for easier dynamic switching of settings appropriate to the task at hand.

==Dropper tool==

The confusing icons on buttons in the controls bar of the Dropper tool (pick/assign opacity) are replaced by text labels.

=Grids, guides, snapping=

==Guides==

There is now an option to treat groups as single objects during conversion to guides (as opposed to converting each object inside the group separately).

==Snapping==
Snapping has been implemented or improved in these areas:
* The '''node tool''' now snaps to any unselected node (cusp or smooth) within the path that's being edited, and to cusp nodes of other paths. It also snaps to the path itself, but only to the stationary segments in between two unselected nodes.
* The object snapper now also allows to snap to the '''page border'''

==Snap indicator==
[mention that it exist, and the different snaps that are indicated]

=Notable bug fixes=

* The '''visual bounding box''' (which is the default bounding box type used by Inkscape) of an object with a filter applied now includes the expanded area of the filter. For '''single blur filter''' (such as the blur you apply with a slider in the Fill and Stroke dialog), this expands the bounding box by 2.4*radius; although theoretically, blur is infinite, this is the distance at which the opacity of the object drops below the perceptibility threshold of our renderer. For all other filters, the area is expanded by the relative amounts you specify on the "Filter general settings" tab of the Filter Effects dialog.

:Only visual bounding box is affected; if you use geometric bounding box, you will notice no change in most cases. However, the Export bitmap dialog always uses the visual bbox for selection export area; this means that you can now export a blurred object to bitmap without any clipping of the blur.

* Several fixes allowed Inkscape to correctly render and edit SVG files that use <code>currentColor</code> in objects' style (this includes files created by gnulpot).

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes046]]
* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Roadmap

2008-03-14T14:59:38Z

Johncoswell: /* Milestone 13 - Inkscape 0.47 - Refactoring / Cleanup */

== Inkscape Development Roadmap ==

NOTE: This is a working document showing specific near-term tasks needed for achieving the numbered milestones.

''Milestones 0-12 have been completed since the start of the Inkscape Project. See [[OldRoadmap]]''

=== Milestone 13 - Inkscape 0.47 - Refactoring / Cleanup ===

New/Changed Dependencies:
* Gtk 2.12 (required)

Architectural Refactoring Effort:
* 2geom Integration
** Eliminate code in favor of 2geom where feasible
* Convert remaining GTK dialog code to Gtkmm
* Eliminate all use of sp_repr_new in favor of XML::Document::* classes (see [http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.graphics.inkscape.devel/19068])
* SubsystemRearchitecture
** Migrate SPObject to native C++ classes
** Rename all '[[SPFooBar]]' routines to '[[FooBar]]' and put into namespaces
* Implement [http://grin-optics.org gradient] UI "release" handler to deal with gradient garbage collection (see bug 984854)
* Create an SPObject API for tracking references and avoiding id clashes on import and interdocument copy/paste. What we need are a void SPDocument::importCopies([set of SPObjects]), and an [set of SPObjects] SPObject::dependencies() method.
* Streamline style.*
** Eliminate use of the style.h types in as much of codebase as possible, particularly display/*.
** Externally, it should present a simple set of accessor methods for getting/setting properties by name, and propagating to/from repr.
** Inside, it should have:
*** a concise list of property names with the expected domain of values in CSS and the associated Inkscape data type
*** a concise list of property aliases which represent one or more properties combined, each with the rule used to combine
*** definitions of the aforementioned rules and value domains
*** some generic code (not tied to any one property) implementing the needed behavior

Codebase Cleanup Effort:
* Change to use of [http://library.gnome.org/devel/glib/stable/glib-Quarks.html GQuarks] instead of #defines where feasible
* Use autoscan and autoreconf to find out which configure tests are still needed.
** Trim down the amount of stuff in our configure.ac
* (PARTIALLY DONE) [[DirectoryReorgProposal]]
* Convert all tabs into spaces (convert tabs to 4 spaces)
** Also see http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=7164324
* [[http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/InkscapeJanitors#Cleanup:_Whitespace Remove trailing whitespace]]
* Replace use of C macros (E.g. SP_IS_PATH) with C++ instance methods, static class methods, etc.
* Use [http://pmd.sourceforge.net/cpd.html Copy/Paste Detector] to find and refactor duplicated code

User Documentation Effort:
* Re-arrange tutorials into sub-categories
* (PARTIALLY DONE) Switch to use of xml2po for tutorial files ([[User:Colin Marquardt|Colin Marquardt]])
* Document filters

Inkscape SVG Effort
* Revisit coordination system (move away from Cartesian)

User Interface Effort:
* improvement of svg patterns UI - make it similar to gradient-drag, instead of piggybacking knotholder
* Palettes
** Custom palettes like from Gnome
** Ability to load 3rd-party palettes (e.g. Pantone, Trumatch, Focoltone, Toyo, etc.)
* Reenable fuzzy font matching [bulia]
* Improve freehand curve smoothness [pjrm, paraprax]

Testing Effort:
* Include some rendering tests in `make check'.
* Get 'make check' to pass on Win32 and OSX (with the current btool, does this mean a 'btool check' should pass?)
* Investigate performance measurement testing for Inkscape

Animation Effort
* Create a written conceptualization of how it should work
** Currently, part of the concept discussion is at [[Animation-(Timeline)|here]]

User Documentation Effort:
* More tutorials
** Node editing
** Advanced text effects
** Grid snapping
** Connectors
** Creating photo-realistic art

=== Milestone 14 - Inkscape 0.48 - Animation ===

File Format Support Effort:
* PDF Import/Export
** Choice of PDF spec. (PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3)
** Add file info/comments
** Add color bars
* [[MicrosoftVisio|Visio]] support
** Add extension for use of [[VDX2SVG]] (http://vdxtosvg.sourceforge.net/)
** (OBSOLETE) Add extension for use of [[PDF2SVG]] (http://www.solidcode.net/pdf2svg/ - this doesn't actually link to a useful page)

DOM Binding Effort:
* Evaluate Adobe Activescript to use instead of Spidermonkey for our JS engine
* Create sample prototype app to explore ActiveScript
* Decide whether to go with Spidermonkey or Adobe ActiveScript

Tools:
* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/sf904962 correct handling of multiple font faces] by Text tool
* [http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.graphics.inkscape.devel/16938/ Filters tool]

* Get basic rendering and authoring of simple animations working adequately

Desktop Integration Effort:
* Inter-application cut-and-paste
* Inter-application drag-and-drop

Architectural Refactoring Effort:
* Complete lib2geom integration

DOM Binding Effort:
* Create tool that reads the w3c idl files and generates binding code
* Bind xpath parsing/execution
* Finish the CSS-DOM classes
* Add a 'run' mode in a separate window that runs and displays the scripted SVG

Desktop Integration Effort:
* [[WebDAV/FTP]] support via GNOME-VFS, Neon, or the like
* Finish making printing work more efficiently and reliably
* Clipart manager GUI

Inkboard Effort
* Ensure multi-user conferences work across most JEP-compliant Jabber servers
* Conduct an informal security analysis of Inkboard for security flaws

File Format Support Effort:
* PDF Import/Export
** Generate multipage PDF documents
** Define bleed and slug areas for offset printing
** Add crop, bleed and registration marks

Inkboard Effort
* Stabilize the code by closing crash bugs in the bug tracker

SVG Feature Compliance Effort:
* Animation
** Sketch out UI mockup ideas for animation rendering/animation
** Make an ultra-preliminary proof of concept of at least one animation feature

Extension Effort:
* Unification of the way to display help on extensions
* Localizable help of bundled extensions
* Effect extensions browser

=== Milestone 15 - Inkscape 0.49 - Prototype all SVG Mobile features ===

SVG Feature Compliance Effort:
* Ability to select which SVG spec version to save as
* Multi-page
* Animation
* Implement perspective transformations via [[PerspectiveObject]]
* Path editing
* Shaped strokes
* Masking/clippaths
** on-canvas editing (patch for 0.47 is ready)
** Should work like gradient tool to apply transparency
* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/sf893812 hyperlinking]
* Ensure Inkscape does not throw away the internal DTD subsets of documents it reads

=== Milestone 16 - Inkscape 0.50 - SVG Mobile Support ===

SVG Feature Compliance Effort:
* Multi-page
* Scripting
* Markers
** Inherit stroke properties like color
** On-canvas editing
** Fix snapping issue
* Real CMYK / LAB / HSB support

=== Milestone 17 - Inkscape 0.51 ===

Architectural Refactoring Effort:
* cairo Adoption Effort:
** Integrate a cairo-based SVG Canvas library
* follow the [http://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html Freedesktop Icon Naming Spec] for easier themeing

File Format Support Effort:
* Native [[Adobe Illustrator]] file Import (DONE)/Export
** (DONE) Requires good PDF Import/Export
* Native [[CorelDraw]] file Import/Export (DONE as extension)
* DXF import/export
* gdkpixbuf(?) - would give JPEG support

=== Milestone 18 - Inkscape 0.52 - Tech drawing abilities ===

User Interface Effort:
* Implement iso (DONE) & hex grid
* Editable toolbars (libegg)
* Geometrical constraints
** "Perpendicular-to", "Parallel-to", etc.
* Path trimming/extending/offset
* Filleting tool

Extensions Effort:
* Implement extension registry for users to upload/download extensions via Inkscape
* Dia-like smart shapes support

=== Milestone 19 - Inkscape 0.53 - Inkcore ===

* Separate sections of code into various libraries for use by other programs
** inkcanvas
** inkview
** inkscape

=== Milestone 20 - Inkscape 0.54 ===
=== Milestone 21 - Inkscape 0.55 ===

=== ??? - Inkscape 1.00 - Full SVG 1.1 support ===

=== Milestone [Future] ===

[[Category:Developer Documentation]]

AnnouncePlanning046

2007-11-05T14:51:05Z

Johncoswell: /* Art Community */

Planning the PR for the 0.46 release is done here...

=Tasks=

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Task
! Performer
! Date of completion
! Status
|-
| Informal PR text
| none?
| unknown
| 0%
|-
| Formal PR text
| none?
| unknown
| 0%
|-
| Interview
| [[user:Prokoudine|Prokoudine]]
| unknown
| 0%
|}

=Places to Announce=

In general, for linux community receives a general informal announcement. However, for formal press channels we use the more formal 3rd-person press release.

== Receive Informal PR ==
=== Open Source Community ===
{|
!style="text-align:left;background-color:#d3d7cf"|Contact Name
!style="text-align:left;background-color:#d3d7cf"|How to contact
!style="text-align:left;background-color:#d3d7cf"|Notes...
|-
|gnome office list
|gnome-office-list@gnome.org
|
|-
|svg developers yahoo group
|svg-developers@yahoo.com
|must join the list to send (rejon is on)
|-
|SVG.org
|antoine@graougraou.com, svg@steltenpower.com
|
|-
|svgfaq.org
|maxdunn@siliconpublishing.com
|
|-
|svgfoundation.org
|michael (at) svgfoundation.org
|
|-
|cairo list
|cairo@cairographics.org
|
|-
|gnome-list
|gnome-announce-list@gnome.org
|
|-
|Scribus List (mrdocs)
|scribus@nashi.altmuehlnet.de
|
|-
|osnews.com
|http://osnews.com/submit.php
|
|-
|
|newstips@heise.de
|
|-
|
|news@golem.de
|
|-
|Slashdot
|http://slashdot.org/submit.pl
|
|-
|mozilla svg project
|
|
|-
|SVG.org
|http://svg.org/submitstory/Diary
|submit if you have an account
|-
|http://www.desktoplinux.com/
|http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/news_post.cgi
|
|-
|SVG Cafe.com
|http://www.svg-cafe.com/
|join and post to news section
|-
|Freshmeat
|http://freshmeat.net/
|
|-
|gnome footnotes
|http://gnomedesktop.org/node/add/story
|
|-
|scale-a-vector
|kukofka@scale-a-vector.de
|http://www.scale-a-vector.de/cont.htm
|-
|
|http://dot.kde.org
|
|-
|
|http://kde-look.org
|
|-
|
|http://kde-artists.org
|
|-
|
|theobroma@revelinux.com
|
|-
|}

=== Art Community ===
{|
!style="text-align:left;background-color:#d3d7cf"|Contact Name
!style="text-align:left;background-color:#d3d7cf"|How to contact
!style="text-align:left;background-color:#d3d7cf"|Notes...
|-
|open clip art library list
|clipart@freedesktop.org
|
|-
|open clip art library news
|ryanlerch at gmail dot com
|
|-
|Inkscape deviantart group
|ScislaC
|http://inkscape.deviantart.com/
|
|-
|artdc.org forum
|johncoswell
|http://www.artdc.org/
|-
|}

=== Social Sites ===

* http://digg.com/
* http://del.icio.us/
* http://technorati.com/wtf

== Receive Formal PR ==

* [http://prleap.com/ prleap] - another free pr service
* [http://prbuzz.com/ prbuzz] - another free pr service
* [http://openpr.com openpr] - another free pr service
* nettime-ann - http://www.nettime.org/
* See Kansas City infoZine: http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/5080/
* arts sites? <-- continue looking these up!!!
* news site
* need more magazines
* need more press outlets

=== Magazines ===

* I've requested where to send PR and how to get our software reviewed from these magazines.

* http://linuxformat.co.uk/ - webmaster@linuxformat.co.uk
** PR: login and submit news via top of page link
* http://linux-magazine.com/ - info@linux-magazine.com edit@linux-magazine.com
** PR: pr@linux-magazine.com
** Product Reviews: coming soon
* http://linuxjournal.com/ - ljeditor@ssc.com
** PR: newproducts@ssc.com
** Product Reviews: Heather Mead, heather@ssc.com, http://www.linuxjournal.com/xstatic/advertising/prodreviews
* http://linuxmagazine.com/ - editors@linux-mag.com
** PR: ???
** Product Reviews:
* http://linuxuser.co.uk - http://linuxuser.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=40
** PR: terry@linuxuser.co.uk
** Product Reviews: martin@linuxuser.co.uk
* http://www.tuxmagazine.com/ - editor@tuxmagazine.com
** PR: ???
** Product Reviews: http://www.tuxmagazine.com/xstatic/advertising/prodreviews
* http://www.linuxworld.com/ - mrhinkle@linuxworld.com tim@linuxworld.com

* http://cmykmag.com/
* http://www.computerarts.co.uk/
** http://www.computerarts.co.uk/contacts
** PR & Product Reviews: dom.hall@futurenet.co.uk
** Gallery and Exposure: richard.llewellyn@futurenet.co.uk
* http://www.layersmagazine.com/

* http://graphicdesign.about.com
* http://graphicssoft.about.com
* http://desktoppublishing.about.com

Tutorials and help

2007-11-03T10:10:19Z

Johncoswell: /* Outside Tutorials and Tips */

==Tutorial targets for future releases==
[http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/TutorialUpdates-0.46 0.46 dev cycle]

== Unofficial tutorials ==

{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width=100% style="text-align:center; background-color:#f3f3f3;"
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Quickguide.png]] 
Name: [http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53832833/ Quick Guide to Inkscape] 
Overview: This is a great concise quick guide for getting started with Inkscape.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Icons_in_Inkscape.png]] 
Name: [http://www.deviantart.com/view/14703295/ Icon Creation (Mini-Tutorial)] 
Overview: A quick little tutorial demonstrating the design process in creating an SVG icon in Inkscape. The finished product of this tutorial is actually in the [http://openclipart.org Open Clip Art Library ]
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Orb-tutorial-thumb.png]] 
Name: [http://ryanler.wordpress.com/2007/02/16/simple-bubble-in-inkscape-orb-ball-bubble/ Simple Bubble/Orb in inkscape] 
Overview: A tutorial that demonstrates the use of the blur filter and clipping to create a simple bubble or orb.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Inkscape overview tut thumb.png]] 
Name: [http://members.gamedev.net/trapperzoid/ia/inkscape_introduction.html inkscape interface tutorial] 
Overview: A detailed tutorial that describes the Inkscape user interface in detail and explains how they can be used for creating cartoony art.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:3d-beveltext-thumb.png]] 
Name: [http://ryanler.wordpress.com/2007/02/06/24/ 3d like text effect in Inkscape] 
Overview: A tutorial that demonstrates a technique to create text with a beveled edge effect.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Slime_tutorial_thumnail.png]] 
Name: [http://members.gamedev.net/trapperzoid/ia/tutorial_slime.html slime to start] 
Overview: A detailed tutorial that shows the reader how to draw a simple cartoony slime creature using Inkscape. This tutorial also provides great detail on the thought and development process that is used for basic character development.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Starfish_tutorial_thumb.png]] 
Name: [http://www.christianmontoya.com/2007/01/11/tutorial-a-starfish-with-inkscape/ a starfish with inkscape] 
Overview: a simple tutorial that shows how to make a simple starfish in Inkscape. great for Inkscape "newbies"
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Starburst_tut_thumb.jpg]] 
Name: [http://foreach.awardspace.com/random/inkscape-two.html Sun background with inkscape] 
Overview: A tutorial that demonstrates the technique of creating the "starburst" effect using Inkscape.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Eye_tut_thumbnail.png]] 
Name: [http://www.wisetome.com/splat/2007/02/01/11-step-tutorial-to-create-eyeball-vector-art 11 Step Tutorial To Create Eyeball Vector Art] 
Overview: A tutorial that shows the process to create an eyeball in Inkscape.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Ball_tut_thumbnail.png]] 
Name: [http://www.wisetome.com/splat/2006/12/13/10-step-tutorial-to-create-shiny-ball-vector-art/ 10 step tutorial to create shinyball vector art] 
Overview: a tutorial that shows you how to create a shiny little ball using Inkscape.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:inkscape_fonts.png]] 
Name: [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/index.php?select=kid Kiddy Font and Tigger Font Tutorial] 
Overview: a tutorial on how to create interesting font effects with the help of Inkscape.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Graph-tut-thumbnail.png]] 
Name: [http://trinifar.wordpress.com/2007/02/21/creating-graphs-with-inkscape/ Graphs in Inkscape] 
Overview: a tutorial on how to create accurate line graphs in Inkscape.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:spring.png]] 
Name: [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/index.php?select=spring It is spring time] 
Overview: a simple tutorial that shows how to make use of
"tiled clone" with tracing.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Furboa_head.png]] 
Name: [http://www.glitchnyc.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/technology/opensource/furboa_tutoria.phblox Furboa-Tutorial] 
Overview: Learn how to create a cute little cartoony animal in Inkscape. The test subject in this case is a cute little guy named Furboa.
|width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Box.png]] 
Name: [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/index.php?select=box 3D Box] 
Overview: How to make perspective 3D boxes.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:tc_bar.png]] 
Name: [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/index.php?select=bar How far can a bar go?] 
Overview: a tile clone tutorial that shows how to make use of
Rotation, Shift, and Color.
|}

=== English ===
* [http://70.24.158.31:8080/inktut.php Making Icons] (en)
* http://programmer-art.org/inkscape currently down video-tutorials planned. (en)
* [http://www.glitchnyc.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/technology/opensource/furboa_tutoria.phblox Furboa-Tutorial] (en)
* [http://www.deviantart.com/view/14703295/ Icon Creation], devianart.com-mini-Tutorial, without text
* [http://www.artcamilla.dk/vaultage/articles/the6502s/articles-gimp/cartoon-effects-1/article.html Cartoon Effekt]] Inkscape and Gimp (en)
* [http://linuxcult.com/?m=show&id=272 Glossy Triangle (sodipodi)]
* [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/create-xp-style-icons article about how to create Icons] (en)
* [http://www.closing-gaps.org/tutorial-ink1.htm Tutorial for product illustration using Inkscape.] (en)
* [http://jimmac.musichall.cz/demos/inkscape/key-status.avi Video about Inkscape], avi
* [http://le-radar.com/?articles/drawinginkscapeEn Beginner tutorial] (en)
* [http://popolon.org/inkscape/?sub=blogtutorial List of tutorials] (en)
* [http://members.gamedev.net/trapperzoid/ia/index.html Inkscape Adventures] by Trapper Zoid
* [http://www.christianmontoya.com/2007/01/11/tutorial-a-starfish-with-inkscape/ A Starfish with Inkscape] (en) in two parts.
* [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/ Inkscape in Six Steps] by Jingshao Chen
* [http://choupil.blogspot.com/ Inkscape isometrics and tutorials] by Choupil

=== de ===
* [http://inkscape-forum.de/comments.php?DiscussionID=3&page=1#Item_0 Silhouette-tutorial] inkscape-forum.de, (de)
* [http://inkscape-forum.de/comments.php?DiscussionID=6&page=1#Item_0 Glassbutton-tutorial] inkscape-forum.de, (de)
* [http://shirts.gleichjetzt.de/Vektorisieren_mit_Inkscape Vektorisieren mit Inkscape] shirts.gleichjetzt.de, (de)
* [http://www.primfaktor.de/index.php?section=tutorials Farbverläufe (Video)] primfaktor.de, (de)
* [http://www.primfaktor.de/index.php?section=tutorials Sterne und Polygone (Video)] primfaktor.de, (de)

=== fr ===
* [http://popolon.org/gblog2/comment-faire-une-illustration-de-a-a-z-avec-inkscape Comment faire une illustration de A à Z avec inkscape.] (fr), same as above
*[http://le-radar.com/?articles/drawinginkscape Pour grands débutants] (fr)
* [http://popolon.org/inkscape/?sub=didacticielblog Liste des didacticiels du blog] de Popolon (fr)
*[http://www.inkscape-fr.org/spip.php?rubrique2 Liste des didacticiels en français du site inkscape-fr] (fr).
*[http://ticeblog.ycombe.net/index.php/2007/07/17/98-calligrammes-avec-inkscapev Caligrammes avec Inkscape] (fr)

=== it ===
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/colorare/index.htm Simulare l'uso del secchiello] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/logo_ati_I/index.htm Il logo ATi con Inkscape - Parte I] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/logo_ati_II/index.htm Il logo ATi con Inkscape - Parte II] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/logo_ati_III/index.htm Il logo ATi con Inkscape - Parte III] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/vettorializzare_I/index.htm Vettorializzare un'immagine (es.pratico)] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/unire_tracciati/index.htm Unire tracciati differenti] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/creare_ingranaggi/index.htm Come creare semplici ingranaggi] (it)
*[http://www.inkscapeitalia.org/tutorial/visualizza.php?id=9 Effetto silhouette] (it)
*[http://www.inkscapeitalia.org/tutorial/visualizza.php?id=7 Bottoni in stile web 2.0] (it)
*[http://sviluppoweb.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/13/ Guida al web design - Tutorial Inkscape] (it)

=== pl ===
*[http://www.inf.sgsp.edu.pl/lab/filmiki/filmiki.php Video tutorials / Filmiki szkoleniowe] (pl)

=== pt_BR ===
*[http://twiki.softwarelivre.org/bin/view/InkscapeBrasil/Tutoriais Vários Tutoriais da comunidade Inkscape Brasil] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.imasters.com.br/artigo/3500/livre/inkscape_brilho_luz_e_vida_aos_logos Brilho, Luz e Vida aos logos] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?code=172&tid=6 Criando a logo do Ubuntu] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.imasters.com.br/artigo/4159/livre/criando_personagens Criando Personagens] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?code=143&tid=6 Manual Desenho Vectorial do Inkscape] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?code=158&tid=6 Manual do inkscape 0.40] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?code=157&tid=6 Utilização de Imagens SVG em Páginas Web] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.allanbrito.com/2007/08/06/tutorial-inkscape-interface/ Introdução a interface do Inkscape] (pt_BR)

=== zh_CN ===
*[http://popolon.org/inkscape/?sub=blogjiaoyu 一些中文Inkscape教育]

=== Screen casts ===
* [http://www.hardon.co.il/alma/ Drawing a simple woman face] (video)
* [http://www.primfaktor.de/index.php?section=tutorials Farbverläufe (Video)] (de)
* [http://www.primfaktor.de/index.php?section=tutorials Sterne und Polygone (Video)] (de)
* [http://screencasters.heathenx.org/ A collection of Inkscape video tutorials from screencasters.heathenx.org] (en)

== 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://www.out-of-order.ca/tutorial/inkscape-tutorial Making Icons With Inkscape] A beginner's guide to creating nice icons in Inkscape by Ben Powers.
* [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.
* [http://www.coswellproductions.org/wordpress/2007/08/05/practical-inkscape-for-comic-artists-the-right-handed-illustration-keyboard-layout/ The Right-Handed Illustration Keyboard Layout] A guide aimed at tablet users that want to have a keyboard layout that is better tuned to illustration work.

== Help & helpful articles ==
* [http://le-radar.com/?mm/inkscape Inkscape User manual] (en, fr) or get from user_manual branch of SVN
* [http://www.linux-magazine.com/issue/56/Inkscape_Vector_Graphics.pdf Inkscape Vector Graphics] pdf, by Peter Kreussel (en)
* [http://www.linux-user.de/ausgabe/2005/05/053-inkscape/ Inkscape Vector Graphics], by Peter Kreußel (de), same as above
* [http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=2183007&postcount=13 How to draw an arrow or line with marker with Inkscape 0.45] (en)
* [http://jimmac.musichall.cz/weblog.php/Inkscape?flav=php art-weblog with inkscape-category] (en)
* [http://blog.die-scheiss-kiste.de/wordpress/index.php?cat=4 Andy's weblog with inkscape-category] (de)
* [http://popolon.org/gblog2/categorie/didacticiel/didacticiel-graphique/inkscape-tutorial/ Popolongraphical Blog] (fr, en)
* [http://inkscape.le-radar.com Cours Inkscape, by Cédric GEMY (pygmee)] (fr)
* [http://www.archive.org/download/Inkscape_Path_Tutorial/inkscapePaths.swf Flashvideo about drawing with the pen-tool and Bezier curves] (en)
* [http://www.archive.org/download/Inkscape_Gradient_Tutorial/gradient.swf Flashvideo about creating gradients] (en)
* [http://www.coofercat.com/wiki/InkScape some annotations about "Flowing Text, Portable SVG Files & Producing A4-pdf-files] (en)
* [http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?down=158 Portugese Inscape Manual] zipped svg (0.40)] (pt)
* [http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/5757/5/ Inkscape: Vector Graphics For Linux] Rob, Reilly (en)
* [http://www.sketchpad.net/drawing2.htm Bezier Curves And The Different Kinds Of Anchor Points] (en)
* [http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/09/08/1835253.shtml?tid=131&tid=130&tid=132| article about inkscape], Bruce Byfield (en)
* [http://www.redhat.com/magazine/010aug05/features/inkscape/ Creating vector graphics with Inkscape] by Rosanna Yuen, redhat.com (en)

== Creating New Tutorials ==
Easy way:
# Load up one of the existing tutorials
# Replace its text and images with your own
# Upload it to the [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=93438&atid=604308 Patch Tracker]. Make SURE to click the "Upload and Attach a File" checkbox!

Official way:
# Create a DocBook XML file like the [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/doc-docbook/trunk/basic/tutorial-basic.xml?view=markup Basic Tutorial DocBook]
# Follow directions in the tutorial directory [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/doc-docbook/trunk/README?view=markup README] for formatting and handling of embedded non-SVG images
# Create a subdirectory in the [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/doc-docbook/trunk/ doc-docbook] module and place the new tutorial docbook file there
# Test tutorial generation using the `make-html`, `make-svg`, and `make-all` scripts
# Announce the availability of the new tutorial

== Tutorial Ideas ==
This section will consist of brainstorming and basic development of new tutorials that will be useful for new/old users.

=== Completed Tutorials ===

* [http://home.programmer-art.org/?page=inkscape Daniel Taylor's Web-Based Inkscape Tutorials] - Hopefully he will make SVG tutorials that we can inlude with Inkscape, like our current [[DefaultTutorial]].
* making shiny marbles... http://inkscape.org/wiki_uploads/marbles_tut.svg
* also see [http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OtherProjects#outsidetut Outside Tutorials and Tips]
* [[ElementsPrinciplesOfDesign]] (rejon)
* [http://kargs.net/docs/easter_egg_tutorial.svg Easter Egg Tutorial]

=== Tutorials in development ===

* [http://homepage.univie.ac.at/reinhard.stepanek/fxos80/metchart.html How to create meteorological charts with Inkscape], Tutorial by Reinhard Stepanek
* Daniel Pope's Clownfish Tutorial - [http://www.mauveweb.co.uk/misc/tutorials/clownfish.svg Part 1] [http://www.mauveweb.co.uk/misc/tutorials/clownfish2.svg Part 2] - drop me an email at mauve@mauveweb.co.uk to suggest changes.
* A very small sheet with instructions for doing [http://www.gimpforum.de/album/file.php?n=4323&w=o isometric transformations] - if anyone has comments or wants to have a look at the original svg, contact me at daniel dot hornung <at> gmx dot de (this is useful for e.g. icon work, see [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/BluecurveIconGuidelines Bluecurve Icon Guidelines])
* [http://www.coofercat.com/wiki/InkScape Coofer Cat's Inkscape Page] - Some miscellaneous meanderings with Inkscape. There are a few hints and tips that might be of use to the less experienced Inkscape user. There are also a few random bits of clipart too.

=== Planned Tutorials ===

* [[UsingTheCloneTiler]] - Clones

* Text and Typography

* Clippath/Mask/Pattern

* Effects

* SVG Filters

* XML Editor

=== Tutorial Scratchpad ===

* How to create an icon
* How to build a presentation using Inkview.
* How to build complex shapes using boolean operations.
* How to use Inkscape to create graphics for LaTeX / ConTeXt documents.
* etc

A tutorial in progress of writing by John Griessen

This writing is a journal of how a project to recreate a business card originally
made with Illutrator 7, after losing the original file, so the comparison to Illustrator is
much from memory and not to be taken as the last word, but a guide as to how the programs compare.

Attached is a png of the printed business card:

It originally was a collection of paths filled with colors and text objects with grouping to
make replicating some objects easy.

The shell command '$inkscape --version' tells us this is Inkscape 0.39cvs (Jul 2 2004) .

The logo main element is a pseudo sine wave, and I made it before with grid snap and stretching and replicating, so now I set my units to mm and grid spacing and snap to 1 and remember how it would be nice to have major and minor grids instead of just one, so I want to create some vertical guides evenly spaced and cannot remember and start looking in docs. In Illustrator 7, clicking on the ruler bar created a guide if I recall... Once created, it could be moved with grid snap like any object, so getting it on grid or off was easy. As I read around, I find the usage of guides in "Keys and Mouse" "drag off a ruler" is the way... and a guide is on the page, and I can't snap it to easily make the accurate secondary grid I had wanted....Is there a way to? I try duplicate on the guide, but alas, it is not a regular object... it cannot be selected as they are...so I cannot replicate guides to make other grids after all... note for the beginner, to get bezier curves out of the line/bezier tool, you must click-drag. A click-only will give you only connected straight line segments. I'll have to use lines as guides,
http://home.austin.rr.com/jgriessen/ill2ink-tut1.png

[[Category:Help Wanted]]

=== Other SVG Tutorials ===

* http://www.codeproject.com/books/learnsvgchapter07.asp

Release notes/0.46

2007-10-24T10:05:11Z

Johncoswell: /* New and improved effects */

=Inkscape 0.46=
'''(not released yet)'''

Highlights in this release:

* Paintbucket tool

* Tweak tool

* 3D Box tool

* Live path effects

* Color management

* New SVG filters and UI

* Native PDF and AI import

* XAML import/export

* Open Clip Art Library integration (import/export)

* Bitmap editing extension effects

* Full on-canvas gradient editing

* Engraver's Toolbox in the Calligraphic tool

* Touch selection

* Dockable dialogs

* Command-line access to verbs

* Snapping made usable

* Significant speed and interactivity improvements

* Hundreds of smaller features and bugfixes

=Speed and interactivity=

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws '''faster by about 25%'''. More impressive are memory savings: thanks to cairo, in outline mode Inkscape now takes only about '''50% of the memory''' used by 0.45 for the same file.

