With professional software packages becoming increasingly expensive and many now wanting monthly subscription payments, why not take a look at some of the excellent free open-source alternatives available?
To start with I’ll be looking at Inkscape - a free open-source scalable vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator. That is perfect for T-shirt designs, logos, art for Cricut, digital art, etc.
The big difference between Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) and rasterised images such as digital photos, is that SVGs can be scaled to any size with no loss of quality. The images are created from mathematical descriptions (vectors) and not from dot or pixels, so the same design can be used for a tiny icon or to cover a billboard.
If Inkscape is not what you’re looking for, then subscribe and check back in the near future as I cover more free packages for Video Editing - Animation - Audio - Screen Casting - Office Docs - Image Manipulation - Digital Painting - Desktop Publishing
This is a great video with very clear instructions which I so appreciate. I'm trying to do something similar. However, I'd also like to smooth out some of the signature lines and make them "even" where the signature line is fainter in some places. Is there a way to do that in addition to what was done in this video?
Your videos are so easy to follow. I appreciate it so much. I have an image I created a sticker of. Now I'd like to blur/soften just 2 edges of the image. Can you do a tutorial on that process?
You should be able to use the same process as I used for the balloon image. Create duplicates of the image then use a combination of clipping and masking to create the soft and hard edges. You can also use Filters - Blurs - Feather to soften the edges. Another useful trick to know is that you can apply more than one mask or clip to an image by grouping the image on it's own and then clip the group.
I have been poking around Inkscape a lot more since the upgrade and for some reason I just didn't feel like diving in for the details of how it all worked. It was the length of the tutorials that led me to shorter versions that were not comprehensive enough and I was left with frustration after every attempt to use the software. I recently wasted more time than I needed to correcting vectors in Vcarve Desktop. Several iterations later and still not what I wanted. Working with a logo a customer brought me that was a complete hand drawn mess. I needed to convert it so I tried every other way I possibly could. Each time I was left disappointed by the result. Trace Bitmap. Sounds great!! Over and over and still not quite what I wanted. Hand correcting hundreds of nodes and just getting burned out by it. Eyes glossy from looking at that shit too long. So today I made some coffee which at noon will turn into beers. Popped my ass into the students chair at 9 this morning and made a decision to find a tutorial that could move me from taking eons correcting software interpretations of vectors from a bitmap. To firing up Inkscape and using the pen tablet to just draw the thing correctly from the start. I managed to get the logo corrected the old way but it's the last time I'm taking that route. I told the customer I would have them done Friday possibly Saturday. I didn't finish cutting with the CNC until yesterday which was Tuesday. The time I spent trying to avoid sitting here listening, and paying attention to a... How long is this one?? 32 minutes!! I don't have time for that!! Let me just keep moving these dots around. I'll get it right! Man.. I am gonna have so much more time to get other shit done now that I found this tutorial. A first step in the art of tracing or drawing whatever you need to get from paper or your head to a vector image is learning how to use the pen tool. Thank you for making this tutorial. With Inkscape and my new found skills I'm gonna start kicking some ass here!!!
Very helpful! Is there a way to fix a node of a line? Say, to fix one end of a line to be always locked on the center of a circle (even if I change the size of the line)?
You can only scale in one direction from the oposite side or around the centre, I don't think there is a simple way to scale from the rotational centre which would be handy. But that said, where there's a will there's a way. It's abit of a work around but you could do it like this: Use the selection tool to select the obect you want to fix at a set point, click on it again to bring up the rotation handles and the rotational centre, you can then move the rotational centre to the point you want to fix. If you are likely to be scaling around the point repeatedly you could do it like this. With the shape or line selected press Ctrl +D to duplicate it. then flip the duplicate horizontally and then vertically. In the Fill and Stroke dialog box reduce the opacity to 0, then hold down Shift and select the the original object and group them together. Because of the way we flipped the duplicate before grouping the 2 together, the centre of the group is at the rotational centre of the original shape, so if you hold down Shift when scaling it will scale the original shape from it's rotational centre (the centre of the group). When you are happy with the result you can always ungroup and delete the duplicate. Hopefully that made sence, if not give it a go anyway it should work.
