INKSCAPE(1)                        Inkscape                        INKSCAPE(1)



NAME
       Inkscape - an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) editing program.

SYNOPSIS
       "inkscape [options] [filename ...]"

       options:

           -?, --help
               --usage
           -V, --version

           -f, --file=FILENAME

           -e, --export-png=FILENAME
           -a, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
           -C, --export-area-page
           -D, --export-area-drawing
               --export-area-snap
           -i, --export-id=ID
           -j, --export-id-only
           -t, --export-use-hints
           -b, --export-background=COLOR
           -y, --export-background-opacity=VALUE
           -d, --export-dpi=DPI
           -w, --export-width=WIDTH
           -h, --export-height=HEIGHT

           -P, --export-ps=FILENAME
           -E, --export-eps=FILENAME
           -A, --export-pdf=FILENAME
               --export-latex

           -T, --export-text-to-path
               --export-ignore-filters

           -l, --export-plain-svg=FILENAME

           -p, --print=PRINTER

           -I, --query-id=ID
           -X, --query-x
           -Y, --query-y
           -W, --query-width
           -H, --query-height
           -S, --query-all

           -x, --extension-directory

               --verb-list
               --verb=VERB-ID
               --select=OBJECT-ID

               --shell

           -g, --with-gui
           -z, --without-gui

               --vacuum-defs

               --g-fatal-warnings

DESCRIPTION
       Inkscape is a GUI editor for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format
       drawing files, with capabilities similar to Adobe Illustrator,
       CorelDraw, Xara Xtreme, etc. Inkscape features include versatile
       shapes, bezier paths, freehand drawing, multi-line text, text on path,
       alpha blending, arbitrary affine transforms, gradient and pattern
       fills, node editing, many export and import formats including PNG and
       PDF, grouping, layers, live clones, and a lot more.  The interface is
       designed to be comfortable and efficient for skilled users, while
       remaining conformant to GNOME standards so that users familiar with
       other GNOME applications can learn its interface rapidly.

       SVG is a W3C standard XML format for 2D vector drawing. It allows
       defining objects in the drawing using points, paths, and primitive
       shapes.  Colors, fonts, stroke width, and so forth are specified as
       `style' attributes to these objects.  The intent is that since SVG is a
       standard, and since its files are text/xml, it will be possible to use
       SVG files in a sizeable number of programs and for a wide range of
       uses.

       Inkscape uses SVG as its native document format, and has the goal of
       becoming the most fully compliant drawing program for SVG files
       available in the Open Source community.

OPTIONS
       -?, --help
               Show help message

       -V, --version
               Show Inkscape version and build date.

       -a x0:y0:x1:y1, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
               In PNG export, set the exported area in SVG user units
               (anonymous length units normally used in Inkscape SVG).  The
               default is to export the entire document page.  The point (0,0)
               is the lower-left corner.

       -C, --export-area-page
               In PNG, PDF, PS, and EPS export, exported area is the page.
               This is the default for PNG, PDF, and PS, so you don't need to
               specify this unless you are using --export-id to export a
               specific object. In EPS, however, this is not the default;
               moreover, for EPS, the specification of the format does not
               allow its bounding box to extend beyond its content.  This
               means that when --export-area-page is used with EPS export, the
               page bounding box will be trimmed inwards to the bounding box
               of the content if it is smaller.

       -D, --export-area-drawing
               In PNG, PDF, PS, and EPS export, exported area is the drawing
               (not page), i.e. the bounding box of all objects of the
               document (or of the exported object if --export-id is used).
               With this option, the exported image will display all the
               visible objects of the document without margins or cropping.
               This is the default export area for EPS. For PNG, it can be
               used in combination with --export-use-hints.

       --export-area-snap
               For PNG export, snap the export area outwards to the nearest
               integer SVG user unit (px) values. If you are using the default
               export resolution of 90 dpi and your graphics are pixel-snapped
               to minimize antialiasing, this switch allows you to preserve
               this alignment even if you are exporting some object's bounding
               box (with --export-id or --export-area-drawing) which is itself
               not pixel-aligned.

