From: gouldtj Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:36:54 +0000 (+0000) Subject: r17645@shi: ted | 2008-01-14 22:05:15 -0800 X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=1cb64c3a763a8a064cfff29309c9ad16f96a0aa5;p=inkscape.git r17645@shi: ted | 2008-01-14 22:05:15 -0800 pre0 marking --- diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index 78607eb38..2912c3db2 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -1,726 +1 @@ - -Inkscape 0.45: overview - - This release brings the exciting new features developed by the Google - Summer of Code 2006 participants, as well as tons of other - improvements across the board. - -SVG filters: Gaussian blur - - Thanks to Google's Summer of Code program, Inkscape now has basic - support for [44]SVG filters. The only filter enabled so far is - Gaussian blur. - - With it, you can softly and naturally blur any Inkscape objects: - paths, shapes, groups, text], images. Clones inherit blurring from - their original, but they can also be blurred independently from the - original (you can create blurred clones with Tile Clones, too). Both - the fill and stroke of an object are blurred together, creating - semitransparent margins that smoothly blend into the background. - - Gaussian blur enables a wide range of photorealistic effects: - arbitrarily shaped shades and lights, depth of field, drop shadows, - glows, etc. Also, blurred objects can be used as masks for other - objects to achieve the "feathered mask" effect. - * To blur selected objects, open the Fill and Stroke dialog - (Ctrl+Shift+F) and use the Blur slider. The blur value is a - percentage, with 100% corresponding to a blurring radius of 1/8 of - the object's bounding box' perimeter (that is, for a square, a - blur of 100% will have the radius equal to half a side). - - * The Tile Clones dialog also supports blurring. On the Blur & - opacity tab, you can set the blur percentage per row or per column - of your tiling, as well as randomize blurring and make it - alternate (all the same options as for Opacity). - - * The quality of on-screen blur display is controlled by the Blur - quality option on the new Filters tab of Inkscape Preferences - (Ctrl+Shift+P). The available options range from best - quality/slowest display to worst quality/fastest display, the - default being in the middle of the range. Any setting except the - "best quality" may introduce some rendering artifacts, especially - when blurring thin strokes; on the other hand, the "best quality" - setting may make Inkscape extremely slow at high zooms. These - settings only affect the screen display of blurred objects; bitmap - export always uses the best quality. - - Here are a few tips on using blur: - * Masks and clipping are applied after blur. That is, if you clip an - object and then blur it (or blur it first and then clip - it makes - no difference), the clipped edges will remain crisp. Often, this - is what you want. If, however, you want to blur the clipped/masked - edges too (possibly with a different radius), you can use - grouping: group the clipped object with some other object (which - you can then delete from the group) and blur the group. - - * A simple drop shadow is now very easy to do: just copy the object, - paint the copy black, blur it, shift away a bit and lower it to - the bottom. However, such a shadow does not update when you edit - the foreground object. If your object is already black (or, more - generally, if you want the shadow to be the same color as the - object), you can clone instead of copy to make the shadow - auto-updating. But what if your foreground object is not black but - you need a black shadow? Here's a recipe: unset the object's fill - (it becomes black); create two clones of it; put one clone on top - and paint any color you want; put the other clone at bottom, blur - it and shift sideways. Now you can edit the unset-fill original - (use Alt+click to select it) and everything will update. - - * If an object has a fill that you don't want to blur (e.g. pattern, - or if it's a bitmap), but you just want to feather its edges, use - a blurred transparency mask. For this, copy the object; paint it - white; blur it as needed; scale the blurred copy down so its blur - margins are entirely within the original object; select both the - original and the blurred mask; do Object > Mask > Set. - - * Transforming a blurred object transforms its blur, too. This - applies to a non-uniform scaling as well, so by squeezing a - blurred object you make its blur squeezed as well. So, the easiest - way to blur a path horizontally more than vertically is this: - stretch it upwards without blur, then apply blur and squeeze it - back into the original shape. - - * You can combine