* '''Smart redraw directionality:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted in order from top to bottom. Now the redraw always starts '''at your mouse cursor location''' and proceed upwards and downwards from it, so that the area near the cursor is always redrawn first. This significantly improves program's responsiveness in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the point you're working on. Moreover, the redraw is interruptible, so each mouse movement starts new redraw from the mouse cursor area. As a result, during such operations those parts that you're working on redraw often and feel snappy and responsive, while areas further away may lag behind more.

* '''Faster blur''' for exporting and high quality on-screen rendering: Inkscape now uses an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter for blurring with large radius. This greatly improves the speed of blur redraw at high zooms or in high-resolution export (or simply with very large blur radius). On the other hand, the results are an approximation to a true Gaussian blur, so a drawing may look slightly different from the mathematically precise blur (usually the differences are far from visible, though). This code is mainly based on: ''Recursive Gaussian Derivative Filters'' by L.J. van Vliet, I.T. Young and P.W. Verbeek (see the source code for more detailed references).

:'''Exporting drawings with blur''' was particularly slow in 0.45; some files could take hours to export. Now this is fixed, in part by the faster algorithm mentioned above and in part by a bugfix in the export code. Now even the quite complex files with large blurs export at high resolution in at most a few minutes.

* [faster gradients - mental]

* '''Dragging handles and nodes''' as well as '''dragging and transforming objects''' by mouse became more responsive, so that working in complex drawings and especially editing complex paths is noticeably easier. In particular, this fixes the annoying latency issue where a node or a handle could follow mouse cursor even after you release mouse button after a drag.

* '''Moving the cursor around''' in a file with large and complex paths has become much snappier and more responsive. Previously, in extreme cases Inkscape could freeze for seconds while catching up with the mouse cursor; such delays are now eliminated.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* '''Redrawing the newly exposed parts of the canvas''' after scrolling, especially diagonal scrolling, is now faster because only the exposed areas are redrawn; before, this often resulted in the entire screen being redrawn which was much slower.

:* Previously, if you started panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

* Better responsiveness and more visual feedback in user interface:

:*When you zoom, the '''zoom control''' on the right end of the statusbar now updates immediately, not after screen redraw as before.

:*Many potentially slow commands (Save, Simplify, Combine, Break Apart and others) now display a '''busy cursor''' and flash a message in the statusbar (e.g. "Saving document...") while they work.

:*The '''statusbar messages''' displayed while you're drawing a shape or a path in Pen tool do not lag behind the mouse movements.

* '''Combine''' and '''Convert to paths''' commands are now orders of magnitude faster when applied to a selection with hundreds or thousands of objects.

* The time it takes to '''snap to objects''' using the selector tool has been reduced dramatically, which is most noticeable for snapping to complex paths.

=Tools=

==Paint Bucket tool==

The new Paint Bucket tool works exactly as you would expect: click in any area bounded on all sides and it will '''fill it with color'''. Being a vector tool, however, Inkscape's Paint Bucket just creates a new ''path'' that "fills in" the area in which you clicked.

===How it works===

It is important to note that the tool is '''perceptual''', not geometric. That is, when looking for the boundaries around the point you clicked, it takes for such boundaries any ''visible'' color changes. This means that filling will stop at gradients, blurs, and even the color boundaries in imported bitmaps, but will ignore any paths or other objects that are fully (or almost) transparent or for any other reason do not stand out from the background. In short, it will work exactly as if you were filling a rasterized version of your image in a bitmap editor like Photoshop or GIMP - but will give you a vector object to work with.

For example, now you can scan a pencil sketch, import the bitmap into Inkscape, and quickly fill all its cells with colors even without tracing the bitmap first. This is a very convenient and interactive way of digitizing your paper drawings, making the '''traditional bitmap tracing unnecessary''' in many cases.

Internally, the tool works by performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and placing the traced path into the document.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The '''resolution''' of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your '''current zoom level''' -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill. So, if you are got a fill that is too imprecise, has rough corners, or don't go into small nooks and appendices where it is supposed to go, just undo, zoom in closer and repeat filling from the same point. Conversely, if the fill leaks out through a small gap, zoom out to make the gap less visible and fill again (or use the auto gap closing parameter, see below).

===Style===

Like all object-creating tools, the Paint Bucket may use the '''last-set style''' for the objects it creates (this is the default), or it can use its own '''fixed style'''. You can switch between these modes on this tool's page in Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P). As in all other tools, the '''style swatch''' on the far right of the Controls bar shows the style that will be used for the next fill object you create.

===Controls===

In the tool's '''Controls bar''':

* Paint Bucket's perceptual fill can use either all visible colors or specific color channels. Using the '''Fill by''' drop-down list, you can restrict the fill algorithm to one the following channels:
** Red
** Green
** Blue
** Hue
** Saturation
** Lightness
** Alpha

* The '''Threshold''' (in per cent units) controls how large must be color difference at a point (compared to the initial click point) to stop the fill. Zero tolerance means only the area of strictly the same color will be filled; the larger the tolerance, the easier it will be for the fill to leak into adjacent different-color areas. The default value is 10%.

* Using the '''Grow/shrink by''' parameter, you can control the amount of inset/outset to be applied to the created fill path. Setting a positive outset causes fill paths to be larger than the filled bitmap area (good for eliminating anti-aliasing errors), while setting a negative outset causes the path to be smaller. This works much the same as the Outset and Inset path commands, except it's done automatically after every fill.

* With the '''Close gaps''' parameter, you can make the Paint Bucket tool ignore any gaps in the area boundaries that would normally cause the fill to spill out of the desired area. There are four settings to auto gap:
** None
** Small (close gaps up to 2 pixels in size)
** Medium (4 pixels)
** Large (6 pixels)
:Note that setting this parameter to other than None may slow down noticeably the filling of large areas.

===Shortcuts===

The tool's '''shortcuts''' are:

* '''Single click''' performs filling from the click point.

* '''Shift+click''' performs filling from the click point and then unions the resulting path with the selected path. This way, if your first attempt did not fill in all of the desired area, you can Shift+click the remaining corner to fill it in separately and combine the result with the result of the previous fill.

* '''Ctrl+click''' on an object simply changes that object's fill to the current fill color of the tool, and '''Shift+Ctrl+click''' changes the stroke to the current stroke color.

* '''Click and drag''' performs filling from '''all of the points''' that you pass while dragging (you will see your path visualized by a red line). From each point, the fill spreads to the neighbors with the colors similar to that point - in other words, it's like clicking with this tool at each point of the drag path and unioning the results. This lets you easily fill an area occupied by a gradient or blur - just drag from the darkest to the lightest points in the area you want to fill.

* '''Alt+click and drag''' works similarly to simple drag, except from each point of the drag path, the fill spreads to the neighbors (if any) with the colors similar to the ''initial point'' (the point where you started the drag). This lets you fill a series of similarly-colored yet separated areas (for example, multiple cells in a cartoon) by starting the drag in one of those areas, and alt+dragging the tool through all the other areas.

==Tweak tool==

The Tweak tool is an exciting new way to edit drawings which largely blurs the
distinction between vector and raster editing. Instead of meticulously selecting some
objects and then performing an action on the selection, you can now select ''all''
objects (or all objects you are interested in) and apply the Tweak tool's brush to
smoothly and naturally change the shape or style of only those objects (or parts
thereof) ''that the brush touches''.

The area of the tool's action - its ''brush'' - is marked by an orange-colored circular
outline that moves with your mouse cursor. However, that area actually has no sharp
boundaries; the power of the tool's action falls off gradually, following a smooth
bell-shaped profile. This makes the tool act softly and smoothly.

The tool will work on any number of selected objects; for example, you can select all
(Ctrl+A) and "smear" your entire drawing by Push mode or paint it by Color Paint
mode. You can also apply it to groups of objects; it will go into groups and act on
individual objects inside groups. If you're trying to use it without anything selected,
it will remind you by a statusbar message to select some objects.

===Width===

The width of the tool's brush, in the range from 1 to 100, can be changed by the
'''Width''' control in the tool's controls bar above the canvas. You can also change
width by '''Left''' and '''Right''' arrow keys (same as in the Calligraphy tool) at any
time (including during action) as well as '''Home''' and '''End'''. Also, as in Calligraphy
tool, the visible width of the brush is independent of zoom; simply zooming in or out is
often easier than adjusting the width if you want to cover a smaller or larger area of
the drawing.

===Force===

The next control is '''Force''' which adjusts the power of the action, also in the
range from 1 to 100. You can also change width by '''Up''' and '''Down''' arrow keys at
any time (including during action).

If you have a pressure-sensitive tablet and your "Use pressure" button on the right-hand
end of the controls bar is on, then the force will also depend on how hard you actually
press your pen into your tablet, changing in the range from zero to whatever you set in
the Force control. If all you have is a mouse, then the force will be constant but still
settable by the Force control.

===Path editing modes===

The Tweak tool has a number of '''modes''', selectable by toggle buttons in the tool's
Controls bar and by keyboard shortcuts. Some of these modes change the shapes of
paths while others affect the colors of objects. All these modes share the Width and
Force controls but otherwise are quite different. Let's look at the path editing modes
first.

Unlike the Node tool, to edit paths with the Tweak tool you don't need to worry about
where the nodes of a path are and how to manipulate them. You just apply the tool's
brush to any point, and the selected paths at that point will reshape smoothly and
naturally - as if made of soft jelly - regardless of where its nodes lie. If applied to
a shape or text object, the tool converts them to paths automatically.

While not very useful for technical drawings, tweaking paths will be indispensable for
artistic uses of Inkscape - cartoons, drawings, sketches, anime, etc. This new
functionality is somewhat similar to the tools such as "Pucker" and "Bloat" in the
latest versions of Adobe Illustrator.

There are currently six path editing modes in the Tweak tool: '''Push''', '''Shrink''',
'''Grow''', '''Attract''', '''Repel''', and '''Roughen'''.

* This default mode of the tool, '''Push''', simply displaces the part of the path under the cursor in the direction of the drag. The path behaves like soft jelly, bending and bulging smoothly and naturally. It's an easy way to produce various irregular, lifelike, handmade-looking shapes starting from something as simple as an ellipse or a calligraphic stroke. For parallel-stroke hatching (engraving) done in the Calligraphy tool, pushing is an easy way to bend, pinch, or curve the entire hatching uniformly.

* The '''Shrink''' and '''Grow''' are two opposite modes that move each point of a path in a direction perpendicular to the path's surface at the point, either inwards (Shrink) or outwards (Grow). This is similar to the Inset and Outset commands, except that the Tweak tool can act on a part of a path instead of the whole path.

:For example, the visible lightness/darkness of an engraving hatching may not exactly correspond to your artistic intention. Also, the ends of Calligraphy pen strokes are often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly bends or blobs. This is where the Tweak tool may help. Select all the strokes in a hatching pattern and apply a light Shrink action where you want the lines to become thinner (and the hatching to become lighter), up until total disappearance. If you press hard, shrinking works as an eraser, so you can easily clean the strokes' ends to make them thin, sharp, and uniform. Conversely, applying Grow makes strokes wider (i.e. the hatching becomes darker).

:Of course, shrinking and growing are useful not only for calligraphic strokes. Same as with Push, with Shrink and Grow you can '''sculpt''' any path, spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Inflating and carving holes with Melting. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes to the shape.

* The '''Attract''' and '''Repel''' modes work by moving each affected point on a path towards (Attract) or from (Repel) the cursor point. In some cases this may look similar to Shrink and Grow, but the difference is that shrinking/growing moves paths perpendicularly to the path in each point, whereas attracting/repelling moves them to or from the cursor regardless of the path shape. These modes are similar to the Pinch effect in ; you can use them for various central-symmetric distortions in parts of your paths.

* The '''Roughen''' mode does exactly this: roughens the edge of the path without changing its overall shape. Slight roughening simply makes the edge crooked and uneven; strong roughening tears and explodes the edge into random blobs and splotches. Note that this operation, especially with high Fidelity, adds a lot of nodes which increases the size of your SVG document and may slow down Inkscape considerably. In particular, pushing/melting/inflating of a roughened path becomes much slower and more difficult, so it's recommended to finalize the overall shape of a path first and roughen it, if necessary, only as the final step.

====Fidelity====

Any tweaking of a path slightly distorts the entire path, including even those parts
that you didn't touch. These distortions are similar to those that a Simplify command
produces. The '''Fidelity''' value (also in the range from 1 to 100, default is 50)
allows you to control the amount of these distortions. With a higher fidelity, the
distortions are less noticeable, but the path may end up having a lot of nodes which
inflates up the SVG size and slows down Inkscape.

The best value of Fidelity depends on the nature of your artwork. If you're sculpting an
amorphous blob, you can do with low fidelity of about 20. If, however, you are pushing
or inflating a text string (as a single path) and want the letters outside the distorted
area to remain crisp and clean, you will need to raise fidelity to 80 or more.

====Known problems====

Known problems with the path editing modes in Tweak tool:

# they don't work on open paths (an open path becomes closed if you tweak it);
# they are rather slow;
# they quickly eat memory; and
# they are sometimes buggy - thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change their shape drastically as you're melting or inflating them.

For (4), it helps to increase Fidelity. Also, you can undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the desired result without the buggy behavior.

Also, sometimes after roughening, further tweaking of a path becomes impossible with this diagnostic:

WARNING **: Shape error in ConvertToShape: directedEulerian(a) == false

All these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then.

===Color-changing modes===

The '''Color Paint''' and '''Color Jitter''' modes, unlike the path editing modes,
change the colors of objects instead of their shapes. Yet they share enough common
features with the path-changing modes to be part of the same tool: These modes also use
a circular soft-edged brush controlled by the Width and Force parameters on the Controls
bar and affected by the pen pressure (if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet).

* '''Color Paint''' applies the style of the tool to the selected objects under the brush. The style of the tool is visible in the style swatch at the rightmost end of the tool's control bar; it can be changed by clicking on the color palette or by any other style assignment command, such as Fill and Stroke dialog. ('''Note''': unlike all other tools, in Tweak tool in Color Paint mode you cannot assign style directly to selected objects; any style-setting command changes the tool's style instead.)

:The fill from the tool's style applies to the fills of the painted objects, and the stroke applies to the strokes. If the tool's style has no fill or no stroke, it won't affect fills or strokes, correspondingly. For example, if you want to color the fills of objects blue but leave their strokes untouched, assign blue fill to the tool's style (just click blue on the palette) but set its stroke to None (middle-click the Stroke swatch in the statusbar). Similarly, master opacity in the tool's style affects master opacities of the touched objects (if the O channel is on, see below).

:This mode allows you to literally paint over objects, shifting their colors towards the target style of the tool. For example, if you paint with yellow fill over a blue-filled object, the object will become greenish blue, then green, then yellowish green, and end up being exactly the yellow color you're painting with. This speed of this gradual transition depends on both Force parameter and pen pressure; also, objects touched by the periphery of the brush are less affected than those hit by the brush center. Overall, using this tool is very similar to a soft brush in a raster editor such as Gimp or Photoshop.

* '''Color Jitter''' mode does not apply any color, but instead jitters (randomizes) the colors of the objects it touches. The force of the action determines how strong is the randomization, i.e. how far the colors deviate from the original values. This mode does not use the tool's style.

Both modes work on flat fills and gradients; for gradients, the tool takes into account not only the position of the entire object with gradient, but also the position of each gradient stop relative to the brush. This means that, for example, you can change the blue color only in an object filled with blue-red gradient simply by painting over its blue end with a brush small enough to not touch the red. (Note that color tweaking does not create gradients on objects that used flat color before, but only adjusts existing gradients in the drawing.)

====Channels====

Color Paint and Color Jitter honor the '''Channels''' control. This control comprises
the four buttons: '''H''', '''S''', '''L''', and '''O''', which allow you to turn on and off
the tool's action on the object's hue, saturation, lightness, and opacity,
correspondingly. For example, if you want to raise the saturation of some part of your
drawing without changing the hue, select some maximum-saturation color (e.g. pure red)
and turn off all Channels buttons except S. Similarly, you can replace the hues without
affecting saturation or lightness (only H pressed), or lighten/darken all colors without
changing their hues and saturation (only L pressed). Pressing O allows you to apply the
master opacity from the tool's style to the master opacity of objects (but not fill or
stroke opacity).

====Usage notes====

Color painting with Tweak tool is similar, but not exactly analogous to bitmap
painting. Even though the tool itself works as a soft brush, it still applies its color
to vector objects, which behave as vector objects usually do. For example, if you want
to change the tint of the face in your drawing, and if a hand in the drawing is part of
the same object as the face, that hand will change its tint too even if it's located far
from the point you are painting. (We foresee a "fracture" command in one of the next
versions of Inkscape which will help you turn a monolithic object into a mosaic of small
fragments that will be then easy to paint with Tweak tool.) Still, even with this
limitation, color painting is a novel way of dealing with vector drawings which allows
you to quickly and intuitively make adjustments which would be awkward and slow with
traditional approach.

Drawings containing patterns or scatterings of small independent objects are best suited
for color painting with Tweak tool. Examples include:

* freehand drawings with Calligraphy pen, consisting of many separate strokes;

* gradient meshes imported from Adobe Illustrator files (Inkscape renders these meshes as lattices of small polygons; while there's no direct support for gradient meshes in Inkscape yet, color painting on such lattices is almost as good);

* text converted to paths and with Break Apart command applied so that each letter is a separate path;

* patterns made with the Tile Clones command; note that you need to unset the fill and/or stroke on the original object and use the Color tab to assign some initial color to the clones - this will make them paintable with the Tweak tool without unlinking.

Moreover, color tweaking can be useful for compositions with a few objects or even for
single objects. Unlike all other color selection methods, painting with the Tweak tool
implements the ''color mixing'' metaphor which is much more familiar to traditional
artists than RGB sliders or even the color wheel. For example, start with a rectagle of
pure blue color; then, pick different colors by Color Paint and apply light touches with
minimum Force and minimum pen pressure: add a little green, a little brown, a little
yellow, etc. until you have the exact hue you need. Similarly, you can whiten or blacken
any hue by admixing white or black.

You can also use color tweaking to add a tint, darken/lighten, saturate/desaturate, or
color jitter your entire drawing. Just select all in all layers, zoom out, choose a
large brush width so it covers all of the drawing, and apply a little color tweaking
(with minimum Force) that will therefore affect all visible objects.

===Keyboard shortcuts===

* '''W''', '''Shift+F2''': switch to the Tweak tool

* '''Shift+P''': switch to the Push mode

* '''Shift+S''': switch to the Shrink mode

* '''Shift+G''': switch to the Grow mode

* '''Shift+A''': switch to the Attract mode

* '''Shift+E''': switch to the Repel mode

* '''Shift+R''': switch to the Roughen mode

* '''Shift+C''': switch to the Color Paint mode

* '''Shift+J''': switch to the Color Jitter mode

* '''Left, Right, Home, End''': change width

* '''Up, Down''': change force

* '''mouse drag''': act on selected path in the current mode

* '''Ctrl+mouse drag''': temporarily switch to Shrink (while Ctrl is down)

* '''Shift+Ctrl+mouse drag''': temporarily switch to Grow (while Shift+Ctrl is down)

==3D Box tool==

Inkscape is a two-dimensional drawing tool. However, very often it is used to draw three-dimensional objects. The new '''3D box tool''' helps you create such 3D drawings by automating the most common operation: creating a three-dimensional box in a given perspective. The tool automatically ensures that all sides of the box lie on the corresponding perspective lines. We're not going to compete with Blender - but even simple things can go a long way.

Currently in the 3D box tool you can:

* draw a 3D box by dragging on canvas (use Shift+dragging without releasing the mouse button to extrude in z direction)

* adjust any of its 3 dimensions by handles

* move a 3D box "in perspective" by dragging its center; without modifiers, movement occurs within the XY-plane (press Ctrl to constrain the movement to the directions of the coordinate axes or diagonals), with Shift the box moves parallel to the Z-axis

* adjust the vanishing points of a perspective by dragging them across the canvas (see below) or toggling their states; all boxes sharing this perspective are transformed accordingly

In SVG, a 3D box is represented as a '''group''' (svg:g) with a special extension attribute (in inkscape namespace); this group contains the 6 quadrilateral '''paths''' representing the sides of the box. Only the 3D box tool treats this object as a box; for all other tools it is just a group, so you can select any of the paths by Ctrl+click, apply any style to it, delete it, etc. You can of course transform the entire box or any face in it using Selector or Node tools.

When several boxes are selected, all vanishing points of their associated perspectives are shown on the canvas. If vanishing points of different perspectives coincide, they are combined in a single "dragger". Moving this dragger moves all the vanishing points simultaneously and transforms the associated boxes accordingly. Note that some non-selected boxes may also be reshaped if their perspectives share the same vanishing point. Pressing Shift while moving the dragger can be used to only transform the selected boxes, separating their perspectives from the non-selected ones'. On the other hand, when a vanishing point being dragged comes close enough to another one, both snap together and are combined in a single dragger.

===Keyboard shortcuts===

* '''X''', '''Alt+F4''': switch to the 3D box tool

* The various kinds of parentheses, namely '''[''' ''']''', '''(''' ''')''', '''{''' '''}''', can be used to rotate infinite (i.e., parallel) perspective lines in X-, Y-, and Z-direction, respectively. Closing parentheses rotate clockwise and opening parentheses rotate counterclockwise. The angle of rotation is taken from the preferences. Pressing '''Alt''' reduces the amount of rotation to 1 screen pixel.

* '''L''': toggle visibility of perspective lines

* '''A''': when perspective lines are visible, toggle between "all lines" and "only lines connected to front corners" (this can help to avoid visual clutter)

[max]

==Gradient Tool==
===Selecting multiple stops===
'''More than one gradient stop''' can be selected at a time. Shortcuts for working with multiple stop selections are generally modeled on the Node tool.
* Add a stop to the selected stops by '''Shift+click'''.
* Press '''Ctrl+A''' to select all stops in the selected objects.
* '''Shift+drag''' around stops to add them to selection.
Multiple selected stops:
*Can be moved together by '''mouse drag''' or by '''arrow keys'''. For example, creating a linear gradient, then press Ctrl+A to select all stops and use arrow keys to move the entire gradient as a whole.
*Can be deleted at the same time by pressing '''Del'''.
An always up-to-date description of the current handle selection is provided in the statusbar in the Gradient tool, including the number of selected handles (and the type of the single selected handle), as well as the total number of handles and selected objects.

===Editing intermediate stops===
'''Intermediate stops''' in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on canvas (previously this was only possible in the Gradient Editor dialog).
*Stops can be added by '''double clicking''' or by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on the gradient line. Also, you can '''drag-and-drop''' a color from the palette onto the gradient line to create a new stop with this color. Dropping a color on an existing stop changes the color of that stop.
*When two or more adjacent stops are selected, pressing '''Ins''' adds stops in the middles of all selected stop intervals.
*Intermediate stops can be '''mousedrag'''ged or moved by '''arrow keys''' along their gradient line, within the limits of the adjacent unselected stops (or end handles).
:*Dragging with '''Ctrl''' moves the selected stops snapping them to 1/10 fractions of the available range.
:*Dragging with '''Alt''' moves the selected stops depending on how close each one is to the stop being dragged, using a smooth bell-like curve similar to the node sculpting feature in Node tool. This makes it easy to approximate different gradient profiles; for example, if you have a two-stop gradient that you want to shape according to a curve profile, select both ends of the gradient, press '''Ins''' a few times to add a number of intermediate nodes, then '''Alt+drag''' a node in the middle to smoothly profile the gradient.
*Stops can also be moved by '''arrow keys''' with all the regular modifiers ('''Shift''' for 10x movement, '''Alt''' for pixel-size movement at the current zoom, '''Shift+Alt''' for 10 pixels movement at the current zoom).
*Stops can be deleted by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on a stop or by the '''Del''' key for all the selected stop(s).
:*When you delete an end stop, the nearest intermediate stop becomes the new end stop of the gradient (without moving - i.e., the gradient span becomes shorter).
:*When you delete an end stop and there are no intermediate stops, the object will be painted with a solid fill taken from the color & opacity of the remaining stop.
*Pressing '''Ctrl+L''' with some intermediate stops selected attempts to ''simplify'' the selected portion of the gradient, removing those stops that can be removed without too much change in the way the gradient looks. In particular, new stops created by double-clicking or pressing Ins initially do not change the appearance of the gradient, so if you press Ctrl+L, all redundant stops that weren't moved or repainted since creation will be deleted.

===Style of gradient stops===
*When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
:*When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*When one or more gradient stops are selected, using the Copy command ('''Ctrl+C''') copies to the clipboard the style (color and opacity) of the selected stop or the averaged style of several selected stops, not the entire object with gradient as before. This means you can now copy/paste style between stops: select the source stop(s), copy, select the destination stop(s), paste style ('''Ctrl+Shift+V'''). With several selected stops, this also allows you to easily average their colors and opacities by copying them and pasting the style back onto them. (After that, redundant gradient stops can be removed by simplification with '''Ctrl+L''').
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

===Automatic duplication of gradients===
When copy/pasting or duplicating an object with gradient, it now automatically gets a '''copy''' of the original gradient, so modifying it does not affect the source object's gradient anymore (before, you had to press the Duplicate button on the Gradient controls bar for this). The Duplicate button is therefore removed.

However, to accommodate the needs of users who have relied on sharing the same gradient definition across objects, this behavior can be optionally suppressed. The '''Prevent sharing of gradient definitions''' checkbox on the Misc tab of Inkscape Preferences is by default checked; if you uncheck it, Inkscape does not automatically copy gradient definitions for new objects, which means that copy/pasting, duplicating, pasting style, and explicit assignment of a gradient to an object via the Gradient tool controls results in a shared gradient definition, so that changing the colors or mid-stop positions of the gradient on one object (but not changing the coordinates of the end handles) affects all other objects that share the same definition.

==Calligraphy tool: Engraver's Toolbox ==

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make
Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line
engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive
process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way
of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a
century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic
halftone screens. However, line engravings have their
characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to
resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape.

A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on
these screenshots:

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png

===Tracking a guide path with Ctrl===

One of the most common operations in line engraving is
'''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several
hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel
straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to
represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar
effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather
cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the
other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do
uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by
'''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and
uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual
control over the process.

Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that
you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path
or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to
Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width,
angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press
Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your
mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected
guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar
message will tell you to select it.)

Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track
circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch
pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment,
the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides
along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the
center of the tracking circle, ''not'' by your mouse point. As
a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the
guide path and always at the same distance from it.

When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift
your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because
as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch
spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just
created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets
selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this
means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide
path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one,
then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill
any desired space with uniform hatching.

Alternatively, if you uncheck "Select new path" in the Calligraphy tool preferences, newly created strokes will not be selected, so your original guide path will be kept selected. In this mode, Inkscape will increase the tracking distance after each created stroke so that you can create uniformly spaced hatching by tracking a single guide path.

The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray
your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be
able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red)
and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you,
for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a
guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than
the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such
tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks,
but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not
try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still
bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter.

Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental
jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are
suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side
and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracking
stroke will also flip over to follow you.

Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually
changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing
behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or
farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the
distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will
get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect
is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also,
note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes
of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below)
will result in gradual bending of the hatching pattern as you
proceed.

===Tracing background by stroke width===

There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls
bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen
depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in
each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke
width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which is set by the
Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with
pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the "Use pressure" button
is also toggled.

This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported
bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically
reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with
your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed.

===Misc features===

* For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before.

* To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.)

==Selector==

* A new selection mode is available: '''selecting by touch'''. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious.

:To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press '''Alt''' to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red ''touch path'' will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press '''Alt''' first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press '''Shift+Alt''' and then start to drag.

* Previously, the only way to switch selection from scale mode to rotate mode or back was to click on it, which was rather inconvenient when the selected object is in a group or under other objects. Now you can switch modes with keyboard as well by pressing '''Shift+S''' in Selector tool.

* Draging the '''scale handles with Alt''' now scales selection by an integer factor, i.e. up to '''2''', '''3''', '''4''', etc. times the original size or down to '''1/2'''. '''1/3''', '''1/4''', etc. of the original size (in any of the two dimensions independently). This way you can, for example, mirror any object around one of the edges of its box. (This replaces the old and rarely used "slow" scaling mode with Alt.)

* '''Horizontal/vertical flipping''': So far, flipping a selection made it flip within its bounding box, so that the latter remained fixed. In the move/scale mode of the selector tool, this behaviour remains unchanged. However, in rotate/shear mode flipping now happens about an (imaginary) vertical/horizontal axis through the rotation center. This is very handy, since the latter can be freely dragged around and snaps to all kinds of objects if desired.

* '''Objects to Marker''' was added to the objects menu, which converts the current selection to a marker, with the center point of the selection being set to the center of the marker.

==Node tool==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* If any of the nodes in the currently selected path is mouseovered, then horizontal/vertical flipping ('H' and 'V' keys), stepwise rotation ('[' and ']' keys) and scaling ('<' and '>' keys) now all use this specific node as center/axis. If there is no mouseovered node, the center of the bounding box is used instead (as is currently the case unconditionally). Nodes that are covered by one of their handles are also detected as mouseovered.

* [helper path display - johan]

==Text tool==
* [text toolbar - deadchip?]
* If text contains a tref element, the text tool's behavior may not be as expected. Please see [[#The tref Element]]

=SVG features=

==The tref element==

Inkscape can now correctly open files with '''tref''' elements, and new tref elements can be created manually in the XML editor.

The actual character data contained in a text element can either be embedded directly, or it can be the character content of an element referenced by a '''tref'''.

While the textual content from the referenced element will be stripped of any markup before being used by the '''tref''', the '''tref''' element can itself have the same attributes as a '''tspan'''. In fact, when rendered, it is as though the '''tref''' element is replaced by a '''tspan''' with the same attributes, and the referenced character data is embedded in that '''tspan'''.

The property '''xlink:href''' is used to refer to another element whose character data will be used. Any element can be referred to except an ancestor of the '''tref'''. When any of the text contained in the referred element changes, the '''tref''' will immediately be updated to display the new data.

Existing tref elements can be converted into tspan elements with '''Edit > Clone > Unlink Clone'''. If more than one '''tref''' is contained within a selection, all '''trefs''' will be converted into '''tspans'''. All attributes applied to the '''tref''' will be retained in the new '''tspan'''.

A '''tref''' element can be mixed with any other elements allowed to be contained by a text element.

The cloned character data rendered by the '''tref''' may not be edited, but any characters surrounding it can be changed. Styles cannot be applied to a subset of the cloned characters, but if all are selected, a style can be applied to the '''tref'''.

==SVG filters==

===New filters supported===

* The '''feBlend''' filter primitive gives us image blending modes, like in many image manipulation programs. These modes are screen, multiply, darken and lighten. There's a caveat, though: when blending an object against an semi-transparent background, the background will be accumulated twice, resulting in thicker objects under the bounding box of blended object. This is a limitation of current version of SVG format, not a bug in Inkscape.