       -b COLOR, --export-background=COLOR
               Background color of exported PNG.  This may be any SVG
               supported color string, for example "#ff007f" or "rgb(255, 0,
               128)".  If not set, then the page color set in Inkscape in the
               Document Options dialog will be used (stored in the pagecolor=
               attribute of sodipodi:namedview).

       -d DPI, --export-dpi=DPI
               The resolution used for PNG export.  It is also used for
               fallback rasterization of filtered objects when exporting to
               PS, EPS, or PDF (unless you specify --export-ignore-filters to
               suppress rasterization). The default is 90 dpi, which
               corresponds to 1 SVG user unit (px, also called "user unit")
               exporting to 1 bitmap pixel.  This value overrides the DPI hint
               if used with --export-use-hints.

       -e FILENAME, --export-png=FILENAME
               Specify the filename for PNG export.  If it already exists, the
               file will be overwritten without asking.

       -f FILENAME, --file=FILENAME
               Open specified document(s).  Option string may be omitted, i.e.
               you can list the filenames without -f.

       -g, --with-gui
               Try to use the GUI (on Unix, use the X server even if $DISPLAY
               is not set).

       -h HEIGHT, --export-height=HEIGHT
               The height of generated bitmap in pixels.  This value overrides
               the --export-dpi setting (or the DPI hint if used with
               --export-use-hints).

       -i ID, --export-id=ID
               For PNG, PS, EPS, and PDF export, the id attribute value of the
               object that you want to export from the document; all other
               objects are not exported.  By default the exported area is the
               bounding box of the object; you can override this using
               --export-area (PNG only) or --export-area-page.

       -j, --export-id-only
               Only export to PNG the object whose id is given in --export-id.
               All other objects are hidden and won't show in export even if
               they overlay the exported object.  Without --export-id, this
               option is ignored. For PDF export, this is the default, so this
               option has no effect.

       -l, --export-plain-svg=FILENAME
               Export document(s) to plain SVG format, without sodipodi: or
               inkscape: namespaces and without RDF metadata.

       -x, --extension-directory
               Lists the current extension directory that Inkscape is
               configured to use and then exits.  This is used for external
               extension to use the same configuration as the original
               Inkscape installation.

       --verb-list
               Lists all the verbs that are available in Inkscape by ID.  This
               ID can be used in defining keymaps or menus.  It can also be
               used with the --verb command line option.

       --verb=VERB-ID, --select=OBJECT-ID
               These two options work together to provide some basic scripting
               for Inkscape from the command line.  They both can occur as
               many times as needed on the command line and are executed in
               order on every document that is specified.

               The --verb command will execute a specific verb as if it was
               called from a menu or button.  Dialogs will appear if that is
               part of the verb.  To get a list of the verb IDs available, use
               the --verb-list command line option.

               The --select command will cause objects that have the ID
               specified to be selected.  This allows various verbs to act
               upon them.  To remove all the selections use
               --verb=EditDeselect.  The object IDs available are dependent on
               the document specified to load.

       -p PRINTER, --print=PRINTER
               Print document(s) to the specified printer using `lpr -P
               PRINTER'.  Alternatively, use `| COMMAND' to specify a
               different command to pipe to, or use `> FILENAME' to write the
               PostScript output to a file instead of printing.  Remember to
               do appropriate quoting for your shell, e.g.

               inkscape --print='| ps2pdf - mydoc.pdf' mydoc.svg

       -t, --export-use-hints
               Use export filename and DPI hints stored in the exported object
               (only with --export-id).  These hints are set automatically
               when you export selection from within Inkscape.  So, for
               example, if you export a shape with id="path231" as
               /home/me/shape.png at 300 dpi from document.svg using Inkscape
               GUI, and save the document, then later you will be able to
               reexport that shape to the same file with the same resolution
               simply with

               inkscape -i path231 -t document.svg

               If you use --export-dpi, --export-width, or --export-height
               with this option, then the DPI hint will be ignored and the
               value from the command line will be used.  If you use
               --export-png with this option, then the filename hint will be
               ignored and the filename from the command line will be used.

