Libre Graphics Meeting 2011

The call just opened for for all artists and developers in the open source graphics to submit presentation ideas for this year’s Libre Graphics Meeting (LGM)  in Montreal from May 10th  to 13th. To submit a talk proposal, add you idea to the page on the create wiki, or if presenting isn’t your thing, help the conference to remain free for participants by donating to the conference. Interested about what goes on at an LGM? check out all the videos from LGM 2010.

 

 

 

About LGM:

The Libre Graphics Meeting exists to unite and accelerate the efforts behind Free, Libre and Open Source creative software. Since 2006, this annual meeting is the premiere conference for developers, users and supporters of projects such as GIMP, Inkscape, Blender, Krita, Scribus, Hugin, the Open Clipart Library, and the Open Font Library who are gathered to work on interoperability, shared standards, and new ideas. Work at prior LGMs has pushed the state of the art in important areas such as color management, cross-application sharing of assets, and common interchange formats.

Getting Started with Inkscape

OSStatic.com has published a neat little article on getting started with inkscape. Be sure to check it out for a list of some of the best current resources for beginning to learn inkscape.

 

 

quick block arrow inkscape tutorial

Ever wondered how to quickly create a block arrow with inkscape? This quick tutorial shows you how!

creating vector grunge

Create vector grunge in Inkscape with the trace bitmap tool and a photo. A great technique for creating brushes to mask over your vector creations

Web design layout with inkscape

Here is another great tutorial from Josh over at Tucson Labs. In this tutorial, Josh walks you through designing and exporting a webpage layout with inkscape.

Inkscape 0.48.1 Officially Official

The Inkscape development community has announced the availability of Inkscape 0.48.1 bug-fix release. The 0.48.1 Release resolves 82 tickets in the Inkscape Launchpad bug queue, delivering a wide range of bug-fixes, stability improvements and performance enhancements to 0.48, which was released in August 2010. Most notably,

• the stability of the Node tool has been greatly improved,
• the position markers on the rulers are now re-drawn correctly. Fixing the issue of the arrows remaining on the ruler, obscuring the measurements.
• improved export of masks on cairo-based export formats (e.g. PDF export)
• issues with extensions not working on OSX have been fixed

Check out the Release Notes for 0.48.1 and download the new release now! Also, be sure to check out the screenshots page for 0.48 for a refresher on the awesome new features that 0.48 delivered.

Quick Video Tutorial: Neon sign text

Here is a neat, quick and easy tutorial from the screencasters.heathenx.org guys. In this tutorial, they show you a quick way to create a neon sign effect.

simple text effect: outline styling.

here is another awesome tutorial from Troy Sobotka (author of the chrome text tutorial). This tutorial details how to create the following outlined text effect:

Graffiti / Street Art type design

Here is a tutorial to create a vector design in a street art / graffiti style. This tutorial does not go into much detail on each of the steps, is more of a demonstration of the workflow the artist used to create the design. Well worth a look for intermediate and advanced Inkscape users.

Chrome Text Effect using Inkscape SVG filters [video tutorial]

As a follow-on from yesterday’s tutorial, the chrome effect in today’s tutorial is another text effect that utilizes Inkscape SVG filters. We have previously featured a tutorial to created a chrome text effect, but that was achieved using just gradients and blur.

Creating an Inkscape Filter effect to style text

Here is a quick how-to outlining the process to create custom inkscape SVG filters to style text. The tutorial covers the procedure to create a filter for text with a shadow, slightly inset text and raised, super glossy text. The tutorial also has a downloadable SVG so you can open up the image in Inkscape and play with the filters yourself.

inset text / letterpress effect [video tutorial]

 

Here is a video tutorial for creating a letterpress / text inset effect.

