Inkscape 1.0 Released - Open-Source Vector-Graphics App

[lpetrich]

Draw Freely | Inkscape - that software is now at 1.0. It is available for MacOS, Windows, and Linux.

Its MacOS version is different from most earlier MacOS versions -- it is a standalone app, one that behaves like a typical MacOS app, using the top menubar rather than the top of each window, a common practice in Windows and Linux apps. It still has its own open and save dialog boxes, however, rather than using the MacOS's built-in ones.

Previous versions I had to get from open-source repositories. These are big collections of open-source software, available for anyone to download. Here are some MacOS ones:

• The MacPorts Project -- Home
• Fink - Home
• The Missing Package Manager for macOS (or Linux) — Homebrew

I then had to run Inkscape from the command line.

I like it. I've been using it to create diagrams, and to do such things as make maps of the building out of high-speed-rail and urban-transit systems. For the latter, I used its layer feature, drawing each system extension in a separate layer.

• High-speed rail-network growth animations - YouTube
• Urban rail-network growth animations - YouTube

 

[bigfield]

I've been using Inkscape for years for drawing SVG and PNG web graphics and for making mockups of websites. I've also used it for odd jobs like drawing floorplans for a house and some other miscellaneous typesetting.

I'm eager to try out the Trace Bitmap function, and I'm keen to see how much the interface has improved from v0.92 as I find the interface a bit awkward and limited.

v1.0 hasn't made it to the Ubuntu repo yet, so I still have to wait.

 

[J842P]

Maybe now with Adobe switching to a subscription model even more people will be interested in the open source version. I used Inkscape a few years ago for a class on data visualization in grad school. I wasn't an artist or an architect, and the class was taught by the architecture school and had a lot of designers, architects, etc, and it was a really interesting class for a lowly engineer like me. I'm glad Inkspace was there so I didn't have to pay for Illustrator for that class, because I probably just wouldn't have taken it.

Learning about SVG was great, especially when I realized how easy it was to manipulate programmatically with a little bit of JS. The d3.js library is pretty cool too. Together, it lets you do some really powerful stuff.

 

[lpetrich]

Inkscape is a vector-graphics app. It works with graphics at a relatively high level. To make a polygon, one specifies the locations of its vertices, in order around the polygon. One can specify how to fill it, and what kind of stroke for its edges.

One can include image files in an Inkscape file, either linking to them or embedding them as data inside one's Inkscape file.

It uses SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), and SVG images can be directly displayed in most recent web browsers.

In the 1990's, I used Aldus, then Adobe SuperPaint a lot. It could do bother vector and raster graphics. But it didn't make the transition from Classic to OSX.

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On the other side, in raster graphics, one works with graphics as a rectangular grid of color values or pixels. I'd used Adobe Photoshop for a long time, but updating it became rather grossly expensive, so I now use Pixelmator. Still payware, but much less expensive, and still good for what I want to do.

GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program is an open-source raster-graphics app, now at 2.10.18. It's available for Linux, MacOS, and Windows, as a standalone app and in open-source repositories.

Something that I liked in Photoshop and that I miss outside of it is image-effect layers. One can edit those layers' effect parameters without altering the layers beneath them. Pixelmator has a limited amount of support for that feature, and that is still a way off in GIMP. Roadmap - GIMP Developer Wiki says GIMP 3.2

 

[fromderinside]

Haven't done graphis seriously since 1994 when I was an Amiga/Toaster fan. Loved their animation SW. I even had a ring mouse. Never liked MSG interface devises like Track ball.

 

[bigfield]

I've been using Inkscape for years for drawing SVG and PNG web graphics and for making mockups of websites. I've also used it for odd jobs like drawing floorplans for a house and some other miscellaneous typesetting.

I'm eager to try out the Trace Bitmap function, and I'm keen to see how much the interface has improved from v0.92 as I find the interface a bit awkward and limited.

v1.0 hasn't made it to the Ubuntu repo yet, so I still have to wait.

Got it, now.

The Trace Bitmap function is pretty good. Some of the results are unreal. For instance, I imported a picture of a cat and set Trace Bitmap to Multiple Scans > Colors.



I have no idea what I would do with this, but there's definitely potential for some cool image manipulation.

I like the improvements to the user interface.