Release notes/1.4

These Release Notes are in Draft Status. Note: Not all animations work, due to Wiki bugs with resizing images. Release notes will be transferred to website, there animations will be working. Important Links: Commit History Main Program (starting from: May 16, 2023) Commit History Extensions (starting from: xxx) Commit History Documentation (starting from: xxx)

Pending questions: https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/4792#note_1756882987 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/9927 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/5624#note_1811268608 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/5624#note_1811278902 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/5624#note_1811314811 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/5375#note_1811566143 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/5375#note_1811572924 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/10110 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/6166#note_1819990716 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/10111 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/10112 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/10113 https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/5993#note_1820038476

Tools

Spray Tool

The Spray Tool now shows an outline preview of the next item that it is going to spray, including its shape, rotation and size. The preview is only visible when the tool is not currently spraying. That way, you can choose where to place the next item (with a single click instead of holding the mouse button down, MR #5375).

[needs video]

Import / Export

PDF Export

PDF export now supports internal links (going from one part of the file to another part of the same file, weblinks were supported since Inkscape 1.0). This can be used for creating Tables of Contents, for example (MR #5237).

Dialogs

Add Layer

The 'Add Layer' dialog now shows the three available options all written out directly as radio buttons, instead of hiding them behind a drop-down selection (MR #5074).

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Filter Gallery

The Filter Gallery can be found in the Filters menu. It shows a scrollable (and hideable) list of all filter categories, and a preview image for each filter, applied to a colorful flower image. Your own filters will appear in the category indicated in your filter file, or, if there isn't any, in the Personal category. Inkscape looks for them in a folder named filters in the folder indicated at Edit ➞ Preferences ➞ System: User config. Some community-contributed files for trying this out can be found in our website's gallery (Bug UX#208, MR #5448).

[needs image / video]

Extension Gallery

When you want to quickly get an overview which extensions are available to you, you can now browse your Inkscape extensions in a gallery similar to the Filters' one.

You can use the search field to quickly find the extension you need. The size of the icons is adjustable. They are currently all still identical placeholders, and we invite you to join us if you'd like to help. The menu categories can be hidden if you do not need them.

When you hover over an extension, the dialog shows you a small info text with either the menu path to the extension, or a description (MR #5448).

[needs image / video]

Export dialog

Each of the two tabs of the dialog (single file, batch export) now features a little icon in addition to the text (Bug #4338, MR #6166).

[needs screenshot]

Create Anchor (Hyperlink) / Object Properties

To make it easier to select an element in the drawing to link to, a button has been added to the side of the field where the target object's id or the external link must be inserted (Href).

When you click on that button, your mouse cursor will transform into a little hand icon. When the hand hovers over any object or over an empty area of the page, a small indicator text will tell you the id of that object or page. Clicking on the object will automatically insert that object's id into the href field. That way, you do not need to use the Objects or XML dialog to look up the internal identifier of the object you want to link to (MR #5221)

Document properties

Scale lock

A new toggle button that allows you to change the document's scale without changing the size of its contents has been added (MR #5993).

[needs image, and a description of why that is useful]

Grids

The grids subsection in the Document Properties dialog has been overhauled with new grid selector buttons, which automatically add the selected type of grid to the drawing when pressed.

Modular Grids

A new grid type was added that consists of rectangles with optional gaps in between.

Height, width, horizontal and vertical gap (also negative for overlapping modules) can be adjusted separately. Each grid module (rectangle) can have its own margin set (negative values for inside margin, positive values for outside margin).

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Axonometric grids

The angles of axonometric grids can now also be set by indicating the ratio between the height and width of the rhombus shape that is formed by it. A common angle for isometric games, for example, is 2:1, corresponding to angles like 26,565051 which are difficult to set exactly without the ratio option (MR #6132).

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Fill and Stroke

Pattern editor

For users who prefer to have more control when setting the gap between pattern elements, an option has been added to use numerical entry fields (Gap control: precise) instead of the sliders (Gap control: mouse friendly). This allows to add gaps smaller than 20% of the pattern width, in 0.1% steps (and also values larger than 32040%, in case you ever need that pattern rarity! MR #5484).

