Tutorial Inkscape

 Tool Box

Tool Box contains �Tools� for selecting, drawing, or modifying objects (Fig.1).

Fig.1

Select and Transform objects

To activate, click on the icon in the Tool Box or use the keyboard shortcut F1.

Edit Path or control handless

This flexible tool enables the addition, deletion and movement of nodes. To activate, click on the icon in the Node Box or use the keyboard shortcut F2. Then click on the path you wish to edit. All of the path's nodes will be shown.

Zoom in or out

The canvas can be zoomed in and out in many ways. One of the ways: click on the canvas with the Zoom Tool or use the keyboard shortcut F3. To zoom in around the cursor by a factor of 1.41 (twice will give a factor of 2 zoom). Shift click to zoom out.

Create rectangles and squares

The Rectangle Tool allows drawing rectangles and squares. To draw a rectangle or square, click on the icon in the Rectangle Tool or use the keyboard shortcut F4. To draw a rectangle, use a Left Mouse Drag from one corner to the opposite corner. To force a square to be drawn, hold down the Ctrl while dragging the mouse. This also allows rectangles with an integer height to width or width to height ratio to be drawn. Holding the Shift key down while dragging will create a rectangle centred around the starting point.

Create circles, ellipses and arcs

The Ellipse Tool allows drawing ellipses, circles, and arcs. To draw an ellipse, circle or arc, click on the icon in the Ellipse Tool or use the keyboard shortcut F5. To draw an ellipse or arc, use a Left Mouse Drag. An ellipse will be drawn with the sides touching a rectangular box defined by the starting and stopping points of the drag. To force a circle to be drawn, hold down the Ctrl while dragging the mouse. This also allows ellipses with an integer height to width or width to height ratio to be drawn. Holding the Shift key down while dragging will create an ellipse centred on the starting point.

Create stars and polygons

The Star Tool can be used to draw regular polygons and stars. To draw a regular polygon or star, click on the icon in the Star Tool or use the keyboard shortcut Shift-F9 or *. To draw a polygon or star, use a Left Mouse Drag. A star will be drawn with the center at the starting point of the drag and one vertex at the ending point of the drag. The vertex can be forced to be at a multiple of the Rotation snap angle (15 degrees by default) by holding down the Ctrl key during the drag.

Create spirals

The Spiral Tool can be used to draw spirals. To draw a spiral, click on the icon in the Spiral Tool or use the keyboard shortcut F9 or i. To draw a spiral, use a Left Mouse Drag. The start of the drag will be the spiral's center. Holding the Ctrl key down while dragging will constrain the position of the spiral end point to a multiple of the Rotation snap angle (default 15 degrees).

Draw freehands lines

The Freehand Tool can be used to draw a path. To draw a path, click on the icon in the Freehand Tool or use the keyboard shortcut F6 or p. To draw a path, click-drag the mouse over the canvas to draw a line. Holding the Shift key down while drawing temporary disables nodes snapping to the Grid or Guide Lines.

Draw Bezier curves and straight lines

The Bezier Tool can be used to draw a Bezier path. To draw a Bezier path, click on the icon in the Bezier Tool or use the keyboard shortcut Shift-F6 or b. To begin to draw a curve, click-drag on the canvas. The point where you click becomes the end point or node of the curve. As you drag the cursor you'll see a blue line between the end point and the cursor. This line is a tangent to your curve at the end point. Release the mouse button to establish the first control point.

Draw calligraphic lines

The Calligraphy Tool can be used to draw calligraphic lines. To draw a calligraphic line, click on the icon in the Calligraphy Tool or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-F6 or c. To begin to draw a calligraphic line, click-drag the mouse over the canvas to draw a line. The line will have by default the Current style. You can choose to draw all lines with a fixed style by selecting the This tool's own style option under the Calligraphy section in the Inkscape Preferences dialog. If you turn off the Keep selected option in the dialog, a newly drawn object will not remain selected; you can then choose a color from the Palette for the next calligraphic stroke without changing the color of the previously drawn stroke.

Create and edit text objects

The Text Tool can be used for creating of text. To create text, click on the icon in the Text Tool or use the keyboard shortcut F8 or t. There are two ways to add text to an Inkscape drawing. The first is as a regular text. In this case, as text is typed, the text box grows to accommodate the text. Line breaks must be manually added. The second way to enter text is as a flowed text object. The text is typed into a presized rectangular text box. Line breaks are automatically made. Once the text fills the box, no more text can be entered unless the box is enlarged. The flowed text object includes both the box and text and thus can be moved and transformed.

Create connectors

The Connector Tool can be used to create connectors. Connectors are lines that �connect� objects, useful for drawing organization charts or flow diagrams. For creating a connector, click on the icon in the Connector Tool or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-F2 or o. Then click-drag the mouse from one point on the canvas to another. When the pointer is over an object, a Connection handle is shown in the center of the object. Beginning or ending the click-drag on one of these handles will attach the connector to the corresponding object. Alternatively, one can begin a connector by clicking on an empty point on the canvas or on a Connection handle and end the connector by a second click.

Create and edit gradients

The Gradient Tool can be used to create objects� gradient fill. Gradients are a smooth blending from one color to another. Gradients can be used to build up a complex shading of an object as it is shown in the flower petal below. To create object gradient fill, click on the icon in the Gradient Tool or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-F1 or g.

Pick averaged colors from image

The Dropper Tool is used to grab an existing color in the drawing. To grab an existing color in the drawing, click on the icon in the Dropper Tool or use the keyboard shortcut F7 or d. Finally click with the Dropper Tool on the desired color. The Shift causes the chosen color to be applied to the object's Stroke paint rather than the Fill. The Alt causes the inverse color to be applied. The Shift and Alt keys can be used in combination. However, neither of the modifier keys is useful when copying a color to the clipboard.