One thing I'll mention is you shouldn't make barcodes red, as they need to still have contrast when illuminated by only red light(many barcode scanners use red LEDs or lasers). Yellow is problematic as well.
Does that really matter? A lot of beverage cans have barcodes where the bars just pass through to the bare aluminium. I think barcode scanners rely on zero crossing/edges, not on specifically having the brighter part be the backdrop. I think UPC scanners will work as long as there is sufficient contrast (in the red spectrum of the emitter) between the background and foreground color/finish of the barcode.
@@microcolonel The issue is using colors that look the same under monochromatic red light. The more contrast there is, the easier it is to scan. Using bare metal as one of the colors can work, but it's not as consistent as black and white because the brightness can change significantly depending on the angle you hold it. This can lead to the metal part reading both brighter and dimmer than the colored part at different parts of the scan.
@@sleepib aluminium cans are a little bit rough, they are essentially retroreflective in the range of angles involved, and when this technique is used on soda cans, the barcode is oriented vertically (so that the scanner can scan the whole code on a single plane). White and slightly deep red should have enough contrast to work with laser scanners.
@@microcolonel I have one of those in front of me, the printing is white, with the bare aluminum being used as the dark color. If the scanner is dead on, the direct reflection off the aluminum will cause a scan failure, but it works at an oblique angle.
Damn, Inkscape has come a long way! When I first used it, I didn’t like it and stuck to illustrator. Looks like I’ll use Inkscape as a compliment to my work process
The great thing about already being an Illustrator user is that you don't have to choose. Inkscape is free so you can use them both, which is what I do personally.
I’ve used Inkscape on and off, it’s good to have an alternative and the good thing is that the improvements are made almost yearly now or every few months.
You might bankrupt yourself funding my Inkscape development work, but please don't. Pay for work to be done on open source code, don't pay over and over for the same work that was done in the past.
@@doctormo Exactly. Why not pay for progress instead of paying over and over again for software that remains the same? You've hit the nail on the head.
Hey Nick, I am a chronic RU-vid watcher. I probably watch 30 videos per evening. I just gotta say you are by far the cheeriest and most lovable presenter on RU-vid. You videos are direct to point with no fluff, but better to that, you make me smile at your presentations. I just love everything about you. Well done you !!! Oh and thank you!!
Inkscape is beautiful and does things Illustrator doesn't do (...and honestly illustrator does things Inkscape doesn't do too...), but I think for now the biggest difference between the two software is stability. Unfortunately there is still no history and the game is unequal, but if development continues at this rate the future will be bright!
We all now know everything that the next versions of illustrator will integrate... Inkscape is such a great software. Your channel is amazing. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
Adobe users wish the development happened that quickly. I think it would take a seismic industry even to cause Adobe to adapt much that's actually useful to most users so quickly. There isn't much incentive for them to do so.
You don't even have to create a custom folder for fonts. Next to the "USER FONTS" directory on the systems page, click "Open" icon to open the pre-existing custom font folder and then simply drag your custom font files to that folder.
@@TheGameMakeGuy yes we can but Adobe's colour wheel is to recolour artworks. If underneath the colour tab we could choose to change the colour bar to a colour wheel, it would be interesting
While Inkscape has the clear advantage, it's totally possible to make isometric grids in Illustrator. If you know how to use Transform it can also be fairly quick. You can create your own guides out of lines, shapes, grids etc. For an iso grid you might start by drawing a straight line using the line tool, use Transform>Rotate to rotate it 60º, use Transform>Move to move and copy the line a specific distance, and then just hit Command or Control D to duplicate it as many times as you need. Then repeat the process for other axes of the grid. Once you build your grids you then select them and choose Make Guides from the Views>Guides menu. Your grid will turn into those cyan colored guide lines that you can snap to as you normally would.
The only problem with Inkscape I've noticed, is it's performance (on Windows at least). Often it responds in weird and slow ways, sometimes even crashing, especially with somewhat bigger projects...
You continue to blow my mind with every other video I am watching from your channel. I have never even considered there being such an option for costum fonts or some of the other functions you have showed here despite surely having seen their names and tabs in Inkscape before.
