Inkscape Wiki - User contributions [en]

Printing consensus poll

2009-05-24T19:03:48Z

Pokey:

== Problem ==

Bryce has pointed out the #1 feature need for Inkscape right now is strong support for Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and Postscript (PS) in his [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=36054&max_rows=25&style=flat&viewmonth=200511&viewday=30 2005.11.30 email] to the Inkscape mailing lists.
This [[ConsensusPoll]] exists to enable the community to efficiently create and commit to a plan of action to resolve this issue.

== Resolution ==

This poll has not elicited sufficient interest / participation to move forward. We require 20 people list themselves in the poll, but as of Apr 30, 2006 only 17 people have signed up.

$300 is pledged, but that is insufficient to match the bids that have been made.

There is no concensus achieved as to what specific issues should be addressed.

The plan needs to be further developed, but only a few people have worked on it. Also, despite these efforts, most votes have remained 'no'.

== Contract ==

* >= 20 inkscape enthusiasts
* >= 4 developers with commit access
* >= 95% yes
* all conditions in plan are met
* 72 hour GO timer
* 80% cloture

[[ContractExplanation]]

Because this contract defines what it means to participate in this poll it will never be changed. If it turns out to be inadequate, this poll must be canceled and a new poll with a new contract must be drafted.

== Yes-No Poll ==

Participation in this poll is open to anyone who wants to participate.

Voting yes in this poll means that you believe the community created plan is ready for implementation, and that you will do your part to support its execution. Voting no in this poll means that you have outstanding concerns about the community created plan. You can change your vote at any time. All votes are transparent so that those voting yes can listen to the concerns of those voting no.

No ... [[BrandonCsSanders]] - Success needs to be defined (e.g., if all 20 test cases are passed ...)
Yes... [[BryceHarrington]] - Let's do it
No ... [[AlexandreProkoudine]] - There is no plan yet
No ... [[ColinMarquardt]] - There is no plan yet
No ... [[EricWilhelm]] - The plan needs salt
No ... [[MenTaLguY]] - This isn't much of a plan...
No ... [[JonCruz]] - Plan? Not quite yet
No ... [[JonPhillips]] - no plan...
No ... [[NicuBuculei]] - so far the plan is weak
No ... [[RalfWStephan]] - Where are the test cases?
No ... [[AndyFitzsimon]] - I will also pledge $50 once someone defines how we do pledges.
No ... [[TuukkaPasanen]] - There isn't good plan yet.
No ... [[EricJonas]] - There is no plan
No ... [[AdibTaraben]] theAdib - There is no plan
No ... Martin Owens - There is a plan but it's pants.
Yes ....[[Corey Burger]] -plan, what plan?
No ... [[Gustavb]] - The plan is incomplete.

(If you are voting no because the plan is incomplete, please describe what you'd like to see added or changed.)

== Pledges ==

$50 ... [[BryceHarrington]] - I will pledge $50 once someone defines how we do pledges :-)
$50 ... [[AndyFitzsimon]] - I will also pledge $50 once someone defines how we do pledges.
€50 ... [[RalfWStephan]] - whenever the plan has succeeded
$50 ... [[BrandonCsSanders]] - once the plan is done
$100 ... [[EricJonas]] - Just let me know how to pledge

== Plan ==

# Describe the [[Current PDF Support]] and the known [[PDF bugs]]
# Identify [[Required PDF Support]]
# Assemble a few dozen examples to use as [[PDF test cases]]
# Document how each of the current [[PDF tools]] (potential starting points) performs on the suite of test cases
# Determine timeframe
## Start some time in early 2006?
## Expected completion some time in mid/late 2006?
# Select developer with the right skillset
## C/C++, XML
## PDF file format
## SVG file format
## Able to work under (U.S.) contract
## /Other skillset requirements?/
# Determine what funding is needed to enable them to complete the work
# Establish a contract with the selected developer to perform the work
# When the developer is done, verify that all test cases pass, then pay developer

== Background Information ==

* [[SOC_Original_Project_Prompts]]
* [[PrintingSubsystem]]
* [[Roadmap]] (Milestone 11) Import/Export Feature Enhancements

