1INKSCAPE(1) Inkscape INKSCAPE(1)
2
6 Inkscape - an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) editing program.
7
9 "inkscape [options] [filename ...]"
10 options:
12 -?, --help
14 --usage
15 -V, --version
16 -f, --file=FILENAME
18 -s, --slideshow
19 -e, --export-png=FILENAME
21 -a, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
22 -C, --export-area-canvas
23 -D, --export-area-drawing
24 --export-area-snap
25 -i, --export-id=ID
26 -j, --export-id-only
27 -t, --export-use-hints
28 -b, --export-background=COLOR
29 -y, --export-background-opacity=VALUE
30 -d, --export-dpi=DPI
31 -w, --export-width=WIDTH
32 -h, --export-height=HEIGHT
33 -P, --export-ps=FILENAME
35 -E, --export-eps=FILENAME
36 -A, --export-pdf=FILENAME
37 -T, --export-text-to-path
39 -B, --export-bbox-page
40 -F, --export-embed-fonts
41 -l, --export-plain-svg=FILENAME
43 -I, --query-id=ID
45 -X, --query-x
46 -Y, --query-y
47 -W, --query-width
48 -H, --query-height
49 -x, --extension-directory
51 -p, --print=PRINTER
53 -g, --with-gui
55 -z, --without-gui
56 --vacuum-defs
58 --g-fatal-warnings
60
62 Inkscape is a GUI editor for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format
63 drawing files, with capabilities similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel‐
64 Draw, Visio, etc. Inkscape features include versatile shapes, bezier
65 paths, freehand drawing, multi-line text, text on path, alpha blending,
66 arbitrary affine transforms, gradient and pattern fills, node editing,
67 SVG-to-PNG export, grouping, layers, live clones, and more. The inter‐
68 face is designed to be comfortable and efficient for skilled users,
69 while remaining conformant to GNOME standards so that users familiar
70 with other GNOME applications can learn its interface rapidly.
71 SVG is a W3C standard XML format for 2D vector drawing. It allows
73 defining objects in the drawing using points, paths, and primitive
74 shapes. Colors, fonts, stroke width, and so forth are specified as
75 `style' attributes to these objects. The intent is that since SVG is a
76 standard, and since its files are text/xml, it will be possible to use
77 SVG files in a sizeable number of programs and for a wide range of
78 uses.
79 Inkscape uses SVG as its native document format, and has the goal of
81 becoming the most fully compliant drawing program for SVG files avail‐
82 able in the Open Source community.
83
85 -?, --help
86 Show help message
87 -V, --version
89 Show Inkscape version and build date.
90 -a x0:y0:x1:y1, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
92 In PNG export, set the exported area in SVG user units (anony‐
93 mous length units normally used in Inkscape SVG). The default
94 is to export the entire document canvas. The point (0,0) is
95 the lower-left corner.
96 -C, --export-area-canvas
98 In PNG export, exported area is the entire canvas (page). Usu‐
99 ally this is the default, so you don't need to specify this
100 unless you are using --export-id to export a specific object.
101 -D, --export-area-drawing
103 In PNG export, exported area is the entire drawing (not can‐
104 vas), i.e. the bounding box of all objects of the document.
105 With this option, the exported image will display just the vis‐
106 ible objects of the document without margins or cropping. Can
107 be used in combination wtih --export-use-hints.
108 --export-area-snap
110 Snap the export area outwards to the nearest integer SVG user
111 unit (px) values. If you are using the default export resolu‐
112 tion of 90dpi and your graphics are pixel-snapped to minimize
113 antialiasing, this switch allows you to preserve this alignment
114 even if you are exporting some object's bounding box (with
115 --export-id or --export-area-drawing) which is itself not
116 pixel-aligned.
117 -b COLOR, --export-background=COLOR
119 Background color of exported PNG. This may be any SVG sup‐
120 ported color string, for example "#ff007f" or "rgb(255, 0,
121 128)". If not set, then the page color set in Inkscape in the
122 Document Options dialog will be used (stored in the pagecolor=
123 attribute of sodipodi:namedview).