An example I faced some days ago: drawing a traffic light. 1. draw the base 2. draw one light and some details, and then set all colours as "unset" 3. make 3 clones, and set their locations and positions. 4. adjust the original light's size, which automatically changes the clones sizes as well.
Very interesting to see this comparison. I would have expected a few features in a program like Illustrator that surprisingly aren't there. I also like your disclaimer that no program is "the best", it's all about the choice of tool for the problem at hand.
Inkscape is the future. I sm going to download all your RU-vid Tutorials on Inkscspe and stick with you. Not to sound rude but most guys on RU-vid cant tutor, teach and demonstrate as you do
@@beer1for2break3fast4 I think you can also change the shape of individual pixels, make round corners or something. That's pretty much my understanding
Thank you Nick!! Can you plz do tutorial explaining reapply transformation (Ctrl+Alt+T) then (Ctrl+Alt+D) and examples how this function can be useful. Thanks heaps
Affinity is still vector tho right? Its also pay; Inkscape is free. If you want free raster image software get GIMP with the G'Mic plugin. Those along with Resolve (or a dozen other free editors) will give you a complete free editing package. Adobe thought it'd be good idea for users to rent their software - only if they are top level users. The free & open source apps are becoming just as good!
@@guitarbrad Affinity might as well be free. One payment. They have only charged once for upgrade in over 7 years. It is far better than free as far as performance and professional interface. Also combines vector, raster and desktop publishing all on multiple platforms and devices.
@@guitarbrad I'm not against *buying* software-I don't work for free, nor do I expect others to. I *am* against *renting* software as Adobe requires. Once you stop paying, you can no longer edit, natively, your own files ... your creative work is held hostage. Prior to switching to the *rental model* I was very involved in the Adobe community, heavily promoted their products, and was responsible for Adobe receiving a significant amount of money through regular updates for a Fortune 500 company. Regarding Affinity, no, it is definitely not vector only. The Affinity suite (Designer, Publisher and Photo) all have advanced raster creation/editing capabilities, unlike the Adobe suite. Though there are some serious shortcomings with Affinity, hence my "supplementing" here. However, you are never forced into perpetual *rental* expense or even purchasing future version upgrades. Despite it's limitations, it is a very powerful set of apps, and one that I happily support in the community-and with my money. If/when they add the features they're missing, Adobe will truly have something to be concerned about. As for GIMP, I've never been too thrilled using it, though I know it is very capable. Not familiar with the G'Mic plugin, but at first glance it looks interesting, but I don't think it would benefit my particular needs.
Excellent video thanks Nick. I think your QR code had small squares with slightly rounded corners. You can set sharp corners or the degree of rounding in the QR code settings. (I prefer sharp squares.)
Those appear to be the defaults, which are probably fine for most people, unless you plan on printing it using an ink or surface that behaves differently than expected. I took a screenshot of it on my phone, zoomed in a little by cropping, and the photos app had no problem recognising or decoding it. From memory the QR code spec includes quite robust error correction, due to the nature of its expected use.
There is indeed, no tool panel or palette to create and adjust an isometric grid in Illustrator. However, you can, in fact, still create one in illustrator and set the angles you want. It takes a little setup at first but can be automated using the actions palette and used and adjusted for future projects.
QR codes have error correction built-in just in case it gets scratched or something. So as far as I know you should just be able to draw over it as long as the custom design doesn’t cover too much area and you up the error correction level.
Inkscape grids are awesome, i wish gimp and blender had this much flexibility. Looking forward to radial grids, logarithmic grids, etc some day... sky's the limit
I suspect that if InDesign weren't needed for a lot of relatively complex longer-form docs, many would abandon Adobe altogether. I probably would. Adobe has stopped improving existing software in a meaningful way, leaving huge gaps which have existed for many years - while purchasing companies but still not allowing users to create an a-la-carte suite. Inkscape may not be "better" than Illustrator - I honestly don't know - but NOT being a part of Adobe certainly gives it bonus points.
That is so cool, Nick! Thanks for making this video. I love Inkscape, but it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of brush options compared to Illustrator's brushes. Do you think there's a workaround?
