How do you rotate in inkscape?

How do i rotate is one of the most frequently asked questions for beginner Inkscape users. There are multiple ways to rotate in inkscape, and this FAQ will show you the basics for four of them. The three different ways for rotating objects are: the toolbar buttons, the on-canvas rotation handles, transform dialog, and the keyboard shortcuts.

Method 1, the toolbar buttons

Rotating with the toolbar buttons only lets you rotate objects 90 degrees at a time. To rotate with the toolbar buttons, first choose the select tool:

Next, select the object that you want to rotate by simply clicking on it. Once you have clicked on the group once, arrows  and a dotted line should appear around the object:

Finally, press the rotate button on the toolbar to rotate your selection in 90 degree increments.

Method 2, Rotate on Canvas

Using the toolbar buttons to rotate objects in inkscape is by far the easiest method to discover. However, it only lets you rotate in 90 degree increments.

For a wider range of motion, using the on-canvas rotate handles is the way to go. As with the previous method, choose the select tool, and then select the object that you wish to rotate. The select box and handles should appear as before:

Now that the resize handles are visible, simply click on the object again to display the rotate handles:

Now that the rotate handles are visible, simply click on one of them, and drag it to rotate your object freely.

Method 3, the Transform dialog.

The free rotate that the on-canvas rotate controls (method 2) give are great, but what if you need more accurate control? When using method 2, you can hold down the ctrl key to limit the rotation to 15 degree increments, but what if you want to rotate the object by a specific, arbitary amount?

That is where the transform dialog comes in. First, as with the other methods, select the object that you want to rotate. Then open the transform dialog from the menu, Object > Transform.

Switch to the “Rotate” tab of the newly opened Transform Dialog, enter in how many degrees you need your object rotated, and click apply to rotate.

Method 4, the keyboard shortcuts

This method is super simple. Select the object(s) that you wish to rotate, and press the square brackets key( [ or ]  ) to rotate left and right by chunks.

For finer-grained rotation with the keyboard shortcuts, use the shortcuts alt + [ and alt + ] to rotate one degree at a time.

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The four methods above outline the basics of rotating objects in inkscape. For further information about rotating and transforming objects in Inkscape the “Select Tool” chapter of the Inkscape Manual has more detailed information, including how to change the rotation point or rotation center of your object. The transforms chapter of Tav’s Inkscape Guide also provides some in-depth documentation of rotating in Inkscape.

Are we close to a release of the next version of Inkscape?

It has been a long wait for the next version of Inkscape. The last major release of Inkscape was over 3 years ago back in August 23, 2010. And since then, the inkscape developers have been hard at work adding a multitude of new and awesome features to our favourite open source vector graphics editor.

However, the question that most people ask is when is the next version of inkscape being released? About a month ago, after a long-standing blocker was resolved,  Inkscape developer Martin Owens asked this question on the inkscape-devel mailing list. The basic consensus on the mailing list was that all the important blocker bugs (the count was 10 in September) needed to be resolved before the release process could even start.

Now, a month later, after a busy month, the awesome inkscape developers have whittled this down to 3 blockers. Martin writes on fedora-devel:

Hey Devs,

This is the bi-weekly report on our release-hope goal:

Blockers: 3 
 * High #1163449 Imported bitmap appear blurry when zoomed in
 * Medium #953992 Imported pattern fill disappers while transforming
 * Medium #1005892 Patterns applied to text objects are blurred

If you can fix one of these, please do. We can use all the help to
debug, locate the errors causing these regressions and fix them. These
blockers are high priority for our project goals.

So, we are inching ever closer to an Inkscape release!

Playing with gradients more

This is the next in the extensive series of tutorials from the fantastic 2D Game Art for Programmers blog. In this tutorial, Chris builds on his previous tutorial on gradients by explaining how to draw this awesome aquarium-type scene

Creating Interactive SVGs

Here is a tutorial from Máirín Duffy explaining how to quickly implement interactivity into your inkscape SVGs. The approach the Máirín Duffy takes is great for when you need an Inkscape SVG to have a small amount of interactivity, like a basic User Interface Mockup. However, this approach probably would not scale if for more complex interactive SVGs.

 

 

Inkscape pro tip: resizing or rotating selected nodes of a path

A little known feature that was introduced in Inkscape 0.48 was the ability to resize and rotate selected nodes in a path using on-screen handles. These handles behave in the same manner as when rotating or resizing objects with the select tool.

Enabling the onscreen handles

To use this feature, first you need to enable it, so you need to select the Node tool from the toolbox, then flip the toggle to enable display of the resize / rotate handles for nodes:

Resizing nodes

Now, with the feature enabled, select 2 or more nodes, and the resize handles should appear around them in the same way when you select an object with the selection tool.
Use these handles in the same manner to resize the nodes.