* The '''feOffset''' filter primitive offsets the image by an user-defined amount. For example, this is useful for drop shadows, as the shadow has to be in a slightly different position than the actual object.

[[Filter Effects]]

===Filters UI===

* New dialog for creating and modifying filter effects ('''Object>Filter Effects...''')
* The list at the left of the dialog displays all filters currently in the document.
** New filters can be added with the '''Add''' button beneath the list
** Right-clicking a filter for the pop-up menu allows duplicating or removing a filter.
** Double-clicking a filter will apply it to all selected objects
** A black dot is placed next to whatever filter is applied to the selected objects. If more than one filter is in use by selected objects, an unfilled dot is used instead.
* The second list, at the left of the dialog, displays the '''filter primitives''' that are contained within the currently-selected filter.
** New primitives can be added by selecting the primitive type from the combo box beneath the list, and then pressing the '''Add''' button.
** Right-clicking a primitive for the pop-up menu allows duplicating or removing a primitive.
** Primitives can be rearranged by clicking and dragging any filter in the list.
** When a filter is selected, the '''Settings''' group at the bottom of the dialog will change to display the attributes available for that primitive. Changing a setting results in an immediate update to the document.
** The "in" and "in2" attributes for filters that support them are not shown in the '''Settings''' group. These input connections are displayed graphically in the list, under the '''Connections''' column.
*** Inputs for a particular filter are displayed as triangles. Depending on the primitive type, there may be one or two inputs (or more for Merge primitives.) Connections can be created by clicking on a triangle and dragging.
*** There are six standard input types that can be used for any primitive input; Source Graphic, Source Alpha, Background Image, Background Alpha, Fill Paint, and Stroke Paint. These are displayed vertically on the far right of the list. Click and drag from an input triangle to one of the standard inputs to connect them.
*** Primitives can also be connected to other primitives by clicking an input triangle and dragging upwards to another primitive. A primitive can only be connected to one higher up the list.
*** Single-clicking on an input triangle will unset it, returning it to the default. If it is on a Merge primitive, the input will be deleted.
*** Merge inputs have an empty input at the end. Dragging a connection from this input will add a new input to the primitive.

=Live path effects=

'''Live path effects''' (not to be confused with extension effects or SVG filters) are a new way to non-destructively modify path and shape objects. Path effects affect the path data of an object but not its style. The original path is preserved and can be edited directly on-canvas, and the path effect applied to it will be updated live.

In this version, we include several path effects that are analogous to the corresponding extension effects (such as Path along Path effect that replaces the extension of the same name). The most important advantage of path effects is that they are, indeed, live - you can still edit the original path and the effect will update in real time (unlike the extension effects which were one-time one-way transformations). In the future, we plan to reimplement most if not all of path-changing extensions as live path effects.

Live path effects were developed by Johan Engelen as part of the GSoC 2007.

==Applying effects==
[Path Effects dialog, Ctrl+Shift+7]

[Paste Path Effect command, Ctrl+7]

When a path with a path effect applied is selected, the statusbar description mentions that, for example "'''Path''' (4 nodes, path effect)".

==Editing effect parameters==
[lpe can be node-edited, preserved in simplify]

[lpe parameters can be node-editted, press "7" to cycle through the different on-canvas params, statusbar says name of parameter?]

==Available effects==

===Path along path===
The Path along Path effect can curve a path along another path. When this effect is applied to path A (called ''skeleton''), another path B (called ''pattern'') can then be passed as a parameter. The result is that path B is bent along path A. With the node edit tool, path A can be changed on-canvas and the result is updated live. This provides a direct equivalent of "vector brushes" or "skeletal strokes" features in other vector editors.

In the effect's control panel in the Path Effects dialog, you can select how many copies of the pattern are attached (either '''single''' or '''repeated''') and whether the pattern is '''stretched''' to fill the skeleton path. You can also choose the pattern for the selected skeleton [either directly or] by '''pasting''' it from clipboard (that is, you select and copy to the clipboard the pattern, then select the skeleton, apply the Path along path effect, and paste the pattern). The '''Scale width''' parameter allows you to change the width of the pattern applied to the path.

Example file: live-path-effects-pathalongpath.svg

===Curve Stitching===
The Curve Stitching effect connects points from two subpaths of the path with straight line or curved segments. The result is also referred to as "String Art". For some examples of what can be made with this method, see http://members.shaw.ca/jillbritton/string_art/jbstringart.htm. Note that this effect can only be applied to a path with two subpaths in it (use Path > Combine to create such a path from two separate paths).

Example file: live-path-effects-curvestitch.svg

===Gears===
The Gears effect is a toy effect. It generates a chain of interconnected gears from the path that has the effect applied to it. The nodes of the path define the centers of the gears. The first 3 nodes are special; the first defines the start angle of the chain, the second defines the center of the first gear and the third knot specifies the radius of the first gear. That is, to create a chain of 2 gears, you will need a path with 4 nodes; for 3 gears, 5 nodes, and so on.

Example file: live-path-effects-gears.svg

==Development of new effects==
One of the goals of the Summer of Code project was to make it easy to create new effects. There is a framework that greatly simplifies effect implementation; very little code is needed to get the effect hooked into Inkscape. This leaves valuable time for the actual effect to be implemented. See the http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/MakingLivePathEffects wiki page for an explanation of how to get started with your own effect!

[johan]

=Extension effects=

== Live preview ==

* '''Live preview of effects''': Using the async behavior (see below), as soon as the parameters dialog for an effect is shown, the script is executed in the background and the screen updates as soon as it's finished. This can result is seemingly faster execution if no parameters are changed. If some parameters are adjusted, the script is restarted. This allows you to see immediately the effects of any parameter change without pressing the OK button on the effect's dialog.

* '''Spawn Glib API''': Scripting extension have been moved to the Glib spawn API to ensure that parameters and variables aren't interpreted by a shell. This also means that scripting extensions are executed in a separate process asynchronously allowing the GTK main loop to continue to execute.

* '''Progress dialog''': While an extension is working on a document, a small dialog is shown allowing the user to cancel the execution.

== New and improved effects ==

* The new '''Render > Barcode''' extension creates a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode barcode]. Supported types include EAN13, EAN8, UPC-A, UPC-E, UPC-5, Code39, Code39Ext, Code93, Code128, and RM4SCC.

* The new '''Render > Gear''' extension creates a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear mechanical gear] given the number of teeth, the circular pitch (in px units), and the pressure angle.

* The new '''Render > [[Spirograph]]''' extension creates intricate mathematical curves akin to the classic [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirograph mechanical Spirograph toy] (see [http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/images/Spirograph_Samples.svg samples]).

* A group of new effects in the '''Text''' submenu performs various case conversions on selected text objects: converting to UPPERCASE, lowercase, Sentence case, Title Case, as well as flipping case (switching uppercase to lowercase and vice versa) and rANdoMiZInG cAse. If no texts are selected, the effect works on all texts in the document.

* Another effect in the Text submenu, '''Replace text''', performs search-and-replace on the selected text objects or (if nothing is selected) on all texts in the document. Searching is case sensitive. You can use this effect to globally delete all occurrences of some text fragment by replacing it with empty string. Conversely, if you search for an empty string and replace it with some string, this string will be inserted after every character of your text; for example, you can space out a text by replacing in it an empty string with a single space.

* A new effect, '''Replace color''' in the Color submenu, simply replaces one RRGGBB-specified color to another within selection or, if there's no selection, in the entire document. As with other effects in that submenu, the replacement affects fill, stroke, and gradient colors, but not colors of bitmaps.

*The new '''Color > Randomize''' extension allows you to change the color via hue, saturation and lightness check boxes. This is useful if you want to colorize lots of shapes at the same time.

*The '''Whirl''' extension uses the center of view as the center of whirl, so you don't have to enter the center coordinates numerically.

*The '''Render > Grid''' extension has got an extended range of grid spacings, from 0.1 to 1000 px.

*The '''Render > Function Plotter''' extension can now plot using polar coordinates.

*The '''Generate Template > Perfect-Bound Cover''' extension creates templates for wraparound covers for perfect-bound books using US size and paper weight measurements. This extension will resize the document to include the width, height, spine width, and bleed measurements that are provided to the extensions, so it should be the first operation done before designing.

== XSLT effects ==

* '''XSLT''' is now supported for input, output and effect extensions. This is used to support the XAML file format (both import and export) and the Adobe Illustrator SVG import which removes Adobe's stuff from SVG.

== ImageMagick effects ==

New raster operations available through the effects drop-down menu, powered by the ImageMagick library. For any of these effects to work, you need to have an '''image object selected''' in the drawing.

* '''Adaptive Threshold''' applies adaptive thresholding to the bitmap. Average color of rectangle provided by '''width''' and '''height''' used as threshold value. Use '''offset''' to apply a different threshold than the average.

* '''Add Noise''' adds random noise of certain types to the bitmap.

* '''Blur''' blurs the bitmap, using '''radius''' as the amount of blur. Higher radius means more blur. (Note that unlike the vector Gaussian blur of objects, this bitmap blur will not extend the edges of the image, so it may appear truncated at the edges.)

* '''Channel''' extracts the specified channel from the bitmap.

* '''Charcoal''' applies a charcoal drawing style to a bitmap. Radius controls the width (or detail) of charcoal strokes. Higher '''radius''' means lower detail. '''Sigma''': the higher it is, the less defined the charcoal is.

* '''Colorize''' overlays the bitmap with a given color at a given intensity.

* '''Contrast''' lightly enhances the contrast (difference between lights and darks) of a bitmap.

* '''Cycle Colormap''' cycles the colormap of a bitmap.

* '''Despeckle''' reduce the speckle noise in a bitmap.

* '''Edge''' hilights edges in a bitmap.

* '''Emboss''' embosses a bitmap, hilighting edges with 3D effect.

* '''Enhance''' enhance a bitmap, minimizing noise.

* '''Equalize''' equalizes a bitmap. Histogram equalization.

* '''Flop''' mirrors a bitmap, reflecting each scanline in the horizontal direction.

* '''Gaussian Blur''' blurs a bitmap, more strongly than regular blur.

* '''Implode''' sucks everything towards the center of the bitmap.

* '''Level''' scales values falling between the given '''Black Point''' to '''White Point''' range to the full color range.

* '''Level Channel''' acts the same way as level but for only one channel.

* '''Median Filter''' filters a a bitmap by replacing each pixel component with the median color in a circular neighborhood

* '''Modulate''' adjusts the percent hue, saturation, and brightness of a bitmap.

* '''Negate''' takes the inverse of a bitmap.

* '''Normalize''' normalizes a bitmap, expanding color range to the full possible range of color.

* '''Oil Paint''' stylizes a bitmap so that it appears to be painted with oils.

* '''Opacity''' modifies the opacity channel of a bitmap.

* '''Raise''' alters the lightness of the edges of a bitmap to create a raised appearance, much like a frame.

* '''Reduce Noise''' reduces noise in a bitmap by using a noise peak elimination filter.

* '''Shade''' shades a bitmap by simulating a distant light source

* '''Sharpen''' sharpens a bitmap.

* '''Solarize''' solarizes a bitmap, like overexposing photographic film.

* '''Spread''' randomly spread pixels in a bitmap within the radius of '''amount'''.

* '''Swirl''' swirls the bitmap around the center point.

* '''Threshold''' thresholds a bitmap.

* '''Unsharpmask''' sharpens a bitmap using an unsharp mask algorithm.

* '''Wave''' alters a bitmap along the sine wave.

These effects are part of the Google Summer of Code 2007, coded by Christopher Brown.

== Misc ==

* All Python effects are switched from the old and unmaintained PyXML library to the new powerful [http://codespeak.net/lxml/ lxml] library.

* A new parameter, '''precision''' is added to the parameter definitions in the [[MakingAnINX|inx file format]], allowing you to set the number of digits in that parameter's spinbutton in the effect UI.

=Color management=

== Calibrated SVG color including CMYK ==

Inkscape now supports color-managed color definitions that use a colorspace other than sRGB (for example Adobe RGB, or calibrated CMYK colors). In the SVG file, this is done using the
optional "icc-color(...)" paint components as described in section 11.2 "Specifying paint" of the SVG 1.1 specification
[http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/painting.html#SpecifyingPaint]. A fallback sRGB value will be used, for non color-managed workflows. This allows for the use of calibrated color spaces, including using CMYK values that are preserved across applications.

The new CMS color selector tab allows these colors to be edited.

== Display calibration ==

In Inkscape Preferences, Color Management tab, there's a new option for enabling display color calibration; you can select any calibration profile (an ICC file) suitable for your display. Options for rendering intent can also be chosen.

== Soft Proofing ==

In Inkscape Preferences, Color Management tab, there's a new option for enabling output device preview; you can select any calibration profile (an ICC file) suitable for your output device. Options for rendering intent can also be chosen, along with out of gamut warnings.

=Snapping=

* In addition to all other snapping modes and techniques, snapping has been implemented or improved in many tools and contexts:

:* Drawing of new '''shapes''' (such as rectangles or ellipses) snaps to grid/guides/objects.

:* '''Handles''' of existing objects and gradient handles snap.

:* '''Skewing''' objects in Selector snaps.

:* Snapping to objects works for '''images''' and '''clones''' (not only paths/shapes as before).

:* Snapping of '''text baselines''' works again.

:* When moved in Selector, an object optionally snaps with its '''rotation axis''' (which is by default in the geometric center of its bounding box, but can be arbitrarily moved and its position is remembered for every object). It is also possible to snap to a rotation axis with another object.

:* While dragging a '''guide''', it now snaps to object nodes

:Other snapping fixes and improvements include:

:* The snapping preferences dialog has been restyled to make it more intuitive

:* Snapping distance is now set in screen pixels and is therefore independent of zoom.

:* Snapping to bounding boxes has been added

:* Snapping of objects has been made more clean, by only snapping bounding box corners to bounding boxes, and nodes to other nodes and paths.

:* The time it takes to snap to objects using the selector tool has been reduced dramatically.

:* The bug where "node-to-node" snapping caused jerky movement of nodes is fixed.

:* The aspect ratio is correctly preserved while scaling objects with snapping turned on.

:* All four bounding box corners now snap instead of only the lower-left and upper-right as before.

:* Snapping while uniformly scaling has been improved.

* The confusing "Default transformations origin" option is removed. Now Inkscape always uses the opposite edge of the object's bounding box as the transformation origin (though the bounding box itself can now be different, see next item).

* A new preference option has been added to specify the kind of '''bounding box''' to be used for transforming objects (see Inkscape Preferences, Tools, Selector). You can choose between the '''visual bounding box''' (which takes into account the stroke width, markers, and blur margins; this is the default behavior) or '''geometric bounding box''' (which encloses only the path itself, disregarding stroke width).

=Grids=

* a new tab in the document properties dialog, solely meant for grids; the former grid/guide tab is now solely for guides. I envision a list of guides there in the future, for easier deletion of guides etc.
* more than one grid can be active at the same time, although i am having trouble in finding a usefull case for this
* multiple views on the same document share the same grids, but the grid can be turned off for each view separately. For example: one could have an overview view without grid enabled. Duplicate that window and zoom in on some detail; then grids can be shown only for that view, and snapping will only happen in those views for which grids are enabled. (sorry i am not able to explain more clearly)
* grid information is now stored in SVG as a child of sodipodi:namedview. Can someone please make an extension that converts an old grid definition to the new format?
* axonometric grid (not yet snapping)
* dots instead of lines

From developer perspective:

* implementation of new grids is much easier now; subclassing CanvasGrid and adding an entry in the is enough. Have a peek at how the rectangular grid is implemented (CanvasXYGrid).
* note that there is no longer "the grid", there might be several grids active now!

[Future plans (i will not be working on this soon, due to GSoC Live effects!):
** possibility of enabling not all but a selection of grids for a view. Eg. when there are 4 grids defined in the document, only enable grid2 for a certain view.
** new grids!
** better snapping mechanism to enable snapping to intersections of guides&grids and grids&grids.

A side effect of removal of old gridcode: apparantly the origin of the desktop rules used to be set to the origin of the grid. I find this strange: specifying a grid origin of (2,2) would have me think the origin would be at ruler location (2,2) instead of (0,0) as it is in 0.45.1.
I have commented the grid-origin correction to the ruler range, because now there is not a single grid anymore to correct it for. Isn't there a control somewhere to define the documents origin? Now the ruler origin is set to (0,0) -- johan]

=Import/Export=

==PDF and AI import==

In this version, Inkscape can natively (i.e. without any additional software) import PDF files and the newer PDF-based Adobe Illustrator files (starting from AI version 9.0).

'''Implemented features''': The new import extension can import '''paths''', '''text''', '''clippaths''', '''masked or non-masked images''', and '''softmasks'''. It supports '''pattern fills''' (XStep and YStep attributes are ignored) as well as '''linear and radial gradients''' (only those using sampled or exponential functions). '''Gradient meshes''' are imported, but they get converted to groups of small tiles (flat-colored paths) that approximate the mesh; the user can adjust the precision of this approximation.

'''PDF import settings''': After opening a PDF or AI document, the PDF Import Settings dialog shows up. Here you can select:

* the '''page''' to be imported from a multipage PDF;

* the overall '''clip region''' (which can be none or set to any of the PDF boxes, e.g. the crop box, the media box, the trim box, etc.);

* the '''precision''' for the approximation of '''gradient meshes'''; note that setting this too high may result in a huge SVG file and slow performance when importing files with gradient meshes;

* a checkbox controlling whether the '''images''' should be '''embedded''' into the resulting SVG document or saved on the current path;

* a '''preview''' of the selected page (shown if poppler-cairo is present on the system or if the selected page has a thumbnail embedded into the PDF document).

'''Text editing tips''': Any text imported from PDF or AI has each letter's precise place on the page ''fixed''. While this preserves the exact appearance (e.g. justification of text blocks) of the imported document, it makes editing such text difficult: deleting text fails to contract the text line and inserting text fails to expand it, i.e. typed letters overlay the existing letters. (However, you still can replace a letter with another letter of about the same width, although you may need to kern it into place with Alt+arrows.)

To work around this, select the text object you want to edit and use '''Text > Remove manual kerns''' command. This will remove the exact positioning information, so if the text block was justified it will lose justification, but instead you will be able to edit it as usual.

Note that there is a way to select even a single line in a text block. For this, open the XML editor, expand the <svg:text> tree branch corresponding to your text, and select any of the <svg:tspan> objects under it. Now you can remove manual kerns from this line only. After you finish editing the line, you can manually justify it back, for example by adding spaces, manual kerns (Alt+arrows), or by adjusting letterspacing (select the whole line and use Alt+> or Alt+<).

The native PDF/AI importer is based on the poppler library and was implemented by Miklós Erdélyi as part of the Google Summer of Code 2007.

==PDF export==

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* A new cairo-based exporter can be used to export to PostScript. The cairo PS backend is not as mature as the PDF backend. It rasterizes a lot of its content. Text output does not work where it works with the PDF backend.

==CDR (CorelDraw) import==

Inkscape can use [http://www.sk1project.org/modules.php?name=Products&product=uniconvertor UniConvertor] if it's installed on your system to import documents in CDR format (CorelDraw). This feature is Unix-only at this time (since UniConvertor is Unix-only) and requires that you have Python and UniConvertor installed. As of UniConvertor 1.0rc2, only versions from 7 to X3 of the CDR format are supported, and text objects are not converted.

==XAML import/export==

* Inkscape can import vector graphics portions of XAML documents, as well as export its documents to XAML.

==Adobe Illustrator SVG clean import==

* Using this new import filter, Inkscape can open an SVG document removing any elements and attributes in the namespaces that Adobe Illustrator uses for its stuff. This will clean out everything except the actual SVG content.

==Bitmap export==

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

* The Export dialog automatically appends the '''.png''' extension to the export filename you specify.

=Command line=

Several new command line options are added that make Inkscape even more scriptable and automatable than before.

* --verb-list will list all the Verb IDs and their names in Inkscape. This makes writing your own menus and hotkeys much easier as you can easily find out what the choices are.

* --verb followed by a verb ID allows you to specify a verb to be called on every document opened by Inkscape initially from the command line.

* --select followed by a node ID will allow you to add a node to the list of selected objects.

These options can be used, for example, for performance testing. You could do something like this:

$ time inkscape --verb=FileClose my_complex_file.svg

to measure the time it takes to load and display the file.

Of course, with the ability to select objects, it can be much more useful than
that. You can call extension effects, or any other verb, then FileSave and
FileClose to automate all kinds of operations on your drawings.

=User interface=

== [dockable dialogs - gustav] ==

Inkscape now has a '''dock panel''' to the right of the canvas, on
which dialogs can be docked.

The new dockable dialog behavior exists alongside the old floating dialogs behavior. If the old behavior is preferred, one can select it under Inkscape Preferences > Windows > Dialog behavior.

Known issues:

* It doesn't work well with multiple open documents. Fixing it requires a bit of rewrite of the current dialog manager.

* Resizing in-dock dialogs can be cumbersome. More specifically, one won't be able to expand a dialog placed in the dock unless all dialogs beneath it are expanded in advance. Fixing this requires some changes in GDL, I've got it somewhat working, but decided that it's still too flaky to commit in its current state.

* Remembered positions of dockable floating dialogs is inexact.

Note that this change only applies to gtkmm:ified dialogs,
i.e. dialogs that subclass UI::Dialog. I've gtkmm:ified "Fill &
Stroke" and with this change, that version is now default. Dialogs
left to be gtkmm:ified are the "XML Editor", "Tiled Clones", "Object
Properties", "Text and Font".

[
One can now change to tabbed layout if it's preferred by setting
"options.dock[switcherstyle]" to "4".

Done, the new option is called "options.dock[cancenterdock]" (="1" by
default).

The new option is "options.dock[dockbarstyle]". Setting
it to "0" will give you icons only.
]

== [toolbars - [[JonCruz]]] ==

'''Main toolbar''' on the left can now optionally use '''smaller buttons'''. With the several new tools added in this version, this may help users with small screens where the toolbar otherwise may not fit vertically. The toggle is on the Misc tab of the Inkscape Preferences dialog.

[calligraphy: menus, tooltips; star; ...]

Switched to stock GTK+ toolbars.

Extra magic secret sauce added.

== [filedialogs - [[JonCruz]]] ==

== Swatches panel, color drag-and-drop ==

* Right-clicking a color swatch now opens a context menu which allows you to apply the color to the fill or stroke of selection.

* Dragging colors from the color palette has been fixed and improved:

:* Now the dropped color is applied to '''the object on which you drop it''', regardless of whether that object is selected or not. This means you can change the color of only one object from selection without having to select it separately. (If you want to assign color to the entire selection, just click on the color swatch on the palette, not drag it.)

:* If an object has stroke and you '''drop the color over stroke''', the color is applied to stroke and not fill. (Another way to always apply color to stroke is to '''Shift+drag''' it.)

:* When gradient handles are active (e.g. in Gradient or Node tools), you can '''drop a color onto the gradient line''' to create a new gradient mid stop with this color, or '''drop a color onto an existing stop''' to recolor that stop.

==Color gestures==

A new method for quick and precise adjustment of colors is added in this version: color gestures. It works on the selected objects by grabbing the '''fill or stroke color swatch''' in the '''selected style indicator''' (on the left of the statusbar) and dragging it in various directions as described below. Note that this only works when the swatch displays a '''flat color'''; it does not work for a swatch showing "None", "N/A", or displaying a gradient (although you can select one or more gradient stops in Gradient tool and color-adjust them by color gestures just as you would do for objects). Color gestures can work on '''fill''' or '''stroke''', depending on which swatch in the selected color indicator you drag.

Color gestures work in '''HSL''' color space. Dragging without any keyboard modifiers adjusts the '''hue''' channel, dragging with '''Shift''' adjusts saturation, and dragging with '''Ctrl''' adjusts lightness.

The adjustment is done by '''rotating''' the color swatch away from the original
direction which is assumed to be '''NE at 45 degrees''' (i.e. from
the swatch diagonally into the document window). Once you click and drag the color swatch, imagine a diagonal line going from the point where you clicked in the NE direction, across the entire Inkscape window. By dragging '''below or to the right''' of that line, you decrease the corresponding color channel, to the minimum at the lower edge of the window; by dragging it above or to the left, you increase it, to the maximum at the left edge of the window. If you hover your mouse exactly over the 45 degrees line, the change will be zero.

Note that you can easily vary the '''precision''' of your adjustment. If you drag close enough to the swatch, each small movement results in a big change of the color. If you need a finer adjustment, just drag farther away from the swatch, towards the center of the Inkscape window or even to its upper right corner, where minute movements will produce very small changes in the color. In fact, this method gives you more color precision than even the color wheel in the Fill and Stroke dialog, unless you expand that dialog to fill the entire screen which is rarely practical.

Watch the '''statusbar''' which will indicate, as you drag, the channel you are
adjusting, the original value of that channel, the new value, and the difference.

You can '''switch channels while you drag'''. That is, you don't need to
drag it again and again from the swatch if you want to adjust all three channels - you can do it all in one drag, by pressing and releasing Ctrl and Shift as necessary. Note that when you change the keyboard modifiers during drag, the position of the zero-change line is temporarily changed to go through the current mouse position; this is done so that there are no sudden changes in color if you are switching modifiers away from the original 45-degree line.

For example, you can select a green rectangle and first turn it into greenish-blue by dragging away from the Fill swatch and slightly above the 45 degrees line; then, without releasing the mouse, press Ctrl and drag a bit to the right to darken the color; then press Shift, release Ctrl, and adjust saturation. You can press or release Ctrl and Shift as many times as necessary during a single drag; when you are finally satisfied with your color, release the mouse to commit the change.

Apart from precise adjustments, you can use color gestures to very quickly perform common color transformations:

* Ctrl+drag the swatch to the right and down to paint all selected objects black.

* Ctrl+drag the swatch upwards and to the left to paint all selected objects white.

* Shift+drag the swatch to the right and down to desaturate the color of selected objects.

* Shift+drag the swatch upwards and to the left to maximize saturation of the color of selected objects.

Note that when several objects or gradient stops with different colors are selected, the selected style indicator shows their '''averaged''' color. If you adjust that color by gesturing, the changed color will be assigned back to all selected objects/stops, in effect eliminating any difference between them. If you want to adjust many different-colored objects preserving their relative differences, use the color modes of the Tweak tool or color adjustment extension effects.

This new technique requires some getting used to, but once you get the idea it is quite convenient, fast, and precise.

== Print dialog integration ==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

== Saving window geometry globally ==

Previously, window geometry (size and position of document windows) could only be saved into the document (so that each document stored its own window geometry). Now, a new option is added to save the geometry of the last used window to the preferences and apply this geometry to all new windows. Thus, with the "Save geometry to preferences" option enabled, new windows will open with the shape of the most recent previous window. This mode also remembers and restores the maximized/fullscreen state (unlike geometry saved to documents).

== Preserving zoom/view of reverted documents ==

When reverting files to their previously saved state, the current zoom factor/panning is now retained (as opposed to reverted to the saved state, too, as it was the case before). This less interrupts the workflow when one is working on some detail in the drawing.

== New ways to scroll and zoom ==

* You can now enable Space+mouse drag to pan canvas, as it does in Adobe Illustrator. This mode is enabled by the '''Left mouse button pans when Space is pressed''' checkbox in the Scrolling tab of the Inksape Preferences dialog. By default it is off and pressing the spacebar key switches you to Selector and back, as it always did in Inkscape.

* By default, rotating the mouse wheel scrolls the canvas vertically and Ctrl+wheel zooms in and out. Now, if you turn on the '''Mouse wheel zooms by default''' checkbox in the Scrolling tab of the Inksape Preferences dialog, this behavior is reversed: mouse wheel zooms without Ctrl and scrolls with Ctrl. This new mode should be familiar for users of AutoCAD and CorelDraw.

* In the Zoom tool, right mouse button always zooms out instead of calling the context menu (which is rather useless in this tool anyway).

== Using other keys in place of Alt ==

* Many Linux users have found the use of '''Alt-drag''' and '''Alt+click''' in Inkscape problematical because this shortcut is often captured by window managers. In 0.46, instead of disabling of the window manager shortcut as suggested in [http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/FAQ#How_to_make_Alt.2Bclick_and_Alt.2Bdrag_work_on_Linux.3F the FAQ], you can change a setting in your preferences.xml file called <code>mapalt</code> in the <code>options</code> group. This numerical value ranges from 1 to 5; 1 indicates no change, any other value refers to some special key on a keyboard, such as '''Alt Gr''', the '''Windows''' key, etc. The specific mapping of these values to the keys on your keyboard can be viewed and/or editied by '''xkeycaps''', available from [http://www.jwz.org/xkeycaps www.jwz.org]. The value associated with a particular key is shown in that program at the top of the screen beside the word "Modifiers" when the mouse is held over a key on the main display.

== GTK theme on OS X ==

A GTK theme is now included in Inkscape.app bundle on OS X. If the user does not have any personal customization (e.g. in a .gtkrc-2.0 file) this theme is used. It reflects the OS X settings for "Appearance" and "Highlight Color" set in System Preferences > Appearance.

=Other changes and improvements=

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object, or apply more than one clippath/mask to an object). Now this limitation is removed; just select any single object and group it to get a single-object group.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* After dragging a curve segment in Node tool, Inkscape no longer selects the two adjacent nodes if they were not selected before.

* The '''Tile Clones''' dialog now uses the object's defined '''rotation axis''' (which can be freely moved by Selector tool and which is saved separately for each object) for all rotations (including both symmetry rotations and the Rotation tab rotations), scales, and flips. This renders unnecessary the previous workarounds where you had to group an object with another transparent object to affect how it's rotated by the clone tiler.

* In '''Pencil''' and '''Calligraphic''' tools, pressing '''Esc''' or '''Ctrl+Z''' while drawing cancels the currently drawn path or stroke. When not drawing, these keys work as before (Esc deselects, Ctrl+Z undoes last action). (This is the same behavior as in the Pen tool where it was introduced in a previous version.)

* A set of new verbs has been added to allow the user to easily '''unlock all locked objects''' or '''unhide all hidden objects'''. There are two variants one that operates on the current layer and its children and one that operates globally. While searching for hidden or locked object descendants of locked layers are ignored.

* Several more '''rotation snapping increments''' are available in the Steps tab of the Inkscape Preferences dialog: 36, 22.5, 18, 12, and 0.5 degrees.

* The list of folder shortcuts in the '''Open''' dialog includes the folder with Inkscape's SVG '''examples''' for easy access. Similarly, the '''Save''' dialog has a shortcut for the user's own '''templates''' dialog making it easy to save the current document as a template (if saved as <code>default.svg</code>, it will be loaded every time you run Inkscape or create new document with Ctrl+N; with any other name, it will be added to the File > New submenu).

* For time-intensive operations such as Paint Bucket and Simplify, the system's busy wait cursor is displayed to indicate to the user that Inkscape is actively working, and not frozen.

* Several improvements in '''inkview''': busy cursor is shown while loading file, the button window stays on top and responds to keyboard shortcuts; several memleaks stopped and bugs fixed. The "slideshow mode" of the main inkscape application (-s or --slideshow command line option) is removed; use inkview instead.

* In Document Metadata dialog, updated Creative Commons Licenses to version 3.0.

* File dialog windows (open/save) now have a "Enable preview" checkbox which allows you to disable the preview pane.

* In the Calligraphic pen controls, the toggle button to enable tablet pressure sensitivity is moved to the Width control, and the button for tilt sensitivity is moved to Angle, to better reflect what parameters these toggles affect.