       -w WIDTH, --export-width=WIDTH
               The width of generated bitmap in pixels.  This value overrides
               the --export-dpi setting (or the DPI hint if used with
               --export-use-hints).

       -y VALUE, --export-background-opacity=VALUE
               Opacity of the background of exported PNG.  This may be a value
               either between 0.0 and 1.0 (0.0 meaning full transparency, 1.0
               full opacity) or greater than 1 up to 255 (255 meaning full
               opacity).  If not set and the -b option is not used, then the
               page opacity set in Inkscape in the Document Options dialog
               will be used (stored in the inkscape:pageopacity= attribute of
               sodipodi:namedview).  If not set but the -b option is used,
               then the value of 255 (full opacity) will be used.

       -P FILENAME, --export-ps=FILENAME
               Export document(s) to PostScript format. Note that PostScript
               does not support transparency, so any transparent objects in
               the original SVG will be automatically rasterized. Used fonts
               are subset and embedded. The default export area is page; you
               can set it to drawing by --export-area-drawing. You can specify
               --export-id to export a single object (all other are hidden);
               in that case export area is that object's bounding box, but can
               be set to page by --export-area-page.

       -E FILENAME, --export-eps=FILENAME
               Export document(s) to Encapsulated PostScript format. Note that
               PostScript does not support transparency, so any transparent
               objects in the original SVG will be automatically rasterized.
               Used fonts are subset and embedded. The default export area is
               drawing; you can set it to page, however see --export-area-page
               for applicable limitation. You can specify --export-id to
               export a single object (all other are hidden).

       -A FILENAME, --export-pdf=FILENAME
               Export document(s) to PDF format. This format preserves the
               transparency in the original SVG. Used fonts are subset and
               embedded.  The default export area is page; you can set it to
               drawing by --export-area-drawing. You can specify --export-id
               to export a single object (all other are hidden); in that case
               export area is that object's bounding box, but can be set to
               page by --export-area-page.

       --export-latex
               (for PS, EPS, and PDF export) Used for creating images for
               LaTeX documents, where the image's text is typeset by LaTeX.
               When exporting to PDF/PS/EPS format, this option splits the
               output into a PDF/PS/EPS file (e.g. as specified by
               --export-pdf) and a LaTeX file. Text will not be output in the
               PDF/PS/EPS file, but instead will appear in the LaTeX file.
               This LaTeX file includes the PDF/PS/EPS. Inputting
               (\input{image.tex}) the LaTeX file in your LaTeX document will
               show the image and all text will be typeset by LaTeX. See the
               resulting LaTeX file for more information.  Also see GNUPlot's
               `epslatex' output terminal.

       -T, --export-text-to-path
               Convert text objects to paths on export, where applicable (for
               PS, EPS, and PDF export).

       --export-ignore-filters
               Export filtered objects (e.g. those with blur) as vectors,
               ignoring the filters (for PS, EPS, and PDF export).  By
               default, all filtered objects are rasterized at --export-dpi
               (default 90 dpi), preserving the appearance.

       -I, --query-id
               Set the ID of the object whose dimensions are queried. If not
               set, query options will return the dimensions of the drawing
               (i.e. all document objects), not the page or viewbox

       -X, --query-x
               Query the X coordinate of the drawing or, if specified, of the
               object with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user
               units).

       -Y, --query-y
               Query the Y coordinate of the drawing or, if specified, of the
               object with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user
               units).

       -W, --query-width
               Query the width of the drawing or, if specified, of the object
               with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user units).

       -H, --query-height
               Query the height of the drawing or, if specified, of the object
               with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user units).

       -S, --query-all
               Prints a comma delimited listing of all objects in the SVG
               document with IDs defined, along with their x, y, width, and
               height values.

       --shell With this parameter, Inkscape will enter an interactive command
               line shell mode. In this mode, you type in commands at the
               prompt and Inkscape executes them, without you having to run a
               new copy of Inkscape for each command. This feature is mostly
               useful for scripting and server uses: it adds no new
               capabilities but allows you to improve the speed and memory
               requirements of any script that repeatedly calls Inkscape to
               perform command line tasks (such as export or conversions).
               Each command in shell mode must be a complete valid Inkscape
               command line but without the Inkscape program name, for example
               "file.svg --export-pdf=file.pdf".