124 -d DPI, --export-dpi=DPI
126 The resolution used for bitmap export. The default is 90,
127 which corresponds to 1 SVG user unit (px, also called "user
128 unit") exporting to 1 bitmap pixel. This value overrides the
129 DPI hint if used with --export-use-hints.
130 -e FILENAME, --export-png=FILENAME
132 Specify the filename for PNG export. If it already exists, the
133 file will be overwritten without asking.
134 -f FILENAME, --file=FILENAME
136 Open specified document(s). Option string may be omitted, i.e.
137 you can list the filenames without -f.
138 -g, --with-gui
140 Try to use the GUI (on Unix, use the X server even if $DISPLAY
141 is not set).
142 -h HEIGHT, --export-height=HEIGHT
144 The height of generated bitmap in pixels. This value overrides
145 the --export-dpi setting (or the DPI hint if used with
146 --export-use-hints).
147 -i ID, --export-id=ID
149 The id attribute value of the object that you want to export
150 from the document. By default the exported area is the bound‐
151 ing box of the object; you can override this using
152 --export-area, --export-area-canvas, or --export-area-drawing.
153 -j, --export-id-only
155 Only export the object whose id is given in --export-id. All
156 other objects are hidden and won't show in export even if they
157 overlay the exported object. Without --export-id, this option
158 is ignored.
159 -l, --export-plain-svg=FILENAME
161 Export document(s) to plain SVG format, without sodipodi: or
162 inkscape: namespaces and without RDF metadata.
163 -l, --extension-directory
165 Lists the current extension directory that Inkscape is config‐
166 ured to use and then exits. This is used for external exten‐
167 sion to use the same configuration as the original Inkscape
168 installation.
169 -p PRINTER, --print=PRINTER
171 Print document(s) to the specified printer using `lpr -P
172 PRINTER'. Alternatively, use `| COMMAND' to specify a differ‐
173 ent command to pipe to, or use `> FILENAME' to write the Post‐
174 Script output to a file instead of printing. Remember to do
175 appropriate quoting for your shell, e.g.
176 inkscape --print='| ps2pdf - mydoc.pdf' mydoc.svg
178 -s, --slideshow
180 Show given files one by one, switching to the next one by any
181 key or mouse event.
182 -t, --export-use-hints
184 Use export filename and DPI hints stored in the exported object
185 (only with --export-id). These hints are set automatically
186 when you export selection from within Inkscape. So, for exam‐
187 ple, if you export a shape with id="path231" as
188 /home/me/shape.png at 300 dpi from document.svg using Inkscape
189 GUI, and save the document, then later you will be able to
190 reexport that shape to the same file with the same resolution
191 simply with
192 inkscape -i path231 -t document.svg
194 If you use --export-dpi, --export-width, or --export-height
196 with this option, then the DPI hint will be ignored and the
197 value from the command line will be used. If you use
198 --export-png with this option, then the filename hint will be
199 ignored and the filename from the command line will be used.
200 -w WIDTH, --export-width=WIDTH
202 The width of generated bitmap in pixels. This value overrides
203 the --export-dpi setting (or the DPI hint if used with
204 --export-use-hints).
205 -y VALUE, --export-background-opacity=VALUE
207 Opacity of the background of exported PNG. This may be a value
208 either between 0.0 and 1.0 (0.0 meaning full transparency, 1.0
209 full opacity) or greater than 1 up to 255 (255 meaning full
210 opacity). If not set and the -b option is not used, then the
211 page opacity set in Inkscape in the Document Options dialog
212 will be used (stored in the inkscape:pageopacity= attribute of
213 sodipodi:namedview). If not set but the -b option is used,
214 then the value of 255 (full opacity) will be used.
215 -P FILENAME, --export-ps=FILENAME
217 Export document(s) to PostScript format. Note that PostScript
218 does not support transparency, so any transparency in the orig‐
219 inal SVG will be lost. This option can be used together with
220 --export-bbox-page and --export-text-to-path.
221 -E FILENAME, --export-eps=FILENAME
223 Export document(s) to Encapsulated PostScript format. Note that
224 PostScript does not support transparency, so any transparency
225 in the original SVG will be lost. This option can be used
226 together with --export-bbox-page and --export-text-to-path.
