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Beginner Quick Tips

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Jaws
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« on: December 25, 2007, 09:33:48 am »

A couple of quick tips, from a beginner, to the beginner Inkscape artist.

When setting up to work on a new image, I always specify the page size in document properties. No matter if it's going to be a simple banner or something larger, working within a chosen page has a few advantages.

First, you'll aways know where your gradient is.

Unless there's a lock I didn't find yet, a gradient and the object you gave the gradient to are two separate entities, so it's possible to 'lose' your gradient if you move the object. Keeping everything within a page will give you an anchor and you'll know where everything is.

EDIT... Actually the gradient is locked and part of the object. Somehow, I managed to cause it not to be a part of the object, I think, by applying the gradient to the stroke and then deleting the stroke. Somehow it became permanently 'unlocked', even when applying the gradient to the fill.

Second, you can export a page.

I've found that using blur on an object that extends to the edge of the page will shrink what you're giving blur to. This will have the effect that whatever was behind the blurred object, in another layer, will be exposed.

To counteract this, I make the blurred object extend past the edge of the page. Now when you export the finished image you can select 'Page' as the export area. Anything that falls outside of the page gets left out.

Cheers
« Last Edit: January 30, 2008, 10:50:17 am by Jaws » Report Spam   Logged

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Jaws
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« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2007, 10:02:38 am »

First things first, I edited the above tip to reflect how a beginner can screw up a configuration without realizing it.

This tip is...

The nice thing about working in PCLOS, is that you can delete the hidden file  .inkscape  in  /home/<user_name>  and start over. By deleting this file you ARE losing your preferences, but that's how I 'fixed' the problem I was having with the gradient not sticking to the object.

Cheers
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Jaws
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« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2007, 02:43:44 pm »

Starting out with vector drawing and Inkscape, I pretty much thought that using the text tool and shapes tool would be the important functions. Stuff like the PCLOS banner in my sig. Boy, was I wrong.

The pen tool is one powerful tool but its curved line function is a little obscure at first blush, since a few examples show the click and drag to make curves, which I could never figure out.

Forget the click and drag for curved lines, try this quick tutorial...

--> Remember any time you click the left mouse button while the pen tool is selected, you'll place a node. <--

Start out by selecting the pen tool. Click once to place a node, move down and place another node. Now bring the pointer back up and click once more on the starting box. When you're on top of the box it will turn red and this has the effect of finishing this particular pen section.



This is what you'll see after you've finished.



Select the node tool and put the pointer on the lines you've just drawn, you'll see the pointer has a hand next to it. About a third of the way from the top of the lines you've drawn, click, hold and pull to the right and up slightly.



Repeat with the other line and you'll get something like this.



Now it's a matter of pulling on different parts of the curved lines to get the shape you want. Note the handles (small circles). You could use these to adjust your drawing too. I prefer to just drag the lines themselves.



Once you're satisfied with the shape, use the fill and stroke dialog and use a fill color and remove the stroke color if you prefer.



To enhance, tap F1 and with the heart selected, duplicate by using Ctrl + D. While holding the Shift + Ctrl, drag a corner handle in towards the center.

--> Note that Shift + Ctrl has the effect of keeping the proportion and centered. <--



Try giving this layer a opacity of 60 and a blur of 20.



I love Inkscape.

The pen tool is really neat and the things that can be done to manipulate nodes I'm still learning. Comments are welcome.

Happy New Year everyone! Grin Grin Grin

Cheers
« Last Edit: January 04, 2008, 12:39:59 pm by Jaws » Report Spam   Logged
Dai
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« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2008, 02:16:12 pm »

we need more simple tutorials like yours for people to get use to the tools in inkscape.
Have you got anymore of htese tutorials to share with the rest of us.
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geminiguy
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« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2008, 02:58:01 pm »

 It certainly is a nice tut...
 I have to say, it is a true blessing for us to have you both here (Dai and Jaws) Smiley
 This forum already has a good group of artists going, having such a base, will make the rest so much easier as we grow Wink
Thanks guys
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Jaws
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« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2008, 12:45:14 pm »

Thanks Paul, it's an honor to be considered part of the group here, and yes there will be more tuts to come.

Cheers
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