Note also that the ctrl and shift keys work to constrain the transformation in the same way as with the select tool.

Rotating Nodes

The same applies to rotating nodes. Select the nodes to be rotated, then single-click one of the nodes again to enter rotate mode.(just like when free rotating).  Now use the handles in the same to rotate the selected nodes.

Note also that the ctrl, shift and the rotation point all also work for rotating nodes as it does with the select tool.

Free holiday / vacation vector clipart

Summer is winding down (in the northern hemisphere) so hang on to summer with this fantastic set of summer vacation clipart by gnokii. If you are in the southern hemipshere, lucky you! summer is on its way! These vectors are 100% free (they cost you nothing, and you are free to use them according to their cc0 license)

Cartoon Rocketship tutorial

Here is another awesome intermediate-level tutorial from vector tuts+. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a simple cartoony vector rocketship.

Inkscape 0.49 Feature — currently used fonts shortlist

The Inkscape developers are hard at work developing the new version of Inkscape (0.49). This post is part of a series that will outline some of the awesome new features that will be available when Inkscape 0.49 is released.

The inkscape developers have been drastically improving the functionality of the Text tool in inkscape for the 0.49 version. One improvement to the text tool is that when looking at the font list, inkscape now displays the fonts that are currently in use in the document at the top of the list. This super simple improvement makes the text editing user experience much better, as the user had to hunt through the list of all fonts to find a font they had already chosen.

The currently used fonts shortlist is available in both the font list in the tools control bar:

and in the Text and Font dialog box:

If you want to try out this new feature already, you will need to  Download a “nightly” or “development” version of inkscape. Links to various builds of development versions of inkscape are listed at the Inkscape downloads page.

Playing with gradients

This is the next in the extensive series of tutorials from the fantastic 2D Game Art for Programmers blog. In this tutorial, Chris builds on his previous tutorials by introducing the gradient tool, and goes though how to construct a cute jack-o-lantern, and a ship’s wheel.

Inkscape 0.49 Feature — Selecting objects by style

The Inkscape developers are hard at work developing the new version of Inkscape (0.49). This post is part of a series that will outline some of the awesome new features that will be available when Inkscape 0.49 is released.

The upcoming release of Inkscape has a new feature that allows an artist to select objects that have the same properties as the currently selected object. For example, you could select an object that has a fill of blue. Then, using the new feature select all other objects in the drawing with a fill set to that same shade of blue:

The new feature is a menu choice under Edit > Select Same or as a Context menu if you right click on a selected object.

Also there are other choices available to select same, including: matching both Fill and Stroke, matching just stroke, matching stroke style, or matching on object type.

If you want to try out this new feature already, you will need to  Download a “nightly” or “development” version of inkscape. Links to various builds of development versions of inkscape are listed at the Inkscape downloads page.

Inkscape 0.49 Feature — Exchange position of selected objects

The Inkscape developers are hard at work developing the new version of Inkscape (0.49). This is the first in a new series of posts that will outline some of the awesome new features that will be available when Inkscape 0.49 is released.

The new updated Inkscape features a new set of buttons in the Align and Distribute Dialog called Exchange position of selected objects. It adds the ability to exchange the positions of the objects that the artist has selected. In the following example, three objects were selected, and their positions were exchaged with each other (using this new feature) according to their selection order.

There are also two other new buttons in the dialog that allow the artist to exchange the selected objects based on the stacking (z-index) order, or just exchange them clockwise based on there positioning on the page.

If you want to try out this new feature already, you will need to  Download a “nightly” or “development” version of inkscape. Links to various builds of development versions of inkscape are listed at the Inkscape downloads page.

Draw a Male Cartoon Avatar

In a follow-up to her previous tutorial on creating a female cartoon avatar with Inkscape,  Olga Bikmullina explains how to draw a male version of the avatar. Be sure to also check out some of Olga’s awesome vector illustrations done using inkscape!

create a stylised atom-like graphic using Inkscape’s tweak tool

Here is a super quick tutorial outlining the workflow for creating a quick stylised graphic reminiscent of electron trails on a visualization of the rutherford model of an atom. The primary tool used to create this effect is Inkscape’s awesome, yet often forgotten, Tweak Tool

Inkscape pro tip: How to select sequential nodes in a path

Have you ever been doing path manipulations in inkscape, and needed to select nodes in a path in order, yet it is too time consuming or tedious to select them the ways you normally do? When editing a path using inkscape’s path editing tool, the most common ways to select multiple nodes is either hold shift and click each individual node:

or to click and rubber band select the nodes that you require:

But what if you have too many nodes to select them individually, or the rubber band box selects more nodes than you need? Well, using a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can select nodes in a path in inkscape by:

1. Clicking on a node with the path tool.
2. Keep the pointer hovered over the node
3. Hold down the control key, and wheel the scroll wheel up. Inkscape will select the next nodes in the path:

Create a Sticker with Dogeared Edge using inkscape

Here is a tutorial for creating a simple sticker with a folded edge. I originally posted it a few years back on my personal blog.