== Adequate Technical Solutions ==

What solutions would be fine?
* Library that integrates directly in to inkscape (and scribus, ...)
** Use [[Cairo]] as the presentation layer and use its support for pdf/ps
*** This may be a first step towards an eventual migration of the backend renderer to Cairo
** See [http://poppler.freedesktop.org/ Poppler] for PDF import.
*** [http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/poppler/2005-June/000428.html pdftosvg 1]
*** [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=14147945 pdftosvg 2]
*** [http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/poppler/2005-December/001248.html pdftosvg 3]
** Pull out the scribus pdf support into a libpdf (libpdf name has already been used) that can be shared by both scribus and Inkscape
*** Requires conversion of Qt-isms into more neutral widgetset-independent style
* Extend an existing standalone (filter) tool that can be bundled with inkscape
** [http://scratchcomputing.com/projects/vectorsection/ VectorSection]
** [http://www.solidcode.net/pdf2svg/ pdf2svg]
** [http://www.sodipodi.com/index.php3?section=download/tools ill2svg]
** [http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanwen/public/software/ai2svg.py ai2svg]
** [http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/ pdftk]

== Possible Strategies ==

* Raise money and hire a developer to implement it
** Collect pledges, once we are over threshold collect funds (http://fundable.org/)
*** What should the threshhold be? $2000? $5000?
*** Still too early to decide what the threshold should be. We need to know how much it will cost first.
*** Fundable now charges a 10% fee from the amount collected
** Need to decide what the funds would be spent on ahead of time
*** 10-20% - Tester to collect test cases and put together a test suite for developer to use
*** 70-80% - Developer to write the code, document it, and make it pass the tests
*** 5-10% - Liaison to handle the paperwork, collect/distribute funds, track/report progress, and verify the work has been completed adequately
** Mercenaries that would do this for us?

*** [[BrandonCsSanders]] ... I'd do it for $2000, half up front, half once it meets spec. Caveat: it would take me six months to complete because my plate is pretty full right now and I'll be snatching a week here and a week there.
*** [[EricWilhelm]] ... This will be a lovely fit for [[VectorSection]]. I'm guessing $5k would get it to about the same level as XAR and SVG in chromista. I would also be happy to oversee/direct the work of someone else wanting to write this as a pair of [[VectorSection]] connectors (crs2pdf, pdf2crs.)
*** /other mercenaries?/
* Hold a [http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?BarnRaising [[BarnRaising]]]
** at [http://RecentChangesCamp.org [[RecentChangesCamp]]] in Portland February 3-5
** other location/time?
* Wait for a volunteer to get inspired and just do it

== Questions/Brainstorms ==

* What about what inkscape earned through the Google Summer of Code? What's the status of this?
** $2000 earned; there has been no plan or consensus for what to use it for
* Does Cairo have PDF export already? What about to use cairo for just this job? and later then use cairo for the whole presentation layer? Instead of creating an interims solution?
** Yes, Cairo has PDF export capabilities; it's unknown if it's significantly better than our current (poor) pdf export functionality
** Cairo Postscript and PDF backends are still experimental and disabled by default in current stable release, but plan is to make them supported in next stable release, expected for the end of 2005. See [http://cvs.cairographics.org/*checkout*/cairo/ROADMAP Cairo ROADMAP]
** A way to test cairo capabilities would be to use librsvg HEAD. See Dom Lachowicz [http://www.advogato.org/person/cinamod/diary.html?start=91 blog entry].
* Investigate ps2ai, pstoedit and ai2svg conversion options (potential EPS support?)
* Import of native [[Adobe Illustrator]] files, which have been PDF based since Illustrator 10 (at least).
* Other [[PDF Bugs | Bugs and RFE's]] related to Import or Export?
* [[VectorSection]]
** Other than not yet being stable, this seems like a very good choice and provides lots of choices for import/export.
* Is direct import/export of PS or PDF really necessary? Or is transparant import/export a reasonable target? The main problem with the current implementation is the need for the users to deal with filter dependancies. A complete bundle of the most important filters would solve this. Filters have the advantages of allowing Inkscape to concentrate on what it does best, SVG, and allowing sophisticated users to insert specialized filters into existing pipelines.

[[Category:Wiki Attic]]

PDF Test Cases

2009-05-24T19:03:36Z

Pokey:

This page is part of the [[PrintingConsensusPoll]]. Please link sample PDF's here, that Inkscape currently cannot handle.