227 -A FILENAME, --export-pdf=FILENAME
229 Export document(s) to PDF 1.4 format. This format preserves the
230 transparency in the original SVG (though not all PDF viewers
231 can display it yet). This option can be used together with
232 --export-text-to-path (currently this is required, because
233 exporting text as text is not yet supported).
234 -T, --export-text-to-path
236 Convert text objects to paths on export, where applicable (cur‐
237 rently works for PS, EPS, and PDF export).
238 -B, --export-bbox-page
240 Export files with the bounding box set to the page size, where
241 applicable (currently works for PS and EPS export).
242 -F, --export-embed-fonts
244 Embed fonts used in the document into exported PS/EPS file.
245 Note: only Type 1 fonts can be embedded, not TrueType.
246 -I, --query-id
248 Set the ID of the object whose dimensions are queried. If not
249 set, query options will return the dimensions of the drawing
250 (i.e. all document objects), not the page or viewbox
251 -X, --query-x
253 Query the X coordinate of of the drawing or, if specified, of
254 the object with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG
255 user units).
256 -Y, --query-y
258 Query the Y coordinate of of the drawing or, if specified, of
259 the object with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG
260 user units).
261 -W, --query-width
263 Query the width of of the drawing or, if specified, of the
264 object with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user
265 units).
266 -H, --query-height
268 Query the height of of the drawing or, if specified, of the
269 object with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user
270 units).
271 --vacuum-defs
273 Remove all unused items from the <lt>defs<gt> section of the
274 SVG file. If this option is invoked in conjunction with
275 --export-plain-svg, only the exported file will be affected.
276 If it is used alone, the specified file will be modified in
277 place.
278 -z, --without-gui
280 Do not open the GUI (on Unix, do not use X server); only
281 process the files from console. This is assumed for -p, -e,
282 -l, and --vacuum-defs options.
283 --g-fatal-warnings
285 Part of the standard GTK option that are recognized. This
286 forces any GTK warnings to cause Inkscape to abort. This
287 option is listed because it gets used for debugging.
288 --usage Display a brief usage message.
290
292 The preferences.xml configuration file located in ~/.inkscape/ is used
293 to customize the application settings for the user.
294 interface
296 The interface element(s) of the config file is used to set
297 parameters related to the GUI interface, such as the
298 open/closed status of various GUI elements, etc.
299 group id="documents"
301 The documents group is used for containing the recent files
302 list. Each document is listed with its uri (path) and name
303 indicated.
304 group id="template"
306 The template group is used for storing parameters related to
307 blank documents.
308 group id="tools"
310 The tools group is used for storing the user style preferences
311 for different event contexts (i.e., shapes, freehand or calli‐
312 graphic stroke properties, etc.).
313 group id="palette"
315 The palette group allows setting of dash styles. This allows
316 you to define the stroke lengths for different kinds of dashes.
317 group id="dialogs"
319 The dialogs group allows persisting the position and width of
320 each of the dialogs in the application, so that they'll start
321 up in the last place the user had them at the next time the app
322 is run.
323 group id="printing"
325 The printing group is for storing different printer settings.
326 Each setting is identified with an id. Properties include bit‐
327 map (true/false), resolution, and destination.
328 group id="options"
330 The options group allows persisting various user selected
331 options including nudgeddistance, rotationstep, cursortoler‐
332 ance, and dragtolerance.
333
335 The program returns zero on success or non-zero on failure.
336 A variety of error messages and warnings are printed to STDERR or STD‐
338 OUT. If the program behaves erratically with a particular SVG file or
339 crashes, it is sometimes useful to look at this output for clues.
340
342 While obviously Inkscape is primarily intended as a GUI application, it
343 can be used for doing SVG processing on the commandline as well.