       --vacuum-defs
               Remove all unused items from the <lt>defs<gt> section of the
               SVG file.  If this option is invoked in conjunction with
               --export-plain-svg, only the exported file will be affected.
               If it is used alone, the specified file will be modified in
               place.

       -z, --without-gui
               Do not open the GUI (on Unix, do not use X server); only
               process the files from console.  This is assumed for -p, -e,
               -l, and --vacuum-defs options.

       --g-fatal-warnings
               This standard GTK option forces any warnings, usually harmless,
               to cause Inkscape to abort (useful for debugging).

       --usage Display a brief usage message.

CONFIGURATION
       The main configuration file is located in
       ~/.config/inkscape/preferences.xml; it stores a variety of
       customization settings that you can change in Inkscape (mostly in the
       Inkscape Preferences dialog).  Also in the subdirectories there, you
       can place your own:

       $HOME/.config/inkscape/extensions/ - extension effects.

       $HOME/.config/inkscape/icons/ - icons.

       $HOME/.config/inkscape/keys/ - keyboard maps.

       $HOME/.config/inkscape/templates/ - new file templates.

DIAGNOSTICS
       The program returns zero on success or non-zero on failure.

       A variety of error messages and warnings may be printed to STDERR or
       STDOUT.  If the program behaves erratically with a particular SVG file
       or crashes, it is useful to look at this output for clues.

EXAMPLES
       While obviously Inkscape is primarily intended as a GUI application, it
       can be used for doing SVG processing on the command line as well.

       Open an SVG file in the GUI:

           inkscape filename.svg

       Print an SVG file from the command line:

           inkscape filename.svg -p '| lpr'

       Export an SVG file into PNG with the default resolution of 90dpi (one
       SVG user unit translates to one bitmap pixel):

           inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png

       Same, but force the PNG file to be 600x400 pixels:

           inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png -w600 -h400

       Same, but export the drawing (bounding box of all objects), not the
       page:

           inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png --export-area-drawing

       Export to PNG the object with id="text1555", using the output filename
       and the resolution that were used for that object last time when it was
       exported from the GUI:

           inkscape filename.svg --export-id=text1555 --export-use-hints

       Same, but use the default 90 dpi resolution, specify the filename, and
       snap the exported area outwards to the nearest whole SVG user unit
       values (to preserve pixel-alignment of objects and thus minimize
       aliasing):

           inkscape filename.svg --export-id=text1555 --export-png=text.png --export-area-snap

       Convert an Inkscape SVG document to plain SVG:

           inkscape filename1.svg --export-plain-svg=filename2.svg

       Convert an SVG document to EPS, converting all texts to paths:

           inkscape filename.svg --export-eps=filename.eps --export-text-to-path

       Query the width of the object with id="text1555":

           inkscape filename.svg --query-width --query-id text1555

       Duplicate the object with id="path1555", rotate the duplicate 90
       degrees, save SVG, and quit:

           inkscape filename.svg --select=path1555 --verb=EditDuplicate --verb=ObjectRotate90 --verb=FileSave --verb=FileClose

ENVIRONMENT
       DISPLAY to get the default host and display number.

       TMPDIR to set the default path of the directory to use for temporary
       files.  The directory must exist.

THEMES
       To load different icons sets instead of the default
       $PREFIX/share/inkscape/icons/icons.svg file, the directory
       $HOME/.config/inkscape/icons/ is used.  Icons are loaded by name (e.g.
       fill_none.svg), or if not found, then from icons.svg.  If the icon is
       not loaded from either of those locations, it falls back to the default
       system location.

       The needed icons are loaded from SVG files by searching for the SVG id
       with the matching icon name.  (For example, to load the "fill_none"
       icon from a file, the bounding box seen for SVG id "fill_none" is
       rendered as the icon, whether it comes from fill_none.svg or
       icons.svg.)

OTHER INFO
       The canonical place to find Inkscape info is at
       http://www.inkscape.org/.  The website has news, documentation,
       tutorials, examples, mailing list archives, the latest released version
       of the program, bugs and feature requests databases, forums, and more.