* In Node and Gradient tools, using '''Tab/Shift+Tab''' to select next/previous node or gradient handle scrolls the canvas if necessary to show the selection.

* The option '''Import bitmap as <image>''' is removed; it was added several versions ago to allow optionally importing images as rectangles with image pattern, to make clipping the images easier. Now that you can easily use clipping paths, as well as convert any image to rectangle with pattern with Alt+I, this option is not really necessary and removed to reduce confusion. Bitmaps are always imported into SVG as an <image> element.

* Support has been added for stock patterns, in the same way that stock markers were already supported. Adding patterns to share/patterns/patterns.svg, and giving them a inkscape-stockid attribute as found on the examples already there will make them available in all Inkscape sessions from the patterns tab of the fill & stroke dialog.

=Notable bugfixes=

These are bugfixes compared to 0.45.1; for a list of fixes in 0.45.1 compared to 0.45, see [[ReleaseNotes045|0.45.1 release notes]].

* The '''sodipodi:docbase''' attribute is no longer added to the root <svg> element. This attribute used to keep the latest directory that the document was saved to, and thus represented a mild privacy violation (i.e., by sharing your Inkscape SVG files you allowed others to have a peek into your directory structure). Note, however, that Inkscape does not remove this attribute from old documents it opens; if you want you can remove it yourself. Inkscape just no longer creates this attribute in new documents.

* A fix in the blur rendering code made '''exporting blurred objects to bitmap''' much faster and fixed the disappearing of blurred objects in exported bitmaps which happened for large objects in 0.45. The same fix got rid of the rendering artefacts that sometimes appeared on blurred objects during scrolling.

* Inkscape now properly quotes <code>font-family</code> values and therefore can use '''fonts''' with various '''nonalphanumeric characters''' in their names, which previously failed.

* If you have saved documents with a previous version of Inkscape which used '''right-to-left text''' (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew) then the paragraph alignment of non-flowed text has been reversed in this release. This is due to a bug in previous versions - the new behaviour is compliant with the SVG specification and compatible with other editors and viewers. To correct your images, simply reverse the paragraph alignment by selecting the text and clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar.

* A large family of bugs was exterminated where an object's style could only refer other objects (such as gradients, patterns, and filters) that come after it in the document. Now any objects can be referenced from a style regardless of their place in the document. This fixed the '''disappearance of gradients/patterns/filters''' after you undo an effect, as well as lots of assorted crashes and misrenderings (mostly on non-Inkscape SVG files).

* On Windows, '''file opening/saving dialogs''' can no longer sink under the main editor window (they now have the inkscape window set correctly as their parent window).

* '''Stock markers''' now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

* A regression in 0.45 caused crashes when '''undo or redo''' was attempted before the previous action could complete (e.g. pressing ctrl+z while you are still drawing a rectangle). This is now fixed.

* Previously, if there was a single '''invalid property''' in a <code>style</code> attribute, the entire attribute was discarded, i.e. the object lost all styling. Now Inkscape's behavior is more compliant to the CSS specification: it ignores only the invalid property but reads in all the rest.

* Several bugs are fixed in '''searching for linked images'''. Now moving SVG documents with their associated images to a different place or a different machine should work more reliably.

* Master opacity did not apply to stroke '''markers''' as it should; fixed.

* '''Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration URI''' points to the right location now.

* Text objects didn't display the '''pattern editing handles'''; fixed.

* On Windows, the Inkscape uninstaller deleted all files under the install directory. This could lead to removing user-created files, or even other program files not related to inkscape if the install directory was C:\Program Files. The new uninstaller '''tracks all installed files and asks for confirmation before deleting any other files'''. However, installation and uninstallation process is now slower.

* Clones were wrongly unlinked when their original was moved to another layer; fixed.

* Previous versions had a problem on '''Windows Vista''' where selected menu item was invisible. Now our Windows builds use a newer version of GTK library which fixes this problem.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

INX extension descriptor format

2007-10-21T11:58:56Z

Johncoswell: /* DTD */

== Introduction ==

In order for Inkscape to make use of an external script or program, you must describe that script to inkscape using an INX file. See the inkscape share directory for examples. The INX file allows the author to:
* label strings for translation
* define parameters
* chain extensions
* etc
Be sure to read through the INX files that come with Inkscape. Nothing beats a working example.

== Localisation of extensions ==

To allow localisation of strings in extension for Inkscape, some xml tags have to be adapted to variant readable by intltool. It means that tags or parametres has to have "_" prepended to their name, e.g. <_name>name of extension</_name>

Also the path to the extension has to be included in POTFILES.in file to tell intltool where to look for translatable content.

Usefull information, before this section gets fully updated, can be found at [http://gould.cx/ted/blog/Translating_Custom_XML Ted's blog].

== Example ==
More example INX files are available in the Inkscape distribution or in the Inkscape [http://inkscape.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/inkscape/trunk/share/extensions/|SVN repository].

<pre>
<inkscape-extension>
<_name>{Friendly Extension Name}</_name>
<id>{org.domain.sub-domain.extension-name}</id>
<dependency type="executable" location="[extensions|path|plugins|{location}]">program.ext</dependency>
<param name="tab" type="notebook">
<page name="controls" _gui-text="Controls">
<param name="{argumentName}" type="[int|float|string|boolean|description]" min="{number}" max="{number}"
_gui-text="{Friendly Argument Name}">{default value}</param>
</page>
<page name="help" _gui-text="Help">
<param name="help_text" type="description">{Friendly Extension Help}</param>
</page>
</param>
<effect>
<object-type>[all|{element type}]</object-type>
<effects-menu>
<submenu _name="{Extension Group Name}"/>
</effects-menu>
</effect>
<script>
<command reldir="extensions" interpreter="[python|perl|ruby|bash|{some other}]">program.ext</command>
</script>
</inkscape-extension>
</pre>

== DTD ==

<!ELEMENT inkscape-extension (name, id, dependency*, param*,(input|output|effect),(script|plugin))>
<!ELEMENT input (extension, mimetype, filetype, filetypetooltip, output_extension?)>
<!ELEMENT output (extension, mimetype, filetype, filetypetooltip, dataloss?)>
<!ELEMENT effect (object-type)>
<!ELEMENT script (command, helper_extension*, check*)>
<!ELEMENT plugin (name)>
<!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT id (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT item (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT dependency (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT param (#PCDATA, page*, item*)>
<!ELEMENT page (#PCDATA, param*)>
<!ELEMENT extension (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT mimetype (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT filetype (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT filetooltip (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT object-type (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT command (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT check (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT dataloss (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT helper_extension (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT output_extension (#PCDATA)>

<!ATTLIST check reldir (absolute|path|extensions|plugins) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST command reldir (absolute|path|extensions|plugins) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST command interpreter CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST dependency type (executable|extension) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST dependency location (absolute|path|extensions|plugins) #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST dependency description CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST page name CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST page gui-text CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST param name CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST param type (int|float|string|boolean|enum|notebook|description) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST param min CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST param max CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST param precision CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST param gui-text CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST submenu name CDATA #REQUIRED>

== See Also ==
*[[ScriptingHOWTO]]
*[http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=11420660|Aaron's message] from the developer list with an initial DTD.

[[Category:Developer Documentation]]
[[Category:Help Wanted]]
[[Category:Extensions]]

Tutorials and help

2007-08-08T15:01:24Z

Johncoswell: /* Outside Tutorials and Tips */

==Tutorial targets for future releases==
[http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/TutorialUpdates-0.46 0.46 dev cycle]

== Unofficial tutorials ==

{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width=100% style="text-align:center; background-color:#f3f3f3;"
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Quickguide.png]] 
Name: [http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53832833/ Quick Guide to Inkscape] 
Overview: This is a great consise quick guide for getting started with inkscape.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Icons_in_Inkscape.png]] 
Name: [http://www.deviantart.com/view/14703295/ Icon Creation (Mini-Tutorial)] 
Overview: A quick little tutorial demonstrating the design process in creating an SVG icon in inkscape. The finished product of this tutorial is actually in the [http://openclipart.org Open Clip Art Library ]
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Orb-tutorial-thumb.png]] 
Name: [http://ryanler.wordpress.com/2007/02/16/simple-bubble-in-inkscape-orb-ball-bubble/ Simple Bubble/Orb in inkscape] 
Overview: A tutorial that demonstrates the use of the blur filter and clipping to create a simple bubble or orb.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Inkscape overview tut thumb.png]] 
Name: [http://members.gamedev.net/trapperzoid/ia/inkscape_introduction.html inkscape interface tutorial] 
Overview: A detailed tutorial that descibes the inkscape user interface in detail and explains how they can be used for creating cartoony art.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:3d-beveltext-thumb.png]] 
Name: [http://ryanler.wordpress.com/2007/02/06/24/ 3d like text effect in inkscape] 
Overview: A tutorial that demonstrates a technique to create text with a bevelled edge effect.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Slime_tutorial_thumnail.png]] 
Name: [http://members.gamedev.net/trapperzoid/ia/tutorial_slime.html slime to start] 
Overview: A detailed tutorial that shows the reader how to draw a simple cartoony slime creature using inkscape. This tutorial also provides great detail on the thought and development process that is used for basic character development.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Starfish_tutorial_thumb.png]] 
Name: [http://www.christianmontoya.com/2007/01/11/tutorial-a-starfish-with-inkscape/ a starfish with inkscape] 
Overview: a simple tutorial that shows how to make a simple starfish in inkscape. great for inkscape "newbies"
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Starburst_tut_thumb.jpg]] 
Name: [http://foreach.awardspace.com/random/inkscape-two.html Sun background with inkscape] 
Overview: A tutorial that demonstrates the technique of creating the "starburst" effect using inkscape.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Eye_tut_thumbnail.png]] 
Name: [http://www.wisetome.com/splat/2007/02/01/11-step-tutorial-to-create-eyeball-vector-art 11 Step Tutorial To Create Eyeball Vector Art] 
Overview: A tutorial that shows the process to create an eyeball in inkscape.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Ball_tut_thumbnail.png]] 
Name: [http://www.wisetome.com/splat/2006/12/13/10-step-tutorial-to-create-shiny-ball-vector-art/ 10 step tutorial to create shinyball vector art] 
Overview: a tutorial that shows you how to create a shiny little ball using inkscape.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:inkscape_fonts.png]] 
Name: [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/index.php?select=kid Kiddy Font and Tigger Font Tutorial] 
Overview: a tutorial on how to create interesting font effects with the help of Inkscape.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Graph-tut-thumbnail.png]] 
Name: [http://trinifar.wordpress.com/2007/02/21/creating-graphs-with-inkscape/ Graphs in Inkscape] 
Overview: a tutorial on how to create accurate line graphs in Inkscape.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:spring.png]] 
Name: [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/index.php?select=spring It is spring time] 
Overview: a simple tutorial that shows how to make use of
"tiled clone" with tracing.
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Furboa_head.png]] 
Name: [http://www.glitchnyc.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/technology/opensource/furboa_tutoria.phblox Furboa-Tutorial] 
Overview: Learn how to create a cute little cartoony animal in inkscape. The test subject in this case is a cute little guy named Furboa.
|width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:Box.png]] 
Name: [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/index.php?select=box 3D Box] 
Overview: How to make perspective 3D boxes.
|-
| width=33% style="border: white 2px solid;"|
[[Image:tc_bar.png]] 
Name: [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/index.php?select=bar How far can a bar go?] 
Overview: a tile clone tutorial that shows how to make use of
Rotation, Shift, and Color.
|}

=== English ===
* [http://70.24.158.31:8080/inktut.php Making Icons] (en)
* http://programmer-art.org/inkscape currently down video-tutorials planned. (en)
* [http://www.glitchnyc.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/technology/opensource/furboa_tutoria.phblox Furboa-Tutorial] (en)
* [http://www.deviantart.com/view/14703295/ Icon Creation], devianart.com-mini-Tutorial, without text
* [http://www.artcamilla.dk/vaultage/articles/the6502s/articles-gimp/cartoon-effects-1/article.html Cartoon Effekt]] Inkscape and Gimp (en)
* [http://linuxcult.com/?m=show&id=272 Glossy Triangle (sodipodi)]
* [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/create-xp-style-icons article about how to create Icons] (en)
* [http://www.closing-gaps.org/tutorial-ink1.htm Tutorial for product illustration using Inkscape.] (en)
* [http://jimmac.musichall.cz/demos/inkscape/key-status.avi Video about Inkscape], avi
* [http://le-radar.com/?articles/drawinginkscapeEn Beginner tutorial] (en)
* [http://popolon.org/inkscape/?sub=blogtutorial List of tutorials] (en)
* [http://members.gamedev.net/trapperzoid/ia/index.html Inkscape Adventures] by Trapper Zoid
* [http://www.christianmontoya.com/2007/01/11/tutorial-a-starfish-with-inkscape/ A Starfish with Inkscape] (en) in two parts.
* [http://inkscape.teekoo.com/ Inkscape in Six Steps] by Jingshao Chen
* [http://choupil.blogspot.com/ Inkscape isometrics and tutorials] by Choupil

=== de ===
* [http://inkscape-forum.de/comments.php?DiscussionID=3&page=1#Item_0 Silhouette-tutorial] inkscape-forum.de, (de)
* [http://inkscape-forum.de/comments.php?DiscussionID=6&page=1#Item_0 Glassbutton-tutorial] inkscape-forum.de, (de)
* [http://shirts.gleichjetzt.de/Vektorisieren_mit_Inkscape Vektorisieren mit Inkscape] shirts.gleichjetzt.de, (de)

=== fr ===
* [http://popolon.org/gblog2/comment-faire-une-illustration-de-a-a-z-avec-inkscape Comment faire une illustration de A à Z avec inkscape.] (fr), same as above
*[http://le-radar.com/?articles/drawinginkscape Pour grands débutants] (fr)
* [http://popolon.org/inkscape/?sub=didacticielblog Liste des didacticiels du blog] de Popolon (fr)
*[http://www.inkscape-fr.org/spip.php?rubrique2 Liste des didacticiels en français du site inkscape-fr] (fr).
*[http://ticeblog.ycombe.net/index.php/2007/07/17/98-calligrammes-avec-inkscapev Caligrammes avec Inkscape] (fr)

=== it ===
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/colorare/index.htm Simulare l'uso del secchiello] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/logo_ati_I/index.htm Il logo ATi con Inkscape - Parte I] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/logo_ati_II/index.htm Il logo ATi con Inkscape - Parte II] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/logo_ati_III/index.htm Il logo ATi con Inkscape - Parte III] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/vettorializzare_I/index.htm Vettorializzare un'immagine (es.pratico)] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/unire_tracciati/index.htm Unire tracciati differenti] (it)
*[http://inkscape.altervista.org/tutorials/creare_ingranaggi/index.htm Come creare semplici ingranaggi] (it)

=== pl ===
*[http://www.inf.sgsp.edu.pl/lab/filmiki/filmiki.php Video tutorials / Filmiki szkoleniowe] (pl)

=== pt_BR ===
*[http://twiki.softwarelivre.org/bin/view/InkscapeBrasil/Tutoriais Vários Tutoriais da comunidade Inkscape Brasil] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.imasters.com.br/artigo/3500/livre/inkscape_brilho_luz_e_vida_aos_logos Brilho, Luz e Vida aos logos] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?code=172&tid=6 Criando a logo do Ubuntu] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.imasters.com.br/artigo/4159/livre/criando_personagens Criando Personagens] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?code=143&tid=6 Manual Desenho Vectorial do Inkscape] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?code=158&tid=6 Manual do inkscape 0.40] (pt_BR)
*[http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?code=157&tid=6 Utilização de Imagens SVG em Páginas Web] (pt_BR)

=== zh_CN ===
*[http://popolon.org/inkscape/?sub=blogjiaoyu 一些中文Inkscape教育]

== 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://www.out-of-order.ca/tutorial/inkscape-tutorial Making Icons With Inkscape] A beginner's guide to creating nice icons in Inkscape by Ben Powers.
* [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.
* [http://www.coswellproductions.org/cartoons/practical_inkscape_for_comic_artists/right-handed_illustration.html The Right-Handed Illustration Keyboard Layout] A guide aimed at tablet users that want to have a keyboard layout that is better tuned to illustration work.

== Help & helpful articles ==
* [http://le-radar.com/?mm/inkscape Inkscape User manual] (en, fr) or get from user_manual branch of SVN
* [http://www.linux-magazine.com/issue/56/Inkscape_Vector_Graphics.pdf Inkscape Vector Graphics] pdf, by Peter Kreussel (en)
* [http://www.linux-user.de/ausgabe/2005/05/053-inkscape/ Inkscape Vector Graphics], by Peter Kreußel (de), same as above
* [http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=2183007&postcount=13 How to draw an arrow or line with marker with Inkscape 0.45] (en)
* [http://jimmac.musichall.cz/weblog.php/Inkscape?flav=php art-weblog with inkscape-category] (en)
* [http://blog.die-scheiss-kiste.de/wordpress/index.php?cat=4 Andy's weblog with inkscape-category] (de)
* [http://popolon.org/gblog2/categorie/didacticiel/didacticiel-graphique/inkscape-tutorial/ Popolongraphical Blog] (fr, en)
* [http://inkscape.le-radar.com Cours Inkscape, by Cédric GEMY (pygmee)] (fr)
* [http://www.archive.org/download/Inkscape_Path_Tutorial/inkscapePaths.swf Flashvideo about drawing with the pen-tool and Bezier curves] (en)
* [http://www.archive.org/download/Inkscape_Gradient_Tutorial/gradient.swf Flashvideo about creating gradients] (en)
* [http://www.coofercat.com/wiki/InkScape some annotations about "Flowing Text, Portable SVG Files & Producing A4-pdf-files] (en)
* [http://www.rau-tu.unicamp.br/nou-rau/softwarelivre/document/?down=158 Portugese Inscape Manual] zipped svg (0.40)] (pt)
* [http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/5757/5/ Inkscape: Vector Graphics For Linux] Rob, Reilly (en)
* [http://www.sketchpad.net/drawing2.htm Bezier Curves And The Different Kinds Of Anchor Points] (en)
* [http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/09/08/1835253.shtml?tid=131&tid=130&tid=132| article about inkscape], Bruce Byfield (en)
* [http://www.redhat.com/magazine/010aug05/features/inkscape/ Creating vector graphics with Inkscape] by Rosanna Yuen, redhat.com (en)

== Creating New Tutorials ==
Easy way:
# Load up one of the existing tutorials
# Replace its text and images with your own
# Upload it to the [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=93438&atid=604308 Patch Tracker]. Make SURE to click the "Upload and Attach a File" checkbox!

Official way:
# Create a DocBook XML file like the [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/doc-docbook/trunk/basic/tutorial-basic.xml?view=markup Basic Tutorial DocBook]
# Follow directions in the tutorial directory [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/doc-docbook/trunk/README?view=markup README] for formatting and handling of embedded non-SVG images
# Create a subdirectory in the [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/inkscape/doc-docbook/trunk/ doc-docbook] module and place the new tutorial docbook file there
# Test tutorial generation using the `make-html`, `make-svg`, and `make-all` scripts
# Announce the availability of the new tutorial

== Tutorial Ideas ==
This section will consist of brainstorming and basic development of new tutorials that will be useful for new/old users.

=== Completed Tutorials ===

* [http://home.programmer-art.org/?page=inkscape Daniel Taylor's Web-Based Inkscape Tutorials] - Hopefully he will make SVG tutorials that we can inlude with Inkscape, like our current [[DefaultTutorial]].
* making shiny marbles... http://inkscape.org/wiki_uploads/marbles_tut.svg
* also see [http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OtherProjects#outsidetut Outside Tutorials and Tips]
* [[ElementsPrinciplesOfDesign]] (rejon)
* [http://kargs.net/docs/easter_egg_tutorial.svg Easter Egg Tutorial]

=== Tutorials in development ===

* [http://homepage.univie.ac.at/reinhard.stepanek/fxos80/metchart.html How to create meteorological charts with Inkscape], Tutorial by Reinhard Stepanek
* Daniel Pope's Clownfish Tutorial - [http://www.mauveweb.co.uk/misc/tutorials/clownfish.svg Part 1] [http://www.mauveweb.co.uk/misc/tutorials/clownfish2.svg Part 2] - drop me an email at mauve@mauveweb.co.uk to suggest changes.
* A very small sheet with instructions for doing [http://www.gimpforum.de/album/file.php?n=4323&w=o isometric transformations] - if anyone has comments or wants to have a look at the original svg, contact me at daniel dot hornung <at> gmx dot de (this is useful for e.g. icon work, see [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/BluecurveIconGuidelines Bluecurve Icon Guidelines])
* [http://www.coofercat.com/wiki/InkScape Coofer Cat's Inkscape Page] - Some miscellaneous meanderings with Inkscape. There are a few hints and tips that might be of use to the less experienced Inkscape user. There are also a few random bits of clipart too.

=== Planned Tutorials ===

* [[UsingTheCloneTiler]] - Clones

* Text and Typography

* Clippath/Mask/Pattern

* Effects

* SVG Filters

* XML Editor

=== Tutorial Scratchpad ===

* How to create an icon
* How to build a presentation using Inkview.
* How to build complex shapes using boolean operations.
* How to use Inkscape to create graphics for LaTeX / ConTeXt documents.
* etc

A tutorial in progress of writing by John Griessen

This writing is a journal of how a project to recreate a business card originally
made with Illutrator 7, after losing the original file, so the comparison to Illustrator is
much from memory and not to be taken as the last word, but a guide as to how the programs compare.

Attached is a png of the printed business card:

It originally was a collection of paths filled with colors and text objects with grouping to
make replicating some objects easy.

The shell command '$inkscape --version' tells us this is Inkscape 0.39cvs (Jul 2 2004) .

The logo main element is a pseudo sine wave, and I made it before with grid snap and stretching and replicating, so now I set my units to mm and grid spacing and snap to 1 and remember how it would be nice to have major and minor grids instead of just one, so I want to create some vertical guides evenly spaced and cannot remember and start looking in docs. In Illustrator 7, clicking on the ruler bar created a guide if I recall... Once created, it could be moved with grid snap like any object, so getting it on grid or off was easy. As I read around, I find the usage of guides in "Keys and Mouse" "drag off a ruler" is the way... and a guide is on the page, and I can't snap it to easily make the accurate secondary grid I had wanted....Is there a way to? I try duplicate on the guide, but alas, it is not a regular object... it cannot be selected as they are...so I cannot replicate guides to make other grids after all... note for the beginner, to get bezier curves out of the line/bezier tool, you must click-drag. A click-only will give you only connected straight line segments. I'll have to use lines as guides,
http://home.austin.rr.com/jgriessen/ill2ink-tut1.png

[[Category:Help Wanted]]

=== Other SVG Tutorials ===

* http://www.codeproject.com/books/learnsvgchapter07.asp

Release notes/0.46

2007-06-02T00:57:55Z

Johncoswell: /* Paint Bucket tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Speed and interactivity=

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws '''faster by about 25%'''. More impressive are memory savings: thanks to cairo, in outline mode Inkscape now takes only about '''50% of the memory''' used by 0.45 for the same file.

* '''Smart redraw directionality:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* '''Faster blur''' for exporting and high quality on-screen rendering: Inkscape now uses an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter for blurring with large radius. This greatly improves the speed of blur redraw at high zooms or in high-resolution export (or simply with very large blur radius). On the other hand, the results are an approximation to a true Gaussian blur, so a drawing may look slightly different from the mathematically precise blur (usually the differences are far from visible, though). This code is mainly based on: ''Recursive Gaussian Derivative Filters'' by L.J. van Vliet, I.T. Young and P.W. Verbeek (see the source code for more detailed references).

* '''Moving the cursor around''' in a file with large and complex paths has become much snappier and more responsive. Previously, in extreme cases Inkscape could freeze for seconds while catching up with the mouse cursor; such delays are now eliminated.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Tools=

==Paint Bucket tool==

The new Paint Bucket tool works exactly as you would expect: click in any area bounded on all sides and it will '''fill it with color'''. Being a vector tool, however, Inkscape's Paint Bucket just creates a new ''path'' that "fills in" the area in which you clicked.

It is important to note that the tool is '''perceptual''', not geometric. That is, when looking for the boundaries around the point you clicked, it takes for such boundaries any ''visible'' color changes. This means that filling will stop at gradients, blurs, and even the color boundaries in imported bitmaps, but will ignore any paths or other objects that are fully (or almost) transparent or for any other reason do not stand out from the background. In short, it will work exactly as if you were filling a rasterized version of your image in a bitmap editor like Photoshop or GIMP - but will give you a vector object to work with.

For example, now you can scan a pencil sketch, import the bitmap into Inkscape, and quickly fill all its cells with colors even without tracing the bitmap first. This is a very convenient and interactive way of digitizing your paper drawings, making the '''traditional bitmap tracing unnecessary''' in many cases.

Internally, the tool works by performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and placing the traced path into the document.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The '''resolution''' of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your '''current zoom level''' -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill. So, if you are got a fill that is too imprecise, has rough corners, or don't go into small nooks and appendices where it is supposed to go, just undo, zoom in closer and repeat filling from the same point. Conversely, if the fill leaks out through a small gap, zoom out to make the gap less visible and fill again.

Like all object-creating tools, the Paint Bucket may use the '''last-set style''' for the objects it creates (this is the default), or it can use its own '''fixed style'''. You can switch between these modes on this tool's page in Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P).

In the tool's '''Controls bar''':

* '''Tolerance''' (set in per cent units) controls how large must be color difference at a point (compared to the initial click point) to stop the fill. Zero tolerance means only the area of strictly the same color will be filled; the larger the tolerance, the easier it will be for the fill to leak into adjacent different-color areas. The default value is 10%.

* You can control the amount of '''inset/outset''' to be applied to the created fill path. Setting a positive outset causes fill paths to be larger than the filled bitmap area (good for eliminating anti-aliasing errors), while setting a negative outset causes the path to be smaller. This works the same as the Outset and Inset path commands.

* Paint Bucket's perceptual fill can use either all visible colors or specific color '''channels'''. You can restrict the fill algorithm to the following channels:
** Red
** Green
** Blue
** Hue
** Saturation
** Lightness
** Alpha

* An '''auto gap''' setting. When enabled, Paint Bucket will try to close any gaps in the area boundaries that would normally cause the fill to spill out of the desired area. There are four settings to auto gap:
** None
** Small (fill gaps up to 2 pixels in size)
** Medium (4 pixels)
** Large (6 pixels)

* A '''style swatch''' on the far right of the bar shows the style that will be used for the next fill object you create.

The tool's '''shortcuts''' are:

* '''Single click''' performs filling from the click point.

* '''Shift+click''' performs filling from the click point and then unions the resulting path with the selected path. This way, if your first attempt did not fill in all of the desired area, you can Shift+click the remaining corner to fill it in separately and combine the result with the result of the previous fill.

* '''Ctrl+click''' on an object simply changes that object's fill to the current fill color of the tool, and '''Shift+Ctrl+click''' changes the stroke to the current stroke color.

* '''Click and drag''' performs filling from '''all of the points''' that you pass while dragging (you will see your path visualized by a red line). From each point, the fill spreads to the neighbors with the colors similar to that point - in other words, it's like clicking with this tool at each point of the drag path and unioning the results. This lets you easily fill an area occupied by a gradient or blur - just drag from the darkest to the lightest points in the area you want to fill.

* '''Alt+click and drag''' works similarly to simple drag, except from each point of the drag path, the fill spreads to the neighbors (if any) with the colors similar to the ''initial point'' (the point where you started the drag). This lets you fill a series of similarly-colored yet separated areas (for example, multiple cells in a cartoon) by starting the drag in one of those areas, and alt+dragging the tool through all the other areas.

==Gradient Tool==
Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
*Stops can be added by '''double clicking''' or by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on the gradient line.
*Stops can be deleted by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on a stop or by the '''Del''' key for all the selected stop(s).
:*When you delete an end stop, the nearest intermediate stop becomes the new end stop of the gradient (without moving - i.e., the gradient span becomes shorter).
:*When you delete an end stop and there are no intermediate stops, the object will be painted with a solid fill taken from the color & opacity of the remaining stop.
*More than one stop can be selected at a time by '''Shift+click'''.
:*Can be moved together if next to each other.
:*Can be deleted at the same time.
:*When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
:*When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Calligraphy tool: Engraver's Toolbox ==

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make
Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line
engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive
process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way
of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a
century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic
halftone screens. However, line engravings have their
characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to
resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape.

A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on
these screenshots:

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png

===Tracking a guide path with Ctrl===

One of the most common operations in line engraving is
'''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several
hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel
straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to
represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar
effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather
cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the
other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do
uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by
'''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and
uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual
control over the process.

Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that
you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path
or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to
Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width,
angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press
Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your
mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected
guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar
message will tell you to select it.)

Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track
circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch
pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment,
the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides
along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the
center of the tracking circle, ''not'' by your mouse point. As
a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the
guide path and always at the same distance from it.

When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift
your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because
as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch
spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just
created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets
selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this
means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide
path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one,
then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill
any desired space with uniform hatching.

Alternatively, if you uncheck "Select new path" in the Calligraphy tool preferences, newly created strokes will not be selected, so your original guide path will be kept selected. In this mode, Inkscape will increase the tracking distance after each created stroke so that you can create uniformly spaced hatching by tracking a single guide path.

The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray
your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be
able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red)
and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you,
for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a
guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than
the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such
tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks,
but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not
try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still
bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter.

Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental
jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are
suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side
and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracking
stroke will also flip over to follow you.

Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually
changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing
behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or
farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the
distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will
get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect
is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also,
note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes
of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below)
will result in gradual bending of the hatching pattern as you
proceed.

===Tracing background by stroke width===

There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls
bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen
depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in
each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke
width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which is set by the
Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with
pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the "Use pressure" button
is also toggled.

This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported
bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically
reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with
your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed.

===Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt===

Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of
a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic
intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are
often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly
bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening
function is indispensable.

While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a
orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected;
this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you
can change it by changing the Width parameter on the
toolbar).

Now select some or all of the paths or groups containing paths (as with most
tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for
example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over
them. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if
melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely,
'''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places
where you touch them.

As with the Calligraphy pen itself, the '''size''' of the
thinning/thickening area by default depends on zoom; simply
zooming in or out is often easier than adjusting the width if
you want to cover a smaller or larger area.

The '''force''' of
the effect also depends on zoom (or in other words, it stays the
same when measured by screen pixels, same as when you move and
object by Alt+arrow keys). Between the center and the edge of the circle, the force decreases along a '''bell-like curve''', so that the action of the tool on paths is always smooth. Also, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, the force of thinning/thickening also
depends on '''pen pressure'''; tapping slightly produces gradual
lightening or darkening of your drawing, while pressing heavily
will work as a kind of quick "erasing" (with Alt) or
"blackening" (with Alt+Shift).

Of course, thinning/thickening is useful '''not only for calligraphic strokes'''. You can select any simple path (such as
an ellipse converted to path) and start '''sculpting''' it,
spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Alt+Shift and
melting them away with Alt. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in
the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes
to the shape or selecting any nodes. This new functionality is
somewhat similar to the "Pucker" and "Bloat" tools in the latest
versions of Adobe Illustrator, except that in Inkscape it works
softer and is easier to control.