344 Print an SVG file:
346 inkscape filename.svg -p '| lpr'
348 Export an SVG file into PNG with the default resolution of 90dpi (one
350 SVG user unit translates to one bitmap pixel):
351 inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png
353 Same, but force the PNG file to be 600x400 pixels:
355 inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png -w600 -h400
357 Same, but export the drawing (bounding box of all objects), not the
359 page:
360 inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png --export-area-drawing
362 Export to PNG the object with id="text1555", using the output filename
364 and the resolution that were used for that object last time when it was
365 exported from the GUI:
366 inkscape filename.svg --export-id=text1555 --export-use-hints
368 Same, but use the default 90dpi resolution, specify the filename, and
370 snap the exported area outwards to the nearest whole SVG user unit val‐
371 ues (to preserve pixel-alignment of objects and thus minimize
372 antialiasing):
373 inkscape filename.svg --export-id=text1555 --export-png=text.png --export-snap-area
375 Convert an Inkscape SVG document to plain SVG:
377 inkscape filename1.svg --export-plain-svg=filename2.svg
379 Convert an SVG document to EPS, converting all texts to paths:
381 inkscape filename.svg --export-eps=filename.eps --export-text-to-path
383 Query the width of the object with id="text1555":
385 inkscape filename.svg --query-width --query-id text1555
387
389 DISPLAY to get the default host and display number.
390 TMPDIR to set the default path of the directory to use for temporary
392 files. The directory must exist.
393
395 To load different icons sets instead of the default $PRE‐
396 FIX/share/inkscape/icons/icons.svg file, the directory
397 $HOME/.inkscape/icons/ is used. Icons are loaded by name (e.g.
398 fill_none.svg), or if not found, then from icons.svg. If the icon is
399 not loaded from either of those locations, it falls back to the default
400 system location.
401 The needed icons are loaded from SVG files by searching for the SVG id
403 with the matching icon name. (For example, to load the "fill_none"
404 icon from a file, the bounding box seen for SVG id "fill_none" is ren‐
405 dered as the icon, whether it comes from fill_none.svg or icons.svg.)
406
408 $HOME/.inkscape/preferences.xml - The user's preference settings.
409 $HOME/.inkscape/extensions.xml - The filter programs to be used in the
411 application.
412 $HOME/.inkscape/icons/{*,icons}.svg - Icons to overload for themes.
414
416 The canonical place to find Inkscape info is at
417 http://www.inkscape.org/. The website includes links to other relevant
418 documentation, tutorials, user manual, examples, mailing list archives,
419 the latest released version of the program, and more.
420
422 gimp(1), autotrace, potrace, frontline, ill2svg, rsvg(1), xfig(1),
423 sodipodi, karbon14, dia(1X), batik.
424 SVG compliance test suite: http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/
426 SVG validator: http://jiggles.w3.org/svgvalidator/
428 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Specification W3C Recommendation 14
430 January 2003 <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/>
431 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.2 Specification W3C Working Draft 13
433 November 2003 <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG12/>
434 SVG 1.1/1.2/2.0 Requirements W3C Working Draft 22 April 2002
436 <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG2Reqs/>
437 Document Object Model (DOM): Level 2 Core Arnaud Le Hors et al editors,
439 W3C <http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-2-Core/>
440
442 To learn Inkscape's GUI operation, read the tutorials in Help > Tutori‐
443 als.
444 Inkscape can import (File > Import) most bitmap formats (PNG, BMP, JPG,
446 XPM, GIF etc.), plain text (requires Perl), and AI format (Adobe Illus‐
447 trator documents, versions up to 7 only; requires Perl).
448 Inkscape exports 32-bit PNG images (File > Export) as well as AI, PS,
450 EPS, PDF (requires Ghostscript), DXF and several other formats via File
451 > Save as.
452 Inkscape can use the pressure and tilt of a graphic tablet pen for
454 width and angle of the Calligraphic tool.
455 Inkscape includes a GUI front-end to the Potrace bitmap tracing engine
457 (http://potrace.sf.net) which is embedded into Inkscape.
458 Inkscape can use external scripts (stdin-to-stdout filters) that are
460 represented by commands in the Effects menu. A script can have a GUI
461 dialog for setting various parameters and can get the IDs of the
462 selected objects on which to act via the command line. Inkscape comes
463 with an assortment of effects written in Python, mostly for path manip‐
464 ulation.