Hi, do you know how to do that - 1st page is separate and 1-2 side by side in a PDF default view? >>1 page<< >>2page<<>>3page<< >>4page<<>>6page<< I need this for the online view of the pdf. Thank you
You can either export your finished image and then print it or print the page straight from Inkscape - you will need to make sure your image in the correct position on you page before printing.
Assista esse vídeo, está em inglês mas você deve conseguir acompanhar o que ele faz para traduzir as legendas ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZnoxutAvyaI.html
not going to lie but you went way to fast when you were showing the clip. that part is literally impossible right now to do for me as it just wont let me and always cuts to a white object.
Try watching the full video where I talk you through the whole process, the Short is just a speeded up version. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XHkXzOfKOqY.html
using inkscape 1.3, and following this tut, i just cant make it work properly; i did make sure layer and letter names are a match. anyway, thx for sharing, have fun, aum EDIT: figured it out, need to convert 'stroke to path' for circle, and 'object to path' for an existing letter / text, then select layer ... union ... get curves ... takes some trial & error, which is, btw, my middle name. lol
Glad to hear you got it working in the end. Using predifined shapes instead of paths can cause issues with a few of Inkscapes tools and functions. As you said, using Stoke to Path or Object to Path can fix a lot of issues. Thanks for adding the update
This video was excellent! I have been using inkscape for years and have got into many bad habits and old methods of doing things, Only recently I updated my inkscape and then I tried to view the first page of a pdf manual and to my surprise up popped pages of the pdf. I was quite surprised. After a quick google I came accress your video, thanks for the introduction to yet another great feature of inkscape. I am really quite ashamed that I had not realised this was available since I have been making graphics and animation's and drawings using inkscape allready great features. Thanks again. Terriffic !!!
Hi, I am trying to convert a pdf to vector so I can edit on autocad. For some reason I am only getting a small viewport and not the whole drawing in my preview box could offer any advice please. Thanks
Sorry for the late response. Perhaps the image is cut into section in the pdf, one way around this is to make a bitmap copy of the sections you want to convert to a vector. If you want your bitmap copy to be a high resolution you can got to Edit - Preferences - Imported Images and set the Create - make bitmap copy resolution to say 300 dpi (print quality) Then select all the sections of the pdf that you want to create a copy of and go to Edit - Make a bitmap copy. You should then have a png copy that you can use Trace Bitmap on. You may find the elements of the pdf are grouped together so you may need to ungroup a few time so you can select only the parts that you want to copy.
I'm so glad I clicked on this video! I've been using inkscape for a couple of years and I haven't been able to create complicated designs. This really helps!
Just want to thank you for this video, I have watched sooo many Path's video until I am blue. Finally, you show while doing the Path - Difference, one simply routine that ensures success. In video at time 9:11 the Circle must be on TOP and the Rectangle must be BELOW the Circle. OBJECT TO BE SUBSTRACTED MUST BE RAISE TO TOP AND NOW THE PATH - DIFFERENCE OPTION WILL WORK FOR ME. I have been modifying and modifying and modifying, No More Now Thanks To You.
Thanks for sharing. To me Gimps layer system is a bit more intuitive. I spent a lot of time on Gimp before trying inkskape. I'm dragging in different UV maps from airplane sections that I don't want to paint over. The UV map simply put is a 2d map of airplane sections taken from a 3d aircraft. In Gimp I go to file and open each UV map as a layer then add a layer to paint on. And the entire plane will end up on one .png to be loaded into Phoenix RC flight simulator to give it its paint scheme. When painting with the bezier pen it creates a new path every time I use it to paint a different section where Gimp would keep that on the same layer.