== Export to PDF ==

* brisgeek.com example
** Original file: [http://brisgeek.com/files/example.svg svg]
** Exported files: [http://brisgeek.com/files/example.pdf pdf] [http://brisgeek.com/files/example.eps eps] [http://brisgeek.com/files/example.ps ps]

== Import from PDF ==

* Examples from Savage Software's pdf2svg converter
** http://www.savagesoftware.com/pdf2svg-examples.htm

* The [[Adobe Illustrator]] sample files (currently none available)

Related programs

2009-05-24T19:03:05Z

Pokey:

== Inkscape Plugins, Scripts, and Templates ==
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkboard Inkboard] plans to add a shared whiteboard function to Inkscape via XMPP (used by Jabber). With Inkboard, a local copy of a diagram can be edited "live" by other users you are chatting with.
* [http://www.digitalunleashed.com/giving.php SVGSlice] allows a high-quality SVG image to be directly sliced into bitmap graphics.
* [http://recusantmind.50webs.com/ Inkscape Extension for Linerider]: allows Inkscape to read and write [http://linerider.com/ LineRider] (.sol) files; can draw straight lines, beziers, zooming, erasing, modifying nodes, text, shapes and other drawings.

== Similar Applications ==

=== Free ===
==== graphics ====
* [[SodiPodi]]
* [[Karbon14]] (Koffice)
* [[OpenDraw]]
* [[Sketch|Skencil (formerly known as Sketch)]]
* [http://www.tuxpaint.org/ Tuxpaint] A child bitmap painting tool supporting SVG stamps and graphics. (GNU/GPL License)

==== page layout ====
* [[Abiword]] support SVG import/export with [[librsvg]].
* [http://scribus.net/ Scribus Home Page] (Contacts: irc.freenode.net #scribus )

==== animation ====
* [[Beez]] SVG animation software for Win32, written in Delphi. "As of 2004-09-30 07:29, this project is no longer under active development."
* [[The Gimp gfig]]
* [[mvComicsMaker]] vector + bitmap animation (not maintened since several years).
* [http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/01/17/2056255&from=rss Synfig] Synfig is a two-dimensional vector animation studio, similar to the commercial product [[Moho]].
* [[KToon]]
*[http://www.les-stooges.org/pascal/pencil/ Pencil] free software (GPL) that support SVG import, manage bitmap/vector animation, serveral layers, drawing with tablet pressure, onionskin, export as flash SWF, movie, image sequence.

==== diagrams ====
* [[Dia]] (more for diagrams, less for illustrations)
* [[Kivio]] (Koffice)
* [[Xfig]]
* [http://glipssvgeditor.sourceforge.net/ GLIPS Graffiti]

==== Graphic notepad ====
* [http://www.adebenham.com/gournal/ Gournal] a gnome2-perl graphic and text notepad using SVG as fileformat.
* [http://java-notelab.sourceforge.net/ java-notebook] a java graphic and text notepad using SVG as fileformat

==== Colors ====
* [http://home.gna.org/colorscheme/ Agave] A simple GNOME application for generating colorschemes in the .gpl (Gimp palette format, not the license) Inkscape/Gimp compatible format. (GNU/GPL License)
* [http://www.littlecms.com/ [[LittleCMS]] Home Page] Color Management System

==== Fonts ====
[[FontForge]] [http://fontforge.sourceforge.net FontForge Home Page]
** Vector font editor and converter most bitmap/vector font format (ps,TTF,Type1 OpenType...)
** Can load/save SVG fonts
** Can import SVG curves to create characters.
** Interesting feature that could be imported in inkscape: allow to modify curves by draging the curve itself.
**(feature needed - an utility can be distributed with [[FontForge]] - an open .ttf viewer and printer like [[KeyTypeBook]] for MacOS Classic (7.0 to 9.6) )
**(w32 [[MinGW]] version (instead of Cygwin) of [[FontForge]] is missing)

==== Conversion ====
* [http://www.imagemagick.org/script/magick-vector-graphics.php Magick Vector Graphics] An interesting suite of programs which handle SVG and have the flavour of Image Magick. (GNU/GPL License)
* [http://wvware.sourceforge.net/libwmf.html Libwmf] provide the wmf2svg script we use for the extension.
* [http://thunder.prohosting.com/~rshi/svg/ ps2svg] A nice ps to svg converter written in postscript. Cannot handle text.
* [http://www.cityinthesky.co.uk/pdf2svg.html pdf2svg] A very useful pdf to svg converter. (GNU/GPL, requires Poppler and Cairo)
* [http://fig2vect.sourceforge.net fig2vect] convert from fig format (used by Xfig) to several formats including SVG (BSD license).
* [http://freshmeat.net/projects/fti2svg.pl fti2svg.pl] A perl script to convert SGI Irix .fti vector-based icons to SVG. (License : proprietary with sources)
* [[UniConverter]] [http://sourceforge.net/projects/uniconvertor/ UniConverter] is in some way a substitution to Vectorsection. Currently it's based on [http://sk1.sourceforge.net sK1] code, but soon will be separated so that other applications could easier reuse it.