465
467 To get a complete list of keyboard and mouse shortcuts, view
468 doc/keys.html, or use the Keys and Mouse command in Help menu from the
469 GUI to see an SVG chart.
470
472 Many bugs are known; please refer to the website (inkscape.org) for
473 reviewing the reported ones and to report newly found issues. See also
474 the Known Issues section in the Release Notes for your version (file
475 `NEWS').
476
478 This codebase owes its existance to a large number of contributors
479 throughout its various incarnations. The following list is certainly
480 incomplete, but serves to recognize the many shoulders on which this
481 application sits:
482 Josh Andler, John Bintz, Arpad Biro, Daniel Borgmann, Gustav Broberg,
484 Hans Breuer, Nicu Buculei, Bulia Byak, Chema Celorio, Johan Ceuppens,
485 Zbigniew Chyla, Alexander Clausen, John Cliff, Kees Cook, Ben Cromwell,
486 Robert Crosbie, Jon Cruz, Milosz Derezynski, Daniel Díaz, Larry Doolit‐
487 tle, Tim Dwyer, Maxim V. Dziumanenko, Danilo Egan, Johan Engelen, Frank
488 Felfe, Andrew Fitzsimon, Edward Flick, Fred, Ben Fowler, Cedric Gemy,
489 Ted Gould, Bryce Harrington, Dale Harvey, Carl Hetherington, Jos Hirth,
490 Alan Horkan, Karl Ove Hufthammer, Richard Hughes, Nathan Hurst, Thomas
491 Ingham, Bob Jamison, Lauris Kaplinski, Lynn Kerby, Niko Kiirala, Petr
492 Kovar, Raph Levien, Nicklas Lindgren, Vitaly Lipatov, Colin Marquardt,
493 Dmitry G. Mastrukov, Matiphas, Michael Meeks, Federico Mena, MenTaLguY,
494 Aubanel Monnier, Derek P. Moore, Peter Moulder, Jörg Müller, Yukihiro
495 Nakai, Christian Neumair, Andreas Nilsson, Mitsuru Oka, Jon Phillips,
496 Zdenko Podobny, Alexandre Prokoudine, Alexey Remizov, Frederic Rodrigo,
497 Hugo Rodrigues, Juarez Rudsatz, Xavier Conde Rueda, Christian Schaller,
498 Marco Scholten, Tom von Schwerdtner, Shivaken, Michael Sloan, Boštjan
499 Špetiˇc, Aaron Spike, Kaushik Sridharan, Ralf Stephan, Dariusz Stojek,
500 Pat Suwalski, Adib Taraben, David Turner, Aleksandar Uroševiˇc, Lucas
501 Vieites, Michael Wybrow, Daniel Yacob, David Yip, Masatake Yamato,
502 Andre Twupack, Tim Mooney, Boldewyn, Marcus Brubaker, James Kilfiger
503 This man page was put together by Bryce Harrington <brycehar@brycehar‐
505 rington.com>.
506
508 The codebase that would become Inkscape began life in 1999 as the pro‐
509 gram Gill, the GNOME Illustrator application, created by Raph Levien.
510 The stated objective for Gill was to eventually support all of SVG.
511 Raph implemented the PostScript bezier imaging model, including
512 stroking and filling, line cap style, line join style, text, etc.
513 Raph's Gill page is at http://www.levien.com/svg/. Work on Gill
514 appears to have slowed or ceased in 2000.
515 The next incarnation of the codebase was to become the highly popular
517 program Sodipodi, led by Lauris Kaplinski. The codebase was turned
518 into a powerful illustration program over the course of several year's
519 work, adding several new features, multi-lingual support, porting to
520 Windows and other operating systems, and eliminating dependencies.
521 Inkscape was formed in 2003 by four active Sodipodi developers, Bryce
523 Harrington, MenTaLguY, Nathan Hurst, and Ted Gould, wanting to take a
524 different direction with the codebase in terms of focus on SVG compli‐
525 ance, interface look-and-feel, and a desire to open development oppor‐
526 tunities to more participants.
527
529 Copyright (C) 1999–2005 by Authors.
530 Inkscape is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
532 under the terms of the GPL.
533Inkscape-0.45.1pre0 2007-01-26 INKSCAPE(1)