In Inkscape the layers aren't so important, unlike in GIMP and other bitmap editors where you are basically painting on the layer, vector graphics editors store each element of your project separately. So if you did draw a line across you UV map in the same layer they are still separate objects so you can move/edit/delete the line without effecting the UV map. It is only when you export the final image as a png that it all becomes 'fixed' because you are exporting the image as a bitmap. If you open the 'Layers and Objects' dialog: Object - Layers and Objects, you get a hierarchical representation of all the elements of your project. So you have the layers and then all the elements that are on that layer. You can toggle the visibility of layers and objects and also lock them so they can not be selected or effected. I hope the custom paint job goes well :-) You can group the individual paths when you've finished so you can move them as one.
I'm not 100% sure what you mean so here are some options that should help. If you want the command bar to be at the top of the screen - which has a button to bring up the export dialog among other things go to View and uncheck the Wide screen option at the bottom. If your Export dialog box is floating around in it's own box and you want it docked again at the side. If you look in the floating Dialog box you will see a Tab with Export on it, inside the box near the top, drag that Tab (not the top of the floating box) up next to a docked dialog Tabs (if you have a docked dialog box open), which should dock it. If you don't have one open or want it on the other side then drag the Tab to the side you want to dock it, a blue vertical line should become visible to the side of the canvas, it should become wide when you hover over it, drop the Tab and it should dock to that side. If you want it floating again, just drag the Tab out again. Hope this helps!
Great video! My problem is when I open the trace bitmap feature nothing happens! On another computer I would see the similar image in the background. Not on my new computer?? Any suggestions ??
Sounds like a glitch, when I've had problems like that I've uninstalled and reinstall Inkscape to hopefully fix the problem. Lets us know how you get on
I recently cleared my inkscape and went to the 132 type. I still don't see how it used to look like but I have a window at the side which says trace bitmap. I guess i am getting warmer!@@CreateForFree
Hello, your tutorials are excellent and easy to assimilate.. Can you do a tutorial on all possible dimensions, offset dimensions, angle dimensions, radius, diameter etc... thanks in advance... * Serge ** from LYON (France) 😊😊😊
Hi Serge, that does sound like a good topic for a video. Until I get around to making it you may find these videos helpful: Inkscape Transform Panel ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BMg29D9uhDI.html Exact Triangle Inkscape ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FbcoorMTlys.html Guides Inkscape Tutorial ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YVrbFnITxAA.html Also if you use the path effect Offset you can set exact offsets.
As well as the offsets described in the video, there is also a a path effect for offsets. Path - Path Effects to open the dialog box. With the path selected that you want to offset, click on the triangle beside 'Add Live Path effect', choose Offset from the list. You will then be able to choose the type of joint - so you can have corners mitered or rounded, choose your units and set an exact offset. This is a Path effect, so if you want to make the offset permanent, use Path - Object to Path.
extension>render?triangle always tells me that the script didn't return an error but will do something unexpected and it never does anything. can't make a side side side triangle at all
Sounds like a glitch with the software, I've got 1.3.2 and I just checked it and it's working fine. Maybe try resetting Inkscape preferences. Edit - Preferences - System then press Reset Preference - close Inkscape and reopen it - this should reset things that have been changed, so it will be like opening Inkscape for the first time. If that doesn't work, try uninstalling Inkscape and reinstalling from inkscape.org. Hopefully that will sort it.
@@CreateForFree yes. a glitch. I say here and now, inkscape is a great project. if there are problems which aren't solved instantly, it's ok. so many things have been visibly done right, nothing is perfect, it's a great project.
There is a tool for adding connectors between shapes but I think you will have better control creating your links manually. I would use grids to lay out your genogram View - Page Grid. This will add a grid to your page (not visible when printing or exporting) that you can snap to. In the spanning menu at the top right corner, click on the drop down menu, select advanced if it is on basic, then you can enable snapping to grids and snapping to paths and snap to mid points, so when you draw your shapes you can snap the mid points to the grid and when you draw your connectors you can snap to the edge of a shape and to the grid (if you find you are snapping to everything, turn off some of the other options). You may also find holding down control helpful when drawing connectors or positioning shape as it will restrict movement to vertical or horizontal. I have a video on Snapping but not one on grids - yet.