'''Known problems with thinning/thickening:''' (1) it is rather
slow; (2) it quickly eats memory; and (3) it is sometimes buggy
- thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change
their shape drastically as you're Alt+stroking them. For (3), it
helps to undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on
the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches
instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the
desired result without the buggy behavior. In general, however,
all these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for
geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is
scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in
development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then.

===Misc features===

* For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before.

* To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.)

==Selector==

* A new selection mode is available: '''selecting by touch'''. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious.

:To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press '''Alt''' to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red ''touch path'' will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press '''Alt''' first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press '''Shift+Alt''' and then start to drag.

* Horizontal/vertical flipping: So far, flipping a selection made it flip within its bounding box, so that the latter remained fixed. In the move/scale mode of the selector tool, this behaviour remains unchanged. However, in rotate/shear mode flipping now happens about an (imaginary) vertical/horizontal axis through the rotation center. This is very handy, since the latter can be freely dragged around and snaps to all kinds of objects if desired.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* If any of the nodes in the currently selected path is mouseovered, then horizontal/vertical flipping ('H' and 'V' keys), stepwise rotation ('[' and ']' keys) and scaling ('<' and '>' keys) now all use this specific node as center/axis. If there is no mouseovered node, the center of the bounding box is used instead (as is currently the case unconditionally). Nodes that are covered by one of their handles are also detected as mouseovered.

==Text Tool:==
* [text toolbar - deadchip]

=Snapping and grids=

* '''Snapping behavior''' has been implemented or improved for drawing of new shapes, for dragging the nodes of existing shapes, for gradient handles, and for clones. Snapping of text baselines works again. Snapping distance is now set in screen pixels and is therefore independent of zoom. Furthermore, the bug where "node-to-node" snapping caused jerky movement of nodes is fixed; snapping while skewing has been implemented; any object snaps with its rotation axis (which can be arbitrarily moved and whose position is remembered for every object); the aspect ratio is correctly preserved while scaling with snapping turned on; all four boundingbox corners now snap instead of only the lower-left and upper-right; snapping while uniformly scaling has been improved.

* The confusing "Default transformations origin" option is removed. Now Inkscape always uses the opposide edge of the object's bounding box as the transformation origin (though the bounding box itself can now be different, see next item).

* A new preference option has been added to specify the kind of bounding box to be used (see Inkscape Preferences, Tools, Selector). You can choose between the visual bounding box (which takes into account the stroke width, markers, and blur margins; this is the default behavior) or geometric bounding box (which encloses only the path itself, disregarding stroke width).

Grids:

* a new tab in the document properties dialog, solely meant for grids; the former grid/guide tab is now solely for guides. I envision a list of guides there in the future, for easier deletion of guides etc.
* more than one grid can be active at the same time, although i am having trouble in finding a usefull case for this
* multiple views on the same document share the same grids, but the grid can be turned off for each view separately. For example: one could have an overview view without grid enabled. Duplicate that window and zoom in on some detail; then grids can be shown only for that view, and snapping will only happen in those views for which grids are enabled. (sorry i am not able to explain more clearly)
* grid information is now stored in SVG as a child of sodipodi:namedview. Can someone please make an extension that converts an old grid definition to the new format?
* axonometric grid (not yet snapping)
* dots instead of lines

From developer perspective:

* implementation of new grids is much easier now; subclassing CanvasGrid and adding an entry in the is enough. Have a peek at how the rectangular grid is implemented (CanvasXYGrid).
* note that there is no longer "the grid", there might be several grids active now!

[Future plans (i will not be working on this soon, due to GSoC Live effects!):
** possibility of enabling not all but a selection of grids for a view. Eg. when there are 4 grids defined in the document, only enable grid2 for a certain view.
** new grids!
** better snapping mechanism to enable snapping to intersections of guides&grids and grids&grids.

A side effect of removal of old gridcode: apparantly the origin of the desktop rules used to be set to the origin of the grid. I find this strange: specifying a grid origin of (2,2) would have me think the origin would be at ruler location (2,2) instead of (0,0) as it is in 0.45.1.
I have commented the grid-origin correction to the ruler range, because now there is not a single grid anymore to correct it for. Isn't there a control somewhere to define the documents origin? Now the ruler origin is set to (0,0) -- johan]

=Filters=

==Blend modes==
[kiirala]

=Effects=

* The new '''Render > Gear''' extension creates a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear mechanical gear] given the number of teeth, the circular pitch (in px units), and the pressure angle.

*[spirograph]

*[barcode]

*The '''Whirl''' extension uses the center of view as the center of whirl, so you don't have to enter the center coordinates numerically.

*The '''Render > Grid''' extension has got an extended range of grid spacings, from 0.1 to 1000 px.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

* The Export dialog automatically appends the '''.png''' extension to the export filename you specify.

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg lib - ted gould]

=Command line=

Several new command line options are added that make Inkscape even more scriptable and automatable than before.

* --verb-list will list all the Verb IDs and their names in Inkscape. This makes writing your own menus and hotkeys much easier as you can easily find out what the choices are.

* --verb followed by a verb ID allows you to specify a verb to be called on every document opened by Inkscape initially from the command line.

* --select followed by a node ID will allow you to add a node to the list of selected objects.

These options can be used, for example, for performance testing. You could do something like this:

$ time inkscape --verb=FileClose my_complex_file.svg

to measure the time it takes to load and display the file.

Of course, with the ability to select objects, it can be much more useful than
that. You can call effects, or any other verb, then FileSave and
FileClose to automate all kinds of things on your drawings.

=UI=

==Markers==

* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

== [toolbars - [[JonCruz]]] ==

[calligraphy: menus, tooltips; star; ...]

Switched to stock GTK+ toolbars.

Extra magic secret sauce added.

== [filedialogs - [[JonCruz]]] ==

== Print dialog integration ==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object, or apply more than one clippath/mask to an object). Now this limitation is removed; just select any single object and group it to get a single-object group.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* After dragging a curve segment in Node tool, Inkscape no longer selects the two adjacent nodes if they were not selected before.

* The '''Tile Clones''' dialog now uses the object's defined '''rotation axis''' (which can be freely moved by Selector tool and which is saved separately for each object) for all rotations (including both symmetry rotations and the Rotation tab rotations), scales, and flips. This renders unnecessary the previous workarounds where you had to group an object with another transparent object to affect how it's rotated by the clone tiler.

* In '''Pencil''' and '''Calligraphic''' tools, pressing '''Esc''' or '''Ctrl+Z''' while drawing cancels the currently drawn path or stroke. When not drawing, these keys work as before (Esc deselects, Ctrl+Z undoes last action). (This is the same behavior as in the Pen tool where it was introduced in a previous version.)

* A set of new verbs has been added to allow the user to easily '''unlock all locked objects''' or '''unhide all hidden objects'''. There are two variants one that operates on the current layer and its children and one that operates globally. While searching for hidden or locked object descendants of locked layers are ignored.

* The list of folder shortcuts in the '''Open''' dialog includes the folder with Inkscape's SVG '''examples''' for easy access. Similarly, the '''Save''' dialog has a shortcut for the user's own '''templates''' dialog making it easy to save the current document as a template (if saved as <code>default.svg</code>, it will be loaded every time you run Inkscape or create new document with Ctrl+N; with any other name, it will be added to the File > New submenu).

* For time-intensive operations such as Paint Bucket and Simplify, the system's busy wait cursor is displayed to indicate to the user that Inkscape is actively working, and not frozen.

* [statusbar updates: save, ...]

* Several improvements in '''inkview''': busy cursor is shown while loading file, the button window stays on top and responds to keyboard shortcuts; several memleaks stopped and bugs fixed. The "slideshow mode" of the main inkscape application (-s or --slideshow command line option) is removed; use inkview instead.

* In Document Metadata dialog, updated Creative Commons Licenses to version 3.0.

=Notable bugfixes=

These are bugfixes compared to 0.45.1; for a list of fixes in 0.45.1 compared to 0.45, see [[ReleaseNotes045|0.45.1 release notes]]

* The '''sodipodi:docbase''' attribute is no longer added to the root <svg> element. This attribute used to keep the latest directory that the document was saved to, and thus represented a mild privacy violation (i.e., by sharing your Inkscape SVG files you allowed others to have a peek into your directory structure). Note, however, that Inkscape does not remove this attribute from old documents it opens; if you want you can remove it yourself. Inkscape just no longer creates this attribute in new documents.

* Inkscape now properly quotes <code>font-family</code> values and therefore can use fonts with various nonalphanumeric characters in their names, which previously failed.

* If you have saved documents with a previous version of Inkscape which used '''right-to-left text''' (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew) then the paragraph alignment of non-flowed text has been reversed in this release. This is due to a bug in previous versions - the new behaviour is compliant with the SVG specification and compatible with other editors and viewers. To correct your images, simply reverse the paragraph alignment by selecting the text and clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar.

* A regression in 0.45 caused crashes when undo or redo was attempted before the previous action could complete (e.g. pressing ctrl+z while you are still drawing a rectangle). This is now fixed.

* Previously, if there was a single invalid property in a <code>style</code> attribute, the entire attribute was discarded, i.e. the object lost all styling. Now Inkscape's behavior is more compliant to the CSS specification: it ignores only the invalid property but reads in all the rest.

* Several bugs are fixed in searching for linked images. Now moving SVG documents with their associated images to a different place or a different machine should work more reliably.

* Master opacity did not apply to stroke markers as it should; fixed.

* Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration URI points to right location now.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.46

2007-06-01T21:48:20Z

Johncoswell: /* Paint Bucket tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Speed and interactivity=

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws '''faster by about 25%'''. More impressive are memory savings: thanks to cairo, in outline mode Inkscape now takes only about '''50% of the memory''' used by 0.45 for the same file.

* '''Smart redraw directionality:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* '''Faster blur''' for exporting and high quality on-screen rendering: Inkscape now uses an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter for blurring with large radius. This greatly improves the speed of blur redraw at high zooms or in high-resolution export (or simply with very large blur radius). On the other hand, the results are an approximation to a true Gaussian blur, so a drawing may look slightly different from the mathematically precise blur (usually the differences are far from visible, though). This code is mainly based on: ''Recursive Gaussian Derivative Filters'' by L.J. van Vliet, I.T. Young and P.W. Verbeek (see the source code for more detailed references).

* '''Moving the cursor around''' in a file with large and complex paths has become much snappier and more responsive. Previously, in extreme cases Inkscape could freeze for seconds while catching up with the mouse cursor; such delays are now eliminated.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Tools=

==Paint Bucket tool==

The new Paint Bucket tool works exactly as you would expect: click in any area bounded on all sides and it will '''fill it with color'''. Being a vector tool, however, Inkscape's Paint Bucket just creates a new ''path'' that "fills in" the area in which you clicked.

It is important to note that the tool is '''perceptual''', not geometric. That is, when looking for the boundaries around the point you clicked, it takes for such boundaries any ''visible'' color changes. This means that filling will stop at gradients, blurs, and even the color boundaries in imported bitmaps, but will ignore any paths or other objects that are fully (or almost) transparent or for any other reason do not stand out from the background. In short, it will work exactly as if you were filling a rasterized version of your image in a bitmap editor like Photoshop or GIMP - but will give you a vector object to work with.

For example, now you can scan a pencil sketch, import the bitmap into Inkscape, and quickly fill all its cells with colors even without tracing the bitmap first. This is a very convenient and interactive way of digitizing your paper drawings, making the '''traditional bitmap tracing unnecessary''' in many cases.

Internally, the tool works by performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and placing the traced path into the document.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The '''resolution''' of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your '''current zoom level''' -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill. So, if you are got a fill that is too imprecise, has rough corners, or don't go into small nooks and appendices where it is supposed to go, just undo, zoom in closer and repeat filling from the same point. Conversely, if the fill leaks out through a small gap, zoom out to make the gap less visible and fill again.

Like all object-creating tools, the Paint Bucket may use the '''last-set style''' for the objects it creates (this is the default), or it can use its own '''fixed style'''. You can switch between these modes on this tool's page in Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P).

In the tool's '''Controls bar''':

* '''Tolerance''' (set in per cent units) controls how large must be color difference at a point (compared to the initial click point) to stop the fill. Zero tolerance means only the area of strictly the same color will be filled; the larger the tolerance, the easier it will be for the fill to leak into adjacent different-color areas. The default value is 10%.

* You can control the amount of '''inset/outset''' to be applied to the created fill path. Setting a positive outset causes fill paths to be larger than the filled bitmap area (good for eliminating anti-aliasing errors), while setting a negative outset causes the path to be smaller. This works the same as the Outset and Inset path commands.

* Paint Bucket's perceptual fill can use either all visible colors or specific color '''channels'''. You can restrict the fill algorithm to the following channels:
** Red
** Green
** Blue
** Hue
** Saturation
** Lightness
** Alpha

* An '''auto gap''' setting. When enabled, Paint Bucket will try to close any gaps in the area boundaries that would normally cause the fill to spill out of the desired area. There are four settings to auto gap:
** None
** Small (fill gaps up to 2 pixels in size)
** Medium (4 pixels)
** Large (6 pixels)

* A '''style swatch''' on the far right of the bar shows the style that will be used for the next fill object you create.

The tool's '''shortcuts''' are:

* '''Single click''' performs filling from the click point.

* '''Shift+click''' performs filling from the click point and then unions the resulting path with the selected path. This way, if your first attempt did not fill in all of the desired area, you can Shift+click the remaining corner to fill it in separately and combine the result with the result of the previous fill.

* '''Ctrl+click''' on an object simply changes that object's fill to the current fill color of the tool, and '''Shift+Ctrl+click''' changes the stroke to the current stroke color.

* '''Click and drag''' performs filling from '''all of the points''' that you pass while dragging (you will see your path visualized by a red line). From each point, the fill spreads to the neighbors with the colors similar to that point - in other words, it's like clicking with this tool at each point of the drag path and unioning the results. This lets you easily fill an area occupied by a gradient or blur - just drag from the darkest to the lightest points in the area you want to fill.

* '''Alt+click and drag''' works similarly to simple drag, except from each point of the drag path, the fill spreads to the neighbors (if any) with the colors similar to the ''initial point'' (the point where you started the drag). This lets you fill a series of similarly-colored yet separated areas (for example, multiple cells in a cartoon) by starting the drag in one of those areas, and alt+dragging the tool through all the other areas.

A hidden preference, '''tools.paintbucket.fillaccuracy''', can be used to speed up fill operations at the cost of some accuracy. It works by skipping some pixel checks when filling the bitmap portion of the image. This can be set from 0-5.

==Gradient Tool==
Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
*Stops can be added by '''double clicking''' or by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on the gradient line.
*Stops can be deleted by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on a stop or by the '''Del''' key for all the selected stop(s).
:*When you delete an end stop, the nearest intermediate stop becomes the new end stop of the gradient (without moving - i.e., the gradient span becomes shorter).
:*When you delete an end stop and there are no intermediate stops, the object will be painted with a solid fill taken from the color & opacity of the remaining stop.
*More than one stop can be selected at a time by '''Shift+click'''.
:*Can be moved together if next to each other.
:*Can be deleted at the same time.
:*When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
:*When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Calligraphy tool: Engraver's Toolbox ==

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make
Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line
engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive
process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way
of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a
century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic
halftone screens. However, line engravings have their
characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to
resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape.

A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on
these screenshots:

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png

===Tracking a guide path with Ctrl===

One of the most common operations in line engraving is
'''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several
hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel
straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to
represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar
effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather
cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the
other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do
uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by
'''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and
uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual
control over the process.

Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that
you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path
or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to
Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width,
angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press
Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your
mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected
guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar
message will tell you to select it.)

Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track
circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch
pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment,
the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides
along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the
center of the tracking circle, ''not'' by your mouse point. As
a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the
guide path and always at the same distance from it.

When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift
your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because
as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch
spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just
created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets
selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this
means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide
path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one,
then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill
any desired space with uniform hatching.

Alternatively, if you uncheck "Select new path" in the Calligraphy tool preferences, newly created strokes will not be selected, so your original guide path will be kept selected. In this mode, Inkscape will increase the tracking distance after each created stroke so that you can create uniformly spaced hatching by tracking a single guide path.

The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray
your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be
able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red)
and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you,
for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a
guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than
the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such
tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks,
but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not
try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still
bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter.

Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental
jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are
suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side
and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracking
stroke will also flip over to follow you.

Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually
changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing
behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or
farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the
distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will
get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect
is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also,
note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes
of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below)
will result in gradual bending of the hatching pattern as you
proceed.

===Tracing background by stroke width===

There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls
bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen
depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in
each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke
width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which is set by the
Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with
pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the "Use pressure" button
is also toggled.

This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported
bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically
reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with
your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed.

===Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt===

Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of
a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic
intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are
often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly
bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening
function is indispensable.

While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a
orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected;
this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you
can change it by changing the Width parameter on the
toolbar).

Now select some or all of the paths or groups containing paths (as with most
tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for
example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over
them. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if
melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely,
'''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places
where you touch them.

As with the Calligraphy pen itself, the '''size''' of the
thinning/thickening area by default depends on zoom; simply
zooming in or out is often easier than adjusting the width if
you want to cover a smaller or larger area.

The '''force''' of
the effect also depends on zoom (or in other words, it stays the
same when measured by screen pixels, same as when you move and
object by Alt+arrow keys). Between the center and the edge of the circle, the force decreases along a '''bell-like curve''', so that the action of the tool on paths is always smooth. Also, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, the force of thinning/thickening also
depends on '''pen pressure'''; tapping slightly produces gradual
lightening or darkening of your drawing, while pressing heavily
will work as a kind of quick "erasing" (with Alt) or
"blackening" (with Alt+Shift).

Of course, thinning/thickening is useful '''not only for calligraphic strokes'''. You can select any simple path (such as
an ellipse converted to path) and start '''sculpting''' it,
spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Alt+Shift and
melting them away with Alt. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in
the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes
to the shape or selecting any nodes. This new functionality is
somewhat similar to the "Pucker" and "Bloat" tools in the latest
versions of Adobe Illustrator, except that in Inkscape it works
softer and is easier to control.

'''Known problems with thinning/thickening:''' (1) it is rather
slow; (2) it quickly eats memory; and (3) it is sometimes buggy
- thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change
their shape drastically as you're Alt+stroking them. For (3), it
helps to undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on
the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches
instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the
desired result without the buggy behavior. In general, however,
all these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for
geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is
scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in
development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then.

===Misc features===

* For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before.

* To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.)

==Selector==

* A new selection mode is available: '''selecting by touch'''. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious.

:To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press '''Alt''' to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red ''touch path'' will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press '''Alt''' first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press '''Shift+Alt''' and then start to drag.

* Horizontal/vertical flipping: So far, flipping a selection made it flip within its bounding box, so that the latter remained fixed. In the move/scale mode of the selector tool, this behaviour remains unchanged. However, in rotate/shear mode flipping now happens about an (imaginary) vertical/horizontal axis through the rotation center. This is very handy, since the latter can be freely dragged around and snaps to all kinds of objects if desired.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* If any of the nodes in the currently selected path is mouseovered, then horizontal/vertical flipping ('H' and 'V' keys), stepwise rotation ('[' and ']' keys) and scaling ('<' and '>' keys) now all use this specific node as center/axis. If there is no mouseovered node, the center of the bounding box is used instead (as is currently the case unconditionally). Nodes that are covered by one of their handles are also detected as mouseovered.

==Text Tool:==
* [text toolbar - deadchip]

=Snapping and grids=

* '''Snapping behavior''' has been implemented or improved for drawing of new shapes, for dragging the nodes of existing shapes, for gradient handles, and for clones. Snapping of text baselines works again. Snapping distance is now set in screen pixels and is therefore independent of zoom. Furthermore, the bug where "node-to-node" snapping caused jerky movement of nodes is fixed; snapping while skewing has been implemented; any object snaps with its rotation axis (which can be arbitrarily moved and whose position is remembered for every object); the aspect ratio is correctly preserved while scaling with snapping turned on; all four boundingbox corners now snap instead of only the lower-left and upper-right; snapping while uniformly scaling has been improved.

* The confusing "Default transformations origin" option is removed. Now Inkscape always uses the opposide edge of the object's bounding box as the transformation origin (though the bounding box itself can now be different, see next item).

* A new preference option has been added to specify the kind of bounding box to be used (see Inkscape Preferences, Tools, Selector). You can choose between the visual bounding box (which takes into account the stroke width, markers, and blur margins; this is the default behavior) or geometric bounding box (which encloses only the path itself, disregarding stroke width).

Grids:

* a new tab in the document properties dialog, solely meant for grids; the former grid/guide tab is now solely for guides. I envision a list of guides there in the future, for easier deletion of guides etc.
* more than one grid can be active at the same time, although i am having trouble in finding a usefull case for this
* multiple views on the same document share the same grids, but the grid can be turned off for each view separately. For example: one could have an overview view without grid enabled. Duplicate that window and zoom in on some detail; then grids can be shown only for that view, and snapping will only happen in those views for which grids are enabled. (sorry i am not able to explain more clearly)
* grid information is now stored in SVG as a child of sodipodi:namedview. Can someone please make an extension that converts an old grid definition to the new format?
* axonometric grid (not yet snapping)
* dots instead of lines

From developer perspective:

* implementation of new grids is much easier now; subclassing CanvasGrid and adding an entry in the is enough. Have a peek at how the rectangular grid is implemented (CanvasXYGrid).
* note that there is no longer "the grid", there might be several grids active now!

[Future plans (i will not be working on this soon, due to GSoC Live effects!):
** possibility of enabling not all but a selection of grids for a view. Eg. when there are 4 grids defined in the document, only enable grid2 for a certain view.
** new grids!
** better snapping mechanism to enable snapping to intersections of guides&grids and grids&grids.

A side effect of removal of old gridcode: apparantly the origin of the desktop rules used to be set to the origin of the grid. I find this strange: specifying a grid origin of (2,2) would have me think the origin would be at ruler location (2,2) instead of (0,0) as it is in 0.45.1.
I have commented the grid-origin correction to the ruler range, because now there is not a single grid anymore to correct it for. Isn't there a control somewhere to define the documents origin? Now the ruler origin is set to (0,0) -- johan]

=Filters=

==Blend modes==
[kiirala]

=Effects=

* The new '''Render > Gear''' extension creates a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear mechanical gear] given the number of teeth, the circular pitch (in px units), and the pressure angle.

*[spirograph]

*[barcode]

*The '''Whirl''' extension uses the center of view as the center of whirl, so you don't have to enter the center coordinates numerically.

*The '''Render > Grid''' extension has got an extended range of grid spacings, from 0.1 to 1000 px.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

* The Export dialog automatically appends the '''.png''' extension to the export filename you specify.

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg lib - ted gould]

=Command line=

Several new command line options are added that make Inkscape even more scriptable and automatable than before.

* --verb-list will list all the Verb IDs and their names in Inkscape. This makes writing your own menus and hotkeys much easier as you can easily find out what the choices are.

* --verb followed by a verb ID allows you to specify a verb to be called on every document opened by Inkscape initially from the command line.

* --select followed by a node ID will allow you to add a node to the list of selected objects.

These options can be used, for example, for performance testing. You could do something like this:

$ time inkscape --verb=FileClose my_complex_file.svg

to measure the time it takes to load and display the file.

Of course, with the ability to select objects, it can be much more useful than
that. You can call effects, or any other verb, then FileSave and
FileClose to automate all kinds of things on your drawings.

=UI=

==Markers==

* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

== [toolbars - [[JonCruz]]] ==

[calligraphy: menus, tooltips; star; ...]

Switched to stock GTK+ toolbars.

Extra magic secret sauce added.

== [filedialogs - [[JonCruz]]] ==

== Print dialog integration ==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object, or apply more than one clippath/mask to an object). Now this limitation is removed; just select any single object and group it to get a single-object group.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* After dragging a curve segment in Node tool, Inkscape no longer selects the two adjacent nodes if they were not selected before.

* The '''Tile Clones''' dialog now uses the object's defined '''rotation axis''' (which can be freely moved by Selector tool and which is saved separately for each object) for all rotations (including both symmetry rotations and the Rotation tab rotations), scales, and flips. This renders unnecessary the previous workarounds where you had to group an object with another transparent object to affect how it's rotated by the clone tiler.

* In '''Pencil''' and '''Calligraphic''' tools, pressing '''Esc''' or '''Ctrl+Z''' while drawing cancels the currently drawn path or stroke. When not drawing, these keys work as before (Esc deselects, Ctrl+Z undoes last action). (This is the same behavior as in the Pen tool where it was introduced in a previous version.)

* A set of new verbs has been added to allow the user to easily '''unlock all locked objects''' or '''unhide all hidden objects'''. There are two variants one that operates on the current layer and its children and one that operates globally. While searching for hidden or locked object descendants of locked layers are ignored.

* The list of folder shortcuts in the '''Open''' dialog includes the folder with Inkscape's SVG '''examples''' for easy access. Similarly, the '''Save''' dialog has a shortcut for the user's own '''templates''' dialog making it easy to save the current document as a template (if saved as <code>default.svg</code>, it will be loaded every time you run Inkscape or create new document with Ctrl+N; with any other name, it will be added to the File > New submenu).

* For time-intensive operations such as Paint Bucket and Simplify, the system's busy wait cursor is displayed to indicate to the user that Inkscape is actively working, and not frozen.

* [statusbar updates: save, ...]

* Several improvements in '''inkview''': busy cursor is shown while loading file, the button window stays on top and responds to keyboard shortcuts; several memleaks stopped and bugs fixed. The "slideshow mode" of the main inkscape application (-s or --slideshow command line option) is removed; use inkview instead.

* In Document Metadata dialog, updated Creative Commons Licenses to version 3.0.

=Notable bugfixes=

These are bugfixes compared to 0.45.1; for a list of fixes in 0.45.1 compared to 0.45, see [[ReleaseNotes045|0.45.1 release notes]]

* The '''sodipodi:docbase''' attribute is no longer added to the root <svg> element. This attribute used to keep the latest directory that the document was saved to, and thus represented a mild privacy violation (i.e., by sharing your Inkscape SVG files you allowed others to have a peek into your directory structure). Note, however, that Inkscape does not remove this attribute from old documents it opens; if you want you can remove it yourself. Inkscape just no longer creates this attribute in new documents.

* Inkscape now properly quotes <code>font-family</code> values and therefore can use fonts with various nonalphanumeric characters in their names, which previously failed.

* If you have saved documents with a previous version of Inkscape which used '''right-to-left text''' (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew) then the paragraph alignment of non-flowed text has been reversed in this release. This is due to a bug in previous versions - the new behaviour is compliant with the SVG specification and compatible with other editors and viewers. To correct your images, simply reverse the paragraph alignment by selecting the text and clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar.

* A regression in 0.45 caused crashes when undo or redo was attempted before the previous action could complete (e.g. pressing ctrl+z while you are still drawing a rectangle). This is now fixed.

* Previously, if there was a single invalid property in a <code>style</code> attribute, the entire attribute was discarded, i.e. the object lost all styling. Now Inkscape's behavior is more compliant to the CSS specification: it ignores only the invalid property but reads in all the rest.

* Several bugs are fixed in searching for linked images. Now moving SVG documents with their associated images to a different place or a different machine should work more reliably.

* Master opacity did not apply to stroke markers as it should; fixed.

* Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration URI points to right location now.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.46

2007-06-01T21:48:02Z

Johncoswell: /* Paint Bucket tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Speed and interactivity=

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws '''faster by about 25%'''. More impressive are memory savings: thanks to cairo, in outline mode Inkscape now takes only about '''50% of the memory''' used by 0.45 for the same file.

* '''Smart redraw directionality:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* '''Faster blur''' for exporting and high quality on-screen rendering: Inkscape now uses an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter for blurring with large radius. This greatly improves the speed of blur redraw at high zooms or in high-resolution export (or simply with very large blur radius). On the other hand, the results are an approximation to a true Gaussian blur, so a drawing may look slightly different from the mathematically precise blur (usually the differences are far from visible, though). This code is mainly based on: ''Recursive Gaussian Derivative Filters'' by L.J. van Vliet, I.T. Young and P.W. Verbeek (see the source code for more detailed references).

* '''Moving the cursor around''' in a file with large and complex paths has become much snappier and more responsive. Previously, in extreme cases Inkscape could freeze for seconds while catching up with the mouse cursor; such delays are now eliminated.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Tools=

==Paint Bucket tool==

The new Paint Bucket tool works exactly as you would expect: click in any area bounded on all sides and it will '''fill it with color'''. Being a vector tool, however, Inkscape's Paint Bucket just creates a new ''path'' that "fills in" the area in which you clicked.

It is important to note that the tool is '''perceptual''', not geometric. That is, when looking for the boundaries around the point you clicked, it takes for such boundaries any ''visible'' color changes. This means that filling will stop at gradients, blurs, and even the color boundaries in imported bitmaps, but will ignore any paths or other objects that are fully (or almost) transparent or for any other reason do not stand out from the background. In short, it will work exactly as if you were filling a rasterized version of your image in a bitmap editor like Photoshop or GIMP - but will give you a vector object to work with.

For example, now you can scan a pencil sketch, import the bitmap into Inkscape, and quickly fill all its cells with colors even without tracing the bitmap first. This is a very convenient and interactive way of digitizing your paper drawings, making the '''traditional bitmap tracing unnecessary''' in many cases.

Internally, the tool works by performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and placing the traced path into the document.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The '''resolution''' of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your '''current zoom level''' -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill. So, if you are got a fill that is too imprecise, has rough corners, or don't go into small nooks and appendices where it is supposed to go, just undo, zoom in closer and repeat filling from the same point. Conversely, if the fill leaks out through a small gap, zoom out to make the gap less visible and fill again.

Like all object-creating tools, the Paint Bucket may use the '''last-set style''' for the objects it creates (this is the default), or it can use its own '''fixed style'''. You can switch between these modes on this tool's page in Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P).

In the tool's '''Controls bar''':

* '''Tolerance''' (set in per cent units) controls how large must be color difference at a point (compared to the initial click point) to stop the fill. Zero tolerance means only the area of strictly the same color will be filled; the larger the tolerance, the easier it will be for the fill to leak into adjacent different-color areas. The default value is 10%.

* You can control the amount of '''inset/outset''' to be applied to the created fill path. Setting a positive outset causes fill paths to be larger than the filled bitmap area (good for eliminating anti-aliasing errors), while setting a negative outset causes the path to be smaller. This works the same as the Outset and Inset path commands.

* Paint Bucket's perceptual fill can use either all visible colors or specific color '''channels'''. You can restrict the fill algorithm to the following channels:
** Red
** Green
** Blue
** Hue
** Saturation
** Lightness
** Alpha

* An '''auto gap''' setting. When enabled, Paint Bucket will try to close any gaps in the area boundaries that would normally cause the fill to spill out of the desired area. There are four settings to auto gap:
** None
** Small (fill gaps up to 2 pixels in size)
** Medium (4 pixels)
** Large (6 pixels)

* A '''style swatch''' on the far right of the bar shows the style that will be used for the next fill object you create.

The tool's '''shortcuts''' are:

* '''Single click''' performs filling from the click point.

* '''Shift+click''' performs filling from the click point and then unions the resulting path with the selected path. This way, if your first attempt did not fill in all of the desired area, you can Shift+click the remaining corner to fill it in separately and combine the result with the result of the previous fill.

* '''Ctrl+click''' on an object simply changes that object's fill to the current fill color of the tool, and '''Shift+Ctrl+click''' changes the stroke to the current stroke color.

