Posts

Showing posts with the label Inkscape

Use Inkscape to draw snow capped text

Image
Making snow capped text is simple to draw using Inkscape 's Select (S) and Node (N) tools. This post shows the steps to draw the snow capped text on the text Merry . The final drawing is shown in the screenshot below. First thing is to draw the text Merry with the Text (T) tool on the canvas.   Next, using the Bezier (B) tool, draw a straight line to the side.   Adjust the style of the line. Remove the fill and change the stroke paint color to white. Change the stroke join to rounded, cap to rounded. Thicken the stroke width to e.g. 4 pixels.   Select the line and make a duplicate by pressing CTRL-D . Using the Select (S) tool, move the duplicate line to the top of the letter M. Then, click the Node (N) tool. The nodes appear on the line . Press CTRL and drag the right node handle to the left. Repeat the previous steps to duplicate, move the line to the other part of the M letter. Duplicate the line and move it to the top of the letter e. Click the Node (N) ...

Make a snowflake using the Inkscape pen tool

Image
This post shows some steps in using Inkscape to draw a simple snowflake using the Pen , snapping, duplicating and rotation tools. Open Inkscape and create a new document. Click the Snapping icon to ensure that the Toggle Snapping is on. In the toolbar, click the Pen Tool icon or press B on the keyboard. On the drawing page, press down CTRL and draw a horizontal line to represent the main snowflake trunk. If necessary, change the stroke style with the Fill and Stroke pane, e.g. thick blue 10px solid line. Draw the "branches" of the snowflake. Press down CTRL and click a starting point away from the main branch. Then move the cursor towards the main branch. Note : Click the second point when the cursor is snapped to the trunk center line. Use the Selector tool to select all the branches (not the trunk). Press CTRL-D to duplicate the selected branches. Then press V to Flip Vertical the duplicated branches. Finally use the Selector tool to select all the branches and ...

How to clip lines with a polygon using Inkscape

Image
In Inkscape , the Clip function can be used to clip one or more lines with a polygon. The trick is to group all the lines together before clipping as shown in the example below. In Inkscape , select all the vector lines using the Select and transform objects tool (F1) . Select Object | Group . The lines are grouped as one . Now select the polygon. Select Edit | Copy to make a copy of the polygon. Then select Edit | Paste in Place . The polygon is copied and pasted on top of the lines . Now press SHIFT and click to select the group of lines together with the polygon. The polygon and the group of lines are selected . Select Object | Clip | Set . The lines are nicely clipped to the polygon .

Fast method to create a button icon with a 3-D effect using Inkscape

Image
Inkscape can be used to create nice looking button icons with a touch of 3-D like the example on the left. It can be achieved simply by applying a linear fill gradient to the button and a linear gradient to the path's stroke segment on top, with appropriate gradient colors and opacity values; and a little blurring.  The following illustrates how it can be done.  In Inkscape , create a blank document set to a desired output dimension, e.g. 128 by 128 pixels. Click the Create rectangles and squares (F4) icon. Place a rounded rectangle on the canvas. Change the rectangle width an height to the desired values e.g. 96 by 96 pixels. Press CTRL+C . Then press CTRL+ALT+V . A copy of the rounded rectangle is placed on top of the original rectangle . Reduce the dimensions of the copy to e.g. 88 by 88 pixels. In the Align and Distribute pane, set the alignment to be Relative to Page . Then click the Center on horizontal axis and Center on vertical axis icons. The copy is c...

Crop an image with the Fill Pattern command in Inkscape

Image
In Inkscape there is no direct image crop command similar to Photoshop's Image Crop command. But it is still possible to crop an image in Inkscape indirectly using the Fill Pattern command. An example of a cropped image is the screenshot on the right. The example below shows how it is done. Start Inkscape . Drag and drop an image file onto the page. The "image" Input dialog box appears . Click OK . The image is displayed . Use any vector placement commands to draw the cropping boundary e.g. the Create circles, ellipses, arcs (F5) command. Press F1 and select the image. Select Object | Pattern | Objects to Pattern . The image pattern is created . Delete the image. Select the cropping boundary. If the Fill and Stroke pane is not displayed, select Object | Fill and Stroke . The Fill and Stroke pane is displayed . In the Fill tab, click the Pattern icon. If necessary, choose a pattern from the Pattern Fill combo box. The image is displayed cropped within t...