SEE ALSO
       potrace, cairo, rsvg(1), batik, ghostscript, pstoedit.

       SVG compliance test suite:  http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/

       SVG validator:  http://jiggles.w3.org/svgvalidator/

       Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Specification W3C Recommendation 14
       January 2003 <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/>

       Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.2 Specification W3C Working Draft 13
       November 2003 <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG12/>

       SVG 1.1/1.2/2.0 Requirements W3C Working Draft 22 April 2002
       <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG2Reqs/>

       Document Object Model (DOM): Level 2 Core Arnaud Le Hors et al editors,
       W3C <http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-2-Core/>

GUI NOTES
       To learn Inkscape's GUI operation, read the tutorials in Help >
       Tutorials.

       Apart from SVG, Inkscape can import (File > Import) most bitmap formats
       (PNG, BMP, JPG, XPM, GIF, etc.), plain text (requires Perl), PS and EPS
       (requires Ghostscript), PDF and AI format (AI version 9.0 or newer).

       Inkscape exports 32-bit PNG images (File > Export) as well as AI, PS,
       EPS, PDF, DXF, and several other formats via File > Save as.

       Inkscape can use the pressure and tilt of a graphic tablet pen for
       width, angle, and force of action of several tools, including the
       Calligraphic pen.

       Inkscape includes a GUI front-end to the Potrace bitmap tracing engine
       (http://potrace.sf.net) which is embedded into Inkscape.

       Inkscape can use external scripts (stdin-to-stdout filters) that are
       represented by commands in the Extensions menu. A script can have a GUI
       dialog for setting various parameters and can get the IDs of the
       selected objects on which to act via the command line. Inkscape comes
       with an assortment of effects written in Python.

KEYBINDINGS
       To get a complete list of keyboard and mouse shortcuts, view
       doc/keys.html, or use the Keys and Mouse command in Help menu.

BUGS
       Many bugs are known; please refer to the website (inkscape.org) for
       reviewing the reported ones and to report newly found issues.  See also
       the Known Issues section in the Release Notes for your version (file
       `NEWS').

AUTHORS
       This codebase owes its existence to a large number of contributors
       throughout its various incarnations.  The following list is certainly
       incomplete, but serves to recognize the many shoulders on which this
       application sits:

       Maximilian Albert, Josh Andler, Tavmjong Bah, Pierre Barbry-Blot, Jean-
       Franois Barraud, Bill Baxter, John Beard, John Bintz, Arpad Biro,
       Nicholas Bishop, Joshua L. Blocher, Hanno Bck, Henrik Bohre, Boldewyn,
       Daniel Borgmann, Bastien Bouclet, Gustav Broberg, Christopher Brown,
       Hans Breuer, Marcus Brubaker, Luca Bruno, Nicu Buculei, Bulia Byak,
       Pierre Caclin, Ian Caldwell, Gail Carmichael, Ed Catmur, Chema Celorio,
       Johan Ceuppens, Zbigniew Chyla, Alexander Clausen, John Cliff, Kees
       Cook, Ben Cromwell, Robert Crosbie, Jon Cruz, Aurlie De-Cooman, Milosz
       Derezynski, Daniel Daz, Bruno Dilly, Larry Doolittle, Tim Dwyer, Maxim
       V. Dziumanenko, Johan Engelen, Miklos Erdelyi, Ulf Erikson, No Falzon,
       Frank Felfe, Andrew Fitzsimon, Edward Flick, Marcin Floryan, Fred, Ben
       Fowler, Cedric Gemy, Steren Giannini, Olivier Gondouin, Ted Gould,
       Toine de Greef, Michael Grosberg, Bryce Harrington, Dale Harvey, Aurlio
       Adnauer Heckert, Carl Hetherington, Jos Hirth, Hannes Hochreiner,
       Thomas Holder, Joel Holdsworth, Alan Horkan, Karl Ove Hufthammer,
       Richard Hughes, Nathan Hurst, inductiveload, Thomas Ingham, Jean-
       Olivier Irisson, Bob Jamison, jEsuSdA, Lauris Kaplinski, Lynn Kerby,
       Niko Kiirala, James Kilfiger, Jason Kivlighn, Adrian Knoth, Krzysztof
       Kosiski, Petr Kovar, Benot Lavorata, Alex Leone, Julien Leray, Raph
       Levien, Diederik van Lierop, Nicklas Lindgren, Vitaly Lipatov, Ivan
       Louette, Pierre-Antoine Marc, Aurel-Aim Marmion, Colin Marquardt,
       Dmitry G. Mastrukov, Matiphas, Michael Meeks, Federico Mena, MenTaLguY,
       Aubanel Monnier, Vincent Montagne, Tim Mooney, Derek P. Moore, Peter
       Moulder, Jrg Mller, Yukihiro Nakai, Victor Navez, Christian Neumair,
       Andreas Nilsson, Mitsuru Oka, Marten Owens, Alvin Penner, Jon Phillips,
       Zdenko Podobny, Alexandre Prokoudine, Jean-Ren Reinhard, Alexey
       Remizov, Frederic Rodrigo, Hugo Rodrigues, Juarez Rudsatz, Xavier Conde
       Rueda, Felipe Corra da Silva Sanches, Christian Schaller, Marco
       Scholten, Tom von Schwerdtner, Shivaken, Danilo  egan, Michael Sloan,
       John Smith, Botjan  peti, Aaron Spike, Kaushik Sridharan, Ralf Stephan,
       Dariusz Stojek, Martin Sucha, ~suv, Pat Suwalski, Adib Taraben, Hugh
       Tebby, Jonas Termeau, David Turner, Andre Twupack, Aleksandar Uroevi,
       Alex Valavanis, Lucas Vieites, Michael Wybrow, Daniel Yacob, David Yip,
       Masatake Yamato