* '''Click and drag''' performs filling from '''all of the points''' that you pass while dragging (you will see your path visualized by a red line). From each point, the fill spreads to the neighbors with the colors similar to that point - in other words, it's like clicking with this tool at each point of the drag path and unioning the results. This lets you easily fill an area occupied by a gradient or blur - just drag from the darkest to the lightest points in the area you want to fill.

* '''Alt+click and drag''' works similarly to simple drag, except from each point of the drag path, the fill spreads to the neighbors (if any) with the colors similar to the ''initial point'' (the point where you started the drag). This lets you fill a series of similarly-colored yet separated areas (for example, multiple cells in a cartoon) by starting the drag in one of those areas, and alt+dragging the tool through all the other areas.

A hidden preference, '''tools.paintbucket.fillaccuracy''', can be used to speed up fill operations at the cost of some accuracy. It works by skipping some pixel checks when fillingthe bitmap portion of the image. This can be set from 0-5.

==Gradient Tool==
Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
*Stops can be added by '''double clicking''' or by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on the gradient line.
*Stops can be deleted by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on a stop or by the '''Del''' key for all the selected stop(s).
:*When you delete an end stop, the nearest intermediate stop becomes the new end stop of the gradient (without moving - i.e., the gradient span becomes shorter).
:*When you delete an end stop and there are no intermediate stops, the object will be painted with a solid fill taken from the color & opacity of the remaining stop.
*More than one stop can be selected at a time by '''Shift+click'''.
:*Can be moved together if next to each other.
:*Can be deleted at the same time.
:*When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
:*When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Calligraphy tool: Engraver's Toolbox ==

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make
Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line
engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive
process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way
of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a
century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic
halftone screens. However, line engravings have their
characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to
resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape.

A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on
these screenshots:

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png

===Tracking a guide path with Ctrl===

One of the most common operations in line engraving is
'''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several
hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel
straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to
represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar
effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather
cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the
other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do
uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by
'''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and
uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual
control over the process.

Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that
you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path
or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to
Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width,
angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press
Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your
mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected
guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar
message will tell you to select it.)

Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track
circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch
pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment,
the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides
along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the
center of the tracking circle, ''not'' by your mouse point. As
a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the
guide path and always at the same distance from it.

When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift
your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because
as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch
spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just
created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets
selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this
means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide
path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one,
then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill
any desired space with uniform hatching.

Alternatively, if you uncheck "Select new path" in the Calligraphy tool preferences, newly created strokes will not be selected, so your original guide path will be kept selected. In this mode, Inkscape will increase the tracking distance after each created stroke so that you can create uniformly spaced hatching by tracking a single guide path.

The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray
your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be
able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red)
and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you,
for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a
guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than
the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such
tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks,
but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not
try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still
bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter.

Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental
jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are
suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side
and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracking
stroke will also flip over to follow you.

Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually
changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing
behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or
farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the
distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will
get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect
is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also,
note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes
of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below)
will result in gradual bending of the hatching pattern as you
proceed.

===Tracing background by stroke width===

There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls
bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen
depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in
each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke
width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which is set by the
Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with
pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the "Use pressure" button
is also toggled.

This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported
bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically
reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with
your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed.

===Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt===

Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of
a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic
intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are
often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly
bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening
function is indispensable.

While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a
orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected;
this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you
can change it by changing the Width parameter on the
toolbar).

Now select some or all of the paths or groups containing paths (as with most
tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for
example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over
them. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if
melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely,
'''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places
where you touch them.

As with the Calligraphy pen itself, the '''size''' of the
thinning/thickening area by default depends on zoom; simply
zooming in or out is often easier than adjusting the width if
you want to cover a smaller or larger area.

The '''force''' of
the effect also depends on zoom (or in other words, it stays the
same when measured by screen pixels, same as when you move and
object by Alt+arrow keys). Between the center and the edge of the circle, the force decreases along a '''bell-like curve''', so that the action of the tool on paths is always smooth. Also, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, the force of thinning/thickening also
depends on '''pen pressure'''; tapping slightly produces gradual
lightening or darkening of your drawing, while pressing heavily
will work as a kind of quick "erasing" (with Alt) or
"blackening" (with Alt+Shift).

Of course, thinning/thickening is useful '''not only for calligraphic strokes'''. You can select any simple path (such as
an ellipse converted to path) and start '''sculpting''' it,
spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Alt+Shift and
melting them away with Alt. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in
the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes
to the shape or selecting any nodes. This new functionality is
somewhat similar to the "Pucker" and "Bloat" tools in the latest
versions of Adobe Illustrator, except that in Inkscape it works
softer and is easier to control.

'''Known problems with thinning/thickening:''' (1) it is rather
slow; (2) it quickly eats memory; and (3) it is sometimes buggy
- thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change
their shape drastically as you're Alt+stroking them. For (3), it
helps to undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on
the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches
instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the
desired result without the buggy behavior. In general, however,
all these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for
geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is
scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in
development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then.

===Misc features===

* For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before.

* To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.)

==Selector==

* A new selection mode is available: '''selecting by touch'''. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious.

:To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press '''Alt''' to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red ''touch path'' will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press '''Alt''' first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press '''Shift+Alt''' and then start to drag.

* Horizontal/vertical flipping: So far, flipping a selection made it flip within its bounding box, so that the latter remained fixed. In the move/scale mode of the selector tool, this behaviour remains unchanged. However, in rotate/shear mode flipping now happens about an (imaginary) vertical/horizontal axis through the rotation center. This is very handy, since the latter can be freely dragged around and snaps to all kinds of objects if desired.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* If any of the nodes in the currently selected path is mouseovered, then horizontal/vertical flipping ('H' and 'V' keys), stepwise rotation ('[' and ']' keys) and scaling ('<' and '>' keys) now all use this specific node as center/axis. If there is no mouseovered node, the center of the bounding box is used instead (as is currently the case unconditionally). Nodes that are covered by one of their handles are also detected as mouseovered.

==Text Tool:==
* [text toolbar - deadchip]

=Snapping and grids=

* '''Snapping behavior''' has been implemented or improved for drawing of new shapes, for dragging the nodes of existing shapes, for gradient handles, and for clones. Snapping of text baselines works again. Snapping distance is now set in screen pixels and is therefore independent of zoom. Furthermore, the bug where "node-to-node" snapping caused jerky movement of nodes is fixed; snapping while skewing has been implemented; any object snaps with its rotation axis (which can be arbitrarily moved and whose position is remembered for every object); the aspect ratio is correctly preserved while scaling with snapping turned on; all four boundingbox corners now snap instead of only the lower-left and upper-right; snapping while uniformly scaling has been improved.

* The confusing "Default transformations origin" option is removed. Now Inkscape always uses the opposide edge of the object's bounding box as the transformation origin (though the bounding box itself can now be different, see next item).

* A new preference option has been added to specify the kind of bounding box to be used (see Inkscape Preferences, Tools, Selector). You can choose between the visual bounding box (which takes into account the stroke width, markers, and blur margins; this is the default behavior) or geometric bounding box (which encloses only the path itself, disregarding stroke width).

Grids:

* a new tab in the document properties dialog, solely meant for grids; the former grid/guide tab is now solely for guides. I envision a list of guides there in the future, for easier deletion of guides etc.
* more than one grid can be active at the same time, although i am having trouble in finding a usefull case for this
* multiple views on the same document share the same grids, but the grid can be turned off for each view separately. For example: one could have an overview view without grid enabled. Duplicate that window and zoom in on some detail; then grids can be shown only for that view, and snapping will only happen in those views for which grids are enabled. (sorry i am not able to explain more clearly)
* grid information is now stored in SVG as a child of sodipodi:namedview. Can someone please make an extension that converts an old grid definition to the new format?
* axonometric grid (not yet snapping)
* dots instead of lines

From developer perspective:

* implementation of new grids is much easier now; subclassing CanvasGrid and adding an entry in the is enough. Have a peek at how the rectangular grid is implemented (CanvasXYGrid).
* note that there is no longer "the grid", there might be several grids active now!

[Future plans (i will not be working on this soon, due to GSoC Live effects!):
** possibility of enabling not all but a selection of grids for a view. Eg. when there are 4 grids defined in the document, only enable grid2 for a certain view.
** new grids!
** better snapping mechanism to enable snapping to intersections of guides&grids and grids&grids.

A side effect of removal of old gridcode: apparantly the origin of the desktop rules used to be set to the origin of the grid. I find this strange: specifying a grid origin of (2,2) would have me think the origin would be at ruler location (2,2) instead of (0,0) as it is in 0.45.1.
I have commented the grid-origin correction to the ruler range, because now there is not a single grid anymore to correct it for. Isn't there a control somewhere to define the documents origin? Now the ruler origin is set to (0,0) -- johan]

=Filters=

==Blend modes==
[kiirala]

=Effects=

* The new '''Render > Gear''' extension creates a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear mechanical gear] given the number of teeth, the circular pitch (in px units), and the pressure angle.

*[spirograph]

*[barcode]

*The '''Whirl''' extension uses the center of view as the center of whirl, so you don't have to enter the center coordinates numerically.

*The '''Render > Grid''' extension has got an extended range of grid spacings, from 0.1 to 1000 px.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

* The Export dialog automatically appends the '''.png''' extension to the export filename you specify.

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg lib - ted gould]

=Command line=

Several new command line options are added that make Inkscape even more scriptable and automatable than before.

* --verb-list will list all the Verb IDs and their names in Inkscape. This makes writing your own menus and hotkeys much easier as you can easily find out what the choices are.

* --verb followed by a verb ID allows you to specify a verb to be called on every document opened by Inkscape initially from the command line.

* --select followed by a node ID will allow you to add a node to the list of selected objects.

These options can be used, for example, for performance testing. You could do something like this:

$ time inkscape --verb=FileClose my_complex_file.svg

to measure the time it takes to load and display the file.

Of course, with the ability to select objects, it can be much more useful than
that. You can call effects, or any other verb, then FileSave and
FileClose to automate all kinds of things on your drawings.

=UI=

==Markers==

* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

== [toolbars - [[JonCruz]]] ==

[calligraphy: menus, tooltips; star; ...]

Switched to stock GTK+ toolbars.

Extra magic secret sauce added.

== [filedialogs - [[JonCruz]]] ==

== Print dialog integration ==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object, or apply more than one clippath/mask to an object). Now this limitation is removed; just select any single object and group it to get a single-object group.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* After dragging a curve segment in Node tool, Inkscape no longer selects the two adjacent nodes if they were not selected before.

* The '''Tile Clones''' dialog now uses the object's defined '''rotation axis''' (which can be freely moved by Selector tool and which is saved separately for each object) for all rotations (including both symmetry rotations and the Rotation tab rotations), scales, and flips. This renders unnecessary the previous workarounds where you had to group an object with another transparent object to affect how it's rotated by the clone tiler.

* In '''Pencil''' and '''Calligraphic''' tools, pressing '''Esc''' or '''Ctrl+Z''' while drawing cancels the currently drawn path or stroke. When not drawing, these keys work as before (Esc deselects, Ctrl+Z undoes last action). (This is the same behavior as in the Pen tool where it was introduced in a previous version.)

* A set of new verbs has been added to allow the user to easily '''unlock all locked objects''' or '''unhide all hidden objects'''. There are two variants one that operates on the current layer and its children and one that operates globally. While searching for hidden or locked object descendants of locked layers are ignored.

* The list of folder shortcuts in the '''Open''' dialog includes the folder with Inkscape's SVG '''examples''' for easy access. Similarly, the '''Save''' dialog has a shortcut for the user's own '''templates''' dialog making it easy to save the current document as a template (if saved as <code>default.svg</code>, it will be loaded every time you run Inkscape or create new document with Ctrl+N; with any other name, it will be added to the File > New submenu).

* For time-intensive operations such as Paint Bucket and Simplify, the system's busy wait cursor is displayed to indicate to the user that Inkscape is actively working, and not frozen.

* [statusbar updates: save, ...]

* Several improvements in '''inkview''': busy cursor is shown while loading file, the button window stays on top and responds to keyboard shortcuts; several memleaks stopped and bugs fixed. The "slideshow mode" of the main inkscape application (-s or --slideshow command line option) is removed; use inkview instead.

* In Document Metadata dialog, updated Creative Commons Licenses to version 3.0.

=Notable bugfixes=

These are bugfixes compared to 0.45.1; for a list of fixes in 0.45.1 compared to 0.45, see [[ReleaseNotes045|0.45.1 release notes]]

* The '''sodipodi:docbase''' attribute is no longer added to the root <svg> element. This attribute used to keep the latest directory that the document was saved to, and thus represented a mild privacy violation (i.e., by sharing your Inkscape SVG files you allowed others to have a peek into your directory structure). Note, however, that Inkscape does not remove this attribute from old documents it opens; if you want you can remove it yourself. Inkscape just no longer creates this attribute in new documents.

* Inkscape now properly quotes <code>font-family</code> values and therefore can use fonts with various nonalphanumeric characters in their names, which previously failed.

* If you have saved documents with a previous version of Inkscape which used '''right-to-left text''' (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew) then the paragraph alignment of non-flowed text has been reversed in this release. This is due to a bug in previous versions - the new behaviour is compliant with the SVG specification and compatible with other editors and viewers. To correct your images, simply reverse the paragraph alignment by selecting the text and clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar.

* A regression in 0.45 caused crashes when undo or redo was attempted before the previous action could complete (e.g. pressing ctrl+z while you are still drawing a rectangle). This is now fixed.

* Previously, if there was a single invalid property in a <code>style</code> attribute, the entire attribute was discarded, i.e. the object lost all styling. Now Inkscape's behavior is more compliant to the CSS specification: it ignores only the invalid property but reads in all the rest.

* Several bugs are fixed in searching for linked images. Now moving SVG documents with their associated images to a different place or a different machine should work more reliably.

* Master opacity did not apply to stroke markers as it should; fixed.

* Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration URI points to right location now.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.46

2007-05-30T01:47:13Z

Johncoswell: /* Paint Bucket tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Speed and interactivity=

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws '''faster by about 25%'''. More impressive are memory savings: thanks to cairo, in outline mode Inkscape now takes only about '''50% of the memory''' used by 0.45 for the same file.

* '''Smart redraw directionality:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* '''Faster blur''' for exporting and high quality on-screen rendering: Inkscape now uses an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter for blurring with large radius. This greatly improves the speed of blur redraw at high zooms or in high-resolution export (or simply with very large blur radius). On the other hand, the results are an approximation to a true Gaussian blur, so a drawing may look slightly different from the mathematically precise blur (usually the differences are far from visible, though). This code is mainly based on: ''Recursive Gaussian Derivative Filters'' by L.J. van Vliet, I.T. Young and P.W. Verbeek (see the source code for more detailed references).

* '''Moving the cursor around''' in a file with large and complex paths has become much snappier and more responsive. Previously, in extreme cases Inkscape could freeze for seconds while catching up with the mouse cursor; such delays are now eliminated.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Tools=

==Paint Bucket tool==

The new Paint Bucket tool works exactly as you would expect: click in any area bounded on all sides and it will '''fill it with color'''. Being a vector tool, however, Inkscape's Paint Bucket just creates a new ''path'' that "fills in" the area in which you clicked.

It is important to note that the tool is '''perceptual''', not geometric. That is, when looking for the boundaries around the point you clicked, it takes for such boundaries any ''visible'' color changes. This means that filling will stop at gradients, blurs, and even the color boundaries in imported bitmaps, but will ignore any paths or other objects that are fully (or almost) transparent or for any other reason do not stand out from the background. In short, it will work exactly as if you were filling a rasterized version of your image in a bitmap editor like Photoshop or GIMP - but will give you a vector object to work with.

For example, now you can scan a pencil sketch, import the bitmap into Inkscape, and quickly fill all its cells with colors even without tracing the bitmap first. This is a very convenient and interactive way of digitizing your paper drawings, making the '''traditional bitmap tracing unnecessary''' in many cases.

Internally, the tool works by performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and placing the traced path into the document.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The '''resolution''' of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your '''current zoom level''' -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill. So, if you are got a fill that is too imprecise, has rough corners, or don't go into small nooks and appendices where it is supposed to go, just undo, zoom in closer and repeat filling from the same point. Conversely, if the fill leaks out through a small gap, zoom out to make the gap less visible and fill again.

Like all object-creating tools, the Paint Bucket may use the '''last-set style''' for the objects it creates (this is the default), or it can use its own '''fixed style'''. You can switch between these modes on this tool's page in Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P).

In the tool's '''Controls bar''':

* '''Tolerance''' (set in per cent units) controls how large must be color difference at a point (compared to the initial click point) to stop the fill. Zero tolerance means only the area of strictly the same color will be filled; the larger the tolerance, the easier it will be for the fill to leak into adjacent different-color areas. The default value is 10%.

* You can control the amount of '''inset/outset''' to be applied to the created fill path. Setting a positive outset causes fill paths to be larger than the filled bitmap area (good for eliminating anti-aliasing errors), while setting a negative outset causes the path to be smaller. This works the same as the Outset and Inset path commands.

* Paint Bucket's perceptual fill can use either all visible colors or specific color '''channels'''. You can restrict the fill algorithm to the following channels:
** Red
** Green
** Blue
** Hue
** Saturation
** Lightness
** Alpha

* An '''auto gap''' setting. When enabled, Paint Bucket will try to fill in any gaps that exist in the bitmap that would normally cause the fill to spill out of the desired area. ''This feature is still very experimental.'' There are four settings to auto gap:
** None
** Small (fill gaps up to 2 pixels in size)
** Medium (4 pixels)
** Large (6 pixels)

* A '''style swatch''' on the far right of the bar shows the style that will be used for the next fill object you create.

The tool's '''shortcuts''' are:

* '''Single click''' performs filling from the click point.

* '''Shift+click''' performs filling from the click point and then unions the resulting path with the selected path. This way, if your first attempt did not fill in all of the desired area, you can Shift+click the remaining corner to fill it in separately and combine the result with the result of the previous fill.

* '''Ctrl+click''' on an object simply changes that object's fill to the current fill color of the tool, and '''Shift+Ctrl+click''' changes the stroke to the current stroke color.

* '''Click and drag''' performs filling from '''all of the points''' that you pass while dragging (you will see your path visualized by a red line). From each point, the fill spreads to the neighbors with the colors similar to that point - in other words, it's like clicking with this tool at each point of the drag path and unioning the results. This lets you easily fill an area occupied by a gradient or blur - just drag from the darkest to the lightest points in the area you want to fill.

* '''Alt+click and drag''' works similarly to simple drag, except from each point of the drag path, the fill spreads to the neighbors (if any) with the colors similar to the ''initial point'' (the point where you started the drag). This lets you fill a series of similarly-colored yet separated areas (for example, multiple cells in a cartoon) by starting the drag in one of those areas, and alt+dragging the tool through all the other areas.

==Gradient Tool==
Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
*Stops can be added by '''double clicking''' or by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on the gradient line.
*Stops can be deleted by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on a stop or by the '''Del''' key for all the selected stop(s).
:*When you delete an end stop, the nearest intermediate stop becomes the new end stop of the gradient (without moving - i.e., the gradient span becomes shorter).
:*When you delete an end stop and there are no intermediate stops, the object will be painted with a solid fill taken from the color & opacity of the remaining stop.
*More than one stop can be selected at a time by '''Shift+click'''.
:*Can be moved together if next to each other.
:*Can be deleted at the same time.
:*When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
:*When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Calligraphy tool: Engraver's Toolbox ==

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make
Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line
engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive
process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way
of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a
century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic
halftone screens. However, line engravings have their
characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to
resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape.

A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on
these screenshots:

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png

===Tracking a guide path with Ctrl===

One of the most common operations in line engraving is
'''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several
hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel
straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to
represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar
effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather
cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the
other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do
uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by
'''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and
uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual
control over the process.

Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that
you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path
or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to
Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width,
angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press
Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your
mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected
guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar
message will tell you to select it.)

Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track
circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch
pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment,
the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides
along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the
center of the tracking circle, ''not'' by your mouse point. As
a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the
guide path and always at the same distance from it.

When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift
your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because
as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch
spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just
created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets
selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this
means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide
path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one,
then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill
any desired space with uniform hatching.

Alternatively, if you uncheck "Select new path" in the Calligraphy tool preferences, newly created strokes will not be selected, so your original guide path will be kept selected. In this mode, Inkscape will increase the tracking distance after each created stroke so that you can create uniformly spaced hatching by tracking a single guide path.

The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray
your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be
able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red)
and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you,
for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a
guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than
the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such
tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks,
but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not
try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still
bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter.

Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental
jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are
suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side
and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracking
stroke will also flip over to follow you.

Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually
changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing
behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or
farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the
distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will
get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect
is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also,
note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes
of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below)
will result in gradual bending of the hatching pattern as you
proceed.

===Tracing background by stroke width===

There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls
bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen
depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in
each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke
width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which is set by the
Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with
pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the "Use pressure" button
is also toggled.

This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported
bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically
reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with
your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed.

===Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt===

Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of
a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic
intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are
often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly
bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening
function is indispensable.

While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a
orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected;
this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you
can change it by changing the Width parameter on the
toolbar).

Now select some or all of the paths or groups containing paths (as with most
tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for
example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over
them. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if
melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely,
'''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places
where you touch them.

As with the Calligraphy pen itself, the '''size''' of the
thinning/thickening area by default depends on zoom; simply
zooming in or out is often easier than adjusting the width if
you want to cover a smaller or larger area.

The '''force''' of
the effect also depends on zoom (or in other words, it stays the
same when measured by screen pixels, same as when you move and
object by Alt+arrow keys). Between the center and the edge of the circle, the force decreases along a '''bell-like curve''', so that the action of the tool on paths is always smooth. Also, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, the force of thinning/thickening also
depends on '''pen pressure'''; tapping slightly produces gradual
lightening or darkening of your drawing, while pressing heavily
will work as a kind of quick "erasing" (with Alt) or
"blackening" (with Alt+Shift).

Of course, thinning/thickening is useful '''not only for calligraphic strokes'''. You can select any simple path (such as
an ellipse converted to path) and start '''sculpting''' it,
spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Alt+Shift and
melting them away with Alt. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in
the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes
to the shape or selecting any nodes. This new functionality is
somewhat similar to the "Pucker" and "Bloat" tools in the latest
versions of Adobe Illustrator, except that in Inkscape it works
softer and is easier to control.

'''Known problems with thinning/thickening:''' (1) it is rather
slow; (2) it quickly eats memory; and (3) it is sometimes buggy
- thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change
their shape drastically as you're Alt+stroking them. For (3), it
helps to undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on
the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches
instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the
desired result without the buggy behavior. In general, however,
all these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for
geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is
scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in
development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then.

===Misc features===

* For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before.

* To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.)

==Selector==

* A new selection mode is available: '''selecting by touch'''. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious.

:To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press '''Alt''' to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red ''touch path'' will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press '''Alt''' first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press '''Shift+Alt''' and then start to drag.

* Horizontal/vertical flipping: So far, flipping a selection made it flip within its bounding box, so that the latter remained fixed. In the move/scale mode of the selector tool, this behaviour remains unchanged. However, in rotate/shear mode flipping now happens about an (imaginary) vertical/horizontal axis through the rotation center. This is very handy, since the latter can be freely dragged around and snaps to all kinds of objects if desired.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* If any of the nodes in the currently selected path is mouseovered, then horizontal/vertical flipping ('H' and 'V' keys), stepwise rotation ('[' and ']' keys) and scaling ('<' and '>' keys) now all use this specific node as center/axis. If there is no mouseovered node, the center of the bounding box is used instead (as is currently the case unconditionally). Nodes that are covered by one of their handles are also detected as mouseovered.

==Text Tool:==
* [text toolbar - deadchip]

=Snapping and grids=

* '''Snapping behavior''' has been implemented or improved for drawing of new shapes, for dragging the nodes of existing shapes, for gradient handles, and for clones. Snapping of text baselines works again. Snapping distance is now set in screen pixels and is therefore independent of zoom. Furthermore, the bug where "node-to-node" snapping caused jerky movement of nodes is fixed; snapping while skewing has been implemented; any object snaps with its rotation axis (which can be arbitrarily moved and whose position is remembered for every object); the aspect ratio is correctly preserved while scaling with snapping turned on; all four boundingbox corners now snap instead of only the lower-left and upper-right; snapping while uniformly scaling has been improved.

* The origin for transformations is no longer user-specified, but chosen by Inkscape itself instead.

* A new preference has been added to specify the kind of boundingbox to be used (see tools->selector). This boundingbox can be either visual, which takes into account the strokewidth, or geometric.

Grids:

* a new tab in the document properties dialog, solely meant for grids; the former grid/guide tab is now solely for guides. I envision a list of guides there in the future, for easier deletion of guides etc.
* more than one grid can be active at the same time, although i am having trouble in finding a usefull case for this
* multiple views on the same document share the same grids, but the grid can be turned off for each view separately. For example: one could have an overview view without grid enabled. Duplicate that window and zoom in on some detail; then grids can be shown only for that view, and snapping will only happen in those views for which grids are enabled. (sorry i am not able to explain more clearly)
* grid information is now stored in SVG as a child of sodipodi:namedview. Can someone please make an extension that converts an old grid definition to the new format?
* axonometric grid (not yet snapping)
* dots instead of lines

From developer perspective:

* implementation of new grids is much easier now; subclassing CanvasGrid and adding an entry in the is enough. Have a peek at how the rectangular grid is implemented (CanvasXYGrid).
* note that there is no longer "the grid", there might be several grids active now!

[Future plans (i will not be working on this soon, due to GSoC Live effects!):
** possibility of enabling not all but a selection of grids for a view. Eg. when there are 4 grids defined in the document, only enable grid2 for a certain view.
** new grids!
** better snapping mechanism to enable snapping to intersections of guides&grids and grids&grids.

A side effect of removal of old gridcode: apparantly the origin of the desktop rules used to be set to the origin of the grid. I find this strange: specifying a grid origin of (2,2) would have me think the origin would be at ruler location (2,2) instead of (0,0) as it is in 0.45.1.
I have commented the grid-origin correction to the ruler range, because now there is not a single grid anymore to correct it for. Isn't there a control somewhere to define the documents origin? Now the ruler origin is set to (0,0) -- johan]

=Filters=

[More filters - kiirala, haa_rodrigues?]

=Effects=

* The new '''Render > Gear''' extension creates a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear mechanical gear] given the number of teeth, the circular pitch (in px units), and the pressure angle.

*[spirograph]

*[barcode]

*The '''Whirl''' extension uses the center of view as the center of whirl, so you don't have to enter the center coordinates numerically.

*The '''Render > Grid''' extension has got an extended range of grid spacings, from 0.1 to 1000 px.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

* The Export dialog automatically appends the '''.png''' extension to the export filename you specify.

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg lib - ted gould]

=Command line=

Several new command line options are added that make Inkscape even more scriptable and automatable than before.

* --verb-list will list all the Verb IDs and their names in Inkscape. This makes writing your own menus and hotkeys much easier as you can easily find out what the choices are.

* --verb followed by a verb ID allows you to specify a verb to be called on every document opened by Inkscape initially from the command line.

* --select followed by a node ID will allow you to add a node to the list of selected objects.

These options can be used, for example, for performance testing. You could do something like this:

$ time inkscape --verb=FileClose my_complex_file.svg

to measure the time it takes to load and display the file.

Of course, with the ability to select objects, it can be much more useful than
that. You can call effects, or any other verb, then FileSave and
FileClose to automate all kinds of things on your drawings.

=UI=

==Markers==

* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

== [toolbars - [[JonCruz]]] ==

[calligraphy: menus, tooltips; star; ...]

Switched to stock GTK+ toolbars.

Extra magic secret sauce added.

== [filedialogs - [[JonCruz]]] ==

== Print dialog integration ==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object, or apply more than one clippath/mask to an object). Now this limitation is removed; just select any single object and group it to get a single-object group.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* After dragging a curve segment in Node tool, Inkscape no longer selects the two adjacent nodes if they were not selected before.

* The '''Tile Clones''' dialog now uses the object's defined '''rotation axis''' (which can be freely moved by Selector tool and which is saved separately for each object) for all rotations (including both symmetry rotations and the Rotation tab rotations), scales, and flips. This renders unnecessary the previous workarounds where you had to group an object with another transparent object to affect how it's rotated by the clone tiler.

* In '''Pencil''' and '''Calligraphic''' tools, pressing '''Esc''' or '''Ctrl+Z''' while drawing cancels the currently drawn path or stroke. When not drawing, these keys work as before (Esc deselects, Ctrl+Z undoes last action). (This is the same behavior as in the Pen tool where it was introduced in a previous version.)

* A set of new verbs has been added to allow the user to easily '''unlock all locked objects''' or '''unhide all hidden objects'''. There are two variants one that operates on the current layer and its children and one that operates globally. While searching for hidden or locked object descendants of locked layers are ignored.

* The list of folder shortcuts in the '''Open''' dialog includes the folder with Inkscape's SVG '''examples''' for easy access. Similarly, the '''Save''' dialog has a shortcut for the user's own '''templates''' dialog making it easy to save the current document as a template (if saved as <code>default.svg</code>, it will be loaded every time you run Inkscape or create new document with Ctrl+N; with any other name, it will be added to the File > New submenu).

* For time-intensive operations such as Paint Bucket and Simplify, the system's busy wait cursor is displayed to indicate to the user that Inkscape is actively working, and not frozen.

* [statusbar updates: save, ...]

* Several improvements in '''inkview''': busy cursor is shown while loading file, the button window stays on top and responds to keyboard shortcuts; several memleaks stopped and bugs fixed. The "slideshow mode" of the main inkscape application (-s or --slideshow command line option) is removed; use inkview instead.

* In Document Metadata dialog, updated Creative Commons Licenses to version 3.0.

=Notable bugfixes=

These are bugfixes compared to 0.45.1; for a list of fixes in 0.45.1 compared to 0.45, see [[ReleaseNotes045|0.45.1 release notes]]

* The '''sodipodi:docbase''' attribute is no longer added to the root <svg> element. This attribute used to keep the latest directory that the document was saved to, and thus represented a mild privacy violation (i.e., by sharing your Inkscape SVG files you allowed others to have a peek into your directory structure). Note, however, that Inkscape does not remove this attribute from old documents it opens; if you want you can remove it yourself. Inkscape just no longer creates this attribute in new documents.

* Inkscape now properly quotes <code>font-family</code> values and therefore can use fonts with various nonalphanumeric characters in their names, which previously failed.

* If you have saved documents with a previous version of Inkscape which used '''right-to-left text''' (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew) then the paragraph alignment of non-flowed text has been reversed in this release. This is due to a bug in previous versions - the new behaviour is compliant with the SVG specification and compatible with other editors and viewers. To correct your images, simply reverse the paragraph alignment by selecting the text and clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar.

* A regression in 0.45 caused crashes when undo or redo was attempted before the previous action could complete (e.g. pressing ctrl+z while you are still drawing a rectangle). This is now fixed.

* Previously, if there was a single invalid property in a <code>style</code> attribute, the entire attribute was discarded, i.e. the object lost all styling. Now Inkscape's behavior is more compliant to the CSS specification: it ignores only the invalid property but reads in all the rest.

* Several bugs are fixed in searching for linked images. Now moving SVG documents with their associated images to a different place or a different machine should work more reliably.

