Inkscape

When I import an image to edit, I am not able to select and edit individual components of the image

Asked by katie

I am new to InkScape and am trying to import a graph to edit. I've tried importing the image as a pdf, bmp, jpg, png. I need to select individual elements of the graph to move and edit. People who have used Inkscape have told me to ungroup the image, but that doesn't do anything. I've tried to convert the object to a path as well and that also doesn't do anything. How do I import the image and what steps must I take to convert the image into individual elements that I can select and edit independently?
Thanks!

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Hachmann
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Best Hachmann (marenhachmann) said : 		#1

Hi Katie,

it seems that you're importing a pixel-based graphic into a vector graphics editor and expect it to magically turn into a vector-based graphic.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

Pixel-based images, like bmp, jpg or png only consist of a grid of colored dots, aka pixels. There is no information in the file about any kind of 'object', like a graph, or text. It's just a 'photo' of those, but not the actual objects themselves.

Inkscape, on the other hand, can only work with objects (like text, lines, curves, circles, rectangles,...) if they actually exist in the data that you import. To edit those objects with Inkscape, they need to be vector data. That means that the data contains descriptions of all the objects that are contained in the file, for example, for a circle, it contains info about its color, radius and center point. For a text, it contains info about the letters, the font, the font size and its color, etc. A pixel-based image just holds info about the color of the dots that it's composed of.

So what you need to do is to either:

- try to get hold of a vector version of the file you're trying to import (e.g. ai, svg, eps files with vector info - note: all these file types can also hold pixel data).

- create a vector version from the pixel data you have, by either manually or automatically tracing the picture.
For manual tracing, you'll need to learn more about how to use the Bézier tool, and for automated tracing, you can take a look at the tutorial that comes with Inkscape, see Help -> Tutorials -> Tracing.

Hope this helps to explain the issue and helps you to get started.

Kind Regards,
 Maren

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katie (katiehillsa) said : 		#2

Hi Maren,

Thanks so much for your response. This is exactly what I thought the problem was, since I know the formats of most images don't allow you to magically select and move things around. The person who showed me how to use Inkscape said he simply imported his images as PDFs, ungrouped and was able to edit, but I'm guessing he wasn't actually using PDFs.

I've managed to get hold of the new version of SigmaPlot, which allows me to export my graphs as svg files, so I'm back on track.

Thanks for the help!

Katie

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katie (katiehillsa) said : 		#3

Thanks Hachmann, that solved my question.

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Hachmann (marenhachmann) said : 		#4

Ah, that's the optimal way, then :)

Just FYI:

The pdf file format, just like svg, ai or eps, can hold both kinds of data, vector and raster (and more, like form fields, and 3D objects). So it may work for some pdfs, but not for all, depending upon what is in them.

Regards,
 Maren