Inkscape - holy wow!

jsabarese · #1 9th June 2006, 03:10 AM

just wanted to remark that i installed and tried Inkscape today. Although i can appreciate the power of Adobe Illustrator, from the interface standpoint, i could never get the hang of it. Macromedia Freehand, on the other hand, was much more my speed, such that any time i needed to do Vector stuff-- i'd get in there-- but this thing-- this Inkscape-- i couldn't believe how intuitively simple, yet nonetheless powerful is the interface. normally when i do vector stuff in the past, i kinda avoid the pencils and strokes just cause it never seems to work out for me -- and w/out extensive knowledge of how to manipulate the strokes and curves and all that--my vector stuff, aside from elipses and rectangles and text, it always turned out to be more frustrating that fruitful. but today i sat down w/ Inkscape and found myself feeling like a kid in junior-high art class, playing w/ shadow techniques, color blending, 3D esque spherical shapes casting shadows of flat surfaces-- you know the stuff-- for me, that was never really an option in Freehand or Illustrator, but i'm ecstatic that this door has been opened for me by Inkscape. Its developors deserve commendation and huge recognition. i am thoroughly impressed!

thanks!
-js

Thetargos · #2 9th June 2006, 05:33 AM

It will only get better and better... As future releases will support color profiling, which is a big plus for people who actually use the stuff to work and get their works on print. Currently Inkcsape roughly translates CMYK/HSL, as it does on-the-fly translation with sRGB (this is actually a SPEC limitation and not a program's limitiation as such, as the SVG spec is only suitable for on-screen representation, hat is until 1.2 is released)

sailor · #3 9th June 2006, 05:28 PM

Another app you may want to try is SodiPodi...

Thetargos · #4 10th June 2006, 01:01 AM

Actually Inkscape is a fork from SodiPodi, which was deviating from the SVG spec a bit (a lot?). In any case, I believe the SodiPodi project is stalled right now and Inkscape is getting major attention (prove me wrong, please!). In any case Inkscpae's aim is to stick as strictly as possible to the SVG specification.

sailor · #5 10th June 2006, 01:52 AM

I didn't know that ...I have used them both. I do like Inkscapes interface better

Thetargos · #6 10th June 2006, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailor

I didn't know that ...I have used them both. I do like Inkscapes interface better

Yeah, you can even see some XML tags saying sodipodi in there

And this was also said in their ML, IIRC.

Melio · #7 10th June 2006, 03:32 AM

please post a screen shot of apps you review, that'd be really cool for users who never used it that wanna see it.

(just an idea, not an order)

Thetargos · #8 10th June 2006, 03:36 AM

Not a bad idea... But since I don't know which are the official policies regarding images... Which by the way, what are they, Sailor?

**Finalzone** · #9 10th June 2006, 06:23 AM

Use the attachment

Thetargos · #10 10th June 2006, 07:49 AM

Well, here's a screenshot of Inkscape with a project for a sticker I'm working on...

jsabarese · #11 10th June 2006, 06:19 PM

hehe-- that's funny-- looking at that Inkscape interface in the screenshot-- i thought 'man, i gotta get back in there and play some more today!' it's truly fun for me considering i've always felt so clunky w/ Vector stuff.

i didn't really follow what you mean about this and "SodiPodi"?

thanks for the feedback guys!

Melio · #12 11th June 2006, 02:22 AM

I will deffinatly have to mess with this, my wife needs marketing tools like this for her realestate stuff, I.e. photos of houses and decriptions and information under it. she gives em out during open houses..

I'm gonna slip into document "designed using linux" so ppl think "neato"

jsabarese · #13 11th June 2006, 04:16 AM

that's good to hear, Melio! Hey-- maybe if more Linux/Fedora 'newbs' would express their positive, viceral reactions, as did i w/ Inkscape-- the plain and simple "because it just works better for me"... who knows how many more heads may be turned.

every moment i was back on XP last week to do some CFML work, i kept thinking 'man, i've gotta wrap this up... this sucks!'

Hey, quick question for y'all Artists out there-- i made an image... well, really just text, but i fooled around w/ the XML (which btw, is way cool too... hehe), and strokes and gradients (btw i did see the app's name in there too!)-- but once i got the thing looking like i wanted, and wanted to start doing some 3-D stuff to it, i found that perhaps inkscape is limited in that realm? for example-- i couldn' find anything similar to an "Extrude" function, as i liked in FreeHand (macromedia), although admittedly i didn't go through all of the filters- i was excited to get something up to show a friend. where might i go (other than the manual included) to find more ideas for tapping into the ability of Inkscape, and / or general product info stuff on Linux-specific software such as this?

Melio · #14 11th June 2006, 04:40 AM

I never actually used it, just said it looked good and will deffinatly try :P

just wanna clarify that -

Thetargos · #15 11th June 2006, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melio

I never actually used it, just said it looked good and will deffinatly try :P

just wanna clarify that -

A word of advice, when working with pixmaps images, make sure you have the script effects section marked as EXPERIMENTAL in the misc preference tab, restart inkscape, and now you are able to "embed" the pixmaps into the SVG code, so the image will stick. Otherwise it will be a referenced URI to an image somewhere on your drive, and when either the files are changed, this can be affected, and the image not be displayed, especially true if you want to take a piece of work with your and print it/edit it elsewhere.