blurring with gradients. For example, an ellipse - with elliptic opacity gradient will look much softer and more - natural when blurred. An object with a horizontal linear opacity - gradient, when blurred, will look like it is more blurred on its - transparent side than on its opaque side. - - * A clone of a blurred object inherits the blur of the original. - Therefore, such a clone can be blurred more, but you can't - "unblur" it to make the clone sharper than its original (unless, - of course, you unlink it). The Fill and Stroke dialog shows you - the amount of the blur applied to this particular object; however, - if the object is a clone of an already blurred original, the - dialog does not reflect that. - - * Note that Firefox 2.0 does not support SVG filters, so your files - will be displayed in Firefox 2.0 without blur. However, support - has been added in the current development version ("trunk") and - will be included in Firefox 3.0. The Opera web browser, as well as - librsvg (used by Wikipedia) and Batik, support filters correctly. - - -Undo history - - * Inkscape now features a History Dialog accessible through - Ctrl+Shift+H or Edit->Undo History. All changes to the document - since it was opened are recorded here. - + In the dialog, changes are listed from the oldest (top) to - the newest (bottom). - + The type of each change is indicated by an icon and a short - description. - + For readability, consecutive changes of the same type are - placed in a collapsable branch showing a triangle marker and - the number of the hidden actions in the branch. - + By clicking on an event event in the list, you can easily - move through the undo history, i.e. undo or redo any number - of actions with one click. - - * The Undo and Redo commands in the Edit menu display the - descriptions of the commands to be undone and redone, - correspondingly. (These are the same descriptions that you see in - the History dialog.) - - -Rendering improvements - - * Interruptible display: Previously, Inkscape could not do anything - until it finishes the current screen redraw. Now the redraw is - made interruptible, so that Inkscape responds to mouse and - keyboard input and can abort the current redraw and start over if - you do some screen-changing operation. As a result, Inkscape now - feels much snappier and more interactive. This interruptibility is - fine-tuned for some interactive operations (such as node dragging) - so that a balance is achieved between responsiveness and - completeness of display. - - * Radial gradients are rendered faster by at least 10%. - - * Screen render is faster by 2-3%, up to 5% for complex drawings - with transparency. - - * Display is more responsive when working at high zoom levels when - using a tablet. - - * Rendering (compositing) quality has been improved. This is most - visible with (partially) transparent gradients, banding is a lot - less pronounced now. Speed has also been improved in some cases. - - -Tools - - -Node tool - - * You can grow or shrink node selection by hovering the mouse - pointer over a node and using mousewheel (up = grow, down = - shrink) or the keys PageUp (grow) and PageDown (shrink). Growing - adds the closest unselected node to the selection; shrinking - deselects the farthest selected node. There are two modes that - differ by how the closest/farthest nodes are chosen: - - * - + Spatial selection (Mousewheel, PageUp/PageDown): distances to - nodes are measured directly, regardless of which subpath a - node belongs to. - - * - + Linear selection (Ctrl+Mousewheel, - Ctrl+PageUp/Ctrl+PageDown): node distances are measured along - the path, and only the nodes belonging to the same subpath as - the hovered node are considered (i.e. other subpaths are - never selected). - - This technique is convenient for quickly selecting an area in a - complex path starting from a center - for example, for node - sculpting. - - -Dropper - - * Instead of the confusing toggle button, now the Controls bar for - the Dropper tool has two checkboxes, "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha", - which work as follows. Suppose you have an object selected and, - using Dropper, click on an object which has red (#FF0000) fill and - 0.5 opacity (half-transparent). - + If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is off, the selected object will - get the fill color #800000 (i.e. faded-out red) and fill - opacity will be at 1.0 (opaque). - + If the "Pick alpha" checkbox is on but "Set alpha" is off, - the selected object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and - fill opacity will be at 1.0. - + If both "Pick alpha" and "Set alpha" are on, the selected - object will get the fill color #FF0000 (red) and fill opacity - will be at 