* Master opacity did not apply to stroke markers as it should; fixed.

* Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration URI points to right location now.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.46

2007-05-28T18:07:03Z

Johncoswell: /* Paint Bucket tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Speed and interactivity=

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws '''faster by about 25%'''. More impressive are memory savings: thanks to cairo, in outline mode Inkscape now takes only about '''50% of the memory''' used by 0.45 for the same file.

* '''Smart redraw directionality:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* '''Faster blur''' for exporting and high quality on-screen rendering: Inkscape now uses an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter for blurring with large radius. This greatly improves the speed of blur redraw at high zooms or in high-resolution export (or simply with very large blur radius). On the other hand, the results are an approximation to a true Gaussian blur, so a drawing may look slightly different from the mathematically precise blur (usually the differences are far from visible, though). This code is mainly based on: ''Recursive Gaussian Derivative Filters'' by L.J. van Vliet, I.T. Young and P.W. Verbeek (see the source code for more detailed references).

* '''Moving the cursor around''' in a file with large and complex paths has become much snappier and more responsive. Previously, in extreme cases Inkscape could freeze for seconds while catching up with the mouse cursor; such delays are now eliminated.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Tools=

==Paint Bucket tool==

The new Paint Bucket tool works exactly as you would expect: click in any area bounded on all sides and it will '''fill it with color'''. Being a vector tool, however, Inkscape's Paint Bucket just creates a new ''path'' that "fills in" the area in which you clicked.

It is important to note that the tool is '''perceptual''', not geometric. That is, when looking for the boundaries around the point you clicked, it takes for such boundaries any ''visible'' color changes. This means that filling will stop at gradients, blurs, and even the color boundaries in imported bitmaps, but will ignore any paths or other objects that are fully (or almost) transparent or for any other reason do not stand out from the background. In short, it will work exactly as if you were filling a rasterized version of your image in a bitmap editor like Photoshop or GIMP - but will give you a vector object to work with.

For example, now you can scan a pencil sketch, import the bitmap into Inkscape, and quickly fill all its cells with colors even without tracing the bitmap first. This is a very convenient and interactive way of digitizing your paper drawings, making the '''traditional bitmap tracing unnecessary''' in many cases.

Internally, the tool works by performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and placing the traced path into the document.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The '''resolution''' of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your '''current zoom level''' -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill. So, if you are got a fill that is too imprecise, has rough corners, or don't go into small nooks and appendices where it is supposed to go, just undo, zoom in closer and repeat filling from the same point. Conversely, if the fill leaks out through a small gap, zoom out to make the gap less visible and fill again.

Like all object-creating tools, the Paint Bucket may use the '''last-set style''' for the objects it creates (this is the default), or it can use its own '''fixed style'''. You can switch between these modes on this tool's page in Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P).

In the tool's '''Controls bar''':

* '''Tolerance''' (set in per cent units) controls how large must be color difference at a point (compared to the initial click point) to stop the fill. Zero tolerance means only the area of strictly the same color will be filled; the larger the tolerance, the easier it will be for the fill to leak into adjacent different-color areas. The default value is 10%.

* You can control the amount of '''inset/outset''' to be applied to the created fill path. Setting a positive outset causes fill paths to be larger than the filled bitmap area (good for eliminating anti-aliasing errors), while setting a negative outset causes the path to be smaller. This works the same as the Outset and Inset path commands.

* Paint Bucket's perceptual fill can use either all visible colors or specific color '''channels'''. You can restrict the fill algorithm to the following channels:
** Red
** Green
** Blue
** Hue
** Saturation
** Lightness
** Alpha

* An '''auto gap''' setting. When enabled, Paint Bucket will try to fill in any gaps that exist in the bitmap that would normally cause the fill to spill out of the desired area. There are four settings to auto gap:
** None
** Small (fill gaps up to 2 pixels in size)
** Medium (4 pixels)
** Large (6 pixels)

* A '''style swatch''' on the far right of the bar shows the style that will be used for the next fill object you create.

The tool's '''shortcuts''' are:

* '''Single click''' performs filling from the click point.

* '''Shift+click''' performs filling from the click point and then unions the resulting path with the selected path. This way, if your first attempt did not fill in all of the desired area, you can Shift+click the remaining corner to fill it in separately and combine the result with the result of the previous fill.

* '''Ctrl+click''' on an object simply changes that object's fill to the current fill color of the tool, and '''Shift+Ctrl+click''' changes the stroke to the current stroke color.

* '''Click and drag''' performs filling from '''all of the points''' that you pass while dragging (you will see your path visualized by a red line). From each point, the fill spreads to the neighbors with the colors similar to that point - in other words, it's like clicking with this tool at each point of the drag path and unioning the results. This lets you easily fill an area occupied by a gradient or blur - just drag from the darkest to the lightest points in the area you want to fill.

* '''Alt+click and drag''' works similarly to simple drag, except from each point of the drag path, the fill spreads to the neighbors (if any) with the colors similar to the ''initial point'' (the point where you started the drag). This lets you fill a series of similarly-colored yet separated areas (for example, multiple cells in a cartoon) by starting the drag in one of those areas, and alt+dragging the tool through all the other areas.

==Gradient Tool==
Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
*Stops can be added by '''double clicking''' or by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on the gradient line.
*Stops can be deleted by '''Ctrl+Alt+Click''' on a stop or by the '''Del''' key for all the selected stop(s).
:*When you delete an end stop, the nearest intermediate stop becomes the new end stop of the gradient (without moving - i.e., the gradient span becomes shorter).
:*When you delete an end stop and there are no intermediate stops, the object will be painted with a solid fill taken from the color & opacity of the remaining stop.
*More than one stop can be selected at a time by '''Shift+click'''.
:*Can be moved together if next to each other.
:*Can be deleted at the same time.
:*When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
:*When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Calligraphy tool: Engraver's Toolbox ==

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make
Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line
engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive
process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way
of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a
century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic
halftone screens. However, line engravings have their
characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to
resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape.

A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on
these screenshots:

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png

===Tracking a guide path with Ctrl===

One of the most common operations in line engraving is
'''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several
hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel
straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to
represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar
effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather
cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the
other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do
uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by
'''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and
uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual
control over the process.

Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that
you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path
or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to
Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width,
angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press
Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your
mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected
guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar
message will tell you to select it.)

Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track
circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch
pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment,
the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides
along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the
center of the tracking circle, ''not'' by your mouse point. As
a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the
guide path and always at the same distance from it.

When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift
your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because
as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch
spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just
created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets
selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this
means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide
path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one,
then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill
any desired space with uniform hatching.

Alternatively, if you uncheck "Select new path" in the Calligraphy tool preferences, newly created strokes will not be selected, so your original guide path will be kept selected. In this mode, Inkscape will increase the tracking distance after each created stroke so that you can create uniformly spaced hatching by tracking a single guide path.

The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray
your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be
able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red)
and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you,
for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a
guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than
the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such
tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks,
but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not
try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still
bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter.

Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental
jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are
suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side
and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracking
stroke will also flip over to follow you.

Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually
changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing
behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or
farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the
distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will
get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect
is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also,
note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes
of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below)
will result in gradual bending of the hatching pattern as you
proceed.

===Tracing background by stroke width===

There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls
bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen
depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in
each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke
width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which is set by the
Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with
pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the "Use pressure" button
is also toggled.

This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported
bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically
reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with
your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed.

===Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt===

Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of
a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic
intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are
often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly
bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening
function is indispensable.

While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a
orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected;
this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you
can change it by changing the Width parameter on the
toolbar).

Now select some or all of the paths or groups containing paths (as with most
tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for
example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over
them. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if
melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely,
'''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places
where you touch them.

As with the Calligraphy pen itself, the '''size''' of the
thinning/thickening area by default depends on zoom; simply
zooming in or out is often easier than adjusting the width if
you want to cover a smaller or larger area.

The '''force''' of
the effect also depends on zoom (or in other words, it stays the
same when measured by screen pixels, same as when you move and
object by Alt+arrow keys). Between the center and the edge of the circle, the force decreases along a '''bell-like curve''', so that the action of the tool on paths is always smooth. Also, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, the force of thinning/thickening also
depends on '''pen pressure'''; tapping slightly produces gradual
lightening or darkening of your drawing, while pressing heavily
will work as a kind of quick "erasing" (with Alt) or
"blackening" (with Alt+Shift).

Of course, thinning/thickening is useful '''not only for calligraphic strokes'''. You can select any simple path (such as
an ellipse converted to path) and start '''sculpting''' it,
spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Alt+Shift and
melting them away with Alt. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in
the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes
to the shape or selecting any nodes. This new functionality is
somewhat similar to the "Pucker" and "Bloat" tools in the latest
versions of Adobe Illustrator, except that in Inkscape it works
softer and is easier to control.

'''Known problems with thinning/thickening:''' (1) it is rather
slow; (2) it quickly eats memory; and (3) it is sometimes buggy
- thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change
their shape drastically as you're Alt+stroking them. For (3), it
helps to undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on
the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches
instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the
desired result without the buggy behavior. In general, however,
all these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for
geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is
scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in
development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then.

===Misc features===

* For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before.

* To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.)

==Selector==

* A new selection mode is available: '''selecting by touch'''. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious.

:To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press '''Alt''' to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red ''touch path'' will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press '''Alt''' first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press '''Shift+Alt''' and then start to drag.

* Horizontal/vertical flipping: So far, flipping a selection made it flip within its bounding box, so that the latter remained fixed. In the move/scale mode of the selector tool, this behaviour remains unchanged. However, in rotate/shear mode flipping now happens about an (imaginary) vertical/horizontal axis through the rotation center. This is very handy, since the latter can be freely dragged around and snaps to all kinds of objects if desired.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

* If any of the nodes in the currently selected path is mouseovered, then horizontal/vertical flipping ('H' and 'V' keys), stepwise rotation ('[' and ']' keys) and scaling ('<' and '>' keys) now all use this specific node as center/axis. If there is no mouseovered node, the center of the bounding box is used instead (as is currently the case unconditionally). Nodes that are covered by one of their handles are also detected as mouseovered.

==Text Tool:==
* [text toolbar - deadchip]

=Snapping and grids=

* '''Snapping behavior''' has been implemented or improved for drawing of new shapes, for dragging the nodes of existing shapes, for gradient handles, and for clones. Snapping of text baselines works again. Snapping distance is now set in screen pixels and is therefore independent of zoom. Furthermore, the bug where "node-to-node" snapping caused jerky movement of nodes is fixed; snapping while skewing has been implemented; any object snaps with its rotation axis (which can be arbitrarily moved and whose position is remembered for every object); the aspect ratio is correctly preserved while scaling with snapping turned on; all four boundingbox corners now snap instead of only the lower-left and upper-right; snapping while uniformly scaling has been improved.

* The origin for transformations is no longer user-specified, but chosen by Inkscape itself instead.

* A new preference has been added to specify the kind of boundingbox to be used (see tools->selector). This boundingbox can be either visual, which takes into account the strokewidth, or geometric.

Grids:

* a new tab in the document properties dialog, solely meant for grids; the former grid/guide tab is now solely for guides. I envision a list of guides there in the future, for easier deletion of guides etc.
* more than one grid can be active at the same time, although i am having trouble in finding a usefull case for this
* multiple views on the same document share the same grids, but the grid can be turned off for each view separately. For example: one could have an overview view without grid enabled. Duplicate that window and zoom in on some detail; then grids can be shown only for that view, and snapping will only happen in those views for which grids are enabled. (sorry i am not able to explain more clearly)
* grid information is now stored in SVG as a child of sodipodi:namedview. Can someone please make an extension that converts an old grid definition to the new format?
* axonometric grid (not yet snapping)
* dots instead of lines

From developer perspective:

* implementation of new grids is much easier now; subclassing CanvasGrid and adding an entry in the is enough. Have a peek at how the rectangular grid is implemented (CanvasXYGrid).
* note that there is no longer "the grid", there might be several grids active now!

[Future plans (i will not be working on this soon, due to GSoC Live effects!):
** possibility of enabling not all but a selection of grids for a view. Eg. when there are 4 grids defined in the document, only enable grid2 for a certain view.
** new grids!
** better snapping mechanism to enable snapping to intersections of guides&grids and grids&grids.

A side effect of removal of old gridcode: apparantly the origin of the desktop rules used to be set to the origin of the grid. I find this strange: specifying a grid origin of (2,2) would have me think the origin would be at ruler location (2,2) instead of (0,0) as it is in 0.45.1.
I have commented the grid-origin correction to the ruler range, because now there is not a single grid anymore to correct it for. Isn't there a control somewhere to define the documents origin? Now the ruler origin is set to (0,0) -- johan]

=Filters=

[More filters - kiirala, haa_rodrigues?]

=Effects=

* The new '''Render > Gear''' extension creates a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear mechanical gear] given the number of teeth, the circular pitch (in px units), and the pressure angle.

*[spirograph]

*[barcode]

*The '''Whirl''' extension uses the center of view as the center of whirl, so you don't have to enter the center coordinates numerically.

*The '''Render > Grid''' extension has got an extended range of grid spacings, from 0.1 to 1000 px.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

* The Export dialog automatically appends the '''.png''' extension to the export filename you specify.

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg lib - ted gould]

=Command line=

Several new command line options are added that make Inkscape even more scriptable and automatable than before.

* --verb-list will list all the Verb IDs and their names in Inkscape. This makes writing your own menus and hotkeys much easier as you can easily find out what the choices are.

* --verb followed by a verb ID allows you to specify a verb to be called on every document opened by Inkscape initially from the command line.

* --select followed by a node ID will allow you to add a node to the list of selected objects.

These options can be used, for example, for performance testing. You could do something like this:

$ time inkscape --verb=FileClose my_complex_file.svg

to measure the time it takes to load and display the file.

Of course, with the ability to select objects, it can be much more useful than
that. You can call effects, or any other verb, then FileSave and
FileClose to automate all kinds of things on your drawings.

=UI=

==Markers==

* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

== [toolbars - [[JonCruz]]] ==

[calligraphy: menus, tooltips; star; ...]

Switched to stock GTK+ toolbars.

Extra magic secret sauce added.

== [filedialogs - [[JonCruz]]] ==

== Print dialog integration ==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object, or apply more than one clippath/mask to an object). Now this limitation is removed; just select any single object and group it to get a single-object group.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* After dragging a curve segment in Node tool, Inkscape no longer selects the two adjacent nodes if they were not selected before.

* The '''Tile Clones''' dialog now uses the object's defined '''rotation axis''' (which can be freely moved by Selector tool and which is saved separately for each object) for all rotations (including both symmetry rotations and the Rotation tab rotations), scales, and flips. This renders unnecessary the previous workarounds where you had to group an object with another transparent object to affect how it's rotated by the clone tiler.

* In '''Pencil''' and '''Calligraphic''' tools, pressing '''Esc''' or '''Ctrl+Z''' while drawing cancels the currently drawn path or stroke. When not drawing, these keys work as before (Esc deselects, Ctrl+Z undoes last action). (This is the same behavior as in the Pen tool where it was introduced in a previous version.)

* A set of new verbs has been added to allow the user to easily '''unlock all locked objects''' or '''unhide all hidden objects'''. There are two variants one that operates on the current layer and its children and one that operates globally. While searching for hidden or locked object descendants of locked layers are ignored.

* The list of folder shortcuts in the '''Open''' dialog includes the folder with Inkscape's SVG '''examples''' for easy access. Similarly, the '''Save''' dialog has a shortcut for the user's own '''templates''' dialog making it easy to save the current document as a template (if saved as <code>default.svg</code>, it will be loaded every time you run Inkscape or create new document with Ctrl+N; with any other name, it will be added to the File > New submenu).

* For time-intensive operations such as Paint Bucket and Simplify, the system's busy wait cursor is displayed to indicate to the user that Inkscape is actively working, and not frozen.

* [statusbar updates: save, ...]

* Several improvements in '''inkview''': busy cursor is shown while loading file, the button window stays on top and responds to keyboard shortcuts; several memleaks stopped and bugs fixed. The "slideshow mode" of the main inkscape application (-s or --slideshow command line option) is removed; use inkview instead.

* In Document Metadata dialog, updated Creative Commons Licenses to version 3.0.

=Notable bugfixes=

These are bugfixes compared to 0.45.1; for a list of fixes in 0.45.1 compared to 0.45, see [[ReleaseNotes045|0.45.1 release notes]]

* The '''sodipodi:docbase''' attribute is no longer added to the root <svg> element. This attribute used to keep the latest directory that the document was saved to, and thus represented a mild privacy violation (i.e., by sharing your Inkscape SVG files you allowed others to have a peek into your directory structure). Note, however, that Inkscape does not remove this attribute from old documents it opens; if you want you can remove it yourself. Inkscape just no longer creates this attribute in new documents.

* Inkscape now properly quotes <code>font-family</code> values and therefore can use fonts with various nonalphanumeric characters in their names, which previously failed.

* If you have saved documents with a previous version of Inkscape which used '''right-to-left text''' (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew) then the paragraph alignment of non-flowed text has been reversed in this release. This is due to a bug in previous versions - the new behaviour is compliant with the SVG specification and compatible with other editors and viewers. To correct your images, simply reverse the paragraph alignment by selecting the text and clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar.

* A regression in 0.45 caused crashes when undo or redo was attempted before the previous action could complete (e.g. pressing ctrl+z while you are still drawing a rectangle). This is now fixed.

* Previously, if there was a single invalid property in a <code>style</code> attribute, the entire attribute was discarded, i.e. the object lost all styling. Now Inkscape's behavior is more compliant to the CSS specification: it ignores only the invalid property but reads in all the rest.

* Several bugs are fixed in searching for linked images. Now moving SVG documents with their associated images to a different place or a different machine should work more reliably.

* Master opacity did not apply to stroke markers as it should; fixed.

* Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration URI points to right location now.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.46

2007-04-15T12:39:39Z

Johncoswell: /* Even more improvements */

=Inkscape 0.46=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Tools=

==Paint Bucket tool==

The new Paint Bucket tool works exactly as you would expect: click in any area bounded on all sides and it will '''fill it with color'''. Being a vector tool, however, Inkscape's Paint Bucket just creates a new ''path'' that "fills in" the area in which you clicked.

It is important to note that the tool is '''perceptual''', not geometric. That is, when looking for the boundaries around the point you clicked, it takes for such boundaries any ''visible'' color changes. This means that filling will stop at gradients, blurs, and even the color boundaries in imported bitmaps, but will ignore any paths or other objects that are fully (or almost) transparent or for any other reason do not stand out from the background. In short, it will work exactly as if you were filling a rasterized version of your image in a bitmap editor like Photoshop or GIMP - but will give you a vector object to work with.

For example, now you can scan a pencil sketch, import the bitmap into Inkscape, and quickly fill all its cells with colors even without tracing the bitmap first. This is a very convenient and interactive way of digitizing your paper drawings, making the '''traditional bitmap tracing unnecessary''' in many cases.

Internally, the tool works by performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and placing the traced path into the document.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The '''resolution''' of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your '''current zoom level''' -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill. So, if you are got a fill that is too imprecise, has rough corners, or don't go into small nooks and appendices where it is supposed to go, just undo, zoom in closer and repeat filling from the same point. Conversely, if the fill leaks out through a small gap, zoom out to make the gap less visible and fill again.

Like all object-creating tools, the Paint Bucket may use the '''last-set style''' for the objects it creates (this is the default), or it can use its own '''fixed style'''. You can switch between these modes on this tool's page in Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P).

In the tool's '''Controls bar''':

* '''Tolerance''' (set in per cent units) controls how large must be color difference at a point (compared to the initial click point) to stop the fill. Zero tolerance means only the area of strictly the same color will be filled; the larger the tolerance, the easier it will be for the fill to leak into adjacent different-color areas. The default value is 10%.

* You can control the amount of '''inset/outset''' to be applied to the created fill path. Setting a positive outset causes fill paths to be larger than the filled bitmap area (good for eliminating anti-aliasing errors), while setting a negative outset causes the path to be smaller. This works the same as the Outset and Inset path commands.

* Paint Bucket's perceptual fill can use either all visible colors or specific color '''channels'''. You can restrict the fill algorithm to the following channels:
** Red
** Green
** Blue
** Hue
** Saturation
** Lightness
** Alpha

* A '''style swatch''' on the far right of the bar shows the style that will be used for the next fill object you create.

The tool's '''shortcuts''' are:

* '''Single click''' performs filling from the click point.

* '''Shift+click''' performs filling from the click point and then unions the resulting path with the selected path. This way, if your first attempt did not fill in all of the desired area, you can Shift+click the remaining corner to fill it in separately and combine the result with the result of the previous fill.

* '''Ctrl+click''' on an object simply changes that object's fill to the current fill color of the tool, and '''Shift+Ctrl+click''' changes the stroke to the current stroke color.

* '''Alt+click and drag''' performs filling from all of the points that you drag on the screen. The color from the initial click point is the color used to perform the fill. This lets you fill a series of similarly-colored yet separated areas by starting the drag in one of those areas, and dragging the tool through the other areas.

==Gradient Tool==
[- johan]
*Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
**Stops can be added by double clicking on the gradient line or by Ctrl+Alt+Click on the line.
**Stops can be deleted by Ctrl+Alt+Click on a Stop or the delete key for the selected stop(s).
**More than one stop can be selected at a time.
***Can be moved together if next to each other.
***Can be deleted at the same time.
***When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
****When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Calligraphy tool: Engraver's Toolbox ==

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make
Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line
engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive
process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way
of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a
century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic
halftone screens. However, line engravings have their
characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to
resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape.

A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on
these screenshots:

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png

===Tracking a guide path with Ctrl===

One of the most common operations in line engraving is
'''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several
hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel
straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to
represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar
effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather
cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the
other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do
uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by
'''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and
uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual
control over the process.

Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that
you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path
or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to
Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width,
angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press
Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your
mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected
guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar
message will tell you to select it.)

Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track
circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch
pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment,
the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides
along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the
center of the tracking circle, ''not'' by your mouse point. As
a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the
guide path and always at the same distance from it.

When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift
your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because
as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch
spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just
created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets
selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this
means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide
path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one,
then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill
any desired space with uniform hatching.

Alternatively, if you uncheck "Select new path" in the Calligraphy tool preferences, newly created strokes will not be selected, so your original guide path will be kept selected. In this mode, Inkscape will increase the tracking distance after each created stroke so that you can create uniformly spaced hatching by tracking a single guide path.

The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray
your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be
able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red)
and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you,
for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a
guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than
the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such
tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks,
but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not
try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still
bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter.

Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental
jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are
suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side
and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracking
stroke will also flip over to follow you.

Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually
changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing
behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or
farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the
distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will
get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect
is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also,
note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes
of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below)
will result in gradual bending of the hatching pattern as you
proceed.

===Tracing background by stroke width===

There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls
bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen
depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in
each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke
width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which is set by the
Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with
pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the "Use pressure" button
is also toggled.

This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported
bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically
reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with
your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed.

===Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt===

Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of
a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic
intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are
often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly
bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening
function is indispensable.

While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a
orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected;
this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you
can change it by changing the Width parameter on the
toolbar). Now select some or all of the paths or groups containing paths (as with most
tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for
example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over
them. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if
melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely,
'''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places
where you touch them.

As with the Calligraphy pen itself, the '''size''' of the
thinning/thickening area by default depends on zoom; simply
zooming in or out is often easier than adjusting the width if
you want to cover a smaller or larger area. The '''force''' of
the effect also depends on zoom (or in other words, it stays the
same when measured by screen pixels, same as when you move and
object by Alt+arrow keys).

Also, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, the force of thinning/thickening also
depends on '''pen pressure'''; tapping slightly produces gradual
lightening or darkening of your drawing, while pressing heavily
will work as a kind of quick "erasing" (with Alt) or
"blackening" (with Alt+Shift).

Of course, thinning/thickening is useful '''not only for calligraphic strokes'''. You can select any simple path (such as
an ellipse converted to path) and start '''sculpting''' it,
spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Alt+Shift and
melting them away with Alt. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in
the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes
to the shape or selecting any nodes. This new functionality is
somewhat similar to the "Pucker" and "Bloat" tools in the latest
versions of Adobe Illustrator, except that in Inkscape it works
softer and is easier to control.

'''Known problems with thinning/thickening:''' (1) it is rather
slow; (2) it quickly eats memory; and (3) it is sometimes buggy
- thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change
their shape drastically as you're Alt+stroking them. For (3), it
helps to undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on
the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches
instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the
desired result without the buggy behavior. In general, however,
all these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for
geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is
scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in
development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then.

===Misc features===

* For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before.

* To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.)

==Selector==

* A new selection mode is available: '''selecting by touch'''. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious.

:To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press '''Alt''' to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red ''touch path'' will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press '''Alt''' first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press '''Shift+Alt''' and then start to drag.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

==Text Tool:==
* [text toolbar - deadchip]

=Speed and interactivity=

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws '''faster by about 25%'''. More impressive are memory savings: thanks to cairo, in outline mode Inkscape now takes only about '''50% of the memory''' used by 0.45 for the same file.

* '''Smart redraw directionality:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* '''Faster blur''' for exporting and high quality on-screen rendering: Inkscape now uses an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter for blurring with large radius. This greatly improves the speed of blur redraw at high zooms or in high-resolution export (or simply with very large blur radius). On the other hand, the results are an approximation to a true Gaussian blur, so a drawing may look slightly different from the mathematically precise blur (usually the differences are far from visible, though). This code is mainly based on: ''Recursive Gaussian Derivative Filters'' by L.J. van Vliet, I.T. Young and P.W. Verbeek (see the source code for more detailed references).

* '''Moving the cursor around''' in a file with large and complex paths has become much snappier and more responsive. Previously, in extreme cases Inkscape could freeze for seconds while catching up with the mouse cursor; such delays are now eliminated.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Filters=

[More filters - kiirala, haa_rodrigues?]

=Effects=

*[spirograph]

*[barcode]

*The '''Whirl''' extension uses the center of view as the center of whirl, so you don't have to enter the center coordinates numerically.

*The '''Render > Grid''' extension has got an extended range of grid spacings, from 0.1 to 1000 px.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

* The Export dialog automatically appends the '''.png''' extension to the export filename you specify.

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg lib - ted gould]

=Command line=

Several new command line options are added that make Inkscape even more scriptable and automatable than before.

* --verb-list will list all the Verb IDs and their names in Inkscape. This makes writing your own menus and hotkeys much easier as you can easily find out what the choices are.

* --verb followed by a verb ID allows you to specify a verb to be called on every document opened by Inkscape initially from the command line.

* --select followed by a node ID will allow you to add a node to the list of selected objects.

These options can be used, for example, for performance testing. You could do something like this:

$ time inkscape --verb=FileClose my_complex_file.svg

to measure the time it takes to load and display the file.

Of course, with the ability to select objects, it can be much more useful than
that. You can call effects, or any other verb, then FileSave and
FileClose to automate all kinds of things on your drawings.

=UI=

==Markers==

* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

== [toolbars - [[JonCruz]]] ==

[calligraphy: menus, tooltips; star; ...]

Switched to stock GTK+ toolbars.

Extra magic secret sauce added.

== [filedialogs - [[JonCruz]]] ==

== Print dialog integration ==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

== [multiple grids - johan] ==

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object, or apply more than one clippath/mask to an object). Now this limitation is removed; just select any single object and group it to get a single-object group.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* After dragging a curve segment in Node tool, Inkscape no longer selects the two adjacent nodes if they were not selected before.

* '''Snapping behavior''' has been implemented or improved for drawing of new shapes, for dragging the nodes of existing shapes, and for gradient handles. Snapping of text baselines works again. Snapping distance is now set in screen pixels and is therefore independent of zoom. Furthermore, the bug where "node-to-node" snapping caused jerky movement of nodes is fixed; snapping while skewing has been implemented; any object snaps with its rotation axis (which can be arbitrarily moved and whose position is remembered for every object); the aspect ratio is correctly preserved while scaling with snapping turned on; all four boundingbox corners now snap instead of only the lower-left and upper-right; snapping while uniformly scaling has been improved.

* [removed default transform origin; toadd: bbox type]

* The '''Tile Clones''' dialog now uses the object's defined '''rotation axis''' (which can be freely moved by Selector tool and which is saved separately for each object) for all rotations (including both symmetry rotations and the Rotation tab rotations), scales, and flips. This renders unnecessary the previous workarounds where you had to group an object with another transparent object to affect how it's rotated by the clone tiler.

* In '''Pencil''' and '''Calligraphic''' tools, pressing '''Esc''' or '''Ctrl+Z''' while drawing cancels the currently drawn path or stroke. When not drawing, these keys work as before (Esc deselects, Ctrl+Z undoes last action). (This is the same behavior as in the Pen tool where it was introduced in a previous version.)

* A set of new verbs has been added to allow the user to easily '''unlock all locked objects''' or '''unhide all hidden objects'''. There are two variants one that operates on the current layer and its children and one that operates globally. While searching for hidden or locked object descendants of locked layers are ignored.

* The list of folder shortcuts in the '''Open''' dialog includes the folder with Inkscape's SVG '''examples''' for easy access. Similarly, the '''Save''' dialog has a shortcut for the user's own '''templates''' dialog making it easy to save the current document as a template (if saved as <code>default.svg</code>, it will be loaded every time you run Inkscape or create new document with Ctrl+N; with any other name, it will be added to the File > New submenu).

* For time-intensive operations such as Paint Bucket and Simplify, the system's busy wait cursor is displayed to indicate to the user that Inkscape is actively working, and not frozen.

* [statusbar updates: save, ...]

* Several improvements in '''inkview''': busy cursor is shown while loading file, the button window stays on top and responds to keyboard shortcuts; several memleaks stopped and bugs fixed. The "slideshow mode" of the main inkscape application (-s or --slideshow command line option) is removed; use inkview instead.

* In Document Metadata dialog, updated Creative Commons Licenses to version 3.0.

=Notable bugfixes=

These are bugfixes compared to 0.45.1; for a list of fixes in 0.45.1 compared to 0.45, see [[ReleaseNotes045|0.45.1 release notes]]

* The '''sodipodi:docbase''' attribute is no longer added to the root <svg> element. This attribute used to keep the latest directory that the document was saved to, and thus represented a mild privacy violation (i.e., by sharing your Inkscape SVG files you allowed others to have a peek into your directory structure). Note, however, that Inkscape does not remove this attribute from old documents it opens; if you want you can remove it yourself. Inkscape just no longer creates this attribute in new documents.

* Inkscape now properly quotes <code>font-family</code> values and therefore can use fonts with various nonalphanumeric characters in their names, which previously failed.

* If you have saved documents with a previous version of Inkscape which used '''right-to-left text''' (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew) then the paragraph alignment of non-flowed text has been reversed in this release. This is due to a bug in previous versions - the new behaviour is compliant with the SVG specification and compatible with other editors and viewers. To correct your images, simply reverse the paragraph alignment by selecting the text and clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar.

* A regression in 0.45 caused crashes when undo or redo was attempted before the previous action could complete (e.g. pressing ctrl+z while you are still drawing a rectangle). This is now fixed.

* Previously, if there was a single invalid property in a <code>style</code> attribute, the entire attribute was discarded, i.e. the object lost all styling. Now Inkscape's behavior is more compliant to the CSS specification: it ignores only the invalid property but reads in all the rest.