=== Non-free ===
* [[Cenon]]
* [[Gestalter]]
* [[Tgif]]

==== Drawing ====
* [[Adobe Illustrator]]
* [[CorelDraw]]
* [[MacromediaFreehand]]
* [[JascWebDraw]]
* [[Xara X]]
* [[Expression]]
* [[Sketsa]]
* [http://www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks/ Macromedia Fireworks] Raster graphics for the web; infrastructure shared with other Macromedia software means it works very much like a Vector Graphics program. More comparable to Adobe [[ImageReady]], but Fireworks is very specifically designed for effecient creation of web graphics.

==== Animation ====
* [[Ikivo Animator]] from [[Ikivo]] is an application that enables designing animated content for mobile devices. Most impressive is the integrated device pro-viewing for guaranteed content accuracy.
* [[MacromediaFlash]]
* [[Moho]] Moho is a 2D vector-based cartoon animation application.
* [[theTAB]] The TAB 2.2 Lite is an entry level animation application, intended for creating cartoons.

==== Digrams ====
* [[MicrosoftVisio]]

==== Colors ====
* [http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html Color Schemer] A specialized tool for working with colors (for creating color schemes, finding harmonious colors, etc). The link is to an online version of the software.

==== math ====
* [http://www.maa.org/editorial/mathgames/mathgames_08_01_05.html Vector vs Raster] A comprehensive list of 67 Vector-based programs. 32 of the drawing programs support SVG.

==== Other ====
* [[XStudio]]
* [[Beatware Mobile Designer]]
* [[Real Draw Pro]]

== Viewers ==

=== Adobe SVG Viewer ===

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

== Browsers supporting SVG ==
=== Konqueror web browser ===

* Website
** [http://www.konqueror.org/] The Konqueror KDE web browser support SVG via librsvg plugin (see below).

=== Mozilla/Firefox SVG ===

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

=== Opera Webbrowser SVG Support ===

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

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

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

* Websites
** [http://www.svg.org/special/svg_phones A growing list at svg.org]
** [http://www.ikivo.com/02player_phones.html Phones with the Ikivo Player]
** [http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/docstools/multimedia/p_multimedia.jsp Sony Ericsson developer site] include SVG guidelines (Inkscape is in the list of recommended tools).

=== See Also ===

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

[[SVGGeneralInformation]] on a separate page.

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

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

== Co-Projects ==

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

=== Cairo ===

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

=== XSVG ===

* Website(s)
** [http://cairographics.org/snapshots/ XSVG Project sources]

=== librsvg ===

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

=== wxSVG ===
* Website
** [http://wxsvg.sourceforge.net wxSVG]
* Description
** A c++ library to create, manipulate and render SVG, for the wx toolkit.

=== [[VectorSection|VectorSection]] ===
*[http://vectorsection.org/ VectorSection] is an open-source collection of programs which form a universal vector-graphics translation system

=== [[Libcaca]] ===
*[http://libcaca.zoy.org/ libcaca] (Colour AsCii Art library) is a library and a set of tools to convert pictures and video to colored ascii art. It allow to export rendered color ascii art to SVG, PNG, ANSI colored text, HTML and PS.

=== GD::SVG perl module ===
*[http://search.cpan.org/~twh/GD-SVG-0.28/SVG.pm GD::SVG] allow any perl script using GD API to render graphics to render SVG using cairo instead of traditional GD bitmap by only replacing 'Use GD' by 'Use GD::SVG' and 'GD::Image->new();' by 'GD::SVG::Image->new();'

=== Ruby ===
There is at least 4 libs to manipulate/render SVG in Ruby :
Two for managing SVG generally
* [http://ruby-svg.sourceforge.jp/ Ruby-SVG]
* [http://ruby-gnome2.sourceforge.jp/ ruby-gnome2] contain a libRSVG binding for Ruby
And two more specialized in graph :
* [http://scruffy.rubyforge.org/ Scruffy]
* [http://www.germane-software.com/software/SVG/SVG::Graph/ SVG::Graph]

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

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

JascWebDraw

2009-05-24T19:02:45Z

Pokey:

Please post links to screenshots and/or insights of this vector app. We must learn from others.

== Jasc Web Draw ==

The most interesting feature about Jasc Web Draw is probably that it uses SVG as its native file format and was one of the earliest applications to do so.
Web Draw uses a Window in Window ([[WiW]]) interface much like its better known sibling Jasc Paint Shop Pro.