       This man page was put together by Bryce Harrington
       <brycehar@bryceharrington.com>.

HISTORY
       The codebase that would become Inkscape began life in 1999 as the
       program Gill, the GNOME Illustrator application, created by Raph
       Levien.  The stated objective for Gill was to eventually support all of
       SVG.  Raph implemented the PostScript bezier imaging model, including
       stroking and filling, line cap style, line join style, text, etc.
       Raph's Gill page is at http://www.levien.com/svg/.  Work on Gill
       appears to have slowed or ceased in 2000.

       The next incarnation of the codebase was to become the highly popular
       program Sodipodi, led by Lauris Kaplinski.  The codebase was turned
       into a powerful illustration program over the course of several year's
       work, adding several new features, multi-lingual support, porting to
       Windows and other operating systems, and eliminating dependencies.

       Inkscape was formed in 2003 by four active Sodipodi developers, Bryce
       Harrington, MenTaLguY, Nathan Hurst, and Ted Gould, wanting to take a
       different direction with the codebase in terms of focus on SVG
       compliance, interface look-and-feel, and a desire to open development
       opportunities to more participants.  The project progressed rapidly,
       gaining a number of very active contributors and features.

       Much work in the early days of the project focused on code
       stabilization and internationalization.  The original renderer
       inherited from Sodipodi was laced with a number of mathematical corner
       cases which led to unexpected crashes when the program was pushed
       beyond routine uses; this renderer was replaced with Livarot which,
       while not perfect either, was significantly less error prone.  The
       project also adopted a practice of committing code frequently, and
       encouraging users to run developmental snapshots of the program; this
       helped identify new bugs swiftly, and ensure it was easy for users to
       verify the fixes.  As a result, Inkscape releases have generally earned
       a reputation for being robust and reliable.

       Similarly, efforts were taken to internationalize and localize the
       interface, which has helped the program gain contributors worldwide.

       Inkscape has had a beneficial impact on the visual attractiveness of
       Open Source in general, by providing a tool for creating and sharing
       icons, splash screens, website art, and so on.  In a way, despite being
       "just an drawing program", Inkscape has played an important role in
       making Open Source more visually stimulating to larger audiences.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
       Copyright (C) 1999-2010 by Authors.

       Inkscape is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GPL.



Inkscape-0.48.5                                                    INKSCAPE(1)
