Inkscape

Inkscape

Type	Vector image editor
Initial Release	November 2, 2003
Developer	Inkscape's Contributors
Git	gitlab.com/inkscape
Written in	C++, Python (extensions)
License	GPLv2+, binaries GPLv3+
Website	inkscape.org

Inkscape is a free vector graphics editor licensed under GNU GPL. This software can be used to create or edit vector graphics such as illustrations, diagrams, line arts, charts, logos etc. Its stated goal is to become a powerful graphics tool while being fully compliant with the XML, SVG, and CSS standards.

1 History

Inkscape began in 2003 as a code fork of the Sodipodi project. Sodipodi, developed since 1999, was itself based on Raph Levien's Gill (GNOME Illustration Application). Following the fork, Inkscape's developers changed it greatly: they changed the programming language from C to C++; adopted the GTK+ toolkit C++ bindings (gtkmm); redesigned its user interface, and added a number of new features. Notably, Inkscape's implementation of the SVG standard, although incomplete, has shown gradual improvement.

1.1 Rendering

For a long time, unlike many other GTK+ applications, Inkscape used its own rendering library to create graphics, called libnr. From version 0.91 on, Inkscape uses Cairo to render graphics, which brought a significant increase in rendering speed of the application.

2 File formats

Inkscape's primary format is SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) version 1.1, meaning that it can create and edit with the abilities and within the constraints of this format. Any other format must either be imported (converted to SVG) or exported (converted from SVG). The SVG format is using the CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) standard internally. Inkscape's implementation of SVG and CSS standards is incomplete. Most notably, it does not support animation natively. Inkscape has multilingual support, particularly for complex scripts.

Action	File Formats
Native import	AI, CRD, VSD, PDF, SVGZ
Raster import	JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP
Import with aid of extension	UniConvertor: GCM, SK1 GhostScript: EPS, PS Other: DIA, FIG
Native export	EPS, XFG, HPGL, TEX, HTMP5 Canvas, PDF, PS, POV, SIF, XAML

3 Extensions

Inkscape has an official extensions repository. You can choose version of Inkscape, license and type of extension.

How to install extensions, list of extensions and other details described here.

4 Troubleshooting

4.1 Tooltips unreadable with KDE Plasma

Under KDE's system settings go to colors > options and disable "Apply colors to non-QT-applications". Restart Inkscape if was running before the change.

4.2 Pan using spacebar and mouse does not work

By default, libinput disables the mousepad when typing. You can disable this by adding the following line to the InputClass section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf:

Section "InputClass"
    ...
    ...
    Option "DisableWhileTyping" "0"
EndSection

4.3 Cannot change keyboard shortcuts

To be able to change keyboard shortcuts, create a copy of the shortcut file that you can edit with commands described below and restart the application.

mkdir -p ~/.config/inkscape/keys

cp /usr/share/inkscape/keys/default.xml ~/.config/inkscape/keys/

5 See also

• Official extension repository
• Developing Inkscape
• Learning Inkscape
• Inkscape community
• forum.inkscapecommunity.com
• Inkscape wiki

6 Acknowledgement

This wiki article is based on ArchWiki. We may have removed non-FSDG bits from it.

This wiki article is based on Wikipedia. We may have removed non-FSDG bits from it.