Features include:

* SVG Animation.
* SVG Filters (Effects)
* Spirals
* Live SVG Editor, with Syntax Highlighting

Web Draw was before its time and never really gained the kind of attention as Paint Shop Pro. Unfortunately Web Draw didn't borrow more features from Paint Shop Pro or integrate closely with it and it would have been good to be able to export Photoshop Documents from Webdraw or other tricks like that.
It could have potentially found itself a space in the emerging market of SVG for Handheld devices, and competed against products like [[Ikivo]].

Web Draw was priced at roughly $200 roughly half the price of [[Adobe Illustrator]] or [[MacromediaFreehand]] but still significantly more expensive than versions of [[CorelDraw]].
As the product a got older substantial discounts could be found if you looked hard enough.

Jasc was taken over by Corel and [[JascWebDraw]] was discontinued.

Jasc Web Draw was originally called Jasc Trajectory.

[[Karbon14]] bears a slight resemblance to [[JascWebDraw]], more so than most other programs.

== Screenshots ==

W3 has a two very old screenshots of Webdraw which look older than Wed draw version 1.0

[http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/webdraw01.png Screenshot of Webdraw] showing a drwaing of a Butterfly. Includes the main [[WebDraw]] interface, and document tree.

[http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/webdraw02.png Screenshot of Webdraw].

[http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/webdraw03.png Screenshot of Webdraw] showing SVG Effects dialog.

[http://web.archive.org [[WebArchive]]]:
[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/webdraw01.png Screenshot 1],
[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/webdraw02.png Screenshot 2],
[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/webdraw03.png Screenshot 3].

== Links ==

[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.jasc.com/products/webdraw/ Jasc [[WebDraw]] Official Website] thanks to the Web Archive.

[[Category:Other Software]]

Current PDF Support

2009-05-24T19:02:21Z

Pokey:

== Current PDF support ==

=== PDF Import ===

SVN version of Inkscape (to-be 0.46) uses poppler (0.5.4 and above) to import PDF files.

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.

Only one page can be imported. Users can preview pages and choose the one they need. This is because Inkscape doens't support multiple pages itself.

==== Use of Gnulibplot ====

A short way for converting files to import in Inkscape is to use
gsview and the command "edit/convert to vector format" to convert any pdf to svg. Easy and fast to use.
Incidentally, gsview invokes a command similar to "pstoedit -f plot-svg ''input-file'' ''output-file''" and, after downloading and installing pstoedit, this command can be run on the command line without opening gsview.

=== PDF Export ===

PDF export is now supported by main porgram, using cairo backend (choose Cairo PDF in the save as file requester).

Before there was the need from external program :
<code>pdf_output.inx</code> exports PDF files by first saving them as Postscript and use an external converter to creat PDFs, requiring <code>ps2pdf</code> (Installed separately, included in ghostscript)

Strengths: Depend of Cairo version.

Weaknesses: Depend of Cairo version.

==== Uncompressed PDF Output ====
At this time, it looks as if Inkscape only outputs '''uncompressed''' PDF output. Once you export a PDF, look at its file size. If it is too large for your application, then export the exact same file to EPS (encapsulated postscript) and then use '''epstopdf''' to convert the file to PDF. This will make a compressed PDF.

As an illustration, my 72 page document went from 80 megabytes down to 3.1.

== Current Postscript support ==

=== PS Import ===

<code>ps_input.inx</code> imports Postscript files by using two external conversion scripts:

Requirements:
* <code>[http://www.pstoedit.net/pstoedit pstoedit]</code> (Installed separately), this tool need a [http://www.pstoedit.net/pstoedit sharware plugin] to support SVG.
* <code>[http://www.skencil.org skconvert]</code> (Installed separately)

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

=== PS Export ===

Inkscape has built-in support to write Postscript files.

Strengths:
* Outputs nice readable Postscript

Weaknesses:
* Doesn't support fill patterns and clipping, see bugs [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1208874&group_id=93438&atid=604306 1208874] and [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1170322&group_id=93438&atid=604306 1170322]
* Postscript doesn't support transparency and Inkscape doesn't emulate this, so they are just ignored, that is you get the color you would get with opacity:1

== Current Adobe Illustrator support ==

The files used by [[Adobe Illustrator]] were earlier postscript files but are now Pdf files.

=== AI Import ===

==== Pre 9.0 AI files ====

Requirements:
* <code>ill2svg.pl</code> requires perl

Strengths:

Weaknesses:
* Only works on the old Postscript-based Adobe format
* Code is sort of a hack
* No maintainer exists for this code

==== 9.0 and above AI files ====

SVN version of Inkscape (to-be 0.46) supports AI files based on PDF (9.0 and abopve) using same code as for PDF import. All supported features are equivalent to those in the PDF.