More Text Effects in Inkscape

Here is another video tutorial from the ever-awesome screencasters.heathenx.org guys. The tutorial gives you a step by step through 2 simple — yet still impressive — text effects using Inkscape.

inkscape text tricks

This tutorial covers a multitude of hidden inkscape text tricks, including changing the baseline, rotation and kerning (spacing between) individual letters in a text block. All these effects are achieved by manituplating the text object, you can edit the text itself at any time!

Creating an Urban Design using Concentric Circles, Clouds and Spiro Swirls

Here is a neat tutorial showing how to create an urban design by layering different types of vector elements. In this tutorial, you first create a range of concentric circle stamps (or “brushes”), and layer them on top of different coloured cloud silhouettes. Finally, you create a whole bunch of swirls using the spiro curve and path effects.

Libredesign reddit

Did you know that there is a dedicated subreddit just for libre design topics? There is plenty of news and articles on all the best free and open source graphics and design tools.

be sure to check it out!

Shiny Button Tutorial for Inkscape Beginners

We have posted many tutorials in the past covering how to achieve a shiny effect in inkscape. A newbie inkscaper should be able to follow the detailed directions to create a shiny Donate button as a first inkscape project.

Inkscape FAQ: How do I crop in Inkscape?

One of the most frequently asked questions from Inkscape users is “how do i crop an image or object?” The Clipping feature is by far the easiest and most versatile way to crop vector  or bitmap/raster objects in Inkscape. This FAQ provides you with a step by step tutorial covering the basics of clipping.

Let’s start with our little monster friend that i downloaded from the Open Clip Art Library:

Bitmap Images in SVG — Embed or Link?

Here is another  article from Alexandre Prokoudine [blog | twitter] detailing the differences between embedding or linking bitmap images in Inkscape. If you have ever had the red cross and the words “Linked image not found”  show up in your Inkscape projects, then this article is for you.

 

Layer Effects with Inkscape

Alexandre Prokoudine [blog | twitter]  covers creating layer effects with Inkscape. In this detailed article, Alexandre talks you through hand-editing the SVG XML in inkscape to apply filter effects (e.g. Gaussian blur)  on whole layer (rather than on an object or group level).  Note that to achieve this behaviour, you will be diving deep into inkscape SVG internals, so this tutorial is recommended for advanced inkscape users.

Creating a Business Card Template and Basic Business Card with Inkscape

Here is a great tutorial for creating business cards using Inkscape. This tutorial has two main sections.

The first details how to create a printer ready template from a PDF guide using clones and guides. Using clones in this fashion to create a template in inkscape is awesome; once the template is created correctly, the changes that are made to the original populate thoughout the rest of the tempate!

The second section provides a detailed process for creating a basic business card (with a nifty pinstripe background). This portion of the tutorial is a great introduction into basic fill / stroke techniques, pattern fills and text editing and kerning.

Drawing an anime style eye with inkscape

Here is another tutorial from libregraphicsworld describing how it illustrate an eye in the anime style.

Cute Cartoon Animals set [Free Vectors]

Here is a set of free vectors that can be used with Inkscape. These cute animals are available over at  the Open Clip Art Library. There are many more in this style than in the sample below, so head past the break for the entire list of animals in this set. As with all the artwork in the Open Clip Art Library, these SVGs are Public Domain, so you can do pretty much anything with them!

* Updated * Now there is a panda!

 

Inkscape FAQ: Why do my gradients change when I move or resize an object?

The gradient tool in Inkscape is a powerful feature that allows artists to add and edit linear and radial colour gradients on-canvas. Gradients in vector graphics provide the ability to provide the illusion of depth and light to otherwise flat images. When combined with the blur filter, gradients can be used to create photo-realistic vector images.

A Lamborghini Gallardo drawn entirely with Inkscape vectors.

However, having gradients behave strangely when moving or resizing an object is a common issue encountered by Inkscape users.

Drawing a Kokeshi Doll — a tutorial for inkscape beginners

Here is a detailed tutorial on how to draw a japanese style Kokeshi Doll. Syllie provides a super detailed set of steps for the inkscape beginner.