Inkscape

List of questions and software improvements

Asked by Claudio Vallebona

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to clear the following open issues, after having tested the versions 0,48 for Win7, 32 bit and 0,91 for Win7, 64 bit (Win7, Professional SP1 is installed on my computer):

1) when I draw a line (freehand), the result is a path with a big number of anchor points, which make it difficult, to change the shape of the line in a second step. Is this high number of anchor points due to a not very good mathematical equation to define curves? By using other computer programs, a freehand line does not generate so many anchor points.

2) When I paint an object, the software is not able to fill the object exactly, by reaching for example automatically the middle of a freehand line. Are you developing such a function or is it always necessary to match lines and colors manually?

3) By using many types of brushes, the path of a line is often made of a two parallel lines instead of a single path. This could cause problems, if a laser machine has to use your .svg file. Other software packages offer many options to create a path with a single line. Have you already tested the compatibility of your software with numerical control machines such as laser ones? However, I will check it with a laser company.

4) If you make a drawing on paper and then you scan it, a function, which is able to create automatically or very quickly a path, by starting from an existing drawing, could be very useful. Is there such a function in your software? I found only one function, which is able to define a point a two tangents.

5) The visualization about colors and line thickness could be improved. It is not always very easy to understand, which color belongs to which object or function. I am speaking for example about the function to fill objects with colors, which are indicated at the top/right position while in the bottom/left position there is the color of the object. Moreover, the thickness of a line is not always very clear as well, as you have probably to multiply to parameters to understand the real thickness.

I would be grateful, if a could get an answer per email. Thank you in advance.

Best Regards

Claudio Vallebona

Vallebona
Consulting, Engineering, Trading
Spottenberger Weg 12
D-71640 Ludwigsburg
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)7141 2422043
Mobil.: +49 (0) 170 3156047
Fax: +49(0)3222 2456851
email: <email address hidden>

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Revision history for this message
Mc (mc...) said : 		#1

1/ You will notice a "smoothing" parameter in the bar when you draw. More smoothing, less nodes
2/ I don't get it... are you speaking about the "bucket fill" or the regular fill ? Can you link an example ?
3/ Quite a lot of people use inkscape with engraver or cutters and come from time to time in the irc channel
4/ path->trace bitmap, but it does not do centerline tracing, you will have to work a bit with the output
5/ Have you seen the fill and stroke panel ? I'm not so sure what you mean by "top right" though ; and the real thickness is indicated alongside the stroke color, as well as in the fill&stroke panel ?

Revision history for this message
Claudio Vallebona (claudio-p) said : 		#2
Revision history for this message
Claudio Vallebona (claudio-p) said : 		#3
Revision history for this message
Mc (mc...) said : 		#4

1) Unfortunately, during the installation I didn’t find the menu to
choose another language. I wanted to install an English version on my
German computer. The number of node seems to be very high, even though
the smooth parameter is set to the maximal value. This is true for the
“free hand” command CTRL F6. For the” free hand” command F6 it seems to
work. Moreover, if the smoothing parameter is very high (command CTRL
F6) it takes a long time to draw a line. What kind of numerical
algorithm are you using to approximate a free hand line?

2) I am speaking about the bucket fill. By using the “free hand” tool
(ctrl F6). There are always small empties holes. See files
inkskape_test33.svg inkskape_test26.svg. Unfortunately, I did not find a
way to upload these files.

3) answered

4) answered

5) See the file “Inkskape_048_bucket_visualisation_v2”. Do “A” and “B”
visualize the same parameters? I noticed, they are not always the same.
Unfortunately, I did not find a way to upload these files.

------

1/ You can change the language in the preferences (ctrl+shift+p) in "interface".
AFAIK, you can't really draw calligraphic strokes with few nodes(and there is no smoothing parameter for this mode ?), but you can "simplify" the paths afterwards
2/ The bucket fill is a "quick and dirty" way to fill that does not use vector information. It is strongly recommended to use path operations to do an "exact fill"
5/ No attachments on launchpad emails, the usual ways to upload are dropbox, imgh.us and file hosting websites, or the user space in inkscape.org

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