=== AI Export ===

<code>ai_output.inx</code> exports Illustrator files by first saving them as Postscript and use an external converter to creat AIs (PostScript based).

Requirements:
* <code>ps2ai.ps</code> (requires gs)

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Adobe Illustrator

2009-05-24T18:59:04Z

Pokey:

== Overview ==
Adobe Illustrator is one of the most commercially successful vector graphics applications among artists and graphic designers, with [[MacromediaFreehand]] now dead, and [[CorelDraw]] coming in as a distant second. However, the relative strength of various vector editors depends on the market; for example in Russia and some other markets in Europe, [[CorelDraw]] is more common than Illustrator.

See also: [[Inkscape for Adobe Illustrator users]]

See also: [[Current_PDF_Support#Current_Adobe_Illustrator_support | Current Adobe Illustrator support]]

=== License ===

Commercial Proprietary Software.
Retails for roughly $500 USD alone but is also available as part of the Adobe Creative Suite. Educational discounts can vary greatly.

Although Adobe Photoshop Elements provides a budget alternative to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe makes no attempt to provide any such simplified alternative for Illustrator.

== Further information ==

Please post links to screenshots and/or insights of this vector graphics application. We must learn from strengths and mistakes of others.

We can often learn more from [http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=25166 criticisms of Illustrator] than we can learn from praise, and a Corel Draw user by the name of Guntis make some interesting criticisms of Illustrator, especially the comments about how it fails even to be consistent even with Adobe Photoshop.

=== Sample Files ===

Please consider linking to, or uploading, Illustrator sample file, for which you own the relevant rights.

=== Screenshots ===

* [http://cabbage.ucsd.edu/~phillipsjd/media/adobeIllustrator10-win32/ Adobe Illustrator 10 win32 Screenshots]

* [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~horkana/inkscape/illustrator/Adobe-Illustrator-CS/ Adobe Illustrator CS]

=== Links ===

* [http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ Adobe Illustrator Official Site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator Adobe Illustrator at Wikipedia]
* [http://www.inkscape.org/roadmap.php The Inkscape Roadmap] has native support for AI files at milestone 0.45
* An [http://web.syr.edu/~tatoland/illustrator/aimenus.html Introduction to Adobe Illustrator] including screenshots, useful as a reference.

All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners and used here only for review purposes.

[[Category:Developer Discussion]]
[[Category:Other Software]]

Adobe Illustrator

2009-05-24T18:58:32Z

Pokey: /* Overview */

Please post links to screenshots and/or insights of this vector graphics application. We must learn from strengths and mistakes of others.

== Overview ==
Adobe Illustrator is one of the most commercially successful vector graphics applications among artists and graphic designers, with [[MacromediaFreehand]] now dead, and [[CorelDraw]] coming in as a distant second. However, the relative strength of various vector editors depends on the market; for example in Russia and some other markets in Europe, [[CorelDraw]] is more common than Illustrator.

See also: [[Inkscape for Adobe Illustrator users]]

See also: [[Current_PDF_Support#Current_Adobe_Illustrator_support | Current Adobe Illustrator support]]

=== License ===

Commercial Proprietary Software.
Retails for roughly $500 USD alone but is also available as part of the Adobe Creative Suite. Educational discounts can vary greatly.

Although Adobe Photoshop Elements provides a budget alternative to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe makes no attempt to provide any such simplified alternative for Illustrator.

== Further information ==

We can often learn more from [http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=25166 criticisms of Illustrator] than we can learn from praise, and a Corel Draw user by the name of Guntis make some interesting criticisms of Illustrator, especially the comments about how it fails even to be consistent even with Adobe Photoshop.

=== Sample Files ===

Please consider linking to, or uploading, Illustrator sample file, for which you own the relevant rights.

=== Screenshots ===

* [http://cabbage.ucsd.edu/~phillipsjd/media/adobeIllustrator10-win32/ Adobe Illustrator 10 win32 Screenshots]

* [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~horkana/inkscape/illustrator/Adobe-Illustrator-CS/ Adobe Illustrator CS]

=== Links ===

* [http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ Adobe Illustrator Official Site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator Adobe Illustrator at Wikipedia]
* [http://www.inkscape.org/roadmap.php The Inkscape Roadmap] has native support for AI files at milestone 0.45
* An [http://web.syr.edu/~tatoland/illustrator/aimenus.html Introduction to Adobe Illustrator] including screenshots, useful as a reference.