I prefer to use a combination of Affinity for illustration and Inkscape for finishing touches when creating something drawn vs pen tool or shapes. Hope this helps!
I would use Krita for a brush focused art tool. Though I wish we had more brush work in Inkscape, my sponsors (who pay for me to work on Inkscape) have so far never asked me to improve it. Though I think some other devs were looking into the slow response times of the calligraphy tool at least.
when you work in print production, you can tell inkscape sourced art from illustrator sourced art. illustrator pdfs are often trash if the user doesn't understand the print / production processes involved. Inkscape pdfs on the otherhand, are *always* trash, no matter what. inkscape also has pisspoor color management. So that's two things that inkscape cannot (easily) do (well) that illustrator doesn't sweat over. If you're a professional, illustrator is (mostly) worth the cost.
I guarantee the PDFs are going to be trash from Inkscape today. They're being rendered by Cairo, in sRGB, with no color management. In fact all the color management is stripped out when saving, so you end up with the silly situation of a color managed SVG that no one else can read and an sRGB PDF that's as you say... trash. But my work this year is to fix that.
You should change the name to "5 Things I feel Inkscape does better than Illustrator". While I agree the interface feels modern and easier to use than Illustrator, very few of these (barcodes needs a plugin download) that are not in Illustrator. For example, radial repeat under Object>Repeat>Radial (or grid, or mirror) in the Illustrator top menu allows you to do everything you showed in Inkscape. In fact, Illustrator only needs one triangle to start the repeat and then allows the user to modify the number, rotation, etc. as they see fit. I think the main difference is Inkscape is making these tools less opaque than Illustrator. I absolutely applaud the dev teams at Inkscape for doing this. Illustrator needs to modernize and simplify. Inkscape presents their tools to the user much better. That is how you should present these videos. I would agree with you under that presentation.
Can you combine rotation and trace cloning? I want to create halftone 05:37 but using dots that are placed isometrically. Not sure how to achieve that with a single dot.
I am absolutely delighted by your video’s, they are very clear, to the point, cheerful and keep me focused until the end. Thank you so much because I am convinced now leaving commercial software behind.
Meanwhile Inkscape is impressively powerful and I often use it for isometric Illustrations to show relations in complex environments. I never thought Illustrator can’t do isometric grid 🤣🤣🤣
Another great. Ideo. Inkscape I'd free and allows you NOT to be on an endless "rent" (payment) cycle such as with Illudtrator. Comparisons between software tools will always show slight or major differences because they are two different set of tools.inform Inscaoe developers of your desired needs and are how they move along to implement them. I do not hear the same fromIlly folks. Main thing is create and explore and use ... draw freely . . to express yourself. Thanks, Nick.
As I said to my friend, it's not necessary to have a brand or paid products to become a true artist or designer. My best two parts were the cloning part the render part. Thanks Nick!
I need to download the latest version! I've been learning snd using inkscape more often lately and looking for ways to create qr codes! Do you know if the qr codes are dynamic or not?
@@Efraim28 Try editing a PDF for practice. I've used it to do translations/replicas of user's manuals (Eng > Spa) for personal use. Some illustrations were "extracted" thru Inkscape, for others I had to trace them. Scribus' only weakness is tables: even the tutorials say 'nah, make it in Excel or something then import it'. The trick is to have all your elements pre-made and only use Scribus to organize everything.
Inkscape can open .AI files but any Illustrator-specific features won't transfer. Plain vector paths work just fine though. As for saving as .AI, there's no need to. Inkscape SVGs open just fine in Illustrator. I do it all the time.
The AI import project is still ongoing. It is targeting Inkscape 1.4, so you should be able to preserve much more of the document than the hack we currently use to pull out the PDF from the ai file format.
Kind of funny, all the new things Inkscape can do, was possible with CAD a very long time ago, I have done many designs on fusion360 and used the render tool for the past 10 years, so after I do the Designing in CAD, I export to Photo Shop and add all the arty stuff.
Thanks for this video Nick. If only Inkscape had better bevels and other 3D options, I would not use any other design software. It is just that in my designing, I use a lot of bevels.
