Inkscape

Deleting unused space

Asked by Stephen Taylor

I wish to insert pictures into OO Writer/Calc. Is it possible:
a) To save all but a rectangle encompassing the 'picture'?
b) Later to remove the frame so that 'picture' could be altered?

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Marc Stewart (marc.stewart) said : 		#1

When creating your image in Inkscape, put the main 'picture' on one layer, and the 'frame' on another. You can then show and hide them independently as necessary before saving/exporting ready for insertion into your Writer/Calc document.

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Stephen Taylor (dusk) said : 		#2

Forgive my ignorance but how do you do that, ie. what menu as I'm not familiar with the terminology.

Thanks.

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Marc Stewart (marc.stewart) said : 		#3

First open the layers list by going to Layer > Layers... (You can also press Shift+Ctrl+L if you prefer.)
Your default layer will probably be called "Layer 1", but you can change this to something more meaningful by double-clicking the layer name in the list. Put your main picture on this layer.
Create a new layer by clicking the 'plus' icon just below the layer list. (You could press Shift+Ctrl+N instead,) Give the new layer a sensible name like 'frame' and add it above the current layer.
With the frame layer selected, create the frame for your image.
At any point you can click the 'eye' icon to toggle a layer's visibility. This will allow you to see just one layer or the other.

Once you know how to use layers, they change the way you make images. Like their cousin the object group (Object > Group), they make it much easier to create complex images by allowing you to break it into chunks. Try not to get too carried away making sublayers of sublayers though!

The Inkscape manual probably explains things better. And it has pictures too.
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Layers.html

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Stephen Taylor (dusk) said : 		#4

Marc,
That's a great help and function. However, I'm still ignorant of how to create the frame [I haven't been able to locate this term], ie. so that when I 'insert>picture' into another document, only the object appears but without a huge margin of unused A4 space.

Thanks,
Stephen

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su_v (suv-lp) said : 		#5

> so that when I 'insert>picture' into another document, only the
> object appears but without a huge margin of unused A4 space.

Do you mean inserting a PNG file saved in Inkscape? Do not use 'Save as "Cairo PNG"' in Inkscape, use 'File > Export Bitmap...' for high-quality bitmap exports from Inkscape SVG drawings. These exported PNG files will have transparent backgrounds, and on export you can choose between Page | Drawing | Selection.

See also:
<http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/File-Export.html#File-Export-PNG>

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Stephen Taylor (dusk) said : 		#6

Works fine.

Final question. Is there a way of 'framing' just the drawing within a plain SVG file and inserting that as a picture. I realise the quality may not be as good, but it means drawing editing and insertion into a Writer/Calc file can all be done from the same file (quite useful if you want to keep to a manageable number of files).

Thanks,
Stephen

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Best su_v (suv-lp) said : 		#7

> Is there a way of 'framing' just the drawing within a
> plain SVG file and inserting that as a picture.

I'm not sure I understand your question correctly:
a) you can resize the SVG document page to the drawing content (Document Properties > Page > Resize page to content)

b) you can create a 'static' bitmap copy of the vector object(s) which is embedded as raster information in the SVG file (the default resolution used for 'Edit > Make a Bitmap Copy' can be set in 'Inkscape Preferences > Bitmaps')

b) LibreOffice (the new fork of OOo) supports SVG and can import SVG files (though only a smaller portion of the current SVG file format seems currently supported). You can link instead of embed the (Inkscape or Plain) SVG in the Writer/Calc file so that external edits of the SVG file are updated in the Writer/Calc document without the need to delete and re-import a new version of the PNG exported from Inkscape.

If none of these notes answers your question - can you try to describe your intention differently? ;)

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Stephen Taylor (dusk) said : 		#8

Solved,
Thank you,
Stephen