All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners and used here only for review purposes.

[[Category:Developer Discussion]]
[[Category:Other Software]]

Adobe Illustrator

2009-05-24T18:56:57Z

Pokey:

Please post links to screenshots and/or insights of this vector graphics application. We must learn from strengths and mistakes of others.

== Overview ==
Adobe Illustrator is one of the most commercially successful vector graphics applications among artists and graphic designers, with [[MacromediaFreehand]] now dead, and [[CorelDraw]] coming in as a distant second. However, the relative strength of various vector editors depends on the market; for example in Russia and some other markets in Europe, [[CorelDraw]] is more common than Illustrator.

We can often learn more from [http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=25166 criticisms of Illustrator] than we can learn from praise, and a Corel Draw user by the name of Guntis make some interesting criticisms of Illustrator, especially the comments about how it fails even to be consistent even with Adobe Photoshop.

See also: [[Inkscape for Adobe Illustrator users]]

See also: [[Current_PDF_Support#Current_Adobe_Illustrator_support | Current Adobe Illustrator support]]

=== Sample Files ===

Please consider linking to, or uploading, Illustrator sample file, for which you own the relevant rights.

=== Screenshots ===

* [http://cabbage.ucsd.edu/~phillipsjd/media/adobeIllustrator10-win32/ Adobe Illustrator 10 win32 Screenshots]

* [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~horkana/inkscape/illustrator/Adobe-Illustrator-CS/ Adobe Illustrator CS]

=== Links ===

* [http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ Adobe Illustrator Official Site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator Adobe Illustrator at Wikipedia]
* [http://www.inkscape.org/roadmap.php The Inkscape Roadmap] has native support for AI files at milestone 0.45
* An [http://web.syr.edu/~tatoland/illustrator/aimenus.html Introduction to Adobe Illustrator] including screenshots, useful as a reference.

=== License ===

Commercial Proprietary Software.
Retails for roughly $500 USD alone but is also available as part of the Adobe Creative Suite. Educational discounts can vary greatly.

Although Adobe Photoshop Elements provides a budget alternative to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe makes no attempt to provide any such simplified alternative for Illustrator.

All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners and used here only for review purposes.

[[Category:Developer Discussion]]
[[Category:Other Software]]

Adobe Illustrator

2009-05-24T18:49:01Z

Pokey: /* Comments */ irrelevant and no source

Please post links to screenshots and/or insights of this vector graphics application.
We must learn from strengths and mistakes of others.

Adobe Illustrator is one of the most commercially successful vector graphics applications among artists and graphic designers, with [[MacromediaFreehand]] now dead, and [[CorelDraw]] coming in as a distant second. However, the relative strength of various vector editors depends on the market; for example in Russia and some other markets in Europe, [[CorelDraw]] is more common than Illustrator.

We can often learn more from [http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=25166 criticisms of Illustrator] than we can learn from praise, and a Corel Draw user by the name of Guntis make some interesting criticisms of Illustrator, especially the comments about how it fails even to be consistent even with Adobe Photoshop.

See also: [[Inkscape for Adobe Illustrator users]]

=== Sample Files ===

Please consider linking to, or uploading, Illustrator sample file, for which you own the relevant rights.

=== Screenshots ===

* [http://cabbage.ucsd.edu/~phillipsjd/media/adobeIllustrator10-win32/ Adobe Illustrator 10 win32 Screenshots]

* [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~horkana/inkscape/illustrator/Adobe-Illustrator-CS/ Adobe Illustrator CS]

=== Links ===

* [http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ Adobe Illustrator Official Site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator Adobe Illustrator at Wikipedia]
* [http://www.inkscape.org/roadmap.php the Inkscape Roadmap] has native support for AI files at milestone 0.45
* An [http://web.syr.edu/~tatoland/illustrator/aimenus.html Introduction to Adobe Illustrator] including screenshots of the menus which I found very useful for reference.

=== License ===

Commercial Proprietary Software.
Retails for roughly $500 USD alone but also available as part of the Adobe Creative Suite.

Although Adobe Photoshop Elements provides a budget alternative to the full price Adobe Photoshop, Adobe makes no attempt to provide any such cut price alternative to Illustrator.

All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners and used here only for review purposes.

[[Category:Developer Discussion]]
[[Category:Other Software]]

Adobe Illustrator

2009-05-24T18:48:07Z

Pokey: /* Links */

Please post links to screenshots and/or insights of this vector graphics application.
We must learn from strengths and mistakes of others.