* Several bugs are fixed in searching for linked images. Now moving SVG documents with their associated images to a different place or a different machine should work more reliably.

* Master opacity did not apply to stroke markers as it should; fixed.

* Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration URI points to right location now.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.46

2007-04-15T12:37:03Z

Johncoswell: /* Paint Bucket tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=
'''(not released yet)'''

=Tools=

==Paint Bucket tool==

The new Paint Bucket tool works exactly as you would expect: click in any area bounded on all sides and it will '''fill it with color'''. Being a vector tool, however, Inkscape's Paint Bucket just creates a new ''path'' that "fills in" the area in which you clicked.

It is important to note that the tool is '''perceptual''', not geometric. That is, when looking for the boundaries around the point you clicked, it takes for such boundaries any ''visible'' color changes. This means that filling will stop at gradients, blurs, and even the color boundaries in imported bitmaps, but will ignore any paths or other objects that are fully (or almost) transparent or for any other reason do not stand out from the background. In short, it will work exactly as if you were filling a rasterized version of your image in a bitmap editor like Photoshop or GIMP - but will give you a vector object to work with.

For example, now you can scan a pencil sketch, import the bitmap into Inkscape, and quickly fill all its cells with colors even without tracing the bitmap first. This is a very convenient and interactive way of digitizing your paper drawings, making the '''traditional bitmap tracing unnecessary''' in many cases.

Internally, the tool works by performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and placing the traced path into the document.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The '''resolution''' of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your '''current zoom level''' -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill. So, if you are got a fill that is too imprecise, has rough corners, or don't go into small nooks and appendices where it is supposed to go, just undo, zoom in closer and repeat filling from the same point. Conversely, if the fill leaks out through a small gap, zoom out to make the gap less visible and fill again.

Like all object-creating tools, the Paint Bucket may use the '''last-set style''' for the objects it creates (this is the default), or it can use its own '''fixed style'''. You can switch between these modes on this tool's page in Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P).

In the tool's '''Controls bar''':

* '''Tolerance''' (set in per cent units) controls how large must be color difference at a point (compared to the initial click point) to stop the fill. Zero tolerance means only the area of strictly the same color will be filled; the larger the tolerance, the easier it will be for the fill to leak into adjacent different-color areas. The default value is 10%.

* You can control the amount of '''inset/outset''' to be applied to the created fill path. Setting a positive outset causes fill paths to be larger than the filled bitmap area (good for eliminating anti-aliasing errors), while setting a negative outset causes the path to be smaller. This works the same as the Outset and Inset path commands.

* Paint Bucket's perceptual fill can use either all visible colors or specific color '''channels'''. You can restrict the fill algorithm to the following channels:
** Red
** Green
** Blue
** Hue
** Saturation
** Lightness
** Alpha

* A '''style swatch''' on the far right of the bar shows the style that will be used for the next fill object you create.

The tool's '''shortcuts''' are:

* '''Single click''' performs filling from the click point.

* '''Shift+click''' performs filling from the click point and then unions the resulting path with the selected path. This way, if your first attempt did not fill in all of the desired area, you can Shift+click the remaining corner to fill it in separately and combine the result with the result of the previous fill.

* '''Ctrl+click''' on an object simply changes that object's fill to the current fill color of the tool, and '''Shift+Ctrl+click''' changes the stroke to the current stroke color.

* '''Alt+click and drag''' performs filling from all of the points that you drag on the screen. The color from the initial click point is the color used to perform the fill. This lets you fill a series of similarly-colored yet separated areas by starting the drag in one of those areas, and dragging the tool through the other areas.

==Gradient Tool==
[- johan]
*Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
**Stops can be added by double clicking on the gradient line or by Ctrl+Alt+Click on the line.
**Stops can be deleted by Ctrl+Alt+Click on a Stop or the delete key for the selected stop(s).
**More than one stop can be selected at a time.
***Can be moved together if next to each other.
***Can be deleted at the same time.
***When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
****When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Calligraphy tool: Engraver's Toolbox ==

Several new features were added to the Calligraphic pen to make
Inkscape capable of the ancient art of '''line
engraving'''. Traditional engraving is a very labour-intensive
process, and while for a long time it was the only practical way
of reproducing lifelike images in black-and-white print, about a
century ago it was almost completely displaced by automatic
halftone screens. However, line engravings have their
characteristic charm, and there's no reason not to try to
resurrect this art form with the help of Inkscape.

A brief visual guide to the new functionality can be seen on
these screenshots:

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving1.png

http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.46-engraving2.png

===Tracking a guide path with Ctrl===

One of the most common operations in line engraving is
'''hatching''' (or sometimes ''cross-hatching'' when several
hatching grids cross): filling a space with many parallel
straight or variously curved lines (usually of varying width to
represent a gradual shading). You could try to achieve a similar
effect with e.g. path interpolation (blending), but it is rather
cumbersome and limited; manual drawing of hatch lines, on the
other hand, is tedious and nearly impossible to do
uniformly. Now Inkscape provides "assisted hatching" by
'''tracking a guide path''', allowing you to hatch quickly and
uniformly and at the same time giving you sufficient manual
control over the process.

Here's how to do this. First, select the '''guide path''' that
you will track. It may be another calligraphic stroke, any path
or shape, or even a letter of a text object. Then switch to
Calligraphic pen, select the desired parameters (line width,
angle, fixation etc.) and, before starting to draw, press
Ctrl. You will see a gray '''track circle''' centered at your
mouse pointer and touching the closest point on the selected
guide path. (If you have no guide path selected, a statusbar
message will tell you to select it.)

Now move your mouse close to the guide path, so that the track
circle radius is equal to the desired spacing of your hatch
pattern, and start drawing along the guide path. At that moment,
the radius of the circle gets locked; now the circle slides
along the guide path - and the actual stroke is drawn by the
center of the tracking circle, ''not'' by your mouse point. As
a result, you are getting a smooth stroke going parallel to the
guide path and always at the same distance from it.

When the stroke is ready, release your mouse button (or lift
your tablet pen) but '''do not let go of the Ctrl key''' because
as long as you have it pressed, the tool remembers the hatch
spacing you set when you started drawing. Now, you have just
created a new stroke and, as usual with Inkscape tools, it gets
selected instead of what was selected before. In our case, this
means that the newly drawn stroke itself becomes the new guide
path. Next, you can draw a second stroke along the first one,
then a third one along the second, etc. Eventually you can fill
any desired space with uniform hatching.

Alternatively, if you uncheck "Select new path" in the Calligraphy tool preferences, newly created strokes will not be selected, so your original guide path will be kept selected. In this mode, Inkscape will increase the tracking distance after each created stroke so that you can create uniformly spaced hatching by tracking a single guide path.

The attachment to the guide path is not absolute. If you stray
your mouse pointer far enough from the guide path, you will be
able to tear it off (the track circle turns from green to red)
and move freely. This is intentional; this feature allows you,
for example, to continue drawing a stroke past the end of a
guide stroke, thus making your hatching cover a wider area than
the initial guide path. Special care is taken to make such
tearing off as smooth as possible and to suppress violent jerks,
but this is not always possible; the general advice is to not
try to hatch too fast. If jerking and unintended tearoffs still
bother you, try increasing the Mass parameter.

Also, special code is in place to prevent flipovers - accidental
jumps to the other side of the guide path. Brief flipovers are
suppressed, but if you intentionally go over to the other side
and stay there, eventually Inkscape will obey and your tracking
stroke will also flip over to follow you.

Tracking a guide also allows some slight feedback by gradually
changing the tracking distance in response to your drawing
behavior. Thus, if you're consistently trying to draw closer or
farther from the guide than the current tracking distance, the
distance will correspondingly decrease or increase, so you will
get a hatching that is slightly spacing in or out. (The effect
is very slight, however, so as not to become a nuisance.) Also,
note that since tracking follows the edge of the stroke, strokes
of varying width (such as those tracing background, see below)
will result in gradual bending of the hatching pattern as you
proceed.

===Tracing background by stroke width===

There is a new toggle button on the Calligraphy tool's controls
bar, '''Trace background'''. When on, the width of your pen
depends on the lightness of the background under the stroke in
each point, so that white translates into the minimum stoke
width (1) and black translates to the maximum (which is set by the
Width parameter). This can work alone or in combination with
pressure sensitivity, depending on whether the "Use pressure" button
is also toggled.

This feature allows you to not only hatch over an imported
bitmap image or any drawing, but to do so automatically
reproducing the highlights and shades of the background with
your strokes becoming lighter and heavier as needed.

===Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt===

Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of
a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic
intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are
often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly
bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening
function is indispensable.

While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a
orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected;
this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you
can change it by changing the Width parameter on the
toolbar). Now select some or all of the paths or groups containing paths (as with most
tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for
example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over
them. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if
melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely,
'''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places
where you touch them.

As with the Calligraphy pen itself, the '''size''' of the
thinning/thickening area by default depends on zoom; simply
zooming in or out is often easier than adjusting the width if
you want to cover a smaller or larger area. The '''force''' of
the effect also depends on zoom (or in other words, it stays the
same when measured by screen pixels, same as when you move and
object by Alt+arrow keys).

Also, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, the force of thinning/thickening also
depends on '''pen pressure'''; tapping slightly produces gradual
lightening or darkening of your drawing, while pressing heavily
will work as a kind of quick "erasing" (with Alt) or
"blackening" (with Alt+Shift).

Of course, thinning/thickening is useful '''not only for calligraphic strokes'''. You can select any simple path (such as
an ellipse converted to path) and start '''sculpting''' it,
spawning smooth treacle-like appendages with Alt+Shift and
melting them away with Alt. Unlike the "node sculpting" mode in
the Node tool, however, this does not require adding new nodes
to the shape or selecting any nodes. This new functionality is
somewhat similar to the "Pucker" and "Bloat" tools in the latest
versions of Adobe Illustrator, except that in Inkscape it works
softer and is easier to control.

'''Known problems with thinning/thickening:''' (1) it is rather
slow; (2) it quickly eats memory; and (3) it is sometimes buggy
- thin calligraphic strokes may suddenly disappear or change
their shape drastically as you're Alt+stroking them. For (3), it
helps to undo the bad change and try again with less pressure on
the pen - if you do your thinning in several light touches
instead of one heavy press, usually you will be able to get the
desired result without the buggy behavior. In general, however,
all these problems stem from the livarot library that we use for
geometric manipulation of paths. Fortunately, livarot is
scheduled for replacement by lib2geom, a new library now in
development, so hopefully these issues will be addressed then.

===Misc features===

* For consistency with other drawing tools, drawing with '''Shift''' in Calligraphy tool automatically '''unions''' the newly created stroke with whatever paths were selected (and selects the result). Thus, you can do a series of overlapping Shift+strokes to create one unioned path object instead of separate objects as before.

* To facilitate changing the Width parameter, the Home/End keys in Calligraphy tool switch you to the minimum (1) and maximum (100) width, correspondingly. (This is in addition to the Left/Right arrow keys that change Width by 1; remember also that you can press Alt+X, type any width, and press Enter.)

==Selector==

* A new selection mode is available: '''selecting by touch'''. In this mode, you draw a freehand path across the objects; when you release mouse button, all objects that are touched by this path get selected. This mode is very convenient in situations where you need to select objects so intermingled that selecting them by the rectangular rubberband is too difficult and so numerous that click-selecting them one by one is too tedious.

:To activate selecting by touch, whenever you are drawing a rubberband rectangle, just press '''Alt''' to switch it to the touch mode. The rectangle will disappear and a red ''touch path'' will be shown instead. When dragging from an empty space, you can press '''Alt''' first and then start to drag to get the touch mode (note that your selection must be empty, otherwise Alt+dragging will move the selected objects instead). To start a touch selection from a point over an object, or to add to existing selection by touching, press '''Shift+Alt''' and then start to drag.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

==Text Tool:==
* [text toolbar - deadchip]

=Speed and interactivity=

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws '''faster by about 25%'''. More impressive are memory savings: thanks to cairo, in outline mode Inkscape now takes only about '''50% of the memory''' used by 0.45 for the same file.

* '''Smart redraw directionality:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* '''Faster blur''' for exporting and high quality on-screen rendering: Inkscape now uses an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter for blurring with large radius. This greatly improves the speed of blur redraw at high zooms or in high-resolution export (or simply with very large blur radius). On the other hand, the results are an approximation to a true Gaussian blur, so a drawing may look slightly different from the mathematically precise blur (usually the differences are far from visible, though). This code is mainly based on: ''Recursive Gaussian Derivative Filters'' by L.J. van Vliet, I.T. Young and P.W. Verbeek (see the source code for more detailed references).

* '''Moving the cursor around''' in a file with large and complex paths has become much snappier and more responsive. Previously, in extreme cases Inkscape could freeze for seconds while catching up with the mouse cursor; such delays are now eliminated.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Filters=

[More filters - kiirala, haa_rodrigues?]

=Effects=

*[spirograph]

*[barcode]

*The '''Whirl''' extension uses the center of view as the center of whirl, so you don't have to enter the center coordinates numerically.

*The '''Render > Grid''' extension has got an extended range of grid spacings, from 0.1 to 1000 px.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

* The Export dialog automatically appends the '''.png''' extension to the export filename you specify.

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg lib - ted gould]

=Command line=

Several new command line options are added that make Inkscape even more scriptable and automatable than before.

* --verb-list will list all the Verb IDs and their names in Inkscape. This makes writing your own menus and hotkeys much easier as you can easily find out what the choices are.

* --verb followed by a verb ID allows you to specify a verb to be called on every document opened by Inkscape initially from the command line.

* --select followed by a node ID will allow you to add a node to the list of selected objects.

These options can be used, for example, for performance testing. You could do something like this:

$ time inkscape --verb=FileClose my_complex_file.svg

to measure the time it takes to load and display the file.

Of course, with the ability to select objects, it can be much more useful than
that. You can call effects, or any other verb, then FileSave and
FileClose to automate all kinds of things on your drawings.

=UI=

==Markers==

* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

== [toolbars - [[JonCruz]]] ==

[calligraphy: menus, tooltips; star; ...]

Switched to stock GTK+ toolbars.

Extra magic secret sauce added.

== [filedialogs - [[JonCruz]]] ==

== Print dialog integration ==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

== [multiple grids - johan] ==

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object, or apply more than one clippath/mask to an object). Now this limitation is removed; just select any single object and group it to get a single-object group.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* After dragging a curve segment in Node tool, Inkscape no longer selects the two adjacent nodes if they were not selected before.

* '''Snapping behavior''' has been implemented or improved for drawing of new shapes, for dragging the nodes of existing shapes, and for gradient handles. Snapping of text baselines works again. Snapping distance is now set in screen pixels and is therefore independent of zoom. Furthermore, the bug where "node-to-node" snapping caused jerky movement of nodes is fixed; snapping while skewing has been implemented; any object snaps with its rotation axis (which can be arbitrarily moved and whose position is remembered for every object); the aspect ratio is correctly preserved while scaling with snapping turned on; all four boundingbox corners now snap instead of only the lower-left and upper-right; snapping while uniformly scaling has been improved.

* [removed default transform origin; toadd: bbox type]

* The '''Tile Clones''' dialog now uses the object's defined '''rotation axis''' (which can be freely moved by Selector tool and which is saved separately for each object) for all rotations (including both symmetry rotations and the Rotation tab rotations), scales, and flips. This renders unnecessary the previous workarounds where you had to group an object with another transparent object to affect how it's rotated by the clone tiler.

* In '''Pencil''' and '''Calligraphic''' tools, pressing '''Esc''' or '''Ctrl+Z''' while drawing cancels the currently drawn path or stroke. When not drawing, these keys work as before (Esc deselects, Ctrl+Z undoes last action). (This is the same behavior as in the Pen tool where it was introduced in a previous version.)

* A set of new verbs has been added to allow the user to easily '''unlock all locked objects''' or '''unhide all hidden objects'''. There are two variants one that operates on the current layer and its children and one that operates globally. While searching for hidden or locked object descendants of locked layers are ignored.

* The list of folder shortcuts in the '''Open''' dialog includes the folder with Inkscape's SVG '''examples''' for easy access. Similarly, the '''Save''' dialog has a shortcut for the user's own '''templates''' dialog making it easy to save the current document as a template (if saved as <code>default.svg</code>, it will be loaded every time you run Inkscape or create new document with Ctrl+N; with any other name, it will be added to the File > New submenu).

* [busy cursor: paintbucket, simplify, ...; statusbar updates: save, ...]

* Several improvements in '''inkview''': busy cursor is shown while loading file, the button window stays on top and responds to keyboard shortcuts; several memleaks stopped and bugs fixed. The "slideshow mode" of the main inkscape application (-s or --slideshow command line option) is removed; use inkview instead.

* In Document Metadata dialog, updated Creative Commons Licenses to version 3.0.

=Notable bugfixes=

These are bugfixes compared to 0.45.1; for a list of fixes in 0.45.1 compared to 0.45, see [[ReleaseNotes045|0.45.1 release notes]]

* The '''sodipodi:docbase''' attribute is no longer added to the root <svg> element. This attribute used to keep the latest directory that the document was saved to, and thus represented a mild privacy violation (i.e., by sharing your Inkscape SVG files you allowed others to have a peek into your directory structure). Note, however, that Inkscape does not remove this attribute from old documents it opens; if you want you can remove it yourself. Inkscape just no longer creates this attribute in new documents.

* Inkscape now properly quotes <code>font-family</code> values and therefore can use fonts with various nonalphanumeric characters in their names, which previously failed.

* If you have saved documents with a previous version of Inkscape which used '''right-to-left text''' (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew) then the paragraph alignment of non-flowed text has been reversed in this release. This is due to a bug in previous versions - the new behaviour is compliant with the SVG specification and compatible with other editors and viewers. To correct your images, simply reverse the paragraph alignment by selecting the text and clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar.

* A regression in 0.45 caused crashes when undo or redo was attempted before the previous action could complete (e.g. pressing ctrl+z while you are still drawing a rectangle). This is now fixed.

* Previously, if there was a single invalid property in a <code>style</code> attribute, the entire attribute was discarded, i.e. the object lost all styling. Now Inkscape's behavior is more compliant to the CSS specification: it ignores only the invalid property but reads in all the rest.

* Several bugs are fixed in searching for linked images. Now moving SVG documents with their associated images to a different place or a different machine should work more reliably.

* Master opacity did not apply to stroke markers as it should; fixed.

* Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration URI points to right location now.

= Previous releases =

* [[ReleaseNotes045]]
* [[ReleaseNotes044]]
* [[ReleaseNotes043]]
* [[ReleaseNotes042]]
* [[ReleaseNotes041]]
* [[ReleaseNotes040]]
* [[ReleaseNotes039]]
* [[ReleaseNotes038]]
* [[ReleaseNotes037]]
* [[ReleaseNotes036]]
* [[ReleaseNotes035]]

[[Category:Marketing]]

Release notes/0.46

2007-03-08T23:43:53Z

Johncoswell: /* Paint Bucket tool */

Release notes/0.46

2007-02-27T12:57:30Z

Johncoswell: /* Paint bucket tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=

=Tools:=

==Paint Bucket tool==

Inkscape now has a rudimentary paint bucket tool. It works by
performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the
visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and
placing the traced path on the canvas.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

The resolution of the bitmap image used to perform the trace is dependent upon your document zoom level -- the more zoomed in to an area that you are, the higher the resolution of the bitmap-based flood fill.

This tool is in a very basic state, and there are issues with rendering
accuracy and memory usage. Some potential improvements to the tool are the following:

* If the [Ctrl] key is held down, clicking on an object changes the fill color to the current fill color, and [Shift]-[Ctrl] changes the stroke color to the current stroke color

==Gradient Tool:==
[- johan]
*Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
**Stops can be added by double clicking on the gradient line or by Ctrl+Alt+Click on the line.
**Stops can be deleted by Ctrl+Alt+Click on a Stop or the delete key for the selected stop(s).
**More than one stop can be selected at a time.
***Can be moved together if next to each other.
***Can be deleted at the same time.
***When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
****When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

==Text Tool:==
[text toolbar - deadchip]

=Renderer:=
* '''Smart redraw:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* [faster blur - jasper]

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws faster by about '''25%'''.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Filters & Effects=
==[more filters - kiirala, haa_rodrigues]==

=UI=
==[markers - bryce]==
* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

==[toolbars - joncruz]==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg - ted gould]

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object). So now this limitation is removed.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* [more snapping: drawing rects]

Release notes/0.46

2007-02-25T23:02:30Z

Johncoswell: /* Flood tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=

=Tools:=

==Flood tool==

Inkscape now has a rudimentary flood fill tool. It works by
performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the
visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using [[potrace]] and
placing the traced path on the canvas.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

This tool is in a very basic state, and there are issues with rendering
accuracy and memory usage. Some potential improvements to the tool are the following:

* If the [Ctrl] key is held down, clicking on an object changes the fill color to the current fill color, and [Shift]-[Ctrl] changes the stroke color to the current stroke color
* The ability to either manually or dynamically increase the resolution of the rendered version so that the accuracy of the flood fill is better
* A cursor (it currently uses the Rectangle cursor)

==Gradient Tool:==
[- johan]
*Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
**Stops can be added by double clicking on the gradient line or by Ctrl+Alt+Click on the line.
**Stops can be deleted by Ctrl+Alt+Click on a Stop or the delete key for the selected stop(s).
**More than one stop can be selected at a time.
***Can be moved together if next to each other.
***Can be deleted at the same time.
***When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
****When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

==Text Tool:==
[text toolbar - deadchip]

=Renderer:=
* '''Smart redraw:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* [faster blur - jasper]

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws faster by about '''25%'''.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Filters & Effects=
==[more filters - kiirala, haa_rodrigues]==

=UI=
==[markers - bryce]==
* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

==[toolbars - joncruz]==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg - ted gould]

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object). So now this limitation is removed.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* [more snapping: drawing rects]

Release notes/0.46

2007-02-25T23:00:57Z

Johncoswell: /* Flood tool */

=Inkscape 0.46=

=Tools:=

==Flood tool==

Inkscape now has a rudimentary flood fill tool. It works by
performing a bitmap-based flood fill on a rendered version of the
visible canvas, then tracing the resulting fill using potrace and
placing the traced path on the canvas.

It places the rendered path onto the current layer, so you can have a layer on top (for example, "Inks") and select the layer below ("Colors") and do the fills so that they always appear below the Inks.

This tool is in a very basic state, and there are issues with rendering
accuracy and memory usage. Some potential improvements to the tool are the following:

* If the [Ctrl] key is held down, clicking on an object changes the fill color to the current fill color, and [Shift]-[Ctrl] changes the stroke color to the current stroke color
* The ability to either manually or dynamically increase the resolution of the rendered version so that the accuracy of the flood fill is better

==Gradient Tool:==
[- johan]
*Stops in gradients can be added, deleted, and edited on-canvas now.
**Stops can be added by double clicking on the gradient line or by Ctrl+Alt+Click on the line.
**Stops can be deleted by Ctrl+Alt+Click on a Stop or the delete key for the selected stop(s).
**More than one stop can be selected at a time.
***Can be moved together if next to each other.
***Can be deleted at the same time.
***When you have one of the '''gradient handles selected''', its style (color and opacity) is reflected by the selected style indicator (left of the statusbar) and the Fill&Stroke dialog. Previously, opacity of a gradient handle was reflected as fill-opacity and stroke-opacity; now it is reflected as '''master opacity''' (the "O:" spinbutton in the selected style indicator, the "Master opacity" slider in Fill&Stroke). This makes it much easier to view and change opacity of gradient handles using only the selected style indicator in the statusbar.
****When multiple gradient stops are selected, the selected style indicator (in the statusbar) displays and controls the averaged color and opacity of the selected stops.
*If the selected object(s) have gradient in fill or stroke, the '''selected style indicator''' in the bottom-left corner of the editing window now displays a '''live gradient preview''' prefixed by '''R''' or '''L''' to indicate Radial or Linear gradients (instead of displaying "L Gradient" or "R Gradient" text labels as before). Also, this and other similar widget now use italic font face to indicate None and bold to indicate Unset.

==Node Tool:==
[sculpt profiles - bbyak]

==Text Tool:==
[text toolbar - deadchip]

=Renderer:=
* '''Smart redraw:''' With complex images and/or on slow computers, you may have noticed that Inkscape redraws the screen image in horizontal strips, and these strips are painted sequentially top to bottom. Now this direction is automatically changed based on where your mouse cursor is. In particular, if mouse is closer to the bottom of the area to redraw, strips will be painted in the bottom-to-top order. This significantly improves the responsiveness and interactivity in some situations. For example, when you are node-editing the bottom part of a complex path, the entire path needs to be redrawn on each change, but now this redraw starts from the bottom and therefore the you see the effect of your changes at once - i.e. while screen redraw may still lag behind your mouse movement, this lag is less noticeable.

* [faster blur - jasper]

* In this version, Inkscape starts using the [http://www.cairographics.org cairo] library for rendering. It is now used for '''outline mode''' display which, thanks to using cairo and other optimizations, redraws faster by about '''25%'''.

* Several improvements make '''canvas panning and scrolling''' smoother and more interactive in complex slow-rendering documents:

:* When panning by the middle mouse button, Inkscape no longer attempts to redraw the canvas while your mouse button is pressed. Any redrawing only happens after you release the mouse. As a result, the newly revealed parts of the canvas are somewhat more "dirty" but the '''panning is smoother than before''', with few if any "hiccups".

:* Previously, if you start panning with middle button while Inkscape is still redrawing screen in a complex drawing, panning sometimes completely failed or moved canvas just a little step. Now it is '''guaranteed to pan the canvas all the way''' from mouse-press point to mouse-release point in any case, even if sometimes it fails to show the intermediate positions.

:* When pressing and holding Ctrl+arrows to scroll canvas, Inkscape normally accelerates scrolling so that each next scrolling step is bigger than the previous. Previously, in complex drawings this acceleration sometimes got interrupted, which made scrolling annoyingly bumpy and slow. Now this is fixed so that '''scrolling is smoothly accelerated''' even in a slow-rendering document.

:* The default '''starting speed and acceleration''' of Ctrl+arrows scrolling are slightly increased. (They are both settable in Preferences.)

=Filters & Effects=
==[more filters - kiirala, haa_rodrigues]==

=UI=
==[markers - bryce]==
* stock markers now appear in the "recently used markers" section of the marker selector dropdowns in the Fill & Stroke dialog. Before, any markers with stock id's (including markers modified by the user) were hidden, making it difficult to work with modified stock markers.

==[toolbars - joncruz]==

* '''Print Dialog''': The GTK Unix Print Dialog has been hooked up! From the dialog, you can select any of the Postscript-capable printers known to your system and configure them as with any other GTK application.

=Bitmap export=

* '''Batch export''': The Bitmap Export dialog (Ctrl+Shift+E) got a new checkbox, ''Batch export all selected objects''. This checkbox is available when two or more objects are selected. If it is checked, instead of exporting selection as a whole, Inkscape exports each selected object separately into its own PNG file. This uses each object's export hints (i.e. export filename and DPI) if they are remembered from a previous export; otherwise, the filename is created from the object ID and the DPI is 90 pixels per inch. '''Caution:''' Unlike regular export, batch export overwrites all existing PNG files without warning.

:This makes it possible to implement all kinds of '''image slicing''' and automated export scenarios. For example, if you are working on a web site design, you can create a separate "export" layer. In that layer, "slice" your web page image into separate areas by creating invisible rectangles with no fill and no stroke. Select each rectangle (by Tab/Shift+Tab, or by switching to Outline mode where even an invisible rectangle can be selected by clicking on its outline) and export it into the corresponding filename (which gets saved as that object's export hint). After that, if you do any changes to your graphics, it's very easy to reexport all the slices: just switch to the "export" layer, select all in that layer (Ctrl+A), and export with the ''Batch export selected objects'' checkbox on.

* '''Hide all except selected''': A new checkbox allows you to hide in the exported image everything except selected object(s).

=Import/Export=

* [new wpg - ted gould]

=Even more improvements=

* '''[if enabled! - mental]''' A new cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. Inkscape 0.46 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.

* '''Gnome VFS Improvements''': Gnome VFS Non-Local files are now usable through all of our file choosers in Open, Save and Export. This compile-time option allowed people to open any Gnome-VFS-based URI from the command-line in the past, but not non-local resources (WebDAV, SFTP, etc) and this now allows for all the lovely possibilities Gnome-VFS provides.

* In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to '''group a single object.''' Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object). So now this limitation is removed.

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as '''Fill:''' and '''Stroke:'''. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies.

* The '''style swatches''' at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.)

* [more snapping: drawing rects]

Release notes/0.45

2006-09-04T16:06:58Z

Johncoswell: /* Bugfixes */

= Inkscape 0.45: overview =

= Filters =

* [blur slider]

= 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.
** Most drawing and rectangular selection tools bypass the interruptible display system, maintaining the accuracy of these tools while using the new interruptible display code.

* 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 profiles =

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.

Additionally, a keybinding that focuses on tablet-based illustration and drawing work has been added:

* right-handed-illustration.xml

This keybinding places all commonly-used commands under the left hand, so that the user's hands rarely leave the keyboard or the tablet/stylus.

= Even more improvements =

* [Save a copy]

* [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 new extension, Render > Lorem ipsum creates the traditional Latin-like random text for design mock-ups. The number of paragraphs, the number of sentences per paragraph and the possible fluctuation of the number of sentences (for uneven paragraphs) can be adjusted. If no flowed text element is selected, a new one in a new layer is created, matching the size of the canvas.

= Bugfixes =

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

* Releasing the mouse button while dragging nodes using a tablet will now always release the nodes. Before this, a race condition could occur where dragging could continue after the mouse button was released.

= 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

2006-09-04T16:04:20Z

Johncoswell: /* Speed */

= Inkscape 0.45: overview =

= Filters =

* [blur slider]

= 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.
** Most drawing and rectangular selection tools bypass the interruptible display system, maintaining the accuracy of these tools while using the new interruptible display code.

* 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 profiles =

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.

Additionally, a keybinding that focuses on tablet-based illustration and drawing work has been added:

* right-handed-illustration.xml

This keybinding places all commonly-used commands under the left hand, so that the user's hands rarely leave the keyboard or the tablet/stylus.

= Even more improvements =

* [Save a copy]

* [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 new extension, Render > Lorem ipsum creates the traditional Latin-like random text for design mock-ups. The number of paragraphs, the number of sentences per paragraph and the possible fluctuation of the number of sentences (for uneven paragraphs) can be adjusted. If no flowed text element is selected, a new one in a new layer is created, matching the size of the canvas.

= 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

2006-08-26T19:46:49Z

Johncoswell: /* 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.

Additionally, a keybinding that focuses on tablet-based illustration and drawing work has been added. This keybinding places all commonly-used commands under the left hand, so that the user's hands rarely leave the keyboard or the tablet/stylus.

= 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

2006-08-13T22:48:28Z

Johncoswell: /* Misc improvements */

= 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]

* 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 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]]

Release notes/0.45

2006-08-08T01:57:14Z

Johncoswell: Added Simplify Path mode description

= 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 finnish and the danish translation of the userinterface. The finnish translation jumped from 0 to 100 percent and the danish was lifted from 5 percent to over 75 percent in a 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

2006-07-30T00:23:09Z

Johncoswell: /* Bugfixes */

Release notes/0.45

2006-07-30T00:20:24Z

Johncoswell: /* Speed */