This is what we are aiming for:

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Phase One:
1. Draw  a circle with the circle tool.
2. Using the path tool, draw a shape that intersects the circle for your “dogear”
3. Select the path and the circle and use Path>Cut Path.
And set the colours of both the paths that result from this.

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Phase Two:
1. Select the “Dogear” (mine is black) and press flip vertical.
2. Then press flip horizontal.

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Phase Three:
1. Select the main body of the sticker (mine is blue)
RightClick > Duplicate, then change the colour. (mine is pink)
2. Do it again and change the colour to something different again. (mine is green)
3.  Select the green one, and use the arrow keys to offset it a bit.
4. Then select both the green and pink objects and choose Path>Difference
5. Change the colour of the remaining path to black.
6. Open the stroke/fill dialog and play with transparency & blur

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Phase Four:
1. Duplicate the black “Dogear” object, and change the colour.
2. Select the black one (underneath) and play with the blur and transparency.
3. Duplicate the body of the sticker again.
4. Press CTRL+A to select all, then choose Object>Clip>Set
5. Add your text, and you are done!

Create platform video game blocks

In another tutorial from 2D Game Art for Programmers, Chris builds on his previous tutorial by showing you how to create simple blocks suitable for 2D side scrolling platform games just using the square tool in inkscape

This tutorial also reinforces the fact that basically everything that you draw in inkscape is just a lot of simple shapes that are put together to create a masterpiece. Chris goes on to show an awesome example of this in his tutorial, by producing a drawing of a castle, then showing all the simple shapes he used to construct it.

Web User Interface Mockup elements for Inkscape

Here is an awesome SVG designed specifically for creating Web UI mockups in Inkscape. And the good news? according to the github page, it is licensed CC0

 

Check out Libre Graphics World for Inkscape news

Libre Graphics World is a great source for news, tutorials and book reviews on all open source publishing, design, image editing, video editing, desktop publishing and CAD software. Be sure to check it out, and also follow them on twitter (@lgworld).

Remember too that you can get the links to all the new tutorials on the inkscape tutorials blog at our twitter too (@inkscapetuts)

Quick Tips on Gradients

Aaron Nieze over at VectorTuts+ covers 6 simple tips for working with gradients in inkscape, including On canvas gradient creation and editing, editing gradients using the gradient dialog, applying gradients to multiple objects, gradient editing keyboard shortcuts, creating repeating gradients, and adding gradients to the stroke of an object.

Producing vector EPS files with Inkscape

Inkscape has the ability to save as .eps (encapsulated postscript), which some printers require. However, getting inkscape to export them as pure vector (inkscape tends to convert everything to a bitmap and throw it in the .eps file) can be a bit of a black art. Luckily, Máirín Duffy has figured it out and outlines how to achieve it in this quick tutorial.

Techniques for Drawing in Perspective

In another awesome tutorial on Learning to Draw 2D Art, Olga provides a great overview of the theory of perspective views, then provides 3 techniques in Inkscape for drawing in perspective. Olga covers using Inkscape’s 3D box tool, the Perspective extenstion and the Envelope Deformation Live Path Effect.

Getting started with inkscape using circles

Here is another awesome tutorial by Chris Hildenbrand discussing getting started with inkscape using 1 simple shape — a circle. He details briefly how to use your circles to build a simple character.

5 Minute Video Tutorial – simple badge

Here is a super quick video tutorial to make a simple badge with inkscape.

Creating a Female Cartoon Avatar with inkscape!

Here is another awesome tutorial by Olga Bikmullina that explains how to draw a female cartoony avatar using inkscape.

Be sure to also check out some of Olga’s awesome vector illustrations done using inkscape!

3 Techniques for creating designs with isometric projection with Inkscape

Here is awesome tutorial by Olga Bikmullina that explains 3 different techniques for creating artwork with an isometric projection using Inkscape. The techniques are: creating an Axonometric grid, Transforming objects, and creating 3D boxes. Depending on the type of design you are creating, you may use all three of these techniques in unison as well!

Be sure to also check out some of Olga’s awesome vector illustrations done using inkscape!