Adobe Illustrator is one of the most commercially successful vector graphics applications among artists and graphic designers, with [[MacromediaFreehand]] now dead, and [[CorelDraw]] coming in as a distant second. However, the relative strength of various vector editors depends on the market; for example in Russia and some other markets in Europe, [[CorelDraw]] is more common than Illustrator.

We can often learn more from [http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=25166 criticisms of Illustrator] than we can learn from praise, and a Corel Draw user by the name of Guntis make some interesting criticisms of Illustrator, especially the comments about how it fails even to be consistent even with Adobe Photoshop.

See also: [[Inkscape for Adobe Illustrator users]]

=== Sample Files ===

Please consider linking to, or uploading, Illustrator sample file, for which you own the relevant rights.

=== Screenshots ===

* [http://cabbage.ucsd.edu/~phillipsjd/media/adobeIllustrator10-win32/ Adobe Illustrator 10 win32 Screenshots]

* [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~horkana/inkscape/illustrator/Adobe-Illustrator-CS/ Adobe Illustrator CS]

=== Links ===

* [http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ Adobe Illustrator Official Site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator Adobe Illustrator at Wikipedia]
* [http://www.inkscape.org/roadmap.php the Inkscape Roadmap] has native support for AI files at milestone 0.45
* An [http://web.syr.edu/~tatoland/illustrator/aimenus.html Introduction to Adobe Illustrator] including screenshots of the menus which I found very useful for reference.

=== License ===

Commercial Proprietary Software.
Retails for roughly $500 USD alone but also available as part of the Adobe Creative Suite.

Although Adobe Photoshop Elements provides a budget alternative to the full price Adobe Photoshop, Adobe makes no attempt to provide any such cut price alternative to Illustrator.

All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners and used here only for review purposes.

=== Comments ===

Jon Cruz wrote: And there are two other large factors for Adobe's UI design that must be kept in mind:

1) "I don't care if this sucks, we need it thus-and-so so that we can
sell more copies of Photoshop"

2) "who cares how if functions, the marketing department said we need
to do these so they can put it on brochures"

[[Category:Developer Discussion]]
[[Category:Other Software]]

Adobe Illustrator

2009-05-24T18:47:36Z

Pokey: /* Sample Files */ both links dead

Please post links to screenshots and/or insights of this vector graphics application.
We must learn from strengths and mistakes of others.

Adobe Illustrator is one of the most commercially successful vector graphics applications among artists and graphic designers, with [[MacromediaFreehand]] now dead, and [[CorelDraw]] coming in as a distant second. However, the relative strength of various vector editors depends on the market; for example in Russia and some other markets in Europe, [[CorelDraw]] is more common than Illustrator.

We can often learn more from [http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=25166 criticisms of Illustrator] than we can learn from praise, and a Corel Draw user by the name of Guntis make some interesting criticisms of Illustrator, especially the comments about how it fails even to be consistent even with Adobe Photoshop.

See also: [[Inkscape for Adobe Illustrator users]]

=== Sample Files ===

Please consider linking to, or uploading, Illustrator sample file, for which you own the relevant rights.

=== Screenshots ===

* [http://cabbage.ucsd.edu/~phillipsjd/media/adobeIllustrator10-win32/ Adobe Illustrator 10 win32 Screenshots]

* [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~horkana/inkscape/illustrator/Adobe-Illustrator-CS/ Adobe Illustrator CS]

=== Links ===

* [http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ Adobe Illustrator Official Site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator Adobe Illustrator at Wikipedia]
* [http://www.inkscape.org/roadmap.php the Inkscape Roadmap] has native support for AI files at milestone 0.45
Useful [http://web.syr.edu/~tatoland/illustrator/aimenus.html Introduction to Adobe Illustrator] including screenshots of the menus which I found very useful for reference.

=== License ===

Commercial Proprietary Software.
Retails for roughly $500 USD alone but also available as part of the Adobe Creative Suite.

Although Adobe Photoshop Elements provides a budget alternative to the full price Adobe Photoshop, Adobe makes no attempt to provide any such cut price alternative to Illustrator.

All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners and used here only for review purposes.

=== Comments ===

Jon Cruz wrote: And there are two other large factors for Adobe's UI design that must be kept in mind:

1) "I don't care if this sucks, we need it thus-and-so so that we can
sell more copies of Photoshop"

2) "who cares how if functions, the marketing department said we need
to do these so they can put it on brochures"

[[Category:Developer Discussion]]
[[Category:Other Software]]