0.5 (half-transparent). - - If you Shift+click instead of click, the same changes will be - made to stroke color and stroke opacity, correspondingly. Note - that in no situation can Dropper change the master opacity of - the selected object(s), although it can pick it just as it does - any other kind of opacity. - - -Calligraphy - - * A new numeric parameter, Caps, controls the amount of protruding - at the ends of calligraphic strokes. This parameter can range from - 0 (flat caps, default behavior in previous versions) through 1 - (approximately half-circle caps) and up to 5 (long elliptic caps). - Rounded caps much improve the look of low-fixation strokes, - simulating a rounded pen. - - * The "Drag" parameter has been renamed to Wiggle with a value - inversion (i.e. low drag corresponds to high wiggle, and vice - versa). Increase this parameter (default is 0) to make the pen - waver and wiggle in curly patterns. - - -Outline mode - - * A new menu command (View > Display Mode > Toggle) and a new - keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+) switch the display mode from - Normal to Outline and back. - - * The window title displays "(outline)" next to the file name when - that editing window is in Outline mode. - - * An object with mask and/or clipping path, when viewed in Outline - mode, now displays both the object itself and its clipping path - and mask as objects, using different outline colors. By default, - clippaths use green outlines, and masks use blue. - - * Images in Outline mode are displayed as red (by default) frames - with two diagonals. - - * An object with no fill and no stroke, invisible and not selectable - by mouse clicking in normal mode, can now be picked by a mouse - click in the Outline mode using its visible outline. - - * The bug whereby stroked shapes didn't change stroke width when - switching to Outline mode or back is fixed. - - * All outline colors are changeable by editing the "wireframecolors" - group inside "options" in the preferences file - (~/.inkscape/preferences.xml). The "onlight" and "ondark" - attributes set the colors of the regular object outlines on light - and dark backgrounds (default black and white correspondingly); - the "images", "clips", and "masks" attributes set the colors of - images, clipping paths, and masks (defaults are red, green, and - blue correspondingly). Each attribute is a decimal integer - corresponding to the hex RRGGBBAA of the color. - - * To cater for specialized uses, such as preparing input for - personal media cutters, Inkscape now has an option to start in the - Outline mode upon launch. To enable this, add the following line - to your preferences.xml file: - - - - placing it after the opening tag. - - -PDF export - - * A new Cairo-based PDF exporter has been added to Inkscape. - Inkscape 0.45 can export shapes, strokes, transparency, gradients, - patterns, text, and images correctly to Cairo. While clipping - paths and masks are known to be faulty or missing. Cairo will - write a PDF with vector graphics when possible and fall back to - raster graphics when needed. What can be exported as vectors and - how much of the image will be rasterized when the fallback kicks - in depends on your version of Cairo. Cairo version 1.2 with the - pdf backend compiled in is the minimum requirement for any - Cairo-based PDF exports. - - * [removed? - mental] The native PDF exporter introduced in Inkscape - 0.44 is improved along with the new Cairo-based PDF exporter. - Changes since Inkscape 0.44 include: New features: bitmap images - can be embedded, pdf files can be exported from commandline. - Changed behaviour: the pointless text to path question is gone. - Fixed bugs: save failure is now detected, miter limits are now >= - 1, pdfs with transparent gradient are now embeddable, eccentric - elliptic gradients fixed, dash style inheritance fixed, - transparency inheritance fixed. - - -PS/EPS export - - * There's a new option to embed the fonts used in the document in - the PS or EPS exported file. As of now, this works for Type 1 - fonts only, not TrueType. The option is available when performing - the export from the GUI as well as from the command line via the - --export-embed-fonts option. - - -EMF export - - * Inkscape has a limited support for exporting EMF (Enhanced Meta - File) format. This works only on Windows, and only exports strokes - and fills with constant colours. No text, no images, no gradients, - no transparency. - - -Command line - - * The new --export-pdf command line parameter allows exporting an - SVG image to PDF from command line. - - -Keyboard profiles - - The previous release allowed sets of keybinding to be created for - Inkscape in the style of other applications. Two more sets of - keybindings have been added. - * Adobe Illustrator - * Macromedia Freehand - - Of course not every feature in these other programs has a direct match - to features in Inkscape so if you can please do help us out by - reporting any problems you may have or improvements you would like to - request. - - Additionally, a keybinding that focuses on tablet-based illustration - and drawing work has been added: - * right-handed-illustration.xml - - This keybinding places all commonly-used commands under the left hand, - so that the user's hands rarely leave the keyboard or the - tablet/stylus. - - (To enable a profile, copy it into default.xml in the same directory, - overwriting the old file. To restore the default Inkscape set, copy - inkscape.xml into default.xml.) - - More of Inkscape's keys are implemented as actions and are therefore - available for remapping via keyboard profiles. New actions include - EditSelectNext and EditSelectPrev for selecting next/previous object - or node (by default, they are bound to Tab/Shift+Tab; as a result of - becoming global actions, these keys now work in all tools and not only - in Selector and Node tool as before). - -Extension effects - - * 3 new parameter types have been added to the extension effect UI: - tabs, enumerations and optiongroups (radiobuttons). Examples are - available of how to use these parameters in the definition of - extensions: the new function plotter uses tabs; enumerations are - used by the 'Pattern along path' extension; and a small developer - example is given to illustrate the use of optiongroups (identical - to enumerations). - - * A new extension, Render > Lorem ipsum creates the traditional - Latin-like random text for design mock-ups. The number of - paragraphs, the number of sentences per paragraph and the possible - fluctuation of the number of sentences (for uneven paragraphs) can - be adjusted. If no flowed text element is selected, a new one in a - new layer is created, matching the size of the canvas. - - * Pattern along path: A new powerful extension (in "Generate from - path" submenu) allows you to bend, repeat and/or stretch a pattern - object (which can be a path or a group) along a "skeleton" path. - This makes it easy to create a variety of patterned and shaped - strokes. This obsoletes the old "Kochify" extension which is - removed. - - * Color effects: A new group of extensions in the Color submenu of - the Effects menu allows you to adjust all colors of a selection at - once. These commands affect both fill and stroke colors, including - gradients (but not bitmaps). The commands include a full set of - HSL adjustments (increasing/decreasing hue, saturation, or - lightness by 5%), Brighter and Darker (adjust brightness by up or - down by 10%), Desaturate, Grayscale, Negative, commands for - removing or swapping the Red, Green, Blue channels, as well as a - Custom command where you can set your own formulas for modifying - the color channels. These extensions are a temporary solution; in - a future version, similar functionality will be added to Inkscape - core. - - Note: undoing color changes on gradients exposes a bug where an - object seems to "disappear"; this is however only a display - issue (caused by the order in which gradients and their users - are restored on undo) not causing any loss of information. - Also, on large documents and large selections with gradients, - Python's XPath code may get quite slow. Despite these - shortcomings, we decided to add this extension, because it's - genuinely useful functionality which was so far missing in - Inkscape. - - * The Function Plotter has been extended, providing greater - flexibility in x- and y-range definition. - - * g2png: The new group-to-PNG Python extension (g2png) is an easy - way to export any group or layer to individual PNG files. It was - first created for use in the [58]Inkscape User Manual (also - available in SVN's user_manual module) but is also interesting for - many other uses. If e.g. you have to draw a set of icons, you can - draw them in the same document, thus making copying, duplicating, - cloning etc. easier. Then just create a group for each icon, and - with the extension, each group ends up in its own PNG file. - - * [color markers to match stroke - acspike] - - * The "Blur Edge" extension is renamed into Inset/Outset Halo to - avoid confusion with the real Gaussian blur that we now support, - as well as to better describe what this extension actually does: - From the selected path, it creates a group of inset and outset - paths that form a stepped "halo" around the object. - - * The Extract One Image extension automatically appends filename - extension to the created bitmap file. - - * In an extension's INX file, you can specify