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Layers and Objects

The 'Add layer' button no longer opens the Add layer dialog, but has been replaced by a button called 'Add layer above' which adds a new layer on top of the currently selected one (MR #5074).

Object properties dialog

Attributes dialog subsumed "object properties" as a subdialog and got renamed to "Object Properties". Old name "Object Attributes" has been removed and all places referring to it got updated.

Added path data editing panel to former object attributes dialog to complement existing element-specific panels. This is another step toward ux#203.

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/6173

Symbols

• Added two new symbol sets, with Sci-Fi and Nature symbols (MR #4792)

Customization / Theming

Customizable Handles

The size, color, stroke-width, outline and opacity of on-canvas handles can now be customized, and their shape can be selected from a set of available handle shapes, by copying the CSS file at inkscape/share/ui/node-handles.css into the folder indicated at Edit ➞ Preferences ➞ System: User UI and modifying it. Handles will be updated live in Inkscape as when the file has been saved (MR #5624).

Extensions

Some improvements to memory management are made in the extension system.

• The extension objects, which used to be carelessly allocated on the heap and left there to leak are now owned by the "Extension database".
• A memory issue with the ImageMagick extension is fixed: the memory was allocated with array new but freed with non-array delete. Previously this issue was never seen because the destructor was not called, now it is not seen because we use std::vector instead of calling new and delete manually.

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/6109

Command line

• Many new actions have been added to allow editing SVG files and customizing export files. These are also available from the Command palette:
  • Set the document's SVG version to 1.1
  • Set the document's SVG version to 2.0
  • Remove any Inkscape-specific SVG data
  • Remove any known proprietary SVG data
  • Remove auto start positions from markers
  • Remove all transforms from all shapes
  • Remove context paints from markers
  • Replace SVG2 text with SVG1.1 text
  • Insert JavaScript for rendering meshes (polyfill)
  • Insert JavaScript for rendering hatches (polyfill)
  • Recursively unlink all clones and symbols
  • Turn all shapes recursively into path elements
  • Turn all strokes recursively into fill-only paths
  • Make all paths absolute and predictable
  • Add bounding box information to all shapes: adds inkscape:visualbox and inkscape:geometricbox attributes
  • Add shape path information to all shapes: adds inkscape:d attribute
  • Remove unused definitions (gradients, etc.)

Bugfixes

• The snap indicator text no longer flickers when object bounding box and path are in the same location (e.g. borders of a rectangular path) (Bug #4399, MR #6157).
• Clones no longer vanish when their original path is being edited with the Shape Builder Tool (Bug #4682, MR #6131).
• Bump filters and Bevels filters (about 25 different filters) now look again as they were intended, with banding and artifacts much reduced (MR #6190, MR #6162).
• The settings 'Better' and 'Best' for rendering filters now are different again, and 'Better' is a bit faster now (Bug #4722, MR #6133).

Fix Stroke-to-Path on combined paths

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/6122

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/6100

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/6067

Translations

Contributing to interface translations

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Other releases

• Inkscape 1.4 — development branch
• Inkscape 1.3 — current stable release branch (1.3.1, 1.3.2 next bugfix release)
• Inkscape 1.2 (1.2.1, 1.2.2)
• Inkscape 1.1 (1.1.1, 1.1.2)
• Inkscape 1.0 (1.0.1, 1.0.2)
• Inkscape 0.92 (0.92.1, 0.92.2, 0.92.3, 0.92.4, 0.92.5)
• Inkscape 0.91
• Inkscape 0.48 (0.48.1, 0.48.2, 0.48.3, 0.48.4, 0.48.5)
• Inkscape 0.47
• Inkscape 0.46
• Inkscape 0.45
• Inkscape 0.44
• Inkscape 0.43
• Inkscape 0.42
• Inkscape 0.41
• Inkscape 0.40
• Inkscape 0.39
• Inkscape 0.38
• Inkscape 0.37
• Inkscape 0.36
• Inkscape 0.35